Both transfers will be 1080p.

Hmm, I wonder if this means Batman Begins will have PCM whenever they get around to putting it on Blu-Ray...

I'm going for the Blu-Ray on this....give me my picture disc. I hate those combo disc!

You have Black Hawk Down on HD DVD and you've compared it to the same movie on Blu-ray? Really, where did you get this HD DVD disc that doesn't exist?

The Departed will be our first opportunity for a direct apples-to-apples comparison and can finally put an end to this stupid "PCM is better than TrueHD" myth once and for all. I greatly look forward to that.

I think he might have just meant that he cant watch the hd-dvd at 1080p if he owns the a1 or a2? Not sure.

As for me, im torn, since there is no IME on the hd-dvd, I think ill go with the BD for PCM. A bit cheaper, PCM and no combo. First time for me getting something on BD over HD-DVD.

If there were a place cheap enough (or at least around the same price), I'd just import it and not deal with the flipper.

Does the foriegn language on the cases bother you, like on the ones from Spain? I would hate it. Bruce Almighty and Scary Movie are/will be available on Blu Ray in Japan, but if the have Japanese characters all over them, its a deal breaker.

Nevertheless, my best looking discs are in HD-DVD (VC1) and my best sounding discs are in Blu (LPCM), and that's just the way it is. I shall not be comparing The Departed at all, I will just get the BD.

People who care more about artwork than the movie scare me

You can just print out a different artwork if you want.

And I'm not talking about Japanese/Spanish releases.

If you get a US combo title in any other location, it's not a combo. It's a regular single-sided disc.

Sorry, right, I own the HD-A1 and the Sony PS3 feeding my 1080p Pearl. The blu-ray path is pure 1080p, where as the HD-A1 is 1080i. Even the newer XA2 isn't true 1080p either, is it? I thought it interlaces then line doubles internally, so you'll get 1080p->1080i->1080p processing.

Blu-ray for me. Don't wanna deal with those shit combos.

HD for me - I'm only buying exclusive BD titles.

When did this come up? Is this actually going around?

Following on Josh Z's comment....It would be hard for PCM to be better than TrueHD (assuming same bitrates) considering TrueHD is PCM. Oooh, but with a brand name.

There were several comments upthread about PCM on BD sounding better than TrueHD on HD DVD (different titles, of course). I would guess it is either something to do with the user's audio setup or a placebo effect. Or perhaps there is a bitrate difference that is noticeable.

Can the PCM track be passed through using HDMI to a receiver that processes the audio part of HDMI or can you only access it through analog outs?

You can use HDMI.

Yes, HDMI equipped receivers should be able to accept a PCM track over HDMI. Current receivers can't decode TrueHD (or DTS-MA) tracks directly but most players can (or soon will be able to through firmware updates) convert those lossless tracks to PCM to send over HDMI.

The other option is that the titles which have used PCM have simply been ones with better original audio, generally, than those which have used TrueHD. We've seen this play out with the compression codecs for PQ so it would be logical to think the same thing would happen with audio as well.

This debate has been raging in multiple threads on AVS. People compare different soundtracks to entirely different movies and make snap judgements about the audio codecs used. It makes no logical sense whatsoever.

Sounds like why I seldom visit AVS. I basically just stop by to see comments on individual TV shows' HD quality these days.

Yeah, the forum's quality has gone way downhill in recent months.

Is either HD version up for pre-order anywhere? I don't see it on Amazon or dvdpricesearch.

Me too.

Looks like you can finally pre-order this on Amazon...nothing yet on DVD Empire.

Yeah, looks like the HD-DVD version is up on Amazon now. The Blu-ray is still showing up as "currently not available" though.