Well, I just saw MI:3 on BD and was very impressed by the picture quality - vibrant, good shadow details, accurate color, incredible detail, not much grain... seemed much more impressive a transfer in my mind than Superman Returns.

YEAH as suspected i got the add-on and am VERY impressed. so far i've only watched TROY and was absolutely blown away by the clarity and extremely vibrant colour! i really like the new menu features -it makes a big difference being able to change the audio type while watching the movie opposed to trying to compare by memory. for anyone that has a 360 and an HD TV, this is a definate MUST HAVE! (unless, i suppose, you already own a separate HD-DVD Player)

my HD DVD collection now consists of-
Troy
Superman Returns
Batman Begins
The Chronicles of Riddick
King Kong (comes with the 360 add-on)

2 BluRay movies to watch on the PS3 I got my girlfriend for Christmas (Ebay). We watched "A Knights Tale" last night. It looked Awesome!!!(Even on my NON-1080p Fujitsu). We haven't watched "Kingdom of Heaven" yet. So far, VERY impressed!

I hear Kingdom looks fantastic (I don't have it).

so am i safe to assume its the BD version of Superman Returns that didnt turn out so hot?

tthe BD version is the exact same as the HD DVD. Even though WB used the 50GB disk they kept the sam content that was 30GB

I thought the video quality was disappointing.

Incidentally, I was watching the plain DVD of Miami Vice and wow, what a horrible video image. From what I hear it was "filmed in HD" but they must have used the worst video cameras available. Black levels are all over the place, so that outdoor nighttime shots are either crushed with no shadow detail anywhere, or have had so much gain applied that the clouds in the sky are unnaturally bright and loaded with noise, making "black" more of a 60% grey. It just looked *so* dreadful I wouldn't recommend bothering with the HD-DVD version.

We have quite a few HD DVD and BD reviews on the SPot. If you're interested, go here.

I've had an HD DVD player for awhile and love it, but I think that unless something changes, BD is going to blow by them with more studio and manufacturer support.

Looking at picking up a PS3 once they're more readily available and for less than list price.

Thanks for posting how to add IR control capabilities to the PS3, Daniel. That's the main thing that was keeping me from getting one.

Mike

consoles don't tend to go bellow MRSP (on the other hand their MRSP does drop over time). I doubt the price will be cheaper any time soon. It is also a great machine. definitely worth the price (I bought the 60GB version).

I also agree on your assessment of HD DVD and that is why I never bought into it.

Yeah, that's true, but I'm looking at it from a wholesale standpoint. The lack of available product has caused the wholesale distributor price to be very close to retail. Once there's more product in the pipeline, it should drop. I'm meeting with both camps at CES , so I'm waiting until after then in any event.

did not think of wholesale, good luck with it and have fun at CES. Don't forget to bring us back news from the show

Well, the first news is that the "off again/on again" LG universal player for both HD DVD and BD is back on again. It supposedly will be shown at CES:

"New York — LG Electronics provided a few surprises days before International CES opens in Las Vegas, announcing last night that it will launch the first Blu-ray Disc, HD DVD combination player at the show and this morning that Allan Jason was named marketing VP of consumer electronics.

LG's brief statement from its headquarters in Seoul, Korea did not provide details on the high definition, dual format unit, saying features will be discussed at CES.

“LG expects this technological breakthrough to end the confusion and inconvenience of competing high-definition disc formats for both content producers and consumers,” the company said.

At a New York press conference last July LG said it was a “strong supporter of Blu-ray” since it was a developer of the format. When asked at the time if such a dual-format player might be introduced in 2007 the spokesperson noted that LG had not finalized its plans for the new year as of yet. LG cancelled plans last March to ship a Blu-ray disc player that was set for spring.

Reports out of South Korea in September 2005 from Samsung indicated that it was planning a dual format HD disc player supporting Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD but that product was never introduced."

Yeah, that will be most interesting.

Oh, and on the OTHER side of the coin, Warner Bros. is announcing a THD or "Total Hi-Def" disc that will play on both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Which will win - the player that plays it all or the disc that plays in it all? :-)

That is a very good question. One that probably won't be answered for years. Have they actually made a THD disc? Or are they just talking about it.
On the LG player- if the machine doesn't cost a bundle I would surely buy one. Then I would not care about the format war.