PS3 vs HD-DVD

I just got a PS3 on Friday. I got it basically for the blue-ray player. I don't play games, but I may try one when they get a little cheaper. I was at a store looking at stuff for the PS3 and noticed the games were $60, so I'm not going to get one. I also have the Toshiba HD-A2 player, which is the second generation HD-DVD player. I will offer my reviews on both if any of you care. First of all, I can tell you what I'm playing everything on.

46" Sony Grand Wega LCD HDTV
Receiver - Sony 6.1 DTS ES/5.1 Dolby Digital EX
Both have HDMI and Optical Audio cables
Movies played in 1080i (I've seen the difference in 1080i and 1080p and they look identical. Most signals, even 1080p, are initially sent in 1080i and then 'converted' at the T.V. in those that can)

I got the HD-DVD player first which is a very good player. All the reviews have been good on it, first of all. It is half the size of the A1 player and the load times are quick. I put in an HD disc and it takes about six or seven seconds for it to start playing. Oh, it takes about 15 seconds for the unit to turn on. It is basically booting up the OS. It runs a linux OS, so it is like booting up a computer. Anyway, I think the picture quality is awesome on the HD-DVD. The interactive features that you can do while a movie is playing is pretty neat, too. The movies are a tad cheaper as well when compared to blue-ray.

Now, for the PS3. I was reading a lot about it and at first, people were saying it didn't make a very good movie player, but then more reviews came out and said it worked great. I decided to give it a shot. If I didn't like it, I could return it. The movies play just fine on it. I think the video quality is a little better on the HD-DVD, but the sound is amazing on blue-ray. I think it is because they use a different sound codec for blue-ray. I also think the video is different because they use different video formats, but from what I've read, blue-ray will be using the same one that HD-DVD uses if they haven't already started. I don't have many movies as of yet, so I don't have a final opinion on the two. Also, the PS3 is backwards compatable with PS2 games. Hobo let me borrow a couple of PS2 games they work just fine. Oh, if you do get a PS3, update it via the internet to the newest version (1.5 I think it is). As I said before, I don't have any PS3 games to try out, so I don't have any reviews on that. It may be a while. I'm not really a gaming person, so I'm not in a hurry to get any. I wouldn't mind getting Call of Duty, though.

I noticed someone said something about the PS3 can play HD-DVD discs. Nope, they won't. They are two totally different formats. The LG player that came out isn't really all that good, especially for the price. It basically is a blue-ray player with HD-DVD support. It will play blue-ray movies like a regular blue-ray player, but the HD-DVD discs have problems. Initial reviews showed that you can't rewind or forward during the movie and you can't access special features and such on the disc. It just plays the movie and that's it. It has something to with the player not supporting a format called, HDi I think it is called. I'm not totally sure about that, though.

The source of the movie has a lot do with the quality that you see as well. Older movies won't look as good as newer ones, even when converted to HD. Every movie looks different. If I could, I would like to get the same title for both formats and then test the difference. So, my opinion will probably change as time goes on.

It was weird getting a gaming platform. The last one I've ever had was the original Nintendo back in the 80's.

Anyway, that is all I can think of. I don't think I've ever typed this much on here before.

Whoa... HD DVD and Bluray players? You're a braver man than I.

My parents recently invested in a Sharp Aquos 46" LCD after their LG 42" broke (stay far away from LG! They're evil!). It's a 1080p screen, but haven't seen anything in 1080p to see the difference. Funny thing is neither TV they had excelled in both standard and high def. The LG had great HD quality, but terrible standard def. The Sharp has excellent standard def but is lacking in the HD department.

I would of only had one of the player types if it weren't for Christmas. My family got me the HD-DVD player. I was sorta saving up for one before and figured I could get the other one.

How is that Sharp otherwise? I've read some negative reviews on those Aquos T.V.'s. Doesn't mean it is bad, though. Some reviewers are biased.

All of their TV's in the house are Sharp Aquos. They're great, especially the little ones. Simple design and good picture quality. The 46" screen is good looking, unfortunately the glossy black attracts dust like mad. Like I said the HD picture quality was a little disappointing, but maybe that will change when broadcasts can be viewed in 1080p. One design flaw is the non-swiveling footprint. Their family room is long and narrow, so they got used to swiveling the LG to the side while in the kitchen and such. This one has two pillars at the bottom because of its size, so swiveling isn't an option. Other than that it's very easy to use. The inclusion of a light sensor was brilliant. The screen automatically dims when the lights are off so your eyes aren't blown into next century. It was also a little disappointing that DVI was excluded from their set, but that connection would be rarely used anyways.

Thanks for the info Chameleon, I am looking into a big screen flat panel and have not come up with a good choice for my budget yet.

As for the difference in formats, I got to see the movie Cars in both formats. I took my PS3 to a friends house, we rented 2 different versions of cars and played them back and forth.

I could not tell the diference in movie quality. Both looked Awsome. I also could not tell the diffence in sound quality but several others that were there said that the Blu-Ray version sounded better. (I have a little hearing damage)

If you have anything else helpful let me know.

ECHO wrote:

All of their TV's in the house are Sharp Aquos. They're great, especially the little ones. Simple design and good picture quality. The 46" screen is good looking, unfortunately the glossy black attracts dust like mad. Like I said the HD picture quality was a little disappointing, but maybe that will change when broadcasts can be viewed in 1080p. One design flaw is the non-swiveling footprint. Their family room is long and narrow, so they got used to swiveling the LG to the side while in the kitchen and such. This one has two pillars at the bottom because of its size, so swiveling isn't an option. Other than that it's very easy to use. The inclusion of a light sensor was brilliant. The screen automatically dims when the lights are off so your eyes aren't blown into next century. It was also a little disappointing that DVI was excluded from their set, but that connection would be rarely used anyways.

I wish I could check those T.V.'s out. I actually have fun checking out other people's entertainment centers. I'm dorky like that. Some T.V.'s just have those little quirks. I don't think my standard T.V. viewing looks all that great, but then again, the T.V. is taking a low res video and spreading it across the whole screen. The HD looks great on it, though. I'm not bothered by the standard T.V., though. I don't watch television that much.

Grizzled_Imposter wrote:

Thanks for the info Chameleon, I am looking into a big screen flat panel and have not come up with a good choice for my budget yet.

As for the difference in formats, I got to see the movie Cars in both formats. I took my PS3 to a friends house, we rented 2 different versions of cars and played them back and forth.

I could not tell the diference in movie quality. Both looked Awsome. I also could not tell the diffence in sound quality but several others that were there said that the Blu-Ray version sounded better. (I have a little hearing damage)

If you have anything else helpful let me know.

I didn't know they had 'Cars' in HD! I actually haven't seen any of the Pixar movies in HD. Where did you find that? I wouldn't mind getting that. What kind of T.V. were you playing it on? If you use your PS3 for watching HD movies, make sure you have it set to 1080i or 1080p, depending on your T.V. My PS3 came stock outputing video in 480p. If you were playing it on an HDTV, was it running HDMI or component video?

p.s. I keep watching some of these movies, I'll get hearing damage, too!

Nice post!

I personally plan on buying a ps3 once the price gets around $200-$400 to use as a computer. I can hardly wait to have one of those cell processors sitting in my basement running BOINC... <dreul>

All this talk about HD has strained my relationship with my PCI TV tuner card. It has terrible quality, recording shows is frustrating at best, and it has actually warped... as in it can't be fully seated in the slot anymore (which sometimes causes kernel panics... good times).

Behold! the combo drive

ECHO wrote:

Behold! the combo drive

Yah, I'd like to test that one out. I read some bad things about the HD-DVD playability on this player. Ehhh, I don't know. I'd test it out first. I think it is a great idea, though. This is what I would of done if I was the CEO or whatever of a large electronics company. There are a lot of people out there thinking, "which one do I get? If I get one, will it be the one that goes under?" You build this one and you just took away that variable that keeps people from getting into the HD thing. Well, aside from the money issue since they are all rather expensive.

Grizzled_Imposter wrote:

Thanks for the info Chameleon, I am looking into a big screen flat panel and have not come up with a good choice for my budget yet.

As for the difference in formats, I got to see the movie Cars in both formats. I took my PS3 to a friends house, we rented 2 different versions of cars and played them back and forth.

I could not tell the diference in movie quality. Both looked Awsome. I also could not tell the diffence in sound quality but several others that were there said that the Blu-Ray version sounded better. (I have a little hearing damage)

If you have anything else helpful let me know.

I didn't know they had 'Cars' in HD! I actually haven't seen any of the Pixar movies in HD. Where did you find that? I wouldn't mind getting that. What kind of T.V. were you playing it on? If you use your PS3 for watching HD movies, make sure you have it set to 1080i or 1080p, depending on your T.V. My PS3 came stock outputing video in 480p. If you were playing it on an HDTV, was it running HDMI or component video?

p.s. I keep watching some of these movies, I'll get hearing damage, too!

I don't know where he rented CARS from, I will check. unlike me he has thousands of movies lining his home theatre room.

One show my parents enjoy watching is Sunrise Earth on Discovery HD. It's basically an hour long HD show that is a recording of a sunrise somewhere in the world. Well apparently this morning they had some birds on a beach that caught the eye of one of their cats. He nearly jumped into the TV thinking he would actually get one, but luckily the scene changed before he had a chance. I guess the HD on their Sharp screen isn't too bad after all.

ECHO wrote:

One show my parents enjoy watching is Sunrise Earth on Discovery HD. It's basically an hour long HD show that is a recording of a sunrise somewhere in the world. Well apparently this morning they had some birds on a beach that caught the eye of one of their cats. He nearly jumped into the TV thinking he would actually get one, but luckily the scene changed before he had a chance. I guess the HD on their Sharp screen isn't too bad after all.

I've actually noticed my cat watches T.V. more since I got my new one. She's pretty funny just sitting there staring at the screen. She does it to the computer screen as well. She chases the curser on Boingo's computer screen.
I've seen some of those Discovery HD thing-a-ma-bobs online. I haven't seen any in stores, though. I think it would be neat if they would of made some of their bigger series in HD like 'Blue Planet'.