Bob, I think you win the award for most acronymns in a single post.

HTPC= Home Theatre PC
STB= Set Top Box
FTA= Free To Air
BT= Bit Torrent
OTA= Over the Air
NAB= Who knows what that means :)

j razz

I think the more important question is, what do you have to display Hi-Def content? I use a projector and screen. The display device is going to be a much bigger cost factor than the player.

And explain what you mean by "BluRay and HDDVD do not yet incorporate menus".

John

". I do not wish to plop down half a grand on something that will be obsolete in a year. "



If this is the case then I would stay away from blu ray/hd dvd. These are brand new technologies and are still evolving. And to top it all off, one of them just may end up obsolete. Which one.... well that's the question isn't it

If you decide to invest in BD/HD DVD then you may as well come to the conclusion... at the time of the investment.... that you could well have bought into the old Sony betamax, or laser disk scenario.

Both BD and HD DVD have menus. The only place I've heard it uttered that one or the other is different, is that the new LG players that were supposed to play both BD and HD DVD didn't/couldn't fully support HD DVD due to technical and licensing issues, and therefore didn't display HD DVD menus. Both Microsoft and the DVD Consortium have filed lawsuit to block the LG player from hitting market due to the lack of menu support for HD DVD content.

My bet is generation X will embrace the HTPC

OK, WTH is "generation X"? When I was 9/10, it was people in their late teens/early 20's. Now that's people's in their 30's-40's, right?

I'm TRYING to embrace HTPC, mostly to watch HDTV stations, but Win2K & my capture card don't always 100% agree. I need to get either a copy of WMC/VHP or a Linux "all in one" install of HTPC software.

Gen X'ers aren't the people who go "that's l337" is it, cuz us gamers call them annoying. :)

...what do you have to display Hi-Def content?
A Samsung 42 inch LCD HDTV.

And explain what you mean by "BluRay and HDDVD do not yet incorporate menus".

I do not have a player and this is just what I have read here on the forum or elsewhere. I do not know if they do or not, but I have heard that the menu's are not what they are on DVD's (or surpassed them) as of yet.

My concern there is that if they make an change to better utlize java (BluRay) the players of today may not be able to handle that change and thus a new player hits the market and I am stuck in basic text list menu mode. That was my concern.

j razz

...what do you have to display Hi-Def content?
A Samsung 42 inch LCD HDTV.
==============
OK so if it is under 46 inches it probably has a resolution of 1280x768 or thereabouts. The Samsung is going to scale down the Hi Def signal from the player. I am assuming you have an HDMI input on the back of the television. It is my understanding that the Samsung LCD televisions do a good job scaling down the video from 1080 so you shouldn't have a problem especially since the screen size is relatively small. Both players should do an adequate job and give you a great picture equally in that setup (unless the PQ of the disc isn't very good).
=========
But I have heard that the menu's are not what they are on DVD's (or surpassed them) as of yet.

Correct me if I am not unerstanding this.

Both types of machines have menus with settings for picture quality, audio quality, and interfaces.

The Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs have the same types of menus as SD DVDs. Play, Options, Scene Selection, etc.
The HD DVD menus can be accessed at any time during the movie while it is playing. It comes up at the bottom of the screen. I 'think' the lu-Ray is the same. The audio options may differ as some discs are encoded with Dolby True HD audio and other discs are not. You also need a sound system that can utilize it.

The answer to your concerns regarding obsolescence is not to spend a lot for the player in the first place.

The other thing is upscale ability for SD DVD. You need to research each player. I bought my Toshiba HD-A1 for that specific purpose to use with my projector in order to show my productions publically. The HD DVD capabilities were just a bonus that I haooened to like.

Some will only upconvert only over HDMI and not component. Some won't upconvert to 720p accurately. Things to check out depending upon your needs.

John

...it probably has a resolution of 1280x768 or thereabouts.
It has a resolution of 1366 x 768 Pixels. It has 2 HDMI inputs, component and s-video as well as composite and vga.

TV Spec Link in PDF.

I have yet to play with a high definition player so I don't know about the menus- you could very well be right and I could just be misinformed.

As for the audio- I have Bose speakers and Pioneer components with a reciever that does 6.1 surround with Dolby Digital & Pro Logic II as well as other modes and decoders. I will have to look into the Dolby True HD as I do not know anything about that spec and what hardware is needed to play it (Basically I assume I will either have to upgrade my reciever or there will be an add on decoder I can purchase).

I would think that I should just wait until after the second generation of HD DVD players come out before I make a purchase so that the price may come down some on the BluRay side of things. I am leaning towards the Playstation III, but I was hoping there would be more options available for HTPC.

Thanks for the answers and things to think about.

j razz

Hello
I suspect the confusion over menus is because from what I have read here and elsewhere the very limited options, available to us mortals, for authoring BD/HDDVD do not yet have much if any menu support incorporated in the packages we can afford.
I think we can safely assume that the big boys in Hollywood are not under similar constraints in either budget or access to suitable authoring tools.

Personally I am hoping that Playstation III supports playing Sony HDV .m2t files from at least DVD-R, HDD and wired network in which case I will buy one for this purpose. Can anyone confirm or deny this please?
I did purhase a Zensonic Z500 for this but returned it when it failed inside 2 months after doing very little of what it claims reliably if at all.

Best Buy was advertizing the LG player today for both formats for $1200.00. Does that mean the licenscing problems are over?
JJK

>>>I am in the market to either buy a BluRay Disc Player or a High Definition DivX
>>>player or to wait until the "wrinkles" have been ironed out.

I use a AVeL -Linkplayer2 connected via component cables to playback the HighDef Transport Streams from my Sony-HC3 unit. You can also convert the HD-mpeg2 to HD-Divx and retain the interlacing. When doing this Interlaced Divx doesn't play well on the computer but on the Linkplayer it's same as original for smooth motion. Nice feature with this unit is it comes with server software for windows, mac & linux so you can stream your videos across your lan/home network.
The Linkplayer2 can playback Mpeg2@25Mbs constant "Transport Stream" NOT "Program Stream". You would need to re-encode the mpeg2 down to 18Mbs Variable Bit Rate to playback smoothly on the Linkplayer2.
The player also can play Windows HD-WMV videos nicely. Although when using the player you have to find which is the best format & bit-rates it can handle. Nice feature of the unit is it has USB input and can also playback from USB Fat32 devices.

Another nice unit is the PlayStation 3 for playing back your HD Videos, pictures & music.It's a great multi-media playback device. I like them because you don't need a computer and you can view all your videos/pictures/music using the remote controller (bluetooth wireless) or the wireless game controller. The PS3 can play Mpeg2@25Mbs Program or Transport stream nicely. For playback you can fast forward / reverse / slow motion. Also playsback AVCHD. I recorded a AVCHD mini-dvd on one of the new Sony cams. Put it into the PS3 and it shows up as a AVCHD Disk. Playsback nicely BUT you cannot transfer the video to the PS3's internal harddisk. On the PS3 if you have HD content on a BD, DVD or a USB Drive (fat32) you can copy the HD video(s) to the PS3's internal harddisk. PS3 does not play wmv nor divx files.
I've also converted my mpeg2@25Mbs HD viideos to the AVCHD codec and the PS3 plays them. Although I have ot admit the motion doesn't appear to be as smooth as the original when converting to the AVCHD format, but then again the motion recorded on the AVCHD Mini-dvd wasn't as good as my HC3 tape unit.

Anyone owning these new cam that record in the AVCHD format should be able to view their videos on the PS3, at least the mini-dvd worked. View Only.

Laurence has confirmed that you can play m2t files on a memory stick off of the playstation III.

j razz

I haven't seen anything that the PlayStation3 can't playback except WMV, DIVX.
I can capture direct to Mpeg2@Constant Transport Stream to an external FAT32 Harddisk. Plug that into the PS3 and immediately view the video via the Optical Disk, the USB connection, the Card Slots readers. If your connecting to a server the unit can download the video to it's internal harddisk for playback. So far I think it only streams the flash format.

When you put multi-media files on any media you can naviagate the media by hitting the Triangle button and selecting "View All".
But the PS3 uses a search filter. So when you put your videos on any external media put them under a directory called VIDEO. They make this very simple since the PS3 is also a multi-media device. But even it you don't do that you can still select "View ALL' to read your media content.

When putting multi-media files on different media here is the directory structure you should use. On your media put 3 main directories called
VIDEO (Put all your mpg or m2t files under this directory here, you can include sub-directories)
MUSIC (Put your wav,mp3....under this directory here, you can include sub-directories)
PICTURE (Put your pictures under this directory, you can include sub-directories)

The PS3 uses those key directories as filters. You can put all your sub-directories & content below that however you choose.
It makes it easier and you just hit the select button to navigate. Otherwise you select the media and hit the TRIANGLE button to display the OPTIONS screen and then select "VIEW ALL" to see all the compatible files.

When playing a slideshow hit the PS button to navigagate and playback background music along with the slideshow OR when playing music hit the PS3 button and naviagate to the pictures to start a slideshow while still playing back the music.
The optional bluetooth remote is nice to have.

IVMS 7 Platinum

Considering it's apparent capabilities in terms of Hi Def, it's abilities to play games, and the fact that it costs so much less than a standalone Blu-Ray player it may be just the ticket for you.

I like my HD DVD player, but let's not forget that I bought it mainly to upscale SD DVD which it does second to none. If your primary purpose is cost effective Hi-Def with other options, PS3 seems like a better bet for you.

John

Hey j razz. I have been researching this exact thing for about a month (set top HD DVD or Blu-Ray players) and I can't find a single one that someone isn't complaining about in a review or user reviews on various forums and web sites. So, I decided to wait a little longer for that and I just purchased a PS3 for now since I wanted one any way. You can get them (60GB version) for the $500ish range on ebay now. If you buy one there, get one from a power seller with excellent feedback obviously. Yes, I know PS3's are not "issue free" either.

I will most likely get a Blu-Ray set top player when I do buy one since my new HDTV is 1080P. Also, from my reading it would seem that quite a few titles were not encoded very well, so, not all BD disks are equal in quality. Or perhaps it was the source material that they started with that caused it? I guess this kind of thing is to be expected with such a new technology. So, read lots before you buy a player or title so you are not disappointed. Any way, good luck to you. Derek

I'm looking forward to this one for my personal use, as opposed to the S1, which we have in the training kit.

Well I love my PS3. At first I thought it was downrezzing 1080i m2t's but it turns out my old HDTV just has a large dot pitch and that made the difference in resolution less stunning.

The PS3 will not play Wmv or DivX files (without installing Linux at least). It will play flv though. I suspect that this lack of format compatibility has more to do with intentional crippling than anything else. Somewhere along the line when I have time I'll install Linux in order to be able to play back all formats.

I also have three DivX compatible DVD players: one for each of our family's two TVs and one that's a little portable player. It' s pretty cool to be able to download video posted by friends on the Stage6 site and immediately play it in the living room! The new DivX menuing options look pretty cool as well. I have the new DivX menu authoring tool and I must say that I really like what you can do with it.

Netflix rents out both BD and HD-DVD disks at no extra cost.

More BD than HD-DVD titles, but that's just reflecting what's on the market.

Beats buying for 99% of all titles, at least for me.

So for JUST playing back one of these formats, it seems the PS3 is the only option at this point? What is the connection to the TV? Component or DVI/HDMI? Is the audio digital or analog?

PS3 can connect via HDMI, component, SVid, and composite.
HDMI is only 1080/720, Component is everything from 1080p to 480i, SVid is 480i, composite is 480i.

OK, WTH is "generation X"?

According to Wikipedia, it goes like this:
Baby Boomers: 1946 to 1954
Generation Jones (no, not Jim Jones): 1955 to 1964
Generation X: 1965 to 1977
Generation Y: 1978 to 1998

Mike

Thank you all for advice about Playstation 3 for playing HDV especially 4eyes for the detail.
I have discovered that the local Sony Style store has a demo unit even though not for sale yet so I will try it out with some DVD-ROMs I have made.

OK, WTH is "generation X"?

According to Wikipedia, it goes like this:
Baby Boomers: 1946 to 1954
Generation Jones (no, not Jim Jones): 1955 to 1964
Generation X: 1965 to 1977
Generation Y: 1978 to 1998

Mike
==============
What happens when they run out of letters?

John

Never mind. I figured it out. They just double and triple them. Example: XXX