A Microsoft perspective: HD DVD Time line

Andy Pennell goes a bit into the history of HD DVD and what Microsoft had done. It's a really interesting read, Microsoft had a bigger hand in the format war then we were lead to believe last month. Notice how on the CES 2008 portion of the timeline Andy notes:

Jan 2008: CES 2008 turns into an unhappy experience for HD DVD, starting the day after the Warner bombshell. Cool demos never see the light of day and everyone is pretty shell-shocked.

 

Could the Xbox 360 Ultimate be included in this category?

Find out why Microsoft could have easily put a HD DVD drive into the Xbox 360 from the start, Why Microsoft and Toshiba employees laughed at the first Blu Ray player released, and why Andy's license plate is HD DVD! By clicking here and here!

Oh for those who don't know: Andy Penells blog was the go to place when it came to the latest news in Microsoft's work with the HD DVD add on. He had the latest firmware specs (The only place to get them), and a in depth look at the code work it would have involved, it was a very interesting read until a week ago.

 

Your thoughts?

Format War's Over, Now What?

To my readers, I'm sure by now the media has probably already drilled into your heads the fact that the HD DVD/Blu Ray format war is over. Long story short Blu Ray won, many of you none Blu Ray people are either supporting one of Blu Ray's rival formats, or using your upscaled DVD's. Well you may have heard of something called Digital Distribution, the process by which you will be able to download media onto your hard drive, legally. In this case I will deal with just video distribution.

But first, to those HD DVD owners wondering where to go next, or those Blu Ray owner's sick of Blu Ray (Who knows, maybe they exists), or to those sitting on the fence who want a alternative. I suggest the HD DVD owners look into Blu Ray or Digital Distribution, and to the rest, you can either get in on the HD DVD fire sale, or look into a format called HD VMD, a format that is popular in Asia apparently (A area that Toshiba focused to little on), and its picking up some steam in other areas.

I personally don't know how HD VMD will turn out, maybe the companies backing it will learn from Toshiba's mistake and give Blu Ray a run for its money.

Their is also another alternative, no doubt the DVD forum is working on a successor to HD DVD, I highly doubt HD DVD could make a come back (unless something super bad is found out about Blu Ray that pisses people off), no doubt the DVD forum is probably starting to work on a successor, similar to how the BDA is looking into a successor for Blu Ray. The DVD forum will meet in Tokyo in about a week's time, we will probably here their take on Toshiba's announcement and their future. If they announce a successor is being worked on, then I would give it 4-5 year's tops before a release date is announced (just my opinion), so you could wait it out, while you wait why not look into Digital  Video Distribution?

 

You may have heard about Digital Video Distribution in the past, mainly bad things about quality, don't let this taint your image on the format. I’m going to focus on two of the best codec's available when it comes to digital distribution, as well as a few ways you can access these codec's. Not all digitally distributed format are like that. Infact 1 format in particular has been able to provide the same quality content found on HD DVD and Blu Ray discs, the format is called WMV HD! Many may be familiar with its use on the Xbox Live Marketplace, I believe all the vide content on the Xbox Live Marketplace is encoded in this format. The other DivxHD, used by Sony to distribute digital content over the Playstation Network is not has lucky.

 

 

As seen from the shot above and this link, the picture quality is practically the same with very miniscule difference's. This is why the Xbox Live Marketplace is a great source for digital downloads, the picture quality matches its format war counterpart, you also get a good bit and audio rate. WMV HD is not just for the Xbox 360, it will also work on a capable PC, DVD Player, etc. Infact, a simple amazon search for the format will bring up a catalogue of releases, mostly porn and bikini videos are widely commercially used for the format.

The format is also great in that you can create it at home as well, meaning you can rip your videos and use the appropriate program to upscale the picture. I have only converted 2 videos, none from my personal collection however, just 2 widely available videos on the Internet, Bill's Last Day, and the Mr. T WoW commercial. Here are the results:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v384/Elven6/MrT.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v384/Elven6/BillsLast.jpg

And here's one from the official Terminator 2 WMV HD edition screen:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v384/Elven6/T2.jpg

The programs that can encode WMV HD are easily available online through Microsoft, all you need is a legit copy of Windows. Windows XP service pack 2 and Windows Vista already come with Windows Media Maker, which can also encode a variety of WMV HD's supported resolutions and bit rates. Another program I use is called Windows Media Encoder, which is available from Microsoft as well, although this program is much older and can only encode up to 720p with 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound..  they have both given me fantastic results. The speed vary's on the type of system you have, the better the system the faster the encode times will be. 

If WMV HD intrigues you and you currently do not own a Xbox 360, I suggest you buy the Xbox 360 Elite, it comes with the 120GB HDD in the box, and if you add the component costs it would be cheaper then to buy the bigger hard drive later. You will need a Xbox Live account, however a Silver membership (The Free One) will suffice, the payments are in Microsoft's Points system, you can buy them through Xbox Live or in stores. If you want it on your PC, then I suggest buying a external hard drive, they are really cheap right now, you can get one that's at least 320GB for less than $100 in Canada!

If DivX HD intrigues you, I would recommend getting a PS3 WHEN more content becomes available. I personally haven't encoded in the format, but I can tell you this, it will encode a file faster and smaller then WMV HD can, however the picture quality is not the same has WMV HD (See Below).

It should be noted: Both DD formats are being improved on, one day they may both be equal when it comes to producing results.

Have any more questions? Need more information? Simply visit the links below or post a comment and I will try to help you with any questions you may have. If you are arriving from a external site I would appreciate it if you post your questions here to help me keep track and help others who may have the same questions. Please DIGG this article by following the link below, it helps me get new readers and hopefully other sites will pick this article up as well.

Links

WMV HD Official Site

WMV HD vs DivX HD

A Technical Break Down of Marketplace and HD DVD content (Done in 2006)

DivX HD Official Site

HD VMD Official Site

 

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Toshiba May Stop HD DVD Support!

Strong reports are coming out left and right that Toshiba is going to pull the plug on HD DVD. Right now only unofficial news reports claim Toshiba has done so, we can expect a full report probably on Monday. It seems like the inevitable is about to happen, unless companies like Paramount, Universal, Dreamworks, Dimension, etc announce titles that people want to see on HD DVD, the same formula BDA backers have successfully been using. Although Hollywood may be giving up on HD DVD their is still a chance the format will be re-tuned or even used for storage (Like Betamax, which was refined into camcorders, etc). Their is no doubt the DVD forum is working on some sort of a competitor for Blu Ray or it's successor, I'm guessing details will be released at next years CES. I personally will not get a Blu Ray player unless I get a PS3. I have a 360 so I can still play my HD DVD's on it (I plan on keeping them and buying them for as long as they are out on the market), I am starting to buy WMV HD discs since they are highly compatible with my current system.

 

Don't take this has official yet, wait for Toshiba to release press statement first.

Source

A Stroll Through Memory Lane

After a few years I decided to go back to Warcraft 2, just for a stroll down memory lane. Of course my saves and stuff were gone since I got a new machine a a year ago. I played the campaign and it brought back a lot memories. Back in the late 90s/early 2000 I remember me and one of my cousins would download the demo and play the hell out of it, we would spend hours on this demo thinking of different combinations we could do, and how many units we could make with the resources on the map, etc. Then I was able to buy the full game, I got my hands on Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition, which was essentially Warcraft 2 with the expansion pack and some extras (like online play). Today I decided to get back on Battle.net, Blizzard has a limit on their servers, if you don't check your account within 3 months they delete it, so obviously none of my old accounts were working. I created a new account and logged in to be greeted with a welcome message alone with a stat counter. I was pretty amazed when I saw the results:

 

Their were close to 700 people playing on the server with 61 games being played online! This is amazing, a game close to 11 years old is still enjoying its share of online play, despite having 1.5 sequels (I wouldn't count WoW), and numerous expansion packs, users still play Warcraft 2 online! I really hope a true sequel is made for Warcraft, and not another MMO that's giving the industry such a bad rep. If your ever up for a game then just leave me a msg in this post or the forums and we will work something out.

 

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BFF: HD DVD and Warner

Today news has come out of dvdtown that Warner has not ruled out abandoning HD DVD completely. The report states that Warner will still produce and restock HD DVD movies if demand calls for it. This means big titles like Dark Knight, 10 000BC, etc will probably see HD DVD releases! Great news for us HD DVD fans, its not full on support like before, but you have to take what you get.

 

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Life Beyond Games: The Sega Dreamcast!

After suffering a defeat at the hands of Sony in 2001, Sega decided to retire the Dreamcast. Even after this announcement the Dreamcast had received a big cult following, with games still being released for the system in countries like Japan, American, etc and homebrew support to boot, the Dreamcast still received love from gamers world wide.

Today however, the government of Kosovo released potential models for their flag as well as national anthem, the world was shocked to see the Dreamcast logo was in the running! The logo design has survived up to the top 3 spot from which one winner will be chosen, will it be the Dreamcast?

 

As a front however, it was said that the logo is actually a 4th century bronze age icon, but I'm sure Dreamcast fan's know what it really is :)

 

Jokes aside, a symbol that does look like the Dreamcast Swirl logo has been nominated to be inserted into the middle of a tri colour flag.

Source

http://digg.com/gaming_news/Life_Beyond_Games_The_Sega_Dreamcast

Classic PC Gaming

I’m going to add a new section to the blog which will be available on the side menu. It will be a section called "Classic PC Gaming", it will contain demos, and maybe mod's to classic games like the original Warcraft demo, to OS exclusive's such as Hover! Stay tuned for more details.

 

Project Gotham Racing 4 Getting New DLC

News has just come in from Bizarre that Project Gotham Racing 4 will be getting some new downloadable content on Valentines Day, February 14th. Two packs will be available - one will be free while another, a premium version of the free version, will be available for 400 Microsoft Points. Check after the break for the full rundown of each.

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Xbox 360 HD DVD Player Price Drop!

A price drop has been announced on the Xbox 360 HD DVD player add on, this has been met with praise from many, and of course skeptisism from others. I have reviewed the product before, and at this price I can say that I would recommend all Xbox 360 owners pick up this product. Sure HD DVD's future may look bleak, but at this low price why not try it out. You will still have products from Universal, Paramount, Dreamworks, Warner (Until June, and then some, since the stock has to run out), and of course import's such as Terminator series, Underworld, etc

Also note, if you buy this player you will be eligible for 5 free HD DVD's as well.

Here are the new prices, I did my best to make the conversion's as accurate as possible. Check your local store listings to see how much they are selling them for.

 

USA: $129.99

Canada: $130.99

Australia: 129.95

New Zeland: $164.99

The Canadian and New Zeland exchange rate was done when the American dollar value was at $1.26. I retrieved the USA and Australian prices from the new story sourced above. However, I have a feeling an error may have been made in the Australian price so please check with your local retailers if you are interested in this offer.

 

It can only be speculated that more territory's will soon follow, I have my money on place like the UK, France, etc. Asia is a growing market, with the 360 officially a product in India, it would be a great time to introduce HD DVD to a growing middle class.

 

Source

How long before were obsolete?

In September the Playstation Portable "Slim and Light" was released world wide. It was no surprise that Sony would stop producing the PSP "Phat" after the launch of the slimmer unit. The PSP slim was improved greatly from its predecessor, it was not only lighter/slimmer, but it also came with more RAM, which meant faster load times and increased functionality, it supported TV out capabilities, increased browser performance (due to the extra ram), and better control capabilities to name a few. Ever since the release of the PSP Slim, firmware updates have been rolling out with features that only those who have the newer slim model could use. Features like, Skype, broadcast recording (in Japan), etc and more are sure to come.

When the PSP firmware 2.0 was released it was equipped with a web browser, the purpose was to encourage those whom had PSP's with the 1.0 and 1.5 firmware to upgrade to enable web browsing support at the cost of their homebrew "privileges". Could it be possible Sony is using the same tactics to "force" users into buying the newer PSP to take advantage of the newer features? It is inevitable, that many games will also take advantage of the newer hardware in the PSP Slim, giving old PSP users a cut down version of the game which would of course be plagued with long loading times (Smackdown vs Raw series, etc) and maybe even a graphical difference.

Of course right now the updates included small exclusive features, but what if tomorrow the updates include codec's, browser improvements, more accessibility, etc. Some time in November rumours had surfaced that a new revision to the PSP may come as soon has Q4 08, would it really be worth it for these people to bother with the PSP Slim if rumours were coming out about a "PSP 2"? It wouldn't surprise me if a new revised model of the PSP is released, remember the hassle with the PS3 sku's in which pieces of hardware were either taken out or added in depending on which SKU and the time of release?

I will personally wait for a price drop on the core system, I have dropped my PSP "Phat" so many times that the UMD drive is uneven, and the analogue nub tends to come off at times. And a majority of my games suffer from the famous long load times associated with the PSP. Their are close to 24+ million PSP "Phat" users in the world, it would be surprising if Sony did use tactics to try to force those consumers into buying the revised model. Nintendo did the exact opposite stated in this article when their revised DS model was released, so did Microsoft with the Zune, in which all features available on the newer models were given to those with the older model (Which is still being sold as the 30GB unit) it will be interesting to see what Sony does next.

So what are your views on this article? Will you be upgrading your unit in the near future? Or do you believe so strongly in the rumours of a revised model that you will wait it out?

http://digg.com/playstation/How_Long_Before_Were_Obsolete