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HDD Spotlight Bargain: 'Avatar' Blu-ray $25 at Amazon[teaser]The biggest movie of all time is now up for a Blu-ray pre-order at Amazon! [/teaser] The online retailer is selling James Cameron's epic 'Avatar' hitting stores on April 22 for $25 (37% off suggested list price). It's worth noting that this release is a bare-bones Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, with a loaded edition planned for November. Click here to order your copy of this instant classic!Posted Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 03:45 PM PDT by: -
HD Advisor Five-OEditor's Note: Each Friday, High-Def Digest's own HD Advisor will answer a new round of questions from our readers. If you have home theater questions you need answered, send an email to [email protected]. If you've already sent a question and don't see it answered yet, please be patient as we work our way through them. To browse through previously answered questions, visit the main HD Advisor page. Answers by Joshua Zyber We here at High-Def Digest get asked a lot of technical questions about our reviews, about Blu-rays, and about home theater in general. I started this column a little over a year ago to address that need. I'll be honest, at the time, I wasn't sure how long it would last. I expected that eventually we'd cover all of the most pressing topics and interest would peter out. Well, here we are at the 50th Q&A column, and the questions keep pouring in. I think that's great. (And not just because I get paid some meager amount to write these things.) As long as people are interested, I'll try to help. One consequence of lasting this long and building up an archive of material is that I tend to get asked similar questions that might have been previously covered, by newer readers who may not have followed this column since the beginning. Although I maintain an index of prior articles, the subject titles may not always be sufficiently clear or detailed enough to search for a specific piece of info. Rather than just tell these readers to dig through all 49 older articles until they find what they need, I'm going to use this 50th milestone column as an excuse to take a look back at popular subjects we've covered in the past. Audio Not in Sync with Video Q: I was watching 'King Kong' on Blu-ray. In the middle of the movie, for a few chapters, I noticed that the movements of the lips, gun fire, and roars were coming first before the video. That irritated me, but the chapters when Kong arrived in New York through the end, things went back to normal. What went wrong in the middle of the movie? Is it the disc itself, or does my A/V receiver need to be calibrated? A: Audio sync mismatches like this typically occur when the video is delayed in the signal chain separately from the audio. I talked about this a little all the way back in my third column. HDTVs with "MotionFlow" Q: I currently own a Sony XBR rear-projection TV (LCoS) and was considering an upgrade to an LCD/LED display. However, I noticed that when these models are on showroom floors demoing movies, the frame rate has a strange and unnatural movement to it. I find it very 'unfilm-like', almost as if it was shot with a handycam! I'm not sure if this is the 120 Hz refresh rate, or some other pull-down feature like MotionFlow. Oddly, I raised this issue with a Sony sales associate and he didn't know what I was talking about. Is this a feature that can be turned off? A: "MotionFlow" is just Sony's brand name for its frame interpolation feature. Different manufacturers have different names for essentially the same thing. LG calls it Trumotion. Samsung calls it Auto Motion Plus. There are many other variations. As I've mentioned in this older column and this one, frame interpolation often has side effects exactly like you describe. Movie scenes suddenly look more like behind-the-scenes camcorder footage. I can't stand it. Fortunately, most TVs allow you to turn it off. Home Theater in an Apartment Q: I've been spoiled with my home theater, living in a house distant from any neighbors. The home theater and subwoofer rules were really anything goes. I have an 800 Watt 5.1 system and a 10" 100 Watt subwoofer. Now I'll be moving into a small New York City apartment and my girlfriend is worried I'll be destroying the neighbors next door, above, below, you name it. Any tips for avoiding eviction while still enjoying a reasonably good home theater experience? A: I live in an apartment myself, but am fortunately situated in a corner with no neighbors on the other side of my HT room. I've only got the laundry room below me and a mostly-deaf elderly neighbor above. I don't get too many complaints about volume. However, in my previous apartment, I had a very inconsiderate neighbor right on the other side of my bedroom wall who would blare bassy hip hop music at obscene volumes all through the night. I eventually had to move just to get away from him. Don't be like that guy! With the help of another reader, I offered up some tips for reducing the noise that carries through your apartment walls in March of last year. High-End (i.e. Expensive) Blu-ray Players and Cables Q: Is there really any substantial difference between a Blu-ray player that costs $150-$300 and one that costs $1,500-$3,000? Also, same question about cabling. Are really expensive cables really worth the extra dough? And I'm not talking about Monster cable expensive, but Kable (or Goertz and the like) cable expensive that can run up to $500 or more per cable, be it HDMI, speaker, etc. A: The question about expensive HDMI cables was in fact the very first topic I ever covered in this column. Long story short: Expensive digital cables are mostly a waste of money. A digital transmission cannot "color" your picture or sound quality. Analog cables (including speaker wire) may be a different story, however. An analog signal can be easily corrupted by poor transmission properties in a cable that will degrade your end result. That in no way justifies the obscene prices that some cable manufacturers (especially boutique audiophile brands) charge. In my experience, most decently-shielded cables are just as good as any other. For speaker wire, I recommend 14-gauge for most applications, or 12-gauge for particularly long runs. Some of our audiophile readers may take issue with this and argue that their $5,000 Toslink cables caused a revelation in the clarity of their soundstages. But I have to take a practical view of such things. If an alleged difference in video or audio quality can't be consistently demonstrated in double-blind testing, then that difference just plain doesn't exist. Your question about high-end Blu-ray players was covered in this later column, and at least obliquely addressed in this question about Bose (in relation to expensive electronics in general) and in my OPPO BDP-83 review. Digital vs. Analog Audio Transmission Q: I have been helping someone hook up a new Samsung BD-P3600 and told him that the best option for audio was to use the analog outputs, since his receiver does not have HDMI but does have 5.1 analog. He said that everywhere he read and everyone he talked to told him that the Toslink optical was the best bet. We tried both and the optical definitely sounded crisper. But this does not make sense to me as the analog would be sending the HD audio formats and the optical would not. Is there any reason why the analog would not be better than the optical? All the cables are connected properly and set up to the extent the player will let you set it up (it lets you choose speaker size but not distance or volumes). A: The truth of the matter is that there's more to sound quality than lossy or lossless audio formats. When you make a choice between digital and analog audio transmission, you change the location of the audio decoding and the digital-to-analog conversion. That last step in particular can have a tremendous impact on your end sound quality. I've covered this a bit in this column, this one, and this one. That last article was specifically referring to differences in transmission between analog and HDMI when both keep the signal lossless. However, the basic principle also applies to S/PDIF. It's perfectly possible to get better results from a lossy signal transmitted to a receiver over Toslink than a lossless signal transmitted over multi-channel analog, if the DAC components in the receiver are superior to those in the disc player. It's also very possible that you've simply experienced a difference in volume, not really a difference in quality. I talk about that in my Uncompressed vs. Lossless Audio article. That's it for our retrospective. No Homework this week. We'll be back with some fresh topics next week. Keep those questions coming. Joshua Zyber's opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of this site, its owners or employees.Posted Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 11:55 AM PDT by: -
'Saints Road to XLIV: Collector's Edition' Announced for Blu-ray[teaser]Fans of the NFL's New Orleans Saints are in for a treat this June! [/teaser] Warner Brothers has announced 'Saints Road to XLIV: Collector's Edition' for Blu-ray on June 1. Specs haven't been revealed yet, but the four-disc set will include: Week 13 – New Orleans Saints vs. Washington Redskins, NFC Divisional Playoffs – Arizona Cardinals vs. New Orleans Saints, NFC Championship Game – Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints, and Super Bowl XLIV – New Orleans Saints vs. Indianapolis Colts. Suggested list price for the Blu-ray is still undetermined at this time. You can find the latest specs for 'Saints Road to XLIV: Collector's Edition' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under June 1.Posted Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 11:00 AM PDT by: -
'Tooth Fairy' Flutters to Blu-ray[teaser]Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will sprout wings and leave a Blu-ray under your pillow this May. [/teaser] In an early announcement to retailers, 20th Century Fox says the family comedy 'Tooth Fairy' also starring Julie Andrews and Billy Crystal is planned for high-definition release on May 4. Specs and supplements haven't been revealed yet, but the release will be a Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack. Suggested list price for the Blu-ray is $39.99. You can find the latest specs for 'Tooth Fairy' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under May 4.Posted Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 10:00 AM PDT by: -
'The Book of Eli' Announced for Blu-ray[teaser]Albert Hughes' hit post-apocalyptic thriller will turn high-definition into a wasteland this June. [/teaser] Warner Brothers has just revealed 'The Book of Eli' starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman is coming to Blu-ray on June 15. Specs haven't been revealed yet, but the Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack will include: The Lost Tales, Starting Over, Soundtrack Piece, Eli's Journey, and Additional Scenes, as well as Warner's Blu-ray exclusive Maximum Movie Mode. Suggested list price for the Blu-ray is still undetermined at this time. You can find the latest specs for 'The Book of Eli' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under June 15.Posted Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 09:40 AM PDT by: -
'Invictus' Announced for Blu-ray[teaser]Clint Eastwood's film about Nelson Mandela's involvement with South Africa's rugby team is headed for Blu-ray this May. [/teaser] Warner Brothers has announced 'Invictus' starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon for Blu-ray on May 18. The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack, and supplements will include "Matt Damon plays rugby" and an Invictus music trailer. Exclusive to this release is Picture-in-Picture movie exploration with cast/crew and the real people who lived this true story, Mandela Meets Morgan, and The Eastwood Factor documentary excerpts. Suggested list price for the Blu-ray is undetermined at this time. You can find the latest specs for 'Invictus' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under May 18.Posted Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 06:00 AM PDT by: -
Samsung BD-C6900 Available Now[teaser]The ultra-sleek and 3D capable BD-C6900 is available now from retailers, both on and off line. [/teaser] If you have a taste for 3D movies and a Blu-ray player with a slick design and transparent lid, your wants are all satisfied by the release of the C6900. It’s now available from Amazon, Best Buy, and a variety of other retailers. The BD-C6900 does a lot more than just 3D though. It’s got Samsung’s impressive Internet@TV, which allows access to Netflix, Blockbuster, Facebook, Twitter and more. It’s capable of playing audio and video files from your PC thanks to AllShare, and it’s capable of doing it wirelessly courtesy of built in WiFi. It’s an impressive player, and slim, at only 39mm high. It sports what Samsung calls “Ultra Fast Play.” The feature promises quick load times, which is a trend we’re excited to see continue. The BD-C6900 can be had now, for a price of $399. Source: AmazonPosted Thu Mar 18, 2010 at 10:00 AM PDT by: -
'Everlasting Moments' Blu-ray Dated and Detailed[teaser]The Criterion Collection is bringing Swedish filmmaker Jan Troell's romantic drama based on a true story to high-definition in June. [/teaser] The Criterion Collection says 'Everlasting Moments' is headed for Blu-ray on June 29. The Blu-ray release will feature 1080p video, a Swedish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack (with English subtitles), and supplements include: Jan Troell's Magic Mirror, an hour-long documentary about Troell's life and career; Short documentary on the making of Everlasting Moments, featuring interviews with Troell, cast, and crew; Documentary featuring photographs by the real Maria Larsson, accompanied by narration telling her story; Theatrical trailer; and a booklet featuring an essay by critic Armond White. Suggested list price for the Blu-ray has been set at $39.95. You can find the latest specs for 'Everlasting Moments' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under June 29.Posted Thu Mar 18, 2010 at 10:00 AM PDT by: -
Nvidia Brings 3D Blu-ray Compatibility to HTPCs[teaser]3DTV Play does more than just enable 3D gaming. It opens up the possibilities of your PC for full 3D Blu-ray support. [/teaser] Nvidia’s 3D Vision has gotten some amazing reviews. The combination of software and hardware takes games traditionally viewed in two dimensions and expands them to three. It’s not horribly expensive and it works out beautifully, but it won’t tackle 3D Blu-ray technology. 3DTV Play, Nvidia’s most recently announced piece of software, solves that problem. Compatibility is a cinch. If you’ve got a GeForce graphics card with an HDMI or DVI out – a 3D capable TV and glasses are required of course – you’re good to go. Simply pick up the new Nvidia software, install it, and enjoy 3D playback of your Blu-ray discs. You’re not going to get 3D in 1080p60 since you’re still going over HDMI 1.3, but 3DTV Play supports the much more common to Blu-rays 1080p24 so you’re not missing too much. Gamers will be happy to know that 720p60 is supported as well, so you’re set to enjoy the gaming 3D standard as well. 3DTV Play will be $39.99 when it launches this spring. If you’ve already picked up Nvidia 3D Vision, you can get 3DTV Play absolutely free. Not a bad setup! Source: NvidiaPosted Thu Mar 18, 2010 at 08:00 AM PDT by: -
'The Leopard' Announced for Blu-ray[teaser]The period drama centered around Sicilian Prince Don Fabrizio Salina is coming to Blu-ray in June. [/teaser] The Criterion Collection is bringing 'The Leopard' to high-definition on June 29. The Blu-ray release will feature 1080p video, an Italian LPCM mono soundtrack (with English subtitles), and supplements include: Audio commentary by film scholar Peter Cowie; A Dying Breed: The Making of The Leopard, an hour-long documentary featuring interviews with Claudia Cardinale, screenwriter Suso Ceccho D'Amico, Rotunno, filmmaker Sydney Pollack, and many others; Video interview with producer Goffredo Lombardo; Video interview with professor Millicent Marcus on the history behind The Leopard; Original theatrical trailers and newsreels; Stills gallery of rare behind-the-scenes production photos; and a booklet featuring an essay by film historian Michael Wood. Suggested list price for the Blu-ray has been set at $39.95. You can find the latest specs for 'The Leopard' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under June 29.Posted Thu Mar 18, 2010 at 08:00 AM PDT by:
