January 4, 2008
4:22 PM
4:22 PM
Aw, rats.
According to a new press release, "Warner Bros. Entertainment to Release its High-Definition DVD Titles Exclusively in the Blu-Ray Disc Format Beginning Later This Year". Rats. Well, it's like I've said from the get-go – I have a HD-DVD player, I will have a Blu-Ray player, and until my HD-DVD player dies and it's impossible to get another one, my current HD library will function just fine.
However, this might be a nudge in the butt to buy that PS3 sooner rather than later, before I buy any more HD movies...
Just remember that the PS3 isn't quite a fully functional BD player -- no 24fps or 1080p output. That's why I've held off; since I don't really need a PS3, I'd rather spring for a better player.
And now it looks like I've got the excuse to do so...
Well, it's not quite THAT simple. It DOES do 1080p, just not 1080p/24 -- it outputs 1080p/60. From UltimateAVmag.com:
Man, just when I thought I had this whole 480/720/1080i/1080p thing sussed, I find out there's more than one type of 1080p. This whole home theater thing? Turtles all the way down, I'm tellin' ya... :)
Actually, it looks like I was speaking completely out of turn -- remember the whole firmware update thing that the PS3 offers? Well apparently, they made 1080p24 output available with one of those updates a while back. It still doesn't have the full audio output capabilities of some of the dedicated players -- but those dedicated players will not be firmware-upgradable to the blu-ray 2.0 profile. But the PS3 will be, ensuring forwards-compatibility. (Backwards-compatibility with PS/PS2 games is a little iffier, since the new models use software-emulation, but it looks like most of them will work -- and often be upscaled to 1080i.)
Of course, with a dedicated player you could use your existing universal remote to operate the player, and with a PS3 you'll need a dedicated one, but that's not really a deal-breaker for me. Nor is the audio output, since I don't (yet) have an up-to-date receiver or 7.1-speaker setup (I'm making do with a positively ancient 5.1-speaker setup).
I actually came this close to plunking down the ducats for a PS3 today. After all, today's the last day to take advantage of the "5 free movies" promotion. But then I looked at the fine print, and there really aren't a lot of good choices for the specific movies. So I think I'll wait to see if they launch a new promotion soon.
But I think I will definitely be going with the PS3.