I really hate the fact that the console with a hard drive is $400, plus many of the games starting out at $59-$69, but then you add a $200 hd-dvd system, and that's pretty much the same price as the premium ps3 system.
The good news - if you don't want to play original xbox games or go on xbox live to download updates, etc, then you can get by with the $299 core system. Unfortunately, you'd miss the update which enable 1080p support in the 360, but that's mainly for the highest end hdtv sets any way.
But this is about HD-DVD...... If you already have an xbox 360, it's definately a great price, if it works good. I would have wished they'd have a drive swap out/upgrade rather than an external enclosure, however. Some people speculate that microsoft will eventually integrate both the 360 and hd drives together one day, but who knows.
The good news is that while hd-dvd has the ability to limit resolution on component cables, from what I've read, none of the hd-dvds have that system enabled in their discs yet, and I hope there aren't many in the future, but when mass piracy of HD-DVDs starts happening a lot, I'm sure the studios will go hogwild on it.
Hi-Def content and who needs it - my take on it..
I have both a HD tv tuner and a 4dtv system with several hd channels on it. PBS HD, Discovery HD, Starz HD, Wealth TVHD, Showtime HD, several network stations in HD. Your biggest advantages on HD content would be stuff released in the 1.7x:1/1.8x ratio, as this fills the television screen. Content released in 2.3x:1 ratio still has the black bars. Not many movies are recorded in 1.7x:1/1.8x:1 ratio - maybe 5%.
Probably who'd take the most advantage of HD with all types of movies would be those with large screens and projectors, which could have 200" or more screen size.
Each program also has different qualities. While a lot of movies or shows may have been recorded in HD, I find a very small percentage actually get it right. I'm not just talking about slightly more detail, but the right colors and every thing. Movies use so many different filters that make getting those colors almost impossible. I can't even explain it, but when you see an HD presentation, whether it's a football game or documentary, and it has the right colors that just pop out, you just know it's what HD should look like.
Older movies, some low budget, or ones that were originally grainy in VHS or DVD probably won't look much better in hi-def. I also imagine we'll eventually see upconverted stuff as well.
By 2007, all OTA networks have to take analog programming completely out of service and provide digital OTA signals. When I say digital, not all providers are actually sending out an HD signal. The HD tuners will be able to pick up most, if not all of these digital signals. There are so many HD standards in tuners and cable boxes that some will have problems picking up some of the signals, while others should be compatible with all. It's kind of hit and miss.
Digital signals actually are on the same frequency or transponder or channels as the analog channels. The difference is that the fcc is taking out many of the analog frequencies, to make room for more cell phone services. What's left could be multicasted. Multicasting is basically sub-channels or virtual channels. For example, if you receive channel 5 analog, which is only one channel, that same channel may be able to hold several channels. My local channel 5 is multicasting 3 pbs digital stations: 1 hd, 1 SD, and 1 low res/bandwidth station.
Some of the networks may also have HD broadcasts that aren't at the correct ratio or resolution, etc, even though they're being broadcast in 720p or 1080i.
4DTV HD broadcast have a max 26mbps bandwidth, and OTA broadcasts have around a 19mbps bandwidth, while HD-DVD has 36mbps bandwidth. So, HD-DVD has almost double the bandwidth of ota broadcasts and almost 1/3rd more than 4DTV. 4DTV uses mpeg-2 and ota probably uses mpeg-2, while hd-dvd use both mpeg-2 and mpeg-4. The mpeg-2 may just be for backwards compatibility for dvds though. Star choice probably uses the same bandwidth and type of 4dtv.
So, maybe this bit of information will help any one wanting to know if they want to buy an HDTV and maybe an HD-DVD addon.
In conclusion, if you have a lot of room for a large screen tv or projector and a nice theater system, HD can definately be worth it. OTA (over the air) stuff is OK, for free at least, and then you have digital cable, dish, 4dtv, star choice, directv, bell expressvu - and then several formats of HD media to choose from: the old dvhs, which can be hard to find and has a limited library of movies, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, and possibly VMD one day.
If you're wanting a small HDTV, then I don't really see enough content to make it worthwhile as of yet. I've got a medium-sized 32" hdtv and those black bars I still don't like on it.
I would probably still buy the hd-dvd addon system, if enough content was released at 1.7x:1/1.8x:1
Examples of 1.85:1 movies:
The Abominable Dr Phibes
Resident Evil 1
The Abyss
After the Sunset
Airplane II
Alexander
Alien, Aliens, Alien3
Amityville Horror
Apt pupil
Arachnophobia
on and on...
