Ok, I admit that I stole this week’s blog post from myself, but I’m still getting questions on this, so here it is. I’m also posting older Gearworks and Hook Me Up articles over the coming weeks so we have a better catalog of helpful articles that had been in the mag but hadn’t been posted here.
I've gotten a number of really good questions on my last blog post about 1080i and 1080p. Instead of burying the answers at the end of the comments in the last blog, I figured I'd post them here and answer them. I edited them down for space and stuff (sorry).
There has been a lot of concern and confusion over the difference between 1080i and 1080p. This stems from the inability of many TVs to accept 1080p. To make matters worse, the help lines at many of the TV manufacturers (that means you, Sony), are telling people that their newly-bought 1080p displays are really 1080i. They are idiots, so let me say this in big bold print, as far as movies are concerned THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 1080i AND 1080p. See, I did it in caps too, so it must be true. Let me explain (if your eyes glaze over, the short version is at the end).
It's taken a while to get all the facts straight. In fact, a few are still not in. But one thing is sure, the BD-P1000 doesn't look as good as the Toshiba HD-XA1. The reasons why took dozens of phone calls and a trek to the far side of Los Angeles. The complete story will be in two complete articles in our October issue. For now, here's the story of how we figured out most of it:
There is a lot of misinformation, lies, and myths out there regarding the new HD on a disc formats. Both HD DVD and Blu-ray have their strengths and weaknesses. I’m getting enough emails on the topic that I figured I’d do a post full of truthiness about these new formats.
HES2006 is over, but here are a bunch of shots from the show. I met a bunch of great people, and despite the labor Contributor John Higgins and I put into the show (with the HTGamer Gaming Pavilion), I can’t wait for next year. Check out the shots in our Galleries.
I hope you all will join us, if you’re in LA, for the Home Entertainment Show 2006. It’s at the Sheraton Gateway next to scenic LAX. If you want to see me make a fool of myself, I’ll be leading a panel discussion on Saturday at 2:00.
As promised, here’s Gary’s review of the Toshiba HD-XA1. For those that want a little more depth, we’ll be running a longer version of the review and more in the August issue.
I had this whole clever thing planned where I was going to do an hour-buy-hour recap of each of the 33 hours in Florida, but I realized that would be excruciatingly boring. So here’s the highlights:
E3 opened this morning, and it was the usual jumble of people and wonder of video gaming. Surprisingly, though, the show itself seems to have been toned down. It is still loud and garish, but there seemed to be more room to move in the aisles, and it was at least 30 dB quieter than before. You could actually talk to the person next to you in a normal voice, something not possible in previous years. Here's the PS3 in black. According to the latest specs, the $500 PS3 will not have the card readers, wi-fi, or, get this, HDMI. My guess is that it will output component at 1080i. Even the $600 version has gone from 2 HDMI jacks to just one. Perhaps most amusing is that they will play SACDs. It well go on sale November 17. From reports I’ve heard, lines have already formed for one of the 2,000,000 available on that date. Two-mil more will ship at the end of December (after Christmas).
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