 LBDSLLightning BoltVIP
join:2002-01-07
Auburn Hills, MI | reply to Snakeoil
Re: Upverting DVD players vs Blue ray DVD players. Blu-ray players are backwards compatible, so yes they play regular DVD's, as far as other formats, I can pull out my user guide, but I personally don' mess with anything other then blu-ray, and standard DVD's
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Lightning Bolt Technologies |
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| Hazy Arc,
Just because you can't afford a blu-ray player doesn't mean it's dead, it just means, well, you can't afford one. |
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 MattAll noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | said by idigg :
Hazy Arc,
Just because you can't afford a blu-ray player doesn't mean it's dead, it just means, well, you can't afford one.
It's definitely not dead, but even with players at the magical $199 mark, people STILL aren't buying them. With all the problems the players are having, it'll be awhile before we know if they boom or bust.
Who in the hell wants to constantly update the firmware on a DVD player in the living room? |
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 nixenRockin' the BoxenPremium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA | said by Matt:Who in the hell wants to constantly update the firmware on a DVD player in the living room? You don't have any other HD components, do you? I know when I got my A/V unit, it wouldn't work right with my TV (was only delivering 720i - I had to update the firmware on both the TV and the A/V unit to get the full 1080p). At least with the TV, all I had to do was pop a thumb drive into the TV. With the A/V unit, I had to do it via an RS232 link to my laptop.
Updating newer BDPs is as simple as hooking it up to your home network and hitting "update" on your system menus. Older devices are more of a chort. You have to burn a CD-R with the firmware; pop the disc in the BDP and let it go (granted, it sucks to waste an entire CD-R for considerably less than 100MB of data). Still... Not *too* onerous.
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The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell |
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nixenRockin' the BoxenPremium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA | reply to Matt
said by Matt:Who in the hell wants to constantly update the firmware on a DVD player in the living room? You don't have any other HD components, do you? I know when I got my A/V unit, it wouldn't work right with my TV (was only delivering 720i - I had to update the firmware on both the TV and the A/V unit to get the full 1080p). At least with the TV, all I had to do was pop a thumb drive into the TV. With the A/V unit, I had to do it via an RS232 link to my laptop.
Updating newer BDPs is as simple as hooking it up to your home network and hitting "update" on your system menus. Older devices are more of a chort. You have to burn a CD-R with the firmware; pop the disc in the BDP and let it go (granted, it sucks to waste an entire CD-R for considerably less than 100MB of data). Still... Not *too* onerous.
At any rate, it's less the Blu-Ray specs that are problematic: it's generally the HDMI or other inter-device connectivity.
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The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell |
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sailorPremium
join:2003-10-21
Long Island
kudos:6 | reply to Matt
I have a question if I may. I have this TV
»www.tacp.toshiba.com/televisions···32rv530u
still sitting in its box and will probably set up soon. I was thinking about buying a stand alone Blu-Ray player for it for movies ( I'm not a gamer ). Now, I have a desktop and a laptop that has a blu-ray drive and and the laptop has a HDMI port/connection. My desktop with the blu ray drive is hooked up to a Sync Master 2493HM monitor »www.samsung.com/us/consumer/deta···EEFV/XAA which has 1080p.
My question is is there any advantage to my purchasing a stand alone blu-ray player to watch movies on the 32" Toshiba or am I just better off for now hooking up either my desktop or laptop to the Toshiba and use the blu-ray drive in them to watch blu-ray movies on the 32" Toshiba? |
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MattAll noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | said by sailor:I have a question if I may. I have this TV » www.tacp.toshiba.com/televisions···32rv530ustill sitting in its box and will probably set up soon. I was thinking about buying a stand alone Blu-Ray player for it for movies ( I'm not a gamer ). Now, I have a desktop and a laptop that has a blu-ray drive and and the laptop has a HDMI port/connection. My desktop with the blu ray drive is hooked up to a Sync Master 2493HM monitor » www.samsung.com/us/consumer/deta···EEFV/XAA which has 1080p. My question is is there any advantage to my purchasing a stand alone blu-ray player to watch movies on the 32" Toshiba or am I just better off for now hooking up either my desktop or laptop to the Toshiba and use the blu-ray drive in them to watch blu-ray movies on the 32" Toshiba? Technically, there should be no difference. The latest version of PowerDVD supports that Blu-Ray Live crap, so as long as your software is up-to-date and your components are all HDCP compliant, you're set.
Admittedly it would be a bigger hassle to use your laptop (do you have a remote for it?) but otherwise no difference. |
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MattAll noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | reply to nixen
said by nixen:said by Matt:Who in the hell wants to constantly update the firmware on a DVD player in the living room? You don't have any other HD components, do you? I know when I got my A/V unit, it wouldn't work right with my TV (was only delivering 720i - I had to update the firmware on both the TV and the A/V unit to get the full 1080p). At least with the TV, all I had to do was pop a thumb drive into the TV. With the A/V unit, I had to do it via an RS232 link to my laptop. Updating newer BDPs is as simple as hooking it up to your home network and hitting "update" on your system menus. Older devices are more of a chort. You have to burn a CD-R with the firmware; pop the disc in the BDP and let it go (granted, it sucks to waste an entire CD-R for considerably less than 100MB of data). Still... Not *too* onerous. I have had to update my TV via a thumb-drive, but again, Samsung offered to send a tech onsite to do it. How many families are going to be knowledgeable enough to hook their Blu-Ray player into their home network and update it? A technician isn't coming onsite for a $199 DVD player.
IMHO, the firmware update silliness is a HUGE crutch under Blu-Ray's arm right now. If there will eventually be a level-set playing field where people won't have to update their firmware every 60-90 days to play a movie, then the issue is moot.
Products that inconvenience people don't tend to sell very well. Remember that phrase "12 O'clock flasher?" |
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sailorPremium
join:2003-10-21
Long Island
kudos:6 | reply to Matt
Yes, it has a remote.
Thanks much! |
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nixenRockin' the BoxenPremium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA | reply to Matt
said by Matt:I have had to update my TV via a thumb-drive, but again, Samsung offered to send a tech onsite to do it. How many families are going to be knowledgeable enough to hook their Blu-Ray player into their home network and update it? The same ones that are on XBox Live or the PlayStation Network? The same ones that are reading email or surfing the web at home? Popping an Ethernet cable into a device isn't exactly rocket science.
said by Matt:A technician isn't coming onsite for a $199 DVD player. You sure about that? That's the whole point of Firedog, Geek Squad, etc.
said by Matt:IMHO, the firmware update silliness is a HUGE crutch under Blu-Ray's arm right now. If there will eventually be a level-set playing field where people won't have to update their firmware every 60-90 days to play a movie, then the issue is moot. Hyperbole, much? I've had my BDP for about a year, now. I haven't had to update it for any movies to play on it. I updated it today, simply so that I would know what the steps were for my prior post. Frankly, I have to update my XBox and my PCs far more often than that (don't you?).
said by Matt:Products that inconvenience people don't tend to sell very well. Remember that phrase "12 O'clock flasher?" Sounds like you've had a *lot* of experience with BDPs. 
At any rate, when I hooked up my BDP to my AV unit, the two units "spoke" over the HDMI cable, worked out each other's capabilities, and came to an agreement on a proper configuration to maximize the capabilities of the BDP/AV setup. Does that sound "inconvenient" to you?
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The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell |
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nixenRockin' the BoxenPremium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA | reply to sailor
said by sailor:I have a question if I may. My question is is there any advantage to my purchasing a stand alone blu-ray player to watch movies on the 32" Toshiba or am I just better off for now hooking up either my desktop or laptop to the Toshiba and use the blu-ray drive in them to watch blu-ray movies on the 32" Toshiba? Depends. You're apt to go through cables and have to repair connector ports more often if you're constantly connecting and disconnecting the laptop and TV. Your video quality may also suffer as the contacts in the HDMI cable get fouled.
Other than that, you're probably just fine (I'm assuming your laptop has a remote control for videos). You'd be even more fine if you have one of the laptops that lets you use your media player independent of the laptop actually being booted up (no point spinning hard disks and sucking power unnecessarily).
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The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell |
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sailorPremium
join:2003-10-21
Long Island
kudos:6 | These are the specs
HP Pavilion dv9700t customizable Notebook PC
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.00 GHz, 2 MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
17.0" WXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1440 x 900)
2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
FREE Upgrade to HP Imprint Finish (Radiance) + Webcam + Microphone
Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection
240GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (120GB x 2)
Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer
High Capacity 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
and it does have HP QuickPlay ...so you can bypass Windows and directly play movies, music, video, and photo slideshow collections whether they're located on the hard drive, in the optical drive, or on a memory card.
( the above taken from a website )
Thanks for the help. I'm all set now so won't buy a stand alone blu-ray player for now...will use the laptop which I have only used once and has been sitting doing nothing so time to put it to use. |
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