Blu Ray

[cojak]

Just a question - why a dvd recorder?

Why not a pvr?

[gingerjedi]

Err, that's exactly why I have gone for the PS3.

Plus its supposed to be a LOT quieter in operation than the 360.

Didn't fancy many decent games then.

The 360 isn’t very loud on the dashboard which is all you need for streaming... it’s the DVD that sounds like a jet engine.

[Zorba]

Just a question - why a dvd recorder?

Why not a pvr?

I'd go for a PVR like that Humax if I could get the recordings off it.

[gadgetman]

A PC (or Mac) just for streaming seems like overkill to me. I can do that (in SD) with a 20 quid XBOX and XBMC.

What about HD streaming? Does the Mac have a HD output?

I am only moving to the PS3 (from the XBOX/XBMC combo) to get HD streaming and Blu Ray.

That's why I have a Mac Mini. It's quieter than both of them.

I have a 360 for games.
DVD for movies
Mac Mini for streaming media.

Will most likely opt for HD-DVD when I get round to getting an HD TV.

[Zorba]

A PC (or Mac) just for streaming seems like overkill to me. I can do that (in SD) with a 20 quid XBOX and XBMC.

What about HD streaming? Does the Mac have a HD output?

I am only moving to the PS3 (from the XBOX/XBMC combo) to get HD streaming and Blu Ray.

XBMC has been superb value these past 4 or 5 years (IIRC) and even now continues to grow - you can get plugins to stream from a Dreambox satellite receiver, for example. I can't wait to get hold of a decent equivalent with a HDMI output, but I've got to.

[Ardesco]

Despite all the Bluray blurb I don't know anyone who has a dedicated Bluray player and Sony have a bad track record on trying to introduce new formats... Betamax, minidisk etc, it may look popular now but Betamax was pushed for years before they finally gave up.

Betamax was the better format, it just didn't get the support from the people who released the movies.

Sony have learnt since this and have bought the rights to a lot of films that will only be available on Blue Ray format if you want to watch them in HD. Sony will never release these films on HD-DVD so either Blue-Ray will win the format war, or there will always be Blue-Ray and HD-DVD and we will have a bunch of players that can handle both disks (Blue-Ray drive and an HD-DVD drive).

I will probably be looking at buying a PS3 at some point next year to get some Blue-Ray goodness and a free games console in the mix.

[oracleslave]

I will probably be looking at buying a PS3 at some point next year to get some Blue-Ray goodness and a free games console in the mix.

Do it. Worth it for the upscaling of your existing DVD collection alone imo

[cojak]

I'd go for a PVR like that Humax if I could get the recordings off it.

I'm fairly certain you can - I'll find out more and let you know...

[Ardesco]

Do it. Worth it for the upscaling of your existing DVD collection alone imo

On a slightly unrelated note, does anybody know of any computer software that upscales DVD's?

My monitor can do High Definition and it would be nice to get a look at an upscaled DVD to see what the image quality is like.

Also I'm in two minds atm as to wheather to buy a new PVR, the latest PVR's from SONY, Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung etc all have around 160Gb of hard drive space, the ability to read an record DVD's and they can upscale to 1080p. I have been tempted to buy one to reduce the amount of boxes under the TV and get upscaling as a bonus, but I would also like to build a media centre PC so I can shuttle TV around the network and into any room I desire. not sure what to do atm....

[cojak]

I'd go for a PVR like that Humax if I could get the recordings off it.

VideoRedo will do this for you. The Humax has a usb connection on the front of the box (hidden by a cover) that you plug into your machine.