Toshiba HD-EP30 HD DVD Player. £119.99

moggsy

BluMonkey wrote: »

Your right ... I think there are good deals @ the moment on none digital TV's too what will it matter if you cant get a signal in a few years ... they are cheap:p

How much would a decent upscaling DVD player cost + 7 DVDs? About £120 I would guess so this is indeed a bargain as you're getting HD DVD thrown in effectively for free.

My HDTV has an analogue tuner but I happily watch digital TV through it - so I agree yes - lap up the bargains.

BluMonkey

OO7 wrote: »

You're obviously biased so I won't take your word for it.

At the end of the day it's down to the consumers. If HD becomes cheap enough and a lot of people buy into it then it will be the new format. However due to the Blu-ray propaganda machine and fanboys scaremongering people to not buy HD this might not happen. So who knows.

I never took anyones word for it either I owned an xbox 360 and coughed up the extra for the hd player ... then a bought a few movies.. then converted my garage into a 5 seat cinema... invested in a 12' screen updated to an Onkyo SR875 .. with Kef speakers in all cost me better part of £10k with a 1080P projector ... I wanted to get the most out of my investment ... i.e sound quality and picture quality ...

I borrowed a friends Sony Player and also did the research as I do with everything I buy ...

I'm not preaching for people to buy Blu Ray only to research it more ... yes its more expensive but its worth every penny .. maybe I should of bought a Skoda great well built car value for money ... but I opt for an Audi hmmm

As for fan boy haha I'm no boy @ my age :rotfl:

moggsy

BluMonkey wrote: »

Until one format wins and one backs out the Hi def market cant move forward, which is why Warner Bros have taken a stand...

"The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger," Warner Bros. chairman-CEO Barry Meyer seconded.

Spend £100 more and get Blu ... I buy all my BD from amazon.co.uk from US sellers for less than £10 inc delivery ...

www.amazon.co.uk have deal @ the moment on a sharp player:


Sharp BD-HP20H - Blu Ray DVD Player - With 1080P Full HD
Was:£299.99 Price:£229.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. You Save:£70.00 (23%)
Availability: In stock. Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.

I think you'll find that this player is already out of date. Does it have an ethernet port and 1 GB of memory? If not then it will not support Blu Ray Profile 2.0 (BD Live) and so it will not support the extras in future Blu Ray disks. At least the HD DVD standard was pretty much finalised before they started making the players.

The only Blu Ray player worth buying at the moment is the PS3 as this will support Profile 2.0 and should support any future standard changes.

BluMonkey

moggsy wrote: »

I think you'll find that this player is already out of date. Does it have an ethernet port and 1 GB of memory? If not then it will not support Blu Ray Profile 2.0 (BD Live) and so it will not support the extras in future Blu Ray disks. At least the HD DVD standard was pretty much finalised before they started making the players.

The only Blu Ray player worth buying at the moment is the PS3 as this will support Profile 2.0 and should support any future standard changes.

I agree Ive just ordered a PS3 80gb from amazon.com and having it sent via a forwarding service I got off this site in all will cost me £350 inc postage and the service costs ...

I was only offering an example for price concious ... I will always spend more for the right product and do search out bargins

But again yes you are totally right

moggsy

BluMonkey wrote: »

I agree Ive just ordered a PS3 80gb from amazon.com and having it sent via a forwarding service I got off this site in all will cost me £350 inc postage and the service costs ...

I was only offering an example for price concious ... I will always spend more for the right product and do search out bargins

But again yes you are totally right

Out of interest BluMonkey, why didn't you just buy the PS3 40GB for around £299 from a UK retailer?

richardb70

Trying to avoid a "Blu-Ray vs HD DVD" confrontation here, here's my piece on why this is a great deal:

For a small amount of £££ over a regular upscaler, this will do a superb job with your existing DVDs (I used to use a Panasonic S97 which is considered a VERY good upscaler). You also get 7 free HD DVDs with it. How can this not be considered a bargain? Yes, the player has a slower startup time compared to a "regular" DVD player, but remember that these are mini PCs, with hard discs, operating systems and the like.

As regards the format war, the situation is as follows. Blu-Ray has more studio support - currently. In the past, studios have gone backwards and forwards. Warner Bros recently went Blu-Ray exclusive, which was considered the death blow to HD DVD by many, but HD DVD still has unwavering support from Universal, Paramount and Dreamworks, plus many more smaller studios.

So it comes down to "what films do you like"? Blu-Ray's "gold" films are the Spiderman series, the Pirates films, Casino Royale, and the Pixars. HD DVD has the Bourne films, Batman Begins, Shrek, Star Trek, Mission Impossibles, etc. Both have much the same amount of discs out there, and due to global distribution, you can sometimes find an HD DVD version of a Blu-Ray exclusive (e.g. Fantastic 4 in Germany).

The war is definitely not over yet. Since Warner's announcement, Toshiba have slashed prices worldwide in an attempt to market their players as "upscalers plus". This "trojan horse" strategy seems to be working, they're shifting huge quantities of players over in the US.

These EP30 players are very good, I have the EP35 which is recommended if you have an old home cinema amp with the 5.1 analogue inputs (allows you to listen to lossless sound).

Blu-Ray players are not complete specification players, where as HD DVD players are "final". What this means is that Blu-Ray released a cut-down "profile" (1.0) for the initial wave of players, with less memory and unable to deal with certain extras. Profile 1.1 players are out in the US but are expensive. Profile 2.0 players are rare. While it's acknowledged that Profile 1.0 players WILL play all films, they won't show picture-in-picture type extras (and others?), but will have increasingly long load times with 1.1 (and above) discs - sometimes 3 - 4 minutes!

(Note that this does not apply to the Playstation 3. This was recently upgraded to Profile 1.1, and should be Profile 2.0. Because of the massive processor and generous memory, load times are much smaller).

My advice is to nab one of these cheap HD DVD players, enjoy the upscaling and enjoy your free films. If you want to buy more, then look at importing from the US (cheap exchange rate) as HD DVD is region-free (unlike Blu-Ray which has region coding on a percentage of its releases).

If you're buying Blu-Ray, either get a PS3 or wait for the players to reach a standard you're comfortable with, but be aware that the cheapest "standalone" players in the UK are Profile 1.0 and cannot be upgraded.

Hope this helps!

BluMonkey

moggsy wrote: »

Out of interest BluMonkey, why didn't you just buy the PS3 40GB for around £299 from a UK retailer?

I also used to have a PS2 and still have a load of games ... 40Gb version is not backwards compatible...

The PS3 is a replacement with my samsung BD-P1200 POS which is going in my living room and my Samsung BD-P1000 thats currently in the living room is going into the bedroom... Both these players as all my movies are US region A so that is the other reason Ive gone for a US player and for the sake of £50 over a UK 40gb it was a no brainer ...

This format war is funny though I suppose we all take sides depending on what we have bought personally .. its the same as my car ... etc .. everyone has their own opinion and my view expressed are only my views and my opinion ... Im old enough to remember the VHS betamax war and I was about 11 when it started .. my mate had an argument then because his dad had bought betamax and told me how we had a lemon ... famous last words...

I just want this over so the mass purchase brings prices down further ... my BD-P1000 cost me £460 my BD-P1200 cost me £300 all bought @ release which admittedly was foolish ... you can now get a BD-P1400 for around £180 but I wont have another samsuck given to me ...:rotfl:

moggsy

BluMonkey wrote: »

I also used to have a PS2 and still have a load of games ... 40Gb version is not backwards compatible...

A US PS3 will not play UK PS2 games though...:(

BluMonkey

moggsy wrote: »

A US PS3 will not play UK PS2 games though...:(

My Ps2 was chipped and I bought games from US because they were cheaper ... when I sold it on ebay I kept hold of the none UK games ...

Im taking the advice of someone on this site re importing the PS3 ... if your interested I will let you know how I get on ... The 80gb sell on ebay for well over £400 ... I was going to buy another standalone player, but in light of several discussions Ive decided to get the PS3 ... although my gf is not happy with the idea haha, it took all my time to convince her to turn the garage into a cinema and how it will free up space in the living room haha

moggsy

BluMonkey wrote: »

My Ps2 was chipped and I bought games from US because they were cheaper ... when I sold it on ebay I kept hold of the none UK games ...

Im taking the advice of someone on this site re importing the PS3 ... if your interested I will let you know how I get on ... The 80gb sell on ebay for well over £400 ... I was going to buy another standalone player, but in light of several discussions Ive decided to get the PS3 ... although my gf is not happy with the idea haha, it took all my time to convince her to turn the garage into a cinema and how it will free up space in the living room haha

Sounds like you've got it all sorted then. The PS3 was definitely the best choice for a Blu Ray player at the moment - with the added bonus of being able to play games.

I think you deserve a medal for convincing your girlfriend to let you set up a home cinema in the garage. Good work fella!