Top Selling (including Pre-Order) Blu Ray And HD DVD Movies at Amazon as of 10/15/2007 (last week):

Blu Ray

1. Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl (N/A)
2. Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest (N/A)
3. Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (N/A)
4. The Prestige (N/A)
5. Enemy of the State (N/A)
6. Deja Vu (N/A)
7. Gone in 60 Seconds (N/A)
8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (N/A)
9. The Lookout (N/A)
10. Bridge to Terabithia (N/A)

HD DVD

1. Transformers (1)
2. Planet Earth: The Complete Collection (2)
3. 300 (6)
4. 2001 - A Space Odyssey (9)
5. Top Gun (3)
6. Blade Runner (Five-Disc Complete Collector's Edition) (N/A)
7. Shrek the Third (10)
8. Heroes - Season 1 (5)
9. Batman Begins (N/A)
   
10. Evan Almighty (4)

Refurbished Toshiba HD-A20 1080p HD DVD Player for $229 

 

 

Today's Show:
Paramount released the Transformers HD-DVD on Tuesday and if you have an HD-DVD player, this one is a must buy.  If you don't have a player yet, this movie might be a good reason to finally pull the trigger and get one.  As a quick overview, the video quality is amazing, the surround sound is awesome and it's packed with special features.  We aren't typically big fans of special features, but some of them are really worth your time.

Transformers HD-DVD from Paramount Studios
Buy now

Audio and Video

• Video is encoded using MP4 AVC
• They tried all the codecs, including VC1, but MP4 came out the best
• The special effects look flawless
• We weren't able to pick up any "green screen" effect (maybe we were just too engrossed in the movie)
• ILM (Industrial Lights and Motion), the same company behind the recent Star Wars movies handled most of the special effects.
• The Computer Models for the transformers are the most advanced ILM has created to date
• Optimus Prime alone uses over 10,000 moving parts
• There were action scenes that moved too fast or seemed to blur on film, but were crystal clear in HD
• The live content (actors, scenery, etc.) looked perfect
• Audio is encoded using Dolby Digital Plus
• One of the best surround sound experiences we've had in the home
• The choice of DD+ was a little controversial - they didn't include Dolby TrueHD or DTS Master
• The trade off is between a better audio codec and more special features
• Paramount's opinion is that the DD+ track is as good as almost anyone needs, unless you have "dog ears"
• They could be right - would 90% of the population know the difference?  Do they have good enough gear to even make a difference?
• How does this compare to Superbit?
• Special features were great
• The HD-DVD format allowed Paramount to do things that Blu-ray doesn't support
• Aside: even if Blu-ray adds support for the features, existing players wouldn't support them
• HD-DVD was "market ready" from launch
• Claim a simple chapter jump is 3 lines of HDi code vs. 1 page of BDJ code
  
• Split screen video
• Action sequences from different camera angles
• B-roll video
• video of the actors doing the voice work
• Web enabled features are the next big thing for HD-DVD (exclusive to HD-DVD)
  
• Paramount sees them as a bridge between the now and the future (10 years) when everything will be web delivered
• They keep the disk "alive"
• Special content available for download, something new every day for 7 days after release
• One of the web special features is really cool
• It turns the movie into almost like a video game display - not interactive
• you see icons of each transformer that light up when the Bot is on screen
• They have a "health" meter that gets reduced during fight sequences
• Also has funny fictional "facts" that display during the movie.
  
• Total of around 10 hours of content between the 2 discs
• 5 Easter Eggs - when you find them, let us know
• As a hint on one, watch all the credits, all the way to the end
• The disc is targeted at Transformers nuts and Kids - and it does a great job meeting the needs of those audiences
• Rated PG-13

The HT Guys love their Starbucks. If you want to say thanks, a cup of joe will do just fine!