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MusicGiants launches VideoGiants, with HD movies from Paramount

by Richard Lawler posted Jan 9th 2008 at 3:18PM

The HD digital distribution club just got a little bigger, as lossless audio distributor MusicGiants is launching its VideoGiants service with 250 movies from Paramount, and additional content from HDNet. Available in 1080p or 1080i WMV format, users can purchase the movies in 10-packs for $159 delivered via Seagate hard drives or, in a few months, one at a time via direct download to a home media server. After that, it can be viewed via the media PC or Media Extender (including Xbox 360). MusicGiants has been selling HD audio tracks to high end home theater owners via its network of dealers and installers for about two years, with plans to make this type of service available to the mass market soon. Still think the future of HD content is on shiny discs?

Xbox Live Marketplace vs HD DVD comparison

by Ben Drawbaugh posted Dec 15th 2006 at 10:20PM

HD DVD compareJake Ludington has written up a comparison between the Xbox Life Marketplace and HD DVD. Because of the limited titles available at the Marketplace, the only title available for both is V for Vendetta. He wasn't able to see the difference between the two so he captured both to his PC at 720p and compared them. Although this is less than ideal, the results are still interesting. The only real difference he noticed was in the blacks, while HD DVD was able to display true blacks, the Marketplace version was not. There is no doubt that the Marketplace videos look great, but we are most disappointed that he didn't mention the difference in the sound. HD DVD obviously excels in this area since it isn't limited to Dolby Digital. A three way comparison between the Marketplace the HD DVD add-on and the stand alone HD DVD player would be even more interesting.

Xbox 360 fall update details revealed: 1080p, auto-download, WMV playback and more

by Richard Lawler posted Oct 30th 2006 at 12:49PM

Microsoft has finally seen fit to release the details of its Xbox 360 dashboard update. Scheduled for release the morning of October 31st -- yes, that's tomorrow -- the update will add the much-talked about 1080p / HD DVD support, as well as the ability to play WMV files from a connected PC, disc, or USB storage device. Currently, users can only stream video from connected Windows Media Center PCs, but any XP machine running Windows Media Connect or Windows Media Player 11 should be able to do it post-update, as demonstrated during a press conference in Japan with several 720p-encoded videos. This compares to the PlayStation 3's recently-revealed compatibility with MPEG-4 and other video files, but so far neither has announced support for DivX / Xvid and Media Transcode 360 still requires Media Center. Apparently only 84 things needed fixing this time, down from the 125 in the spring update, including the option to automatically download demos of new Xbox Live Arcade titles, Zune media streaming, wireless headset support, XNA Game Studio Express and numerous improvements to video playback and menu handling.

[Via AV Watch]

WMV-HD vs DivX-HD

by Matt Burns posted Jul 7th 2006 at 9:55AM


So what is the best codec to use when recording high-def? WMV-HD or DivX-HD are both recorded at 1280x720 but one must be better quality then the other. Each one of these codecs can record at different quality at the same resolution but the bit rate changes to allow for smaller file sizes. DEN GURU did a set of tests that compares them against the original high-def transport stream. What we liked about their shoot-out is the split screen shots that lets your eyes decide which one is better then the other. Sometimes though, the picture quality isn't everything. They liked the WMV-HD image better but the DivX-HD produced a file five times faster and 50% smaller. That's worth something in our book.

[via eHomeUpgrade]

NVIDA's PureVideo with H.264 hardware acceleration

by Kevin C. Tofel posted Mar 2nd 2006 at 3:36PM

NVIDIA's PureVideo
NVIDIA's PureVideo H.264 hardware acceleration was officially announced today and there was much rejoicing. Why bog down your CPU with mundane video decoding tasks when your GPU can do it for you, right? PureVideo hardware decoding supports all of the standard MPEG-4 flavors such as H.264, VC-1, WMV and also supports the "soon-to-be-legacy"  MPEG-2 compression as well.  NVIDIA's PureVideo technology will show up in both desktop and notebook products: the GeForce 6- and 7-series will sport the new technology, as well as the nForce 6150 series of GPUs. Note that this should cover you in a PC solution for either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD since all of the usual suspects codecs are supported.

MacBook Pro: the ultimate portable HD machine!

by Ben Drawbaugh posted Mar 2nd 2006 at 12:57PM Featured Story

MacBook Pro
I have had my MacBook Pro 2.0 for almost a whole week and let me tell you, it is fast! The only way I have been able to max out both cores is by playing a H.264 and HD DivX files at the same time. (If I try two H.264 files QT crashes) The 2.0 Core Duo has more than enough juice to decode any HD files I can find for my computer. It can decode two HD videos at once and watch them in Expose, but not without dropping a few frames 

Continue reading MacBook Pro: the ultimate portable HD machine!

"Only in HD, Please"

by Richard Lawler posted Sep 19th 2005 at 6:43PM


Project Gotham 3 - Countach

It's official. I'm boycotting all things not high def. E3 was the start, and last weekend's Tokyo Game Show sealed it. The high definition gaming era is upon us, and I'm not squinting at low resolution photos and postage-stamp sized movie trailers anymore. I'm going to play it in high definition, why would I try to judge a preview of it in anything less? Microsoft and Sony have taken the right steps in person, displaying their wares on glistening high definition displays at each tradeshow, but finding proper quality trailers and screens is still much like panning for gold, a few shiny nuggets every now and then, but mostly just mud.

Bus passes for the revolution after the jump, along with links to the best sources for HD resolution trailers and pictures I've found.

Continue reading "Only in HD, Please"

Don't have HDTV? Try a WMV HD video.

by Kevin C. Tofel posted Aug 11th 2005 at 11:02AM


To the limitSince not everyone has an HDTV set and programming can be scarce, we thought to share the HD experience in a different way. If you have a computer with enough horsepower coupled with a broadband connection, you could try a Microsoft WMV HD video to get the 720p or 1080p experience in your home. These aren't full feature-length programs mind you; these are just great examples of high-definition content.

Continue reading Don't have HDTV? Try a WMV HD video.





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