Third time’s the charm with HD-DVD


The Toshiba HD-DVD player bought for me as a Christmas present by my beloved had to be returned to the store twice, two units having exactly the same fault in being unable to display a picture via the HDMI port. The first worked just once, the second never worked at all. Thankfully the third unit is working. Is HD-DVD (or, for that matter, Blu-Ray) ready for the mainstream? No. Neither system is exactly intuitive or easy to configure, or quick to load discs.

Permanent link to this post.

Friday, January 4th, 2008

tags: , , ,

Boys and their toys


We had a wonderful Christmas away from the chaos of boxes and bags and clutter, spending Christmas Eve and the big day itself at my partner’s parents’ house in Watford, near London. The drive down didn’t take half as long as usual but coming back on Boxing Day was a different story: the roads were jam-packed, although we still made the return journey in less time than expected.

My beloved bought me something I’ve wanted for a very long time, a HD-DVD player. While it takes up to 30 seconds to load a disc—future updates over its Internet connection will improve on this—the picture and sound are amazing, the Toshiba machine being capable of displaying 1080p resolution (that’s a heck of a lot more pixels than your average TV broadcast, and more than many HD TV broadcasts as well). We’ve only had the chance to watch one HD-DVD before we move to our new home this coming Saturday. We sat and practically drooled at the amazing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in glorious high-definition. It was far better than when we first saw the movie at the IMAX cinema in Manchester.

Read the full article.

Thursday, December 27th, 2007

tags: , , , , , , ,