No Hidden Agenda?
Dear Gary:
This “Letter To The Editor” is addressed to Terry Paullin regarding his August “One Installer’s Opinion” column.
Terry, I am not sure when you released your article (maybe the latest firmwares weren’t out yet), but I could not help but think you must have been reviewing the Samsung [BD-P1000] Blu-ray Disc player and discs. I have a Sony Ruby and a 120.5-inch Vutec Silverstar screen, and I can say that nearly all of my HD DVD titles are amazing to watch. There is a vast difference from the best HD DVD titles to SD DVDs. I have the XA1 and have never had a single issue with it. And as far as you advising your clients to stay away, I hope you are not telling them that the skies are “Blue” with BD technology. IF so, I would hate to be one of your clients. I am advising my client base to invest in HD DVD at half the price of BD because you can and will get the best image to date possible. Plus it is a very good upconverting player for their regular SD collection... I think you need to do a follow-up on HD DVD or write an even more displeasing review on Blu-ray Disc. At least then we would know for sure you have no hidden agendas...
Joe Rodriguez, HD Homes, Inc.
Contributing Editor Terry Paullin Comments:
Joe, thanks for your alternate opinion. To be fair, my column was not a product review, it was one user’s impression of his first encounter with the first high-definition DVD format. Let me confirm that, indeed, I did have a very early unit. In addition to normal draft-to-print delays, this column got delayed an extra month for…other…reasons.
Most importantly, let me assure you that there were no “hidden agendas.” Never have been, never will be! Indeed, I have always been a big fan of Toshiba products ever since Craig Eggers (then with Toshiba) was the only friend (amongst manufacturers) the ISF had in the early days. Further, though not having been privy to the detail of the format war discussions, my sense is that Toshiba went more than 50 percent of the way toward achieving the peace that would have enabled a single HD format for DVDs, something that would greatly have facilitated wider adoption. To be clear, my main objection to the box was NOT with the video quality, but all other aspects of the user interface, including the remote and the intolerable time to load. At $500 or $5,000, when it takes more than a minute to go from open tray to image on screen, I would never put it in a client’s theatre! Specifically, regarding the image, I DID say it may be the best (HD) image you have seen. For me, it was not. I believe it SHOULD be, if for no other reason than it employs the VC-1 HD codec developed by Microsoft®, a codec that I believe to be superior to the MPEG-2 codec that Blu-ray Disc currently uses. With something as complex as an entirely new video format using new inventions such as we have here, rarely does a manufacturer hit a home run out of the box. Second, and subsequent generations are bound to be better/faster.
Finally, (readers take heed) I think I have discovered why the video was underwhelming in my sample. As most Widescreen Review readers would do, I set the output of the Toshiba A-1 to match the native resolution of my monitor, in my case 720p. This usually would be a good bet. Turns out, Toshiba does not have a conversion engine in their box that takes 1080i to 720p. They have to go 1080i to 480p, then back to 720p. Double-scaling like that will almost always yield a worse image than letting your display convert once to its native resolution.
In the business I’m in, one has to look at everything objectively in order to steer clients in the right direction. Good, bad, or indifferent, every install has my name on it! I look forward to testing the first-generation Blu-ray Disc player and discs, and the second-generation HD DVD players and discs.
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