T2 Extreme, HD-DVD

[Dean McManis]

I bought Standing in the Shadows of Motown (the first HD-DVD disc) a few weeks ago, and yesterday I bought T2 Extreme.

I had problems with my slower PCs (even those with XP Pro) but on my 2GHz Sony Vaio (256MB Ram) running Windows 2000, THe Motown DVD plays fine in both 1600 X 900p and 1280 X 720p (the internal card couldn't do 1920p). But the interactual player says that the video subsystem won't cut it.
I suspect either it's the DVD decoder, or some component of Windows XP that's not included in Win 2000.

I just tried T2 in one of my Win XP Pro systems (but it's only 750MHz PIII) And it plays the high rez version, but looks like a slide show with audio. The speed improves running 16 bit color, but not enough to really watch the movie.

I have found that anything extra running on the PCs will slow down the playback. Audio is fine, but video chugs. But after installing and validating the movies via the internet, I physically disconnected from the net, and turned off unnecessary services.

Th Motown HD version obviously had a proprietary player and ran OK, and the Interactive player has many more DVD-like features, but obviously requires a super-beefy PC to run decently.

This will be the killer HD setup by the time that the 5GHz PCs drop to $500.

This is my third version of T2, and the regular DVD movie (on disc 1) does look a bit better than the Special Edition version because of the new HD transfer, plus it does have a couple extras on the disc.

And there is a $5 rebate for T2 SE owners, but I don't have the receipt for the previous DVD. Sheesh. The proof of purchase tabs should be enough!

-Dean.

[Bing Fung]

Dean, I too like you, now own 3 versions of T2 as well :LOL: I just finished demo'ing the High Def version in my desktop PC and notebook. I put the Extreme Version Disk 1 into my main system (36" XBR) and then I put the Ultimate edition and the Hi-Def version in both my desktop and notebook (swapping them out in the other machines a bunch of times). I played all 3 versions in parallel. The high-Def version is incredible, there is an overall clarity to the image that is not "like looking through a window", however I found it to be the subtle details.

My inital reactions are in the Tower of Power Here

Most definately worth the price of $24 bucks even if you already own the other 2 versions. It may not be worth it if you don't have a PC that can run it as system requirements are huge!




Bing

[Chris D]

Fantastic! I haven't seen many other reviews around on this, and I was wondering how it turned out. It's great that this is the first true HD DVD released, and good to hear it does well. I'll be buying it as well, but won't have a computer hooked up to a major A/V system in the house for a while.

The future is bright for home theater!




CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"

[Dean McManis]

I just wanted to do a follow-up, since I had bought Standing in the Shadows of Motown (the first HD-DVD disc) a few weeks ago, and I just bought T2 Extreme.

I had problems with my slower PCs (even those with XP Pro) but on my 2GHz Sony Vaio (256MB Ram) running Windows 2000, The Motown DVD plays fine in both 1600 X 900p and 1280 X 720p (the internal card couldn't do 1920p). But the interactual player says that the video subsystem won't cut it.
I suspect either it's the DVD decoder, or some component of Windows XP that's not included in Win 2000.

I just tried T2 in one of my Win XP Pro systems (but it's only 750MHz PIII) And it plays the high rez version, but looks like a slide show with audio. The speed improves running 16 bit color, but not enough to really watch the movie.

I have found that anything extra running on the PCs will slow down the playback. Audio is fine, but video chugs. But after installing and validating the movies via the internet, I physically disconnected from the net, and turned off unnecessary services.

Th Motown HD version obviously had a proprietary player and ran OK, and the Interactive player has many more DVD-like features, but obviously requires a super-beefy PC to run decently.

I bought Standing in the Shadows of Motown (the first HD-DVD disc) a few weeks ago, and yesterday I bought T2 Extreme.

I had problems with my slower PCs (even those with XP Pro) but on my 2GHz Sony Vaio (256MB Ram) running Windows 2000, THe Motown DVD plays fine in both 1600 X 900p and 1280 X 720p (the internal card couldn't do 1920p). But the interactual player says that the video subsystem won't cut it.
I suspect either it's the DVD decoder, or some component of Windows XP that's not included in Win 2000.

I just tried T2 in one of my Win XP Pro systems (but it's only 750MHz PIII) And it plays the high rez version, but looks like a slide show with audio. The speed improves running 16 bit color, but not enough to really watch the movie.

I have found that anything extra running on the PCs will slow down the playback. Audio is fine, but video chugs. But after installing and validating the movies via the internet, I physically disconnected from the net, and turned off unnecessary services.

Th Motown HD version obviously had a proprietary player and ran OK, and the Interactive player has many more DVD-like features, but obviously requires a super-beefy PC to run decently.

This is my third version of T2, and the regular DVD movie (on disc 1) does look a bit better than the Special Edition version because of the new HD transfer, plus it does have a couple extras on the disc.

And there is a $5 rebate for T2 SE owners, but I don't have the receipt for the previous DVD. Sheesh. The proof of purchase tabs should be enough!

This will be the killer HD-DVD setup by the time that the 5GHz PCs drop to $500.

-Dean.

[Bing Fung]

Humm strange last post..... :P




Bing