Well, what did you expect? It was staring me in the face that last two times I was at Costco… It’s Toshiba’s HD-D3 (which, I’m told. is really the HD-A3, the low-end of the HD DVD player line up). It was $179 and included two HD DVD DVDs, the Bourne Identity and 300. I already had an SD version of 300…
So, is it wonderful, did I wet my pants, did all my dreams come true immediately at the moment I started to watch 300?
Not really… Here’s the deal.
I’m testing this monitor that won’t be announced until January 7th at CES so I can’t tell you much about it except that it’s 24-inches, 1080p compatible (1920×1200 resolution) and has VGA and HMDI inputs. The HD2400 graphics card I’m using in the Fusion Black has an HDMI output. The monitor has two rear-firing speakers. The system can be set to output audio via HDMI. Do I need to tell you at this point that I haven’t looked at an analog picture in some time?
So I connect the HD-D3 to the monitor and then I connect the Fusion Black to it -both via a Belkin 2:1 HMDI selector. (Sweet thing with a remote so you can stash it out of sight just as long as the IR dongle, that’s attached via 3-feet of wire, is visible somewhere.) Have I mention that I had to trudge off to Radio Shack to get an HDMI cable because the system already had one and the HD-D3 had one, but the Belkin switchbox didn’t? (Make sure you add that into the price when you look at such doo-dads.) Of course, Radio Shack only had a 12-foot cable it wanted $70 for.
Luckily, there was another electronics store nearby. I went into K-Mart and picked up a 6ft cable for $39. (The 12-foot cable was $49…)
Back at the Basement of Doom & Pepsi Cola, I fired up both the Fusion Black and the HD-D3 and, as well as possible, simultaneously played 300, both from the computer’s DVD player and from the HD-D3. Using the Belkin HDMI switch box, I was able to jump back and forth between the two and make some type of quality assessment, I think.
I can start by telling you that 300 is probably not the best of all movies to use. It was done on a soundstage and the vast majority of the scenes you see are green-screened with just the actors in costume running through their paces with nothing around them. Pouring that much detail into a movie with CGI is bound to affect the finished product, no matter what form it takes. For 300, this means that, at least on this monitor, playing it in 1920×1200 resolution was just about as good as watching it in 1080p from the HD-D3. I’ll grant you that there may have been a bit more detail from the DVD player (that nascent pimple on the ear lobe of the tennis player thing), but, overall, it’s not reall startling as that “Do you see in HD” TV ad keeps inferring it will be.
Am I sorry I bought the player? No way. It does look good and I’m using it exclusively for work so it’s deductible. (I’m in love with this monitor too.) Do I think HD DVD is the way to go? I’d have to see 300 in Blu-ray first and that’s not on my budget just yet. (The TechNudge Fund Drive isn’t until February.) Should you run out to Costco (or where ever) and buy the HD-D3 (or HD-A3, as the case may be)? Keep your eyes open and look for a deal and there’s really no reason not to do so any more. But don’t mistake it for a necessity. That’s still at least a year away.
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