Well, I wanted to buy a PS3 but the games are just way too much expensive. I already have a PC which is more than powerful to decode HD content fluidly !!! What I needed was a 1080p capable HDTV, a very good sound card (optional) and a Blu Ray drive for the PC but they still are quite expensive (readers start from around $120)... but this Black Friday had some surprises in store for me.... snagged up an LG Blu Ray/HD-DVD/DVD-RW (Model: GGC-H20-LK) capable drive for $69.99 on a Black Friday deal
.... and I already had a Tritton 5.1 A360 gaming headset which can hardware decode Dolby Digital 5.1 over SPDIF, but never used that functionality before.... and then the new PowerDVD 8.0 shows up with exhaustive support for Blu Ray on the PC with BD Live !!!
I am still waiting for the price of Sony Bravia 32" 1080p HDTV to come down below $1000 to get one, but till then borrowing a friend's Bravia for 2 months (connected to 8800 GT via DVI) ... and yessss !!!! my own personal home theatre system at its cheapest price !!!!
Finally snagged up two of the best action movies of our generation from Amazon - The Dark Knight and Casino Royale !!!! I am on for cheap HD Nirvana until I get a proper job after my PhD !!!!
Pics:
Features of the LG Drive:
========================
LG Black 6X Blu-ray DVD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 40X CD-ROM SATA 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Model GGC-H20LK (16X LightScribe DVD burner)
Performance and My Opinions
==========================
1) My PC is not a dedicated HTPC so I do not have such graphics system which can stream 8 channel LPCM/TrueHD over HDMI as are recently available for dedicated HTPC systems.
2) Overall impression is simply awesome to say the least. Blu Ray Playback was flawless.
3) Both "Casino Royale" and "The Dark Knight" played to its end without hiccups.
4) 1080p HD VC1 is just eye-(and mind)-blowing... minute details on HD and the natural vibrant look of he video is terrific !!!! even the smallest specs on Eva green's face are visible with extreme detail ... so you can imagine the look-and-"feel" of rest of her "perks" ...
The scene where Bond crashed the Aston Martin DBS (that son-of-a-b***
) was specifically so a-w-e-s-s-o-m-m-e, that I watched it quite a few times.
5) My A360 headset does not support Dolby TrueHD sound format natively, and although the sound quality was just like in the theatres with awesome sound positioning and separation around 8 speaker sets in my headset, but still you need to listen to the sound in proper Dolby TrueHD certified Home Theatre system to do it full justice. Anyways, till I get my personal home theater system, it will be more than enough for me now !!!
6) Didn't test support for the defunct HD DVD format !!!
7) DVD burning was flawless at 16X speed.
8) PowerDVD 8.0 is an awesome piece of software. Even BD-Live features were accessed smoothly on both the movies. But one complaint: Can't use mouse while accessing Blu Ray menu system, have to use keyboard and that is quite irritating when you are accessing BD-Live !!!
9) Judging from the looks, I am sure it will be difficult for me to go back to SD content from now on !!! I have already ordered the Kill Bill series, the Bourne series and the Harry Potter series on Blu Ray !!!!
My First Experience With Blu Ray and HD Movies !!!
Linear Mode
