MBJ

If it's a Samsung then it's probably a standard DVD player that upconverts regular DVDs to "near HD quality". There are only two true HD-DVD players on the market right now: the Toshiba HD-A1 and the Toshiba HD-XA1.

Just out of curiosity, what are the make and model of your player? As far as I know there have only been two models released to the public by Toshiba. One is a higher end model and one is more basic. Also, what software (movies) do you have? I know that there have only been a few titles released at this point in time.

You early adopters may want to hold off on jumping into the HD-DVD ring. Here's some info on some problems that they are finding with the newly released hardware over at The Digital Bits while trying to review the initial releases: "We'd planned to get our reviews of Serenity, The Last Samurai and The Phantom of the Opera up on Friday... then Saturday... then today. But it hasn't happened yet. It's certainly not for lack of trying or serious effort, believe me. It's because we've encountered some significant issues during the process. First of all, we continue to have a problem with movie software freezing for a few moments during playback, after which it continues playing but without audio, or with out-of-sync audio. It's happened on every movie disc we've tried now, at least once per film (and sometimes more often). The other thing we've discovered is that the quality and character of the 1080i video that the Toshiba player delivers from its digital HDMI and component analog outputs is very different. The analog output features significantly enhanced color saturation and contrast levels over the HDMI, which SHOULD be more accurate. The difference is not minor, and we're trying to figure out exactly what it means and why it's happening. It's important to understand what's going on here, and which video output is correct (or more correct), so that we can accurately describe the video quality in our reviews. Anyway, we're going to see what Toshiba says on both of these issues and get back to you on it, then try to finish those reviews. Well... no one ever said the transition to high-def was going to be easy, did they?" Just a warning...

I just want to express my displeasure with Nintendo Power over their recent behavior. I bought the May issue last week because I am looking forward to the New Super Mario Bros game and that issue has some info on the game. Usually at the end of each issue they give a preview of the next issue's cover and content. In the May issue they could not show a cover preview and said that it was going to be "the biggest scoop of the year so far!" So when I'm reading this I get excited (I'm a sucker for hype) and think to myself: Sweet! Next month is E3! The cover story is going to be about the Revoultion! I renewed my subscription! I haven't subscribed to NP since early 1997 and the last issue I bought was when Ocarina of Time came out. Then I find out this morning that June's cover story is.....NOT Revolution but..... Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for DS. How anti-climactic is that! I mean sure it might be a cool game, but did it really warrant all of the secrecy? I guess that it did the trick in that they got more money from me! I'm not really that disappointed that I subscribed since I'm a huge Nintendo fan (I have never owned a system from Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or anyone else) and I'm loving the DS and excited for the Revolution. I'm just pissed over that TEASE!

If Mort opts to share the scans for free on RetroMags then that's fine. I think that the main issue is that it is important that it is his decision. The "official" legal rights are not as much in question as recognition of the effort that an individual went through to scan the mags. Scanning takes a lot of time and effort and as we have seen on this forum, people can get VERY pissed off if they feel that their efforts are either unappreciated or taken advantage of. My general philosophy of life is to avoid making other people angry at me if I can (within reason) do so. I woudn't say that buying the disc from Mort gives anyone the right to share the content freely unless Mort (who put forth the effort to scan the mags) says that it's OK to do so.

The Super Metroid guide has been scanned and was distributed by ZTTfan last weekend and can be found on mininova.org as "Retromags release ZTTfan edition April 2006 (fixed)". Ztt may also currently be scanning the NES Atlas so you might want to PM before you start scanning to be sure. The thought is appreciated though.

I don't know if there have been official public releases for all of these. I have quite a few of these issues myself but I don't think that my collection is complete for issues 10-36. I know that I got some of them from the download section that is available to premium members. It will be nice for organizational purposes when the issues 1-50 torrent comes out.

The swarm is making progress now. Between this and ZTTfan's Saturday release my connection has been swamped as well!

Get it? Hopped? Easter? Also, that torrent appears to be stuck at 62.4% with no seeds. UPDATE: OK, now I see Philly seeding but the swarm's completion is still stuck at 62.4%.

Consoles and handhelds have come a long way since 1989. Products such as the multifunction XBOX 360, the web browsing and MP3 playing PSP, and the forthcoming Nintendo DS web browser and TV card indicate that there may be a demand for game systems to do more than just run game software. So how important are these extra features to you?

I agree with Philly on the iPod issue. As for the Nintendo WiFi, do you mean the USB adapter? It's usually fairly easy to find a wireless router that is DS compatible for about the same price (or $5 more) than the WiFi USB adapter. I have a D-Link WBR-1310 that I got for $40 at Best Buy and it works Great for Nintendo WiFi as well as any general wireless or wired networking needs. What OS are you running?

Well I'm stumped. I have looked through manuals for several different models of ATI Radeon cards and most of them have either S-Video out only or standard composite (RCA) video out.

Did you ever get this machine up and running Philly?

When you say "headphone plug" I am assuming that you mean a standard 1/8 inch headphone jack. It may seem like a non-explanation but I would suggest going to Radio Shack and asking them for an adapter that converts a standard headphone jack to RCA video. Another good course of action would be to consult the documentation for your video card. As I have learned through experience with a couple of different cards, making use of the video out to your TV is not always a seamless or easy maneuver.

I have been seeding all of the CBR torrent releases for the complete years of 1988 and 1989 and several later individual issues. Are you sure that it isn't a problem with the client that you are using?

I take it that someone is not a Newsbot fan? At the very least Newsbot make a great punching bag.

I haven't seen any Newsbot posts in quite some time. There used to be about 3 per day. Were those done away with?

Oh I saw The Wizard in the theater and went nuts when SMB3 was shown. I also currently have a bootleg copy of it on DVD since it was never officially released. I was just wondering what was on that championship cart. 1990 was before SMB3 right?

Please ignore my earlier advice about leaving your computer's case open. It made my system waaaay to dusty. :(

In case any of you missed it a couple of weeks back, Nintendo announced that they have worked out a deal that will allow owners of the forthcoming revolution console to download Sega Genesis and Turbografx 16 games in addition to NES, SNES, and N64 games. Now if only they would offer the Gameboy catalog... That would make it the ultimate retrogamer system. I know that a lot of you like emulators and think that Nintendo's virtual console feature is a waste of time and money but I think that this is very cool news.

What exactly is on that? The seller didn't provide much of a description for something that costs so much.

Hey everyone, if you would like to see a show that I starred in when I was in college you can check it out HERE. I am in every episode as either a chef or a taster. Enjoy!

If anyone ever thinks that my collections are out of control, now I know what link to send them. Seriously, that is an amazing library. The person who owns that should open a video game museum and charge admission. I'd pay to check that place out!

What about those of us who have made financial contributons to the site? Will we be given access to any of this content?

I certainly wouldn't mind discussion of certain issues that might be considered to be political such as the ethics of file sharing or copyright issues that are relevant to the users of this site but I don't see partisan politics or religious issues as having much of a place on this forum.