And the word is out… HD-DVD Blu-Ray

It’s not even a week since I wrote stuff here and here I am writing another while HD-DVD is on its death bed. The word is out Warner Bros the last of the studio to support both formats has decided to go Blu-Ray exclusive which means New Line Cinema (part of Warner) is also dropping HD-DVD. This news comes as a blow to HD-DVD camp and has decided to cancel the CES Conference. Cancelling the conference? Obvious isn’t it. The only question everyone is going to ask is what’s the fate of HD-DVD? What will happen to the consumers who have already purchased HD-DVD merchandise? Poor fellows @ HD-DVD camp they are yet to figure out the next step and they are in no position to answer such questions. So I think what they did is pretty much what any company would do.

Here is what I think HD-DVD will probably try.

HD-DVD camp would hire Gerald Butler to say “THIS IS HD-DVD” AND TONIGHT WE DI(n)E IN HELL!! (Like the 300 Spartans)

Ha Ha Very Funny!!!

On a serious note… these are some of my thoughts on how Toshiba can win their customer’s heart or NOT!!!

1. Do an upgrade to their players which are already in consumer’s hand to play Blu-Ray titles but that would mean it has to play both HD-DVD & Blu-Ray.

2. Change their HD-DVD Format to be similar to Blu-Ray so HD-DVD titles can be played in Blu-Ray player. This would mean HD-DVD will prevail

3. Completely stop making HD-DVD players and start making Blu-Ray player and allow trading in HD-DVD Players + a small price

4. Or come up with something completely revolutionary bringing second thoughts to studios supporting Blu-Ray

5. Toshiba will completely stop HD-DVD and show a big finger to consumers and they would probably not support Blu-Ray in its entirety

Well points 1-3 are coined thinking Toshiba as a Good Samaritan and 4,5 as just a company.

I am not a big analyst and I am not getting paid for my thoughts here. It is just my 2 cents.

We just have to wait and see what Toshiba does!!

Go Blu!!!

HD-DVD vs. BluRay. Whatever!

Ok! Its time to bite the bullet! HD-DVD vs. BluRay: a topic in discussion for more than a year in few thousand forums and blogs. Yeah you probably may or may not be interested in continuing further. It may not even be a concern to some folks but if you are an electronics geek like me. It is of “Paramount” importance. Did I say “Paramount” it’s more like a “Universal Paramount” problem. I mean literally. If not for “Universal Studios” and “Paramount” (which accounts for half the HDDVD titles) HD DVD would be dust by now. Paramount jumped the gun after a 150million $ deal and went exclusive HDDVD providing oxygen leading to the format war.

HD-DVD vs. BluRay which is better?, there are several thousand websites that talk about intricacies of the aforementioned. I am not going to get into those details. I will stick to the selling points for each

HD DVD selling points
1. Price, Price and mainly price.
2. Internet Connectivity.
3. Content: Backed up Universal, Paramount & DreamWorks (Just exclusives).
4. Hardware/Tech: Backed by Toshiba & Microsoft (Just exclusives).

BluRay selling points
1. Better technology, higher storage capacity.
2. Integrated BluRay Player with PS3 gaming Console.
3. Content: Backed up Sony, Disney, Fox, MGM, LionsGate (Just exclusives).
4. Hardware/Tech: Backed up by Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Apple (Just exclusives).

Content: As of now Warner Bros is releasing titles in both formats. Speculations are that WB will go exclusive after CES 2008 (that’s Consumer Electronics Show) sealing the fate of either of the format.

Hardware: Few companies manufacture both players. Samsung, LG, Philips are some of the prominent ones. Currently there are more players that support Blu then HD.

If you ask me the only selling point for HDDVD is its price factor. Nothing else! You can get HDDVD player for under $200 whereas BluRay players are still in the $300 mark. Many cheap Chinese manufacturers are soon going to flood the HDDVD player market. So the price is to going to be a steal.

So which is better?

According to few forums the quality of video and audio is identical between the competing formats, now! I have a problem with that statement and here is why I think the quality is identical when comparing same title in both formats. (well there is a problem how can you compare 2 different titles)

If a studio releases a movie in both format then you should take a closer look at their title specifications, you will notice they are pretty much the same for both. Both formats will have the same bit rates and audio encodings, additional interactivity features may be present for HDDVD since BluRay is yet to support internet connectivity, (Blu Profile 2.0 is expected to be the final complete version that will have internet connectivity).

The company that is releasing titles for both formats does not necessarily try to exploit the additional storage capacity advantage that BluRay offers.

In simple terms the company just encodes the movie once and just saves it to be a HDDVD and BluRay. Since it’s the same copy you will hardly notice the difference between the two formats. On the other hand if you see the specification on BluRay exclusive title you will notice higher bit rates resulting in better picture quality.

If you happen to get your hands on a BD and HD Specification you will notice BluRay supports up to 54 Mbps whereas HDDVD supports just 36.55Mbps data transfer speed.

Here is what I think.

In a gist

• HDDVD falls behind in technology but has a strong hold because of the low price.
• BluRay is technologically strong but weak in their price factor.

When I first started using a computer the RAM in my pc was 16MB, HDD was 400MB (I think). The laptop I currently use has 2GB RAM and HDD of 160GB. You can see flash drives with 8GB storage capacity. You can even get 2TB external HDD and you are still out of space. Data storage is an important factor that drives the technology world and BluRay offers that, more storage capacity allowing lot more information to be burned on to the disc, more information consequently means better quality audio video.

So I will vote for Blu and go Blu.

Most consumers will decide from their heart since that’s where their pocket (money) is ;) and will probably buy HD DVD, but I am deciding to go Blu because of it’s superiority in technology, storage and quality and also because of the current studio support.

If BluRay fails to become the next gen format what the heck I will buy an HDDVD player which will be less than $75 by then.

Go Blu!!!

I am not going to announce…

The last time I announced resurrection of my blog; I didn't keep up that commitment, I just had one post done and I went back to hibernation. This time I have made it a point that I am going to play low and let my action speak for it self.

So here is my first post after

852 days
Or 2 years, 3 months, 30 days
Or 73,612,800 seconds
Or 1,226,880 minutes
Or 20,448 hours
Or 121 weeks (rounded down).

Wow! Don't you just love seeing statistical data? I do!
Clap! Clap! Clap! The blog is now back!

Thiruvasagam - Maanikavasagar aruliyadhu
                                     Illayaraja isai amaithu namakku alithdhu.

I don't take 100% of what a reviewer says (read quiet a few reviews on the web) be it on music or movies, I have my own likes and dislikes a reviewer has no idea what I am looking for but I do start based on a review I don't decided based on the reviews. But one thing I firmly believe is that "Isaiyai rasika kaelvi gynam podhum". Music/Song is considered a hit when a "pamaran" (common man with limited knowledge) is able to sing/hum that song/tune leave alone the no. of units sold. When he is unable to do that it simply means the music did not reach his heart. I listened to Thiruvasagam lately this is what I felt, tune as such is great! Honestly it's good because the lyrics are in its purest form I am not able to sing those songs myself unless I use the lyrics booklet given along. And moreover it's a symphony the tune as such is broken and it has more of background music than the tune itself.

My opinion is, if Thiruvasagam is not liked by many then, it is because we are unable to understand and appreciate the lyrics it carries, I simply cannot replicate what I listened few seconds ago. Damn! Pure Tamizh is difficult. The only Tamizh CD I bought after coming here is Thiruvasagam and I love it. It would have reached much more if it was presented in much more simpler form than it is currently.

Jonny (Illayaraja Music) reachead more audience than Sindhu Bhairavi (Illayaraja Music with Carnatic touch) did, Priya, Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal (Illayaraja Music) reached more than Salangai Oli (Illayaraja Music with Carnatic touch) did, I love both Sindhu Bhairavi and Salangai Oli, I don't care if its "Ezhu Kattai" or "Ettu Kattai", I am a "pamaran" who wants to listen to heart warming music. If you can recall this song sequence from Sindhu Bhairavi - Mari Mari Niney sung by Yesudas it's a pure form of music (classic Carnatic with Telegu(?) lyrics) . Sindhu (Suhasini) will raise her voice and say she loved the song but it will be much better if its apprehended by everyone. Then she herself sings the song "Paadraiyen Padipariyen" (sung by Chitra). I am sure I have hummed "Paadariyen more times than I did "Mari Mari Niney" even though songs came right after the other.

Thiruvasagam is truly a great effort from Illayaraja, its difficult to take such a subject and do something like this. Kudos! to Illayaraja for thinking of something like this and succeeding. I also feel that Illayaraja did this for the passion he had in Music and belief in God, I dont see a commercial agenda behind this venture. Great effort from Illayaraja and Team!

Verdict:

• Fans who love illayaraja would still like Thiruvasagam
• Fans who love Music would still like Thiruvasagam
• Fans who expect something different other than film music would like Thiruvasagam
• Fans who have read till this point would definitely like Thiruvasagam.
  - Just Kidding ;)

Resurrection of http://ramanick.blogspot.com/

Its been a long time, no! seriously real long time, It's been

• 1 Year and 22 days
• 55 weeks, 2 days, 0 hours, 36 minutes, and 0 seconds
• 387 days

since my last post. (Phew! thats a long time and hey interesting stats). Drastic changes in my life since my last words here. A few interested souls asked me why am i am not blogging. Few reasons that i could think off is

1. Work
2. More Work
3. Lot more work

Then lately i realised work is always there! thats no excuse!. am i not driving 70 miles to watch a movie? am i not driving 40 miles to spend time on a river bank. Now i have decided to allocate some time to have my presence online . so here i am starting it off officially. I will start posting as and when i get time or an interesting topic.

My due thanks to those interested souls who encourage me.

Link to my Blog, get a Gmail account for free

Well, Bill Gates in a recent conference said, soon blogs will add values for businesses. Read what he said about blogs. Acknowledging his opinion, here I am trying to do a little business. I don’t want money from you; I don’t want any of your personal stuff. All I want is a little popularity :), all you got to do is link to my blog spot and I will gift you a gmail account in return. No kidding, I have a Gmail account and I am pampered with 6 invitations per day from gmail to invite people.

Just don’t think you can get away with a Gmail account just linking to my blog for a day. If that’s what you are thinking, sorry buddy change your mind, I will track referrals daily and only if the results are convincing I will gift you a gmail account. OK?

Deal done…

The offer is valid from this moment (Monday 21st 2004 01:30 PM)

I know where I will be the day after tomorrow

Yes, I know where I will be.
It’s not easy to just leave a place you were living for almost 5 years. It’s not easy to say Good-bye to all people who you have been seeing/playing/sharing/crying with for 5 years. It’s not easy to just forget a place where all my knowledge was acquired. Trust me its not at all easy. But then like the saying goes, “Nothing is permanent but the change itself” everyone has to accept the changes that might creep up in their lives and I guess its has crept over me now. Yes! The time has come. I had to do this considering my career growth. Yes! I had to do this because of external pressure, yes! I had to do this for the good of the people around me. Yes! I had to do this for my own satisfaction. I have never felt so aloof in the past years but overnight I felt the change.

If you are thinking I am going to leave my home or home country and moving to another place you are wrong. I am moving out of the company I was working for almost 5 years. Going to a new place, going to meet new people, take up new role. I don’t know how they will react to me. I don’t know what they are expecting out of me. I don’t know how they are going to welcome me to their home. Have to wait & watch. Hoping for good times. I wish all my ex-colleagues to have a great future…

Google Zeitgeist

To be honest with you i didnt know what "Zeitgeist" meant, a little help Word web was able to get the meaning. The following is the meaning.

Noun : Zeitgeist 'zlt'glst - The spirit of the time; the spirit characteristic of an age or generation

This page of google holds all kinds of statistics, right from the maximum used keyword to os, browser used. I think this page of google is kind off hidden, i dont know of people who go to this page frequently. btw i saw this page today for the first time


For both breaking news and obscure information alike, people around the world search on Google at www.google.com. With a bit of analysis, this flurry of searches often exposes interesting trends, patterns, and surprises.

The Google Zeitgeist page is regularly updated to reflect lists, graphs, and other tidbits of information related to Google user search behavior.

Check out page here