TotalMedia Theatre 5

Well that's a weird leap. I wonder what marketing meeting led to that decision.

The number 4 is a sound alike for the word death in Chinese. Many companies with a strong international market skip it.

Cisco, for example, went from IOS 12 to IOS 15. They skipped 13 due to western superstitions and skipped 14 due to eastern superstitions.

Might be silly, but why lose sales over something like that?

But how soon?

Sexxxxx....waiting patiently.

I sure hope the media center plugin is improved.

Also, free upgrade or do we need to buy the new ver? I am hoping for more stability in MCE, I often have to start a BD, wait 30 secs to a minute before it goes back to the MCE menu and have to start a second time. Not a big deal, but it would great if it was smoother.

You'll probably get some sort of upgrade offer.

I'm was using the oem version of TMT2 that came with my Asus Xonar. I upgraded to Win7 and downloaded TMT3 from the Asus website. I wonder if Asus will be allowing free upgrades to an oem version of TMT5.

When I upgraded from TMT2 to TMT3, it was pretty cheap...around the $25 mark I think...but I cannot remember.

It has not been ignored but it's obviously not as drastic as the change to the standard UI. Hopefully you'll like the refinements.

Discounted upgrade pricing, exact amount to be revealed upon release. (Basically, same idea as TMT2 to TMT3.)


Never seen this in TMT3, but if you can find a way to fairly consistently recreate it we can look into fixing it if you report it to customer service.

I don't think it's happening this time (confirm with ASUS before accepting my word as gospel) but you'll still be eligible for the upgrade pricing if I'm right.

Looking forward to it, Jason.

A little off topic, but can you confirm the reason you skipped "4" . . .

We decided not to release TMT4 at retail. In general, it happens for a variety of reasons--there was no PhotoStudio 3 nor MediaConverter 6 either. Sometimes they only appear OEM, sometimes not at all, sometimes the product that would have been that number is OEM branded with a different name resulting in it not having a matching retail version.

Well, something has to happen to make the software expenditures reasonable. Here's the trick that kicks me: I can go buy a settop Bluray player (hardware and all) for $119 at walmart, right now. And yet, I'm seeing the major vendors wanting $119 for software packages.

I've used TMT3 in the past, it's a good product. But seriously, we've got to get to where the product with 3D support isn't in the $100+ market, otherwise most users will just skip it.

If you are launching ISOs, change over to the latest version of Slysoft VCD (Virtual CD). I used to have this same problem in the past, but have not had it for a long time.

I understand what you're saying but I don't see that as a fair comparison because I value a htpc over a standalone BD player. I look at it this way: I paid money for a BD player that just happens to be inside my htpc.

Hi

Do we finally have the possibility moving subtitles vertically during Blu-Ray playback. Subtitles in PGS format consist of a bitmap and coordinates, so of course the player can move them and change the size and color would be great ass well.

It would be a very welcome feature for us who have a CHI setup.

Best Regards


Chewie1

You want the subtitles verticle instead of horizontal?

EDIT: Oh wait, I just figured out what you meant. You mean to move the horizontal subtitle higher or lower on the screen...move it vertically.

DUH!

Yes, but for just the BD playback portion of the HTPC, you are paying $200+ ($100 drive + $100 software) just to get the equivalent of a standalone that's half the price. That was the point that tmservo was making. And with a standalone, you don't need to purchase a new version of the software (firmware) to fix issues.

Paid $59 for a BD-ROM and $65 for TMT3 so the total came to $124. A standalone is an extra component in the cabinet. With the BD-ROM in my HTPC I have a single box that does far more than any BD player can, and I can upgrade it in the future if need be. I've had DVD players, an HD-DVD player, and a BD player come and go already. The HTPC? It just gets reborn anew every so often. That flexibility is worth the extra money, imho.

At $124, the whole argument changes. But TMT 3 is more than $65 now ($89 base + $20 for the 3D plugin).

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not advocating standalones. I haven't owned a standalone component in 5+ years. I'm also not singling out ArcSoft.

Anyone buying TMT should check around the web for promo codes. Seems there is always one or more available and the discount is often 25%, and sometimes more.

Regarding 3D, I don't have a 3D TV yet but when it finally happens a video card upgrade and $20 for the plugin will be cheaper than buying a standalone.


Understood. I'm just providing a counterpoint to the 'standalone vs. HTPC for BD' debate. Obviously I'm on the HTPC side of that argument but I agree that BD playback in an HTPC may not be for everyone. For ease of use a standalone cannot be beaten.

So am I. It would just be nice to see the playing field leveled as far as price is concerned.

True of TMT3, but not true of TMT5. The 3D and SimHD plug-ins will be included in the regular price, and also the upgrade price for TMT3 users. (And it won't be bumped $30 to cover the two plug-ins and make this a semantic distinction.)

It's going to be tough. Development, maintainence and support for a software player is much more expensive due to the ever-changing and flexible PC environment and the econmies of scale that drive hardware prices down don't exist in software. Hardware BD should continue to experience price drops quicker than software players. Remember the black friday of $50 DVD players back in the day and the mad rush and sellouts on them? It won't be this year, but it will come for hardware BD. (Not sure it will have the same impact though with the rise of on-demand digital media.)

Yes, BD Rom is $50 now.