Posts Tagged 1080p
Qosmio Review: Part 1
First off, let me start by saying, I have absolutely NO idea exactly how many parts this review will have, but anyway, onto the first part!
System Specs
Ok, so from what I can gather, the laptop has the following:
- 2x 200GB Hard Drives
- Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 (2.40GHz)
- 2GB RAM
- Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT (512Mb w/HDMI out)
- HD DVD-R Drive (i.e. can write HD DVD’s)*
- Intel Wifi 4965
- Harman/Kardon speaker system**
- Bluetooth 2.0
- 17″ Full 1080p HD Screen (actual resolution 1920×1200)
- Array of Touch-Sensitive Buttons
- Fingerprint Reader (I use this to log onto the PC, I think it’s awesome :p, it must be the big kid in me!)
- TV Tuner
- 2.0 Megapixel Built-in Webcam
*I do have an HD-DVD player, so I’ve tried this briefly. Though as I’m sure many are aware, support for HD DVD will be non-existent after around June time. Sad as it is, therefore I hope that future Qosmio models come equipped with a Blu-Ray drive rather than HD-DVD.
**I’ve never heard of Harman/Kardon though I have to say, the speakers on this laptop are BRILLIANT, not just decent for a laptop, they’re really good anyway, and I can safely say, they are the best speakers I have ever heard on a laptop, it even beats a fair few desktops on this! It’s even got a sub-woofer!
Update: Added TV Tuner, Webcam & Fingerprint reader to the list of hardware
HD DVD Player
I bought one 
I’ve been wondering whether to get one for ages. Even though the format looks somewhat doomed, I figured if I could get one cheap then it’d be worth it, seeing as there’s still 400+ titles out for the format
So I bought the add-on for my Xbox 360, for £50 ($97 US) which is around half the retail price everywhere I’ve seen. The HD-DVD I got with it was The Kingdom. I’ve also got the following ordered though a couple are out of stock on Play.com:
I’m looking forward to getting them, as so far the picture has been brilliant (though I’ve seen Full Metal Jacket in “HD” and it was worse than the normal DVD) as my TV supports 1080p input 
I may post short reviews of the films when I’ve watched them.
Upscaled DVD’s
I have to say, since I bought my new tv, and went back to using the component cable to connect my Xbox 360 (at 1080p as well ) instead of the VGA Cable, I’ve noticed a significant increase in the picture quality of my DVD’s.
Now, I’ve watched movie’s on an HD DVD player at 1080p (full HD) before, and the image quality and sound is brilliant, I can’t say much for Blu Ray, as I’ve never watched a Blu Ray film as of yet. However, while my normal DVD’s are nowhere near the same quality as a proper HD source, the image quality is certainly FAR better than that of a normal DVD player.
I’m very impressed…I’m currently watching the Star Wars films on here – in what I call “Semi-HD” 
