Barnes & Noble Unveils Nook HD and Nook HD+

[robertc88]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

I'm pleasantly surprised and quite impressed at both Amazon and B&N upping the ante in this next round of devices.

I would've held off buying a Fire HD to wait for B&N's offerings to be announced except that the local B&N store closed down 8 months ago. I loved the in-store perks for those with nooks.

I have one I can walk to and two others within ten miles. I cannot wait for them to put these new ones on display to look into.

[jocampo]

Yeah, I really want B&N to stay afloat and succeed, but they need to improve their online content, not only ebooks, but Android apps.

Users are smart and they now realize that hardware specs its just half of the story. Ability to find and download content is the other half.

Something you can't do with Amazon is socialize, visit the store, use their wifi and get advantage of free content on your device. It's the positive side of having a physical store. Internet can't replace that human touch and interaction.

[bfollowell]

My wife and I both love the looks and price of the 32GB HD+ and we're both drooling over them, I think we're going to pass this time around though. We just got into e-readers when we got each other Kindle 3s for Christmas 2010. Christmas 2011 she gave me a 16 GB Nook Tablet. She liked it so much that we picked one up for her a couple of months later. Now here we are again, right around Christmas time, with new electronic toys to drool over. Our NTs are still in great shape and, other than a few simple games, we really use them more as readers than tablets and we're concerned the 9" screen might be a little large for reading. Also, most of the multimedia features are wasted on us. We can't get real, wired high-speed Internet where we live and have Hughesnet, unfortunately. We don't do a lot of videos and you can forget Hulu and Netflix.

Hopefully, we'll be in a part of town where we can get broadband by next Christmas, right in time to look at the fourth generation Nook HD+ Plus. It would probably be better to skip a generation anyway. Heck, we can't have them all!

Like many others, we would definitely want to wait until we see if they could be rooted or not. I definitely wouldn't buy a B&N device that is crippled by being shackled only to their online store. I'm sure someone will figure out a way to root them all eventually though.

Good luck to those that purchase these. I'm sure you'll love them and I know of at least two individuals that will be very envious.

- Byron

[megthered]

I just bought the Galaxy Note 10.1, the larger tablet and really love it. I have designated my notebook computer as my desktop because it was really too big to carry around, so I needed something smaller. My Nook tablet was just too small, but a 9 in with the HD screen would have been perfect for me . It's ok though, my Nook tablet went to my son in college who had a Nook 1st gen, I got the Galaxy 10.1 and now will probably get the Nook HD, if I can talk my husband into another toy. Maybe for Christmas.

[robertc88]

When these do come in at B&N stores for demo, what available video is on the web that would show off picture quality the best for these tablets??????

[afv011]

Originally Posted by robertc88

When these do come in at B&N stores for demo, what available video is on the web that would show off picture quality the best for these tablets??????

I think you'll have to use youtube for that. There are 1080p videos that should do the trick; I would choose some of the BBC documentaries, like "BBC Natural World" or any by David Attenborough.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by robertc88

When these do come in at B&N stores for demo, what available video is on the web that would show off picture quality the best for these tablets??????

Check here:
http://www.demo-world.eu/trailers/hi...n-trailers.php
It exists for precisely that; the THX ones should do the trick.

[robertc88]

I do currently utilize you tube for 1080p material. If there isn't any higher resolution, why do manufacturers make displays more capable?

I have some blurays that include ultraviolet which the new nook supports. What resolution would one watch those in with the new nook?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by robertc88

I do currently utilize you tube for 1080p material. If there isn't any higher resolution, why do manufacturers make displays more capable?

I have some blurays that include ultraviolet which the new nook supports. What resolution would one watch those in with the new nook?

That will depend on the file the studio makes available: Ultraviolet files can be SD as well as HD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UltraVi...rmat_.28CFF.29

One thing to consider when talking internet and streaming video: high resolution is no guarantee of quality video because the files will be compressed with lossy algorithms and quality will depend on the compression rate and the source material quality and *type*. (I.E., Talking head movies will tolerate higher compression better than SFX-heavy action flicks.)

[afv011]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

That will depend on the file the studio makes available: Ultraviolet files can be SD as well as HD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UltraVi...rmat_.28CFF.29

One thing to consider when talking internet and streaming video: high resolution is no guarantee of quality video because the files will be compressed with lossy algorithms and quality will depend on the compression rate and the source material quality and *type*. (I.E., Talking head movies will tolerate higher compression better than SFX-heavy action flicks.)

Indeed. Also highly compressed videos are more CPU demanding than lightly compressed ones, so are more prone to cause dropped frames and other artefacts.

[robertc88]

With about what I figured from Apple for the mini, I will not even bother trying it. More anxious now for the Nook entries.

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by robertc88

With about what I figured from Apple for the mini, I will not even bother trying it. More anxious now for the Nook entries.

Yep, I'm just hoping there will be developer interest to get CyanogenMod on there. Right now, everyone is expecting the HDs to have locked bootloaders, which would be a significant hurdle.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by taosaur

Yep, I'm just hoping there will be developer interest to get CyanogenMod on there. Right now, everyone is expecting the HDs to have locked bootloaders, which would be a significant hurdle.

I'm a tad less demanding myself.
If B&N would simply let me sideload apks without hacking(like Amazon does) I'd be buying the HD+ on release day.
Otherwise, I'll go with the FireHD9 or the Nexus10.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I'm a tad less demanding myself.
If B&N would simply let me sideload apks without hacking(like Amazon does) I'd be buying the HD+ on release day.

It'd be great if they'd do that, but considering the Nook Tab could do that and they patched it to take away that ability I doubt it'll happen.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

It'd be great if they'd do that, but considering the Nook Tab could do that and they patched it to take away that ability I doubt it'll happen.

It's been a year. Maybe they've learned their lesson...