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HD DVD or Blu Ray?
- Thread starter Kalns
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~Shard~ hit the nail on the head. It's not about the technical specifics, it's about the name and marketing. Everyone knows what a DVD is, and most people know what HD means. Put those two together, and you have a winning combo.
But I think DVDs will be here for a while. It's still a new technology to a lot of people.
However, with HD-DVD and Blu Ray competing with each other, hopefully prices will fall fast on players.
But Apple can win easily, but bypassing a disc format and going straight to iTunes HD content streamed over your 802.11n network with Apple TV
But I think DVDs will be here for a while. It's still a new technology to a lot of people.
However, with HD-DVD and Blu Ray competing with each other, hopefully prices will fall fast on players.
But Apple can win easily, but bypassing a disc format and going straight to iTunes HD content streamed over your 802.11n network with Apple TV
I read an article about how Porn producers are going HD-DVD and its pretty much decided every other major development in home entertainment, so why not this one?
Blu-ray is the better format, but HD-DVD is so much cheaper to produce, so it'll win.
Having been in a room with the idiots pushing various ends of both formats, I hope both fail though. They care not for visual quality or user enjoyment. They want to license patents all over the shop to lock up revenue for the next ten years, they want your entire viewing experience streamed back to them from networked players so they can hock you extra features and send you new ads and get in your way even more than they can on dvd, so they can make a few extra $'s. Its sickening.
I've been an earlier adopter of a lot of stuff in the past, and I'm happily shooting my own stuff on HD now, but for the time being I'm sticking with good old DVD for myself, I'm not playing the games this time.
In other news Universal are themselves trying to patent another disc format, they're calling Total HD that merges all the standards together, on a single disc. I've not read much about it, but its one way of solving it.
Blu-ray is the better format, but HD-DVD is so much cheaper to produce, so it'll win.
Having been in a room with the idiots pushing various ends of both formats, I hope both fail though. They care not for visual quality or user enjoyment. They want to license patents all over the shop to lock up revenue for the next ten years, they want your entire viewing experience streamed back to them from networked players so they can hock you extra features and send you new ads and get in your way even more than they can on dvd, so they can make a few extra $'s. Its sickening.
I've been an earlier adopter of a lot of stuff in the past, and I'm happily shooting my own stuff on HD now, but for the time being I'm sticking with good old DVD for myself, I'm not playing the games this time.
In other news Universal are themselves trying to patent another disc format, they're calling Total HD that merges all the standards together, on a single disc. I've not read much about it, but its one way of solving it.
Actually is Warner Brothers who have licensed the technology first. I think they help develop it, but it's been reported that it's open to any other studio to try True HD discs. This war may turn out different then other one's because it seems that there are just too many companies involved whether it's CE's, Studios, Manufacturers, and even industry giants like Microsoft. Both formats may end up surviving after all with multi-players been the standard and True HD discs.
The problem is that DVD is still growing and seems very new to still a lot of people, however the market for DVD's has been saturated and the studios are not going to be making much $$$ of that technology, so they need HD to take off and while it is for HDTV, many still are not educated in the technology. ie: 1080p, 720p, 480p, SD-DVD, Upconverting players are not true HD, HDMI, etc.. So many regular J6P consumers don't see that difference in PQ even in their new HDTV's because they either don't understand that most of the content coming from their cable box is not HD or they already think the SD feed stretched out on the big 60" HDTV is HD. This leads to them also thinking SD-DVD looking all big on the screen is HD also. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD have a some work to do to get the average consumer to notice. Low pricing is actually one of the best ways then full-blown ads.
In regards to watching movies at home I'd say HD-DVD is the better format because it comes in at a lower price point. Outside of IT applications BD's larger disc capacity is pretty much a non-issue. It's like, what does it matter if your car can go 130mph while mine can only go 100mph if we are both driving on the same interstate w/a speed limit of 75mph?
Aside from saying that DVD is still growing I agree w/what you're saying. DVD sales, while still huge, have peaked and are starting to level off which is another reason for the "HD is awesome! Everyone should get HD!" push we are getting from movie studios (DVD sales turned into the life blood of the industry). The push for HD has been artificial (not market driven) and not very convenient for customers. As you said, many (most?) consumers find DVD quality to be more than adequate so where is the compelling reason to go the Best Buy this weekend and shell out thousands of dollars to go HD?
Lethal
Another solution is an upscaling DVD player and a 12 month wait for the prices to come down on next gen DVD.
Does anyone have any experience with the upscaling or progressive scan dvd players?
How big a difference does progressive scan look on you HDTV?
Does upscaling look that much better?
How big a difference does progressive scan look on you HDTV?
Does upscaling look that much better?
Looks good, although i can't tell the diff between 720P and 1080i.
My new Sony will do me for the next 2 years, by then the next gen should be sensibly priced.
I perfer blu-ray because it sounds cool
Plus it has higher capacity disks, which I think are 25 and 50 gigs versus 15 and 30 gigs.
Yeah, but does Joe Consumer who makes up 90% of the market share out there care about larger capacity? What does that really mean to him? He just wants to watch an HD movie on his HDTV. Some of the average consumers out there don't even know what GBs are...
But I'm sure Joe Consumer is aware of recording time. I believe one of the reasons why VHS triumphed over betamax was because betamax wasn't able to record a complete football game (which Joe Consumer is very familiar with).Yeah, but does Joe Consumer who makes up 90% of the market share out there care about larger capacity? What does that really mean to him? He just wants to watch an HD movie on his HDTV. Some of the average consumers out there don't even know what GBs are...
I have a progressive scan dvd player. It definitely looks better than your standard interlaced dvd signal. Same goes for upscaling.
But I'm sure Joe Consumer is aware of recording time. I believe one of the reasons why VHS triumphed over betamax was because betamax wasn't able to record a complete football game (which Joe Consumer is very familiar with).
That's a very good point, however I guess it will all come down to how the recorders, well, record.
I mean in terms of quality and so forth - what will be the ultimate versions of "SLP, EP and SP" on HD-DVD / Blu Ray recorders... But yes, with more storage technically Blu Ray could record more data than HD-DVD... But I'm sure Joe Consumer is aware of recording time. I believe one of the reasons why VHS triumphed over betamax was because betamax wasn't able to record a complete football game (which Joe Consumer is very familiar with).
I'm sure that's partly true. VHS could record very poor quality over long times.
Betamax tapes came in 3 hour varieties at full speed but you could stretch a VHS tape from 2 hours at full speed to 6 hours though the quality was so poor, it was hardly worth watching. I suppose it didn't matter whether you could actually see the football game or not since a lot were played in the snow anyway.
I don't buy that for one simple reason:
I perfer blu-ray because it sounds cool
Here we go.
"Blu-ray" is two syllables. "D-V-D" is already hard enough to try to spit out. Add the "H-D" and it's a five syllable nightmare.
"C-D" was perfect. "Tape" was better.
"Macintosh" gets contracted to "Mac". How do you contract an acronym further? Call it "Hid Vid"? "Blu-ray" sounds high-tech, new and clean. It doesn't rely on geekspeak in any way.
That's an urban myth.
Not at first. VHS was always one step ahead of Beta on running time, and it's why the market chose VHS.
I read an article that descibed that Porn won't be driving the next generation of video.
For home videotapes, yea, it was new, and VHS had the capacity and was cheaper. But now, who wants to watch that stuff in "High-Def"?
I'll try to find the article, but it said that like VHS, it's capcity (Bluray) and that this time, Disney will drive the market (Bluray as well).
Porn driving home entertainment is a myth now and it was myth with VHS. Porn isn't nearly as big a business as it's made out to be, but when people say nonsense things like "it's a $13B/yr business" we all nod our heads and think "of course, of course, how salacious our society is..." and never do we stop and do a reality check on the outrageous numbers.
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/01/04/media_overestimates_.html
I'm thinking it was a lot bigger during the VHS/Betamax days. Now that porn is so huge on the internet I would venture to guess that $13B/yr business is mostly on-line and very little is generated from other forms of media.
This is not 1980
My $0.02 here.
Back in the late 70's early 80's Porn was HUGE on VHS. There was no other real way to easily have it at your home outside of an 8mm projector setup. It played a part in the sucess over Betamax but not as HUGE a part as people think. It all came down to recording time, cost and content availability. Today people have so many other avenues for Porn. The Internet and Satellite TV as well as Cable distribution. So much easier than buying or renting a DVD. Plus more economicable. One Porn DVD cost you $25. For that price you can get an entire months subscription to a XXX Porn channel and have access to hundreds of movies every month that you can copy to DVD if you really want it that bad.
IMHO Sony has a real Trojan horse in the PS3. They were very slow out of the gate but they are in full stride and you can actually find them in a store now (to purchase). They have already outsold the Xbox 360 HDDVD drives by a 5 to 1 margin. Thats alot of Blu-Ray players folks.
Lastly it comes down to content as we all know. Blu-Ray has 7 out of the top 8 Studios lined up to produce their titles on Blu-Ray or BD as it will very soon be acronymed down to. Only Universal is the sole HD-DVD only studio. Sony and Disney are BD ONLY. Can you imagine how many copies of Pirates of the Caribbean these guys are going to sell this coming Spring (estimated release)?
The PS3 works great as a BD player. Movies load and play in about 20 seconds. The first gen HD DVD players were taking around 1':30" to boot up and load a movie. 2nd gen are faster but still taking around 30-45 seconds.
BD disc titles have now not only caught up to but have passed the numbers of HD-DVD titles as studios start to crank them out faster and faster. Here is another tidbit of information. A month ago you could rent a BD disc on Netflix and get it instantly as there weren't that many players out there. Add one now to your queue and it's usually "very long wait" especially if its a new title.
Lastly if your worried you won't be able to get your fill of HD Porn, the first title on BD Disc is scheduled for release in March 07 (Debbie Does Dallas... again). Sony doesn't have a problem with Porn. They are only trying to take care of the major studios first and as capacity is upgraded the Porn industry are being accomodated.
Its too bad we have competing formats thats for sure. If you purchase a PS3 you know you can always use it for gaming or sell it on eBay should HD-DVD some how win out. Same thing goes for an Xbox 360 HD-DVD setup should BD win.
Either way have fun, its only technology and one thing for sure, it's always going to be changing!
My $0.02 here.
Back in the late 70's early 80's Porn was HUGE on VHS. There was no other real way to easily have it at your home outside of an 8mm projector setup. It played a part in the sucess over Betamax but not as HUGE a part as people think. It all came down to recording time, cost and content availability. Today people have so many other avenues for Porn. The Internet and Satellite TV as well as Cable distribution. So much easier than buying or renting a DVD. Plus more economicable. One Porn DVD cost you $25. For that price you can get an entire months subscription to a XXX Porn channel and have access to hundreds of movies every month that you can copy to DVD if you really want it that bad.
IMHO Sony has a real Trojan horse in the PS3. They were very slow out of the gate but they are in full stride and you can actually find them in a store now (to purchase). They have already outsold the Xbox 360 HDDVD drives by a 5 to 1 margin. Thats alot of Blu-Ray players folks.
Lastly it comes down to content as we all know. Blu-Ray has 7 out of the top 8 Studios lined up to produce their titles on Blu-Ray or BD as it will very soon be acronymed down to. Only Universal is the sole HD-DVD only studio. Sony and Disney are BD ONLY. Can you imagine how many copies of Pirates of the Caribbean these guys are going to sell this coming Spring (estimated release)?
The PS3 works great as a BD player. Movies load and play in about 20 seconds. The first gen HD DVD players were taking around 1':30" to boot up and load a movie. 2nd gen are faster but still taking around 30-45 seconds.
BD disc titles have now not only caught up to but have passed the numbers of HD-DVD titles as studios start to crank them out faster and faster. Here is another tidbit of information. A month ago you could rent a BD disc on Netflix and get it instantly as there weren't that many players out there. Add one now to your queue and it's usually "very long wait" especially if its a new title.
Lastly if your worried you won't be able to get your fill of HD Porn, the first title on BD Disc is scheduled for release in March 07 (Debbie Does Dallas... again). Sony doesn't have a problem with Porn. They are only trying to take care of the major studios first and as capacity is upgraded the Porn industry are being accomodated.
Its too bad we have competing formats thats for sure. If you purchase a PS3 you know you can always use it for gaming or sell it on eBay should HD-DVD some how win out. Same thing goes for an Xbox 360 HD-DVD setup should BD win.
Either way have fun, its only technology and one thing for sure, it's always going to be changing!
Well, LG rep came to my store today. My circuit city is slated to get its first shipment of LG BH100's. So hopefully this player will sell lots because it plays both formats.
I've read in a few places that the LG player isn't supported by de HD-DVD consortium. So it can't carry the official logo. I think it's because I doesn't support some kind of audio format which is compulsory to be able to carry the HD-DVD logo.
Still, its a great start, any pretty good value considering you get a 2 in 1 player for the price of most stand alone HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players!