HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray Battle Over? Warner Switches to Blu-Ray

[Cleverboy]

I'm still rooting for HD-DVD AND Blu-Ray.

Such opinions just sound nonsensical to me. Clearly the consumer landscape needs ONE FORMAT, regardless of which one that is, demand will provide the features and innovation to work out the details of usage requirements. If you're wondering if Blu-Ray or HD-DVD will let you "back up" your discs, I think you're unrealistic to think you'll have no problems with either. If you're wondering if Blu-Ray will make home recorders available... of course they will.

~ CB

 

[fdxd]

The PS3 can do Blu-Ray at 720p, it was only the old firmware that couldn't.

Just to clarify this as a PS3 and 1080p plasma owner.

PS3 has been doing 1080p and 720p effortlessly since launch. Infact it bests all the other HD players quite easily. Near instant startup times to perfect pristine 1080p with 24 frames a second support. Even all of Sony's own Blu ray only players arent as good as the PS3. Best of all its future compatible.

Its definately one of the key factors why Blu Ray is winning since PS3 is such a good device to showcase. Although even standalone Blu ray players are now outselling HDDVD ones. It would be nice to see Apple add Blu ray to their devices but its still going to be a high end affair for those who want to pay extra for the quality. It will fall in price over time for everyone eventually and blank media to be affordable.

 

[thunderclap]

Just return it. Store credit is better than nothing.

Can't. To get the free 7 movies mentioned you have to mail in the original UPC from the box. If that's not there the store won't take it back.

 

[fdxd]

Can't. To get the free 7 movies mentioned you have to mail in the original UPC from the box. If that's not there the store won't take it back.

Ouch. i hope you can sort something out. Try to speak to the store? I am sure there are many in the same boat as you and retailers should be aware.

 

[homeboy]

I wonder what MS will do now. Will they go ahead with HD-DVD or will they join the dark side.

Apple announcing that they will support bluray will be the final nail in the coffin for HD-DVD=(

 

[Pressure]

Enough said...

Why not use Numbers to make the actual pie diagram? Would look so much nicer.

 

[Digitalclips]

Booyah!!!

I had a feeling this was coming, but wasn't expecting it until next week.

Awesome news... let the HD DVD lovers whine.


Edit: Weak, they're still going to release HD DVDs through May, albeit after a delay from the DVD/Blu-Ray release.

YES great news!!! I was fearful the 'The inferior VHS wins over superior Beta' saga was going to happen all over again. Without the format battle, and once it is fully over, sales will sky rocket and prices will drop (despite lack of competition since volume will bring prices down).

They have a brief window of opportunity left before the new ultra fast and long range Wi-Fi, using soon to be freed up freequencies from NTSC TV, makes them all as obsolete as a floppy disk. Of course PC makers will still fit them till 2020 lol.

 

[Digitalclips]

Just to clarify this as a PS3 and 1080p plasma owner.

PS3 has been doing 1080p and 720p effortlessly since launch. Infact it bests all the other HD players quite easily. Near instant startup times to perfect pristine 1080p with 24 frames a second support. Even all of Sony's own Blu ray only players arent as good as the PS3. Best of all its future compatible.

Its definately one of the key factors why Blu Ray is winning since PS3 is such a good device to showcase. Although even standalone Blu ray players are now outselling HDDVD ones. It would be nice to see Apple add Blu ray to their devices but its still going to be a high end affair for those who want to pay extra for the quality. It will fall in price over time for everyone eventually and blank media to be affordable.

Question ... I have never owned a games console but was tempted to get a PS3 since the cost seems little more than a stand alone Blu-Ray player. Would it make sense to get one as a machine to watch movies and have the ability to see if I like games machines or is there a downside if primarily it is for movies? This would be viewed on a 50" HD TV in great room.

 

[swagi]

Errr...XBL Marketplace?

I wonder what MS will do now. Will they go ahead with HD-DVD or will they join the dark side.

Apple announcing that they will support bluray will be the final nail in the coffin for HD-DVD=(

M$ will do what they can do best. Just don't care and use their monopoly. And Apple will be perfectly late (once again!), to use their chance.

Possible scenarios:
1) During the CES keynote, Bill Gates will open up the XBL Marketplace to the whole world. First sightings in the US and Europe were made, now we only need studio support.
2) XBL Marketplace will also be opened to Windows MCE & Vista above Home professional. You can load the movies on your PC's harddrive and stream them to whatever supported set-top-box (XBox 360 included). Once bought, digital content remains yours, but uses strong DRM!
3) M$ will start offering software on HD-DVDs -> thus you need to buy that drive.

These are just a few things, that come to my mind. I personally couldn't care less. Though I am the typical physical media person for audio, I could care less about physical media for movie content.

Audio and movie are two different scenarios. The perfect picture and sound quality is still available in cinema. You also want to see a movie once, maybe twice. There are only few movies, that you may want to see more than 5 times. But there are hundreds of songs, you listen to more often.

So my personal choice would be: Go back to the movies and enjoy the movie in perfect picture and sound quality on the big silver screen (though digital projection has caused this experience to be more pixelated in the last years *grmpf*).

For casual movie watching, I'm still perfectly happy with DVD. And if the need for HD content arises, I flick on my XBox and pull it down from XBL marketplace. So congrats Blu-Ray, for winning a battle nobody cares about in 2 years. IPTV is growing, and, well...

...if I could just get my wife to sign this bloody VDSL + IPTV contract!

 

[Pressure]

Enough said...

Why not use Numbers to make the actual pie diagram? Would look so much nicer.

Like this

And sorry for the size

 

[Manic Mouse]

Question ... I have never owned a games console but was tempted to get a PS3 since the cost seems little more than a stand alone Blu-Ray player. Would it make sense to get one as a machine to watch movies and have the ability to see if I like games machines or is there a downside if primarily it is for movies? This would be viewed on a 50" HD TV in great room.

The PS3 is one of the best and cheapest Blu-Ray players out, regardless of whether it plays games or not. What HiFi/Sound and Vision rate it five stars based on it's Blu-Ray playback alone.

It can also surf the net, rip and play CDs, SACDs, DVDs upscale beautifully, it will always be current with Blu-Ray spec (via firmware updates). You can even stream content from your PC. Soon they're releasing a dual HDTV tuner for it that'll allow you to record TV. You can even hook up external drives and use them. You can also install LINUX on it.

In short, if you are looking for a Blu-Ray player the PS3 is by far and away the best value for money. And that's without games in the equation.

I suspect the PS3 has had a lot to do with Blu-Ray winning the format war. It's a brilliant piece of kit overall, I love mine to bits. It's also surprisingly quiet, especially compared to my 360.

EDIT: I would just say that you should make sure you buy the Blu-Ray remote (around £15 if you look), using the control pad to control DVDs/Blu-Rays isn't ideal. But the remote is bluetooth, so you don't even have to point it. Brilliant!

 

[KindredMAC]

The PS3 is one of the best and cheapest Blu-Ray players out, regardless of whether it plays games or not. What HiFi/Sound and Vision rate it five stars based on it's Blu-Ray playback alone.

It can also surf the net, rip and play CDs, SACDs, DVDs upscale beautifully, it will always be current with Blu-Ray spec (via firmware updates). You can even stream content from your PC. Soon they're releasing a dual HDTV tuner for it that'll allow you to record TV. You can even hook up external drives and use them. You can also install LINUX on it.

In short, if you are looking for a Blu-Ray player the PS3 is by far and away the best value for money. And that's without games in the equation.

I suspect the PS3 has had a lot to do with Blu-Ray winning the format war. It's a brilliant piece of kit overall, I love mine to bits. It's also surprisingly quiet, especially compared to my 360.

EDIT: I would just say that you should make sure you buy the Blu-Ray remote (around £15 if you look), using the control pad to control DVDs/Blu-Rays isn't ideal. But the remote is bluetooth, so you don't even have to point it. Brilliant!

Yeah, I bought the BT remote as soon as it came out in the US and I STILL find myself lifting it high above a pillow to point it at the PS3 in the entertainment center!! HA!

 

[jwc5009]

Who cares

I download my HD from the internet anyway. I could care less about HD-DVD or Blu-ray. I won't be purchasing any of those formats.

 

[Manic Mouse]

Yeah, I bought the BT remote as soon as it came out in the US and I STILL find myself lifting it high above a pillow to point it at the PS3 in the entertainment center!! HA!

I do it too, it's just so in-grained into my brain. The problem will be when I get used to it and forget to point my other remotes!

 

[Cleverboy]

Yeah, I bought the BT remote as soon as it came out in the US and I STILL find myself lifting it high above a pillow to point it at the PS3 in the entertainment center!! HA!

Man... does XBox 360 NOT have Bluetooth support? I didn't realize PS3 even had it. That's awesome. I've been using a new set of Bluetooth headphones that have been great. If I get a system... a Blu-Ray player, game system, whatever... it's a nice kudo for it to be able to automatically use my Bluetooth accessories, and possibly even connect to my computer view Bluetooth (or Wi-Fi). Everytime I think about the Xbox, all I see is a bunch of hidden charges, regardless of all the rest.

~ CB

 

[jragosta]

There is no way HD-DVD can survive now.

Of course. It was obvious this would happen - since I just bought an HD-DVD player 2 months ago.

 

[JonHimself]

The 720p on the Apple TV is amazing. There really isn't any sort of amazing difference between that and the HD discs unless you start analyzing every pixel. When you are just sitting back and watching, it is not that different (Apple does need to add 5.1 surround sound support).

Where are you getting your 720p content to put on the Apple TV? Just curious because I'd love to be playing something at higher quality than my DVD rips.

 

[Ha ze]

There is no Disney on these pie charts, or is that to be Buena Vista?

 

[kerryb]

Warner knows something we don't

More important to this crowd, however, is this tidbit from the same article: "Of course, Warner's news comes amid a flurry of speculation that Apple Inc. will also give its nod to Blu-ray at the company's big Macworld trade show coming up on January 15"

With all the so called verified rumors of Apple's coming rental service I would guess Warner has been meeting with Apple and discussing the future of film distribution which of course includes digital rentals, and DVD formats. Looks like Microsoft has lost another battle and that their plan to kill mpeg decoding for WMA has failed.

 

[fdxd]

Question ... I have never owned a games console but was tempted to get a PS3 since the cost seems little more than a stand alone Blu-Ray player. Would it make sense to get one as a machine to watch movies and have the ability to see if I like games machines or is there a downside if primarily it is for movies? This would be viewed on a 50" HD TV in great room.

Its a win win situation really. For movies its probably the ultimate movie device. Bear in mind it isnt just a great blu ray player but also a great media device. There is an internet browser that can play Youtube etc. and you have the ability to watch HD divx and wmv video files. Its surprisingly open (for a Sony or anyone actually). Connect a digital camera USB to view your photos in HD for example. The Hard disk and Wifi comes in very handy. Media streaming is possible as well from your pc or even wifi mobile phone wirelessly.

For the games i recommend signing up for the Playstation account to get access to the store. You get movie trailers and game demos to try out that way and see if some games suit you. There are simple games on the store with low prices like Bowling or Poker.

I also want to give alot of praise for the interface. Its very well done. The way i described sounds like its quite a challenge to organise and move around but trust me Sony's interface idea is shockingly simple and very effective. I think companies should take notes on that.

 

[Curtis72]

It all depends....

Question ... I have never owned a games console but was tempted to get a PS3 since the cost seems little more than a stand alone Blu-Ray player. Would it make sense to get one as a machine to watch movies and have the ability to see if I like games machines or is there a downside if primarily it is for movies? This would be viewed on a 50" HD TV in great room.

I'm not "gamer". But I got a PS3. At the time it was the most capable and best price Blu-Ray player. The only issue I see is whether it can stream DTS Master Audio over PCM or bitstream so my new A/V receiver can decode it. But Sony has been good about releasing frequent firmware updates to give it the PS3 more of the Blu-Ray spec features.

But there are now great spec Blu-Ray players that cost around the price of PS3.

 

[ojwk]

It annoys me how new products are still being released with mediocre 720p/1080i support. 1080p has been around since 2003 and has still not been widely adopted. What's more there are no signs of higher than 1080p resolution HDTVs in the pipelines - let alone larger than DVI capable 1600p for monitors.

What perhaps is the most bizarre is that in the year 2000 IBM released the T220 LCD monitor, 22.2" with 3840x2400 (WQUXGA) resolution. It required four DVI channels just to display it's native resolution. That means it has 204 pixels per inch versus the iPhone's 160.

Seven years have passed and its nearest competitor (the iPhone) is still 44 pixels short of this extremely high pixel density.

Technology is advancing in leaps and bounds in many areas but seems to be lagging behind in this.

 

[Cleverboy]

Anyone care to bet Paramount Pictures isn't stupid enough NOT to have a "condition" in their exclusivity contract? I'm guessing that the clock will be ticking for BOTH Universal and Paramount due to the changes in the market.

~ CB

 

[MacsAttack]

I like how every other week we seem to have "The format war is over!!"

And the winner is still.....

DVD

Neither of these new offerings bring enough to the table to overthrow the incumbent format.

 

[Digitalclips]

I download my HD from the internet anyway. I could care less about HD-DVD or Blu-ray. I won't be purchasing any of those formats.

So ... you do care? Or did you mean 'You couldn't care less' ?