I'm actually against both formats, so as far as I'm concerned, this is a loss no matter which way you slice it. Oh well, let's just let the E. I. get an even better grip on our nether regions.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray Battle Over? Warner Switches to Blu-Ray
- Thread starter hvfsl
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Blu-Ray
This is huge, considering Warner switched back over to Blu-Ray to avoid missing the boat. Ironic for Sony, considering they redeemed themselves after losing out with BETA-Max.
This is huge, considering Warner switched back over to Blu-Ray to avoid missing the boat. Ironic for Sony, considering they redeemed themselves after losing out with BETA-Max.
According to Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits, Paramount and Universal are both readying plans to go Blu-Ray. The announcements could come any day, but it could also take a month or two (to prepare new titles for the announcement, etc.).
That means every major studio will have gone Blu Ray and the war is, indeed, over and the reconstruction effort has begun.
That means every major studio will have gone Blu Ray and the war is, indeed, over and the reconstruction effort has begun.
I mentioned in an earlier post that Warner was very instrumental in tag-teaming with Toshiba to help push the original DVD format. Warner's Warren Liebefarb is one of the first people credited with making the success of DVD possible.
The fact that Toshiba's tag team partner was neutral in the first place, but then went Blu-Ray only, says something.
Kind of sad to look at it though. Sony's Blu-Ray was CLEARLY designed to catar to studios... of which Sony was/is one. Toshiba's HD DVD was more designed to catar to consumers and technology. In the end, the special interests won out by shifting more of their considerable weight to Blu-Ray.
~ CB
~ CB
I plan on going to Blu-ray later this year when player prices hopefully come down. I figure they still have to compete with SD DVD.
Check out eBay. People are selling off HD DVDs for cheap. If you are a gutsy person and think you will be able to replace your player in a few years you might want to take a look at some of the auctions. I see a lot of titles going for $10-15. By this summer you will probably be buying titles for $5-10. Not bad for a product that will give you about the same picture quality as a $20-30 Blu-ray disc. As for me, I'll just rent through Netflix as long as I can get HD DVD and by then I hope to be able to afford Blu-ray. But I am tempted...lol Hmmm dual format player? Well if they get cheap enough it might be an option for those wanting a nice HD video library.
Check out eBay. People are selling off HD DVDs for cheap. If you are a gutsy person and think you will be able to replace your player in a few years you might want to take a look at some of the auctions. I see a lot of titles going for $10-15. By this summer you will probably be buying titles for $5-10. Not bad for a product that will give you about the same picture quality as a $20-30 Blu-ray disc. As for me, I'll just rent through Netflix as long as I can get HD DVD and by then I hope to be able to afford Blu-ray. But I am tempted...lol Hmmm dual format player? Well if they get cheap enough it might be an option for those wanting a nice HD video library.
Agreed. I downloaded one of the HD Podcasts, from iTunes, specifically marked "AppleTV HD" and it took about twice as long to download as it runs.
It was a 720p clip, BTW
I don't understand this comment. Both had studio specified DRM. Both had studio support. HD-DVD for first to the market. BD was available before hand. Microsoft threw its weight into HD-DVD and made HDi available earlier than BD-Java and Live. Max bitrate, future head room, capacity, disk durability are all Bluray's strength. Other than BD+, I don't know why you would say BD is anti consumer anymore than HD-DVD.
Truns out at CES, PS3 is still better than any upcoming player 
. Quality, feature and performance wise. Panasonic seem to have the second best.
Because he probably read or got given misleading information. This is very common with HDDVD users. I do feel sorry that in many cases they were mislead. Look at the comments MS made about HDDVD being more consumer friendly...
. Quality, feature and performance wise. Panasonic seem to have the second best.Because he probably read or got given misleading information. This is very common with HDDVD users. I do feel sorry that in many cases they were mislead. Look at the comments MS made about HDDVD being more consumer friendly...
Just heard that Comcast has new technology that allows you to download an HD movie in something like 5 minutes and they plan to roll it out. With a speed improvement from several hours to several minutes the download revolution will be hard to beat.
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/08/comcast
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/08/comcast
I am amazed how quickly this has unraveled. I expected this to drag on for quite some time. Now that Warner has changed, it seems like the few who are left are abandining HD-DVD ASAP...
70% Market share is a lot in an upcoming market. Now its a race to not look like the Dinosaur supporting the losing format.
I'm sure that after the six months are up (end of this month) Paramount and (if not at the same time) Dreamworks will announce its going Blu.
Apple TV 2
- An Intel Chips Designed for the Apple TV 2? - Lionel - 12:13:36
While yesterday we were postulating that a future Apple TV 2 might benefit from current discussion between Apple and Hollywood movie Studios, an announcement made by Intel might support this hypothesis. After unveiling its new Penryn CPUs, Intel provided information related to its forthcoming solutions for System-on-Chip (SoC). They plan to release in H2 2008 the Canmore, an x86 processor-based SoC supporting audio 7.1, hardware-decoding for high-definition video up to 1080p and advanced DRM management. In summary, all functions required to build a new and more powerful Apple TV which could then become independent of any computer to get access directly to movie catalogs available on the iTunes Store.
- An Intel Chips Designed for the Apple TV 2? - Lionel - 12:13:36
While yesterday we were postulating that a future Apple TV 2 might benefit from current discussion between Apple and Hollywood movie Studios, an announcement made by Intel might support this hypothesis. After unveiling its new Penryn CPUs, Intel provided information related to its forthcoming solutions for System-on-Chip (SoC). They plan to release in H2 2008 the Canmore, an x86 processor-based SoC supporting audio 7.1, hardware-decoding for high-definition video up to 1080p and advanced DRM management. In summary, all functions required to build a new and more powerful Apple TV which could then become independent of any computer to get access directly to movie catalogs available on the iTunes Store.
Fud? Hardly, The 360 kills the PS3 in the software department, there is no debate. You can rave all you want about the Cell processor, but strictly hardware means nothing. Look at the PS2 vs. Xbox war - XBox was far superior hardware wise, but lost badly.
Ok... before I allow you to put words in my mouth, I'm not going to agree that Blur-Ray is "anti-consumer". I didn't say that. What I did imply is that the consumer is NOT Blu-Ray's primary customer coming out of the gate (as time goes on, this will change, as evidenced by the Blu-Ray consortiums new specifications). Presenting... for your bemusement... 5 (count 'em) 5... totally objective reasons why HD DVD is more "consumer friendly" than Blu-Ray.
#1.) No Region Codes (which would prevent you from playing U.S. HD DVD's in Europe)
#2.) Works directly with legacy technology, enabling "hybrid/combo" discs to be made so that you can watch HD DVD on in your living room, and use the DVD side in your bedroom.
#3.) Cheaper manufacturing means cheaper wholesale, which means more ready discounts and/or price advantages over Blu-Ray passed down.
#4.) More robust, they do not scratch or deteriorate over time (rot) as easily as Blu-Ray (protects your investment)
#5.) Heavy emphasis on Interactivity and next generation menus and movie navigation.
So, that's just 5. That said... I don't have HD DVD, and I don't ha ve Blu-Ray. I've been planning to buy a Playstation when I get around to it. Personally, even in the face of facts like those above... I DON'T CARE. I can barely bring myself to care about HD discs at all, considering upscaled DVD works fine for me. I have no interest in being a burning ember still crackling from a war that should have been over a long time ago. Poor Toshiba.
~ CB
And this is one of the reasons you will never see people such as myself ever buying products manufactured like this. There is no content worth me handing over, subjugating or otherwise abrogating my own personal liberties and rights for. Period.
Yes HD has none. DVDs have 9 (YES NINE) So are you also willing to rant about DVDs? Okay..
Yes its possible to make that but are you saying that every HD-DVD is like that? it is an option which is nice. People who only have DVD players are now paying 33-50% more for a DVD. Yes could be future proofing themselves if HD-DVD won. The Second problem is every HD-DVD disc would need to be done in that manner (in which im guessing every one isn't).
AHHAHAHAHAHAHAH Dream on! You think the studios are going to pass on $.05 to us. They are in it for the profit not for the consumer.
Yup, Granted HD-DVD does have far more interactivity items compared to Blu-Ray 1.1. Lets talk again once 2.0 is released. A little late, but better then never.
But the PS3 has the advantage of playing Blu-Ray movies, which we now know is the successor to DVD. That's HUGE, and more than makes up for any deficiencies in it's gaming catalogue (which will be substantially better this year). I advise people to buy PS3's over 360s these days because they're more versatile, future-proof and better value for money. And they don't keel over and die if you sneeze at them like the 360.
people have been ranting against region codes on DVDs for years. that's one of the reasons why HD DVDs lack of provisions for region coding is so attractive.
first of all, i hate the fact that blu-ray functionality (and DRM) is a moving target. yeah, the players are supposedly updatable to insure that they'll be compatible with the future changes, but you can come up with a nice list of "what ifs" for that scenario.
i decided a long time ago that i wasn't going to base hardware decisions based on features that weren't available when make a purchase. too often these "upcoming features" aren't implemented.
I seem to recall people saying wait till Lair, then wait till Heavenly Sword, then wait till R&C, then wait till Uncharted and so on and so forth. Yes the PS3 can play bluray movies. So can the 299 Sammy, what is the big deal? If it has no good games now, and you can find a BD player for a cheaper price then what is the point?
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Upgradability. The Sammy's successor (BDP1400) is a Profile 1.0 layer, so I assume the BDP1200 is as well. The PS3 40GB isn't much more than the BDP1400. It's a Profile 1.1 player and will get a software update for Profile 2.0.
I have an XBox 360, but R&C and Uncharted are pretty good.
Profile 1.1 versus 1.0 didn't matter three months ago. So why should it matter now. The movie will play the same in both players, so why pay $100 more?
Redeemed themselves??? BETA-MAX did not go out as fast as HD-DVD will. BETA-MAX was used for a while mainly in the professional field. I think they lost the consumers market because it was more expensive then VHS. Also don't forget that SONY invented CDs and DVDs in conjunction with Phillips of course
I think it's because Sony made BetaMax proprietary and they wanted to license it to everyone else. It was actually better quality (I had a HiFi BetaMax machine).