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HD DVD VS Blue-Ray

bluedoggiant

bluedoggiant

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jul 13, 2007
2,658
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MD & ATL,GA
I was wondering whats the difference and why is Blu-Ray becoming soo popular? They are both HD, so whats the difference? The only difference that i can see is that Blu-Ray dvd players use blue lasers to read the dvd. Can someone explain this to me? And please don't try to be too technical!
 
Ditto on the search thing, but you'll probably find just a bunch of fights and nonsense.

Ok Im assuming your 100% ignorant in this subject (which I doubt) so here it goes: Blu-Ray developed by Sony and others (vs Toshiba's hd-dvd), it has 25GB per layer (50gb max in one cd vs. 30gb max in hd-dvd), is a must that every media (movies) inserted in the disc are full 1080p (hd-dvd does not ask for this although it also does 1080p) Blu-Ray has a "hard" coating that makes it less prone to scratches (its true, experienced my self). Blu-Ray is slightly more expensive right now. Blu-ray IMO is better (PS3 user) and has apparently won the "hd format war" and as far as Im concerned it will set the new standard for HD video.BD has regions, not as many as DVD but still has them, BD is supported by 70% of the mayor studios. More technically speaking BD uses some "more advanced" codecs and other technical stuff I really don't care/understand about. Hope this was helpful.

-Victor
 
Victor ch said:
Ditto on the search thing, but you'll probably find just a bunch of fights and nonsense.

Ok Im assuming your 100% ignorant in this subject (which I doubt) so here it goes: Blu-Ray developed by Sony and others (vs Toshiba's hd-dvd), it has 25GB per layer (50gb max in one cd vs. 30gb max in hd-dvd), is a must that every media (movies) inserted in the disc are full 1080p (hd-dvd does not ask for this although it also does 1080p) Blu-Ray has a "hard" coating that makes it less prone to scratches (its true, experienced my self). Blu-Ray is slightly more expensive right now. Blu-ray IMO is better (PS3 user) and has apparently won the "hd format war" and as far as Im concerned it will set the new standard for HD video.BD has regions, not as many as DVD but still has them, BD is supported by 70% of the mayor studios. More technically speaking BD uses some "more advanced" codecs and other technical stuff I really don't care/understand about. Hope this was helpful.

-Victor
Click to expand...

Yes that helped!!
 
bluedoggiant said:
I was wondering whats the difference and why is Blu-Ray becoming soo popular? They are both HD, so whats the difference? The only difference that i can see is that Blu-Ray dvd players use blue lasers to read the dvd. Can someone explain this to me? And please don't try to be too technical!
Click to expand...

Both Blu-ray and HD-DVD use blue lasers, just some slight technical differences mean that Blu-ray discs can fit a little bit more.

Both can easily fit far more than enough data for a HD film (or several) on a single disc.

Really, there is no reason why consumers should prefer either format. There seems to be a bit of Blu-ray fanboyism around here due to Apple's verbal support over it (even though on paper they support both). But consumers shouldn't care; there's absolutely NO visible difference (they use the same file formats).

Corporations should care due to all the corporate politics involved and Sony and MS and all, but individuals should just buy what has the content they want or hold out till a winner is decided.
 
GFLPraxis said:
Really, there is no reason why consumers should prefer either format … there's absolutely NO visible difference (they use the same file formats).
Click to expand...

For US users, I agree with you. But the lack of region coding* makes HD DVD preferable for me. It varies from movie to movie, but I can import HD DVDs for 25-40% cheaper than buying BRs in my region. I don't own a BR player, but it looks like I may be investing in a combo drive in the future.

Something I'm not clear about is whether Warner's announcement is for the US or worldwide.

* I am aware that not all BR movies are protected, and that the HD DVD spec allows for it, however at this time I'm able to pick up any HD DVD movie with the assurance that it'll play in my NZ-purchased player.
 
eric55lv said:
Blu-Ray is way better then HD-DVD the sound,picture
Click to expand...

Let me guess, you didn't do any research and are only saying that because Microsoft is backing HD-DVD? :rolleyes:

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD use the same codecs, so the quality difference should be minimal, if there's any at all
 
GFLPraxis said:
Really, there is no reason why consumers should prefer either format.
Click to expand...

Wrong. If consumers were smart, they'd support HD-DVD. It isn't region locked, and it isn't a creation of Sony, a corporation with a horrific past of restrictive DRM and anti-consumerism.

It's a shame that it looks like Blu-Ray might win this. I'll probably abstain from upgrading my TV and DVD player until the next generation of products come around.
 
GFLPraxis said:
Really, there is no reason why consumers should prefer either format.
Click to expand...

Of course there is. :)

GFLPraxis said:
There seems to be a bit of Blu-ray fanboyism around here due to Apple's verbal support over it (even though on paper they support both).
Click to expand...

I think there's a higher degree of rampant anti-Sonyism on these boards (often perpetuated by the usual suspects).

Many a time discussions on this very subject are ruined by questionable logic and overly zealous allegiance, and often in complete disregard to the facts.

GFLPraxis said:
But consumers shouldn't care; there's absolutely NO visible difference (they use the same file formats).
Click to expand...

There potentially is. It's only studio apathy that has prevented the differences between the two formats becoming more apparent.

Personally, as both a consumer and content creator I'm happier that it looks like Blu-ray is going to succeed, because it is the superior format of the two.
 
Victor ch said:
More technically speaking BD uses some "more advanced" codecs and other technical stuff I really don't care/understand about.
Click to expand...

As mentioned before, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD use the same codecs (VC-1, MPEG-2). Reviews of movies released on both formats both encoded using VC-1 show a near identical picture. Hopefully once the format war plays out (most likely BR winning,) studios will start encoding at a higher bitrate to take advantage of all of BR's storage capacity. Also, in terms of "HD audio," the difference is pretty minimal between BR and HD-DVD since Dolby TrueHD, DTS-MA, and PCM are all lossless formats.

I was initially pro HD-DVD (owned both formats though,) but because of the Warner announcement, I'm switchin to Blu. Blue is my favorite color though...:cool:
 
yg17 said:
I support Blu-Ray simply due to the fact that it has a cooler name :D
Click to expand...

hahaha me too, Blu-Ray Disc sounds more advanced to me :cool:. And, I heard Blu-Ray first (I don't know which one came first) and was thrilled by the name and said: "cool it uses a blue laser instead of red one" then I acknowledged that it was a HD format that was in fight..... etc.

-Victor
 
Victor ch said:
hahaha me too, Blu-Ray Disc sounds more advanced to me :cool:. And, I heard Blu-Ray first (I don't know which one came first) and was thrilled by the name and said: "cool it uses a blue laser instead of red one" then I acknowledged that it was a HD format that was in fight..... etc.

-Victor
Click to expand...

HD-DVD uses a blue laser too.


Seriously, the whole "Blu-ray is much more advanced" argument really doesn't hold up. Both are equally advanced using blue lasers, the latest video codecs, etc; but HD-DVD strives to use a similar manufacturing process to DVD (making it much cheaper to produce) while Blu-ray strives to fit a little bit more data.

Seriously, the only difference between the two is that Blu-ray fits a tad more data; and there is absolutely zero difference visually since both easily can fit multiple HD movies. And that Blu-ray supports more DRM and region locking.

Personally, if you'd asked me to choose the winner I'd have chosen HD-DVD just because I hate region locking and DRM (although the spec does allow for region locking and DRM in the future, it's not implemented currently). But I'll say "meh" if HD-DVD loses and Blu-ray wins.
 
I don't like the name. Maybe it's because I was brought up in the UK and not the US (sirius radio? wtf?) but I prefer naming things a little more logically. we had tapes, video tapes, CD's, DVd's, HD-DVD seems the logical step in naming terms. Blue Ray just sounds daft. Complete with dropped off vowel and name that indicates what laser the drive is using rather than the medium?

And I suppose I support HD-DVD more because of the region encoding, but I haven't bought into either format yet... I just don't like region locking and given the choice I'd take the format without it.
 
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