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Microsoft and Intel Back HD-DVD

I'm going to buy both. I need my movies man.

At the last tradeshow many observers said that both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD looked fabulous. That's enough for me. Hopefully Samsung makes good on their promise of a Universal player.
 
ZorPrime said:
Even though Sony lost the consumer market, Sony Beta won the professional broadcast market. I don't think history will repeat itself, as Sony most likely has learned from the last format war.
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Yeah, most broadcasters use BetaCam and I also agree that Sony will have learnt from the past, after all, they have had a lot of experience.

Beta vs VHS
MiniDisc vs mp3
DVD+R vs DVD-R (although Sony hedged their bets on both sides on this one)

Let's hope they have learnt their lesson.
 
nuckinfutz said:
I'm going to buy both. I need my movies man.

At the last tradeshow many observers said that both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD looked fabulous. That's enough for me. Hopefully Samsung makes good on their promise of a Universal player.
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Anyone know if there will be any demonstrations of the two at MacExpo London at the end of next month? I am on my way there on the Friday and want to try and get as much information as I can. It would be nice to hear apple's views on the subject directly too.
 
SiliconAddict said:
For a while yes. Once TV's start switching over to HD watch HD content take off. watching DVD content on my 46" widescreen TV is OK....just OK....I hooked up my computer the other day to the HDMI port and tried some H.264 content on the thing through Quicktime....Yah....*drools*...a LOT.
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Television is already switching to HD. No one will force you to throw out your old television and DVDs once HD television finally becomes the standard in the US. But AFAIK they are making a huge effort to have to make you buy an HDTV unless you want to stop watching American television in a few couple of years. All broadcasters already have a deadline for providing HD content. I'm not sure if this has been changed or postponed in the last few weeks, though.

Once that happens everybody will want to play high definition quality DVDs on their brand new HDTV. So one way or another, I see it as we are being forced into having to get an HDTV and a better DVD system. I don't think its something bad, as I can only see advancements in technology as a good thing.

I think HD DVD is the easier and better solution for consumers and will probably be a much cheaper media format in the long run. But then again it doesn't seem that HD DVD copying and burning will be any harder than it is to do now with regular DVDs, so maybe the big movie distributors will go for a harder-to-copy Blu-ray solution. I guess that as long as Apple supports both formats, everything is well. :cool:
 
Follow the money:
I think it's clear by the movie industry (sans Sony) backing HD-DVD that an HD-DVD will support a feature length movie at 1080i but no more. They feel threatened that the Blu-ray just might have enough capacity to store a feature length at whatever vertical resolution comes after that. That keeps them from selling an entirely new generation of VHS/DVD/HD-DVD/SuperHD-DVD movies (and the Toshiba/NEC backers of HD-DVD from selling another generation of players). I for one want to be able to use my Blu-ray player to watch a full length movie on my 2160i TV instead of having to buy a SuperHD-DVD.
 
ryanw said:
I'm guessing that in the END, HD-DVD will win. Based off of ONE reason. People will think BLU-RAY is something new and weird, but HD-DVD is just a new version of DVDs. Consumers are stupid, which makes HD-DVD the default winner. It's the one consumers are going to know what it is and buy it.
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Ah, but you are forgetting the inevitable rebranding to "HD+DVD" or, perhaps, "DVD Hi-Volume" while renaming "standard DVD" to "DVD Full-Volume" (or is that the other way around?) leaving people to ask, "But is that HD-DVD Full-Volume or Hi-Volume?"

On the other hand, you also have that sizeable contingent of consumers who will hop over to Best Buy, see the "HD-DVD" version of their favorite movie, and not get it because they already have the "DVD" version and it looks like nothing but the packaging has changed. Not the early-adopter crowd, of course, but the later-adopters do tend to get confused when names are similar far more than when they are dissimilar.

It's funny how stupid consumers are, yet how much infuriatingly mindless techno-jargon crap gets hurled their way by so-called "tech" companies. The poor guys don't stand a chance!

In the end, nothing matters except what the blue-shirt at Best Buy claims to be the "de-facto standard" anyways. It could be called "SheepDisks" and it'll sweep the world by storm if you can get those semi-illiterate legions out there guiding the ill-informed masses the right way!
 
Macrumors said:


Reuters reports that Microsoft and Intel have announced their plans to back the HD-DVD format for high definition content. Microsoft's support for the HD DVD format was expected based on previous announced partnerships with Toshiba.

Meanwhile, Apple announced support for Blu-ray technology in March of 2005. Blu-ray is the main competitor to the HD DVD format.

While, Microsoft/Intel control a large proportion of PC hardware, content providers have not yet joined their site:
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It's good for Apple-as DVD Studio 4 already supports HD-DVD, but no Mac's have Blu-Ray or HD-DVD burners yet.
 
danielsan26 said:
Follow the money:
I think it's clear by the movie industry (sans Sony) backing HD-DVD that an HD-DVD will support a feature length movie at 1080i but no more. They feel threatened that the Blu-ray just might have enough capacity to store a feature length at whatever vertical resolution comes after that. That keeps them from selling an entirely new generation of VHS/DVD/HD-DVD/SuperHD-DVD movies (and the Toshiba/NEC backers of HD-DVD from selling another generation of players). I for one want to be able to use my Blu-ray player to watch a full length movie on my 2160i TV instead of having to buy a SuperHD-DVD.
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While you have a very good point there, I don't think this is foremost in the studios' minds when deciding. A lot of the major players are siding with Blu-Ray, for its apparent copyright advantages. If they lose a fortune by going for the wrong format and gambling on people willing to buy another format in 10 years, but in the mean time a lot of bootlegging going on, they will look like complete fools. I think they are smarter than just going for a format because they can potentially cash in a little bit later. If this was their primary factor, why din't they try to push LaserDisc more in the 80's to replace VHS and then introduce DVD rather than offering minimal support for LD and then jumping straight to it's smaller cousin?
 
steve_hill4 said:
While you have a very good point there, I don't think this is foremost in the studios' minds when deciding. A lot of the major players are siding with Blu-Ray, for its apparent copyright advantages. If they lose a fortune by going for the wrong format and gambling on people willing to buy another format in 10 years, but in the mean time a lot of bootlegging going on, they will look like complete fools. I think they are smarter than just going for a format because they can potentially cash in a little bit later. If this was their primary factor, why din't they try to push LaserDisc more in the 80's to replace VHS and then introduce DVD rather than offering minimal support for LD and then jumping straight to it's smaller cousin?
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I honestly think that the RIAA and MPAA are gradually getting wise to the fact that no matter what precautions and safeguards they establish, some 13 year-old will crack it. I think that in the future, litigation of a few people to scare the masses and legal actions against the major pirating players are going to be their their only recourse. This only leaves a constant turnover in media formats to recoup losses in the long run.
 
LethalWolfe said:
You misunderstood his post. The copy protection on forthcoming HD content will only allow content to be played in HD if the TV/Monitor the player is attached is HDCP compliant (which means HDMI or DVI w/HDCP). If yer HDTV is not HDCP compliant (which very few HDTVs, and no computer monitors, being sold today are) then the content will only be played back in SD.
Lethal
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I disagree. Not talking about Copy protection. He was talking about the 480p (which isn't HD) signal being sent from the player. Most HDTVs' embedded processors "UPCONVERT" whatever signal they receive to their native resolution. You won't need an HDTV to view movies from a Blu-Ray player playing HD movies. You simply won't get the benefits of HD, if you don't have an HDTV and you won't get the "best" if you don't have HDMI. These issues exist today, coax, rca, svideo, component, etc...

Also, the higher resolution HDTVs 770i, 1080i or higher tend to have digital inputs and if the input isn't in the format you need, you can buy a converter. Blu-Ray players will support 480i, which is what most people have. ;)

This is what he said, which isn't correct.

nuckinfutz said:
The PS3 will help Blu-Ray's penetration but then again you still need a HDCP DVI/HDMI HD tv as Blu-Ray players will only have SD 480p analog outputs.
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PS3 is also a "player", wich will work on a standard TV. By the way, do you really think Sony will push for replacement DVD players and format that will negate 80% of the US TV market???? :eek:
 
yadmonkey said:
Of course they're crap. They have almost zero competition at home... go to the Netherlands and try to find some audio components made by someone else!
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?????????

I'm no Philips supporter.... but this is outrageous.

You mean if I buy some Sony stuff I get Philips components?? :confused:
 
ryanw said:
I'm guessing that in the END, HD-DVD will win. Based off of ONE reason. People will think BLU-RAY is something new and weird, but HD-DVD is just a new version of DVDs. Consumers are stupid, which makes HD-DVD the default winner. It's the one consumers are going to know what it is and buy it.
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Yes, I believe you are correct. I partnered in a video rental business in the early to mid eighties. Although beta was actually a superior format the vhs won for part of that reason.
 
iQuit said:
Blue-Ray seems too ahead of its time....it'll do good for a while and then fail, like the DreamCast.
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yeah, i could see that happening. yeah. damn shame what we did to the dreamcast here in america.
 
Way Off Topic

redAPPLE said:
not wanting to hijack the thread, but i got an off-topic question. let us say a new president gets elected, does he have the power to trash the patriot act?

i just need one answer and then go back on topic people :)
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Quick answer: No. The Patriot Act is an act of Congress, with no Executive suspension clauses AFAIK. The only chances of getting rid of it are:

* Elect a congress which cares about personal rights as much as this one cares about the corporate "rights" of Enron and Halliburton.
* Hope that the Supreme Court overturns the Patriot Act as over-reaching and unduly extreme. Not likely given its major proponent is determining two of the judges on the bench, and the other judges aren't real softies for individual liberties (Antonin, I'm lookin at you!)
* Elect a President who has the political will and wherewithall to chip away at the most inflammatory areas of the act, and/or on "coat tails" long enough to convince Congresscritters to think of people instead of a police state.

That's it. As an act of Congress, it can only be "checked" by Constitutionally-based high-court reversal, or by Congress itself. The Executive can enact orders which contradict the act, and/or "fill in the blanks" of specific situations, but it's already been signed into law and so the only way to really "undo" it is through previous law (court option) or future law (congress option).

Now, back to the topic at hand ...
 
HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, FVD, EVD

Ok, I haven't read alll the posts, but clearly most people think, that there are only two standards for the DVD successor. It may not surprise you, but Microsoft is developing with Taiwanese producers another successor which is FVD (Forward Versatile Disc), and then we also have the chinese companies building another standard called EVD. It will be a long road to HD......
 
DavidCar said:
I just came across this. Maybe someone already posted it. It lists six reasons for the decision.

http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20050927_190208.html
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Holy smokes man!! Great link. If this is true...HD-DVD has just taken the lead. Once people get used to streaming HD content from a networked drive they won't want to go back.

BDROM 50GB non-existent? That's very bad news for the BDA. We already knew that BDROM was more expensive but I thought Sony had the DL stuff down pat.

I had forgotten all about Intel's VIIV as well. I knew MS wouldn't want to support Java either.

Last but not least is China. With them onboard there's no way BD can automagically become as cheap.

I've revised my odds now from 50/50 to 60/40 in favor of HD-DVD.
 
Sony has always been good for Apple.

I would leave the drive making up to the world's best optical drive manufacturer. Sony is great at under-promising and over-delivering!

What hardware became wildly sucessful after the company destroyed 200 prototypes in favor of waiting for a better optical drive.

Answer: The original Playstation!
 
The Year of HD

Now we have iMovie HD / Final Cut Studio HD, and we have displays capable for 1080i HD production, but we still didnt have an optical drive for output....

anyway my first Blu-Ray player would be.....PS3!!!
 
danielsan26 said:
I honestly think that the RIAA and MPAA are gradually getting wise to the fact that no matter what precautions and safeguards they establish, some 13 year-old will crack it. I think that in the future, litigation of a few people to scare the masses and legal actions against the major pirating players are going to be their their only recourse. This only leaves a constant turnover in media formats to recoup losses in the long run.
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True, no security encryption is 100% but at least with Blu-Ray content owners will be able to change the encryption algorithms without having to invest in huge amounts of $$$. They can simply change the encryption and no one will know or have to buy a new DVD player to play the newly encrypted discs. In other words: some kid cracks the code, the studios change the code without switching to a new platform, and consumers don't have to buy new dvd players. The beauty of it is its flexibility.

Also the nature of the photo emulson enscribing techniques used for Blu-Ray disc authoring will make it extremely difficult for mass bootleggers to steal and mass produce copyrighted Blu-Ray movies.
 
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