Posted December 28, 2007 High Definition War HD-DVD V.S BLU-RAY What are your opinions of this format war? Which side do you bat for? Will there be a winner, or will the two formats co-exist? Have you have experience with both formats, does one have an advantage over the other? If you were going to invest in one format, which would you put your money on the line for? Personally I would like HD-DVD to step up and take the lead. The standalone players are cheaper than their rivals, the format is region free (which means cheaper imports). Although I have a gut feeling if one was to win it would be Blu-Ray far more people seem to ask for Blu-ray over HD-DVD where I work and there appears to be far more Blu-ray exclusives. And I believe the consumers will go where the content is, if people have to pay an extra £50 to buy a Blu-ray player in order to watch Disney/Fox etc. films then its a small price to pay to ensure you can watch Die Hard in HD. I think this whole war would have been a one horse race if it weren't for the PS3, but the PS3 has already put millions of Blu-ray players into homes. The pricing of HD-DVD is extremely competitive, I ventured to Tesco's last night and noticed they were selling a HD-DVD player for £200 which outputs at the full 1080p. I turns out its a little cheaper over at Amazon, and the includes 300 and one film from the Bourne Trilogy + you get the 5 free HD-DVD. So thats £190 inc 7 films thats a bargin. Downloadable HD content is years off, fair enough the 360 provides that service, but thats no where near mainstream, so lets try and steer clear of the downloadable HD will win arguments. What your view on the Format War? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 Hd-DVD and Blu Ray are going no where fast. I have a PS3, I don't use the Blu Ray in that. I doubt i ever will. HDTV penetration is less than 10% in most countries, even less for these High def players. Its going to be a very long time till either over takes DVD. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 What Jordon said There will be no clear winner for a good few years yet, tho i wish it would just be all over and done with because it puts people off buying one or the other. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 The biggest problem is the price of the disks. Take HMV for example; 300 on DVD - £7. 300 on HD-DVD - £24.99! I'd buy a player instantly if the disks were the same price as DVDs. Heck i'd buy even at a few quid more (say £10 for HD vs £7 for SD) to compensate the higher costs Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 Take HMV for example; 300 on DVD - £7. £3.97 @ Amazon and Play. I don't buy a million DVD's and wouldn't mind spending £20 on a HD film, as long as i knew it wasn't going to be obsolete in a few years time when the format dies. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 Well, i don't agree with what Jordan and Nintenchirs say. WB (Warner Bros) are going to take a side in early 08, they don't want to be neutral anymore. If they go Blu, Blu-ray will have nearly 75% of all the movie companys on there side which means that HD-DVD will be pretty much dead. If they go Red it's gonna be pretty much a stalemate again. Most people are saying WB are waiting to see what the sales are like over the Holiday Season then there gonna make there move, there also saying that it will more likely be Blu. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 I prefer HD-DVD for the cheaper costs and the non-Sonyness. It's a more natural continuation of the DVD standard. Except for the PlayStation 3 there is not much Bluray has to offer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 Regular DVD's are so cheap at the moment - I'm loving it! I feel no need to rush out buy into High Definition because it still seems an expensive and unnecessary expense. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 I prefer HD-DVD for the cheaper costs and the non-Sonyness. It's a more natural continuation of the DVD standard. Except for the PlayStation 3 there is not much Bluray has to offer. Around twice and much storage capacity per disk, more studio's blu only and better audio? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 Around twice and much storage capacity per disk, more studio's blu only and better audio? Incorrect actually, HD DVD's can store up to 51gb with triple layers and a majority of the blu ray disks only use 25gb models. I'll give you the studio line however, for now. Regarding audio HD-DVD support for the new Dolby Digital Plus codec is at 3.0 Mbit/s while Blu Ray is at 1.7 Mbit/s. What you must consider is that HD-DVD is a polished finished format while Blu Ray still has to evolve. Of course BLu Ray may evolve to something much higher than HD-DVD, who knows. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 I prefer HD-DVD for the cheaper costs and the non-Sonyness. It's a more natural continuation of the DVD standard. Except for the PlayStation 3 there is not much Bluray has to offer. Same here though I don't own an HDTV yet. I saw a player the other day that plays both though it was more expensive than just buying a blu-ray and HD-DVD. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 Yes but tripple layers have just came out, TDK have nearly completed there 200gb disks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 I own both the HD DVD drive of the 360 and a PS3, so at the moment the 'war' doesn't affect me. I don't care who wins but I would like to see more drives that play both formats. It's such a pointless war as they really are shooting themselves in the foot. People aren't buying one or the other because they don't want something that will be obsolete, and there will be a loser out of the 2 formats. It just seems stupid. The best technology should have been used for a standard format called HD DVD so everyone knew what it was, and there was none of this ridiculous conclusion. I think Blu Ray will win eventually though, as in the media there's a lot of talk of it winning which I think will push people towards that format. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 I can see it, at the moment, going Blu. Early stages can mean a lot. If Disney and Fox are already on Blu-Ray that already means bad for HDDVD Also, please, oh god please people stop saying you don't want Blu Ray to win because it's Sony. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 Let's take a look at history... VHS vs BetaMax Betamax was technologically better, but VHS could hold more data. VHS won the war. Cassette vs CD CD could hold more data. CD vs MiniDisc CDs could hold more data. HD-DVD vs Blu Ray Blu Ray holds more data which means the porn industry is more likely to embrace this technology.... and we know what this means. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 Porn & Disney = Very bad news for HD DVD, which is exactly why i think Blu Ray already has it in the bag. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 Porn means jack shit for either, 10 years ago porn was on videos and that's it. Now it's pretty much only on the internet. btw Ash get on MSN please. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 Yes but tripple layers have just came out, TDK have nearly completed there 200gb disks. Seriously? That's one HUGE disk. Wow. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 Yup. http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/04/12/tdk_preps_200gb_bd/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 I People aren't buying one or the other because they don't want something that will be obsolete, and there will be a loser out of the 2 formats. Me and my brother were talking about this last week on the phone. There are alot of people out there just sitting on the fence waiting to see how this war pans out and when a winner is announced then I think we will see a big increase in the sales of which ever format wins. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 i'm on the fence atm, though i don't have an HDTV yet anyway, so it doesn't apply to me. I guess if i had an HDTV i might get the HD DVD addon for my 360.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 Blu-Ray will probably win at some point just because Disney is with it. Maybe neither will win, maybe in the future we will just have an apple TV type thing with a huge hard drive and that can access the iTunes store so we can just buy the movies and download them. Perhaps the remote for it could use wii remote type technology so we wouldn't have to worry about having a surface to use a mouse on or making selections DVD style. Also, please, oh god please people stop saying you don't want Blu Ray to win because it's Sony. I thought both formats were developed by a number of different companies. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 Around twice and much storage capacity per disk, more studio's blu only and better audio? HD-DVD's triple layer of 51 GB is an industry standard, which provides more space than Bluray's double layer industry standard. Either way, it provides beyond plenty of room for films. The audio comment is nonsense, as all HD-DVDs require Dolby TrueHD sound, which is (along with DTS HD Master Audio) the best sound quality you can get from a surround system. This is only optional on Blurays. The bitrates of lossy formats don't matter in that case, this is lossless sound for an unlimited amount of speakers. As for the film studios, yeah, maybe, but that's really not part of the medium definition. I prefer HD-DVD as the new standard medium, and if it becomes that, then all studios will come to HD-DVD. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 Blu Ray holds more data which means the porn industry is more likely to embrace this technology.... and we know what this means. Porn belongs on the internet now. It doesn't matter which format they choose. EDIT. - Just noticed C-Dawg got there before me. I don't own a HDTV yet, and thats partly because I'm still sat on the fence with which format to buy. It's pointless having a HDTV and nothing HD to plug in the beast. Apart from the 360, which tbh looks fine on my TV. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2007 I thought the porn industry preferred HD-DVD? http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/IBD-0001-21882921.htm Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
