HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray

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I've seen other discussions relating to HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray. Both sides have their passionate followers, those of which usually get into childish name calling. I'm curious what people think here. Do you think HD-DVD will win or Blu-Ray? Why?

I'm torn myself. Blu-Ray claims to sell 2:1 as many discs. They also claim to have sold over 3 million Blu-Ray players including their game console system PS3. (It could be argued they've only sold 400,000-500,000 standalone players.) Blu-Ray also has a consortium of investors all who have a vested interest in how certain things are done. This slows progress down technologically so internal debates can be had. Blu-Ray, until recently, has also been quite a bit more expensive.

Then there is HD-DVD which according to a recent statistic is a slightly more recognizable name. Their players are cheaper, less comity within so the technology advances quicker, have sold nearly 850,000 units including the XBox360 ADDON. So for people who want just a movie player and not a game console system the sales of hardware is in favor of HD-DVD.

Each have four major studio backing them with Warner the only major neutral player. Warner may pick a side come January 7 at CES.

So who do you think will win the "format war" and why? Who would you like to see win?
 
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Latest update is that the Sony PS3 with firmware 2.10 is now BD-J 1.1 compliant. Very cool. Still won't bitstream the HD codecs, but that's fine. I can do this with HD-DVD if needed.

Now that I've had the opportunity to evaluate both formats, I can't say there will be a clear winner based on quality alone. Over the holiday break, I bought several more Blu-ray titles and about 4 HD-DVD titles. I also calibrated my Home Theater with the HD-DVD edition of Digital Video Essentials. I watched Bladerunner and The Shining on HD-DVD and Spiderman 3 on Blu-ray. All were amazing visual and auditory experiences, especially the Sand Man birth sequence where I'd swear I could see every single grain of sand. Very realistic. Over the weekend while in the aisle at my local Fry's Electronics, I compared side by side the features of the latest Harry Potter film in both formats, and the fact that the special features on the Blu-ray edition were partially in 1080i/1080p, I bought the Blu-ray. I am about to go watch it now (never saw it in the theaters).

Still no clear winner in sight.

Basically, I have no gripes about either format except the extra cost of the "Combo" HD-DVD discs. The extra cost is contrary to the "we're cheaper" mantra because the Blu-ray of Harry Potter 5 was the same price as the Combo HD-DVD disc.
 
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I'm definitely going to wait until the dust settles. I find if I play my DVDs though my laptop on to my HD projector it res'es them up nicely. Plus it took ages for the titles I like to come out on DVD so I imagine it'll take even longer for them to come out on Blu-ray or HD-DVD.

I promised myself that I'd never get stuck with a Betamax again... Never!!!:mad:

Steven
 
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StevenUK said:
I'm definitely going to wait until the dust settles. I find if I play my DVDs though my laptop on to my HD projector it res'es them up nicely. Plus it took ages for the titles I like to come out on DVD so I imagine it'll take even longer for them to come out on Blu-ray or HD-DVD.

I promised myself that I'd never get stuck with a Betamax again... Never!!!:mad:

Steven
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I hear this a lot, too, that SD DVD discs look almost as good as HD when upconverted, and there's some great technology available now that can do it. Both the PS3 and my Toshiba HD-DVD player upconvert very well. Problem is, you can't add detail that isn't there to begin with.

I spent the weekend again tweaking, calibrating and testing my home theater. There were still some bugs that needed to get worked out. On a 73" DLP at 1080p, these differences are very noticable (high bandwidth connection required for this link):

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=811102

After everything was calibrated (picture brightness/contrast, color reproduction and speaker balance), I watched Transformers for the first time since seeing it in the theaters. I have a much greater appreciation now for the work involved in putting that film together. The CGI is simply breathtaking and so is the sound quality. This is not a movie you can watch just one time to appreciate. I also watched Close Encounters on Blu-ray last night, and it was also a very enjoyable experience. It has never looked and sounded this good in consumer hands.

On a side note, I discovered first-hand yesterday the benefits of clean power. The Toshiba player was very susceptible to A/C noise. It must not have built-in filtering (and the PS3 has a grounded power cord, so it was fine). I was getting an annoying hum in the speakers using the HDMI connection on the Toshiba. The hum was gone after installing a Home Theater power center with A/C filtering.

And this isn't like Betamax. I don't recall studio exclusives back in those days. The amount of content becoming available in both HD formats ensures that my HD investment was not in vain. One of these formats may eventually go by way of the Laserdisc. But no matter what happens, I can still enjoy the movies that I already own for years to come.
 
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I was talking with my friend Bill about this, and he says that Microsoft is backing Toshiba on HD-DVD purely to stave off Blu-Ray from taking over the home-video market while they work on digital HD downloads... makes sense... I rent most movies through my TV with Rogers on Demand... Within 5-10 years, computers and televisions will be synonymous, and if Microsoft (or Google for that matter) is working on fast-streaming HD video downloads, then the argument Blue Ray VS HD-DVD will become pretty much moot... or at least, due to VPTurner's good arguments about Blue Ray being primarily done through PS3, and PS3 making their money off games, Sony will probably loose out.
So it makes sense...
 
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Spatula said:
I was talking with my friend Bill about this, and he says that Microsoft is backing Toshiba on HD-DVD purely to stave off Blu-Ray from taking over the home-video market while they work on digital HD downloads... makes sense... I rent most movies through my TV with Rogers on Demand... Within 5-10 years, computers and televisions will be synonymous, and if Microsoft (or Google for that matter) is working on fast-streaming HD video downloads, then the argument Blue Ray VS HD-DVD will become pretty much moot... or at least, due to VPTurner's good arguments about Blue Ray being primarily done through PS3, and PS3 making their money off games, Sony will probably loose out.
So it makes sense...
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I forgot to mention that I did run into my first disappointment with the PS3. Remember my comment that the hardware may not be capable of ever bitstreaming the HD codecs because it's not HDMI 1.3a capable? Well, Close Encounters has a DTS HD Master Audio track, and I couldn't hear it in all its glory because the PS3 can only decode the 1.5 megabit core audio of that track. The Dolby track has a higher bitrate so I ran with the Dolby track, but it's not Dolby TrueHD. And this movie is only available on Blu-ray. If this trend continues, the PS3 will get sold and replaced with a standalone player as they get more mature and feature complete. The recently released Sony BDP-S500 caught my eye.

What can I say. I absolutely love movies and am anal about experiencing them the way they were intended. And movie theaters lately keep annoying me because they don't have experienced projectionists around here (this is one reason I really miss being in the L.A. area). I can't tell you how many films I see where they had the sound levels wrong, the screen set to the wrong aspect, or the projector was out of focus. Plus, crying kids and cell phone users. And who the heck in their right mind brings children to rated R movies?!?
 
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VPTurner said:
Plus, crying kids and cell phone users. And who the heck in their right mind brings children to rated R movies?!?
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Seriously, I got dragged into seeing Saw 4 and there were at least 4 families in the theater with children. It's baffles the hell out of me that these people are presumably ok with what they're exposing their children to. I remember being 6 years old and being scared to death of Freddy Kruger when my step-brother exposed me to the first Nightmare on Elm Street movie... Can you imagine the nightmares these kids will have seeing a movie like Saw 4 where a woman literally gets her rib cage ripped out her body in full graphic detail?

I swear, I lose more and more faith in humanity everyday.
 
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Its over. Warners & New Line back Blu-Ray and dumped Hd-DVD. This leaves virtually NO exclsuive deals for HD-DVD.

The war is over. Get ready to sell your HD-DVD players and collection. It's about to go the way of Beta Max, UMD, Mini-Disc and Lazer Disc.
 
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mr-modern-life said:
Its over. Warners & New Line back Blu-Ray and dumped Hd-DVD. This leaves virtually NO exclsuive deals for HD-DVD.

The war is over. Get ready to sell your HD-DVD players and collection. It's about to go the way of Beta Max, UMD, Mini-Disc and Lazer Disc.
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Yup, only major studio left is Paramount and I'm sure they'll cave within the next 3 months. That was a rather short battle.
 
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JRy said:
Yup, only major studio left is Paramount and I'm sure they'll cave within the next 3 months. That was a rather short battle.
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You forgot Universal.

http://www.highdefdigest.com/featurewarnergoesblu_10608.html

And Paramount can't cave since they signed an 18 month exclusivity.

Not over yet, except the "Betamax" format is the one that may win this time. HD-DVD is the VHS player of the HD wars.

It's still about content. The main reason I bought an HD-DVD player? Transformers.

BTW, Toshiba is none too happy about this, citing existing contracts:

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/1326
 
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Ah, I did forget about Universal!

I still think there's a large chance Paramount and anyone else that has signed exclusive contracts could opt to buy out the remaining deal on the contract if it make sense for them business wise. I mean, there's no way Paramount would sit idly by with crappy HD sales when they could be making a better profit with Blu-Ray. After all, that exclusive contract they signed was only what... $118 mil or so? That's nothing to them.
 
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Well, personally I think both formats were doomed to fail anyway considering that DVDs are still enough quality for the majority of people... so maybe HD-DVD will die off in the next year or so... people are still having issues with BluRay... I bet you within 5 years, both formats will go the way of the Laserdisc and Digital Downloads (or a new, undiscovered format) will emerge victorious.
 
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Spatula said:
I was talking with my friend Bill about this, and he says that Microsoft is backing Toshiba on HD-DVD purely to stave off Blu-Ray from taking over the home-video market while they work on digital HD downloads... makes sense...
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That's a conspiracy theory that has yet to be proven. I wouldn't put it past Microsoft but I wouldn't accept this as fact until there is some proof.
 
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Bill Hunt over at The Digital Bits made a comment on Fri. that he thought as a show of good faith the Blu-Ray Association should offer discounts to HD-DVD users and the studios should exchange HD-DVD versions of their movies for Blu-Ray. Then today he mentioned he was talking to BR Assoc. people this weekend during CES and apparently they are already planning something to help ease the transition for HD-DVD users to Blu-Ray. If it turns out to be true it's a nice gesture on their part.
 
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mr-modern-life said:
In short guys HD-DVD is fucked. Bottom line. I dont want it to be but its fucked more than a cheal whore on a buck a shag nite.
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If this scenario plays out, then you're right:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dc409afa-...20-11db-b0dc-000b5df10621.html?nclick_check=1

But now Sony is offering to throw the HD-DVD camp a bone, so there's no telling. There are over 200 HD-DVD movies in play, so consumer investment (like mine) in the format won't be a total waste.

And the fact that I chose Blu-ray over HD-DVD for Harry Potter 5 shows that even my sentiments were turning Blu. None too happy considering I just dropped about $600 (well, my wife did - it was my Christmas present) on HD-DVD stuff. I was banking on the Paramount/Dreamworks exclusive. But that's what I get for having to be "state-of-the-art". :lol:
 
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An article I came across on BBC News today:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7176185.stm
The backers of the Blu-ray high definition DVD system are predicting victory in the format wars with HD DVD. The two rival camps have divided consumers since the two incompatible systems were launched. But Blu-ray supporters are touting the decision by Warner Bros to shift allegiance as a tipping point....
 
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Wow. IF sony does do that then I'll be amazed. Then again of late they have become some what desperate so I wouldnt put anything past them....

At the end of teh day only one group looses. US. The consumer.
 
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