HD DVD & Blu Ray - informal poll

[Airric75]

Derek,
I know very little about either format, but I know that I want to find out more. Right now I have a Cable recorder and it records all my HD programming, and it looks great, I rarely watch non HD channels now... I can tell you that 1. I will get the new equipment, and 2. I will undoubtedly get which ever looks like it costs a reasonable amount comparitivly(spelling?)
Eric

 

[Derek S]

Eric -

Check out www.avsfoum.com the best A/V site on the internet.

 

[jonnythan]

Ugh. The Toshiba player is a total POS. The Samsung Blu-Ray is apparently not *as* bad.

I think either technology clearly has sufficient technical muscle to succeed. The differences between the two are in reality exceedingly small. Both support lossless surround sound, VC-1, 25-30GB of disk space.

I don't care which one wins, as long as one does. The winner *will* be determined by marketing, not the marketplace.

I'd *love* to hear the argument for Blu-Ray being technologically inferior, though.

 

[RonDawg]

I'd *love* to hear the argument for Blu-Ray being technologically inferior, though.

And as we've already seen with the Beta vs. VHS struggle, technological superiority doesn't guarantee market share.

I've got a feeling that we'll eventually see players that support both formats, the way many DVD recorders now support both + and - formats. Consumers do NOT want a repeat of the VCR format wars, and will withhold their dollars until they are reasonably sure they won't be holding on to a modern day Betamax.

 

[cfelliot]

....and will withhold their dollars until they are reasonably sure they won't be holding on to a modern day Betamax.

This is my view exactly. Once bitten twice shy.

I do have to admit that I've stopped buying new movies in DVDs in anticipation of this coming to a conclusion.

I can’t believe in a post Beta/VHS and 8Track/4Track/Cassette world that these idiots don’t realize the importance of standards vs. pride. All it will do is slow the adoption of HD overall!

Thunderdome: 2 formats enter 1 format leaves!

 

[jonnythan]

And as we've already seen with the Beta vs. VHS struggle, technological superiority doesn't guarantee market share.

I've got a feeling that we'll eventually see players that support both formats, the way many DVD recorders now support both + and - formats. Consumers do NOT want a repeat of the VCR format wars, and will withhold their dollars until they are reasonably sure they won't be holding on to a modern day Betamax.

I think we very much *won't* see that as the companies in question know better than to allow it.

If Blu-Ray wins, it's not because it's technically superior. It's because a far, far greater amount of marketing money is put into it.. thanks to a far, far superior list of studios and manufacturers. Comparing the list of HD-DVD studios and manufacturers to the list of Blu-Ray studios and manufacturers should make any HD-DVD supporter very nervous.

Also, even though HD-DVD was first to market, the only available player is a total POS and has already been relegated to the back shelves of Best Buy in favor of the Samsung Blu-Ray player... who is actually paying Best Buy for the marketing floor space. Toshiba is not.

 

[jonnythan]

I can’t believe in a post Beta/VHS and 8Track/4Track/Cassette world that these idiots don’t realize the importance of standards vs. pride. All it will do is slow the adoption of HD overall!

Thunderdome: 2 formats enter 1 format leaves!

MemoryStick
UMD
MiniDisc

etc etc etc.

Sony *absolutely insists* on creating their own media. I have no idea why. It's something ingrained into their corporate culture.

 

[Derek S]

Ugh. The Toshiba player is a total POS. The Samsung Blu-Ray is apparently not *as* bad.

I think either technology clearly has sufficient technical muscle to succeed. The differences between the two are in reality exceedingly small. Both support lossless surround sound, VC-1, 25-30GB of disk space.

I don't care which one wins, as long as one does. The winner *will* be determined by marketing, not the marketplace.

I'd *love* to hear the argument for Blu-Ray being technologically inferior, though.

Jon -

Have you actually seen the Toshiba in action? Granted it's slow-ish (it's basically a PC for chrissakes, it takes time to boot up ), but overall, the quality is there. I haven't seen the Samsung yet as our Best Buy is clueless and refuses to put it out even though every other one in the country already has.

BD does allow for the support of VC1, but the initial titles are being released using MPEG-2 on 25GB discs. That is where the technologically inferior comes in. Sony is so enamored with themselves that they are releasing the first salvo (pun intended) of movies on smaller discs, using a codec that is not able to handle the rigors of HD content given the confined space and bitrates needed.

The Fifth Element was supposed to be a watershed/reference/home-run disc for the BD format, and pretty much everyone from A/V n00b to industry pro has stated that TFE is an absolutely horrid transfer, and as of right now, BD titles are pretty much a failure.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not anti-BD. I'm anti-Sony's arrogance. Rather than play nice, they've chosen the route that allows them to control every step of the proccess. But then again, this is Sony's modus operandi...Release a crappy version of movies, then turn around a year later and release a "Special edition", and then another year later release a "Super-duper stuff we should have given you the first time around Superbit edition"

Feel free to come over anytime, I'll fire up the HD-A1 and make you a believer. I guarantee it would look fabulous on the Maxent. :14:

 

[jonnythan]

I've seen the Toshiba. There is *no doubt* that the picture quality is absolutely stellar. The problem is that the thing is a totally off-the-shelf PC that takes a minute or more to load a disc.

I've heard about TFE, too, which is a crying shame. That movie *absolutely begs* for the high-def "red carpet" treatment, you know? It's just SO PRETTY and colorful.

I detest Sony with a passion... but the vast majority of people don't. I don't have a dog in this fight. I'd like to see HD-DVD win because it's ever so slightly less anti-consumer.. but I don't think it will.

You can of course be assured that the studios are going to double- and triple-dip this thing to death.

 

[Jamdiver]

MemoryStick
UMD
MiniDisc

etc etc etc.

Sony *absolutely insists* on creating their own media. I have no idea why. It's something ingrained into their corporate culture.

Quite true, quite true.

I think the history of consumer electronics has shown time after time that proprietary formats are doomed from the get go.

But yet companies still persist with them, the lure of $$$$ is too strong for some I suppose....