DVD format war

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brianluce

Carbonite Member
Anyone know where we're at with the DVD blueray versus HD DVD dust up?

Last I heard HD DVD was rallying off the ropes but Blue ray still had a slight lead.
Costco is selling both players, I think they're about $200 each.
 
I anticipate a blu future.

But that new ps3 that sits behind me.. is mocking me.. taunting me to hook it up..

damn you christmas present..
 
What I see happening is Hybrid HDDVD/Blu-Ray discs, so nobody has to purchase a new player, so all new discs could be played on either player..... then players would just be called High Definition DVD Players.... because that's what they technically are, so regardless of what you buy as a player, any disc would work. Although, current discs would not work, unless they put both formats into the players; except that means people that currently own a player only have one format.

Since blu-ray is stored at .01mm into the disc, where as HDDVD is at .06mm, you can get blu-ray layers upto about .055mm.
 
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It's still a tie at this point, all things considered. Blu-Ray is selling more discs, HD DVD more stand alone players. After Xmas HD DVD discs should catch up in sales as people open their boxes. Studio support is about equal, although there are unconfirmed rumblings that Warner Bros might go exclusively Blu-Ray, which would just about end the war. Techwise, Blu-Ray has more capacity, but HD DVD has more high end features.
 
PS3 = blu ray player. They should be lumped into Blu-Ray sales... most people buying a PS3 are aware of the player.

And I mean.. honestly.. who the hell is buying PS3 for the games? Thats like buying mcdonalds for the health benefits...

Batutta said:
... but HD DVD has more high end features.
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Technically that is incorrect. Blu also has all the capabilities and more of HD-DVD... they were just absolutely moronic and shipped way too early before it was ready... Only now are they players and capabilities catching up with the BD Java stuff.
 
Loki said:
PS3 = blu ray player. They should be lumped into Blu-Ray sales... most people buying a PS3 are aware of the player.
Click to expand...

Actually, studies they've done show only 30 percent of people who have a PS3 are aware it plays Blu-Ray discs.
 
The most telling item in this "war" was when Sony's chief Howard Stringer openly complained about how Paramount jumped ship. Why? Because, in his opinion, blu-ray had this thing wrapped up and now it's back to even.

According to Netflix, they get more hits on their blu-ray pages, but among customers who set a preference more of them are setting HD-DVD as their preferred format to receive discs in.
 
I'm not making a decision until things start to settle out a little better. Anyone remember Beta?
 
brianluce said:
thing i like about hd dvd is that you play regular dvd's.
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....?

what?

hd dvd != dvd.

both HD-DVD & Blu-Ray players play DVD's..

and I think the number I last read of people aware of the blu-ray player in a ps3 is 42%.

still a significant margin if sony is to sell 8 million PS3's by Q2 2008.

Either way; I've made a choice.. no more fence sitting.. essentially they are both the same since they both use the same codecs, but Blu has technical superiority which IMO will help it in the long run. Also it is backed by a huge selection of computer and electronics companies. There are also Blu-Ray burners on the market already.. it just makes so much more sense as a format given the base it is built around.

Toshiba's one man army may prevail...who knows.. for once I'd rather have the technologically superior format win.... VHS should have died a horrible horrible death.... alas...
 
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with netflix and cheap players I just went ahead and bought an hd-dvd player a month ago. if/when the format is obsolete I'll have just lost a player and not a collection as I'll continue to netflix the latest and greatest format whatever it is. As much as this can be compared to the beta/vhs wars I think things like netflix will make an impact in some people's decision (like mine) since I have little reason to keep a library of purchased movies around.
 
I planned on sitting it out, until a kid at the video store sold me his xbox 360 HD DVD player for 80 bucks. I couldn't resist. I think once we see 50 dollar players from China it will be over, and I think HD DVD has a higher likelihood of getting there first, but I could be wrong.
 
I'm going to sit it out, because it's really tough to say what will be accepted by the broad public, because it's not always about quality. Blu-Ray sounds far better than HD-DVD, but Beta was also better quality than VHS, and look what happened there. Laserdisc was better than both of them. I'm not one to go with the crowds and wait to find out what everyone else likes, but I'm not going to invest hundreds, possibly even thousands of dollars into one player and a small collection, just to have it be obsolte, and worth basically nothing in a short amount of time. As exciting as it is to have this technology now, I'd much rather wait a year or two for the "war" to be over. My mom and sister actually just won a PS3 and HD-DVD player from the Ellen Degeneres show, so I might rent a few from each format and compare/contrast.
 
Blaine said:
I'm not making a decision until things start to settle out a little better. Anyone remember Beta?
Click to expand...

Yea... it sucks... and all we can do is analyze in hopes to be able to buy in as soon as it becomes evident.
There is a problem with analyzing the numbers, which is that you have to know HD DVD has a dumb-consumer advantage... the rest as we all know it is down to the studios... the consumer will not make this choice, it will be the industry.

Consider the preference option on Netflix.com for example... say you know crap about the options, say you don't even know what HD really is just that it is better (can you do that? :) ) this is the vast majority of the consumers... well then, unfortunatelly for me and other Blue people, HD DVD "sounds" like the better looking one to them... Blue Ray doesn't tell them anything...

I want a PS3 to I can take advantage of my plan with Blockbuster which would allow me to turn my ~20+ monthly movies into ~20+ monthly HD movies... they have a Blue Ray section the size of three of three of their HD DVD section. Then again I also need the TV... my only HD screens are LCDs for editing... :( what an oximorron huh? I can make it but I can't watch it... or burn it!

I do see a bright blue future for my living-room/client screening room :D
I just hope they don't realize the player is also their kids favorite toy MUAHAHAHAH!!!

jdajda said:
with netflix and cheap players I just went ahead and bought an hd-dvd player a month ago. if/when the format is obsolete I'll have just lost a player and not a collection as I'll continue to netflix the latest and greatest format whatever it is. As much as this can be compared to the beta/vhs wars I think things like netflix will make an impact in some people's decision (like mine) since I have little reason to keep a library of purchased movies around.
Click to expand...

shame on you! :)

Batutta said:
I planned on sitting it out, until a kid at the video store sold me his xbox 360 HD DVD player for 80 bucks. I couldn't resist. I think once we see 50 dollar players from China it will be over, and I think HD DVD has a higher likelihood of getting there first, but I could be wrong.
Click to expand...

well I don't think anyone can blame you... :)
 
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