dbarberaz

Did a fast earch and did not notice again on this so I thought I would get some thoughts from those who own them or plan.

Do you think the Blue Ray or HD DVD format is better and why? I am getting ready in the next few months to make the jump and wanted to know how many have one of them and what you thought. What I may do is get both as we (ok I) like to play playstaion games and like the new Blue ray, but also like the way HD DvD's look.

Thought? comments?

Bjam

i have an hd dvd player and like it but there are movies that are only blu ray that i want so im not 100% happy with it. i dont remember who but i think it is LG makes a player that plays both hd dvd and blu ray disc

Firewatcher

What's a Blue Ray? Will it stay around or will it meet it's maker like Laser Discs and Beta Max?

dbarberaz

Lg is making this player now, but I think it runs around1500 for it. It is to new to know what problems they may or may not have with this

dbarberaz

That is the big question who is going to win. Blue ray disk can hold more information than an HD DVD does. All Playstation games on on this disk as well as all Sony movies Disney and a few others. I dont think will go bye bye, I think both will be around, just wont be able to watch all movies on one player.

Harpozep

I thought it was all about who would win too. Then I just bought both game systems , X-Box 360 and PS3. Now With the $200.00 add-on for the 360 and the Stand alone PS3, We can play HD DVD and Blue Ray AND cover all the bases for both next gen home video consoles.

I liked the convergence aspect of it all. Dedicated HD and Blue Ray players were/are expensive. The gaming consoles do it all for a price, but it works out to be more reasonable than dedicated players.
Now , as time moves on there are players out there that are going to play both. Wait a while and they will become affordable.

This week we got both Pirate movies on Blue Ray and our 60" Sony 1080P TV never looked finer!

DVD will likely stay for a long time as the clear unit-sales leader, but HD DVD and Blue Ray ( I think ) will come down in price and achieve a greater market penetration than the previous high end video niche market, the Laser disc. Laser Disc was no failure, it stayed and grew for around twenty years. My final laser disc was Star Wars episode 1 as in import from Japan. I sold a dozen of them at my store. So Niche markets can thrive outside of the mainstream, I have seen this.

For this reason I am not afraid to buy either HD DVD or Blue Ray. Both are Niche, Both do a great job ( depending upon the authoring, but THAT is another thread ). If they stopped making them tomorrow, I would still have a nice run of the current best optical formats available for future enjoyment.

My prediction is they will come down in price and the players will to. It is the old Cicken and the egg thing more than the Betamax VS VHS thing.

Check out this forum for a LOT of info. I'm a member and it is addictive. Not that we don't know anythinfg about that here , do we?

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/

Black Rose

That's the million dollar question, and the reason why I will not buy either one until a clear winner has been determined.

For now I am perfectly happy with my upscaling DVD player.

HHR PNOY

BLU RAY players are more expensive that HD-DVD. HD-DVD movies come with two playable versions (side 1 - regular dvd, side 2 - hd-dvd movie) while BLU RAY can only be played on a BLU RAY player.

We dont know who the clear winner will be yet, so my company currently supports and makes menus for both BLU RAY and HD-DVD movies.

tonydetiger

I think the winner of the BluRay/HD DVD war will be . . . the internet.

Downloadable movies

Harpozep

Yup, that is likely the future of movies. And I do not think it is for the better........
Jobs and Gates see it as their future, so it will be come a bigger reality.

Movie rights holders want to control your usage and the quality of the movie you own/download/watch.
Currently many HD broadcasts in 1080i are horribly compressed and have all sorts of jiggly digital distortions going on in them. This is mainly due to limiting the bandwidth of the broadcast. A cable company only has so much bandwidth to work within for their many channels. So they give the money channels the most bandwidth at the expense of the other channels.

Sports broadcasts get the lion share of the bandwidth and are broadcast in a very nice looking 720P. Premium ( read "PAY" ) Movie channels get the next largest share, then Network prime time. All SD ( Standard definition ) broadcasts get the table scraps.
I am appalled at just how horrible the FX network looks over Comcast. It is as if I am back in 1969 trying desperately to get channel 56 from Boston to come in on that new fangled UHF circle antenna!

Currently the optical discs HD 1080P standard, when actuated correctly is breathtaking. A fifty gig BR disc will be awful difficult to download with our current technologies. The manufacturers are utilizing this great disc space to great gains. All this will be ruined when the same movies are compressed to death for downloading. The movies you can download now are always more compressed, smaller and not up to even DVD quality. They get you to pay for these SD downloads and deliver a quality less than a DVD. I see the same happening in the HD world in the not to distant future. No good will come of this..

Hence I am buying into HD DVD and Blue Ray now, before it goes away. Or if it can hang on like LD did, I will be even happier. Dunno though, LD had no downloading competition.