HD-DVD vs. Blue Ray

[Furiously]

With the recent purchase of the Big Screen, watching DVD's doesn't give me the picture I desire.

The whole Blue Ray vs HD-DVD question is up in the air it seems like.

Then again, initially it looks like HD-DVD might be the way to go. (Via the $200 X-box add on with modified drivers to work under windows XP.) Has anyone tried this.

Or would this be a bad move?

[HaemishM]

My friend who has a 42" HDTV and a 360 bought the HD-DVD add-on drive and loves it. That's all I got.

[schild]

Used both the PS3 BR stuff and the HDDVD player w/ the 360.

I like the Blu-Rays image more. Whatever though, Blu-Ray simply has better movies out (for hi-def types - action, horror, etc).

[Big Gulp]

I have a hunch that Blue Ray will flop hard since it's Sony vs. THE WORLD Part Deux: Revenge of the Betamax.  Still, I wouldn't want to jump into this little media war until things get shaken out.  By all means be the guinea pig for me, though.  I definitely don't want to discourage that.

[MrHat]

Spend $100 and get a high upscaling DVD player and 4' HDMI cable.  Continue to watch/buy dvds like you normally would.

When it's 2008 and those players have dropped, it might be worth it.

Does the HD-DVD for XBOX360 do 1080i upscaling?

[Miasma]

I wouldn't buy any movies until The Great Format Wars are over.  Until then I would just go with the cheapest solution as they both probably deliver the same quality and rent the high def movies.  So I would probably buy the 360 HD-DVD unless you are sure you will wind up buying a PS3 at somepoint, then just buy that (once you can find one).

[Furiously]

Spend $100 and get a high upscaling DVD player and 4' HDMI cable.  Continue to watch/buy dvds like you normally would.

When it's 2008 and those players have dropped, it might be worth it.

Does the HD-DVD for XBOX360 do 1080i upscaling?

I use my computer's DVD with either PowerDVD or Mplayer classic and upscale to 1080i currently. It is connected via a HDMI cable. My understanding is all you are doing with progressive scanning is going from 480i to 480p. So it isn't going to look that great either way. It could be that my scalers all stink. But my suspicion is I'm spoiled from watching stuff in 1080.

Based on Schild liking Blue Ray, I'm pretty sure HD-DVD will win the war. Plus it seems to be the format that's less ass-rapatastic to the consumer.

Looks like the only way to watch on the computer is to get some japanese version of PowerDVD and use it. I don't know that I am that hardcore.

I just really like the thought of using an x-box 360 drive instead of a $600 one. Either way I'm not sure the software is ready yet.

[Big Gulp]

There's also the problem that neither HD-DVD or Blue Ray are currently cracked.  What, you expect me to rent movies and just return them without ripping myself a backup copy for my ever-growing collection?  I don't think so.

[schild]

Furiously, just take a look at the movies available in both formats. That's what's going to win it. Price drops for both players will happen in time. When Joe Sixpack buys movies, he buys stupid shit. Wifey ain't gonna be the one worrying about some new video tech. If women ruled the tech world, we'd still be using VHS for home video.

/sexism

Edit: Also, you can already back up HDTV with a proper HD capture card and the Xbox 360 HD DVD player.

[Big Gulp]

Edit: Also, you can already back up HDTV with a proper HD capture card and the Xbox 360 HD DVD player.

Except that there are no HD-DVD burners yet, and the price of one when they do come out (and the media to go with 'em) will be prohibitively expensive for at least 5 more years.

ETA:  Oh, and quality has nothing to do with which format will win.  Betamax was higher quality than VHS, but it sure as hell didn't win because, again, it was Sony vs. the World.  Sony has never been successful with a proprietary format, and I doubt it ever will.

[stray]

Still a close tie. If this site is any indication (sorry if someone already linked that).

Either way though, there aren't very many products being shipped as of yet anyways (122 BR discs shipping, and 133 HDDVD, for example).

[dusematic]

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  The general public has come to know and love the terms "HD" and "DVD." There's no way something called "Blu-Ray" can ever hope to compete with a product that combines the two.

[Furiously]

Which one is the porn industry backing? My guess is that will be the winning format.

[Trippy]

I have a hunch that Blue Ray will flop hard since it's Sony vs. THE WORLD Part Deux: Revenge of the Betamax.  Still, I wouldn't want to jump into this little media war until things get shaken out.  By all means be the guinea pig for me, though.  I definitely don't want to discourage that.

Except that it's not Sony vs the world again -- it's Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, et al, against the world. I.e. Blu-Ray is not a proprietary format like UMD, Memory Stick (yes technically SanDisk shares (some of) the rights to MS with Sony) or MiniDisc.

[Viin]

Which one is the porn industry backing? My guess is that will be the winning format.

HD: http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=28821

[stray]

What kind of fool buys porn anyways?

[schild]

Our fathers.

[dusematic]

Dude. HD. DVD. COMBINED.  Case closed.  I don't see how anyone can disagree with my position on this matter.  Those two acronyms are powerfully embedded into the consciousness of everyone everywhere.  There's no way they can lose, that's all there is to it.

[Sky]

Dual-format players.

http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/06/samsung-planning-dual-format-hd-dvd-blu-ray-disc-player/
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.aspx?NewsId=16562
http://www.cio.com/blog_view.html?CID=25694
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=190300953

Etc.

[bhodi]

Most of the next gen players are garbage. I refuse to wait 30 seconds to a minute for it to read and figure out how to play a disc.

Sony didn't win any friends with it's first generation player having issues.

hd dvd will win, it's pretty much the clear winner, but so far not a lot of people are switching/upgrading.

[Miasma]

I'm hoping neither of them win because everyone is waiting to see which will fail, causing both of them to fail and forcing them to agree on a single unified format.

Failing that I think blu-ray will win because of the PS3 and pretty good movie studios support, including the ones Sony owns which will obviously not be going HD-DVD.  Give away all three Spider Man movies with a blu-ray player and consumers will eat it up.

[Sky]

I stopped buying DVDs a while ago, waiting for the formats to shake out. I'm pretty confident we'll just have convergence devices after another year or two (thus my links). I wish they'd hurry up and stop this format war nonsense that has no winners, only losers.

[MuffinMan]

I finally jumped in and got an HDTV this week. Is it at all worth it to pick up an up-converting DVD player while I'm waiting for the "war" to end? I mean, how much better can my movies look if it's the same source material, right?

[stray]

I don't know anyone with an HD or BR player. There's no harm at all in waiting. DVD's still look great on a HDTV.

If you don't already have a good sound system, then that's probably a better investment than visuals right now.

[Viin]

According to this article you don't even need an HD player - you can just download videos on your Xbox to get the same quality.

[stray]

Maybe I'm missing something here, but HD movies are BIG.

The 360 hard disk size is 20GB.

144 minutes on a single layer Blu-Ray or HD-DVD disc is something like 25GB (give or a take a few, depending on the disc type).

Basically, the average movie would take up half of the 360's hard disk space. That's not a good option for people who want to own movies.

[Viin]

Maybe I'm missing something here, but HD movies are BIG.

The 360 hard disk size is 20GB.

144 minutes on a single layer Blu-Ray or HD-DVD disc is something like 25GB (give or a take a few, depending on the disc type).

Basically, the average movie would take up half of the 360's hard disk space. That's not a good option for people who want to own movies.

True. You'd have to back them up to your PC or something. Or maybe you can use the USB port for an external drive?

[schild]

The HD movies are a different animal on XBox Live. They're mastered/encoded at 720p instead of 1080p. So for some, this is a better purchase. But your download goes super fast, fills up about 6-7 gigs of your hard drive, and only lasts 24 hours from your first viewing. The hi-def TV content (which is MONEY btw) and the lo-def TV content takes 100-300mb and lasts forever.

Also, they have MTV's The State for a princely sum of about $10 for 1 season. TV SHOW GET!

[stray]

$10? What's the average price of a TV show season?

[Strazos]

Usually more than $10, for better shows.

[Abel]

Apparantly from industry observers the HD-DVD is expected to win the format war due to the lower price and initial higher sales (sources are The Economist and Reuters but I'm to lazy to go looking for links).

To turn the tide for BR a lot will depend on the success of the PS3, but so far it hasn't made much of an impression. If the PS3 fails, BR is probably dead too and vice versa.

[schild]

If Blu-Ray fails, the PS3 isn't dead, I don't understand your vice versa comment.

[Abel]

If Blu-Ray fails, the PS3 isn't dead, I don't understand your vice versa comment.

"Dead" is putting it a bit too strong probably, but BR is the big competitive advantage of the PS3 that has to make up for the higher price tag.

[Murgos]

360+HD-DVD = 399 + 199 = 598.

PS3 with Blu-Ray = 599.

You think a dollar is going to skew the outcome?

[Big Gulp]

360+HD-DVD = 399 + 199 = 598.

PS3 with Blu-Ray = 599.

You think a dollar is going to skew the outcome?

That's if you want to pony up for the HD-DVD drive.  Ie, it's a choice, unlike the PS3 where you're saddled with the Blu-Ray drive whether you like it or not.  Furthermore, if we're talking stand-alone players the HD-DVD retails for around $500 while the Blu-Ray retails for around $800.  Where I come from $300 is real money.