Warner has gone Blu-Ray Exclusive, HD-DVD owners enjoy anal sex. More at 11.

Haha. No matter where I go to read about this, there's so much bitter tears involved with Warners move. It's a good move. And hopefully everyone else follows so that the whole split between the two formats can come to a rest and not confuse the consumer any longer. Sorry HD-DVD people. The gauntlet has been dropped. This is why it's best to wait for a clear answer in the end. And we all know now that Blu Ray will be leading the hd format war of movies. As for digitial distribution...



The US is in no way or shape ready for it. Have fun waiting for another 10 years for it to become a mainstream reality.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by JasonTerminator

Um, all the facts pointed to an HD-DVD win. The only reason Sony is "winning" is because they like to hand out lots of moneyhats.

Ooookay buddy. Blu Ray has been outselling HD DVD 2:1 for quite some time. And what facts are you talking about? You're just mad because you're a Sony hater. It's way to obvious you want to see the company fail. As do many others. But suck it up and take a rest. Blu Ray's here to stay. After May, we'll be seeing the rest of the studios fully support Blu Ray and DVD.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Keep in mind that CES is going on today and Sony and Microsoft have their keynotes. Curious to see if either of them talk about the Warner merger and the HD formats.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Bigblah

When did Microsoft enter this argument? You're the first guy who mentioned that company. CONGRATULATIONS YOU JUST RUINED THE THREAD

It think it started at the very beginning. Read again carefully what he wrote. If he's into movies, he doesn't have to buy a PS3. And yet he had to mention it. So who's really to blame here?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by JasonTerminator

Blu-ray standalones cost just as much as a damn PS3. It simply would be STUPID to not buy one.

If your spin cycle is set to "desperation"...I think you better quit while you're ahead.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Megalith

Lots of misinformation in this thread. How many of you have actually had experience with both formats, with real HD equipment? Doesn't sound like too many.

Although I have plenty of releases from both parties, I prefer HD-DVD.



Let me correct some of the misconceptions regarding Blu-ray.

1. Blu-ray is better because it has a higher peak bitrate.

Incorrect. This is only relevant in regards to MPEG-2 transfers, which require a high bitrate for quality transfers. The main reason why Blu-ray has a higher peak bitrate is that the media was originally designed for MPEG-2, so it was mandatory for the spec. However, in light of advanced and highly efficient codecs such as VC-1 and AVC, this peak bitrate is unnecessary. Some releases such as F4: ROTSS have video bitrates that peak higher than the HD-DVD spec, so theoretically, the BD version would look superior. However, my opinion is that BD's bitrate simply allows the studios to encode their transfers in a more relaxed fashion, meaning less effort and reliance on advanced compression techniques to ensure a top quality transfer...but ultimately, you would get a transfer that would look identical on both formats due to how flexible the next-generation codecs are.

Also, let's keep in mind that a majority of films released in both formats have been far superior on the HD-DVD format. One particular example is Silent Hill, which was a considerable disaster in light of the superior transfer offered by the overseas German release on HD-DVD. Silent Hill on Blu-ray was encoded in MPEG-2, while the HD-DVD version was encoded in VC-1. Even with BD's high bitrate, Silent Hill's transfer was dissapointing, with some very obvious noise in scenes. The German release was far superior, with no such deficiencies. So ultimately, it's really all about the efficiency of the codec, not the bitrate capability. And the HD-DVD format has used the best codecs since day one.

2. The audio on Blu-ray is always better because there is usually some form of lossless track.

Incorrect. Although most titles have PCM tracks, few of the tracks represent the original masters. This is because a large percentage of these tracks have been downgraded from 24-bit to 16-bit, which is arguably much more damaging than creating a lossy version of a 24-bit track. When you degrade the bit-depth of a track, we're talking about losses not only in dynamic range (which is the most noticeable side effect of basic compression), but changes in the actual fidelity of the audio...bass that isn't as tight, highs that aren't as clean...etc. So when you look at the back of a Blu-ray case and it says "lossless" it isn't lying to you...but keep in mind that it isn't the best audio track possible either. I guess you could consider most of the PCM tracks on Blu-ray to be .wav files compressed into a high-quality .mpc, then re-encoded back into a lossless format...but that would be a gross exaggeration, since let's face it...the PCM tracks still sound very good. However, only a small percentage of them are indeed the cream of the crop...which are only on a handful of titles, most of them by Disney, such as the POTC discs, which are all 24-bit/48kHz, and are identical to the original masters. Although a 16-bit master sometimes is the best you will get, since the master was originally 16-bit to begin with, such as Spider-Man 1.

Also, it is inappropriate to call audio on releases such as Transformers to be a dissapointment, just because it isn't a lossless track. There's what I said before, about how a 24-bit/48kHz track compressed into 1.5mbps would sound potentially better than a lossless track created from a 16-bit version. But you simply don't know unless you are the actual person doing the sound mix. In many cases, 1.5mbps is absolutely indistinguishable from the original master, which is why many releases simply do not bother with a lossless track. Although in Transformer's case, I think it could have been an excuse for them to release another version with a lossless track whenever the sequel rolls around. Ultimately, anything at or over 1.5mbps should be considered "HD" audio...although the correct term should be high-fidelity, since HD is more of a video term. It is, afterall, more than twice the bitrate of the standard DD peak of 640kbps.

I actually just came back from Joke Buy with three BDs for $27:



I'm not sure if I want to keep them, since the blue cases really do seem juvenile, especially for catalog releases.

Meanwhile, back in casual land, those people could care less about those specs you mentioned. It's what movies go to where that will get noticed along with large amount of advertisements that go with it. "Only on Blu Ray". It's better this way weither you like one format or the other. With studios going over to to one format, it adds less to the confusion and more price drops for future investments. By April we'll be seeing stand alone Blu Ray players as low as $349. By the end of May we just might be seeing Paramount and Universal switch over to Blu Ray.

Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Kaleb.G

Doesn't HD-DVD use a superior video codec? I heard much talk (several months ago) about how the Blu-ray was inferior in video quality because of this. Has this changed?

Additional Spam:
Shit, I posted before Megalith's post appeared here. What he said.

This should help you out between the two.

Blu-ray vs HD DVD: State of the Division - Engadget

The difference is the support from studios. There are less studios supporting HD DVD. Warner being the latest to switch over along with New Line.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by JasonTerminator

Um, I said that in the first post of the thread.

Yeah, WTF Blu-Ray.

So the look of a case should justifty a consumers purchase? Thank god you're the minority.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Denicalis

God, just stop already. Please. This is a pointless discussion that's come down to nothing but fanboyism and griping.

Agreed. The Warner merger is quite the obvious sign of who's going to win. By the end of May, we'll see what happens as a whole and more than likely, we'll hear more and more bitching and moaning from the HD DVD camp. I'm still waiting on investing on either side until a very clear winner is picked. So far, Blu Ray is looking like the chosen winner and it looks to continue to be so.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

A picture is worth a thousand words. Pic of the CES convention:



Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by JasonTerminator

I love how you agree with the man, and then continue to be a fanboy.

It's nice to want things, isn't it?

Jam it back in, in the dark.