[General Discussion] HD-DVD or Blu-Ray?? O_O

Originally Posted by orion_mk3

After carefully examining the evidence, I've decided that both formats are the Laserdisc of the 2000's (i.e. for enthusiasts only). As such, I won't be buying either.

First, you need a good HD TV to get any kind of higher resolution with the discs. I personally don't own and can't afford an HD set, which I suspect is the case with many others.

That's the #1 reason why these formats are going to have a hard time reaching the market penetration of DVD.

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Second, I've seen demo units in action, as well as some side-by-side comparisons with regular DVD's, and the effect simply isn't noticible enough. To quote James Berardinelli, the quality jump between VHS and DVD was far more noticible than the jump between regular and High def DVD. I just can't see enoung of a difference

And this is the second. Joe sixpack will try to get the cheapest HDTV he can get, which is often worse than average SD sets. Then there's the myriad of settings you need to tweak to get a good picture (or even HD resolutions).

In the end, the image or audio quality gains aren't enough to warrant putting that much money into a HDTV + player.

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Finally, the DVD cases are a different size and don't fit in with my collection. That's a silly thing, yes, but psychologically important.

You answered this one yourself, it's a silly thing. These aren't DVDs, why would they have DVD cases?

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As to which format will win, I'd stake my money on Blu-Ray, largely because it's currently cheaper. But the fact that the buying public at large is indifferent to High def DVD is one of the reasons that the PS3 has fared so poorly--it's just not that much of a selling point to most people.

There's rumblings that Universal will go neutral, essentially robbing HD-DVD of one of the last exclusive studios it had. Most people just want this format war to be over. Those that are following it, anyway.

Oh, and the PS3? There's a very easy explanation for what's happening there: $599

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Aardark

He didn't say they should have DVD cases, he said the problem is that the cases are a different size (for no good reason, since the actual discs are 12 cm in diameter, just like regular CDs and DVDs).

There's plenty of good reasons, one of which is that the average consumer is an idiot and will mistakenly buy the DVD version instead of the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray one they had intended on purchasing. Cue different sized cases, transparent plastic, red/blue color schemes, etc...

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In some ways HD disks remind me of older technology like the mini disk, the power glove and the sega mega CD. The potential is there, but I think they're trying to force HD on the technology world before it's ready for it the need a new tv reason alone is proof enough, it might become the general standard in the future but for now it's too soon imo.

It's not even as if it's a replacement technology since most people will still be using dvd movies, if anything this seems more like a way to seperate the pros from the novice game/film makers I guess

The motion picture industry's taking advantage of the shift to digital televisions that should be coming up soon, by making a new format for those sets. It's the best time to introduce a sucessor to DVD with anti-piracy features that DVD lacked.

Though you could say the government is forcing people to abandon their old analog sets for digital ones, come the switch.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Musharraf

I dunno but when I want to buy a HD-DVD (for like 30 bux) or a Blu-Ray disc, I don't think that I mistakenly buy the ordinary DVD

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There's plenty of good reasons, one of which is that the average consumer is an idiot and will mistakenly buy the DVD version instead of the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray one they had intended on purchasing. Cue different sized cases, transparent plastic, red/blue color schemes, etc...

Chances are, if you're posting on an internet message board, you're probably not the average consumer. These are people that know little else beyond the formats except that they're HD and one is red and the other's blue.

Edit: IMO, this is due to the related industries doing a poor job of informing consumers. On the PC front, the drives are pretty pricey and you need a good system to run a video @ 720p without the computer choking. Then the fact that you need a graphics card with HDCP compliant outputs and a monitor that won't have handshake issues with the card. All that just to play an HD-DVD/BR movie on your computer.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by BigHairyFeet

Well, this should throw a kink in things. Walmart is now officially supporting HD-DVD, with a ~$200 player available this Christmas. See, this is where it gets really interesting. As five out of eight major studios have already decided to support Blu-Ray, they now have to either back out of that agreement and support both (or only HD-DVD), or continue to only support Blu-Ray, and lose Wal-Mart's business.

Source: http://news.digitaltrends.com/talkback184.html
(someone help an internet newb, how do I hide the url in a word?)

Won't change much, to be honest seeing as how similarly priced BR players will also be out this fall. It's also been outpacing HD-DVD in hardware and software sales by a good margin and has far more support from studios as well as on the PC and hardware side of things.

Honestly, I wish it was as easy as Mr. Enderle put it. Walmart declares winner, all this dumb shit is over.

What the? Crunchy, you sure that's definite news? Here's PC Magazine a few days later with Walmat saying "Umm, no"

Source

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Why bother having to deal with that stuff. I've downloaded the Babel HD-DVD and played it straight off my laptop (Dell Inspiron 6400) just fine. Soon, there will be programs that will help the average consumer copy an HD-DVD or Bluray with a minimum of technical know-how needed. Once it's ripped, you just play it off your harddrive and leave the restrictions on equipment in the dust, slaughtered, mutilated, filleted, cut up, and trounced into the ground.

Most consumers are not that tech savvy, that's the bottom line. You want them to download, rip, etc... when they can't even figure out you need an HDMI cable to get HD resolutions from most devices?

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