Blu-ray vs. HD DVD

HMTKSteve

I have read a lot of tech blogs where they hearken back to the Betamax vs. VHS battle almost 30 years ago (damn I feel old) and I can't help but think that you can not compare the two.

Back then Sony was just a tech company who was battling against JVC, another tech company. Today we have Sony, a tech AND media company, battling against a bunch of tech companies.

I think Sony lost this format war before the first disc was even played simply because the other studios are not going to want to pay their competitor to use their technology.

Discuss.

Thaed

I have both.

Most people think that disks of any type are going the way of the dinosaur anyway. Maybe that's true, but in the interim, when I watch movies, it's in 1080p goodness.

Dave

I think Sony lost this format war before the first disc was even played simply because the other studios are not going to want to pay their competitor to use their technology.

Then you're not paying attention to the numbers where, at its lowest point in months, Blu-Ray is outselling HD-DVD 2:1. The only reason HD-DVD is still alive at this point is because Microsoft just sunk an insane amount of money into it.

But it's all irrelevant anyway, considering neither of them are selling numbers worth shit anyway, and won't for some time.

trogdor9

They're both too expensive for any decision to be made.  However, the porn industry chose HD-DVD, so Blu-Ray is probably out.

bodtchboy

Neither one will break into a competitive market until their prices are competitive with regular DVDs. $10 more for a higher quality dvd in which a $200 - $800 player is needed as well as expensive cables and a $1500 - $3000 TV? No thanks. I have a 1080I HD tv and regular dvds up converted look just fine. Besides, I like the sound of movies more than the look.

I may have found how HD-DVD & Blue Ray plan on counter acting this: $20 used to be the max for regular DVDs. However, now the $20 dvd you buy is the basic. If you want the one with bonus features, you pay $5-$10 more. I'd cry foul, but it wouldn't do any good. So instead of bringing hd-dvd's and blue ray down in price, they're trying to raise the price of regular dvds to their level.

Bit-torrent is looking more appealing...

Paulathon

It's about as relevant as DVD-Audio vs. Super Audio CD. Nobody cares except for a few enthusiasts. Everybody else is sticking to the current formats and will probably just switch to digital downloads over the next few years. For me, if a publication spends a significant amount of space on 'OMG format wars' then they are not worth my time.

Dave

They're both too expensive for any decision to be made. However, the porn industry chose HD-DVD, so Blu-Ray is probably out.

1) Porn always thinks it's more relevant than it is
2) Porn is not nearly as relevant now as it was during the VHS/Betamax wars

Addendum: People who want to watch HD porn have never seen HD porn.

Neito

2) Porn DVDs/Tapes are not nearly as relevant now as it was during the VHS/Betamax wars

sK0pe

Bit-torrent is looking more appealing

It was the only choice as soon it was released!
Eventually we should be getting all videos and games to be downloaded in a Steam / Amazon music way.
iTunes isn't having too good a time with movies as with music, predominantly due to small screen size as it is a visual medium and there aren't enough HD movies and Apple TV or other devices isn't all that great or hasn't been pushed enough.

raquor

Personally I would think Blu-ray simply because it's larger, though the advances of both technologies have probably exceeded my knowledge which is a good 1-2 years old at this point. I stopped caring because, as someone else pointed out, I don't have a new $1000 HDTV and I don't have a $400 player with which to watch my movies.

2009 is the big analog broadcast shut-off (they claim). At that point I'll probably pick up an HDTV (if not before then), at which point it might make sense for me to buy an HD player. Then again I'm really digging my 360 for movie rentals and the occasional purchase of a TV episode. As long as internet prices can keep going down, while connection speeds go up and someone puts out a convenient way to get movies online...I'm all about that as the future.

I recently also got my 360 to function similar to Apple TV. Torrent a video, play it on my 360 via my PC. It's a little clunky but it has so much potential for wasting less space on discs and cases. The new problems are: download speeds, storage, and service longevity (meaning if I "buy" a movie I want to be able to get it forever, not lose it if a company goes out of business...part of the reason I'm not a super huge fan of steam).

am_dragon

I picked up a cheap HD-DVD player last weekend. I usually buy a few DVD's when they have 3 for $15 sales, at the local rental shop, so I doubt I'll be buying many HD-DVD's. I've had 2 HDTV's in my house for some time. I'm just way to cheap to get the content. I refuse to pay a satellite company $200, then $25 above the SD price every month for reruns of Law and Order in HD. Now with Blockbuster or Netflix I can have a fair amount of content I want in HD.

At this point I still don't care who wins. I would prefer HD-DVD, but I'm not going to hurt anyone over it.

zombie a gogo

I have a Bluray already and I'm getting an HD-DVD player for Xmas, so it doesn't matter to me anymore. But if I had to pick I'd say Bluray will win.

Kilarney

I have a Bluray already and I'm getting an HD-DVD player for Xmas

Why do you need both?

zombie a gogo

The movies I want are not available on both formats, many are exclusive to one or the other.

Rochelle

I thought Blu Ray was eventually gonna go the way of the Betamax because of companies like Parmamount & Dreamworks dropping Blu Ray? Did something change?

Also, it doesn't matter to me either way. Buying HD DVDs or Blu Ray discs are too expensive for my tastes, even though seeing the quality of the movie in HD is pretty damn nice. DVDs for now.

Porn on HD is just not right. There are some things that just don't belong on HD, imo. Porn is definitely one of them.

zombie a gogo

Real life is well beyond hi-def, so what' s the difference in seeing porn in hi-def?

Rochelle

Real life is well beyond hi-def, so what' s the difference in seeing porn in hi-def?

Real life isn't always in highly lit areas. =P

Kilarney

The movies I want are not available on both formats, many are exclusive to one or the other.

Ahh... the joys of being an early adopter.

zombie a gogo

Tell me about it...I almost cry when I see the price of the PS3 now.

HMTKSteve

They're both too expensive for any decision to be made. However, the porn industry chose HD-DVD, so Blu-Ray is probably out.

1) Porn always thinks it's more relevant than it is
2) Porn is not nearly as relevant now as it was during the VHS/Betamax wars

Addendum: People who want to watch HD porn have never seen HD porn.

People still buy porn? Why when there is so much of it for free on the Interweb.

Andrew

The adoption rate of both of these will be extremely slow, mostly because there is very little difference between HD-DVD/Blu-Ray and regular DVD. I have no reason to drop so much money for a player when the increase in quality is nearly insignificant.

zombie a gogo

It's not the leap of VHS to DVD, but I wouldn't call it insignificant. I watched Dawn of the Dead '78 on Bluray last weekend and the quality compared to the DVD was amazing.

Dave

People still buy porn? Why when there is so much of it for free on the Interweb.

I was trying to be a little more subtle about making that point, but yes, that's what I was trying to say.

HMTKSteve

I checked out the Blu-ray display at Circuit city the other day. It had some line going back and forth across the screen to show the difference between Blu-ray and DVD. Yes the quality is much improved but considering my failing eye sight it would not make much difference to me at home.

Omnutia

Which one lets me put more SDef anime episodes on it?

Andrew

Another issue with slow adoption rates is that the technology also requires one to buy a high definition TV. Not many people are willing to spend money for both a new TV and video player. Granted, prices are dropping, but they still aren't accessible to the average working man.

HMTKSteve

720P HDTVs are going super cheap right now because the 1080P sets are all the rage. You can get a 42" 720P Plasma set for under $1K.

jei-sensei

Blue ray vs. HD DVD huh? Well now that battle is fought and done with. But, I have to wonder how long there will be until there is another battle. I just read an article about a research team in Japan that came up with a way to theoretically make a 42GB single layer single sided DVD. I translated the article and wrote up some background information on my blog. Check it out here. Let me know what you guys think.

Rym

Blu-Ray didn't win anything. HD-DVD is gone, but Blu-Ray is still a tiny percentage of the market. Better formats will come along well before it reaches any substantial level of penetration.

George Patches

ZOMBIE THREAD!

Alright, I'm thinking about getting a Blu-ray player of some kind. Probably a computer disc drive rather than an actual player due to the fact that I don't have a TV and watch everything on my computer. Wondering if anyone has any recommendations. Not looking to burn any Blu-Rays, have a file server for holding large files, just want to watch blu-rays.

trogdor9

They're both too expensive for any decision to be made.  However, the porn industry chose HD-DVD, so Blu-Ray is probably out.

What are you, retarded?