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Bluray And Hd-dvd


MBJ

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It's been a little over a year since we discussed the next generation video formats on this forum. When we last talked about it both formats had just been released and the consensus was that it's best for people to wait and see how the format war plays out.

From what I hear around the net it's looking more and more like Bluray is going to come out on top. The relevant facts are reviewed at TheDigitalBits.com in this article in which they predict that if there is a clear winner, it will be Bluray.

Personally, I would like to own an HD player but they are still too expensive for me. I'd probably go with Bluray and I might even go the PS3 route in spite of my general dislike of Sony. Ideally though, I'll wait until players hit the $200/$250 mark.

Also, I have a massive DVD collection. I am perfectly aware that the next gen video formats are backwards compatible but I find myself wondering what I'd re-buy. X2?: Definitely; Ernest Goes to Camp?: Probably not.

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  • 1 month later...
I think the combo players will eventually come down in price, making the entire war obsolete.

absolutely. i think everyone compares this war to VHS-BETA but they're totally different. The media is the same size and is really not that different. Pretty soon all players will play both formats as well as DVDs, DIVX, XVID, etc.

no one ever asks about WMVHD - remember that attempt by microsoft?

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To Me Personally, I think they will both fail, to me they are like Laserdisk's and Beta Max Tapes, The quality is good but its too expensive and most people bought VHS instead, sure it does not have good quality but it was cheaper. It will be the same thing except of VHS its DVDs, why? because its cheaper to buy then Blu-ray and HD-DVDs.

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For data storage I would rather buy a cheap hard drive, and for video I seriously couldn't tell the difference between DVD and it's alleged successors on my ancient television. Hell, I don't think I would even notice it on my 19" Trinitron monitor other than a slightly bigger window, it isn't like DVD is choppy with horrid sound quality. I still watch some movies on a VHS and the only reasons I truly like DVD more is because you never know when a VHS player will get hungry and eat your favorite tape, plus you don't have to rewind a DVD. Not because it's 5% less blurry than tape, that's retarded.

I don't know if the majority of people would agree with me, probably not, but I consider Blue Ray and HDDVD betamaxed. I wouldn't pay $250 for a "writer", let alone a player, and you're telling me it hasn't even come down to that yet? I paid less than $30 on newegg for my CD/DVD combo writer and less than that for a stack of 100 TDK DVDs. I still have blank DVD's remaining, and haven't burned a single coaster. Redundant overpriced technology that serves limited purpose can go to hell.

There will be 3DTV before I pay more than $100 for a glorified flip-book.

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  • 3 weeks later...
I hope combo players become standard. I hate this whole format wars thing because it just ends up costing more money for us. :/

just bought myseld a HD-Player from amazon with the 8 FREE HD-DVD for $210 ! i could not pass up on this offer....to tell you the truth after watching DVDS and then HD-DVD there really is not much a different in qualty maybe its me but the picture is almost the same maybe 10% Better looking.... for me well now i guess i have to buy HD-DVD or just rend them from netflex.com

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just bought myseld a HD-Player from amazon with the 8 FREE HD-DVD for $210 ! i could not pass up on this offer....to tell you the truth after watching DVDS and then HD-DVD there really is not much a different in qualty maybe its me but the picture is almost the same maybe 10% Better looking.... for me well now i guess i have to buy HD-DVD or just rend them from netflex.com

Out of curiousity, what size is your TV? I can tell a big difference between a DVD and an HD broadcast on my 52 inch DLP TV but for me the cost of HD players and discs can't be justified. If HD-DVDs/BDs were about $20 and players about $200 I would jump on it.

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at the moment hd and blu-ray are not worth it, for the common consumer.

at least not until hdtv becomes standard :)

hd and blu-ray are no good of your tv is crap :lol:

walk through chain store with a decent electronics department. there should be a setup specifically for blu-ray/hd and hdtv. ask questions, look at the tv's from an angle not just perfectly centered. any blurring, blacking out or pixelizing (little blocky bits which could mean video decoder is crap) and you've found a crap tv :)

component cables can play a part in picture quality as well, but mostly hype past a certain length / price range.

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at the moment hd and blu-ray are not worth it, for the common consumer.

at least not until hdtv becomes standard :)

hd and blu-ray are no good of your tv is crap :lol:

walk through chain store with a decent electronics department. there should be a setup specifically for blu-ray/hd and hdtv. ask questions, look at the tv's from an angle not just perfectly centered. any blurring, blacking out or pixelizing (little blocky bits which could mean video decoder is crap) and you've found a crap tv :)

component cables can play a part in picture quality as well, but mostly hype past a certain length / price range.

HDTV is the new standard. If you have the money to buy an HDTV I highly recommend it. Even the cable companies are catching up with the times. Time Warner here finally offers an HD-DVR for the exact same price as a standard DVR. Just a few months ago they used to charge $10 more for HD and only had a handful of HD channels. At last count they have nearly 30 which is great. With a nice TV and HD it really brings new life to old TV.. I find myself interested in even the daily news in HD :)

I have a large DVD move collection. Probably 500 or so. I will probably sell some of them off in favor of the new formats. I am kinda undecided at the moment too. I don't own a PS3 (probably the only console I don't actually own) so it would make sense to buy that and stick with Blu-Ray. If one format was 1/2 the price of the other it would probably win. I at least feel better about stocking up on something that offers the highest available picture quality. I don't think you will see anything better for at least 10-15 years. Which is impressive for technology.

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Recent developments have led me to become even less confident in the success of either HD format. The movie studios are divided pretty much 50/50 between the formats. Fox, MGM, Sony, and Disney are Blu-ray exclusive while Paramount and Dreamworks, and Universal are HD-DVD exclusive. Warner is the only studio releasing on both formats.

So if I want to watch Jaws, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, or Indiana Jones in HD, I'll need to have an HD-DVD player and if I want to watch Star Wars, X-Men, or Fight Club, or The Incredibles in HD I'll need a Blu-ray player. At this point, it's simply impossible to be devoted to one format or another and be optimistic about viewing your favorite movies in HD.

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  • Retromags Curator
Recent developments have led me to become even less confident in the success of either HD format. The movie studios are divided pretty much 50/50 between the formats. Fox, MGM, Sony, and Disney are Blu-ray exclusive while Paramount and Dreamworks, and Universal are HD-DVD exclusive. Warner is the only studio releasing on both formats.

So if I want to watch Jaws, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, or Indiana Jones in HD, I'll need to have an HD-DVD player and if I want to watch Star Wars, X-Men, or Fight Club, or The Incredibles in HD I'll need a Blu-ray player. At this point, it's simply impossible to be devoted to one format or another and be optimistic about viewing your favorite movies in HD.

Or you could just buy This! :laughing:

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Once a format sells more than the other it would be in the companies best interest to give in and release for that format. I remember Disney stating they wouldn't release their movies on DVD because of the piracy issue. Nothing was done to fix the flaws and the movies were all being decrypted and spread before the first Disney classic hit DVD, but they released anyway. As long as there is money to be made companies will be there to cash in.

If these companies don't get their crap together and stop confusing potential customers they won't hit the big numbers like DVDs. I am personally going o built a theater pc and download bluray/hddvd rips until that happens.

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Well the way I feel I want HD DVD to come out on top. Mainly because I'm down right tired of Sony. I refuse to buy any Sony products anymore. They used to make good quality items but now a days they just fall appart. For those of you who say there is no difference in quality between HD and regular DVD there is a huge difference. I used to say I too didn't see any difference but that was before I bought an HD player and have watched many hours of video on HD. I too have a 52" HD Rear Projection TV and honestly I can't stand watching movies any other way unless it's in HD.

But back to the HD/Blue Ray thing... Now that I see they are working on a 100GB version of Blue Ray discs (tripple layer) I am really getting turned on to the blue ray. But it's going to take many years before the price comes down.

I was an early adoptee of DVD I actually got my first DVD player back in 96 or 97 and looking back now wish I would have waited because it was a big expense that was not needed. But this is coming from somone who still uses his Laser Disc player. Not to mention CD-i VCDs (wow both of which look really bad now, quality wise). I hate to say it but I too think blue ray will end up being the leader unles Thats they can come up with a triple layer HD DVD disc. That may be able to get up to maybe 80 GB at most. Oh well only time will tell.

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