Blu-ray vs HD DVD: which video format is for you?

By Randolph Ramsay, CNET.com.au. Additional reporting by CNET.com. on 24 September 2007

Is Blu-ray bang for your buck? Is HD DVD hot to trot? Which next-generation video format should you choose and why?

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Comments (53)

  • zombie commented on 17/12/2007 06:56

    Blue Ray will likely end up the overall winn for the simple fact that it still supports regional coding. Afterall we in Oz do not deserve to have movies released at the same time as in the US or the UK

  • Buddy1978 commented on 09/12/2007 12:42

    I will Not buy HD or Blue Drives or Player at all I think most people will just use HD,Blue Ray Rip into H264 or Divx so
    Just buy combo drives that read HD or Blue Ray to rip the movies to compress is simple and its still MPEG2 old story

  • Airwolf commented on 25/11/2007 20:21

    If you want to Play Hd movies without having to pay $1000 . First if you got a Pc with vista OS , a DVI plug on the back of your pc then if you have a LCD TV with DVI or HDMI . You can buy leads that convert DVI to HDMI. Then Buy A xbox 360 HD player for $230. You must have Power DVD software that support the new HD or Blue Ray for the Xbox 360 HD Player to work . The player works very well on microsoft vista Os but not with window XP.

    So you dont have to buy expensive blu-Ray player s .HD player are the best .

  • Craig-m-l commented on 19/10/2007 14:57

    Boy Boy, Ratdaddy and Greg. Blu-Ray is most defnitley backwards compatible with DVD and provides upscaling to 1080p. Check out the excellent but still expensive ($1499 retail) Panasonic DMP-BD10A.

  • kt22061 commented on 04/10/2007 05:04

    There are so many pros and cons for both formats. I have owned a xbox 360 and now own a PS3. Things are going to change and Blu-Ray will be victorious. Sony has always represented themselves as a quality brand and consumers have always had the choice if they wanted to pay for this so called quality. And microsoft have only and will continue only trying to get their hands in everyones pockets trying to have an even larger monoply in the IT market. Whilst making consumers go crazy with software problems and poor service.
    Hey I might sound a bit biased here although I guess I just like to feel like I have a choice

  • Lance commented on 04/08/2007 21:28

    There are more important things to worry about on this debate. I am glad I don't have to worry about the HD video format wars, as I already own both XBOX 360 with a HD DVD player and a PLAYSTATION 3 and a monitor capable of displaying 1080P. If you demand quality you have to pay for it. Or for the most part both formats are exceptional. The difference is HD DVD players will always be cheaper than Bluray and will always have equally or better picture quality than that of any Bluray. All HD DVD display the VC-1 video codecs where as most Bluray display MPEG-2 video codec - HD DVD are always going to look as good if not better than Blurays - trust me. However Sony have acknowldge the superiority of the VC-1 codec and most newer Blurays display this. On the other hand Bluray are more prevalent with more film company support and players cost more too. The disc are bigger too which means they can hold more information. But can you tell the difference between a few megs per second for the video and audio codecs with the same movie of different format? I don't think you will. HD DVD may be a smaller 30gb where as Bluray "can be" 50gb - don't be fooled, the technology and software in my opinion of the HD DVD is far more streamlined, faster loading, better compression and is more proven than the Bluray because it is based on the DVD technolgy invented by Toshiba which has been around for a while now. Where as Bluray, a new format which is more expensive, a bit on the heavier side, takes longer load, still uses god awful old MPEG-2 codecs and it is not proven yet as it is still a very new format. If you are on a budget, get HD DVD - much much better bang for the buck - not as much a variety of films but overall a very economically viable technolgy. If you enjoy paying more money for things, want a vast selection films, super duper anal on audio quality or you are a Sony nazi and enjoy films like James Bond - get the Bluray. If you have the bucks, get both. And after that you will need a 1080P monitor and an audio reciever that plays the new HD audio codecs such as DOLBY TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio to enjoy the full capabilities of these superb formats. I love High Definition.

  • 3Y3³ commented on 08/07/2007 01:36

    All I care for is natural progression. Sony, once again is trying to make its mark and gain control where it doesn't belong. Inevitably, Sony will will lose or be absorbed as it did in the Betamax vs VHS war.

    In the end, I truly don't believe it is a good thing for the consumer if Sony wins, although, I really hope it will not.

    People - Blu Ray is just an attempt to get a strangle hold on a market; a market that needs to remain as open as possible for many reasons. Freedom and creative expression for all are 2 very important reasons, but not the only ones.

    HD-DVD is a natural progression with a strong legacy & support. Fine buy a PS3 for gaming, but just remember that in the end when buying and supporting the Blu Ray format you are buying into a restricted format. A format controlled by a corporation. There are a lot of top film directors and producers that do not support Blu Ray. Don't fall for all the hype; I want to see the sales figures for standalone Blu Ray players vs standalone HD-DVD units. I reckon the only reason it appears that Blu Ray movies are selling more than HD-DVD movies is simply because of the PS3, so please base the hype on standalone players, and not on game consoles.

    Please take into account that people don't buy PS3s for the Blu Ray drive alone, the same way people don't buy Xbox 360 because you can attach a HD-DVD drive to it. They buy PS3 because it is a next gen gaming console and for only that reason alone.

    Please keep that last paragraph in mind and remember this is more than just a storage capacity war and you'd have to have a very discerning eye to pick the difference in picture quality between the two formats, and always remember that quality is more than just what you are looking at when it come to motion pictures.

    That is about all I can say; For the people not the corps!

  • Greg commented on 03/07/2007 21:38

    HD DVD is compatible with the current DVD format. If you have purchased a HD camcorder again directly compatible with the HD DVD format. The current standard DVD format isn't going to disappear too soon and the public will want cross compatibility with the current format. Who really cares about Blu-Ray versus HD and the technobable associated with disc capacity. I want something that can upscale my current DVD collection effectively and be able to play the High Definition discs in native format.
    Blu-ray won't be able to do any of what I've mentioned so it won't come down to technical superiority or how many gigs a disc can store.

  • Steve commented on 14/06/2007 16:01

    I belive there will be no winner or loser in the HD DVD / blu ray war - why ? look at the DVD + & - formats for an eg ... after a while , company's started to make burners and players compatible with both formats and both + & - survive well to this day. I belive the same thing will happen with BR and HD DVD . Watch the price of the players fall in the next five years ... and watch players offer dual format playback ;)

  • garry commented on 09/06/2007 14:21

    blu-ray will win, hd-dvds are scarce, inferior and do not have as many movies on them. Look at the top 10 movies of 2006, all are going to be on blu-ray.

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