Since its 1997 debut, the DVD format has gone on to become
perhaps the biggest success in the history of home theatre and
consumer electronics. But will the current king of the video hill
still be number one by the time it hits its 10th
birthday?
In our little home-theatre department here at CNET, we knew
it was only a matter of time before one of our well-informed
readers asked us whether DVD would go the way of VHS, considering
the rising chatter on Blu-ray vs HD DVD, the new high-def,
high-capacity disc formats on the horizon. Sure enough, a couple
of weeks ago, the anticipated query popped over the transom:
"Hey, do you think I should start selling my DVD collection now?"
wrote Vince from Los Angeles. "And which format do you think will
win, Blu-ray or HD DVD?"
In case you're new to the whole next-gen DVD discussion, Blu-ray and HD DVD are two competing high-capacity disc technologies backed by various consumer electronics and computer manufacturers (yes, they are a computer storage media as well). On one side of the ring you have Blu-ray's captain, Sony, with a roster that includes Panasonic, Samsung, Dell, HP, Philips, and several other industry heavyweights, and on the other (HD DVD), Toshiba, NEC, and a couple of other upstarts. Both formats use blue laser technology, which has a shorter wavelength than red, allowing it to read the smaller digital data "spots" packed a lot more densely onto a standard-size disc. HD DVD is capable of holding 30GB or a full-length high-definition movie, plus extras, on a prerecorded double-layer disc (compare that to today's limit of 9GB for standard double-layer DVDs). Blu-ray will go up to 50GB at launch, and Sony is reportedly working on a quad-layer 100GB disc. Cake-box me a stack of those, please.
A couple of expensive Blu-ray players/recorders, the Sony BDZ-S77 and the Panasonic DMR-E700BD (around US$2,000), have already been released in Japan. But expect the war to touch off on these shores at the end of 2005 or in early 2006 and for it to really heat up when Sony launches its PlayStation 3, rumoured to include Blu-ray support. Before I give my take on whether you should stop buying DVDs and which format will win, here's a brief description of each, with their potential advantages and disadvantages.
Fight song: "We're better, you know it."
Advantages: Getting the early start, Blu-ray has enjoyed more mindshare than HD DVD, as well as a conglomerate of powerful backers that rivals President Bush's "coalition of the willing" in size and scope. Technologically, the biggest edge Blu-ray appears to have over HD DVD is that it offers 30 per cent more capacity and is designed for recording high-def video. Rewritable BD-RW discs, with similar features to Panasonic's current DVD-RAM discs, can play back content while recording to the disc at the same time. Also, Sony owns Columbia Pictures and recently bought MGM, which gives it a leg up on releasing content. And PlayStation 3 certainly will carry a huge chunk of clout in the marketplace.
Disadvantages: Real or not, the biggest knock against Blu-ray is that the discs -- initially, at least -- will be more costly to produce than HD DVD media (Sony claims otherwise). Until recently, the other knock was that unlike DVD-HD, the Blu-ray spec did not include support for more advanced video compression codecs such as MPEG-4 AVC and Microsoft's VC-1, in addition to the MPEG-2 codec. But the Blu-ray Group recently announced support for those codecs, so they're now on even ground on that front.
Fight song: "We're evolutionary, not revolutionary."
Advantages: The name itself, HD DVD, is far more consumer-friendly than Blu-ray. HD DVDs carry the same basic structure as current DVDs, so converting existing DVD manufacturing lines into HD DVD lines is supposedly simple and cost effective. Memory-Tech, a leading Japanese manufacturer of optical media, stated that producing HD DVD discs would initially cost only 10 per cent more than for existing DVDs and that it could quickly bring the cost down to match that of standard DVD.
Disadvantages: HD DVD simply can't boast the same storage capacity as Blu-ray. It's confusing, but it appears that the rewritable HD DVD-RW will go up 32GB, while the recordable HD DVD-R discs will only be single layer (15GB). The other downside is that with Sony holding the rights to Columbia Pictures and MGM movie and television libraries, there will probably be a hole in HD DVD's content offering -- don't expect to see MGM/UA's James Bond movies on HD DVD, for example.
Outlook: Too close to call
Blu-ray had the early lead, but HD DVD has been making inroads,
garnering support from major studios Warner, Paramount,
Universal, and New Line Cinema, who've decided to play it safe
and back both formats. From a marketing standpoint, HD DVD
appears to be positioning itself as the more practical high-def
DVD solution, an extension of the format rather than a leap
beyond it. The Blu-ray group, for better or worse, is taking the
bait and campaigning on technological superiority. Unfortunately,
as a result, the press has jumped on the whole VHS vs. Betamax
analogy -- you know, the old "the best technology doesn't always
win" story, which doesn't help Sony.
Personally, I think a better analogy is the whole SACD vs. DVD-Audio fiasco -- you know, the war that no one seems to care about and no one's winning. In other words, Vince, hold onto your DVD collection; you have time. There are all kinds of copy-protection details to iron out, lots of politics, and some prices that need to drop a zero (people are just starting to buy DVD recorders, for crying out loud). Me, I'm ballparking the end of 2006 before anything interesting really starts to happen in the high-def disc arena. Until then, put in a well-transferred DVD and sit a little farther back from your TV. It all looks like HD from the other side of the room.
Are you waiting for Blu-ray or HD DVD? Or are they both just an evil plot to get you to buy yet another copy of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back? Get your two cents in below.
David Carnoy is an executive editor for CNET Reviews.
Grant
12/03/2005 05:13 PM
DVDs are big enough for any movie I care to watch. If you're gonna upgrade, you might as well go as far as possible. I suppose those 50GB Blu-ray disks will be good for those weird 20hour+ Asian movies my buddy is always watching.
Report offensive content
Larry
16/03/2005 02:10 PM
Well it looks like Blu-ray will be another winner for sunnyboy can you say Elc****ette or beta? ugh
Report offensive content
Bob
24/04/2005 12:04 PM
bluray will win, too many acronyms as it is. ultimately, blueray will win, because all files are getting larger, games are getting bigger and bigger with more and more data needed to run them. eventualy movies will be able to be watched at different angles, so blu-ray all the way (their moto) lol jks sony isnt going to lose this time
Report offensive content
jdgjohn
16/05/2005 10:23 AM
It's not way over yet. They still have to decide whether it should be 720p or 1080p for high definition.
Report offensive content
schreurs
03/06/2005 07:46 PM
As a consumer I prefer one standard that is compatible with my computer PC and my home theatre. Nothing worse then burning a HD-DVD or Blue ray and it cant be read by other periphirals
Report offensive content
SkiBumBL
02/08/2005 04:35 AM
I think that if we're going to be changing formats, we might as well go with the best thing we have available, so I guess my vote is for Blu-ray.
Report offensive content
rt
25/11/2005 10:39 AM
This is a win win situation for the consumer. Tape drives are way to expensive for the home user and by having the larger dvd format it would give the home user an affordable solution to back up their information to say a 50gb dvd
Report offensive content
modhal
07/02/2006 12:23 PM
If current DVD can be played with BDplayer then Blue ray. technologies will win.
Report offensive content
Q
12/03/2006 11:15 PM
The problem for both camps is that while they are fighting, consumers are unlikely to take the plunge. Compounding this is the impending introduction of holographic storage (which boasts 200~300 GB storage per layer) possibly as soon as Q4 2006. If neither HD format is on more solid ground by 2007 there is a good chance they will simply be over-run by newer technology. (LS-240? Anyone??)
Report offensive content
gfuncjunkie
18/03/2006 02:26 AM
Either would be great, because watching films spanned across 2 and sometimes 4 dvds is a joke. I like the sound of Blu-ray though because it hints towards larger capacity and re write discs from the off but I also love the look of the PS3 and that comes with BLU-ray!
Report offensive content
gorman
21/04/2006 09:19 PM
HD does look awesome, and DVD actually is pretty terrible quality. It's like VHS - no-one saw the advantage of DVD until they actually watched it, and realised just how much better it looked. Things can look that much better again. Who will win? Who cares. HD-DVD has a terrible disadvantage in that its acronym is five letters and contains three D's. I'm serious. That will have a huge effect. They all have a terrible disadvantage in that they can't play CDs or DVDs. Whoever puts two lasers in first (one blue, one red, obviously) will win.
Report offensive content
jim
29/04/2006 10:05 PM
hey well im goin for the bluray because im a playstation/sony fan and im just gonna get a ps3 anyway, so ill have the player and if blu ray wuins, thats my luck :)
Report offensive content
no name
09/08/2006 03:37 PM
Yep, another marketing plot to make us buy everything all over again and I bet it will not be backward compatible with existing DVD players. I can just see it, ripping of everyone again. Make up your mind and stick to format for at least the next 20 years +. It seems that size does matter. These people just won't to prove how smart they are but the reality is, they are as dumb as our politicians.
Report offensive content
Jesse
04/10/2006 11:50 AM
I don't want extras. I don't want ten languages. I just want the damn movie, and I want it to play when I put it in the player, and I don't want to pay $2000 vs. $500 for that extra little bit of space that's utterly useless (for my needs). HD-DVD has my vote, simply because it's a familiar name, cheaper, and the quality has the ability to be identical.
Report offensive content
Peter Harvey
01/11/2006 01:25 PM
Looks like David Carnoy was right on the mark way back in December 2004... "Me, I'm ballparking the end of 2006 before anything interesting really starts to happen in the high-def disc arena." I noticed today that EzyDVD will have HD-DVD movies in Australia from the first week in December 2006. @anon>" I don't want ten languages." Sorry, but you DO want ten languages because it keeps production costs down producing one product thousands of times instead of producing individual products of lesser manufacture run sizes for each language.
Report offensive content
jason
07/11/2006 06:05 PM
I just had a look at the new Samsung BD-P1000 which was set-up on the new 1920X1080 Samsung panel using HDMI to connect the two...I should add the panal had just been calibrated too. I never expected the first Blu Ray discs to be wonderful quality but honestly it's not worth the money. All the BD discs we found in the catalogue were in the 1:2.35 aspect ratio (skinny widescreen). The problem ? well, you aren't using all your pixels maybe only 3/4 of them. So the picture you are watching is not actually HD, the quality is lower. So, the demo was not as impressive as it could have been....everything seems too rushed to make me want to invest in this technology for a good 4 or 5 years. As lovely as either HD format is, The software is not as available as DVD and will take a long time to be as common as DVD. There really is no point in investing the money untill there are TV's with a resolution greater than HD ...OR...they smarten up and stop producing all these movies in the 1:2.35 and format them to suit the 1:1.85 ratio that all of our widescreen TV's accept. Otherwise, you will not be getting the high definition picture that you have paid for. The winner will be the company that incorperates HD-DVD and Blu Ray and is backwards compatable with HDD and HD digital TV tuner ..oh and is a recorder too.
Report offensive content
Frank
15/11/2006 08:46 PM
Now slow it down a tad here. We could be talking about a very distinct difference in price of the blue-ray unit AND the discs themselves; and if you take the time to read-around you’ll find that those manufacturing DVDHD disks can transfer its plant machinery in less than one day for the new technology and states it can bring its prices back down relatively fast after ‘swap-over’ However, and hardly surprising, blue-ray suffers at that point and it isn’t going to be that simple. There are a lot more logistics to take into consideration of blue-ray over HDDVD, and that doesn’t lie only within the price of the unit alone; for the vast majority of us we would all want a $100,000 sports car; for the same vast majority we can’t afford it so we settle for what we can. You might say that doesn’t make any difference to the end-user (which is you of course) but only time will tell if that will be the case or not. How much is the consumer prepared to pay for a blue-ray unit and, more importantly, how much is a blue-ray movie on disk worth to you? In all technological advances there is a cost; that’s why we haven’t colonized the moon as was forecast after the moon landing. Why? We have the technology, but what we don’t have is the price-label it comes in at. OK, so that might be just a bit extreme in what I’m saying here, but it’s on that sort of level where the pros and cons of blue-ray over HDTV will be passed on to the consumer; and there is your modern-day ‘VHS Betamax dilemma’ that’s about to kick-off. For a Nation that would go up in arms if one cent is put on the cost of fuel, then one should also be asking if that’s how it will turn out in the end at (what is stated to be likely) an increase in the region of 25-30%. The final analysis will be in how much we are all prepared to pay, and as much as is said her about ‘brining it on’ for blue-ray, I would only be left to wonder if that’s as simple as it’s going to be. In all honesty, I don’t think so and blue-ray is hoping that its current supporters will stand by them. But will they? At this stage I get a ‘Betamax de ja vous.’
Report offensive content
DB
12/12/2006 01:24 PM
Blu Ray or HD DVD? Blu Ray If you got so much time on ur hands to watch hours and hours of movies, then u probably need to get a life. HD DVD is good enough for anyone who likes basic movies. They both have the same clarity, blu ray might be a little clearer but who cares. IM HD DVD
Report offensive content
James
14/12/2006 04:00 PM
bottom line : who will make cheap recorders and will have low-cost recordable media available at walmart? Until then, ordinary DVD's get my vote, as well as DVD+/-RW disks for home recordings on my *standard* NTSC television. It ain't worth nothing to me until proven, cheap, and reliable
Report offensive content
bALLs
19/12/2006 06:27 AM
Blu-ray wins my vote because i've seen both players played and blu-ray looks a little bit better and plus im getting the ps3 so i might as well buy movies that come with it
Report offensive content
Ted Burton
01/01/2007 10:58 AM
Who cares, both players are backwards compatible with DVD anyway. I'll just wait till they make a player that's compatible with both blu-ray and hd-DVD. That's what happened with DVD recorders. There were about five different formats in the beginning and they finally made a player that was compatible with all of them.
Report offensive content
we
21/03/2007 08:39 PM
wtf if u scratch a blu-ray cd then its gone u cant use it no mre. its a waste of money
Report offensive content
jdf
25/03/2007 07:41 PM
Both blu ray and hd dvd offer the same quality. I could care less about blu ray’s storage capacity. Aside from recording shows and what not, there’s no need for movie to be stored on a 50gb disc, your average hd movie would take about 12gb. Sure it’ll be cool to have a season of your favorite tv show on one blu ray disc, but is this why blu ray is better? Since the quality of the content is the same for both formats I have to look at the prices, blu ray is expensive, hd dvd is not. What really matters here is content and right now blu ray has more backers and that’s due to sony’s influences in the electronics & entertainment industry. I’ve wanted to buy a hd disc player for over a year now, what’s stopping me? Well I have no choice, for my wallet I would probably buy an hd dvd player. If I bought hd hdvd I would not be able get many of my favorite movies in hd, so it’s like I’m being forced to buy blu ray. I don’t want blu ray because of the price, $1000+ for a good machine is ridicules. You can buy a lower end machine but you loose the HD audio, many people think you get it via optical/coax, you don’t. You need a machine with decoders built in because there’s no audio equipment that can decode the new sound formats. For blu ray to win me over sony needs to lower the price, $500 - $700 is reasonable for a good unit. If sony can’t make blu ray affordable then it will fail like many other sony endeavors.
Report offensive content
anpat89
31/03/2007 02:16 AM
I think it is quite pointless actually. My DVD's look fine on the TV (yes it is 1080i enabled). But also with tv show box sets. It wouldn't be a box set anymore and therefore wouldn't feel like its a complete season any more, there is something missing. I like getting 4 disk collectors editions. It would be strange to buy a special edition which looks like the original.
Report offensive content
Matt Dude
01/04/2007 02:43 PM
You know - New Format Blue Ray will lose since I got a free magazine and MOST were HD-DVD. Hd-DVD or Blue-Ray. HD-DVD has it made ith Numbers released. And Blue Ray or a brand new 32 Inch LCD whooper? i know what i bought! Debate on this board pointless since DVD players are so low cost a Social Security Slacker can afford one! Thats my two cents worth ;-)
Report offensive content
mazzymadden
05/04/2007 09:19 AM
Blu ray all the way, offers so much more storage which in the long run will help drastically
Report offensive content
just some guy
06/04/2007 07:17 PM
my opinion. y use the one with less quality when there is the better one out there. yes it will be expensive at first but as sales increase and cheaper methods are devised of making it will decrease price. I mean you can get a dvd player for $30 Australian now and how much where they when they first were introduced. thousands of dollars. so i go for blue rayyy
Report offensive content
JDF
07/04/2007 03:40 AM
Where's the quality difference? There is no quality difference between the two formats folks. Audio and video codec’s are the same. All blu ray has over HD-DVD (besides the backers) is the extra storage. I agree mazzy about the storage helping in the future, but this will be for pc/gaming aps not for movies. Duel layer blu ray disc holds 50gb, HD-DVD holds 30gb, that's more then enough for any movie. As for the future, IF a new HD standard comes along it wont be stored on these discs. Game makers can benefit from blu rays storage, but when? I’m an avid gamer and right now the largest game I’ve seen is world of warcraft and with the expansions and updates that game is about 14gb, HD-DVD can handle that. Blu ray in theory can hold 200gb, as pc media blu ray will excel but not so much in the commercial market. I’ve been doing a lot of research on both formats and all blu ray has over hd dvd is the storage capacity. As I’ve said, what movie is going to go over 30gb? And if it does what’s wrong with a second disc? If you look at the tech specs of both formats (run a google people) you’ll see that all blu ray has is the storage. Blu ray like those old laserdiscs are expensive to make, the price of the discs will not go down at lease not for many many years. But the price of the movies are not really a big deal, it’s the equipment. Sony’s PS3 was supposed to help blu ray take off, lets face reality here, it didn’t. I’ve read online about sony’s 200,000 PS3’s sold and bluy is a monster success, is it? 200,000 BRD players (which people bought for gaming NOT movies) compared to what? 150 million or so dvd players? That’s not even a scratch on the market. Over 250,000 actual stand alone hd-dvd players have been sold, this doesn’t count the number of x box 360 drives sold (again, run a google people). The war is still too close to call but hd dvd is selling more then blu ray, this is bad for sony. It’s a fact that sony is losing money on PS3 units, PS3 costs $300 more to manufacture then what sony is selling them for. Sony is counting on software sales, but games wont bail them out, movies will. If people can’t afford to buy the players then the software will not sell, simple as that. If sales shrink then sony’s exclusive backers like Disney will flock to camp HD. Blu ray fans will call me a HD DVD fanboy, I’m not, I don’t even own a hd player but the more I read about the two formats the more I’m leaning towards HD DVD. I would like to see blu ray win the war but sony’s greed will ruin this format. MD, DAT, Betamax, all great formats that failed, I wont give a history lesson here so look some stuff up, Don’t call blu ray a winner because of extra storage space on a disc. I believe blu ray will fail as a media format, as a mass storage media it will succeed but will only be used by professionals much like DAT, Digital audio tape wasn’t really used by the average consumer but DJ’s, radio stations and audiophiles used it. But for everyone else CD’s worked fine, And if you remember or care to look it up sony said DAT would replace CD’s. Sony has a bad track record with formats and to be honest, with sony’s DRM (look it up) and the fact their a media giant makes you think twice about buying blu ray. Educated consumers know that sony is not best, Many people look at that sony name plate and say up it’s the best, it’s sony. By the way did I mention I work for HT electronics store? Well I do so I think I know what I’m talking about when I say, Sony has not been a big seller for quite some time. Where I work we rarely keep sony products in stock because they don’t move. TV’s, I see Samsung out selling everyone these days. Audio equipment? Sony receivers and amps just don’t sell like they use to, Who’s going to spend $1000+ dollars on an ES receiver when you can get Denon, Onkyo, Sherwood. I’m rambling now, sorry. Bottom line is that price will win the format war, Right now you can buy HD-DVD players for about $300, I even seen s
Report offensive content
Tony
13/04/2007 10:30 AM
go hd dvd cause adult movies wont be on bluray
Report offensive content
Podgee
12/05/2007 08:14 AM
if, I'm going to buy a another DVD player it's would be Blue Ray Disk, as many big movie company, are going for blue ray disk for their movie's. but I'm going wait & see first
Report offensive content
Paxpete
16/05/2007 05:02 AM
Excuse me!! I know that I am getting along in age and some times new technology is a little challenging. However at age 65 I have acquired HD television, surround sound a computer and even a Archos 504 PMP. So please give me a break. Blue ray or HD DVD the next step. sorry I can't buy it. At best this is a interm step. The next step and long over due would be, the good old memory cards, Flash,SD and so on. the technology is here, the cards have the memory and they are recordable. memory cards with movies can be produced for less then 15 dollars. and the equipment to play them is already on the market. This is all about paying off totally waster R&D.
Report offensive content
Regions Suck!
18/05/2007 01:06 AM
I personally think HD DVD has an advantage cos it doesnt have region coding, I can't believe the BLU RAY consortium in all their infinite wisdom decided to stick with region codes after the dismal failure of UMDs! For those in Brisbane I found a cool shop in the Valley called Burn Direct that carries HD DVD, they also are part of burn.com.au if you cant make it there, good to see someone supporting HD!
Report offensive content
MajorFibbs
30/05/2007 09:37 AM
I have chosen HD-DVD because the players (here in Europe) are cheaper and the prices of HD-DVD is also lower. (quick comparison on Amazon) But things might change in future. Being a movie buff, I even might buy a second player (Blueray), so I don't have to care about the format. To be honest, I really don't care. I only want a high res picture.
Report offensive content
fg
05/06/2007 06:01 PM
I am old fashion I guess . i'll keep my dvd collection as long as I still have a working dvd player setting on the shelf . I could care less about blue ray or HD either 1 .
Report offensive content
theryo
16/06/2007 12:41 AM
allways back the latest tech couse you are in the past allready! im going blue ray
Report offensive content
Steve
20/06/2007 08:20 PM
I have recently bought a HD DVD player from the states , for about AU $500 - and i love it . Since the movies arn't region locked , local titles work just fine too. I also plan on buying a blu ray player when prices creep down a bit more. All i want is high def , and i don't care who delivers it. My theory , is that although there will be one winner in the end .. i'm sure the losing format's disc's will still be playable in some way ... buy either dual format players or drives.
Report offensive content
tcoy
17/07/2007 12:47 AM
Any CD's Kinds of HD,Blu Ray, DVD all of it will be history in next 10 years because we are sick of burning..., throw away, scratches from hiring Movies too. Memory sticks of USB and Card Reader of SM,XD,MS,SD,MMC,CF and MD will take over Blu Ray as it will get large size and small to curry around in your own pocket. Memory USB or CARDS will replace in Video Shop Hire because some new LCD,PLasma TV have card reader for JPG... so in 10 years later u can play all movie format like MPEG1,2 Divx,Xivd,MPEG4 AND h264 formats and plug into TVs and Digital Recorders....... History Its like TAPES to CD Audio VHS to DVD DVD to HD-DVD HD-DVD to BLU-RAY BLU-RAY to Memory Card I Think companies knew about the best way but they just want break down the technology sales slow to make profit.
Report offensive content
daverichmond
31/08/2007 03:12 PM
I DONT KNOW BUT IVE GOT A XBOX 360 AND I CAN BUY THE HD DVD DRIVE AT A CHEAP PRICE SO I TRY THAT MAYBE BUY A P 3 TOO EBAY CHEAP PROBLEM SOLVED .
Report offensive content
mac
10/09/2007 09:45 PM
technology is not going to wait for these two formats to duke it out. stick with DVD till something better than blu-ray and HD DVD comes along.
Report offensive content
Logic
21/10/2007 01:16 PM
The public need to get behind Blu-ray otherwise we will be forced to upgrade again in the not so distant future. Blu-ray offers a significant leap in technology and greater potential to be developed further, like it or not file sizes are getting larger. HD-DVD will not have half the life span of Blu-ray, so it may cost SLIGHTLY more now but will save us all money in the long run.
Report offensive content
mcheese
27/10/2007 10:16 AM
Just because it's bigger storage does not mean it will come out on top. We all know they try to make physical size of everything as small as possible and it didn't help betamax. I was once told the porn industry will always decide our standard in video formats. Simply because of there number of sales.
Report offensive content
ABC2
14/11/2007 09:49 PM
Pioneer and sony have released blueray/dvd readers and burners. Sony BWU200S AUD$800 - Its dual layer capable. No components from the HD DVD camp yet... But $800 really isnt that much. Media for DL is currently $84 or $104 R/W. These are retail prices quoted via sony's website. Try JB hifi for blank media. CPL doesnt list a price for blanks.
Report offensive content
Xero
28/11/2007 07:26 PM
I dont think either format is that big of deal. The advantage they offer over standard dvd's is miniscule compared to dvd over vhs. Eventually people aside from richies and tech nerds may start picking them up, but its going to require compatibility for dvd, bluray, and hd dvds from a single machine for anyone to truly care. Its the same reason why the prediction of everyone having hd tv's by now failed. No one cares enough about the picture for the price they are selling it to us at.
Report offensive content
stolennomenclature
27/12/2007 05:41 PM
Almost everyone seems to assume that having the largest capacity (Blu-Ray) means its better. Capacity is not the only consideration. Even the smallest (HD DVD) has enough. Enough is enough. No one mentions that Blu-Ray is more sensitive to surface contamination (fingerprints, scratches, dust) than HD DVD. Most DVD's i rent have sections that skip due to surface dirt and dust, many are virtually unplayable. This issue is really quite important. Not having region codes is good (HD DVD), but being backed by Microsoft is not. Also HD DVD is supposed to be cheaper to make. That might mean cheaper prices for consumers - that would be nice.
Report offensive content
stolennomenclature
27/12/2007 05:42 PM
Almost everyone seems to assume that having the largest capacity (Blu-Ray) means its better. Capacity is not the only consideration. Even the smallest (HD DVD) has enough. Enough is enough. No one mentions that Blu-Ray is more sensitive to surface contamination (fingerprints, scratches, dust) than HD DVD. Most DVD's i rent have sections that skip due to surface dirt and dust, many are virtually unplayable. This issue is really quite important. Not having region codes is good (HD DVD), but being backed by Microsoft is not. Also HD DVD is supposed to be cheaper to make. That might mean cheaper prices for consumers - that would be nice.
Report offensive content
random123
06/01/2008 02:06 PM
I'd vote for HD DVD simply because it's region free and I could import titles from wherever I like. Region coding was only implemented for price differentials.
Report offensive content
wbreck13
07/01/2008 04:54 PM
as of right does eather play the old dvd?
Report offensive content
Darth Hemsky
15/01/2008 01:42 PM
At the moment it is quite obvious that blu ray will win, and that probably has something to do with the ps3. The larger capacity may also be a major factor, as that is apparently what many people are looking at. Either way, Blu Ray is outselling HD DVD almost 3 to 1, so i think (knock on wood) that we have a winner already. Time to pack up and go home DVD.
Report offensive content
wbreck13
17/01/2008 03:29 PM
x-box 360 can also play hd dvd's
Report offensive content
Dlriom
24/01/2008 10:28 AM
How many of you here can actually use HDDVD or BLU RAY? I just bought a new plasma a year ago and unfortunatley its not 1080i so a HD player is of no use to me anyway unless i fork out a huge amount for a TV. I believe that by the time HDDVD and BLURAY get there act together they will be outdated anyways.
Report offensive content
LAINQNKU
02/02/2008 12:44 AM
Blue Ray technology is the great. HDDVD is very small as capcity!
Report offensive content
pshipleynz
08/02/2008 08:11 PM
Dear Regions Suck! I do not recommend Burn Direct for purchasing HDDVD or Blu Ray. Check out their feedback and also their responses before you consider buying. Their User name is burndirect_brisbane Phone (07) 3252 1888 Also Emails are jason@burn.com.au ebay@burn.com.au Your best bet is .... internetfraud@bigpond.com ... this is the email address for the police. I eventually did a google search and well .... it was scarey!! Check out their feedback and also their responses before you consider buying. Their User name is burndirect_brisbane Ebay's lawyers can be contacted via sydney@daslaw.com.au Dibbs Abbott Stillman Level 8, Angel Place 123 Pitt Street Sydney NSW 2000 GPO Box 983 Sydney NSW 2001 Tel: 61 2 8233 9500 Fax: 61 2 8233 9555 Just do a google search and find out for yourself.
Report offensive content
daicare
27/02/2008 07:38 AM
Blu-ray has won and HD has lost and all is good.
Report offensive content
Laidback
21/05/2008 11:09 AM
Mechanical players are supsect to wear and tear, Solid state memory has and will advance in leaps and bounds, just take a look how much they have in the last couple of years.. Give it five years from now and both the hard drive and Disk players may be replaced by a solid state media, just be midful solid state hard drives are already being produced, albeit a little pricey at the moment//
Report offensive content