So who's winning the high def dvd race ?

[ht_addict]

You lost me, HD-DVD has released a hybrid HD/SD disk in North America? I wasn't referring to BD/HD-DVD hybrids (?), but rather BD/DVD and he 3 layer HD-DVD/DVD being at zero.

16 Blocks, Firewall are a couple of HD/DVD hybrids you can buy for the HD format. Its a flipper disc with the SD version on one side and HD on the other. The new triple layer will put everything on one side :T

Almost every DVD I have (300+) is dual layer. Technically, any movie CAN fit in a single layer. Wouldn't buy them though, unless they were something very short, like 70 minutes or so. They look like crap.

Thats because they're cramming the movie and all the extras onto one disc. I have a feeling the studio's would be supplying the movie and extras on the HD layer and just the movie on the SD layer.

So for me, the choice between a BD/DVD hybrid (where the BD movie is getting 25GB and the DVD is getting 8.5GB) and and HD-DVD/DVD hybrid (where either the HD layer is cut to 15GB or the DVD layer is crappy) would see me more likely go towards BD. And I fdon't think 25" SD se owners buy expensive HD hybrid disks, I think they pick up $7.99 copies at Walmart.

Anyway, my basic point is, there is an equivalent hybrid in the Blu-Ray camp, and it does suffer from being single layer in the BD area, but this is a smaller compromise with the 25GB/layer, and the DVD layers give full capacity.

Even more to the point though, I think the hybrid disks are an extremely insignificant factor in the format contest either way.

BB

As I said above I can see only the SD version without extras being offered, so only 4.7G would be needed and the HD layer would remain at 30G. Also from info learned over at AVS the VC-1 codec is becoming more and more efficient which would allow LOTR EE to fit easily on a HD-30. Until BR gets the costs down on manufacturing, I can't see a hybrid being released anytime soon. HD-DVD has the cost advantage.

[ht_addict]

Was I not? I certainly didn't feel HT was being anything other than civil.

BB

Lets agree to disagree :^x But also keep a look out for those trigger happy mods. :naughty: :B

[maddog]

In case anyone has not already seen this, you can track sales of HD-DVD's vs. BD's at Amazon here

http://www.thedvdwars.com/index.cfm

As you can see, at this time HD-DVD is pretty much crushing BD, but that might be in part due to most Blu-ray supporters waiting for the new players and better software at the end of the year. We shall see...

[Brandon B]

Thats because they're cramming the movie and all the extras onto one disc. I have a feeling the studio's would be supplying the movie and extras on the HD layer and just the movie on the SD layer.

No, a majority of those disks are two disk editions with the feaature on one disk and the extras on another. The few movies I have that have the feature crammed into one layer, even the shorter ones, do look bad, but both my displays are fairly revealing (56" 720p HDILA TV and a 120" FP system).

BB

[theMaximus]

No, a majority of those disks are two disk editions with the feaature on one disk and the extras on another. The few movies I have that have the feature crammed into one layer, even the shorter ones, do look bad, but both my displays are fairly revealing (56" 720p HDILA TV and a 120" FP system).

BB

I agree. Any reasonable length movies with decent picture and sound quality are on dual layer discs even without extra features. This is even more the case if they offer both DD and DTS tracks.

[peterS]

http://online.wsj.com/google_login.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB115828700866963973.html%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsj

[H.T.C]

If the manufactures just agreed to 1 format it would of been a much easier choice to make

of course this does not mean that any company cant keep reinventing a better system.

[theMaximus]

I bought a Samsung Blue Ray player at Best Buy just to see how nice the picture quality of Blue Ray DVDs. I do admit that my 70-in Hitachi LCD Rear Projection only does 720P instead of 1080P that Blue Ray is capable of, but I get far better picture quality with HD channels on cable TV at 720P than DVDs upconverted to 720P by my Denon 2910 DVD player. So, I thought BR at even 720P would be significantly better than standard DVDs upconverted to 720P. I rented House of Flying Daggers BR disc from Blockbuster online and watched it. I could only describe the improvement in picture quality marginal. I could definitely tell that BR movie wasn't even as good as HD signal on cable TV. Dissapointed, I took the Samsung back to Best Buy to return it.

When I tried to return it to Best Buy, a customer service girl called over a TV sales guy to ask me a few questions (actually more like to try to convince me not to return it), which I thought was odd since no one at Best Buy ever try to convince me not to return anything before. First he asked me why I was returning it, to which I replied that I wasn't impressed with PQ. He asked me if I tried BR disc or regular DVD, which annoyed me since he was assuming right off the bat that I was an idiot. I patiently told him that I played a BR disc. He then asked me if I had a TV capable of displaying 1080P. I told him I got a TV that does 720P, but PQ wasn't as good as HD on cable at 720P. He then tried to tell me that I NEED a TV that does 1080P. I told him that even he only had one model in the store that does 1080P (Sony SXRD) and asked him how many 1080P TVs he has sold so far. He replied "Well, not too many." He then asked me what kind of cable I used, either HDMI or component. I told him that the player came with HDMI cable in the box and that was what I used. He then says "That is your problem. You should get thicker HDMI cable like Monster Cable HDMI." I didn't know whether to givie him a lecture about digital signal or bitch-slap him. I told him that I wanted to return it because it comes with a sxxtty HDMI cable in the box. He didn't have anything to say then.

I'll probably wait a year or so to see which format seems to be the winner and possibly consider upgrading my TV to 1080P. If PS3 comes out before that, I guess I'll buy it whenever it comes out and upgrade my TV later to take full advantage of PQ, that is unless both formats look like they are going to die in the near future.

[LikeCoiledSteel]

From what I have seen and read, it appears that HD-DVD is winning the battle, but both are losing the war.
Steel

[aud19]

Maximus, did you set the BD players output to 720p or 1080i? From what I've heard even if your display is natively only 720p you might get better PQ by having your display convert it than the player. Otherwise, yes you should have bitch slapped him :lol:

[theMaximus]

Maximus, did you set the BD players output to 720p or 1080i? From what I've heard even if your display is natively only 720p you might get better PQ by having your display convert it than the player. Otherwise, yes you should have bitch slapped him :lol:

I tried setting the player at both 720P and 1080i to compare the PQ and noticed no significant difference at all. As I expected, when I set the player at 1080P, the screen went blank as the TV couldn't handle that signal.

I've never felt such strong urge to bitch-slap someone at an electronics store. It took every fiber of my being to restrain myself from doing so.

[DrJRapp]

Key Point:
Nobody is buying either format in any kind of quantity... when PS3 launches I suppose that will change

But

Today, both formats are "sucking wind" :rofl:

Any why?....just take a list of the junk the studios are dumping on us to try to unoad their loosers.

[peterS]

So you can play BluRay disks on your SD dvd player? :rofl:

Straight from the BR page:

Can I play a Blu-ray Disc on my DVD player?
No. As DVD players use a red laser to read the information from a disc, they are not capable of reading the very fine pits of a Blu-ray Disc, which requires a blue laser. Furthermore, DVD-Video players lack the advanced technology to decode the High Definition picture from a Blu-ray Disc

bluray players play dvds dispite popular opinion
hd dvds wont play in a regular dvd player if that is what your insinuating

[peterS]

I bought a Samsung Blue Ray player at Best Buy just to see how nice the picture quality of Blue Ray DVDs. I do admit that my 70-in Hitachi LCD Rear Projection only does 720P instead of 1080P that Blue Ray is capable of, but I get far better picture quality with HD channels on cable TV at 720P than DVDs upconverted to 720P by my Denon 2910 DVD player. So, I thought BR at even 720P would be significantly better than standard DVDs upconverted to 720P. I rented House of Flying Daggers BR disc from Blockbuster online and watched it. I could only describe the improvement in picture quality marginal. I could definitely tell that BR movie wasn't even as good as HD signal on cable TV. Dissapointed, I took the Samsung back to Best Buy to return it.

When I tried to return it to Best Buy, a customer service girl called over a TV sales guy to ask me a few questions (actually more like to try to convince me not to return it), which I thought was odd since no one at Best Buy ever try to convince me not to return anything before. First he asked me why I was returning it, to which I replied that I wasn't impressed with PQ. He asked me if I tried BR disc or regular DVD, which annoyed me since he was assuming right off the bat that I was an idiot. I patiently told him that I played a BR disc. He then asked me if I had a TV capable of displaying 1080P. I told him I got a TV that does 720P, but PQ wasn't as good as HD on cable at 720P. He then tried to tell me that I NEED a TV that does 1080P. I told him that even he only had one model in the store that does 1080P (Sony SXRD) and asked him how many 1080P TVs he has sold so far. He replied "Well, not too many." He then asked me what kind of cable I used, either HDMI or component. I told him that the player came with HDMI cable in the box and that was what I used. He then says "That is your problem. You should get thicker HDMI cable like Monster Cable HDMI." I didn't know whether to givie him a lecture about digital signal or bitch-slap him. I told him that I wanted to return it because it comes with a sxxtty HDMI cable in the box. He didn't have anything to say then.

I'll probably wait a year or so to see which format seems to be the winner and possibly consider upgrading my TV to 1080P. If PS3 comes out before that, I guess I'll buy it whenever it comes out and upgrade my TV later to take full advantage of PQ, that is unless both formats look like they are going to die in the near future.

lol
its the source material... and BB

[Brandon B]

bluray players play dvds dispite popular opinion
hd dvds wont play in a regular dvd player if that is what your insinuating

HT is saying there is a currently marketed hybrid form of HD-DVD that WILL play in a regular DVD player. And they are improving this format presently to allow one of the formats on the hybrid disk to be dual layer (the present version on the market is single layer HD and single layer SD).

In contrast to a BD hybrid that has been demonstrated and is part of the spec of a similar 1+1 layer BD/DVD hybrid, but for which not titles have been released, nor any releases announced.

BB

[Alaric]

I think it was Philips who truly invented the CD. Philips brought it out in 1970's or a ideation of it and then Philips and Sony came out with the CD's as we have today.

Sony claims to have released the world's first CD player. Follow the link , info in paragraph 3.http://www.scee.com/about/sonyHistor...DT2QCQSBLWB2RQ

[dbphd]

Sony dispalyed BR on a 70" SXRD RP at HE2006 in LA. The picture was gorgeous! It had that open window quality. The material was a Sony demo source, but it showed what the technology could do if the film makers get their act together. Made me put Blu-Ray and a 70" SXRD on my shopping list for next year.

db

[George Bellefontaine]

A local electronics retailers has the Samsung Bluray player at $1245 CDN. I asked how many they have sold and the count is 0. I asked how many customers have inquired about it ( it was advertised locally the last couple of weeks ) and his reply was 0. But I don't expect that even the Tosh HD DVD player would sell in these parts, even if it was available. In fact, an aquaintance told me he is buying hi-def dvds and playing them in his standard player. The disc manufacturers are really confusing people by saying their particular ( standard def ) dvd is a high definition transfer.
What a mess. :roll:

[Snap]

I am not falling for it. I am waitingfor a no joke winner before I drop any more loot into the mix. I do not want to get stuck in the BETA VHS war. Plus untill I can rent the titles at my local movie rental place then no deal!

I know some of you all can right now...... but I mean here in Havenot North Cack-a-lacky! As of right now you can only BUY HD disc. And Snappy is not doing that! Rent, Watch, return.....that is my policy!

[ht_addict]

A local electronics retailers has the Samsung Bluray player at $1245 CDN. I asked how many they have sold and the count is 0. I asked how many customers have inquired about it ( it was advertised locally the last couple of weeks ) and his reply was 0. But I don't expect that even the Tosh HD DVD player would sell in these parts, even if it was available. In fact, an aquaintance told me he is buying hi-def dvds and playing them in his standard player. The disc manufacturers are really confusing people by saying their particular ( standard def ) dvd is a high definition transfer.
What a mess. :roll:

Think he'll get any inquires for the Pioneer Elite BR player at $1800CDN :rofl:

[George Bellefontaine]

Think he'll get any inquires for the Pioneer Elite BR player at $1800CDN :rofl:

Not likely :B

[Chris D]

Snappy Snap, just to point out, you CAN rent HD discs through Netflix, both HD-DVD and BD.

[George Bellefontaine]

Was talking to the local Blockbuster manager yesterday. She said they will be carrying both Bluray and HD DVD for rent and for sale in November, but expect to stock low on Blueray. Buzz from her head office is that HD DVD is expected to outsell/outrent Bluray. Hmmm.