DTLongo Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Where do things stand now in this format war? Having been Beta-burned years ago, I am on the fence. Has either DVD format emerged as better quality-wise? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor.Ham.Slap Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Has either format emerged better quality-wise? I'd have to say the answer is a very convoluted yes and no. Basically what I have seen is that anything released by a studio on both formats (particularly Warner Bros.) looks virtually identical on both formats. However, Sony does not want to pay Microsoft royalties for using the new VC-1 compression format because Microsoft is a member of the HD-DVD camp so they use the Mpeg-2 format, which is the same format used to encode present SD-DVDs. The Blu-Ray discs encoded this way have a very grainy appearance to them (go to your local Best Buy and take a look at the disc in the Samsung Blu-Ray player. That demo was encoded with Mpeg-2 and generally tends to be very grainy with the exception of Chicken Little). All that aside, most studios are doing the intelligent thing and backing both formats but Universal is strictly HD-DVD while Disney and Fox only release on Blu-Ray. In my opinion this format war is far from over, and generally speaking most would back me up on that as well. The first combo player was just announced, with more on the way I'm sure. All in all, I decided to go with HD-DVD for now. You get all the video quality of Blu-Ray in a package that costs half as much. That and all of Toshiba's players to date have done a phenomenal job upconverting regular DVDs to HD resolutions with no problems reading discs (which is the case of Sony's Blu-Ray player which seems to be picky about what DVDs it reads or not). Ideally though, if you want HD content and you can afford it, get both formats. All you really need to know is that the HD disc formats look absolutely stunning. [Y] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Space Matters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RM1111 Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 I think that Warner is going to come out with a disc that has both HD-DVD and Blu Ray movies on it, called " Total HD Disc", so it doesn;t matter what player you have. They say that the price will be the same as a standard hd disc. LG is coming out with a combo player also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 There are a lot of video editors waiting for burners and software that won't break the bank. So far there are a lot of softwares that burn data discs but most that I know of that will burn A/V are in the megabuck range. Sonic Solutions suposedly has one that burns both for $499.00. Plextor has a Bluray burner for $850.00. That Warner THD disc is another wrinkle and there was another rumor that the HD-DVD camp will put regular DVD's on the HD-DVD discs also so that they will play in the older machines. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 I'm currently supporting BluRay for various technical reasons but I can't say that I'll be upset if one or the other loses. If you haven't seen/heard the new formats yet they are really fantastic. Just look at things rationally and don't buy into the fanboy hype of either side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el jopez Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Oh space is critical with less compression for video, audio and of course copyright technology. [:@] However for those thinking HD-DVD is to small of a format, don't pass judgment to quickly. Possible 51 Gigs on HD-DVD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMcGoo Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 Space Matters It's NOT about how big it is; it's about how you use it. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor.Ham.Slap Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 Space Matters It's NOT about how big it is; it's about how you use it. Bill I'll second that. The HD-DVD version of King Kong mentioned in that article looks damn fine. Space certainly isn't the end all factor as Sony's own studio has demonstrated with their mpeg-2 encoded movies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 I'll be looking seriously at the LG dual format player when it comes out. Hows that for straddling the fence[]. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMcGoo Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 The first LG dual players will NOT play any HDi material on HD DVD such as IME on Warner disks and U-control on Universal disks. Early word is that LG will not be allowed to use the HD DVD logo. Waiting till the second generation of LG dual format players come out is probably a better strategy. The first dual players from LG will cost $1,199. At that price, you could buy a PS3 and a Toshiba HD-A2 separately. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazemaster Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Yes, I've had my Toshiba HDA1 for a few months now, kinda bought it toward the later of its shelf life. Thinking about selling mine for a newer version. Yes, the LG universal player does look tempting, but if you add the price of the HD DVD player plus a PS3, you will still likely be leaning towards the HD DVD and PS3 side with less $$ and still have an extra console to play games with. I personally don't care who wins the war, I just want more HD movies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Oh space is critical with less compression for video, audio and of course copyright technology. [:@] However for those thinking HD-DVD is to small of a format, don't pass judgment to quickly. Possible 51 Gigs on HD-DVD Highly doubtful this will be backwards compatible with current players, and therefore not intended to be used in home entertainment. This would probably be targeted at data storage, the same as the BD 200GB discs that some companies have been producing. This is hype meant to confuse the customer into ignoring the current space advantage of BD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Yes, I've had my Toshiba HDA1 for a few months now, kinda bought it toward the later of its shelf life. Thinking about selling mine for a newer version. Yes, the LG universal player does look tempting, but if you add the price of the HD DVD player plus a PS3, you will still likely be leaning towards the HD DVD and PS3 side with less $$ and still have an extra console to play games with. I personally don't care who wins the war, I just want more HD movies. I read they majorly improved the load times. Nothing can touch the sub 10 second load time of the PS3 though [] I might think about an HDA2 one once I have an HDMI switching pre/pro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Now we all know that when porno went heavy into VHS, it all but killed Beta[]. Looks like Blueray will go by the wayside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el jopez Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 I'm not so sure about that though. The porn industry is still massive, but there are many other "free" mediums that exist now that did when beta vs vhs was going on. Will it have that big of an impact? I don't shop for porn so I can merely speculate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Also: the pr0n on BD seems to be a he said/she said thing right now. Companies like Vivid are still planning to bring their wares to BD and HD-DVD at the same time. There are pr0n titles available in Japan right now so obviously its not disallowed on BD, as some surmised. The media is latching onto anything that makes it look like the format war is "over". "Sony declares victory with 1 million PS3" "Digital Playground says no one would produce their porn: this the end for BluRay?" Both formats are selling too strong and too close in #s to each other to declare a loser. I think we'll be stuck with 2 formats AT LEAST through end of 2007. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Off topic: I like how the forum software censored " p R 0 n" but not the word "porn" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomer9911 Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 great thread....[:#] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 "A spokesperson for Toshiba of America told BetaNews late yesterday that thecompany is still researching whether a new, three-layer HD DVD disc format itmay propose -- the existence of which was carefully leaked at last week's CES-- will work in the first generation on HD DVD players, including its own. "Since the disc is not standardized yet," the spokesperson toldreporters, "we are researching whether it is applicable to the current HDDVD players." Toshiba representatives apparently handed out press releases to a fewjournalists last week who probably noticed a "51 GB" label on some ofits display discs, and asked what it meant. Independentjournalist Henning Molbaek of DVDTown.com was one of them, publishing assoon as January 9 what many sources were only learning a whole week later. The capability for HD DVD -- as well as Blu-ray-- to implement three layers on one side has been written into thespecifications since the format's inception. But the fact that each layer islimited to 17 GB, rather than the 25 GB per layer that's possible withdual-layer blue-laser discs, may be an indication that a three-layer formatsuch as theone Warner Bros. patented last year may not have been feasible with olderor existing blue-laser players after all. As it turned out, the company introduced a double-deckersandwich format at CES instead, under the Total HD trademark. It's unclearwhether Warner will pursue its three-layer, single-sided combo format, thoughthe likelihood now is fairly low. "Ain't hyped specs great!? Yup, I certainly say that its time to rush out and buy it! [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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