[email protected] wrote:I agree with all the arguments presented, but Blu-ray will be my format of choice. Why? Because Blu-ray is the best multi-use format because of its larger capacity. If watching movies was all I was going to use it for, HD DVD would definitely be my choice, but video games need the extra memory. Why invest in two formats when all you need is one?
Henry
If you have all the space in the world, but no one fills it is it still a benefit?
Wii is the least powerful console, but it dominates the video game consoles.
Xbox 360 has the largest number of high rated games (Gamespot count them) and it uses space challenged DVD.
PS3 in last place has the all powerful BD which is mostly filled with mediocre games (Gamespot count them). I also bet PS3 developers have not used most of the extra BD capacity especially since most PS3 games are ports from Xbox 360.
PC users have moved away from burning DVD's for backup since inexpensive external harddrives are much faster. Future fantasy product BD 200 GB may sound cool until you think about reading/writing 200 GB of data at DVD speed.
People will buy movie players; not "best multi-use format". Do you really think people will be looking at storage capacity when they buy their next movie player?
HD DVD already has a richer user experience with less space. HD DVD 51 GB disks are coming so space is not going to be an issue.
One little thing that troubles me in this debate and I'm surprised that no one has even mentioned it. Perhaps I'm just sensitive to such issues.
Lots of talk about load times and copy protection and the fact that Sony's standard keeps changing as new copy protection schemes are tried (and are "cracked" - will they never learn that hackers are pretty smart and pretty fast??). But who is it that thinks they have a high stake in preventing copying and pirating? Is it Toshiba, who to my knowledge doesn't own a piece of the movie industry? Or is it old Sony, who owns half of it? (OK, so it ain't half - but I think I've made my point) They have a HUGE stake in this other than just being the Hi Def disc player of choice. So maybe, just maybe, don't look for the definitive standard in bluray players in the immediate future......a moving target at best......
Which leads to another interesting thought. Well, I think so. And that is, there just might be reasons other than payoffs or which system is "best", why some movie producers choose HD DVD rather than Sony's. Is it remotely possible that being competitors in the movie industry could color their decision? Does everyone just buy in to their biggest competitors system without some kind of protest or fight?
As to this capacity argument, I was just watching UNFORGIVEN last night in HD DVD. Gosh, the film runs over two hours and then I was up WAY PAST midnight watching the more than two more hours of extras. How much "stuff" do you think these folks are going to give us on one disc for 24 bucks?
And then a small aside for anyone into home video which I've alluded to in earlier posts. I have gotten Corel's VideoStudio 11 Plus which will burn both HD DVDs and Bluray discs - HD DVD's on ordinary DVDs with of course, little capacity. And sadly for me, little success so far. Oh they burn OK, and start out fine but after about 11 minutes, the sound starts breaking up and then the picture becomes jerky. And seems to get better at about 12 1/2 minutes. It may be my burners - although I've tried two different ones now - or maybe it just ain't such a hot idea to try to burn HD DVD format onto ordinary 4.7 Gb discs. Anyone else have any experience with this? Sadly Toshiba hasn't made a single HD DVD burner available outside of some of their own laptops. And no blank discs on the market yet. But why would they? No burners?' I did see Bluray blanks somewhere, but my God, they were like $15 each. That's not gonna encourage many folks to start burning their own home movies. Imagine wasting a few of those babies.
But one interesting thing, and maybe it's just becuz they only have 2 or 3 gigs of information on them, they load MUCH fast than commercial HD DVDs do....... ???
I don't claim to represent the masses, but at the same time, I'm sure I'm not alone in my reaction to the great high def DVD debate.
1. I don't care about the nuances, I just want to sit down and enjoy the moveie; and as far as I can tell, either format will do that for me.
2. I don't care what the director's chef served him for breakfast the day of the "big shoot". I've got DVDs full of extra material that I've never viewed.
3. With prices plumetting, I don't care who wins the war; I wouldn't be surprised if no one does.
4. Right now, I can buy one player of each format for a total of $500; and sometime next year, that's what I wil do.
5. Since the DRM restrictions will prevent me from ever archiving HD, I'll never be in the market for a high def DVD recorder, so again, I don't care if nobody wins.[/quote]
HD-DVD = Studios control the content on the disc's
Blu-Ray = Sony controls the content on the disc's
What I really find funny is that the "Blu" group list studio's by name.. but trouble is other than Disney/Fox and of course Warner Bro's.. all the names listed are owned by "Sony Corp"
MGM (owned by Sony Corp) + Disney share studio space
Fox seems to really only be a distributor of movies any more in the USA as a large number of "USA BLU Only Disc's" can be imported from other distributors... last count over 50 disc's total.
Only two of the USA HD-DVD Only disc's can be purchased, imported and played on Blu-Ray players.. there are others released but can not play due to region coding.
Also the HD-DVD Format is finalized, yet the Blu-Ray format is not and if what I read is correct, none of the current hardware other than the PS3 will play the newest disc features due to hardware limits.
--David
I went HD-DVD due to the savings on hardware allowed me to purchase more movies!
Would you put your money on the horse first out of the gate, or the strongest horse? From my experience as a programmer and scientist, I see a vast untapped potential in the PS3. Sure, it's a little slow out of the gate because the jockeys don't quite yet know how to handle such a powerful beast. In technical terms it drops the traditional interface paradigm of game machines because it's a parallel machine, unlike the serial machines of yore. Hard to handle from a traditional point of view, but once the parallel world starts to shine, watch out! You ain't seen nothing yet. It's the future of gaming. And you can take that to the bank.
[email protected] wrote:From my experience as a programmer and scientist, I see a vast untapped potential in the PS3.
I think PS3 and BD fans spend way too much time dreaming of what might be possible in the future. Consumers don't buy "vast untapped potential" they buy the best product they can afford that is useful now.
We are talking about consumer HD movie players today. It is clear for movie players that HD DVD has a price/performance advantage over BD.
HD DVD had a complete standard from day one. HD DVD has the highest quality audio and video. HDinteractive works great. PIP is fully functional. Ethernet connection make updates and downloads a breeze. Built in storage allows HD DVD to download new content. All HD DVD players have these features.
BD is still not finalized. Early BD players will not have the same capability as the next generation. BD Java is not widely supported. It is sad to see reports that BD needs to have a pre-rendered PIP version of the movie because old BD players will not play true PIP. To me this sounds like they forced movie producers to do a band-aid style PIP fix for the life of BD players, but at least they will have some use for the extra space on BD. More likely BD producers just will not support PIP on early players. I imagine this would also mean BD can't turn the PIP off and on because you would have to start up the other non-PIP version. I think the BD PIP issue is a huge mistake. What other neat features do BD players have that we don't know about?
Good point, but personally I don't have the resources to buy what's popular at the moment. I usually manage to get several years out of most of my electronics, or at least try to. That means I'd better look down the road a ways and look at what seems to offer the best prospects for future development. Anybody will tell you that what seems to be the sure bet today, may not be in a year or so. On the other hand, my opinion is probably shaded by my excitement at being a part of an entirely new technical direction:think of it; massive parallel processing in your living room! The intriguing possibilities no doubt paint a rosy glow on my opinion in this matter.
[email protected] wrote:In technical terms it drops the traditional interface paradigm of game machines because it's a parallel machine, unlike the serial machines of yore.
To imply that the PS3 is the first parallel machine is incorrect. The Xbox 360 has 3 dual-threaded cores.
The PS3 is the most powerful gaming console on the market. It has more potential that the others, but to date the game makers are not taking advantage of it. Why? Well, because they also want to port those games to the 360.
I do not yet own a PS3 ... not because it's not a nice machine, but because I already own an Xbox 360 and there has not yet been a compelling reason to buy a PS3. When a game comes out that I have to have (that's not available on the 360), it will then be worth the investment.
Cheers,
- Shane
Publisher, HDTV Magazine Your Guide to High Definition Television
That's correct. The PS3 has seven cores, I believe. And, to support your view, the really bad thing about the PS3 from a programmer's point of view is that it drops the traditional interface paradigm in favor of one more suited for parallel processing. That's why a lot of developers prefer the X-Box over the PS3. In my view, however, greatly increased processing power and an interface more suited to the parallel world of games is the future, and that's the horse I'll bet on.
However, this forum is about what kind of HD player to purchase for your HD TV. If all I wanted to do was play high def movies, then HD DVD would be a good choice. But there are a lot more uses for a HD set than simply playing movies, applications such as virtual worlds that require a powerful computer and large disk storage. So, from my point of view, I don't want to sell the future short. I'll bet on Blu-ray.
Great articles on BD vs.HD DVD. Because of some great pre-holiday specials, I got it ALL! The day before Thanksgiving, at Circuit City, I was able to get a Toshiba A3 for just $199 w/7 FREE movies and a PS3 40GBw/ Blu Ray for $399 & 6 FREE movies. BOTH are hooked up via HDMI 1 & HDMI 2 inputs of my Onkyo TX694SR receiver. For a total of just $598 , both look great, PLUS incredible HD gaming of PS3 and the INSURANCE that, if one machine goes down, the other can still play & upconvert DVDs as well as play one of the formats! My 61" samsung 1080p is a very "happy TV", indeed. So are my eyes.
