Which is More Consumer Friendly: HD DVD or Blu-ray?

[aaronstout]

Gandalf,

Thanks for the kind words. I do feel much better to see folks like Dale and Rodolfo make the same decision I had myself reached after months of research on many different forums and other web resources.

There will always be those who can't understand your line of reasoning, but I agree with everything you very elegantly state.

This is a dynamic situation as the Paramount move demonstrates, so I have no idea personally if either format will become market dominant, but I would only assume that if one does, all studios would likely at some point have to support the dominant format in the market, if they care about revenue, and I'm sure they would be.

AaronS

[andrewleblanccox]

In my opinion, the winner in the Blu-Ray vs. HD competition will be the format which meets the need of serious film collectors
like myself. Who is going to want to watch "Saw III" ten years into the future? HD has offered a few classics like "Casablanca", "Robin
Hood", and recently, "2001", but where are the REALLY collectible film classics that bear multiple viewings? Blu-Ray occasionally releases
a classic like "Close Encounters" and "Bram Stoker's Dracula", but where are great old Columbia films like "Lawrence Of Arabia", "Lost
Horizon", or "It Happened One Night"? Maybe both formats should seriously look at AFT's list of the 100 greatest films.

Thank god for D-VHS and box computers which have enabled me to archive of over 200 classic films in HD from the premium channels,[try squeezing them into your DVR or TIVO!] films such as "Psycho", which aired this past weekend, and which I doubt will ever see an HD release. Both Blu-Ray and HD are too busy releasing trash, which I wouldn't even waste the time to rent, much less purchase.

If the HD camp were to live up to empty promises and release films like "Citizen Kane", "Wizard Of Oz", "A Star Is Born" [1954],
"Around The World In 80 Days", etc., I'd instantly proclaim them the winner. At least serious film collectors in Europe get titles like
"The Graduate" and "The 400 Blows" which will play on our domestic HD players.

[jerfilm]

Ya know, the more I read here, the more I realize that most of us are a bunch of technogeeks, the advance guard, always on the cutting edge. We swear we can see a significant difference between 1080i and 1080p and nothing but 24 fps is good enough for movies. And etc. ad infinitum. Betcha some of us were among those that pounced on CDs when they first appeared as sounding "unnatural" or "electronic" or some such. That's all ok and I'm not saying this in a critical way. But lets face it, one poster has admitted owning 4 players already......how can we talk about Mr. Joe Average who only recently could afford an HDTV and now ponders which HD DVD player to buy??

Here's my take. Price and availability of media will drive this market. Mr. Average doesn't give a damn about which disc holds the most gigabytes. They both look good to him. So I think whoever is willing to bite the bullet and sell the least expensive players is gonna be the winner. And as huge as Sony is, it is surely positioned to do it. But I wouldn't bet the farm on them. They lost the Beta race and I suspect for the same reason.

And once those cheaper players are on the market by the thousands, don't bet on Disney sticking with bluray exclusively. These guys will go where the market is. Despite any hype they give out now about how one format is superior to the other. It ain't about that in the long run. It's where can we sell movies.

We can debate til Hell freezes over (that, incidentally, will be the year the VIkings win the Super Bowl - a long ways off, I fear) but it's always supply and demand that drive the market. And cheap players (and burners, now that I mention it) will drive it.

Jerry

[cohominous]

DynamoOfEternia, allow me to retort.

Actually, it is highly likely that existing HD-DVD players will be able to use the 51GB discs with a firmware upgrade.

What a relief! It

[miller]

cohominous, you have clearly made a sizeable investment in Blu-ray, and are doing your best to thwart the excitement of others so that your hard-spent money is not wasted. I find your sarcastic tone disrespectful, and your reply borders on personal attack in several places. I hope the mods are reading this and will ban you from the site forthwith, for you are adding nothing but more FUD to an already confusing topic.

But aside from tone, you need to do some research on your own ...

[quote="cohominous"]And by the way, aren

[cohominous]

I do apologize to DynamoOfEternia if he/she was offended. I am sometimes sarcastic. I speak my mind but I don't name-call. I don't lie. If you find that disrespectful miller, I'm genuinely surprised that you read blu ray /HD-DVD opinions. Again, to DynamoOfEternia (or Shane for that matter), I apologize if you felt I was personally attacking rather debating.

As far as an investment, miller, I'm not invested in the format any more than you - otherwise I doubt we'd have bothered to read lengthy posts devoted to a format debate on website about HiDef. It's a decidedly bland subject for those not emotionally invested in some form or another. My investment amounts to time involved reading about the two formats. I was gifted a PS3 shortly after they came out. It would have been very feasible to run out and buy a $98 HD-DVD player during a recent sale. I didn't. I didn't become a Blu Ray fan because I have a PS3. I became a blu ray fan because of the format and support rallied around it by manufacturers, retailers, and then consumers. As far as your FUD reference... I do not spread fear. If uncertainty or doubt arises, then maybe it's a shortcoming of the format and brings up questions that need to be thought through. Just because I don't agree with HD DVD supporters doesn't make me a "fanboy" as a previous poster put it. Shane wrote an article about why he likes (and later said, owns) HD DVD. Does that make him a fanboy or more FUD?

As far as your splitting hairs about "ethernet" and "internet"... what do you suppose that Ethernet connection is for, if not for transfers of some kind ultimately carried by the internet? Would an Ethernet port be a persuasive selling point at all without the owner having a internet connection? All the "Look and Sound of Perfect" promos I see are heavily pushing internet features.

I also don't want to see either format "hang around" for twelve years like beta did even though by 1980 VHS has gained a 70% share of the market. So although a few journalists and experts are writing the formats will co-exist, is that a good deal for anyone?

BTW, here's your references.

Slow loading:
http://www.highdefdigest.com/feature_bl ... d_one.html
http://tvs.consumerelectronicsnet.com/a ... id=42921-1
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,12568 ... ticle.html
http://gadgetaholic.com/content/view/33/1/ (combo player)

Here's some links to problems associated with HD DVD players/discs:
http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/05/12/pr ... vd-player/
http://avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12289347
http://forums.highdefdigest.com/archive ... t-201.html
http://forums.highdefdigest.com/showthread.php?t=5337
http://dvd.themanroom.com/dvd-newsview.php?id=532
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/ ... k_Snag/552
http://forums.highdefdigest.com/archive ... t-671.html

[miller]

I do apologize to DynamoOfEternia if he/she was offended. I am sometimes sarcastic. I speak my mind but I don't name-call. I don't lie. If you find that disrespectful miller, I'm genuinely surprised that you read blu ray /HD-DVD opinions. Again, to DynamoOfEternia (or Shane for that matter), I apologize if you felt I was personally attacking rather debating.

I was apparently reading more into your sarcastic tone than there was, for my part, I am sorry as well ... now back to our regularly scheduled debating ...

As far as your splitting hairs about "ethernet" and "internet"... what do you suppose that Ethernet connection is for, if not for transfers of some kind ultimately carried by the internet? Would an Ethernet port be a persuasive selling point at all without the owner having a internet connection? All the "Look and Sound of Perfect" promos I see are heavily pushing internet features.

I'm not splitting hairs. I think it is important to clarify what you "meant" to say. That is that the HD DVD spec does not require their boxes have an internet connection, only an internet port. The reason this is important is so that would-be HD DVD buyers don't assume they have to purchase internet service in order to use an HD DVD player.

Slow loading:
http://www.highdefdigest.com/feature_bl ... d_one.html
http://tvs.consumerelectronicsnet.com/a ... id=42921-1
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,12568 ... ticle.html
http://gadgetaholic.com/content/view/33/1/ (combo player)

Here's some links to problems associated with HD DVD players/discs:
http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/05/12/pr ... vd-player/
http://avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12289347
http://forums.highdefdigest.com/archive ... t-201.html
http://forums.highdefdigest.com/showthread.php?t=5337
http://dvd.themanroom.com/dvd-newsview.php?id=532
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/ ... k_Snag/552
http://forums.highdefdigest.com/archive ... t-671.html

I incorrectly assumed you were referring to "current" slow-loading HD DVD players. No offense, but if all you've got are links regarding performance of 1st-generation,18-month-old equipment, you don't have much. And that link is about the LG combo player, which wasn't even certified "HD DVD", so even if that was more current, it wouldn't hold much weight against the "HD DVD" spec.

Regarding the forum posts, they do point out some problems, but there is no way to guage how wide-spread they are from a forum, which is typically a vocal minority.

I did find the link to the Man Room interesting ... perhaps the only "reputable" report you included in your list of links above. Do you have any info on how that shook out? I had not heard of that problem.

Whack! (Ball back in your court, awaiting your return volley)

- Miller

[Richard]

http://dvd.themanroom.com/dvd-newsview.php?id=532

Children of Men worked for me and my HD-A1 back in August...

Casino Royal kept locking up on my PS3 and a Panasonic player under review about half way through the film. Have yet to try again with the PS3 but I really, really want to...

Both camps continue to have quality problems...

[cohominous]

DynamoOfEternia had just written that Blu-Ray owners have to update their firmware which was inconvenient because not everyone has hi-speed internet and even if they do many won

[downhill]

First off, I'll admit I'm biased.

Why buy HD-DVD? Because your not supporting Sony, which is the devil imho.