HD DVD or Blu-ray: My Choice is...?

[Richard]

I typically don't veer from the technical side into opinion, but HDTV Magazine founder Dale Cripps recently posted an article about the HD disc format wars, Blu-ray versus HD DVD, and his choice as to which one would be the winner. What I loved about his article was that it was not technical and most importantly took the pragmatic stance that he did not feel he should make that choice due to his lack of technical expertise on these two formats yet the industry would rather consumers, who know little about the technical side and far less than Dale, be the ones to make that choice. As a consumer Dale made his.

I never thought 10 years ago that I would be one of those early adopters with money to burn on expensive product but it turned out I was. Until HDTV came along I spent much of my time...

[url=http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/articles/2007/11/hd_dvd_or_blu-r.php]Read the Full Article[/url]

[jerfilm]

Thanks for your insights, Richard. I fall into the same catagory as you - but I picked DVD Audio instead of SACD and the few new CD's coming out in surround format are SACD......

Now, history may repeat itself. I've been taking HD video for some years - starting with the JVC 30 frame camera and now have two Sony 1080i60s.....But after editing, it's a pain to dump the edited version back to tape and then have to run it on your TV system with the camera. So, regular old DVDs, made with Sony Vegas and DVD Architect.

Now, the new versions of these software programs support BluRay (surprise, it is Sony software......). However, even though Sony offers a couple of laptops with bluray burners, they are not making one available thus far for those of us who only recently built a new laptop especially for editing.

Of course, there is an external burner. At, what, around 600 bucks. And then, of course, need a player for the TV system at another 500-600. It really is disgusting.

Why doesn't someone come out with an external burner that connects via firewire to your computer and then can be unplugged, and taken to your tv system and outputted there via HDMI (or for those of us who were in the forefront, Component Video, since my wonderful old Pioneer 50" plasma has just one component input......)??

I think you may be absolutely correct, the price is way too high and many people are perfectly happy with their SD DVD player. It might just die stillborn. Unless Sony is willing to take some hits and get equipment on the market that is affordable.....

Geez....

Jerry

[dgmeansit1]

I love high fidelity surround sound and have an equal number of SACDs and DVD-A disks in my collection. I will continue to buy from whomever continues to release (preferably in the ROCK category!).

As for the video Hi-Def, I have chosen Blu-Ray primarily because that is the format that seems to have the most of what I want to watch.

So, ultimately, technologies being approximately equal, I will always choose whichever offers the most/best content!

[ccclvib]

The reason the price is so high, is exactly why the problem continues to fester: nobody's buying either - except for Sony's Play Station - and there it's a case of getting the only thing available. However, if Sony thought that would be a selling point for PS, they found out differently. Wii is beating them to pieces, and it has nothing to do with a High Definition DVD player, or lack of one. If - and when - somehow - one format is finally chosen, and that becomes the way most DVD's are produced, the price will drop exactly like it did when SD DVD's took off.

As for me, I have over-the-air TV in HD and HD from Dish Network. It may only be 1080i, but I can still see a difference between it and SD DVD. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Never will I buy a High Definition DVD player until there's one format. I can watch movies in HD by copying them onto my USB-connected additional disk drive(s) connected to the Dish DVR and storing them there. Keeping track is something of a nose bleed, but they're on disk and in HD. I don't need HD DVD until there's only one format, and then I'll make DVD's from the ones I like I've already copied - whatever the format.

[dabhome]

I agree with you Richard. I choose to only get HD-DVD because of price. I was able to pick up a player for only $200.00 and I already had NetFlix so I could rent the movies. But, I miss being able to get some of my favorite movies (The Fifth Element for one). I just cannot bring myself to spend more then $200.00 for a player.

[fpnovak]

I CHOOSE HD-DVD, BUT THEN I CHOSE DVD-AUDIO AND QUADRAPHONICS (IN THE 70's).
iS THE THIRD GEN OF tOSHIBA hd-dvd OUT?
I WANT 7.1 VIA HDMI 1.3a [?ONKYO TX- 875 SR].
I want 24 fps and 30 fps.
Does the 3rd gen have that? at what price for 1080p?
fpnovak

[jerfilm]

FP, you sound like my kind of guy. I did 8 track quad sound, then the RCA Quad discs, the DVD Audio, you name it, I bought the wrong one - so if our friends here want one or other format to win, just ask us to buy the other one. Haha. You already have. Should we be buying Sony stock???

Jerry

[butchieK]

Hi Richard,
I also am an audiophile (from the 70's era) and quality was and is the first thing I pick up on with most electronic devices from this era.I used to have a Crown DC300A power amp,4 Original Advent Loudspeakers stacked and wired in series,a Technics base,SME Tonearm,and AKG cartridge.I still can't find anything today that sounded as nice as that vinyl set-up.Kids today have no idea of how good music can sound when properly mastered and played through great equipment.I have an Onkyo Integrated amp from the 80's that I still use and when I started to think about "upgrading" to a new amp the salesman told me to forget about as no new Onkyo he was selling would sound as good.I know there is good quality out there,but it's mostly in the form of small very expensive boutique manufacturers.After a lot of reading, I've learned to lower my expectations on what to expect from today's electronics made for the mass market.None of them come close to matching the quality that was mass marketed in the 70's!Keep up the good writing as it helps a recovering audiophile like myself...LOL

[MarkyMark]

I would like everyone to consider that there are four choices possible here, not two: blue, red, both, and neither. It would appear you have, in fact, made a choice: both.

Another consideration is that if consumers are deciding, then content trumps format. Consumers want the MOVIE, and for a reasonable price. They don't care about format, profile 1.1, interactive features, or which disc can potentially hold more. The picture and sound are the same for either format.

Combine these two considerations together, and then consider that because of the interference of the movie studios there are going to be a lot of people picking both players, because they want to buy and experience movies only available in a single format.

These are the current dynamics that just entrench the format war for even longer. The attempt by the format camps to have movies studios back a single format has backfired and now it's forcing people to choose both formats. That IS a valid choice.

A columnist for CNBC just posted an article discussing HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray and put a poll at the end and included the "neither" option but forgot to include the "both" option. It's important to try to get everyone to think about the "both" choice and how it affects the format war.

Thanks for listening.

[rfowkes]

Hello, Richard. Nice article and I agree with a lot of your major points. This "format war" is far from over and, unlike some others who are troubled by it, I am completely enjoying the ride (and the benefits that a format war brings to those of us who own players of both types (I currently have 3 HD-DVD players - an XA2, an A1 and a Xbox360 add-on - and 2 Blu-ray players - a PS3, still the best BR player, and a Panasonic BD10A). As a fellow "bleeding edger" it was a no brainer that I'd have both formats when they first came out because that's what I do. SONY made it easier for me (I had HD-DVD first) since I could rationalize the purchase of a BR player with the PS3 (which I play very few games on.) And the major reason for adopting both HD formats is actually more for audio than for video. True, HD looks better than SD for DVDs - and your point that the difference between HD discs and SD discs is not as dramatic as the difference between HD TV and SD TV is spot on - but the difference in audio quality of HD discs and SD discs is, to me, a major step forward. It's the same reason why I prefer SACD and DVD-A to redbook CD. And yet, many regular folk don't understand what I get so excited about since they are fine with CDs (and even tolerate the reduced audio resolution of the iPod generation!)

And why do I applaud a "format war" this time around compared to other past wars? Lots of reasons. For one thing, this is not really a beta vs. VHS thing for a simple reason - the combo player with a single mechanism (not realistically possible with videotape in the day) is a reality in the HD/BR battle. There are already players out there that play both formats (as well as SDs, CDs and - at least theoretically SACD and DVD-A if all the bickering is put aside) and the number of these hybrid players will increase the longer this war persists. If prices drop low enough for combo players (they will, based on past history) then a format war is a moot point. You have a machine. It plays BR and HD so who cares if one goes away. It becomes all about the content (as it should.) Yes, right now it's cheaper to purchase separate machines (you can do it for under $500 total when the least expensive combo player is still more than that) but this will also change. And even that $500 figure isn't beyond the reach of many of us. Heck, I paid almost $1500 for my first Betamax and that was in 1975 dollars! $500 is a bargain under those circumstances. However two machines is still going to turn off the large majority of consumers so we either need one format or the combo machines going mainstream. My prediction is that the combo machines will make the "war" moot.

Another reason why the format wars isn't bothering me (as a two format owner) are the amazing price wars now going on. Blu-ray, while claiming technical superiority (but largely undelivering on that promise until now with no real standards for machine requirements out of the gate and a larger disc capacity advantage that disappeared this week with the new HD-DVD 51gig media) is obviously panicking with their "buy one, get one free" promos all over the place to maintain their SW "lead" (a questionable lead because we are talking about a drop in the bucket in total media sales). I just purchased 30 Blu-ray titles from Amazon for an average price of $9 and change each - delivered to my door second day mail included! Those who know about the benefits of Amazon Prime membership and their 10% discount on HD media for early adopters know about this. It was actually far cheaper to by the BR version than the SD version of many titles. With a single format, these price wars, not to mention the format wars, will be history. And the price of HD-DVD players wouldn't have dropped well below $200 (even cracking $100!) so early without a "war." I chuckle when people claim that the format war isn't good for the "consumer." It isn't good for the manufacturers and studios because so many people are confused by the choices (those who know that HD media outside of HD broadcasts even exists) but don't tell me that combo players, cheap players and price wars for discs is "bad" for consumers.

Finally, while I understand that some people are so turned off by another format war that they are not going to buy anything "until there is a clear winner" many people who should know better are cutting off their nose to spite their face in my opinion. There's a lot of great HD content out there right now at extremely reasonable prices (thanks to the "war") and it's not only the video that's better - the audio is light years better when played on a system that can take advantage of the lossless and uncompressed codecs now on just about every disc from both formats.

To me the war was over the minute I purchased both machines. The combo player makes this even a better argument for those who hate multiple boxes. I'm enjoying the best picture and sound on the same discs today and not looking back.

Incidentally, those who fear obsolescence seem to overlook the fact that obsolescense only occurs when media rots or players become impossible to get. I'm still enjoying vinyl that I purchased a half-century ago so this is definitely not a beta vs. VHS "war." It's all about searching for the most perfect media and presentation available.