“I prefer Blu-ray simply because it is a more advanced format. It has greater capabilities than HD DVD and is further from the standard DVD format.”

Wonder what they mean by this.  What can Blu-ray do that HD-DVD can’t.  The only difference I see is some security stuff and disk capacity.  Neither of these things would be relevant in the home theater industry.

Blu ray does seem to have an advantage on paper in terms of storage capacity. I think that the biggest advantages however are the Blockbuster deal and the wealth of studio support from Hollywood.
I did find it interesting that most of the theater demos at the CEDIA show last week used HD DVD and I am not sure why, but early on I thought HD DVD looked slightly better.
Based on the hardware and software numbers and the huge corporate muscle behind Blu ray I think that Blu ray seems poised to win the format war.

Bob Archer

I think that HD-DVD can continue to win a few battles here and there but ultimately Blue ray will win the war based on the fact that Blue ray has a much more stable alternate business model/revenue stream to support it.

Every PS3 Game produced uses and will use Blue Ray discs and there is great potential to use the Blue Ray discs as an optical backup for PC’s that have the drive installed.

The pro-sumer marketplace, Videographers and ENG are now emracing Blue Ray as evidenced by companies like EZ Dupe making 3-6 unit duplicators and Sony’s new ENG Blue ray drive, another strong potential revenue stream.

Blue ray camcorders from Hitachi and others mean strong sales in the consumer, prosumer and anateur adult production world, no HD-DVD camcorders available to date.

Sony, Dell and many other computer companies are offering a Blur ray playback and recording drive as an option in desktops, media centers and Laptops. To date only Toshiba is offering a HD-DVD laptop recording drive on one of thier laptops.

So the above examples mean that a consumer can record Blue Ray PVR content or Blue ray Camcorder material and play it back on any of the PS3 or Blue ray players or also Comination players, HD-DVD not possible at this time.

So if HD-DVD is to be sucessful they have to sell more movie/video only content and players, a strictly top up segement approach that lacks the much stonger basis foundation that Blur Ray curremtly has, Blue Ray can keep on duking it out with HD-DVD at the top while it slowly behind the PR scene builds a stronger and more powerful business in the above non movie areas and there is only so long that HD-DVD can hold out economically against that juggernaut.

Andrew

I WANT HD DVD. I have seen blue ray and the future is not in the hands of Sony! They are the kings of manipulating the media and flooding the marketplace with misinformation. I want HD DVD to win mainly because I want a dependable format that is good for watching movies. I will buy a XBOX 360 to play games on!
Blockbuster is getting to be less of an issue everyday with most people now renting movies on Netflix or even using Pay Per View on their satellite or Cable! Where IS Blockbuster going to be in a year or two??

On the topic of computer based storage…if you buy either high def format for that..you might regret it! There are at least Two better storage formats coming soon…Both look to be substantially better than anything we have today! Don’t forget…discs get scratched very easily now…Wouldn’t it be nice to have a solid state storage device that has non volatile memory and isn’t affected by heat, water, and regular use?
Vote by buying HD DVD and allowing yet another Sony format to die slowly..SOME Examples: DAT, BETA, ATRAC, SONY ROOTKITS, Minidisc, PSP movies, walkman, and I bet you can probably think of a few others!

Gavilla,

As the gaming editor for CEPro I understand your feelings about the XBOX 360, however you have to wonder about how viable even Microsoft thinks that HD-DVD is when they cose not to include in the Elite and are utilizing an outboard virtual, brilliantly executed I might add, HD-DVD player. Since the current unit is external it means that MS can easily switch to a Blue-ray drive and all MS would have to do is offer a downloadable virtual Blue-Ray player so it seems that even MS is keeping thier options open.

In terms of comouter storage options I am aware of some of the newer technologies that are avaialable, but the fact is that if all the Blue-Ray drives are already in cutomers machines it easier to implement backup storage based on an existing installed unit base. As to scratches I know many arcitects that use the PowerPlay 200 discs drive and they have never had issues with reading discs post backup and let’s be realistic if a customer does not take a little more care in handling what is a back up of thier computer that is the fault of the customer.

I have read recent articles about the huge power play that Sony and the Blu Ray camp are using to force a format adoption that they know will cost millions to the DVD manufacturing industry and drive a lot of them out of business. The cost of re-tooling production lines alone switching to Bu Ray makes it an easy decision for a DVD production house. Consider that the cost could be 10-15 times more than to switch to HD DVD, I know what format I would support if I were a production house. I have been impressed with the picture and audio quality of both formats, but Blu ray is more susceptible to scratching due to the closer layering to the surface. The thing that should really #### everyone off is the way the formats for audio decoding were introduced, formats with no hardware then half the hardware and then the wrong hardware trying to decide on a receiver or a player is like trying to understand quantum mechanics, it is frustrating and misleading at best. I cant imagine what it must be like to the technically illiterate.

Thank you gaming editor, there is the school of thought that having a $600 gaming console will not fly (think ps3) with blue ray. What if the unit came with a regular dvd? Would it cost what the xbox360 cost when IT was introduced? Sony forces their proprietary formats on virtually all of their lines of business. It is NOT in the best interests of the gaming and electronics consumer. Why should the consumer be forced to buy a high def player if they dont want to watch movies on their gaming box?

Its riduclous to try and stand behind the durabiltiy of discs. When CDs first came out, I used to throw them in the parking lot of the electronics store I worked at and they would play without skipping every time! Try putting a newer disc into your car deck repeatedly, and watch the scratches fly.

Regarding your comment on computer based storage drives…no they are not in everyones computers…very few have purchased Sony’s $1000 play-only bd drives..Even high end hardware manufacturers are only now starting to introduce them with any kind of predictabilty. I venture to say that this is now happening because the new drives can record.

Give me a HD DVD player and an xbox360 and I will be happy.

Gavila you seem like just another misinformed Sony hater - there are plenty of those. There are plenty of Microsoft haters too.

In any case Blu-ray is not a Sony format - it is a consortium of Blu-ray manufactures such as Philips, Samsung, LG, etc. more than 200 strong that are putting out Blu-ray devices. Blu-ray has camcorders and writers.

HD DVD is supported solely by Toshiba for players.

Blu-ray has better specs than HD DVD - higher bitrate in movie playback, more space available, a more flexible programming language, etc…

Blu-ray is outselling HD DVD in terms of disks by more than 2:1, every day.

Costs are coming down - sure Blu-ray players started at more than $1000, but are now at less than $500 - the same as high quality 1080P HD DVD players - the cheaper HD DVD players are the lower quality non-1080P types - so comparing those is apples to oranges.

HD, you are confused. BD is a Sony invention and they ALLOW other manufacturers to put their two cents worth in! They knew if they went it alone, they would have lost before the players began selling..

I have an order in for the Onkyo HD DVD player when it arrives shortly. Who has the only HD DVD player?? ( I already own the Tosh).
I almost bought the Samsung HD DVD/BD combo, but I didn’t trust the quality. (As I own a Samsung now).
Specs didn’t make the Sony players any better in playing movies up to this point now has it? In fact, HD DVDs have been getting higher marks in video quality! Just check out some of the reviews from Video and Audio magazines.

There are far more people buying stand alone HD DVD players than BD, just check out Amazon. Guess which format isn’t flying on the gaming consoles??

You don’t even seem to understand the new lower costing HD DVD players! They can do 1080P just fine! In fact, some of them will perform just like a $1000 player! Go wash your feet and rethink your place in this universe!

Sony HATER?? YOU BETCHA!

TO gavila Fanboy par-excellence

you are wrong
gavila…
  HD is right…

Blu-Ray is not just ONLY a SONY format. get that through your ever so thick skull. Blu-Ray was NOT JUST developed by SONY.

EVEN SONY PUT OUT THE FIRST PLAY/RECORDER IN THE BLU-RAY FORMAT ONLY BY A COUPLE OF MONTHS BACK IN APR 2003 IN ASIA AND JAPAN BEFORE SHARP PUT OUT ONE OF THEIR OWN…thats right Blu-Ray has been out that long..if any format is being crammed down people’s throat its the new HD DVD FORMAT which its first player was released in 2006.

blu-ray is the older format which HD DVD was based on and yet HD DVD is not the physicaly the better format SPEC WISE. The only reason we are in this mess is because of IHD…THE BDA DID NOT WANT TO PAY MICROSOFT FOR IHD instead the BDA went with JAVA. yes IHD was done first but JAVA has more enhancements over IHD.
Even
HD DVD is a blue laser type of OPTICAL DRIVE..get it they both are just evolutions to the STANDARD CD and DVD optical drive’s. IF YOU WERE IN THE IT industry you would know this.

EVEN TOSHIBA helped develop the blu-ray format..you know the creator of the HD DVD format

“Toshiba Samsung completes Blu-ray Drive”

TSST Korea (Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Corporation) announced that it has completed the technical development of its Blu-ray disc drives. These offer a storage capacity up to 25GB at a single layer disc

http://www.emedialive.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=10987

If you did’nt know TSST provides the xbox360 with its OPTICAL DVD9 DRIVES.

SO STOP ACTING LIKE A FANBOY gavila AND GROW UP

I don’t have time to argue with those that cut n paste..
You go ahead and buy what you will.
You don’t need to be in the IT industry apparently to miss the entire point!

gavila what is the point you said that Blu-Ray was and i Quote:

Sony forces their proprietary formats on virtually all of their lines of business. It is NOT in the best interests of the gaming and electronics consumer. Why should the consumer be forced to buy a high def player if they dont want to watch movies on their gaming box?

“Sony forces their proprietary formats on virtually all of their lines of business.”

blu-ray is not proprietary. and HD DVD is not also..so what is you point.

you even you admit you hate SONY but you praise
HD DVD BECAUSE Sony does not support it..?

if you bring up rootkits: you want root kits one has to look no further than the OS you and millions of the consumer’s an companies use world wide every day.

microsoft was kind enough to build a rootkit installed free of charge into every copy of windows.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?cat=55&tag=nl.e539

you are a fanboy and just as ARROGANT as you claim to SLAM Sony on being ARROGANT . SO being A BIG HYPOCRATE that you are. i am glad you got that out of the WAY on this board.

way to go FANBOY

Joeorc, give it up!
Microsoft doesnt make rootkits.
You cant argue the fact.

Re: your girlfriend Sony, If you read up on all the failed devices, standards, prop cables, batteries, connections, etc..you will see my point. You can debate whether or not Sony is 100% responsible for BD, but they sure are losing credibility with their lastest USB keys which also contain the rootkit problem. Yes, I know they bought them elsewhere, but who can trust any one company that keeps getting nailed for it! GO Fangirl..

did your fanboy glass’s fog up Gavila if you went to the link. that zdnet was good to provide. EVEN microsoft admits that they do. the MICROSOFT back door manipulates your reg. file. that’s the very definition. of a root kit. faild designs faild device..they are a hardware production company DUMBASS that’s what they do they make hardware.some make it some don’t CD was one of the ones that did..you know what DVD and HD DVD and Blu-Ray were based on in the first place. unlike Microsoft with a filed mother board design of the xbox360 where the CEO robbie bach said all the xbox360 11.6 million in the supply chain have a design flaw so before you point out SONY’s you may want to take a look at Microsoft’s or any other CE company. you just seem to only bash SONY for something other companies are just as as much FAULT FOR ALSO…so keep being the HYPOCRITICAL hermaphrodite FANBOY that your are. ok HERMIE

Joegrl,

I hear you about the manufacturing problems. All manufacturers have to deal with it. All consoles, PCs, MACs, etc have had them. This backdoor you speak of is something that has been in the MS kernel since WIndows95 and your pants since this week. Noone else had a decent operating system to compete with it at the time.

I don’t see any other software out there that can’t be broken, much like your confusion. Only a child would try to quote where CDs came from, so give it a rest! Everyone knows where the modern day discs came from. You don’t seem to like males very much, and it shows in your proSony fight stance softness.

OK hermie Gavil Vagisil:
DID I SAY I WAS PRO SONY…i am pro technology unlike you HERMIE.

“Noone else had a decent operating system to compete with it at the time.”

SPOKEN LIKE A TRUE Microsoft ##### spreading their ASS cheeks for MICROSOFT’S FUD stick…

FOR a Shill like your self Microsoft must be paying you the $2.00 you are worth down on the street corner HERMIE. so do not forget buying the product to make you feel fresh and clean with your new $2.00. because your starting to smell a little rancid.

-out

EVEN TOSHIBA helped develop the blu-ray format..you know the creator of the HD DVD format software ontwikkeling