Blu-ray Outsells HD DVD Nearly 2-1 Through September, Research Shows

I think too many people on forums like this one are looking too deeply into Sony’s involvement with Blu-ray. Just because Sony has produced consumer electronics that never caught on doesn’t negate their dominance in the console gaming and TV industry historically. Toshkba and Microsoft are not immune to fsilure either so I would take all this hooey about Sony’s behavior and failures and dismiss it outright. It has no bearing on why people are buying BD.

Then there’s the “Better technology always loses…look at Betamax and Lsserdisc” crowd. If that were an absolute, we would still have black & white TVs and CED discs would’ve beaten out Laserdisc…the list is endless. This notion that the better choice akwsys loses is just plain silly.

Of course, any good HD-DVD fan is going to argue that BD isn’t the superior format to begin with. Putinng video performance aside (because I think arguing over which HD image looks better is like arguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin)...we are choosing the optical disc format to replace DVD-R/RW on our computers for the next (probably) ten years and I don’t believe consumers are well-served by having the guy who told us we’d never need more than 640k of RAM, deciding we’ll never need 50GB of storage. (that was sarcasm about Bill Gates and not central to my point). But seriously, I want every scrap of storage I can get, along with a suitable replacement for DVD. BD delivers that and I am rewarding their decision to offer me, the consumer, more storage than HD-DVD did. To me, this is not some Sony consiracy to skrew consumers just so they can squeak out some personal victory through a proprietary format - it’s a very real advantage that I know I will use. On top of my belief that more storage is good for computer users, the movie studios will be given more breathing room to do more things with additional space. It isn’t rocket science. HD-DVD is a fine video format. I don’t want it because I don’t this it meets the criteria of a true suitor to replace both DVD-Video and the burners in my computers for the next decade. I think it’s short-sighted to say that with the right kind of compression we don"t need more storage. Compression is the enemy, not Sony.

hd dvd has a 51gb disc that is approved and ready for production. They are not using it at this time because the studios are not requesting the extra space.

There was an earlier post where it was stated that 50 gb bluray discs are limited. this absolutely true. roughly 60% of all bluray discs on the market are 25gb, even less storage than HDDVD.

so in reality bluray has 25gb and 50gb discs, while hddvd has 30gb and 51gb discs. These are the facts.

http://www.blu-raydisc.com/Section-14064/faqs/4/Index.html

“Capacity could be increased as additional layers are added (there have been announcements of 100 GB (four-layer) discs and Sony has been conducting laboratory work with a 200 GB disc)”

Looks like Sony will soon have a 200GB Blu-ray disc “approved and ready for production”. We could play this cat-and-mouse garbage all day. I supposed if we wanted to wait 40 years when I’ll be 80-something we’ll have some really cool new formats.

If studios are thinking like Paramount and Dreamworks are, no wonder they’re not asking for more space – Why should they care?  They’ve already conceded that they’ll just compress more when they need more room. Why not? They look the other way when satellite and cable companies compress the heck of their product or give us “HD-lite”.

We’re talking about NOW. If we’re going to have a format war it needs to be on decided upon standards, not one that may or may not ever see the light of day in the next year.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/19/benqs-bw1000-blu-ray-disc-recorder-for-pcs-hitting-japan-write/

http://www.eventdv.net/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=38038

I don’t see anything about “50GB bluray discs are limited” except from HD-DVD fans here. Maybe they should send a memo to every company selling BD burners to tell them that they’re false advertising.  Or maybe they should just admit that 50GB disc burning is here now and 51GB HD-DVD burning is not ready for prime-time yet. These are the facts.

Well it appears to me that those of you wanting your “next gen” massive optical disc storage medium NOW are willing to overlook the fact that the expense involved in producing the media is a key factor. I have had a dual layer dvd burner for several years and have yet to own a dual layer blank, why? Because even as they slowly will be replaced by HD or BD they are still cost prohibitive.
Is it not true that regardless of storage capacity (even at 2x’s the capacity) that mass production of blank HD DVD media (given that the facilities that produce dvd media CAN be retro fitted to produce the HD media and not BD) will become cheaper and more prevalent faster than BD?
I would rather have 25gb HD DVD media and a HD DVD recorder NOW at a fraction of the price than wait for the BD media to be produced at a snails pace because it technology is so advanced. To me, media storage success has always been about evolution - not revolution. Making the dvd a better dvd is an easier transition than what amounts to a restart with BD. As the experts agree that the most likely outcome in 2yrs time is that a new/third format will make both formats obsolete I have to wonder if any of this academic discussion is worth the effort to type the words.
If I were a betting man I would say that no optical storage medium is our true future. All physical media has its limits and as more intelligent and easier to produce storage devices present them self this will become evident.
I recall thinking when I bought my first memory card (128mb) that it was a crazy amount of storage for such a tiny thing, and when I bought a Micro SD card with a Gig of memory I could not image why I would think solid state memory wouldn’t be the future of storage.
So while in concept, and perhaps for those willing to pay, BD does offer a superior storage potential to HD DVD, but as a medium for suppling entertainment to the masses - cost effectively - I just don’t see how it compares. Not to say at the retail level the competition is not close, but behind the scenes how can BD be profiting from all this?

With the advent of market penetration of broadband internet what exactly is your need for portable mass storage discs anyway? At my company we don’t even use DVD’s that often to send data, we simply upload gigs and gigs of files to where they need to be. I have seen alot more ruined optical discs than I have seen unrecoverable mirrored hdd’s.

Soundzilla,

Just google 25gb bluray. You’ll be amazed at what you find.

All HDDVD players are required to have twin video processors (for those rich interactive menus) and internet connectivity, which is used by the studios to further the interactive experience of the end user. Internet interactivity also leads to further revenues for the studios. Try it out and you’ll see why.

Bluray has had no such requirements of their players up until this coming month when BD1.1 standard takes affect. Even with BD1.1, players will still not need internet connectivity although they will finally be required to have twin video processors for those rich on the fly overlay menus. As bluray upgrades there minimum requirements, all the old players become POS’s. Hows a bluray player with 1 video processor going to handle the new bluray movies that will be released with interactive on the fly menus? I guess they could put 2 versions of the movie on the disc they they do have 50gb of storage right….

Bottom line - The reason Paramount/Dreamworks went with HDDVD and dropped Bluray is because their product is better standardized and easier to work with, not to mention it is more robust and offers the studios more options with the internet capability.

Before shining off the internet advantage, look into what warner bros. is doing with the movie 300 and the internet features they added to the hddvd version that they can not do with their bluray release. Also note that the the HDDVD version of 300 can also be played on a standard DVD player something NO bluray disc can do. Perfect for taking the disc with you on the road or loaning it to a friend who doesn’t have an HD player.

That’s all.

Electronic House Article: New Panasonic $499 Blu-ray Player Features Picture-in-Picture

HD-DVD was probably “easier for Paramount and Dreamworks to work with” because of the political pressure and palm-greasing than some technology integration.

Somehow “rich, on-the-fly overlay menus” didn’t make my short list of important features for an HD capable replacement for DVD and computer storage.

The notion that because new hardware comes out with new features, the old hardware is now a POS is just absurd. I guess with that notion those new HD-DVD players that can’t do 1080p are POS right out of the gate.

I just got 300 in Blu-ray form Netflix. I didn’t even notice it didn’t have some newfangled chip and overlays that HD-DVD has and I didn’t miss it. If it’s that important I’ll make sure my next Blu-ray player has it. I still need one for our living room and guest bedroom but I’m guessing they’ll find a way to update my PS3 with firmware that does it somehow using all the processing power in that box.

Aren’t those hybrid DVD/HD-DVD discs more expensive than the standard HD-DVD versions? I thought I heard something like that somewhere but could be wrong. I’ll wait patiently for Apple to integrate Blu-ray into all their machines as I did when DVD-ROMs started appearing on computers.

Wow. It’s so easy to say “I don’t miss the new features…who cares about new features?” Of course you didn’t notice them, because you can’t notice them. Now if you were at my house and saw them in HD, then went home and popped in 300 on BR, you might miss them. I dunno. I don’t have a V8 in my car, so I don’t miss all that power, but when my friend and I go to lunch in his Mustang GT, well I get to see what I’m missing. No, I don’t feel i have to go buy a new car, but I understand and respect his desire to have MORE than me. He has more because he PAID more - See where the trouble is in my analogy? You PAID more than me for your Blu Ray device, and I get MORE out of my HD-DVD device. That’s just wrong. And as a consumer you should be a little disappointed, despite your want to support your cause.

Really? I paid more but you got more? Let me know when you dig up that extra 20gb of disc space. And be sure to drop me a line when you’re playing console games and ripping music to your HD-DVD player’s integrated 60GB hard drive.

To stick with your car analogy it’s more like we both have V8 mustangs. Mine goes just as fast but magically seats 8 comfortably instead of 4. Yours comes with the standard Delco sound system while mine came with a 1500W competition sound system. Oh yeah, I almost forgot…for some reason there are a lot more companies making accessories that only fit mine. You got the chrome trim on the fender wells and the girl silouette mud-flaps though so enjoy that stuff while ya can!

You let me know when you NEED that extra 20gb of space, since all the goodies I get you can’t use, so don’t need to store. And I have been playing a GREAT assortment of HD Games on my HD Xbox360 since November 2005, and watching HD DVD’s on its ad-on since last November 2006. I can also rip music, but since my Xbox360 is a Media Center Extender I can play music and video from ANY PC in my house (several terabytes worth of data).

And analogy or not, no Mustang ever fit 4 people comfortably, let alone 8! And what accessories are you referring to? I’m pretty sure the Xbox aisle has a pretty good amount of extras in it, maybe I just can’t see the PS3 accessories due to all the DUST that has settled on them…

“To stick with your car analogy it’s more like we both have V8 mustangs. Mine goes just as fast but magically seats 8 comfortably instead of 4.”

But you don’t need the extra space if you only have 3 friends. Bigbrain’s post is very valid. Sony will ALWAYS shaft the customer for money. It has in the past, it will with BD. Sony does not care about YOU. They care about $$.

LOL!
Hahahahaha!
And Microsoft cares about YOU not $$? ...
Bwahahahahahaha!

Who knew there were comedians here! That’s funny!

Especially after they greased the palms of studios to undercut Blu-ray.  LOL!

You just have to live with your truth. Do what you want-nobody cares.