Blu-Ray has won the Hi-Def war!

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » January 9th, 2007, 11:10 pm

It's almost official.

Give it another year and it'll be obvious to most people thinking of making the move to hi-def that Blu-Ray has won.

PS3 might have already pushed the format over the top in the format wars. Over a million PS3s have shipped with a high percentage (80%+) of those owners using the machines to watch Blu-Ray DVDs. Blu-Ray has already overtaken HD-DVD in sales as of this past December.

It's just too bad that the whole thing could have been avoided if the hi-def format had been standardized before billions of dollars had to be wasted by the consumer electronics industry.

Still waiting on my end until AT LEAST November this year before I take the plunge. In the meantime, I'm going to keep collecting DVDs and there's a lot of stuff I won't bother to get on hi-def format unless there's a significant improvement in image quality. There are a lot of older TV shows (Star Trek, most animated series) that really won't look appreciably bettter in hi-def anyway. It'll just make the worst optical elements stick out horribly.

Post by **Ben** » January 12th, 2007, 12:12 pm

I'm waiting till Pioneer jump in with what LG are doing with their combi player at CES this week.

I'll wait for the second-gen Pioneer one so that the main bugs are fixed and be a happy bunny.

I've started collecting hi-def software (only a couple of titles), but can't play it yet!

Post by **James** » January 12th, 2007, 2:23 pm

I'm hoping to jump in next month! Looking to upgrade the 42' plasma to a 60 inch Sony SXRD set. And if any money is left over take the PS3 plunge. The wife loves video games so going that route will be more palatable to her money-wise!

Post by **eddievalient** » January 21st, 2007, 1:05 pm

Personally, I'm still taking a wait and see approach. It'll be years before I can afford to upgrade to a bluray/HD-DVD player or to a hi def TV, so until I graduate college and get into a decent paying job I'm just a spectator. Besides, what's wrong with plain old dvds anyway? I'm satisfied with the audiovisual quality I get now, so why should I upgrade even if I could afford it? Can anyone give me one good reason?

Post by **James** » January 21st, 2007, 2:00 pm

There is absolutely nothing wrong with plain old DVDs - especially if you don't have a HDTV. But if you do have an HDTV, DVD resolution is much less than HDTV resolution so there is some scaling involved - very basically speaking the picture has to be stretched. While scalers can be very good at their jobs, there just s no comparison with matching the resolution of the TV with the resolution of the video being inputted. In other words, DVD's don't allow HDTV's to show their full potential.

Post by **Randall** » January 21st, 2007, 10:39 pm

I agree that a lot will depend on what hardware you already own. For me, the 51" HDTV I purchased 4 or 5 years ago had been crying out for hi-def content. I don't watch TV much outside of my DVD viewing, so for me HD cable or satellite made no sense.

BUT, I had been dying to see HD movies in my home theater, so I evaluated what was out there now, and took the HD DVD plunge. And after 2 months, I am still happy with my decision. I realize that BluRay has some adantages in the marketplace, but I already have 24 movies I can enjoy in hi-def, and am doing so. If HD DVD ultimately doesn't fly, no big deal. My discs and player will still work, and I will have had a long time already to enjoy what I have. (Plus, the upscaling on standard DVDs is very good as well.) 2-5 years from now, I may be getting a BluRay or combo player, and then I can enjoy both formats. But I wasn't going to pay over a grand for that priviledge right now (a PS3 was not an option I considered too seriously, for a couple of reasons).

Having said all that, I can totally understand and respect why someone else would choose BluRay, or hold off altogether for a while. It's a personal thing.

Now, as James pointed out, if one doesn't have a HDTV (or HD projector), then making the leap to HD discs makes no sense, unless one is also ready to spend for the HDTV right now. However, for anyone having a larger HDTV or projector--- well, he could be really itching to add HD disc capability.

Oh, and I do still love my standard DVD collection!!! As far as animation goes, much of what I like will look no better in HD anyways.

Post by **Ben** » January 22nd, 2007, 8:45 am

RandCanuck wrote:However, for anyone having a larger HDTV or projector--- well, he could be really itching to add HD disc capability.

Hence my almost unbearable itching...

Post by **James** » January 22nd, 2007, 8:48 am

I've told you to have that looked at.

Post by **Ben** » January 22nd, 2007, 9:15 am

That made me laugh out loud.

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » June 12th, 2007, 6:52 am

And here the answer is...

Posted at TheDigitalBits on 12 June 2007, http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents --

"" And around the Net this morning, if any of you didn't believe my recent Soapbox take on Microsoft's real intentions in supporting HD-DVD, the company's own spokesman all but confirmed it yesterday at the Digital Hollywood conference in Santa Monica. Here's the relevant bit from a new story at Home Media:

If Microsoft has its way, DVD, Blu-Ray Disc and HD DVD will all be rendered obsolete within 10 years, according to Richard Doherty, Microsoft's program manager for Media Entertainment Convergence.

“I don't know that [HD] will be delivered on an optical disc in five to 10 years,” he said, pointing to downloads and broadband delivery. “At Microsoft, we'd rather it wasn't [on a disc]."

Doherty later added: “this will be the last optical [home entertainment] generation. If this one survives."

Hey, that should make HD-DVD fans feel good! That's right... Microsoft, one of HD-DVD's few major corporate supporters, is ALREADY counting on the format's demise. IF this one survives?! Are you kidding me?! They don't want it to survive! Microsoft having an in-house "Office of HD-DVD Evangelism" suddenly makes PERFECT sense. What better way for the company to ensure that HD optical discs die, and their own downloading service takes off, than by actively working to perpetuate the confusion of a format war in the "last optical generation"? Ugh. Don't say we didn't warn you, folks. "Oh, but look... HD-DVD players are cheaper right now!" Yeah. Swell. Would you like fries with that download?""

************************

Translation in plain English --

Microsoft hopes to confuse the market so that it can profit years down the line with a download service.

B@st@rds!

Frankly, I don't see optical disc going away any time soon.

The 5-inch format has proved to be durable and adaptable and has outlived videotape, laserdisc, and all other attempts to replace it.

It's only been OTHER 5-inch formats that have competed against each other with no standardization that have failed to replace standard stereo CD (SuperCD and DVD-Audio) and now standard-definition DVD (HD-DVD, Blu-Ray).

Here's MY beef with backing up movies to a hard drive...
a) UNLESS films get compressed even more than they already are with mp4, they're still going to take an impractical amount of hard drive space;
b) Hard drives fail... happened to me last year; I STILL want them on a format that won't mechanically fail or wear out from motor usage;
c) I DON'T want the possibility of downloading a virus with a movie file... Microsoft can't even guarantee its own e-mail and web browsers won't do that with WinPCs. And I'm supposed to trust these creeps?
d) Microsoft is already going back on its word with X-Box Live and a lot more content is being charged at higher prices than many content developers WANT to charge. Granted, Hollywood LOVES higher prices for movie-goers and video buyers, but what about independents and smaller labels who are AWARE of consumer budgets? MS controls the delivery service and have ALREADY forced software developers to charge higher prices on X-Box Live. Who's to say they WON'T do the same to independent filmmakers and studios on a movie download service?

I'm actively praying that Microsoft falls within my lifetime. This company is an abomination amongst corporations. Viva Linux and Unix!

"Ugh" is right, Bill.

Post by **Ben** » June 12th, 2007, 7:07 am

Can we keep all future HD disc format news to one place George!! We seem to have multiple threads on this.

I agree on downloads and have been trying to put ShiVi off going that route. Apart from compression, losing files, drive failure, amount of space, corrupt files that won't play, etc, you don't get any extras!

Plus...at the moment...I have a home theater and don't want to watch films on my PC monitor with an interlaced look about them. Yeah, I can probably run a cable out to the projector, but what if that happens to be in another room? Or if the computer stutters on playback, which can invariably happen?

Burn it to disc your say? So, we're back to square one then? With no extras, no packaging, and something that feels like a bootleg.

Nope...I like my packaged media just fine, thanks!

Post by **Lindsay** » July 17th, 2007, 11:42 am

Full article here...

Disney is going on a tour to various malls across the U.S. to promote Blu-ray with a... really shiny kiosk!

Big props to Disney for so assertively promoting this great format. I hope it educates a few Joe Six Packs on the subject.

Post by **Ben** » July 17th, 2007, 6:31 pm

WB Lindsay!

Yep, Disney is a big proponent of the BRD format, one of the major reasons it will succeed.

Post by **droosan** » July 17th, 2007, 9:00 pm

..and yet, Disney was a huge proponent of DivX (to the point of refraining from releasing any of their major titles on DVD, for well over a year after they were introduced), and that format crashed-and-burned ..

(though, DivX was doomed from the start, for reasons that had nothing to do with Disney per se)

Post by **Ben** » July 18th, 2007, 9:16 am

Yes, but even on Dvix, there were no big Disney titles. They still held back their biggest releases.

With BRD we've already got day-and-date releases and major franchises out there, with many more announced.

With Divx, they only put out so-so catalog issues, plus that whole format was wrong, wrong, wrong. With either HD format, you can't go wrong technically, but without the hassles of Divx this time, and the <I>full</I> support of the Mouse, BRD can not fail.

Blu-Ray has won the Hi-Def war!

Blu-Ray has won the Hi-Def war!

The real reason Microsoft backs HD-DVD...

USA Today: Disney hits the road to shine a light on Blu-ray