HD DVD or Blu-Ray?

[[JiF]Mike]

So what do you think? Sounds like Blu-Ray is the better of the two in features and power, but HD DVD is much cheaper. I've decided to try and wait for a clear winner myself.

[[JiF]rIot]

I would say Blue-Ray only if it catches on. Right now it doesn't seem too popular, so I'm just wait and see which one reigns supreme on the market first!

[[JiF]KellysHero]

Beta was better than VHS, but it still lost. Wait and see...

[[JiF]Stepovich]

Blu-ray won't get popular until it gets a LOT cheaper...
IMHO

[[JiF]Mike]

I was reading a CNet article about this debate, which prompted me to start the pole. They noted a few stats about the two players and one interesting stat was that there have been 1.5 million Blu-Ray players sold so far, 1.4 million being PS3's! lol! However, there's only been 300,000 HD DVD players sold, and 1/3 of those are the addon players for the XBox 360. Can you imagine where the numbers would be if the 360 had included a built in HD-DVD player from its release date. IMO it will be Blu-Ray that in the end, wins. It seems to have a lot more support from big company's.

[[JiF]AlbieDamned]

Beta was better than VHS, but it still lost. Wait and see...

WordPerfect was better than Word. Netscape was better than Internet Explorer. Moral of the story - when in doubt, bet on Microsoft regardless of the quality of the product. So if I had to, I'd bet on HD-DVD. But I'm not going to bet. I won't be getting either for quite some time.

[[JiF]Sly Gambit]

I was reading a CNet article about this debate, which prompted me to start the pole. They noted a few stats about the two players and one interesting stat was that there have been 1.5 million Blu-Ray players sold so far, 1.4 million being PS3's! lol! However, there's only been 300,000 HD DVD players sold, and 1/3 of those are the addon players for the XBox 360. Can you imagine where the numbers would be if the 360 had included a built in HD-DVD player from its release date. IMO it will be Blu-Ray that in the end, wins. It seems to have a lot more support from big company's.

Paramount and Dreamworks just pulled their support from BlueRay to HDDVD exlusively.

http://dvd.ign.com/articles/813/813808p1.html

That's kinda big. Think Transformers big. It probably just levels the playing field (BlueRay was arguably winning) but the reality is that neither is going to be The One until one of them get a player into homes at under $100. The first to do that will probably win.

Personally I find this all to be incredibly stupid. Just agree on a format, put it out there, and let me enjoy it.

[[JiF]Mike]

I had read that! Tonight though...I found this:

"The New York Times has confirmed the story that Paramount and DreamWorks Animation were paid $150 million for an exclusive HD-DVD deal that will last 18 months. 'Paramount and DreamWorks Animation declined to comment. Microsoft, the most prominent technology company supporting HD DVDs, said it could not rule out payment but said it wrote no checks. "We provided no financial incentives to Paramount or DreamWorks whatsoever," said Amir Majidimehr, the head of Microsoft's consumer media technology group.'"

[[JiF]Sly Gambit]

I had read that! Tonight though...I found this:

Yeah I'd heard that they were bought. I'm not sure it matter though since only one format is going to survive. If 18 months of some of the biggest movies out there are only available on HDDVD then BlueRay might never catch up.

BTW - I'm not really sure which one is -better- but HDDVD seems to be more friendly to digital consumers (I like the ethernet cabling) and I'm still prone to go with American products of Japanese when all other things are equal. Frankly I don't see a big difference in image quality and the storage quality isn't a huge deal (by the times movies get big enough that it is we'll be all digital anyway). So in the end I'm leaning towards HDDVD. Maybe an XBox.

I wonder who paid the cash.

[[JiF]KellysHero]

HD DVD going to take the lead? Walmart is selling a Toshiba HD-DVD player for $98

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/34650/97/

[[JiF]Sly Gambit]

HD DVD going to take the lead? Walmart is selling a Toshiba HD-DVD player for $98

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/34650/97/

That sale is a 'secret' sale that is only for this weekend. While you will probably see things like that around Black Friday the real price of HDDVD players will remain around $200 for at least 6 more months. Walmart is taking the profit hit here - not Toshiba - and hoping to sell more HD DVDs.

As far as the 'war' I'm pretty sure by the end of next year you'll be able to buy dual BR/HDDvd players for around $200 and no normal consumer will give a crap whether they're watching BR or HDDVD.

[[JiF]Sly Gambit]

Oh and even though Blue Ray is probably considered by most to be a better all-round-format they would be getting killed today if it wasn't for the PS3. The major movie companies are flocking to HDDVD so it's only getting worse.

Frankly I think most consumers could care less. DVD looks good enough on 95% of the TVs out there. It'll be 3-5 more years before people embrace a new format and only if movies start going exclusively to HDDVD or BlueRay.

[[JiF]LtWaterboy]

I only care if they have a computer DRIVE format or version....

So far, that means BlueRay has the lead in my book...

LT

[pissboy[LPANE]]

That sale is a 'secret' sale that is only for this weekend. While you will probably see things like that around Black Friday the real price of HDDVD players will remain around $200 for at least 6 more months. Walmart is taking the profit hit here - not Toshiba - and hoping to sell more HD DVDs.

As far as the 'war' I'm pretty sure by the end of next year you'll be able to buy dual BR/HDDvd players for around $200 and no normal consumer will give a crap whether they're watching BR or HDDVD.

You're right on the format winner being the cheaper seller. Average Joe isn't going to care about the specs all that much, so long as it plays HD and is cheap. The fact that you can get 5 or more free HD-DVD included with almost any player on the market is going to push major numbers there way. Last week you could get the 360 HD-DVD drive with 300 and Heroes Season 1, plus 2 HD-DVDs in store, plus 5 with a mail in form. You should expect to see the same "secret friday" sales from Wal Mart over the next few weeks. Its not just Wal Mart selling hd-dvd players cheap. Crutchfield, Best Buy, and a few other stores were selling the HD-A2 in the $100 range. Circuit City has it right now for $129..

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Toshiba- ... tDetail.do

[Lonewolf-McQuade]

BOTH!!! Samsung & Pioneer are offering combo drives which should be available after January!

Samsung's Product Info:
http://www.samsung.com/us/news/newsRead ... h_keyword=