BluRay > HDDVD

[dkozloski]

The content on HD-DVD is MPEG2 which is the same as old DVD. It is encoded at 1080I but at a reduced resolution from the MPEG compression processing of true raw video. There is no way that the studios are going to release true HD resolution movies until they can protect them from piracy.

[lawfive]

Koz, MPEG2 is just a compression and container standard. It can handle various resolutions up to and including 1080p. Whether the content stream that's being compressed onto the disc and then decompressed for your viewing pleasure is highish or lowish density depends on the content provider.

But most important here is the fact that a 68 year old guy is on the forum discussing such standards. When my dad was your age there's no way he and I could have had such a conversation about the tech at that time.

[dwight.j.carter]

I also like HD better. But I guess this gives me a reason to buy a playstation 3.

[dwight.j.carter]

The content on HD-DVD is MPEG2 which is the same as old DVD. It is encoded at 1080I but at a reduced resolution from the MPEG compression processing of true raw video. There is no way that the studios are going to release true HD resolution movies until they can protect them from piracy.

They will never be able to protect any of it.

[lawfive]

Sure they will... for a month or two. DRM usually takes at least that long for the crackers to break.

[dkozloski]

Koz, MPEG2 is just a compression and container standard. It can handle various resolutions up to and including 1080p. Whether the content stream that's being compressed onto the disc and then decompressed for your viewing pleasure is highish or lowish density depends on the content provider.

But most important here is the fact that a 68 year old guy is on the forum discussing such standards. When my dad was your age there's no way he and I could have had such a conversation about the tech at that time.

I was off and on in military and industrial electronics for almost 50 years. The point I am trying to make is that what you see on HD-DVD is degraded enough that pirates can't reconstruct the video well enough to provide video suitable for theater use. It looks better than DVD but it's not what they would like you to think it is. With HD-DVD/Blue Ray you can provide a fantastically accurate reproduction of a degraded video signal. Like you said, it all depends on the source video and what the content provider supplies.

I cut my teeth on FR-600, FR-900, FR-1400 Ampex. Bell&Howell, Mincom, and 3M. We had an RCA RADAR video recorder that had 4 foot diameter tape reels.

[ewill3rd]

I guess my point is, what I have is good enough.
I am not spending any money to "keep up with the Jones' "
Especially $300 on a player and another 20% for the discs (or whatever it comes out to).
I would say I'll wait until this settles down, but by the time that happens they will probably come out with something else.

[hueterm]

I guess my point is, what I have is good enough.
I am not spending any money to "keep up with the Jones' "
Especially $300 on a player and another 20% for the discs (or whatever it comes out to).
I would say I'll wait until this settles down, but by the time that happens they will probably come out with something else.

Here here! I'd rather have 7.1 sound than either of the HD formats.

[lawfive]

Here here! I'd rather have 7.1 sound than either of the HD formats.

Umm... you can. Or you can have 7.1 AND an HD format. Not mutually exclusive.

[nikon]

I guess my point is, what I have is good enough.
I am not spending any money to "keep up with the Jones' "
Especially $300 on a player and another 20% for the discs (or whatever it comes out to).
I would say I'll wait until this settles down, but by the time that happens they will probably come out with something else.

I already had an xbox 360, so the hd upgrade was only 100$ on e-bay...and all my hd-dvd's come through blockbuster online....so really it only cost me 100$ to upgrade to hd-dvd...I own a few hd-dvd movies and honestly they're about the same price as a regular dvd......and if you sat down and watch the dvd and the hd-dvd you'd be doing everything you could to warrant your purchase....just more enjoyable.

[railven]

HD-DVD has definitely not lost.

Internationally, HD-DVD is more popular. Also, many of the movies that are BluRay-exclusive domestically are available in HD-DVD internationally. Why does that matter? Because HD-DVD players are region-free, meaning they can play a domestic or imported HD-DVD. BluRay is not region-free, and you are locked into what Sony offers to the US market.

Domestically speaking, this will likely continue to be a long, drawn-out war, with neither side being able to throw a knock out punch.

Within a year or so, there will likely be sub-$200 players that will present both formats beautifully (the ones out now are kind of jack-of-all-trades, masters-of-none). So even if you spent $150 - $350 on an HD-DVD player within the last year, your collection of HD-DVDs will not be obsolete. Same thing goes for BluRay - if BluRay dies, there will be inexpensive dual-format players that will keep the media alive for a long time.

Anyone who buys either of these formats doesn't really have much to worry about, unless they are concerned with having to spend sub-$200 in 2 years for a better player than the one they bought.

Also, dedicated set-top boxes (using internet connection) will soon deliver *on demand* **ANY** movie, regardless of studio origin, in 1080p format to your HDTV. The concept of buying a physical format for your music and movie purchases has been dying for awhile now anyway, and many people with Cable already get HD movies on demand. These new set-top boxes will put more nails into the physical format concept's coffin.

Everyone should be aware that HD-DVD and BluRay are transitory formats anyway. Anyone who has done any research on the subject should know that. I'm not excusing the fact that all the manufacturers and studios don't make that fact well known to the public, but they are in business to make money, not educate the public.

Note that I make these statements being an owner of both formats. I have a Toshiba HD-2 (HD-DVD in family room with 56" HDTV) and PS3 (BluRay in game room with 40" HDTV) - and I have about 50 titles in each format.

There is only one wrong statement here:
HD DVD Is not more popular globally than Blu-Ray. Look at the sales ratios, the only market HD DVD had an close fight with Blu-Ray was the USA (2:1, favor of Blu-Ray.)
European Marlet: 5:1, favor of Blu-Ray
Japanese Market: 10:1, favor of Blu-Ray
Australian Market: 9:1, favor of Blu-Ray (note that HD DVD wasn't even available in Australia till Sept/Oct 2007 locally, it all had to be imported.)

And as for as region coding, yes true Blu-Ray does have region coding, but not all international movies are region locked. You can important US HD DVD exclusives on Blu-Ray format from countries in Europe and Japan, of which most of aren't locked.

I own a Toshiba HD-A20 and a PS3.

[97DevilleBeige]

Oh Baby! After I heard that Toshiba is dropping the HD DVD format, I went to work and cleaned up. I sell these at work, so I purchased Toshiba's HDA30 for $60 (demonstration model). I guess having discretion over price can be a good thing every once in a while.

Now, I've got a fantastic hd upconversion dvd player for my tv and can take advantage of unbelievable deals. I'm a thrifty guy, and probably one of the few that went out to buy one of these abandoned format players after they went discontinued.

Discovery channel's web site had the complete Planet Earth HD-DVD box set for $29.95 shipped no tax! I caught it literally 10 minutes before the sale was expiring, I have no idea if they extended it though. Hollywood video is sellling off all of their "previously viewed" hd dvd's for $15, or 2 for $20, depending on the location. This format is so unpopular, that the discs that I got had never been rented out! I'm gonig out and bargain hunting again tomorrow to see if I can come across any in store specials.

[Blackout]

Your info says your from Levittown. Would that be Levittown, PA? But as for the HD DVD's it sucks that it lost the war but oh well. Now I gotta eventually go out and get a dual format player. I'm really surprised that HD DVD didn't win due to two things
1. The name from DVD to HD DVD I thought would make for an easy transition over DVD to Blu-Ray
2. HD DVD had dual format videos while Blu-Ray couldn't do this.

Oh well, I guess it's about time Sony won something

[97DevilleBeige]

Not PA, I'm from Levittown, NY. Yeah, hd-dvd had a few good things going for it. Oh well. I just picked up a ton of movies today. I sort of figured out that bluray was going to win early because Sony had learned from their mistakes with betamax. They own their own studios which gives them a great library for exclusive use. They also allowed other brands to source their plans which they were very protective about with betamax while JVC whored their stuff out.

[DennisWingo]

I was off and on in military and industrial electronics for almost 50 years. The point I am trying to make is that what you see on HD-DVD is degraded enough that pirates can't reconstruct the video well enough to provide video suitable for theater use. It looks better than DVD but it's not what they would like you to think it is. With HD-DVD/Blue Ray you can provide a fantastically accurate reproduction of a degraded video signal. Like you said, it all depends on the source video and what the content provider supplies.

I cut my teeth on FR-600, FR-900, FR-1400 Ampex. Bell&Howell, Mincom, and 3M. We had an RCA RADAR video recorder that had 4 foot diameter tape reels.

Don

I don't mean to intrude here but I was doing an internet search on Ampex FR-900's and was led to this post. Well I have four of them sitting within ten feet of me right now. I am doing a project at NASA Ames to resurrect two of them to digitize NASA's original master tapes from the lunar orbiter missions to the Moon.

If you remember anything or know any possible information where we can find any information about them (we have some data but not enough), would you please contact me?

Thanks

Dennis Wingo
NASA Research Park, Building 596
Moffett Field, CA 94035

my phone is 310-403-1346

Anything you might remember or know or any data that you might have would be of incredible value.

Thanks

Dennis