Blue-Ray or HD DVD

[rabidwolverine21]

Well guys im looking to get one, and im wondering if you have either or information guiding which is better in opinions hd dvd or blue ray. thanks for the help

 

[tomandshell]

I have both. I like both. I would not exclusively dedicate myself to either one right now.

People will give you good reasons to get either. Neither one offers you 100% studio support, but Blu-ray has more exclusive studio support than HD DVD. HD DVD has superior interactivity and special feature capability right now (the HD DVD of "300" will feature a green screen version so you can see the original footage before the CGI backgrounds were added, the Blu-ray will not; several HD DVDs have picture in picture video commentary that Blu-ray discs can't do yet). HD DVD can give you combo discs that will play in both HD and regular DVD players, Blu-ray will not. Blu-ray has greater storage capacity (50 GB compared to 30 GB on HD DVD). Blu-ray comes built into a PS3, an external HD DVD drive can be purchased for your Xbox 360. Stand alone players are cheaper for HD DVD right now. Both offer full 1080p high def video. Neither have achieved mainstream success and both are selling in the mere thousands of copies per major title released.

I think both look great (identical, actually) and I support both formats. Just as there doesn't need to be a winner in the console wars between the PS3 and the 360, with each having both common and exclusive titles, I would be OK if both HD DVD and Blu-ray continue to exist side by side.

 

[hairlesswookiee]

I hate to go one side or the other, but i say go with HD DVD for two reasons: 1.the players are cheaper than blu ray, and now come with 5 free movies, 2. No region encoding which means imported movies of many of the blu ray exclusives are/will be coming out on HD DVD in other countries and are 100% compatible with the U.S. HD players.

 

[stickman]

I would go Blue-Ray. Although its more expensive it offers better visuals and up to 25G of video. The battle between Blue-Ray and HD DVD is like Beta and VHS. Which one will win out? I'm hoping its not HD DVD. Blue-Ray is the way of the future. If consumers can't keep up than mediocre HD DVD will win out only to be upgraded to Blue-Ray in the future. I'm sick of buying multi-media movies because technology keeps changing. Gone are the days of 4.5G DVD's

Go Blue-Ray!!!

 

[tomandshell]

Blu-ray does not offer better visuals. That depends upon the quality of the film transfer and encoding job. And it offers 50 gigs of storage, not 25. Films that are released on both formats are identical in picture quality.

 

[Rugby1970]

Things could always go either way but if I were to buy one right now it would be Blu-ray. I simply like their selection of movies better. Sounds like a few horror classics are headed their way soon as well:

Blu-Ray from Starz/Anchor Bay

You can buy a PS3 $100 cheaper after July 12th. Could be temporary but it could also be for the long run.

PS3 for $499

The fact that blockbuster will be carrying them will be really nice. I rent a lot of movies on-line but it is still nice to walk into a store on Friday nights to pick up a last minute movie.

I have both formats and agree that the quality is identical. HD-DVD is doing a better job of integrating extras right now but I'm sure Blu-Ray will catch up soon.

They both look awesome, though. I cannot go back to regular DVD's and if you calibrate your set right they look better than any HD from cable.

 

[hairlesswookiee]

it offers better visuals

is there any chance you can prove this?? they both support 1080p and depending on the source material and the quality of the transfer they both can look really great or terrible. and there are a couple recent movie reviews that scored HD DVD with better visuals than the blu ray version. HD DVD can store up to 30gb on a disc which is plenty for a movie. and cost is everything. remember the beta/VHS war?? the superior format didn't win.

 

[Rugby1970]

Both formats are identical in terms of picture quality. They are both using the exact same codecs in most cases and the same transfers.

It's more like comparing hard drives. The content is the same on both hard drives but it's the other features that separate them.

Sound is open for debate... I'm really digging the uncompressed PCM blu-ray seems to favor.

In regards to my post above, the fact that Anchor Bay may be releasing Halloween, Evil Dead, and Romero's Dead films makes it a done deal for me.

 

[dekadentdave]

HD-DVD has already been cracked! :chew

 

[RoboDad]

is there any chance you can prove this??

It cannot really be proven. All that can be proven is that Blu-ray can reach and sustain higher video bit rates than HD DVD. But with video codecs advancing faster than even the formats that carry them, it is being proven almost daily that with the right codec, either format is capable of delivering images that are virtually identical to the master from which they were encoded. As far as individual titles are concerned, it all depends on the attention given to the video when it is encoded. In some cases, an HD DVD version will look better. In some cases, it will be Blu-ray that wins out. But, in most cases, when a title is available on both formats the same encoding is used, so there is no visible difference between the two.

With that said, if I could only choose one format, it would be Blu-ray, for a couple of reasons. First, with the much stronger studio support Blu-ray currently enjoys, there are more titles I want that are available exclusively on that format (such as the first two Pirates of the Caribbean movies), and this exclusivity appears to be giving Blu-ray a significant lead in sales, at least for now. Second, Blu-ray offers much more storage capacity, which will allow more extra goodies per disc than an HD DVD counterpart. Fortunately, that was a decision I didn't have to make, as I also own and enjoy both.

As far as prices go, it is true that Blu-ray players are currently more expensive, but there have been numerous hints that there will be < $300 players in stores for the coming Christmas buying season. On the HD DVD side, there have also been numerous hints that players from additional manufacturers may arrive this fall, giving consumers more options than the current Toshiba line and the XBox 360 drive.

Whatever you choose, prepare to be amazed by the incredible detail and features that the HD formats offer.

 

[RoboDad]

Sound is open for debate... I'm really digging the uncompressed PCM blu-ray seems to favor.

It is not open to debate when you are discussing the merits of uncompressed PCM versus the lossless compressed formats, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. Both of those formats deliver an audio bitstream that is bit for bit identical to the uncompressed PCM version, while saving significant amounts of disc space for other uses.

There is nothing wrong with liking uncompressed PCM, and for many people it is currently the only option for HD audio. So, offering it is a good thing, and that is why Blu-ray currently favors it. But, there are some who consistently fly in the face of a wealth of evidence, and continue to claim that uncompressed PCM is inherently better than lossless compression. Those people are lying, either to themselves or to others.

 

[Eli26]

You know how big the difference between VHS to DVD was... is the difference that significant between standard DVD to say Blue-Ray and HD DVD?

 

[Seth Gecko]

You know how big the difference between VHS to DVD was... is the difference that significant between standard DVD to say Blue-Ray and HD DVD?

No.
(it's nice but not OMFG nice.)

 

[RoboDad]

Statistically yes. In fact the difference in resolution between DVD and either of the HD formats is far greater than the difference between VHS and DVD. Plus, the HD formats both offer full resolution audio in up to 7.1 channels, something that DVD will never be able to do.

However, it has reached a point of diminishing returns for most consumers. On screens smaller than 42", and with less than premium audio equipment, much of those differences will not be perceptible. And there is also the problem that, when moving from VHS to DVD there was a complete paradigm shift, what with instant scene access, no rewinding, no tapes to wear out, and so on. The designers of HD DVD and Blu-ray have tried to create new levels of interactivity, to help motivate consumers to adopt the new formats, but most of those capabilities have yet to be fully utilized, so all people see right now is a more expensive "DVD player" with more expensive discs.

 

[Eli26]

Statistically yes. In fact the difference in resolution between DVD and either of the HD formats is far greater than the difference between VHS and DVD.

However, it has reached a point of diminishing returns for most consumers. On screens smaller than 42", much of that difference will not be perceptible. And there is also the problem that, when moving from VHS to DVD there was a complete paradigm shift, what with instant scene access, no rewinding, no tapes to wear out, and so on. The designers of HD DVD and Blu-ray have tried to create new levels of interactivity, to help motivate consumers to adopt the new formats, but most of those capabilities have yet to be fully utilized, so all people see right now is a more expensive "DVD player" with more expensive discs.

Thus the reason I am not really excited to make the switch over. That and I already have a nice big DVD library.. but I was one of the original switchers in the late 90's when DVD first came out. I went a few years were I couldn't stand watching movies, let alone on a VHS player. Then again, good movies from 1995-1998 were far and few between. It hasn't been that long I feel anyway to make any switch over. That, and I feel in order to get the best out of these higher end DVDs I'll need a better television set vs. the 2000 Toshiba model I have that is a basic 32" tube. Granted it's a Cinema Series and cost over a cool grand at the time. Probably worth 1/10th of that now. lol

 

[SSC_Nerd]

You do know that they're offering 5 free movies with Blu-ray players now too, right? That includes PS3.

 

[Eli26]

You do know that they're offering 5 free movies with Blu-ray players now too, right? That includes PS3.

Well, I do need a next gen console... hehe

And I am bored of the tired graphics of the PS2, and my old DVD player conked out... not to mention Macs don't bolster a crazy gaming library...

May make a purchase for a next gen console in the very near future. My thing is I would prefer a PS3, but 360 will have Halo 3 coming out for it and I rock at multiplayer third person shooters!

 

[Ultimate Weapon]

If you're up in the air about it I would be sure to check out the comments on the High-Def format war over at www.thedigitalbits.com.

I think the crew over there is really unbiased about the whole thing and simply presents all the facts and all the arguments without saying go out and get this one. Although they did finally as of a few weeks ago "choose" a side in the format war - blu-ray. But they posted a very long and detailed reason for the decision. They hate the format war and have been very vocal about it.

The format war blows, but don't get suckered in by cheap prices and free DVD's. At the end of the day what matters is the format with the most studio backing (the most titles available) and which one is actually going to last beyond 2007.

I'm not choosing either until it's finished.

 

[Eli26]

If you're up in the air about it I would be sure to check out the comments on the High-Def format war over at www.thedigitalbits.com.

I think the crew over there is really unbiased about the whole thing and simply presents all the facts and all the arguments without saying go out and get this one. Although they did finally as of a few weeks ago "choose" a side in the format war - blu-ray. But they posted a very long and detailed reason for the decision. They hate the format war and have been very vocal about it.

The format war blows, but don't get suckered in by cheap prices and free DVD's. At the end of the day what matters is the format with the most studio backing (the most titles available) and which one is actually going to last beyond 2007.

I'm not choosing either until it's finished.

Smart thinking. I been burnt in the past going with something because I was like, hey, this is cool! Virtual Boy (don't mock me!!!), and the Dreamcast to name a couple of short lived devices.

 

[RoboDad]

Unfortunately, the crew over at The Digital Bits is far from unbiased. They have been strong supporters of Blu-ray from the very early days, despite their ofttimes desperate attempts to sound otherwise.

Now, as far as using your existing DVD library as a reason not to upgrade, I confess I'm a bit confused. I own around 2500 DVDs, and it wasn't an issue for me at all. Every HD DVD and Blu-ray player ever made (now and into the future) will continue to play existing DVDs, and they will generally play them as well as or better than the very best DVD players out there. You stand to lose NOTHING with regard to your existing collection by upgrading, but you stand to gain a surprisingly improved picture, even from your trusty old DVDs.