Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Which one (HD DVD or Blu Ray)

I cant say the indusrty has picked a winner but...well...check these out.
Best Buy Blu Ray Feb 11th
Net Flix Blue Ray Feb 11th
Wally world Blu Ray Feb 15th

Well the industry has un-officially picked a winner when Warner decided to publish blue ray only from now on:

"Warner Bros to back Blu-ray DVD format exclusively
Fri Jan 4, 2008 3:45pm EST

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc's (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Warner Bros studio on Friday said it would exclusively release high-definition DVDs in Sony Corp's (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) Blu-ray format, dealing a big blow to Toshiba Corp's (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research) rival HD DVD technology.

Warner Bros, Hollywood's biggest seller of DVDs, representing about 18 to 20 percent of sales in the United States, was one of the few studios that backed both formats.

All sides of the format war had agreed it was confusing to consumers and a stumbling block for a potential multibillion-dollar industry.

Total DVD unit sales fell 4.5 percent in 2007, the first major year-over-year decline since the disc format debuted in 1997, according to Adams Media Research. Sales fell 4.8 percent to $15.7 billion.

"The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers," Warner Bros Chairman and Chief Executive Barry Meyer said in a statement.

News Corp's (NWSa.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Co (DIS.N: Quote, Profile, Research), and Lionsgate (LGF.N: Quote, Profile, Research) are among studios backing the Blu-ray format. Viacom Inc's (VIAb.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Paramount studios and General Electric's (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) NBC Universal release movies in HD DVD format.

Warner said it would continue releasing in the HD DVD format until the end of May, although those releases would follow the standard DVD and Blu-ray releases."

Yeah...that was the announcement that made HD DVD pull their "announcement" off the books at CES.

I find this interesting cause this may very well be the first new technology Sony has been successful at since the Walkman. Sony has a tendancy to make their technology proprietarty and not share with the industry therefore sealing their doomed fate. Examples...ok:
Beta (actually the killer here was the adult film industry).
Mini Disk - recorders, players, content and media all Sony...untill it was too late.
SACD - awesome but again...they shared too late.

i hope you can region hack (a whole other con) them players,i got a sh!t load of Britcom Dvds. i got a few minidisc players ,they where really quite cool . but this whole deal is all about money and control again, and not about whats best for consumers in anyway.

As a owner of over 800 dvds im in no hurry to pick a winner
here blu ray only plays blu rays real short sited if you want to do a slow upgrade hd can play both but the are really stupid about saying that ,so when its all done i will pick one. Funny part is it will be something new by the time someone wins this war

It's all over but the cryin'

I guess there's a class action suit filed on behalf of all the first-gen Blu-Ray player owners because they will be obsolete soon. The Playstation 3 is the only Blu-ray player sold now that is compatible with the next Blu-ray spec. When the new discs come out, all other players will be junk.

Not having the players span the generations is just plain stupid on their part but as said earlier that's Sony for you.

I've been waiting for a few years for the deadlock to break before I start buying movies in one of the new formats. Will I upgrade my current collection? That I don't see happening any time soon.

AFAIK, they screwed the pooch on the first gen players because they rushed them to market to combat the HD DVD "threat." I don't know how "mature" the HD DVD spec is, but I find it ironic that the winning format only has one real player out there, and an expensive one at that. I have no idea which format is technologically better, but it appears that HD DVD is this generation's Betamax.

It usually never comes down to which is better just which one the major companies back. I also read on a video game forum that the xbox 360 representative for HD is very hard to get a hold of these days.

It's cheaper to buy a PS3 then a Blu-ray player

Yup.....blu-ray in all but a TKO. The existing HD DVD players are going for a swan song cause they will soon be nothing but glorified standard def players.

Netflix is dropping HD DVD .....adding another coffin nail.

I bought a PS3 yesterday and it has replaced the Toshiba player. (HD DVD)

From here on in we rent and buy only blu-ray. Wish it were a bit more of an inexpensive endeavor to timeshift blu-ray to a disc. The copyright protection on both blu-ray and HD DVD was broken almost immediately.

I am not a big game player but the PS3 is a great usage as a blu ray player. Considering the base level Sony standalone retails for $399.00 and the PS3 retails now at $399.00 its a no brainer on what to buy if you are looking to get into blu-ray now.

I am sure we will see a strong market saturation of movie titles in the next 18 months and drops in the retail costs of those movies.

I have a bit over 2K standard def titles. I plan to start selling the most favored classic , popular titles for what I can get for them and reinvesting in my most wanted blu-ray titles. Of course as soon as the blu -ray media becomes economical I will rent blu-ray titles and time shift them to my own media to archive.

In the meantime Netflix and Blockbuster both have reasonable libraries of Blu-ray titles available for rent now.

Man ...some of the better done blu-ray titles are STUNNING in full 1080P glory.

I thought it was all over once the porn industry picked Blu-ray.

Porn and video game industries influence technology developments almost as much as the war machine (says the guy working for one of the largest defense contractors) and the space program.

Actually if you shop around on line you can find the Sony second gen standalone shipped for a little less than 399.00

But Heck yes the PS3 is a big time no brainer.

Could be but I dont buy porn so I would not be influenced anyway.

Its everywhere on the net anyway. No reason for anyone to go buy a disc as I see it.

If I were big time into porn I would certainly not be buying it anyway. I would pirate that trash.

That's not what I said.

It is officially over.

as my favorite line from the movie Friday goes...."you got knocked the ****** out!"

Im still not buying a player till they get under 200. I just dont watch that many movies.

I don't know why the movie industry even tries to copy protect movies, it's a waste of time and money on their part. The encryptions are so easily broken by anyone with half a brain. There are several programs out there and some are even free that slice right through it same with the protection on Blu-Ray. I think it would be a smarter move to just save that money since it is simply wasted anyway. Every time a new protection is made it is cracked in a day or 2 so where does the expendature generate any more profit? Seems to be it would be draining profit away due to cost vs. return.

Does this mean I should sell my 8 track?

No way Jack, a functioning 8-track is probably a serious collectable now. I think I threw my last tape (with crumpled label) away over 20 years ago. Might have kept a few if I'd had a working player.

What was Lear Jet doing in the music business anyway?

One ?advantage? of getting older is your sensory "parts" no longer register differences between DVD, HD DVD and Blue Ray.

I wish 8 tracks were worth something, I must have 50 or 60 tapes and several car under dash 8 track players.

Hmmmm, if the Xbox HD DVD add-on drive drops below $50 it might be worth getting and then stocking up on used DVDs from Netflix as they liquidate their collection.

That isn't a bad idea but if the drive goes south later on you might not be able to get another one.

True. Actually I probably won't go HD (although I do have an HD capable flat panel) for a couple years yet. I'm a late adopter on everything except the Bonneville America. Heck, I watch DVDs on my computer more often than not.

I've been waiting for the format war to end. Now that it has I can give serious thought to buying a hi-def tv and wait for blu-ray player prices to come down.

Please excuse my ignorance but, does this mean that once Blu Ray takes over, all my standrard DVD's including the ones i have burnt myself will be obsolete. Will a blu ray player play both blue ray and standard dvds or am i about to be screwed.

I hate progress.

The Play Station 3 plays both and so does my Sony Home theater. I would imagine, at least for awhile, they will work with both.

LAS VEGAS (AP) --Toshiba Defiant After Warner Decision To Drop HD DVD In Favor Of Blu-ray
"Only two major U.S. studios now support HD DVD, while five support Sony's Blu-ray disc. Warner is the last studio to put out movies in both formats, but will stop publishing HD DVDs in May."

Seems Blu-Ray is gaining some serious ground.

Don't worry about old (regular) DVDs. The HD players will stay backward compatible with the DVD format. Most of the HD players/recorders will only play their HD system (Blu-Ray or HD-DVD) but both will always play DVDs.

Yep I have a couple 23 channel CBs too.

Dumping the stock? How much you want to bet they come out with a blu-ray player soon?

I would be interested in that. But if nothing else, they'll have future-proof stand-alone Blu-ray players soon enough.

Someone just needs to build a machine that will play both. I know its more about entertainment politics than technology.

Soren

guess Blu Ray is it.. Glad I waited