HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray: Who's Got Better Content?

The new players, whether HD or Blu, will be backwards compatible. In other words, the new players will play our old DVDs, and I assume they would have some sort of up-res function just like the latest up-res DVD playrers, so the video signal from our old DVDs will be process through only one output. The manufacturers knew that they would need to be backward compatible so as not to piss-off the millions of people who have already sunks a ton of money into DVDs already (I'm guilty). And speaking of the latest up-res DVD players, why spend money now on one of these when the new players will do function the same and give true HD?

As far as supporting one format or the other, I won't buy two players. I'll wait awhile until things settle down and I'll be content to keep my movies in the good 'ol 480p format. It seems like I already own 10 versions of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, so I don't need to take up more space on my movie shelves with even more versions of the same movies.

Not to knock the first post but blu ray will be saturating the market with sony's highly anticipated upcoming offering. As far as great movies go, its objectionable, and when blu ray takes the lead the studios will go with the money maker. So dont let them scare you with what movies go to what format.

Hey, techfiend.

I've been following the HD-movie trends for the past couple years, thinking about things from all manners of angles, and I remain unconvinced that the PS3 is going to make Blu-Ray wildly successful.

I'm a gamer (have an XBox, but am not a MS fanboy), so I certainly understand the appeal of getting a next-gen gaming system and next-gen movie player all in one package. However, not all movie fans are gamers. It's movie fans who will ultimately determine the success or failure of each format by buying or not buying next-gen movies.

Consider for a moment those people who are movie fans but not gamers. The fact that the PS3 will likely be a cheap Blu-Ray player is appealing, but HD-DVD players will be $500, so there's really no price advantage either way. The fact that the PS3 also does games might not be an important factor for some people (in fact, it might be a detriment since the HD-DVD players are built *specifically* to do movies, vs. being a game console that "also" does movies). For those people, something else will need to steer them toward either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, or else they'll probably just sit on the sidelines to see who wins.

Now consider the rest of the movie fans who are also gamers. The PS3 is a compelling choice because you get next-gen gaming and also have the option to watch next-gen movies without buying another stupid add-on like with the 360. However, there's a difference between having the ability to watch movies and being compelled to take advantage of that ability. The risk factor is gone since even if Blu-Ray flops you'll still have your PS3 for games, but what's going to make you go out and buy Blu-Ray movies? You need good content at reasonable prices. I'm sorry, but a $30 copy of Van Helsing is a waste of anyone's money.

I do agree with you that if one format takes off over the other, then eventually all the studios will end up supporting the winning format. For me, that's almost another reason to wait, but it's probably also a reason not to count HD-DVD out of the race. They do seem to have better content, so maybe that will help springboard their sales.

Cheers!
Speleo.

The non-gamer gets a well priced Blu-ray(and believe me someone will always want to play the PS3)
while the gamer gets to watch HD quality movies
on their favorite AV componet
....so whose losing out on this deal

I hear a lot about upconverting these days. I am considering buying a 1080P Mitsu HD TV. I understand that my standard signal will be upconverted for my dish and DVDs coming from the 480P format.... at least that is what all of the sales people I have been talking to tell me.

So then what is the benefit of buying HD peripherls to use with your HD set.. IE HD programming (dish, Direct TV etc) and DVD players? To me I understand about the consumer wanting backwards compatible units, but if you have your standard DVD player with your HD set, and it works, then what is the motivation for a person to go buy all of these things... apart from the fact that someday the lowly non HD DVDs and programming will no longer be sold?

Am I going to get a better signal/picture coming from a HD-DVD to the high def TV than I would with my TV upconverting the 480P signal???

Help.

Yes, you'll absolutely get a better picture with true HD sources.

Upconverting starts with a lower resolution and uses various mathematical techniques to guess at the missing content when the images are stretched. The output from this process is an image with more pixels, but not truly better resolution.

True HD pictures already includes the *real* extra data that upscaling creates, so there's no guesswork involved. Native HD should be noticeably sharper with more fine detail. Upscaled images will probably have "softer" or "fuzzy-looking" edges by comparison (and by edges I mean the edges of objects in the picture--not the borders of the display). There aren't really many HD sources these days, but as they start showing up go take a look at some HD players in the stores. If you don't see a difference worth paying for, then there's no reason to upgrade.

Cheers!
Speleo.

MY NEW KELVINATOR, I hear it's really COOL!!!

It's taken years to get the ball rolling on HDTV, but the standards have been around for years. A major factor in defining these standards is broadcast. The FCC has the job of slicing up and distributing bandwidth so that multiple networks can distribute their content without stepping on each other. They allocated enough bandwidth per network to accommodate a 720p or 1080i channel. The infrastructure involved in pushing these signals out is immense and very costly, not to mention the FCC is a government agency that moves at government speeds. There's not going to be a new broadcast standard any time too soon.

1080p displays have evolved from the 1080i broadcast standard. These displays can handle every pixel of 1080i video, but with non-broadcast sources (like HD movie players and next-gen game consoles) there's no bandwidth to share and no reason these displays cannot also do progressive video.

For these reasons, 1080p should be cream of the crop for HD. While there's nothing preventing manufacturers from coming up with even higher-res displays, cable and satellite will be stuck at 720p/1080i because of the broadcast standards, so there's even less reason for consumers to adopt. Furthermore, your tongue-in-cheek post is a perfect example of how 1080p is already a tough sell for some people, and nobody's going to risk money on "Super Hi-Def" until Hi-Def finally arrives and makes some money.

Cheers!
Speleo.

At a possible $900 U.S. for the PS3, projected by Sony, and with a possible delay until 2007, as per most gaming sites, ie. GameSpot and GameSpy, blu-ray may have a very difficult time breaking into the market via mass gaming. HD-DVD should have a sizable headstart if Sony is unable to market the PS3 sooner.

Investment firms that are trying to stir up the water predicted that price. That is also the highest possible estimate considering this is a mass produced machine it may be expensive to produce the first few years but after that componet prices will drop. It the mean time sony will take a loss (just like the PS1, PS2, XBOX 360, etc.). It seems so hard for people not familiar with the business model to get their heads around this formula...SOFTWARE IS WHAT PAYS GAME HARDWARE MAKERS. In the meantime disgruntled DVD owners will hold off "for the most part" buying either format. Everyone in the forum can hold me to this,BLU RAY WILL WIN!

I don't buy xbox360 becouse i think that ps3 will be avalaible in thiiiss days , but .. you know what's happen. can i trust sony? no, not now!! what else Sony could lye??

Understatement!!!!!
I saw my first HDTV demo about 20 years ago at a CES show in Chicago.
Most of the '90s were taken up with the FCC tring to decide on which system to use. The Format Wars!!!
It was only last May that a court desicision cleard the way to realy get going.
"There's not going to be a new broadcast standard any time too soon." You are so correct on this!!!!!
Thera are 18 different HD digital formats,,talk about confision!!!
1080p is not that big of a deal!!! The sets that are claming 1080p just have frame buffer to store both interlaced fields and then display the whole frame progressively. I bought a 26" HD-CRT for my bedroom that does this. 1080 is 1920x1080 pixels. The i or the p just tells us how it is transimited. How it is displayed it up to the HDTV.
Bandwidth is the problem,,,,
720p/30 and 1080i/60 take about 37.5mb/sec.
720p/60 and 1080p/30 take about 75mb/sec
1080p/60 takes a whopping 145mb/sec.
The average DVD is about 5~7mb/sec. Yes a HD DVD of somekind would realy be a big improvment. john

I don't know, I'm gona wait for the super disks that are made from unobtaninum,, thoes should be realy great!!!

BEST WISHES JOHN,

river.