Games & gear forum: Playing HD DVDs - XBox HD or PS3 BluRay?

the ps3 uses hdmi where 360 doesnt so u wwill never get the turn hd u want with your hd dvd player. also ps3 uses blu-ray which holds more and blu-ray has more support from movie companys. ps3 has free live and has web broser. and it cheaper to get s ps3. $500 ps3> $400 360 + $200 hd dvd drive= $600. so geting a ps3 would be better for price and quality

For only around $460 or less you can indeed get true HD DVD with standard RGB component outputs to a HDTV display that looks life like.
Plus there are already more HD DVD movie titles than you could have time to watch available on shelves at store e.g. Best Buy and online ordering. Prices range from around $25 up to around $40 for dual format HD + Standard DVD on the same single disk. And it won't take long before there are as many HDDVD titles as Bluray. Finally if the Blueray disks can hold more capacity, but none of the publishers are giving you any extra content on that blank space, then what good is that, and why pay more for unused capacity? Doesn't make economic sense, IMHO.

And see other posts re. Xbox360 Zephyr that reportedly will be an incremental upgrade with HDMI output on the cable. If they make the new unit and cable compatible with the current Xbox 360, then you might only have to buy the newer HD cable to get HDMI connection to your HDTV or amp. The original/current 360 cable already has optical digital audio interface so you can get state of the art digital audio.

Reportedly Sony has always ad inferior tech support, if you can get any at all, unlike Microsoft. Also (like Pioneer, etc.) you pay way too much for just the Sony name, when there are more affordable alternatives of equal or better quality. Just compare a Sony Vaio to Toshiba notebook PCs, and the proprietary Sony memory sticks to the industry standard SD memory cards, for proof, then tell me that I'm wrong on that point.

Just add any size external drive on any of it's several USB2 ports, or store anything on any external USB thumb drive or standard memory cards (with a $20 mem card adapter). No storage problems on 360. Or if you opt for Xbox 360 storage, just unlatched the attached HDD module, and clip the new bigger one (reportedly 120 GB or bigger) on in it's place. You do NOT have to buy a new 360 to expand storage.

Well I work for a large studio that actually supports BluRay and WE think BluRay is going to go the way of BetaMax. Not nearly enough has been put into customer education and I think the average consumer doesn't see the advantage over standard DVDs. I think the issue is that only a very tech savvy person really can make a distinction between the two formats.

For now if price is an option, go with HD-DVD. Cheaper and awesome picture (as is of course the case with BluRay).

In the end it may come down to manufacturing costs. BluRay requires a whole new factory set up to pump out BluRay discs while HD-DVD only requires a modification of existing DVD manufacturing set ups.

I personally would just wait until the silly studios and tech companies settle on a standard. You could go with the multi-format player from LG but I don't know how good that is (haven't read reviews).

I think from what I've read about the PS3 and it's lack of user-friendly features, difficult set up, lack of add-on support that maybe the Xbox 360 is a better option. I have one myself and have no issues with storage or add-on capability but I'm not buying either format right now because honestly I haven't been physically shown why it's so darn great. Maybe I haven't gotten out to a Best Buy recently but I just haven't seen anything on display that caught my attention. If Sony/BluRay camp had an add campaign on par with say, the Apple vs. PC adds then maybe they'd gain more traction. I just don't get Sony! They put all their eggs in the BluRay basket and severely under advertise that aspect of the PS3 to the average consumer.

Good luck deciding! I think being an early adopter of these new technology is a little risky but if you have the funds, got forth and have fun! Why not. I can say that if you want the game system/Hi-Def DVD format combo, the two game systems are probably your most cost effective way to go.

I find the whole subject fascinating. I should clarify that the studio opinion is certainly not the "company line" but more some privately shared thoughts on the subject amongst peers. I'm sure the studios supporting BluRay are gung-ho to support it. I heard Apple may be jumping on board as well?

May the best advertising campaign win. It certainly doesn't seem like the best technology always wins.

Also, the comment earlier about the Porn industry cracked me up. That could very well be true, but I suppose only if they throw their collectice weight into one format or the other. I would guess they'd go HD-DVD only because of the much cheaper cost of setting up HD-DVD production. I guess what that would really mean is that Van Nuys, CA will decide the fate of Hi-Def DVDs since I've heard that city alone accounts for 90% of worldwide production.

Anyone willing to chime in as to whether they've seen any hi-def adult video content out there? Come on, you could say you bought if for a friend.

First off, you should take a look at what movie studios are supporting Blu-ray and HD-DVD or what movies are exclusive for either that you prefer if you really want a hi-def player.

Second, what connections does your HDTV support? If it has HDMI then perhaps the PS3 will be a better fit for you. If it only has component then the 360 is better.

Since you are going to be only mainly playing sports games, you should put which console is better for games on the back burner since it isn't as important as most sports games are cross-platform anyway.

What it comes down to is $500 to $600 for a PS3 w/ Blu-ray or $500 to $600 for a 360 w/ HD-DVD add-on. Personally, I wouldn't jump on the hi-def player bandwagon just yet as modern DVDs look great on upconverting DVD players and the format war could leave you with a Betamax-like player if you go with the loser. Either wait till dual-format players are available, the movie studios decide to use the dual-format disks, or a real winner emerges.

It doesn't have a built in HD-DVD drive, it has an HDMI port and a smaller (65nm instead of 90) CPU that will run cooler (meaning quieter fans). It's just a new model 360 so it will be the same price.