Buzz Out Loud Lounge forum: MATCH-OFF: HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray

(yelp)

*slowly raises hand*

*softly says* I have a HDTV and I care.

But on a FYI note, America will switch over to pure HD content in the year 2008, this action was to take place in 2006 but was delayed. Europe is already a step-ahead of the great American government and has issued no more analog signals over the air and is pure HD.

So I would consider upgrading before becoming obsolete. And you can get a great 30" Samsung Slim-Fit TV for about $700. Just food for thought.

But I respect your stand, just thought I add a little insight.

I learned about the transition 4 years ago so I might have my facts wrong.

But my understand is that originally by 2006 all broadcasters had to be broadcasting in HD. This means that all of the signals coming into your cable company would be HD. This doesn't mean that the cable company can't go and convert the signal.

No, I am pretty sure you are right. All content should be HD. Although I am not sure of the exact requirement here. For example, right not my cable company doesn't offer all of the HD programing offered to them.

For example, ABC has HD programming, but my cable company isn't paying for it. So I am not sure if it is just a requirement that HD programing is offered, but not required. The cable companies still could still only buy the standard programs.

However, after trying to see if I could find anything about this I found a page that talks about the conversion. It says the year is 2009 and that it is to digital like the other guy had said. But the article is not written very well as they seem to use HD and digital interchangeably. The call digital to be in the 16x9 format. They also mention 720p which is a HD format.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6136298.html

I'm a college student. I don't think I need to say any more on why I'm not even thinking about upgrading.

-Ryan

Hey Romasteve. Trying to reach you about Ellen Cohen and The Shadows. Please email me via www.casselliot.com

I don't think that any of this answers the poster's question.

As far as the benefits of 1080p are concerned. Somewhere I read a post by someone who already owns a "mainstream" HDTV. He walked into a big box store, and was drawn to the picture on a demo set across the store. It was showing a different move that all the other sets. Upon inquiring as to what he was looking at, was told that this was a BlueRay video (on a BlueRay DVD) connected on a 1080p set. According to the poster, everything else looked absolutely inferior (I think he used a different expression....)

I'm not sure about BlueRay vs HD DVD, but a the rate technology is moving, I would expect not just HDTV, but 1080p broadcasts, software AND hardware to be the norm by 2008. I expect that once people see what's possible, the will demand it, and competition in the market place will follow, including price drops to civilian levels. That is, unless government intervenes on the side of the nay-sayers and whiners.

As far as as the changeover is concerned, according to the FCC website, there will be conversion boxes available (possibly for free if you get your progamming via antenna.)

Question (in my own words): In the war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, what side are you on?
Answer: Not HD-DVD, not Blu-Ray

-Ryan

I've lately seen the DVD offered in all 3 formats: Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, and regular DVD.

I agree that the uninformed will choose HD-DVD because of the HD in the title. However, Blu-Ray is backed by strong-wealthy-known companies and is pushing great advertisement.

I'm still torn. I have a XBOX 360 so I'm tempted to get the HD-DVD player add-on, though it doesn't output 1080p... but I wouldn't want to invest an a soon-to-be obsolete device or the possibility of XBOX integrating the HD-DVD in a new XBOX with HDMI output.

Just because Sony floods the market with the PS3 doesn't mean it will win.

I have no numbers backing me up here, but I would guess there are more people who own either another console or don't have a game console combine then those who own PS3s. You also have to take into consideration that Sony is struggling to get many PS3s out on the market.

Also there are going to be many out there who buy a PS3 but will buy a separate DVD player. I have an Xbox and a DVD player on the same TV because I don't like the X-box DVD controls.

Both formats will have much the same video quality, having ample capacity for HD video.
However, blu-ray has more capacity technological it's superior especially for use on computers as a data storage device. On a single layer, blu-ray will hold 25GB, HD-DVD 15GB. You can add more layers to gain more capacity, an experimental 6 layer 200GB blu-ray disk has been developed.
I think the capacity of blu-ray may make it a win for the pc market which many influence the film industry...

But only because the DRM schemes for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are looking like they could screw consumers. HARD.

I don't know enough about the specifics of the DRM schemes each format uses, but they are tied to hardware (HDMI) compatibility. If a piece of hardware is hacked to defeat the copy protection, the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray manufacturers can essentially prevent the hacked hardware from playing the disk.

Sorry, but if I pay several hundred or thousand dollars for my A/V or computer equipment to play either of these formats, I don't want to be left in the dark, having to buy new equipment when someone hacks a piece of hardware that the studios then decide will be banned.

As usual, the DRM was designed as a knee-jerk reaction to paranoid copyright protection that assumes all consumers are thieves. I'm getting sick and tired of being treated like a criminal. So I hope that all the best and brightest black hats figure out ways to hack HD-DVD and Blu-Ray copy protection so that the movie studios will have to either re-think their approach to copy protection, or they end up with tons of class-action suits for disabling millions of dollars of hardware because they implemented draconian DRM schemes without considering how innocent consumers will be affected.

I don't condone the willful violation of copyright protection, but I do support efforts that will force the development of a system that benefits producers and consumers alike.

I forsee the digital download taking off (slowly) but definitely. A good competitor to the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.

I know... if iTunes or online service offered HD movies... I would go that route rather than disc. I like having everything on one source b/c I too believe the PC will be the mainstream in the living room. Because the PS3 and XBOX 360 and Apple (iTunes + iTV).

You're simply not going to get anything comparable to 1080p video from upconverting. It's like comparing a 200mhz to 300mhz Pentium 2 and the showing off a core 2 duo 2.66ghz.