Blu-Ray or HD-DVD Poll! Which do you want?
 

If you could have your choice of only one player for "free", which would it be?

I am not going to discuss prices at all or it will ruin the effects of the pole. This is simply pick one or the other if you could have one right now.

Just want to see what the popular option is.

How about a player that plays BOTH? There's a crazy idea

Chances are two formats are never going to last past a year or two. At least not on an eventual mainstream level.

So, dual players are nice. But, this is a one or the other pole.

I just want to get a basic idea of what the popular option is. It will be interesting to look back next year to see who was right or who is in the lead. Of course considering either is still here. But, I do believe one of the formats will last.

P.S. I just remember everyone saying that the Nintendo D.S. would bomb, but yet it turned out to be wildly successful and a very popular system.

Thats why I like creating threads like these to look back on.

In terms of video quality, which is my primary concern, I don't think one format has much of an advantage over the other. I'd lean more towards Blu-ray based on purely technical specs, but I don't really care which one wins. I plan on buying into both.

Ok I'll say HD since it has the backign of the studios that I own about 80% of the DVDs from

Hd-dvd.

I picked Blu-Ray, only because of the larger number of studios backing them. I realize that can change in a moments notice.

I would actually pick both if that was an option. I think if dual-format players can get off the ground, both formats will survive (like DVD+R and DVD-R).

I chose HD DVD. I don’t think it matters that more Studios are backing BR at this point. If HD is selling tons more players than BR, the Studios will change their greedy minds. Trust me.

I would prefer Blu-ray Disc.

• As I understand it BD has the support of all the major studios except for Universal.

• The discs have higher capacity.

• I believe that BD was reported at one time to be using a scratch and dust resistant coating, hope this is true. (I am afraid that the short wavelength blue laser will be sensitive to minor disc damage and dust and I hope that the coating will work.)

The initial price of the players is irrelevant to me since I expect prices to drop rapidly and I will wait to see how things shake out. So far, the titles announced on either format don't hold much appeal, so waiting is the best option. Objections to Sony using MPEG-2 for its initial discs strikes me as silly. Properly done using a significantly higher bit rate, the PQ should be fine. It just won't be as efficiently compressed as it might be with the newer codecs but the disc capacity ought to be plenty for a good MPEG-2 I would think. Although that depends on how much space is wasted on extras.

I have little interest in extras, especially the interactive stuff. I just want movies or TV shows with picture and sound that take full advantage of my HT setup.

If HD-DVD were to win the format war that would be ok too. Either format should have decent HD picture and sound if properly mastered. I just would prefer to not to have to buy both and end up with "orphan" discs for the losing format.

I eagerly await reviews of actual HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs and players.

The studios have said they will switch with whichever is the winner(HD-DVD obviously), so it's not like it will be some suprise.

Sony has had better quality stuff when it's been in format wars before and they just don't win on the end.

Consumers are going to go for the cheaper price and if BR can't get the prices around the same then they will be gone.

No preference. HD-DVD does seem the better way to go in the beginning simply because of cost. I would rather pay $500 for a low end player than $1000.

If all things are equal when I decide to take the plunge cost wise I'll go with the one with the stronger library and at this point that favors Blu-Ray.

Sony propensity for proprietary hardware and considered failures

Beta
Sony MiniDisk
Sony computer hardware: works only in Sony computers
Sony anti-piracy software turned spyware
Sony CD's: Defeated by yellow highlighter

Now I won't dismiss the winners like Walkman, Playstation series and other products. From my personal experience as a techie and personal user of their products, they tend to break down consistantly, they are propietary in nature and/or invasive to my computer. Innovative yes...cost effective and end user friendly no.

I want a product that will play in a Windows enviroment and allow me flexibility to play this media anywhere.

Besides, the HD DVD logo looks like the standard DVD logo and will tie in better to the publics mindset for digital media.

If Sony could have had the PS3 ready on time it would have killed HD-DVD...
HD-DVD over $1000
PS3 @ $500
& most big movies are going to be done in both....

now all bets are off

Honestly don't care. I'll eventually upgrade to whichever wins out (assuming one does and has full software support rather than being a niche market item) down the road when I have an HDTV and players and discs cost the same as DVD players and discs today.

I'm for Blu-Ray just because it can hold more than HD. If HD could hold more, then I'd be for it.

What do you mean by this? One of Toshiba's day-1 HD-DVD players has a $499 MSRP.

HD-DVD

Sony is getting to full of themselves, they need another betamax style beatdown.

If the storage capacity on an HD-DVD is more than sufficient to hold an HD movie in excellent quality, what does it matter to you whether a Blu-Ray disc can hold more? With any digital compression scheme, there's a point of diminishing returns after which more disc space gains you little or nothing.

Titanic (European edition) takes 4 dual-layer discs. That's more than 30GB, and it's only SD.

And the studios will want to avoid multidisc sets as much as possible, considering that the main benefit of the new interactivities is the ability to navigate seamlessly from the feature to the bonus material, which is obviously impossible if you move the extras to a second disc.

So the Blu-ray producers will be able to put all the material they want on the disc without having to compromise the feature audio/video bitrate.

My one concern that I have not seen discussed much is disc durability. I understand that Durabis is being used to make Blu-Ray discs scratch resistant so this may not be any more of a concern than with current DVDs, but I don't want to have my 50GB discs ruined by a minor scratch or scuff.

Also I don't think brining up Beta or Mini Disc really has much of an impact on whether or not Sony will succeed. Sony has had some disasters, but it seems anytime they are working together with Phillips on something the technology is excellent.

I love it.

The OP started a poll specifically which asks you to make the assumption that the players are free, and HD-DVD folks immediately bring up the player costs. I've only seen one commenter who actually said something meaningful for the HD-DVD side, which was Canadian Bacon.

Here's a good flag to find out if your bias is showing in a thread:

a) Mention price when it is specifically asked to be a non-factor
b) Use a personal prediction of the future to justify an opinion of the present.

And I should know ;)

How is price a bias. That is a legitimate concern for someone making a plunge into a new format. BTW, I clearly said in my post:
That is within the framework the original poster asked for and I'm hardly showing a bias towards HD DVD.

I loved Laserdisc and DVD. Both sort of just came to be and didn't have all this harsh competition. Laserdisc was a nitch market for videophiles at the time and it was kind of nice not having to deal with the mainstream.

There was sort of a VHS vs DVD war, but it wasn't this bad from what I remember.

This Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD thing reminds me of a video game console war. Or something along the lines of "Lord of the Rings" vs. "Star Wars"

It's as if people are going to show up in costumes of the players and dual it out.

I have been seeing it everywhere online. Some of the forums are downright vicious on the subject. It's kind of surprising really. Full grown men in their 30's on one forum resorting to calling names such as "HD dildo" and "pudding muncher tree hugging blu ray pussy"

It's probably a good thing we didn't have the internet during the time of VHS vs. BETA.

Seriously the whole thing is so ridiculous. Almost like living some sort of distorted marijuana induced phantasmagoric nightmare.

I still can't believe there is so much passion over these formats. Either one will be an excellent HD video format so let the best one win. I can see people having a slight preference for one or the other with their slight differences, but I can't believe anyone can get fanatical over this stuff. The only problem that I have is someone investing in the losing one because it sucks to get on board for a format that gets abandoned, but I honestly see plenty of combo players available on the market a year or two from now so that probably isn't an issue either.

can you give us a link??
I have not heared of any next gen player so cheap ...

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=...Search+Froogle

499 is the going price.

D

Those prices are posted on Toshiba's website as well.

Wow. There are a few places that have it for almost $400.

Blu-Ray for sure. Mainly due to it being the ps3 format, and also once it becomes mainstreem, media prices for BR discs will get even cheaper. I want 50 gigs of storage for 1 dollar or less =)

Ten years after launch you still can't get a dual layer dvd anywhere near 1 dollar. Don't expect to ever see dual layer BR discs at 1 dollar.

Just because Blu Ray has all that extra space doesnt mean they will ever use it, or NEED to use it.
Are'nt there some touted features on DVD that are rarely, if ever used?
Angles is one of them. And then I thought there was the ability to "letterbox" a 4:3 film if you so chose-am I missing any others?

If they both look the same, Ill go for the least expensive...HD

Just because Blu Ray has all that extra space doesnt mean they will ever use it, or NEED to use it.
Are'nt there some touted features on DVD that are rarely, if ever used?
Angles is one of them. And then I thought there was the ability to "letterbox" a 4:3 film if you so chose-am I missing any others?

If they both look the same, Ill go for the least expensive...HD

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...Fencoding=UTF8

The sad fact is there will probably be no more 'region hacks' like DVD is capable of, althought I thought I read that Japan was going to be included in the new Region 1-they are ntsc

Well, the HD demo was pretty darn cool and they were able to get a Blu Ray player from Sony (Japanese model) so I was able to see a demo of each one. They displayed everthing on a 65" Toshiba DLP HDTV and at the end displayed both at the same time with the Blu Ray player hooked up to a 65" Sony HDTV. Everything was 1080i for both and both are very impressive on a big screen. The trailers for Spider Man on Blu Ray and King Kong on HD DVD are pretty jaw dropping. I could not see any artifacts or problems with either image during the trailers so I think that is a bunch of nonsense. The colors on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are also breathtaking in HD. I would be willing to say that as long as the HD mastering is done the same telling the difference between HD DVD and Blu Ray will be pretty much impossible. We will see if I'm proven wrong when final hardware and discs are on the market though.

I am calling shenanigans on both the HD DVD and Blu Ray SD to HD comparison split screens. It was obvious to my eyes that both made sure the SD looked as bad as possible and if anything it was like them comparing HD to VHS. There is no way my SD images are that blurry in 480P on my HDTV. Also the Blu Ray split screen of Lawrence of Arabia looked cool when I was sitting five rows back, but when I got close at the end to examine the demos the HD version of Lawrence of Arabia looked like it had edge enhancement. However, maybe its just a case of being too close to an HDTV. There was no doubt though that Lawrence of Arabia was closest to its 70mm glory in HD. There is just a ton of detail in a 70mm print that is lost in SD. One thing was clear talking with people afterwards though, screen size and viewing distance are key. People sitting further back were the ones completely unimpressed with the demo and the people 5 rows and closer were the ones blown away. There was definitely signs from talking with and listening to some of the 100+ people in attendance that many do not see this technology as a must at all. Also, considering this was a crown of rather high end people on average many did not have HDTVs and many of those that did were completely lost over discusions about things as simple as 480p and telling the difference between true HD and digital SD cable.

They discused all the problems with upgrading covering ICT and HDMI 1.3 and the fact this first generation hardware will have be missing features that will probably be standard from the second generation on. They also discussed what everyone with older HDTVs and AV Receivers even those with HDMI would be missing since the 1.3 standard still hasn't been finalized and that 1080p will not be fully supported by the hardware until the 1080p HDTV sets coming in the summer. Even if you get a Blu Ray player with 1080p the current 1080p sets are not fully compatible.

All in all a very informative demo and it has me leaning strongly towards an HD DVD in the near future. The price is right and they claim the build is very strong on the Toshiba units and they have to be selling them at a loss. (maybe Microsoft is footing the bill to get HD DVD to a strong start) They did show that Blu Ray clearly has the strongest support, but that HD DVDs lower price could potentially get it off to a stronger start that would get other studios behind it.

Blu-ray is the better choice, but both formats are better than what I have now...

I'm waiting until one wins over the other, I'm not going to waste so much money until one format is the 'next thing', and becomes a little more affordable.

I'm waiting until one wins also AND I can get a player for under $200 (tax included)

Dude, i have to disagree with this one... The more the disc can hold doesn't mean much when the minimum amount for HD quality is achieved. It's not like you can write to the discs. So, if both formats have enough disc space for HD quality and "super" sound tracks, the purpose is served.

Just consider this, what's the purpose of a big house if you can't really use the additional space after you moved in and while you already paid everything for it? True, BR can stuff with additional stuffs on the disc than HD DVD, but it's not like HD DVD doesn't have the capacity to include such additional stuffs.

I will go for HD DVD, the logo is easier to associate with and BR DVD is just plain weird (kinda remind me of men's underwear).

In 1997, 9GB was considered ample capacity for DVD. And look what happened. Yes, you can put bonus materials on another disc, but that defeats the purpose of the new format's enhanced interactivity.

30GB is not even enough to fit four dual-layer DVDs.