Having lots of storage space sure sounds like a great thing when the manufacturer hypes it up, but is it really necessary? There's a point of diminishing returns with any digital compression format. After you hit a "sweet spot", increasing your bit rate doesn't gain you much. If an HD-DVD has more than enough storage capacity to hold a high-definition movie in excellent quality, what difference does it make if there could have been even more space it didn't need?

And do you really think any studio would use that extra space for video or audio anyway? No, they're going to use it to cram more EPK promo features, lengthy animated menus, unskippable anti-piracy announcements, and gimmicky video game features onto the disc.

As for features the format offers, Toshiba's HD-DVD players support Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD audio. None of the first-gen BluRay players will support these formats, and they cost twice as much!. Score one for HD-DVD.

Considering the nightmare DVD-18s are I'm personally not thrilled at the idea of jamming even more data on these discs with double and triple layering. I'm dreading the idea of some plant in Mexico churning out 50GB Blu Rays.

Sorry about that. I wrestled with how to get the point across and couldn't think up a better word than "fanboy," but it wasn't intended as a slam.

Exactly. By waiting until players and discs to be the cost of DVD today before buying, I'll be able to let the format war be decided, make sure that HD-DVD format is actually catching on an not a Laserdisc-ish niche market item, and then have the advantage of having a library of cheap catalog titles to pick up.

But to each his own. I'm not planning on buying a PS3 anywhere near launch (if at all) so I don't have that incentive to start buying movies either.

The price of DVD's and players are at the price they are today because people like you bought into it. If you wait for everyone else to always do something, it'll never catch on.

True, but as I've said before, I don't care enough about HD DVD formats to early adopt.

With DVD, it was SOOO much better than VCR. Extra features. OAR. No Rewinding. No degrading quality over repeated viewings. No bad players ruining your tapes. 5.1 surround sound. Etc.

With just the added PQ and sound quality this time around I don't feel a need to buy in at a premium as I don't care much if it catches on. Plus it's much more costly. I bought my first DVD player in spring of 1999 (had a computer DVD rom before that) for $300, and discs where dirt cheap back then with 800.com, reel.com etc.

Not to mention this upgrade would be $1000's for me as I'd need to get an HDTV too.

So in short, I'm in no rush. And if it doesn't catch on, big whoopy for me as I'm fine with DVDs and wouldn't be replacing much of my collection anyway.

No offense but why the hell do people like you post in threads like this then?

For people who don't give a shit about it, you sure do care enough to constantly tell everyone how much you don't care.

I'm interested in it, want to keep up on what is going on, and will upgrade if one of the formats catches on in the future when I have more $$$ and the prices have dropped.

I'm just not obsessed with PQ like you and others enough to jump in with the high costs and looming format war.

This is a thread on whether waiting is good or bad, seems like the appropriate place for this discussion

For someone that didn't like Brokeback Mountain, you sure seem to care enough to constantly post telling us why you didn't like it.

You just said it. You don't care enough about it and you don't have an HDTV.

This thread is about whether or not it's good to "sit it out" for those of us who DO care. Short of you winning the lottery or an HDTV, you're not going to either way. This is for people who actually could get it.

I really want to get started on HD-DVD/Blu-Ray but as I have said before, I just can't go into it without them releasing a multiformat player first. I just don't have the room to add 2 more dvd players to my A/V rack. yes I plan on getting a PS3 but at this point we don't know how good of a blu-ray player it will be. plus, my reciever needs to be upgraded as I currently have no avail. inputs to add 2 more dvd players.

I have a 57" Toshiba CS HDTV that is only 2.5yrs. old but its just old enough that I don't have HDMI and only has DVI(which is currently occupied by my Oppo player) so I'm kinda stuck there too.

I think my 1st purchase will be a reciever that does HDMI switching and just connect that to my tv via the DVI and then I'll purchase HD-DVD/blu-ray.

I do care, but to me, which format wins (if either) doesn't matter. I want 1080p and both formats deliver it. Any difference in PQ should be negligible. I'm going to get into HD/BR once I can get a reasonably priced dual-format player (or a PS3 or one format wins).

Whether I wait it out for a bit or not, I don't mind not affecting the outcome of the format war. Because, to me, it just doesn't matter. They both offer what I want.

When you do, make sure it is HDMI 1.3 compliant (no receiver on the market currently is). Buying one now would lead to frustration in the near future.

In my mind both of these formats are identical. I don't believe there to be a clear winner. As such, people might look beyond "technical qualifications" and look for selection and/or price.

I mean movies. I think there will be plenty of times when BD comes out a month before the HD-DVD, or vice versa. Or there will be studios doing only one of the formats.

A switch is as little as $50. Maybe less, I haven't looked in a couple months. You certainly don't need to buy a replacement TV just for another input.

If HD comes out the victor, you will sure as shit see Sony titles bearing the HD-DVD logo.

Sony is the ultimate company in multiple personalities. Here's a CD burner and media, but here's also our copy protected CDs. Here's out Walkman MP3 player, but don't rip your Sony CDs to put on them.

The big problem with them is they are a content delivery and a content providing company, and they are unable to reconcile their vision within the company. Here's BR-R but don't try to copy the BR-ROM.

If there is a profit to be made from marketing their discs on HD, they'll do it.

As far as different release windows go, I am sure for the forseable future, those studios supportiung both formats will have day and date releases for both. Why waste the marketing budget on a single format. The same thing has gone on for decades in the video gaming industry.

Actually, I'm all out of energy even thinking about it again....and really, it's run it's course with me. I'm not waiting for anything special, and will be trying out both. I prefer BR...but will jack around with HDDVD just to play. I've been saving for over a year, have plenty of extra $ for experimenting with both and will base all of my long-time decisions on the playtime period and it's results. There will always be a sucker to sell to...what I don't want. Trust me.

Until then, I just bought 8 dvds in the last 2 days and need to get busy.

Just consider me one of those nice guys who is willing to take one for the team. I'll send you word from the front lines...and hopefully not from the M.A.S.H. Unit.

For me, it is because I love technology. But that doesn't mean that I don't evaluate my purchases. I also subscribe to about 5 video game magazines, but rarely play games. Some people watch birds, I watch technology.

Having said that, let me tell you why I think the storage issue won't play in who the winner is. J6P (and even myself to a degree) likes to buy 2 disc sets. It shows just how special the special edition is. Doesn't even matter that all the stuff on many 2 disc sets today could fit on 1 dvd, the studios know what sells. I don't think BR can sell a regular movie on one disc, and then hope to capture much more market by selling a better edition with more stuff, and at a slightly higher price, and still have it be on 1 disc. Stupid mentality, but it's the stupid reality.

I agree. I don't understand when people are mentioning disc size when they are making a comparison. I mean, isn't 35 gig enough? Sounds like plenty of space to me.

Right now, my thinking is, for $1000, I can buy a HD-DVD player and have money to buy movies to watch on it. For BR, I can only buy a player to stare at.

Studios will jump ship onto whichever format begins pulling away in sales. It seems to me that most would pick HD-DVD because of price. Wouldn't the majority of people choose the "$1,000 for HD-DVD player + movies" as opposed to "$1,000 for BR player only"?

The only studio that won't be quick to jump ship is Sony. I'm betting even if HD DVD looks to be the winner they will drag there feet on supporting it for years trying to keep their own format alive. Face it, if you go HD DVD you will have to be happy watching Sony titles on regular DVDs for many years. That is saying HD DVD wins. If its neck and neck then a combo player will be the only option as Sony will never support HD DVD.

I love the people who say "isn't 30GB enough?". Its the same people who a few years ago were saying "isn't 9GB enough?" and before that "isn't 700MB enough?". Yes, today that is enough storage, but what about 3 years from now? When the formats really take off (in 3+ years) will you still be saying 30GB is enough?

Storage size is a huge issue as the winner of the format war will be the standard for optical storage. Just because you don't have any use for it today, doesn't mean that you won't want it a few years from now.

Look, if you are really saying that storage size is not an issue, than why support HD-DVD at all? You can easily fit a feature length movie on a standard two layer DVD using MPEG-4 or VC-1. Its cheaper and easy to implement. In fact, studios like Warner demanded support of HD-DVD-9 and BD-9 (a DVD with MPEG-4 and VC-1 support) because it is a lot cheaper to release films that way.

So make up your mind. If storage is not an issue, then stick with DVD. If it is an issue, then Blu-Ray is your choice. HD-DVD is sitting right in the middle doing absolutely nothing for anyone (storage-wise).

This is only an arguement for people buying burners for storage and that won't be an issue in the home theater race. People are not upgrading to HD discs because of GBs of storage. They are upgrading because of higher resolution video. Movies in 1080p are going to fit on HD DVDs just as easily as Blu Ray discs. That will be true now until these two formats are replaced with something better. Blu Ray can hold more on a single disc, but I doubt we will see many cases of studios cramming 50GBs of data on a single disc and when they do the only downside for HD DVD owners is a 2 disc set. We have no problem with multidisc sets now so I don't see it as an issue for HD DVD owners.

For people buying home burners I can see Blu Ray as the way to go, but I doubt this will be affordable technology for some time.

Yep, I have to agree with this. Last year I built my HTPC and put 500GB worth of hard drive space in it. I thought I would be set, put a bunch of my DVD's on them as well as my Mp3's and all seemed well, until I picked up an HTDV card to time-shift hi-def programming. Let's just say the 500GB doesn't seem like a lot anymore

If HD-DVD pulls away, Sony will jump ship just as fast as anyone else.

Sony has plenty of experience with losing format wars. Every day they spend trying to keep a dead format alive will only cost them money (i.e. by not selling movies on HD-DVD).

Sony's business is making money and you make money by selling products people want.

What if HD DVD doesn't pull away?