Right now, all HD-DVD releases are porting over all the extra features that were on the SD version and if there was a 2 disc version those extras are ported (Jarhead, for example).

Blu-ray is having major space issues and you'll notice that the extras are sparse or dropped entirely.

There are a couple of HD-DVD titles with exclusive HD content like Constantine with the "In-Movie Experience". I'm sure these types of extras will be ramped up in the future for HD-DVD.

Blu-ray may have other HD extras one day, too, whenever they get their DL discs working. Maybe they'll even find enough space to port over the extras from the SD-DVD releases...

As it stands now, BR has 5GB less space than HD-DVD which is an even bigger deficit in reality because BR uses MPEG-2 and HD-DVD is using VC-1 (more efficient).

And ALL Blu-ray discs are almost completely filled.

There are several HD DVD discs that are also almost completely filled.

well won't this be solved when Sony gets it act together (if ever) and starts pressing it's disc in 50gb in the Fall.

Not in high-definition.

There are several HD DVDs that are overflowing with extras -- take a look at Cinderella Man or Constantine, for instance.

The public doesn't know HD DVD and Blu-ray exist.

Toshiba can't keep up with demand, actually, although admittedly, even if they could, that wouldn't add up to hundreds of thousands of units.

It's early yet. None of this is unexpected.

If they continue to use MPEG-2, the 50GB discs will possibly get them up to the level that HD-DVD is on now.

If they switch to VC-1, they'll still have a 5GB disc space disadvantage, but the PQ should drastically improve... in other words, they'll acheive HD-DVD quality.

Theoretically, if they had both VC-1 and 50GB DL discs they could use that extra space to do something better than HD-DVD.

Word is that Sony has not approached Microsoft about using VC-1.

If you believe what the heavy hitters are hinting at, 50GB discs may not be here in any kind of numbers for a year or two. Apparently the yield is very, very low on them. I've heard numbers like 1% and 30%. Which would mean for every 100 DL discs replicated, 1 is usable.... or 30 usable for the 30% figure. HD-DVD replication is supposedly over 95% for comparison. The theory is Sony may release 1 or 2 50GB releasees in limited quantity just to say they exist... but for BR to show the advantage, most (if not all) of the releases need to be 50GB. The reason they would be released in limited quantity is because the cost is enormous per working disc based on the low yields.

Sony may break a world record for quickest double dips because the current BD releases are crying out to be redone.

Who would have thought Sony would likely produce the first HD double dip?

*raises hand*

I know others have mentioned this, but I wanted to highlight this sentence.

1. The 'public' doesn't know anything about HD-DVD/Blu-ray at this point, unless they've read one of the vague 'format war' articles that have appeared in major newspapers/news magazines.

2. Since most of these releases have just as many extras as their standard counterparts, along with significantly improved picture quality, any member of the public who takes a peek is likely to be very impressed.

3. Sales are far from dismal. They can't even keep up with demand at this point. Frankly, although I've seen nothing to confirm this, I think the stakeholders are probably surprised at how well HD-DVD is selling.


As mentioned, it is VERY early in the process. No one expects amazing sales figures, blockbuster films, or packed-to-the-gills releases. Just like back in 1997 when DVD first started showing up in a few cities. 99% of them were ports of LD content. So it isn't surprising that 99% of the extras you're now seeing are ported directly from standard DVD. The market isn't even remotely large enough at this point to create much new extra content.

Which ones are full? I'm guessing possibly Cinderella Man because of the length and extras, other than that I'm curious.

Fitting all 4 movies on 1 disc is laughable.

It's possible, but the picture quality would suffer tremendously. People want an HD format for the increased quality, not to minimze shelf-space or to avoid getting up to put in the next movie.

The Last Samurai is one as well. I can't remember the others. There was a posting of all the discs and their sizes thus far.

well, he does work at Best Buy.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh...gotcha. now it all makes sense.

See post #690 in the free-for-all thread:

Those are just the ones listed in a PC World article.

30,000 is pretty good, I'd say. what were DVD's sales the first year? I thought I read 70k.

Studios DONT WANT to use up the space. They want to give us as little as possible for our money.

Why do we assume that studios are clamoring to offer MORE special features? On DVDs we barely get anything. Heck we're still being told 'animated menus' are a special feature. We even see studios put extra content on a seprate disk because they are marketing to the common uninformed consumer: 2 disks equal more value, more value = more money.

Studios want to sell as many 'pieces' of a collection as possible. They want to break up a TV series, extra content, 'special editions' so that we buy them all.

They have no incentive to put it all on one disk they have less 'pieces' to sell and they lose money.

They DONT want to make their disk too expensive either, that would give piracy a huge boost.

So will we ever see the HD format use up its space? I predict they will find some way to keep selling us multiples for our collection.

Well, I'll be a little angry if a much faster and cheaper HD-DVD player came out by Christmas, but then again, maybe I can dump the A1 on ebay if the 2nd gen is really that much better.

Hey, I'm just going by sales figures at my store...we've hardly sold any HD-DVD's, and our Blu-Ray display (running XXX), looks about the same as a standard DVD in PQ, save the menus, so no one's biting on that.

And yes, in terms of Lethal Weapon and fitting all of them on one disc, I was just citing an example of the space they could be using...I know that if they were all in HD, they wouldn't fit. I'm not another regular 'Best Buy employee', as digital and someone else so elegantly put it (although, thanks for the personal attack).

Anyone want to explain the Ultraviolet situation?

= J

So when you said "Hell, they could put all four Lethal Weapons on one disc.", you didn't actually mean that they could put all four Lethal Weapons on one disc? But really, these HD DVDs have everything that's on the DVDs, and there isn't a compelling reason at present to create something brand new for these HD DVD catalog titles.

Sony's Blu-ray discs really don't have enough space for the movie, let alone the extras. As for why they're just releasing rated versions of movies (they did the same for Basic Instinct 2), I don't really have an answer beyond that their marketing team must not be particularly bright. Sony's kind of going out of their way to make Blu-ray as unappealing as possible at launch.

Wow. Taking a shot at another poster. Surprising...

While he may not be completely accurate in some of the things he posted, he is stating how he feels. That does make sense.

Take Lethal Weapon for example. That was one of the first DVD releases and was bare bones as many releases were back then. It is a classic movie that has been begging for a special edition for almost 10 years. So it is very disappointing that Warner did not take the time to do something special with this release.

Sonys decision to not release the unrated versions of movies is perplexing. I read that neither format is capable of seamless branching yet, so that explains why they are not using that method. I have no idea why they would not release to versions.

As far as the public not being impressed, if he works at Best Buy he would know better than us what the general public is thinking and saying. The big screen section in BB and CC get a lot of traffic, so people are no doubt seeing the demos and asking questions.

As I have said before, I am impressed with neither format. Both have lots of work to do, and both were rushed to production about 6 months too early. Maybe even a year too early. That is my opinion, please tell me how it is wrong.

And yet you completely ignore the others who said the same thing as I did.

Wow.

NOT surprising.

Yours was the first post that started the bashing.

It just gets old, reading a thread, and then coming across a post where you take a shot at someone who does not agree with you, or is confused about their facts, or is just as devoted to BD as you are to HD.

Then block me. I'm not so devoted to HD that I can't see reality, like some of the BD-freaks here.

Whatever...

As Rodney King would say "Can't we all get along"