On a 1080p tv, you might be right. It might look slightly better. But, it will most likely not even be evident to most people.

But, like digi said, HD-DVD DOES support 1080p, its just that the initial players do not (which could change).

HD-DVDs are 1080P just 1st gen players are not. 1st gen BD players don't have the same audio capabilities as the HD players. Sort of a wash. Except that BD is 100% more expensive, and HD will have their 2nd gen players to market before BD does.

Sorry, but you are the naysayer. You have absolutely NO IDEA what you are talking about. Congratulations on reaching yet another ignore list.

No 2nd gen players have been announced yet for either format as far as I'm aware. Until they are it's probably a little early to start predicting what functions they will and won't support, or which format will have them on sale first.

This may put me in the minority, but audio improvements aren't really all that important to me. Just bring on the HD picture quality for all my favourite movies, and I'll be a happy bunny.

Is that really true, that current players CAN be made 1080p thru firmware? That would be so awesome. Of course, then I would have to get a 1080p tv so I can be among the 0.01 percent of the population with 1080p tvs.

I've been pulling for HD-DVD since the beginning. Just the name itself makes sense. BD, BR, Blue-Ray....not a name that will catch as easily, forgetting about all the techno-babble which 95% of the public could care less about.

Price & availability have put HD-DVD way out in front, and they may never look back.

Blueray already has 1 foot in the coffin IMO. Who cares about an extra 10+gigs of storage space. Would it ever be utilitized w/ the extras a DVD can offer? Prolly not. Might be useful if they start making the discs better than 1080p res.

Truthfully though, I'm waiting till there is a -clear- winner before spending my money.

The last I heard was that these initial players can never output 1080p60 (it's a hardware limitation), but a firmware upgrade may be able to let these decks natively output 1080p24.

I think its a safe assumption that HD-DVD will support 1080p AND BD players will support higher end audio like Dolby+, TrueHD and so on. I dont have a problem with anyone claiming that they will.

"Wait, are you saying you can't see any difference between an SD DVD and HBO in HD? If that is the case, then I would say that you are probably not a target customer for either HD DVD or Blu-ray."

I don't know...I don't have HD. When I go into stores I can certainlt tell a difference between standard TV and HD.

I guess I'm just saying that the Batman Begins footage I saw on the HD-DVD player wasn't all that impressive. The clarity made me stop and look for a minute or two...but that really was it. I wasn't blown away in comparison to when I first saw DVD, HD, or even next generation gaming consoles of their time like the Nintendo 64, Playstation 2, and now XBOX 360.

Ah, so you just came here to troll. Nice.

Yes, where are those mythical 50gb dual-layer discs we've been promised? Anyone? Anyone?

I thought it was a safe assumption that 2G HD DVD would be SoC solutions, but the current rumours suggest otherwise. Until it's out we won't really know will we.

BTW there are upskirt pics of the Samsung BD player on AVS for anyone who's interested. Somewhere Bender's getting his rocks off!

From what I'm told, a couple of the HD DVD players have a 1080p light on the front panel. If it weren't ever going to be capable of it, I'm not sure why it would be there.

Exactly my thoughts as well. All those saying HD-DVD will do 1080p, lets see it? What, you cant? Player has hardware limitations and toshiba is stringing you along with string? Nice. The Blu-Ray player at Sony Style IS outputting at 1080p TODAY. Not 2007.

Yes, Toshiba is stringing us along with string. They tried stringing us along with twine, but twine doesn't have the tensile strength to string someone around like string.

...but not the displays they have it hooked up to, from everything I've heard. ;)

That is the only thing that you have to hold to now, Blitz: your beloved 1080p. You guys are getting desperate. I assume YOU have a 1080p HDTV at home waiting for the $1000 bluray player, which you will buy the morning it comes out. Well, just like BR players, 1080p tvs cost twice as much also. Sounds like WAY too much to spend on something that is destined to fail. And tell me more about the audio capabilities in the upcoming BR players while you're at it.

So where can I see something demo'd at 1080p?

Circuit City, Best Buy, Wal-mart, Target, ...maybe Tweeter?

Ahh...you can't. TV isn't broadcast at 1080p and no BD players are out yet.

Sorry!

The demo at BB (usually) is a Westinghouse 42" 1080p plasma . The Tosh HD-A1 is outputting 1080i into it which it de-interlaces to 1080p, right? So, what Blitz is arguing is that if you output 1080p directly into a monitor that it will look sooo much better. That just isn't always true. A good monitor will have a de-interlacer that can produce a 1080p picture from the 1080i stream perfectly. In that case, it would be identical to the 1080p fed directly into the monitor.

From what I've heard, at Sony Style stores, they are feeding 1080p into a monitor that can only display 1080i !!! If 1080p is the 'killer app', why hook the BR players to a monitor (a 13,000 dollar one, too) that can only display 1080i?

Also, to actually compare this, you'd have to have the same player with the same source material into the same monitor. That ain't going to happen at a store. For example, my projector (768 max resolution) blows the doors off of the technically "superior" 1080p Westinghouse 42" plasma I've seen at BB. Not even close and I'm blowing the picture up quite a bit bigger (7.5 feet wide).

Of course, the BR people have to have something to latch onto. The 1080p thing is one of the only things they have left now that they are going to put out BR discs with less capacity than HD DVD discs.

I've spent hours watching my display for artifacts and I can't find any -- let alone de-interlacing artifacts. I just can't see any. Now, where did I put my Blu glasses...

It's a 1080p display but can only take 1080i input.

The "demo" versions being sent to stores now can't output 1080p, from what I'm aware.

And it's called the Qualia 006.

What the name, and other acronyms, have to do with the tentative success, or failure of any new electronic technology?

Maybe he means that it's a name that people will understand, and therefore sell itself on the basis of that understanding. Their IS a backlash among a growing some who feel threatened by a completely new format which, only 9 years later, is too soon in coming. HD DVD at least is still technically DVD and would be the more acceptable alternative (a necessary "evil" if you may) among this conservative type of folk. And they are more plentiful than you think.

I need not reply to everyone, since it seems everyone is so happy to just have 1080i and not planning on the future where 1080p will be the standard for years and years to come. Everyone wants to live in the now, vs futureproofing.

Other then the name, how is it like DVD? Does a HD-DVD disc play in a normal DVD player? No? Then theres nothing similar about them. You can say its backward compatable, but so is BR.

I didn't state that was the only reason I am pulling for HD-DVD.

Like Bruceames has said, the name itself is simple and straight-forward and will lead many to believe that it is the 'sequel' to DVD.

Blu-Ray? ... sounds like a surgical procedure or someother techno-babble thingy...LOL

HD-DVD is backwards compatible, like BR (BD, Blu-ray, or whatever its final acronym will be), but the engineering process for HD-DVD is much cheaper and simpler & that is why the prices for HD-DVD can be so much cheaper. The disc manufacturers will have to only tweak their factories to make HD-DVD. Not for BR...not by a long shot.

Ppl will buy price, as is happening, and BR will soon be our modern day beta-max.

My poker bet is with HD-DVD. Red over Blue.