DIVX.

One thing that might be affecting his HD-DVD viewing is that he doesn't have the newest firmware for his HD-DVD player and has it set for 720p.

Very good point. I bet that could explain it.

Back to HD vs BD:
this is a very minor thing, but I like HDDVDs website better.
Blu-ray.com looks like a forum. Which is fine for forums, but not what I want to see when checking out 'next gen dvd'.
I didn't know HDDVD stood for 'high density dvd' I thought it was high def.

Looking at the current movie listings on both sites, it seems to me that BD has more 'big hits' that might be system sellers [apart from that pesky player 1,000$ MSRP]. Some of them are from studios that support both formats, but the same movie isn't on both yet. I know [well, you educated folks are] discussing the impact of authoring challenges and technical difficulties on studio support, but realistically, how likely is it that some of the format-specific studios at least branch out and release titles on both formats [excepting Sony, of course]?

I would think that is very likely after the holidays if both formats proove to be viable. I think they will.

The only thing that concerns me is if theese formats can coexist, there may not be any incentive to have a unified format for what comes after HDDVD/BR. I'd hate to see lots of proprietery formats everywhere.

I believe Blu-Ray.com is not an official site.

This is the official Blu-ray site: http://www.blu-raydisc.com/

This is the official licensing site: http://www.blu-raydisc.info/

The next format is going to be VOD. Sad.

Blu-ray.com is a forum. I used to post there. May post there again one day.

oh, that explains it. Yeah, http://www.blu-raydisc.com/ does look a lot more professional.

I'm not too interested in VoD either.

That would be sad. I love having a physival disk and case. I hate to just have it on a hard drive.

VoD bores me. Take it away!

This has been much discussed here. BD does have much greater studio support; only Universal is exclusive to HD DVD among the majors. Would Fox and/or Disney start releasing on both formats?

In the case of Fox, they are reportedly supporting BD because of better copy protection features. If that is the reason, I think they will stick tight for now.

In the case of Disney, they reportedly wanted the larger disc capacity so they could load them up with games and other interactive features. They also wanted the Java on BD (although I think HD DVD also has interactive capability that might be good enough for them). With the difficulties in manufacturing BD50 there is some speculation that Disney might be willing to start releasing on HD DVD.

I'm not really clear on why Universal is such a staunch HD DVD supporter.

With all the speculation about exclusive studios possibly supporting the other side, it is helpful to remember that there are only a tiny number of players out there and there is plenty of time for the studios to take a "wait and see" stance to see how their chosen format does in the coming year. Sales of high def discs are only a drop in the DVD bucket, as I think Spiky said awhile back.

The fact that Sony hasn't been delivering on its promises might be frustrating to Fox and Disney, or they might be willing to hang tough for awhile longer. I'd sure like to know what they are really saying behind closed doors!

Universal jumped right out of the gate and has been releasing vigorously on HD DVD. They are giving their chosen format their best shot (in sharp contrast to Fox and Disney, BTW) and it seems unlikely they will switch unless market share for disc sales becomes very lopsided, say 90% BD to 10% HD DVD.

Sony/Columbia won't switch until someone prys the remote from the last BD player from their cold, dead, hands. They've got a lot invested in the success of the BD format.

IMHO, of course.

I've heard VOD forever. I think it has its place, but I still don't see owning your movies going away either. Considering the bandwith problems in this country VOD is probably a long, long way from being a real contender to DVD.

As a rental replacement, maybe, but I think it would take a LOT to convince most people to give up physical media for movies they want to "own." Thanks to DVD, people now buy as much as they rent, because the media provides so many conveniences, some of which can't be matched by VOD, at least not with current technology.

This is because HD-DVD can hold general data instead of just video, so they don't want the name applicable to just video. It's much like how the meaning of DVD transmuted from "Digital Video Disc" to "Digital Versatile Disc" to just "DVD". To be sure though, the DVD forum chose "High Density" because it abbreviates to the same acronym as "High Definition."

I think its simply that we like having a physical disc. Like you said, I think VOD will work for rentals, but thats it.

Movie fans are so used to buying DVDs, that its almost like a past time. Its become part of our culture and is making waaaay too much money for studios to tinker with it. I dont see that going away for a long, long time.

Similar to online shopping vs bricks/mortar argument, we still like to get out and shop. In this case, we still like to physically have something to buy and claim some sort of ownership.

Maybe future generations will feel differently, but its engrained in me now. I get a rush buying movies online or at the store. I wouldnt get that same feeling just doing VOD or even saving to a hard drive.

That would take the "collecting" or "hobby" out of it which is no fun.

Think not so much VOD but Itunes, where people download to own movies on their PCs and portable devices much like they do with music now. Intergrating that type of service with a home theater system, possibly on a tivo-like device, would give people access to a nearly unlimited number of titles for near instantaneous access. Plus, the online versions could supply a larger variety of alternate soundtracks and subtitles, plus extras that could constantly expand. People could either rent or purchase titles, then make DRM-protected copies to a variety of devices. Download the most recent episode of a show, along with instant commentary, deleted scenes, etc. Watch it on your home TV, then download it to your ipod or PSP.

Bandwidth issues would be the biggest problem, but people have already shown with Itunes that they're happy to just get the music, regardless of if they purchase a physical media.

However, one big boon in HD-DVD and BD'x favor is that I don't expect another video standard above 1080p to come out for several decades. The FCC isn't going to introduce another video standard for OTA less the public revolts, and any outside video improvement is going to have an uphill battle with consumers, the majority of which currently don't even see the need to upgrade to HDTV over a 60-year old video standard.

That's good in theory but a lot of people, myself included buy DVDs to collect them. Having a CD book full of home burned discs just isn't the same even if the disc content is identical.

VOD will eliminate the "collector" mentality (nothing really to collect.. no nice cases, no booklets, etc). No more LEs.

This will kill a LOT of sales.

Exactly....does anyone remember the bitching on this forum when they removed inserts?

Just think what will happen when they remove the disc.

(Legal) music downloads are an interesting comparison. Although they've been around for a few years, you can still purchase CDs, and they don't seem to be going away any time soon. There are issues that limit the acceptance of downloads somewhat (quality, DRM) but those are likely to be there for movies as well.

What's different about music, though, is the random-access nature of it. People like to be able to jump from one song to another without changing discs, but movies aren't the same. I don't think "now I'll watch chapter 4 of this movie, and then I'll watch chapter 10 from this other movie." Unless you're demoing different scenes, there's not much incentive for having all those movies available for instant access. Changing a disc is not much of an inconvenience when you're going to keep it spinning in the player for two hours or more at a time.

I also dont think there is as much of a collector's mentality when it comes to music and cds. Maybe im wrong, but I dont know many people who collect CDs like people who collect DVDs.

Disney does NOT want to use Java. They helped create iHD (the interactive layer of HD DVD), and petitioned the BDA to adopt it.

Look, I'm not saying that there is no place for VOD. All I'm saying is that it is foolish to assume that it will replace phsyical media. For people with high levels of technical expertise, or the money to pay someone who has it, VOD may provide a satisfactory model (as long as they are willing to accept less-than-excellent image quality, long download times, and all of the other headaches that VOD causes). Or, if people want to have their "home video" collection become nothing more than iPod fodder, then it may work for them as well. But for me, and most other people who care at all about real convenience and image quality, VOD is not the answer. At least, not for the next 15-20 years.

Using iTunes as an example when talking about bandwidth is really not a good idea. Most of the video you can download from iTunes today is of less than VHS quality, and it still takes a while to download, even over a 4 Mbit connection (which I have). For bandwidth, music and movies are two WILDLY different animals.

Whatever improvements are made will be in the form of "opt in" improvements, much the way 1080p has been introduced. It isn't part of the ATSC broadcast standard, but many TVs now support it, and virtually all HD DVD and BD media will use it exclusively. But does that leave someone with lesser capabilities in the dark? No, they will simply see the quality that matches their TV, and many will never know the difference.

Well, like I said, I don't see 1080p being usurped by a better video standard anytime soon, so HD DVD and BD will service the disc market adequitly for years to come. What's another disc format going to offer, more storage, better codecs? Both current disc formats seem capable of offering HD video in quality that's going to be good enough for most people, and when something is "good enough," newer formats of similar type have trouble usurping it, see CD vs. SACD or DVD-A.

However....

And how badly have DVD sales suffered due to the lack of inserts. Did studios arbitrarily decide one day to remove inserts, or did they do market research, maybe a few test releases, to see if inserts significantly affect sales. If collector interest in inserts wasn't enough to save them, then how large is the true collector interest?

And what do we mean by collector, what are their motives. Do most people buy for the purpose of collecting a large number of titles, or do they purchase so that they have the convenience of watching what they want, when they want? Even modern day rental can't match the convenience of owning a title. If they can have that convenience without owning the disc, will they still opt for the purchase?

CDs actually have a stronger collector's attachment to them, since you can't rent CDs. Thus people can buy and ammase a large number of CDs over the course of their lifetime. They may never have to time to listen to them all regularly, and some discs mare hardly get played at all, but that's true of someone with a large DVD collection as well.

CDs are subject to people who purchase them, listen to them extensively, then get rid of them. Also, CDs are subject to "one hit wonder" type problems, where a person may buy it for one song, and dislike the rest of the album. Thus used CD stores are common. However, I'm seeing a lot of DVDs going that way as well.

Yeah, I don't see video downloads or streams replacing disc formats comepletely, but I do see them being the next real viable competitor to HD-DVD and BD.

The length can factor into it, but it's largely a convenience issue. People like music files because they can have a large selection constantly with them that's easy abd quick to access. People amass a DVD collection so they have a large selection of choices they have easy and instant access to. Instant access of downloads can greatly influence the rental model since who wants to go out or wait in the mail for what you want now? And once instant rental or purchase is possible, along with instant access of what you've already purchased, why are you holding on to the actual discs?

Think about smaller segments than films, like TV episodes, or sketches, or short films, or music videos. How many people buy a whole season of a TV show because of a few episodes they really like? How many of us dislike short film comp DVDs because you get stuck with a bunch of crappy shorts in order to have the one you like? How many music video comps contain only the videos you want? How many of us use youtube to few short clips, either homemade or from various TV shows, of sketches or other things? Bite-size video exists, and current disc formats can't really cater to it.