Ah, so your saying that you know of BD titles with lossless audio and IME-like features coming out before Christmas??

I understand that BD will get better (it has to!), but there is no indication that it will be at hd-dvd's quality by Christmas. Disney has already said that they arent even going to release anything this year. Paramount is releasing, but the HD-DVD counterpart is better (MI3 with IME and dolby digital +).

It's not a question of what will happen, it's a question of what has happened. I don't think anyone can dispute that as of right now HD-DVD is a better product overall. No one, including you, can say for sure what the future holds for Blu-Ray. What you are saying could be exactly the case or things could get worse. There's absolutely no way to know.

Personally I hope Blu-Ray does succeed as I'm a big fan of Sony products. However, based on what has been released up to this point there is no way I would consider paying $1000 for a Blu-Ray player when the HD-DVD set is half the price and out performing it in pretty much every way.

Back on topic...just the though of PotC in HD makes me drool.

Some people like to talk about this "true launch" thing and all I can think is how it is very much like born again virgins. Just because you say it, doesn't make it true.

We'll see. The Blu-Ray discs can only get better from here. When do you expect the first properly mastered disc to come out that will surpass the quality of HD-DVD?


Having seen it in HD on a TV (via the Xbox 360's HD trailers), I have to say that it's awesome to look at.

Sorry my post got people's panties in a wad, I pointed out that under the right conditions I would buy a BD player. But those conditions have not happened. When BD shows me something then I will stop being so critical. I would love to have POTC in HD. I have seen information indicating that the movie I mentioned would be on HD-DVD. I have seen no information indicating they will be on BD - they may very well come out on both.

Uhh...and MI3 will be MPEG2 on BD.

Also, Blitz compares GN&GL. Not a fair assessment. Yes, they were almost identical. It's also already been established that B&W and animated films are a helluva lot easier to compress.

let's see BD actually tackle a real full-color movie.

This is exactly the way most of us feel. This is what separates us from Sony fanboys.

True...I forgot about that!!

I honestly don't think we will see a great BD release this year.

When will the true launch for UMD happen?

Good one

He will never admit that Sony made a mistake in launching early. So, the easiest thing for him to do is act like it never happened.

The Fifth Element?? They never released it.

they were GOING to release Robocop, true release, oops that got pulled to.

Enough with this "true launch" stuff already. It's getting old and is not a valid a counterpoint. It's amazing how many chances you are willing to give Sony when a format that has been around for almost half a year now is far superior. It's funny how you Sony fanboys jump all over us HD DVD people, yet all we care about is quality, (which HD DVD has). I can tell you this much, if BD came out of the gate looking fantastic and HD DVD looked like garbage, this site would be full with BD supporters. Why is that so hard to comprehend?

I thought Amir mentioned that a B&W film was only 5-15% smaller than a color film. Remember, most of the detail we see in film is luminance, not chroma. I'm going to put my money on "WB paid attention to what they were doing" with their four also-on-HD-DVD releases. Note Blu-Ray was only similar in the one that was B&W, not the color ones.

UMD is a by-product of a portable game system.

Blu-Ray is actual Next Gen hardware backed by 90% of the movie and hardware industry. Anyone who uses UMD in reference to Blu-Ray is obviously reaching.

Blitz: When do you expect the first properly mastered disc to come out that will surpass the quality of HD-DVD?

I'd like to get this statement too. I would like to know when the "true launch" title is coming, and see what the reviews are like.

Bus

I do not have a crystal ball (much to my dismay, it must come with a HD-A1 as so many others can see into the future), but i'd venture a GUESS that by the end of this year, we'll have MOST titles being at the least, equal in PQ to their HD-DVD counterpart, with a few (maybe 5-6) that truely blow people away. Thats my best guess. By early 07, i beleive BR will be firing on all cylinders and we'll be seeing if the hype was all its cracked up to be.

Funny cause earlier, you said....

[voice of Obi-Wan] there hasn't been a Blu-Ray launch yet. these are not the discs you are looking for. you do not see these terrible discs. move along. [/end voice of Obi-Wan]

Why should consumers who spend $1000 on a player now have to wait 6-8 months for a worth-while disc to be released?

Let's see...Spend $500 now and get to be amazed by PQ and AQ now or spend $1000 now on a player and hope that by the end of the year there's something worth watching available.

At the very least you have to agree that whoever in Sony decided to launch the format this early when it clearly is nowhere close to ready should be fired. They truely underestimated what HD-DVD was going to provide.

The "true launch" for BR happened the day people could walk into a store, plunk down a cool $1000 and take home a player and discs. To argue otherwise is to apologize and make excuses.

Absolutely correct.

Anything ANYTHING that you say about the future of BD can easily and JUST AS ACCURATELY be applied to the future of HD-DVD. Of course the last grasp of the Sony maniacs is that "there's always tomorrow." Well every tomorrow seems to look worse and worse for Sony.

Yeah, I cant wait....the "true launch" of hd-dvd hasnt happened yet either. This Q4 when we see bigger titles released (like Batman Begins, Harry Potter, Mission Impossible and so on), THEN ill say the launch happened.

yeah....how about that Pirates movie, eh?

How much of this should be in the "Vs." thread?

Lets see.. Batman Begins.. WB.. Harry Potter.. WB.. MI... Paramount.. So all 3 of those movies will be on Blu-Ray as well. Yah, im sure thats going to blow the door wide open for HD-DVD to have them on the same rack as the Blu-Ray Disc counterpart. GO RED TEAM GO!