3 U.S. film studios to release 89 films on HD DVD in late 2005

[intogamer]

Er whats the point. You need a HD tv or something nice.

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: Chadder007
This sucks. No one is going to go all out and get this like they did DVD's.

Besides, DIVX6 is about to come out and will allow DVD players with the codec installed to be able to play High Def movies on a single DVD.

WMVHD already allows this, divx is behind the times

 

[Queasy]

Great, can't wait for the stories of little old ladies getting trampled in the rush for HD-DVD/Blu-Ray players at Wal-Mart on Black Friday....

 

[GTaudiophile]

Total BS. HD might appeal to the .01% of geeks like us, but for the rest of the cash-strapped world, people will not rush out to junk their entire DVD collection just to replace everything with new, more expensive HD DVDs.

Movies should be released online, available for download at different resolutions.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Total BS. MD might appeal to the .01% of geeks like us, but for the rest of the cash-strapped world, people will not rush out to junk their entire DVD collection just replace everything with new, more expensive HD DVDs.

Movies should be released online, available for download at different resolutions.

But why would they need to junk their old DVD collection? HD DVD or Blu-ray drives will play old DVDs just fine.

 

[toekramp]

Originally posted by: intogamer
Er whats the point. You need a HD tv or something nice.

Er. that's the point, most people will have HD over the next few years

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: KnightBreed

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Total BS. MD might appeal to the .01% of geeks like us, but for the rest of the cash-strapped world, people will not rush out to junk their entire DVD collection just replace everything with new, more expensive HD DVDs.

Movies should be released online, available for download at different resolutions.

But why would they need to junk their old DVD collection? HD DVD or Blu-ray drives will play old DVDs just fine.

Come one dude! Once people get a taste of Matrix HD or Saving Private Ryan HD or Star Wars HD or LOTR HD, what do you think they will do? Their old stuff becomes worthless! Sure, some movies like Fahrenheit 9/11 won't be replaced quite as fast, but what percentage of your DVD collection is like that? I know mine is made of the type of movies I will want to see on HD.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: KnightBreed

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Total BS. MD might appeal to the .01% of geeks like us, but for the rest of the cash-strapped world, people will not rush out to junk their entire DVD collection just replace everything with new, more expensive HD DVDs.

Movies should be released online, available for download at different resolutions.

But why would they need to junk their old DVD collection? HD DVD or Blu-ray drives will play old DVDs just fine.

Come one dude! Once people get a taste of Matrix HD or Saving Private Ryan HD or Star Wars HD or LOTR HD, what do you think they will do? Their old stuff becomes worthless! Sure, some movies like Fahrenheit 9/11 won't be replaced quite as fast, but what percentage of your DVD collection is like that? I know mine is made of the type movies I will want to see on HD.

Then what the hell is the problem. If you want HD and can afford it, buy a player and repurchase some of your library. If you don't have the money, then don't buy anything.

Maybe the industry should hold back high definition content just because you can't control your purse strings.

 

[0roo0roo]

f*cktards are aiming low. they dont deserve the consumers money. bluray is the way to go.

 

[dderidex]

Originally posted by: cruzer

Originally posted by: dderidex
Is this the same thing at all as Microsoft's WMV-HD DVD standard?

Yes, both HD-DVD and Blu Ray have selected Microsoft's WMP9 high definition codec to be supported, as well as MPEG-4, so Microsoft is on both teams and wins by default...

Well, what's the big deal, then?

WMV HD-DVD doesn't require new players or new displays or anything.

At least, if your home entertainment system is PC-based.

WMV HD-DVDs are playable perfectly fine *already*. In fact, you can go to that site linked above and BUY HD-DVDs right now. You can also watch preview clips of any of them in 720p or 1080p.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: dderidex

Originally posted by: cruzer

Originally posted by: dderidex
Is this the same thing at all as Microsoft's WMV-HD DVD standard?

Yes, both HD-DVD and Blu Ray have selected Microsoft's WMP9 high definition codec to be supported, as well as MPEG-4, so Microsoft is on both teams and wins by default...

Well, what's the big deal, then?

WMV HD-DVD doesn't require new players or new displays or anything.

At least, if your home entertainment system is PC-based.

WMV HD-DVDs are playable perfectly fine *already*. In fact, you can go to that site linked above and BUY HD-DVDs right now. You can also watch preview clips of any of them in 720p or 1080p.

1) Only one of the videos at Microsoft.com is what we might consider a movie. The rest appear to be documentaries, which is great if you're into that sort of thing. Meanwhile, major content providers are gearing up to offer blockbuster movies for the next generation discs.
2) The WMV-HD movies are extremely compressed to fit onto a single DVD-9 disc. Next generation optical media will allow for considerably higher bitrate video and audio. 1920x1080 at 16mbps in VC1 will look considerably better than the same resolution at 8mpbs.
3) If I'm not mistaken none of the WMV videos at Microsoft.com are true 1080p. Those labeled 1080 are actually only 1400 (or something like that) pixels horizontal, instead of 1920, so Blu-ray and HD DVD movies will actually be higher resolution and higher bitrate.

Not to mention more channels and higher bitrate audio codecs and higher capacity for more recording storage space.

 

[thomsbrain]

WTF? FOREST FVCKING GUMP? what, so we can see his box of chocolates better? how many awesome looking movies could they have chosen, but they chose forest gump. sheesh.

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: KnightBreed

Originally posted by: Muadib
You can get a Blu-ray player now in Japan for around $3000. I read somewhere that HD DVD players will be around $1000 when they hit the market. This mirrors the old
VHS vs Betamax war, and we know how that turned out.

The Sony Blu-ray player has been on the market since late 2003. Pansonic and Sharp (I think it was Sharp) units hit the market around mid 2004. These models support writing to BD-ROM/DVD/CD discs.

As of this very moment there are exactly zero HD DVD units on the market and that supposed $1000 Toshiba won't be out until the end of 2005 and will not have any burning capabilities.

It irks me that people are choosing HD DVD based on price alone. The price of read only players will be extremely similar. Besides the optical pickup, the rest of the hardware for both HD DVD and Blu-ray players will be virtually identical.

Besides, the price of the hardware will become a commodity and come down to <$200 within a few years for either format. Meanwhile, the storage limitation will not change, so why pick the lesser of the two technologies? Because you might (and odds are the price won't be that different) save a few bucks today?

By the time the hardware gets down to <$200 we will be talking about the next decade's format. You fail to realize that less than 10% of the country even has TV sets that can use these players. Price may not matter to you, but trust me, you are in the minority. I'm betting most film houses realize this, and will go with HD DVD, because it's also cheaper for them to produce HD DVD disks. Storage limitations don't matter because the size of HD DVD will be fine for 99.999 percent of movies today. Blu-ray is destine to become a PC format for geeks like you &amp; me.

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: pulse8

Originally posted by: Muadib
VHS vs Betamax war, and we know how that turned out.

This is a little bit different, though. These are 2 different mediums for showing the same content. Someone will figure out a way to make a player that will do both.

I'm betting by that time one format will have a great lead over the other by then. That format will be HD DVD.

 

[Wag]

HD-DVD is the inferior of the two formats. This will be 15Gb HD-DVD, which isn't really enough for an HD movie.

Holding out for Blu-Ray.

 

[BD2003]

I certainly wont be touching either until there is one format, or a player than can play both. I'd prefer it to be blu ray. Which I think is going to win for one simple reason:

PS3.

Even if HD-DVD is cheaper, the PS3 will get blue ray into more households than anything HD-DVD can hope for...not to mention its already more mature than HD-DVD.

 

[0roo0roo]

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/blu-ray.htm

and recorders are out in japan already and yes, people shouldn't take kindly to companies pushing inferior products on people to "save money"... u'll never see the savings lol

as for adoption..remember dvd in the early days? heh..my first dvd player...was my creative labs dvd drive with ubersh*tty decoder card 2x!! cost like 200? now set top is 30 of course adoption isn't instant, but thats how it is.

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

I love all the Blu-Ray fanboy's in this thread... Maybe we should take a little review of a bunch of Sony's "superior" formats:

Betamax vs VHS -> Betamax dies
MiniDisk vs other portable audio solutions -> MD is in the process of dying
Memory Stick and all its variations variations vs. Compact flash -> Memory Stick is dying
Digital 8 vs. Mini DV -> Digital 8 tanks
DVD+R/W vs DVD-R/W -> DVD+R/W survives since dual format drives are made

Basically, I think that Blu-Ray's fate depends on someone making a dual format drive. PS3 may buy them some additional time, but I doubt it'll swing the format wars in their favor

 

[0roo0roo]

well most of us aren't really sony fan boys, but in this case the bluray is clearly superior.

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
I love all the Blu-Ray fanboy's in this thread... Maybe we should take a little review of a bunch of Sony's "superior" formats:

Betamax vs VHS -> Betamax dies
MiniDisk vs other portable audio solutions -> MD is in the process of dying
Memory Stick and all its' variations variations vs. Compact flash -> Memory stick is dying
Digital 8 vs. Mini DV -> Digital 8 tanks
DVD+R/W vs DVD-R/W -> DVD+R/W survives since dual format drives are made

Basically, I think that Blu-Ray's fate depends on someone making a dual format drive. PS3 may buy them some additional time, but I doubt it'll swing the format wars in their favor

Memory stick isn't exactly dying as sony cameras are still damn popular.

DVD-r is the one that seems to be losing

 

[Wag]

Blu-Ray is the superior technology.

The only reason why HD-DVD is being pushed is because it's easier to produce on current DVD pressing equipment.

I personally could care less who's behind it, I just want the superior technology to win out.

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: Wag
HD-DVD is the inferior of the two formats. This will be 15Gb HD-DVD, which isn't really enough for an HD movie.

Holding out for Blu-Ray.

Tell that to Universal, Paramount, New Line Cinema, and Warner Bros. They have already said they will have HD DVD movies out by the end of the year. BTW, a double-sided HD DVD disk can hold 30Gb.

 

[silverpig]

My dad and I saw an HD-DVD player at a local shop just after x-mas. $400 cdn.

 

[b3b0p]

Originally posted by: Princefield2040
boo. this is so gay. DVDs came out liek 2 years ago and are fine. y do we need this bs? plus we not gonna be able to copy them....

Like 2 years ago?

Like where the hell have you been?

It came out in 1997. Hardly like 2 years ago.

The quality of DVD sucks. The resolution of DVD is only 720x480.

Perhaps you still run your monitor at 640x480 because you can still see the screen.


I would rather have blu-ray, but anything better then DVD is a step in the right direction.

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

You may have money to burn on electronics but for the other 95% of the population don't. You can come up with a million and one reasons why the technologically superior product 'should' dominate, but in the end money drives the world. Realize that I say this as an EE, and someone who would prefer to see BluRay win out; the reality of it is that economics rule the world.

Kevlrick: you're saying that the sale volume (or gross sales or any other conceivable measurement) of Memory Stick is even loosely comparable to Compact Flash? Can I have some of whatever you are smoking please?
In the DVD world, neither format is "winning" or "losing" as far as I can tell; not that it matters since there are dual format drives. I don't see where I said that either + or - is dying either, don't put words in my mouth.