Next Gen DVD format: HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray

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MonsieurBond

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Has anyone pre-ordered the first HD-DVD player in the world, the Toshiba HD-A1, from http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E1PTGK/sr=8-1/qid=1139526321/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-9365625-7087922?%5Fencoding=UTF8 (Amazon)?

It is a pity that we are going to have format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray.

Do AAM consumers plan to delay buying into either camp until a compromise is reached, or until one format wins out over the other?

Or will people wait for the Sony Playstation 3 to come out, with its Blu-ray drive? Sony is betting on this device taking off, and driving the Blu-Ray format with it.

[broken link removed] is a good site for info on both formats.
 
I tend to be a late adopter of gadgets in general and where there are format wars in particular. I don't really want to pay for the privilege of being a beta tester or left with obsolete gear.
 
ClubMan said:
I tend to be a late adopter of gadgets in general and where there are format wars in particular. I don't really want to pay for the privilege of being a beta tester or left with obsolete gear.
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True - I don't usually buy Version 1.0 products myself, but would still be an earlier adopter than most.

I didn't get into SACD or DVD Audio (the next-gen CD audio formats) until I could buy a decent universal player. Unfortunately, the existence of two competing high resolution audio formats completely symied its adoption. (It also didn't help that the world went mad for downloaded audio files at vastly inferior quality compared even to the ageing CD.

I wonder will movie downloading make higher capacity DVDs obsolete?

I personally don't think so, not in the near future at least.

Still, back to the next gen DVD players - €500 is very reasonable for a 1st generation product - DVD players were much more expensive when they first came out. Unfortunately, it is a player only, not a recorder. Still, the HD-DVD camp are hoping that the early start will give them a significant advatage over Blu-ray.

The strange thing is that people will be comparing the quality of Blu-ray Discs a top-end standalone HD DVD player to the probably inferior player in the Playstation 3, as opposed to the probably much more expensive standalone players such as the http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000DZS0G8/ref=amb_left-2_157643501_2/104-9365625-7087922?n=172282 (Sony BDP-S1)!

I suspect that I (and many others!) will end up buying a PS3 and thus will end up buying some Blu-ray Discs (BDs) almost by default. Particularly if Sony's BD disc pricing has anything to do with it.
 
The first reviews of the first HD-DVD titles are in - The Last Samurai, Phantom of the Opera, Serenity.

Verdict seems to be that unless you have a very large screen, you might not notice the difference between upscaled DVDs (i.e. where either the DVD player or the TV uses "pixel doubling" algorithms to insert additional lines by guessing at the missing pixels based on the colour and other information of the surrounding pixells) and HD-DVD.

(Check out the Engadget - Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD player review roundup as well.)

Unfortunately, you need a HD-DVD player to play them as well, such as the $500 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E1PTGK/sr=8-1/qid=1145528901/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-3710511-8253400?%5Fencoding=UTF8 (Toshiba HD-A1) or the higher spec $800 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E21TY0/sr=8-2/qid=1145528857/ref=sr_1_2/103-3710511-8253400?%5Fencoding=UTF8 (Toshiba HD-XA1).

I was tempted to buy some discs until I figured out that while they are dual layer, they don't include a regular (Standard Definition) DVD layer, so you can only play them on a HD-DVD player and not on a regular DVD player. Dual format DVD/HD-DVDs are rumoured to be on the way - I for one am going to wait for this.

LG have announced a universal player for later this year as well, which will play DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray (the competing format).

It's a huge pity there is not a single HD disc format as consumers (including normal early adopters such as yours truly) won't be willing to invest in what could turn out to be another Betamax fiasco.
 
Well I for one couldn't be arsed - I think the quality of existing DVDs played on my 32' CRT through my 5 year old 5.1 surround system is more than enough for my needs. I'm not sure that the uplift in video quality warrants the spend on HD (Blu Ray or HD) specific equipment; and until NTL MMDS is broadcasting HD channels and content I will sit on the sidelines and wait for a definite standard to emerge.

To go slightly OT I would like to be an early adopter but can't afford it, but I did recently plunge for a Roku Soundbridge WiFi music player; and I have to say I am not impressed - it's brilliant when it works and I am definitely in favour of the concept even with the degradation of sound quality but I am finding myself spending more time fiddling with router settings, wifi channels, dropped connections, missing music libraries and unavailable radio stations than actually listening to any music!! - I still have a week or so left on my return warranty and am seriously considering sending the whole bloody thing back. I would have gone for a Sonos (to the delight of Wexfordman!!) but the money was too much.

So after that experience I think I will stick to more tried and tested technologies, and that includes HD vs Blu Ray!

(Apologies for the waffle off topic ;) )
 
As an aside, Pioneer do, or used do a very nifty player which supported DVD and BOTH DVD-Audio and Super Audio and it wasn't that expensive. i think it was the 347 or 747 model...
 
It looked like Blu-Ray was going to beat HD in the format war-until recently HD announced it could achieve the same storage as Blu-ray.I'd say wait two years-there will be a standardised format. You'd think that thse companies would have learned from their mistakes with DVD platform!!!
 
legend99 said:
As an aside, Pioneer do, or used do a very nifty player which supported DVD and BOTH DVD-Audio and Super Audio and it wasn't that expensive. i think it was the 347 or 747 model...
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Yeah, I had one of these - the Pioneer DV-747Ai - I bought into the SACD and DVD-Audio technology, but unfortunately, most people didn't so it didn't take off. The reason it didn't take off was that there are two competing technologies.

There is a fear that the same thing will happen to the competing High Def DVD standards. Home Cinema Choice has an interesting article this month from Denon and other highly regarded UK hi-fi manufacturers saying that universal players killed off both SACD and DVD-Audio; i.e. if the studios has insisted on there only being one high resolution audio format and not issued high res discs until a single format was chosen or a compromise format was chosen, then high res audio would have been a success. The same thing, they say, is likely to happen to high def video (DVD) discs - people will sit on the fence, and probably just buy standard definition DVDs. The fact that LG and others have announced a universal player will, in their view, damage the take up of high def DVDs as the studios can then sit on the fence.

At the end of the day, the format with the most titles may win the day.

I see that Universal are going to release HD-DVD / DVD hybrid discs from May 23 - including King Kong (damn! I knew I should have waited!) I reckon I'll buy hybrid discs for a while to hedge my bets, in the same way as I stopped buying vinyl and started buying CDs one year before I invested in a CD player! (I used to tape them anyway and use the LP as backup; nowadays, I buy CD or SACD and rip to my iPod and use the CD/SACD as backup!)

I have also read some interesting articles saying that HD-DVD will win simply because of the name, as it easy for sales people to understand and sell it. Picture it - you are in DID buying a HDTV and the salesman says "and if you buy it, we will knock €100 off this HD-DVD to play on it". Both salesman and consumer instantly knows what a HD-DVD is. However, Blu(e)-Ray requires further explanation and may end up sitting on the shelf.
 
Goldman said:
It looked like Blu-Ray was going to beat HD in the format war-until recently HD announced it could achieve the same storage as Blu-ray.I'd say wait two years-there will be a standardised format. You'd think that thse companies would have learned from their mistakes with DVD platform!!!
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This is not strictly true - HD-DVD is 15Gb per layer, Blu-Ray 25G. Obviously, adding multiple layers increases the capacity, so arguably, in the future as multiple layers become the norm (as dual layer became the norm for pre-recorder DVDs, although the dual layer recordable discs are still way too expensive) the single layer capacity eventually does not matter that much, if you can live with the layer changes.

The HD-DVD forum would argue that HD-DVD was the result of industry standard and confirmity, having learned from the DVD experience, where two competing formats were merged eventually - and thankfully - merged at the last minute. However, Sony among others are too keen to make more money by owning a bigger part of the royalty pie.

So, while HD-DVD seems to be the more universal option, it is going to be hard to argue with Blu-Ray players from the big hitters of Sony and Philips. I can't see Sony embracing universal players for a long time - you still can't buy a Sony DVD player that plays DVD-Audio, for example, even though the chipset costs buttons.
 
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