Blu_Ray vs HD-DVD or Wait? (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

I tried to vote for waiting, but got the following error:


So I guess I'll wait to vote until they get this whole thing sorted out

I can't see the deficiencies with DVD and I've never seen HDTV, so in my ignorance I'm in no rush to upgrade.

 

[Chris Bergmann]

There needs to be another option:

Not buy anything, watch both formats fail miserably and continue to buy "normal" DVDs for at least the next 10 years.

 

[Jack Briggs]

As I've said before, I'm jumping into HD DVD. Blu-ray has superior technology, but HD DVD is ready to roll. The prices will be in line with current DVD, and hundreds of titles already announced with a 4Q street date -- not to mention that Warner owns the distribution rights on my favorite film. So there you go.

 

[Chris Wagner]

Blu-ray all the way.

 

[Aaron_Brez]

I favor Blu-Ray, but I'm not playing until this stuff gets resolved one way or another to my satisfaction.

I'm still watching through S-Video on a 27" Toshiba from 1995 because there hasn't been enough high-def content compelling enough for me to warrant an HDTV purchase, so there's no rush for me.

(I'm not a late-adopter-- I bought a second generation Panasonic DVD player in 1997-- I'm just very, very stubborn!)

 

[Neil Joseph]

Considering just how hard it is to find that "perfect" DVD player after 7-8 years of the DVD format being here strenghtens my decision to wait. I would perfer to buy a second generation player this time around after all (or some) of the bugs have been worked out. My display, even though it is 720p/1080i does not have the digital inputs so I will have to wait and see what happens there as well, although I am certain that someone will make an adaptor. There are simply too many displays out there currently that faal into the same scenario as mine so the demand will be there for that.

 

[Harminder]

My vote right now is on waiting it out. However, I am certainly waiting to see which side FOX and ARTISAN side with. Right now if anything, I'm leaning towards HD-DVD, mostly due to cost of the media being surprisingly reasonable right off the bat, and WARNER BROS. choosing the HD-DVD format. If FOX and ARTISAN (because T2 is my favourite movie of all time) also decide to join the HD-DVD camp, then I will be picking up an HD-DVD player within a year or two of its release.

However, it's being rumoured that FOX is leaning toward Blu-Ray and if that does indeed happen, then I will wait it out until there is a clear format winner.

And to be honest, I'm more than happy with current DVD quality as it is, mostly due to the fact that I care more about sound quality than I do video. But besides that point some of the DVD's that have been released lately such as, Terminator 3, Terminator 2 - Extreme Edition, I, Robot, The Last Samurai, The Matrix Reloaded, etc. are damn good to me as they are in terms of video quality.

 

[Vader]

I hope you're right, but I am concerned that this may violate the Copy Protection Act in that the encryption present in DVI is effectively neutralized (the same way that macrovision is defeated when a 480p signal is upscaled to 1080i).....?

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I voted for waiting, but the more that I think about this, the more the problems crop up.

First, the $1000.00 players. NOT! Why are these 2 new formats coming out? There is only one answer, and that is money. If this new anti-copying format works, then Hollywood will sell more disks, but only under a few conditions:

1.The players will have to come out at around $200.00 or so. Most of the players will be nearly the same. The case, buttons and loading trays don't need to be changed at all. The factories want to recoup their initial costs, but selling 100 million units at $200.00 rather than 1 million at $1000.00 makes $en$e. (No, that doesn't divide up correctly, but the lower the price is, the more they will sell).

2. The players will have to have the lowest end of outputs. I guess I'm talking about an 'F' connector here. Not including that would limit sales. Ditto for having the players play SD disks.

3. They will make sure that there isn't any other option available. Yes, that's no more SD. Hollywood doesn't want to lose another penny because of piracy. Would you? No!

The best marketing strategy would be to come out with new players and disks, and just stop making SD's. They'll sell like hotcakes. Hollywood doesn't want a niche market. They want to stop piracy! Every SD that is pressed today has the potential for lost sales. That is what they are trying to accomplish here.

Glenn

 

[Brett_B]

It was VERY hard for me to play the "wait & see" when DVD and DIVX were battling it out even though I was going to go with the eventual winner (didn't want to do the pay-per-view).

The difference between videocassettes and DVDs is definitely night-and-day, but I just don't feel that with this format. I know I will eventually upgrade, but I will sit on the sidelines and watch this war play out. I am sure that once both systems are out, there will be a clear leader and it will just be a matter of time until the loser falls.

 

[Vader]

That is what Hollywood paranoia would have you believe, but any copy protection sceme they come up with will serve only to cause further problems for legeitimate consumers. And we all know that it is only a matter of time before the pirates hack the new "protection". Clearly, this is a case of curing the cancer by killing the patient. To the average J6P out there, there is just not enough incentive to upgrade from SD if you limit them to upgrading their equipment at the same time to get the benefits of HD.... Of course, there are those who claim that now that they've seen true hi-def, they are no longer physically capable of watching SD, but they are in the extreme minority. And I, for one, do not suffer from this particular ailment...

 

[Citizen87645]

I voted to wait, but I might change my mind when the units hit the market and if I have the funds.

 

[george kaplan]

Huh? Divx was pay-per-view. That wasn't two competing formats, it was two competing ideas - buy a movie and own it and watch it whenever you want vs. perpetual renting (pay-per-view). I certainly didn't wait on that one, I bought dvd, and fought divx every inch of the way.

This is different. This is two formats, like vhs vs. betamax.

 

[Bryant Trew]

Definitely holding off. Copy protection means I have to get rid of my existing HDTV. This would be an incredibly expensive upgrade.

 

[Steve Christou]

Interesting, so far Blu-Ray is not that far ahead of HD-DVD from those few who voted for the formats. Maybe Parker should have allowed more than one vote per person, then we could have opted to wait and also, if we like, pick which format we want to see win this war.

 

[David Brent]

Personally, I feel that Blu-Ray is the superior and preferable format, and hope it will win out.

However, for those torn between the two formats this has just been posted by High Deff on the AV Forums

 

[Brett_B]

George,

Did all of the studios support DVD when first launched, or did certain studios back DIVX? If I remember correctly (and I do) half of the studios supported DVD while the others supported DIVX, and a small handfull stood on the sidelines. Does this sound somewhat familiar with what is going on now? I sure think it does.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

I am in the same technological position as Neil - so I will wait.

 

[george kaplan]

Only in an irrelevant way. Then you had some studios promoting open-dvd (i.e., owning the films forever) vs. some studios promoting divx (i.e., pay-per-view for ever). Why in the hell would you sit on those sidelines waiting for an outcome, especially when that outcome might be pay-per-view as the only film watching option?

The current dispute is two formats of film ownership*. No matter who wins this format war, we're not going to be having a divx like pay-per-view system. I'm willing to let these two fight it out. But if one of them were a pay-per-view system, I'd be all over the other one in a flash.

It sounds like you would have been perfectly happy if divx had won and you could only watch films on a pay-per-view basis. There were certainly others who shared your view at the time, but thank God they were a minority.

* - not legal ownership of the underlying intellectual property, but ownership in the common-usage as perpetual right to view the film (with no additional fees) forever.

 

[John Goodwin]

Hmm i've just been reading about what qualifies as "HD Ready" as specified in Europe.We arent getting any HI-Def tv broadcasts until 2006,but the powers that be are now forcing manufacturers to adhere to certain specs in order to display the "HD READY" logo on their products.
A lot of plasma displays etc have been sold over here that do not comply ,but almost all sold from now are going to be compliant before any HD material is available,which is a good thing i suppose.
One of the requirements to be HD Ready is that the display will recieve signals over component "and" DVI/HDMI.
Component alone is not enough to meet the HD Ready requirement.
Theres info about it here : www.eicta.org/

It seems poor that many component only HDTV owners in the USA and elsehwere, look like being screwed over,due to them pioneering HD for the various manufacturers before any solid specs were laid down.