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HD DVD or Blu-Ray?
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[Deleted User]
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I'm looking at getting a new DVD player and was thinking of one of these, but unsure of which to go for or which is best? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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[Deleted User]
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Horses for courses.
Both have advantages and both have disadvantages.
Both play DVD's although you wont find a UK player that plays R1 dvd's .
I would prefer HDDVD because the players are cheaper and for the movie companies the discs are cheaper to produce.
The only thing BR has going for it is that some films companies are only releasing on that format.
Although some discs are not region coded some are
HDDVD is also in the same boat but it also has cheap players and is region free.
If you are up for a PS3 then its BR playback is a bonus.
At the moment I would sit tight and see what happens as its still early days.
Despite Star Trek TOS and Heroes on HD DVD I have resisted dipping in.
Movie selections on both formats is pretty uninspiring at the moment
Blu-Ray, meanwhile, will be boosted by the cheaper PS3.
Only with the Australian firmware.
Even though there are no region codes for HD DVD yet, if ever, the HD DVD world is still divided up into areas.
US
Europe
Asia(includes Australia)
Japan.
If you update any other areas HD-XE1 with the Australian firmware, you'll be communicating with the Asia area servers when you go on-line.:eek:
There's also the possibility that due to the wrong area IP address being seen you could be locked out of on-line content.
Therefore if you require future firmware updates you'll get the wrong one.
The only way round this is if you have already updated with the Australian firmware is to download the next UK firmware direct, when it's available and burn it to disc.
UK Official Version Here.
However, the best format doesn't always win and it seems that Blu-Ray is going to win the format war because of much greater format support, so if you want to buy a player now a Blu-Ray Disc player maybe the way to go. Just grab a 40Gb PS3 for £280-ish and you're laughing. I just wish they weren't phasing the 60Gb out and I'd love that to be my Blu-Ray Disc player if the format wins. I just don't want to have to buy one now!
Doesn't the Xbox360 plud HD DVD drive cost more than the PS3?. In which case the players are hardly cheaper?.
However, standalone HD DVD players are cheaper than standalone Blu Ray players - but really I think it's pretty obvious it's the PS3 that is giving Blu Ray the lead. Kids want a console, parents want to play HD - the PS3 is a very cost effective solution.
What sort of budget are you thinking of?
Simply put Blu-ray and to a slightly lesser extent HD DVD are far more expensive that a half decent DVD player.
Cheaper HD players tend to have short comings in terms of Blu-ray it's the lack of the more advanced Profile 1.1/2.0 functions and HD DVD it's no 1080p on the base model.
If the actual initial buy in isn't a problem then it comes down to the movies and while HD DVD serves me very well just recently the Blu-ray camp have a much higher release rate.
Have you purchased a HD television yet? If not, then make sure you get a 1080p model and ensure that your new hi-def disc player can also output 1080p. With both of those, you should be blown away by the quality which far exceeds even upscaled DVD.
I should hope so, upscaled DVD's are still just SD, it looks nothing like HD at all. 1080P probably doesn't make much difference, 1080i is the same resolution anyway, it's mainly the lower compression used on a DVD that makes it look than broadcast HD, not being 1080P or 1080i.
While agreeing that this is true I did, after some thought, decide to get an upscaling DVD Player (Sony DVP-NS78), and I believe that with HDMI and 1080P it gives FAR better results from my existing DVD collection than using SCART.
I take it you've not got an HD source then?, and it sounds like you perhaps weren't using RGB via the SCART lead?.
We sell the Sony players, and on a Sony TV there's barely any difference between RGB SCART and upscaled HDMI - I certainly couldn't tell you which was which. If the upscaler in your TV isn't very good though, I would expect an upscaling DVD player to give a decent improvement.
Dont forget that Samsung make a hybrid HD-DVD/BlueRay player - although the reviews say the performance of this machine is less than a single format machine, plus, the hybrid costs more.
Best value must be the latest PS3 - a half decent BlueRay player + games. But your stuck on the Blue Ray format.
There is another thing to keep in mind - the "next gen" disc formats may not take over from normal DVD. Remember that CD was to be replaced by SACD or DVD-A, but it didnt happen. Internet downloads are now taking over. This could happen for video too, especially while there are two disc formats fighting each other.
Dave
Though, I can see the difference between RGB scart and Progressive Scan Component plain as day. So I would have thought if you set the player to 720p instead of 1080i you would have seen a improvement. You may have even got better results if you set the player to output 576p and let the TV do all the upscaling.
To be honest though, I wouldent waste my money on a HDMI upscaling DVD player. As you say, there isnt much of a improvement unless your TVs scaling is bad.
-Chris
But with Paramount /Dreamworks dropping Bluray thats set to change.
BR may have support on paper but most of the electronics companies who say they are in favour of it have yet to bother putting any players out there.
I would say that HDDVD has a more promising future at the moment .
The budget priced players will certainly help it.
That was due to a nice $150 Million donation from Microsoft to become HD DVD Exclusive for 18 Months. After the 18 Months (hopefully a winner will be more noticeable) Paramount and DreamWorks can then release films on Blu-ray.
Personal opinion, I think Blu-ray is looking good, it's even storming ahead in America now, plus all 4 Die Hard films are coming out on it. Die Hard, in HD, what more could you want?
I'm a HD DVD owner and admit that I can not see any circumstances that would lead to the death of Blu-ray. Even if HD DVD has a bumper xmas (sub $200 players are a reality) and continued solid releases at the very best I could only see a formal neutral stance from all studios.
Again it comes to the price of the hardware (console/standalone), what features are important to you (region free, ethernet, pip, PCM audio etc) and the current and future movie lineups from supporting studios.
Hopefully 2008 will see a genuine lineup of dual players although price wise owning two machines is viable when compared to the launch price of the formats:)
...."Also there was Dan Silverberg, VP of high-definition media for Warner Home Video, which since Paramount’s move to the HD DVD camp is the only studio to support both next-generation formats.
That may not be for long, Silverberg said. “One thing that may be changing is our strategy,” he said. “When both formats launched and hardware prices were high, we made a decision to support both formats and let the consumer decide. But now that hardware pricing is affordable for both Blu-ray and HD DVD, it appears consumers no longer want to decide — so the notion of staying in two formats for the duration is something we are re-evaluating now that we are in the fourth quarter.”
Silverberg noted that Warner has the top-selling Blu-ray title of all time with 300 and is consistently No. 1 or No. 2 in both Blu-ray sales market share and in number of Blu-ray titles in the market.
“We can definitely talk Blu-ray,” he said. “We are committed to the format.”
Article link
thats what i thought. also having it built in to the ps3 is neater
it will be interesting to see how it plays out over christmas, especially with many 'cheap' blu-ray players(new ps3) expected to be sold with the price drop, fixing them to the blu-ray format
definatly with the consumer attitude at the moment. with sharp on the blu-ray format i thiink they are due to launch a 'budget' player also
It's a shame Die Hard 4 is one of the worst films ever made.
Love the first 3
airplane 2 was pretty bad:D:D
It doesn't really matter why Paramount swapped over just that they have.
While Die Hard in HD would be nice I'd prefer Star Trek and HDDVD is already starting to offer that.
Its a shame that Spielberg titles are still absent.
Its about time Universal gave us Jaws,Jurassic Park and Back to the Future.
That would certainly move things along.
At the moment neither format has released any killer titles