Blu-ray vs. HD DVD Discussion Thread
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Just to add to the whole "Porn ignores Blu-ray" is nonsense.
www.theinquirer.net
Not my favourite site so also www.msnbc.msn.com (Which isn't either but hey ho..)
For those who want porn look no further than the internet. It will have only the slightest effect on the HD DVD and Blu-ray format war. Really the whole thing is bogus.
www.theinquirer.net
Not my favourite site so also www.msnbc.msn.com (Which isn't either but hey ho..)
For those who want porn look no further than the internet. It will have only the slightest effect on the HD DVD and Blu-ray format war. Really the whole thing is bogus.
The downside of hi-def:
So I was watching Stargate on Blu-ray tonight. On the whole, looks great, sounds great.
But as the oldest movie I have on Blu-ray, the HD really demonstrates flaws in the original master. Or more specifically, the original print that the master is pulled from.
For example, this was the fledgling days of CGI, so most of the VFX were done the old fashioned way of optical compositing. The extra processing shows up quite vividly in HD as increased noise, reduced color saturation and lower contrast.
But what I found most humorous when watching the film were the parts at the beginning when they first arrive on Abydos. They're all outside, wearing these big, highly reflective sunglasses. On the DVD, you could make out stuff in the reflections.. big bright blur that would be a light or reflector, big dark blur that's the grouping commonly known as "video village" (the crew piled up behind the camera). In HD, on the other hand... I could actually make out the entire reflector in Kurt Russell's sunglasses.. down to the fabric it was made from and the way it was assembled. A fabric wall about eight feet by ten feet, divided into six or eight segments, made of a reflective silvery material (probably something akin to a projection screen). Surrounded by about twelve to fifteen individual people. You could even tell what some of them were wearing (one guy had a red shirt/jacket). And this was all in the reflections on the actor's sunglasses.
Would that be a good thing, or a bad thing?
I mean, it's probably a good thing that I can make out that much damn detail. But the audience isn't supposed to see that stuff.. hehe.
So I was watching Stargate on Blu-ray tonight. On the whole, looks great, sounds great.
But as the oldest movie I have on Blu-ray, the HD really demonstrates flaws in the original master. Or more specifically, the original print that the master is pulled from.
For example, this was the fledgling days of CGI, so most of the VFX were done the old fashioned way of optical compositing. The extra processing shows up quite vividly in HD as increased noise, reduced color saturation and lower contrast.
But what I found most humorous when watching the film were the parts at the beginning when they first arrive on Abydos. They're all outside, wearing these big, highly reflective sunglasses. On the DVD, you could make out stuff in the reflections.. big bright blur that would be a light or reflector, big dark blur that's the grouping commonly known as "video village" (the crew piled up behind the camera). In HD, on the other hand... I could actually make out the entire reflector in Kurt Russell's sunglasses.. down to the fabric it was made from and the way it was assembled. A fabric wall about eight feet by ten feet, divided into six or eight segments, made of a reflective silvery material (probably something akin to a projection screen). Surrounded by about twelve to fifteen individual people. You could even tell what some of them were wearing (one guy had a red shirt/jacket). And this was all in the reflections on the actor's sunglasses.
Would that be a good thing, or a bad thing?
I mean, it's probably a good thing that I can make out that much damn detail. But the audience isn't supposed to see that stuff.. hehe.
- 6,009
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- D-Nitrate / GTP_DNitrate
More Blu-ray vs HD DVD indicators:
Also, only 1% of XB360 owners have bought the HD DVD add-on player.
- Regularly Updated Amazon Sales Ranking Comparison & Data on all HD DVD & Blu-ray Titles
Blu-ray titles are drastically outselling HD DVD titles on Amazon, even among dual format releases, and there are many times more exclusive Blu-ray titles than HD DVD.
- Blu-ray takes 96% of the Japanese Market
Japan represents the second largest market in the world in terms of DVD sales.
- JB Hi-Fi doesn't give a rat's about HD DVD
JB Hi-Fi will only stock Blu-ray titles and players.
- Hooray for Blu-ray, it's Looking Like a Winner
While Australia represents a much smaller market in terms of sales, its reaction to the format war appears to be right inline with the majority of markets.
- David Carnoy, Executive Editor of CNET, Predicts HD DVD surrenders by September
While even he admits it isn't likely to happen this quickly, although the point he makes is that while Toshiba and Microsoft will likely continue to support HD DVD, the vast majority of companies and consumers will not.
- Newsweek Article that Explains Clearly why the Porn Industry will not Impact the Format War
I am still surprised on how many media outlets allowed themselves to get duped by the HD DVD Promotional Group and a few Porn producers with their false claims.
- Bill Hunt, owner of TheDigitalBits.com and former HD DVD supporter, responds to HD DVD backers and asks readers to write to Universal to end their support of HD DVD.
Also, only 1% of XB360 owners have bought the HD DVD add-on player.
livemusic
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Scaff
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I wouldn't even rule Europe as a win for HD-DVD yet, keep in mind that the piece above was written on April 10th, less than a month after around 600,000 PS3 were sold in Europe.
That's a rather massive increase in the number of potential Blu-ray buyers straight away, even if half of them buys a Blu-ray film, that's rather a lot of units shifted. The PS2 was instrumental in the rapid rise of DVD as a format in Europe (being the first DVD player many people owned), next gen consoles may well prove to be the key in this round asa well.
On the flip side I don't personally know of a single 360 owner who has bought a HD-DVD drive. I think its also worth noting that European studio's will still want to sell discs outside Europe and that will mean using Blu-ray.
On a related note I was interested to see that the 360 Elite will not come with a HD-DVD drive as standard, a sign that MS are putting a bit of distance between themselves and the format.
Regards
Scaff
That's a rather massive increase in the number of potential Blu-ray buyers straight away, even if half of them buys a Blu-ray film, that's rather a lot of units shifted. The PS2 was instrumental in the rapid rise of DVD as a format in Europe (being the first DVD player many people owned), next gen consoles may well prove to be the key in this round asa well.
On the flip side I don't personally know of a single 360 owner who has bought a HD-DVD drive. I think its also worth noting that European studio's will still want to sell discs outside Europe and that will mean using Blu-ray.
On a related note I was interested to see that the 360 Elite will not come with a HD-DVD drive as standard, a sign that MS are putting a bit of distance between themselves and the format.
Regards
Scaff
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All excellent points Scaff.
Now, what is interesting is that despite being former exclusive supporters of HD DVD, both Warner Bros and Paramount are reported to be working with the studios that exclusive support Blu-ray to promote Blu-ray over HD DVD in European markets as the Hi-Def video format of choice:
Anyone who takes even a mild look at European sales of DVD's, and especially worldwide sales, already knows that all the combined sales of DVDs from those 35 "studios" are but a very small fraction of the sales of DVDs from those supporting Blu-ray:
- Warner Bros.
- Paramount
- Sony Pictures
- Columbia Pictures
- TriStar Pictures
- 20th Century Fox
- MGM
- United Artists
- Orion Pictures
- Buena Vista Motion Pictures
- Walt Disney Pictures
- Touchstone Pictures
- Hollywood Pictures
- Miramax Films
- Pixar
- Lion's Gate Films
- Artisan Entertainment
- Republic Pictures
- and others
Now, what is interesting is that despite being former exclusive supporters of HD DVD, both Warner Bros and Paramount are reported to be working with the studios that exclusive support Blu-ray to promote Blu-ray over HD DVD in European markets as the Hi-Def video format of choice:
HDTV UK
*points to TVR_Fan*
Personally, I've seen them everywhere on Flickr and the various Macintard forums (!) when I'm browsing game console set-ups. Not that it means much, since statistics-wise the add-on is bombing.
Well said. 👍They might as well have said over 500 European "studios" are supporting HD DVD, considering how few DVD titles they sell, its practically meaningless. It would be like a car dealer who mostly sells Yugo's announces they will not be selling any cars from Japan, US, Germany, UK, Italy, France, etc... Really? wow.... well that certainly is going to impact the market.
- 40,422
That's funny on multiple levels, and I'm unsure if you made it that way intentionally or not.They might as well have said over 500 European "studios" are supporting HD DVD, considering how few DVD titles they sell, its practically meaningless. It would be like a car dealer who mostly sells Yugo's announces they will not be selling any cars from Japan, US, Germany, UK, Italy, France, etc... Really? wow.... well that certainly is going to impact the market.
My cousin breifly owned one, as he bought it under the pretext (which, if I recall correctly, was not exactly discouraged by the Gamestop employee he bought it from. At least, I think he got it from Gamestop...) that it would have HD-DVD games come out for it à la Sega CD. Needless to say, he was not amused when he learned that not to be the case.Scaff
Scaff
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I must confess that when it was confirmed that the 360 would not be supporting HD-DVD games I was a tiny bit surprised, as up to that point I had seriously been considering getting a 360. I do hope that at the very least they produce one that matches the 360 Elite, can you imagine buying an Elite (which does look good) and having to put the (in my opinion) butt ugly HD-DVD drive next to it.
Scaff
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- Small_Fryz
do you guys think that the success of PS3 and Blue-ray are together? as one grows stronger (doesnt matter which) the other will too?
livemusic
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I think so. As the PS3 becomes more popular people will start to buy BD movies to watch on it. And as the BD format grows stronger people will start to look for players for it, so why not get a PS3 that can do that and play games.
I know that was one of the reasons I got a PS2 in 2002, it was a videogame and a DVD player in one.
Scaff
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Personally yes I do believe they are linked, Europe is a good example of this, 600,000 new Blu-ray owners over a weekend (as in launch PS3 sales) is almost certain to make a difference, particularly as Sony is giving a good number of these a free film to get started with (I believe it was something like the first 100,000 UK PS3 owners who registered via the PS3). Currently in the UK if you are looking for a standalone Blue-ray player its around £500 at the cheapest, so the PS3 at £425 + £18 for the remote gets you a player and a 'free' games machine. AV magazines have also reviewed the PS3 very favourably as a Blue-ray player, rating it on par with £600-£700 machines (unlike the reviews the PS2 DVD player got).
Regards
Scaff
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Im in with BD too, (only because of PS3) if I didn thave the PS3 tho I still would have backed BD over HD-DVD. The one thing I have noticed with BD movies (in some small cases DVD) is that the quality of the transfer is very noticable, and this reall does make a difference.
Take Mission Impossible 1 & 2 those films have a very soft look, while the third film is very crisp and very 3D in its apperance so making that all important purchase especially at this time in BD's life is a major factor in choosing to part with my money. I never really noticed this problem with DVD, and when I did it wasnt such a big change.
Famine when did you register you PS3? as ive still to hear word from sony about my copy of that film, and I registered at about 12:45am on the 23rd so I would have been one of the first lot to do so (i think).
Take Mission Impossible 1 & 2 those films have a very soft look, while the third film is very crisp and very 3D in its apperance so making that all important purchase especially at this time in BD's life is a major factor in choosing to part with my money. I never really noticed this problem with DVD, and when I did it wasnt such a big change.
Famine when did you register you PS3? as ive still to hear word from sony about my copy of that film, and I registered at about 12:45am on the 23rd so I would have been one of the first lot to do so (i think).
Scaff
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Scaff when did you order it and how, ive registered the PS3 online via the ps3 store thing, did I have to do anything els?
I didn't pick-up my PS3 until late on the 23rd March, I would guess that I registered at around 8-9pm. I didn't do anything else, I got my conformation e-mail around 5 days ago and the DVD turned up this morning.
Regards
Scaff
BTW @Duck - The DVD does have a number of special features on it, I could not tell you off hand if its the same as the standard DVD version, but its certainly not just the film alone.
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- a6m5zero
Samsung supporting both Blu-ray, HD DVD
It's not as bad as it sounds:
This part of the story does upset me a little...:
I love the films Universal owns, as they are one of my favorite studios. But as long they stubbornly stick with the HD DVD format, I'll just have to get their DVDs on non-high def format. I mean, I could live with purchasing a PS3 or Blu-ray DVD player, then finding out that I can not purchase high def DVDs from one of the major studios, but what if you are uniformed comsumer who's purchased an HD-DVD player, and found that it was the other way around? Article didn't mention MGM, Columbia Pictures(yes, they are under Sony Pictures, but still....), or Disney, but they own a huge library of films as well, which are not released on HD DVD format. That can't be fun.
It's not as bad as it sounds:
hollywoodreporter.com
This part of the story does upset me a little...:
First, the electronics companies couldn't agree on the technology. This take by Universal Studios President reminded me that the Studios could have united to support just one format as well. In the end, consumers lose.
I love the films Universal owns, as they are one of my favorite studios. But as long they stubbornly stick with the HD DVD format, I'll just have to get their DVDs on non-high def format. I mean, I could live with purchasing a PS3 or Blu-ray DVD player, then finding out that I can not purchase high def DVDs from one of the major studios, but what if you are uniformed comsumer who's purchased an HD-DVD player, and found that it was the other way around? Article didn't mention MGM, Columbia Pictures(yes, they are under Sony Pictures, but still....), or Disney, but they own a huge library of films as well, which are not released on HD DVD format. That can't be fun.
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I just got my free copy of Casino Royal.
I'm impressed with the sound more than anything. It's so clear, the the base is so much more accurate! I thought the picture was going to be the most improved, but it just isn't. I'm very impressed! You have to experience it to believe it.
I'm impressed with the sound more than anything. It's so clear, the the base is so much more accurate! I thought the picture was going to be the most improved, but it just isn't. I'm very impressed! You have to experience it to believe it.
