Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

Well, It looks pretty likely that HD-DVD has lost the generation wars. After Warner went Blu-Ray exclusive it was looking more and more likely but to add to that the HD-DVD group has cancelled all interviews and their main keynote. The PR people are apparently avoiding calls from news organizations.

So, Blu-Ray is pretty much the winner. I am quite disappointed, HD-DVD was region free and allowed both DVD and HD-DVD readable discs. On the other hand I don't envision either being important. I think digital video files are the way forward anyway.

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

It is a shame. Warner (and various subsidiaries such and New Line Cinema) is one of the largest film companies. I think it likely that if either format suceeds (and I don't believe either has, yet), it will be Blu ray.

If the electronics industry had got it's act together at the beginning, and supported ONE format (as they did in most countries with DVD), more people would have been buying those discs, instead of doing what I am doing and waiting and seeing which format succeeds..

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

good, now we will see that far higher data carrying disk in the PC markets and the price will fall.

once the writers prices come down, no more messing about writing loads of DVDs to back up your FreeNAS/local drives.

"other CES news
http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_ro...ase/32521.html

SONY DEBUTS SUB $200 BD-ROM DRIVE FOR BLU-RAY MOVIE PLAYBACK ON THE PC

LAS VEGAS (CES Booth #14200), Jan. 6, 2008 – Sony Electronics today announced an internal BD-ROM drive that can upgrade an existing desktop computer into a high-definition Blu-ray Disc™ player, as well as a DVD and a CD player.

The new BDU-X10S BD-ROM drive comes with CyberLink’s PowerDVD BD Edition software for playback of commercial movie titles, recorded Blu-ray Disc home videos, DVD-ROMs and CD-ROMs.

“The BD-ROM drive’s sub-$200 price tag offers consumers a very viable option to discover and enjoy the nearly 500 high-definition Blu-ray Disc movies released to date,” said Bob DeMoulin,

...
The BDU-X10S drive features a Serial ATA (SATA) interface and standard 5.25-inch form-factor for easy installation inside contemporary desktop PCs running the Microsoft® Windows Vista™ or Windows XP operating system.

The included CyberLink PowerDVD BD Edition software also supports playback of recorded Blu-ray Discs in MPEG-2 or H.264 format, standard DVD-Video discs or recorded DVDs encoded with MPEG-2 or AVCHD formats.

....
"

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

that made me laugh

Xbox 360 HD-DVD.

PS3 Blue ray.

Glad I'm waiting for the PS3s proce to drop.

How long before the Xbos brings out a Brlue ray drive :)

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

To be fair Microsoft were wise not to install in their consoles, although that could have improved HD-DVD chances. I don't think they will release a add on, now that Blu-Ray wins it will be many years before it replaces DVD. People only moved to dvd relatively soon and won't want to change so soon. HD-TVs are not common place yet etc etc

Also, Blu-Ray still needs to beat DVDs and even then, needs to beat online distribution. It's won the disc wars (properly) but it's future isn't certain yet

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

My dual HD/Blu-ray player

http://www.nordichardware.com/news,6746.html

Works fine with PowerDVD 'ultra', but I have to admit to only trying it with one disk - BD25, & haven't tried an HD one, yet....

On a 19" 16:10 1440x900 monitor it looks brilliant, I have to say

- I just need a bigger monitor that is HDCP enabled, now, :dozey:

- my point being that the manufacturers will adapt to the vagaries of the market & imo, it will be the consumers who ultimately pay in any 'format war' :)

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

Well thats funny seeing as 2 other major movie studios announced late last year that they were going solely HD

and Paramount /Dreamworks are still stickign to their guns http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/news/...ng_HD_DVD/1345

Universal and Microsoft also still on HD. So Warner is the biggest single concern but the war isnt over just yet

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

The problem is all the others have gone Blu-Ray. The HD-DVD group is also all over the place, they are not exactly reassuring anyone right now.

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

Im still not interested anyway at the moment. As ive said in the past I get HD downloads and watch them on my projector which is bigger than any screen.I do not console game and I wont be backing up 30 gig plus to one disc so it matters not to me lol. I will start to show an interest when there is enough broadcast content to merit owning a hd tv

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

Possibly not for long. They apparently have a get out clause in the event that Warner supports Blu-Ray http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/01...o_drop_hd_dvd/

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

I so nearly got a HD-DVD player a couple of weeks ago, glad I waited now.

Guess I'll keep on waiting 'till it's all sorted, eventually.

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

Dam I so wanted it to be HD DVD looks like I was wrong then . Still hate Sony though lol

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

if blu ray wins that doesn’t mean the price will come down - perhaps it’s as low as it is now because they had competition...

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

Sony are not noted for keeping prices down..:erm:

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

is your projector HD? I have a HD projector and a 1080p LCD TV. trust me if all you have seen in HD is HD downloads you're missing out, nothing beats A good encoded High bitrate BLU Ray or HD DVD for Picture Quality, and probably wont for a long while, I have owned DVD since 1999 and have about 700 movies now I've switched to HDM and currently have about 70 HDDVD and Blu Ray movies and can't envisige having enough HDD space for storing 700 movies in HD format at the Quality I have on either HDM format. maybe digitial dowloads are the future but its going to be a while before serious HD HT enthusiasts take that route. after all its the early adopters such as myself that help make a format mass market.

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

Space is not too much of an issue nowadays, 1Tb hard drives are fairly cheap and you can run several via sata.
My projector also handles 1080 (i though) and it looks awesome especially with hd downloads from the states. I've not run HD movies through it yet but I'm in the process of converting all of my media to digital files and have a server pc in the living room to play it from coupled to a 5.1 surround.

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

Im not interested in a HD tv till VM transmit enough content to make it worth my while buying one. 1080 .mkv wrapped files look pretty bloody good on a screen thats nearly twice the size of a HD tv and its only a 1280:1024 res projector (software keeps aspect ratio correct for movies) so even not on a HD projector im happy with what I have and am also more than happy for you early adopters to pay all those developement costs. I can not see enough content being transmited this side of 2010 for me to worry about it

---------- Post added at 12:04 ---------- Previous post was at 12:03 ----------


mines 7.1 lol

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

As expected, New Line & HBO have announced they're dropping HD DVD for Blu-ray:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=32000

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

Looks like the PS3 might get more popular now than ever. At least there might be an end in sight in this crazy (but expensive) competition.

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

9/10 1080.mkv wrapped files in my experience are crap. :)
you cant always trust the source it says in the nfo ive seen so many hd rips that are just upscalled
also any HD ripping is not a simple matter of click and wait - to get the best possible results you need to play around with the settings and filters so far i havnt seen a lot of real quality rips to justify the 8 or so GB download.

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

Lord of the Rings in HD :tu:

HBO, Nothing that would really benefit from HD IMO. HBO are all about the quality of direction and writing. Not so much about visual stuff

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

Which begs the question: How will we know when the "war" is over?

Will the HD DVD camp come out and say "we lost - Blu-Ray won"...

Or in 6 months time when it looks like Blu-Ray has won, will we have to keep guessing for another year?

So - when will Joe Public know what to go and buy?? :mad:

---------- Post added at 13:21 ---------- Previous post was at 13:20 ----------

I don't think it was ever filmed in HD.

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

I'd be suprised if it wasn't filmed at the standard Digital Cinema resolution, which is higher than HD..

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

The way things are going and the speed at which things are changing it seems more than ever that using a PC as your home entertainment hub would save a constantly revolving cycle of different silver boxes appearing and disappearing under your telly.

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

i think all movies filmed have the ability to go HD, the film its self is a higher res than HD so it just takes a while to go back and remaster it... How do you think we get HD versions of terminator etc of course this then shows up all the imperfections so someone somewhere spends ages making abused negatives look pretty again - Some HD discs are disapointing, depends how much time/money they put into making it look nice again

im not sure if frame rate maters or the size of the film reel i will have to look into it.
im ignoring the whole HD thing until i can buy a cheap writer to store 50gb of data on

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

Film is shot at 24 frames per second.

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

Ahh - never knew that... Learn something new every day... :angel:

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

not all film (directors choice im sure)

we use 24fps as a standard for HD frame rates as it works well with 35mm film (something most people use these days) im not fully sure what this has to do with the HD quality but i expect its only a google away, its a complicated world.

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

The reason we get old films in Hi Def is due to the film they were shot on.

For example films are made to be shown on a huge cinema screen so have to be of a decent resolution to be blown up to that scale, there for it is easy to take the film reels and in put t hem to a computer and made a Hi Def version of the film. They obviously might not look as great as a film thats actually shot using a HD camera.

I do have Blu-Ray and also HD DVD and personally I think that the HD DVDs look a lot better picture wise and interactivity of the bonus features is better. although with BLu-Ray 1.1 this should improve the interactive features.

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

OC all this picture quality also depends on the Codec used and indeed which Encoder , as i understand it , many HD DVD and BR masters are still using the old Mpeg2 Codec, and VC-1.

whats the score for current HD using the AVC/H.264 Codec now as thats the only one thats got a professional lossless Encode/Decode mode, but i suspect the End users might need an even larger disk format in the future before we see 1080p+ full length features and extra's in lossless mode.

anyone done the maths for a lossless 1080p at current bitrates for a standard feature , thats got to be a rather large binary file ;)

Snow has a lossless mode too, but thats not an industry adopted standard codec, and still needs work from the open source devs old and new, to get its speeds up at higher screen sizes really.

Re: Blu-Ray to be next disc format
 

Universal says it is going to stick with HD DVD...

http://www.betanews.com/article/Univ...DVD/1199974983



The Sopranos & Rome look much better in HD.

It's not just fancy SFX laden stuff that benefits.



AFAIK, virtually all HD DVDs use VC-1, some AVC.


Many early BDs used MPEG-2, & didn't look as good as HD DVDs. I think the majority do now use VC-1 though.

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

Oh this is going to be a long drawn out affair...Trouble is do I stop buying DVD's and wait or waste my money now buying a format I can't use later...

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

It won't be drawn out. That's the idea behind this topic, most of the big players are now Blu-Ray only. What's more the remaining two seem like they will also be going Blu-Ray soon.

I would still wait unless you really want HD films now as the hardware will get better and cheaper as we go on. Especially since Sony keep updating the Blu-Ray features and some old players cannot be updated to play them

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

Its not like you won't be able to use them later. I mean I still have a Beta Max player that works and also a Laserdisc player thats fully functioning.

I have more HD DVDs than Blu-Ray at present and plan on keeping my player for years to come. Just cause you can't buy them doesn't mean you can't play them. With all players still playing old standard DVD there is no reason not to keep buying DVDs.

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

the porn industry are make alot of movies - lets see what they say:

AVN 2008: No more Porn on HD DVD?
http://www.i4u.com/article14003.html

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

Oh yes let us decide on the basis of the porn industries leanings.;)

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

MMMmmm - HD porn..... No idea WHAT that looks like...

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

Dvd sales are still soaring . Take up of HD of either format isnt that massive. I am happy with dvd quality. Why will you not be able to use it later? dvd players will not vanish you can still buy vhs

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

only in the US apparently, are we seeing a product dump to recoop the outlay quick before the markets gone, or a price war to undercut the rise of BR.

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...-prices-hd-dvd
Tosh slashes prices on HD DVD players
Knee jerks
By INQUIRER staff: Monday, 14 January 2008, 10:35 AM

IN WHAT’S an undoubted reaction to Blu-ray’s lead in the HD wars, Toshiba said today it is slashing prices on its players in the US market.

The recommended prices for its entry level HD-A3 has dropped to $150, the HD-A30 (1080p) to $200, and the HD-A35 to $300.

Justifying the price axing, Yoshi Uchiyama of Toshiba’s Digital AV group said that price is only one of the things early adopters consider.

But, he said: “It is a deal breaker for the mainstream consumer buyer.” µ"

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

A Plea for a Unified, Blu Future
http://www.homemediamagazine.com/new...ticle_id=11875

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

In the end it really doesnt matter what companies decide to take up, once HD starts going mainstream (public) the cheapest will win and always does, at this moment in time, HD-DVD players are still cheaper, Sony are not known for lowering their prices, anyone remember betamax, minidisc? practically everything sony come out with ends up a failure, for one reason only, price.

As long as blu-ray stays expensive, it wont win, quite simple really.

Yes blu-ray sales are winning right now, but one thing you should note is its only a small amount of people who are currently interested in HD, we wont have any idea who has won the war until HD really gets going into public view.

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

People are not being given the choice, unlike other format wars this is taking place behind the scenes with limited amount of consumer involvement. Sony paid $500 million to Warner to be Blu-Ray exclusive, and they fox off from going dual platform.

Blu-Ray has 6 of the 8 studios releasing only on Blu-ray.

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

uncompressed raw streaming is a little way off yet,and lucky we have AVC/H.264 with its lessless modes to help bring raw bitrates down, at least a little, but it seems none of the current Disc formats would hold or move this amount of data.

"estimated at 24 Gbps for video and 28 Mbps for audio in raw format, less in compressed format."

what do you serious HD HT enthusiasts/early adopters do then?, take that route as its the higher grade output, or stick to the popular highest data holding disk at the time.

or do you move over to PC NAS storage for your playback of your data, but again its going to take a little longer yet before 40GigE is in the home, hell we might not even see 10GigE in the next 2-4 years, but at least it might be in the enthusiasts price range by then....

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...-megapixel-tvs
"
Japan plans 33 megapixel TVs
With 24 channel surround sound

By Egan Orion: Tuesday, 15 January 2008, 1:10 PM

THE JAPANESE Communications Ministry has stumped up 300 million yen (that is $2.735 million US dollars) to subsidise Japanese broadcaster NHK's launch of a 33.2 megapixel television broadcast standard by 2015.

The "Super Hi-Vision" TV standard will use screens with 4,000 scan lines, 7680 pixels wide by 4320 pixels high, and provide a 100-degree wide field of view at the standard viewing distance. The current HDTV standard is 1920 pixels wide by 1080 pixels high and yields a 30-degree wide field of view at standard distance.

Also planned for the Super Hi-Vision TV standard is 24 channel surround sound.

Data rates for NHK's new TV standard are estimated at 24 Gbps for video and 28 Mbps for audio in raw format, less in compressed format. µ"

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

Blue-Ray have won...

Link :)

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

posted on tuesday keep up ;)

as for the format war - Isnt the future online downloads anyway so whats it matter..

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

Not really viable without a massive investiment in infrastructure by the ISPs, which, due to the current prices being charged, is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

didnt you read my "CMTS Downstream Prices Plummethttps://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2008/09/22.gifDECEMBER 28, 2007
Timing is everything" post then!
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/10...l#post34470723

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

I prefer to physically own something.


Don't think much of downloads at the moment. e.g. I'd much rather buy a movie on BD / HD DVD, than pay some stupid price for a more compressed & lower quality watch-once-then-it-self-destructs rental (cough XBL Videomarketplace cough).

Then of course there's also usage limits, traffic shaping, etc.

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

Me too! I like hard product in my hands (yes yes, chortle, chortle), not just a few GB's on a hard disk somewhere.

Re: Warner ditch HD DVD - Blu-Ray to be next disc format?
 

id cry if i had to find space on a shelf for all my media..
give it to me in 1+0's :)