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

[Tezcatlipoca]

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

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

Originally Posted by Damien

Lord of the Rings in HD

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

The Sopranos & Rome look much better in HD.

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

Originally Posted by popper

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.

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.

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...

Originally Posted by Incognitas

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...

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

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Incognitas

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...

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.

[SOSAGES]

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

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

[dilli-theclaw]

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

Originally Posted by Incognitas

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...

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

[SOSAGES]

http://gizmodo.com/344885/the-downfa...ble-on-blu+ray

[popper]

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"

[SOSAGES]

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

Originally Posted by Damien

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

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.

Originally Posted by TraxData

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.

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.

[popper]

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"

[Cobbydaler]

Blue-Ray have won...

Link