View Poll Results: Which do you plan to support?

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  • Blu-Ray

    48 52.75%
  • HD-DVD

    43 47.25%
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Thread: Blu-Ray Vs. HD-DVD     submit to reddit submit to twitter

  1. #1
    Sea Torques
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    Blu-Ray Vs. HD-DVD

    On the verge of PS3 and with the release of the HD-DVD Drive for the XB360, we're stepping into the realm of semi-affordable HD movies (albeit through game consoles) available to most homes. As such it might be an interesting debate between which format you think will win as the DVD successor. Vote on which you think would be most likely to succeed and which you will most likely buy.

    Basically both formats run off the same video and audio codecs including MPEG-2, VC-1, DTS HD, DD HD and more. Since the audio and video is the same, the difference lies in the support and branding. While Blu-ray touts a 50gb maximum capacity, HD-DVD is able to get 45gb on a tri-layered disc so long run they're almost equal capacity. Most movies aren't expected to exceed 10gb with VC-1, so it's not really an issue. Blu-Ray does offer a slightly larger level in Audio Quality, but it's above the level at which movies are mastered (HD-DVD levels) so you'll never be able to take advantage of it. The Blue Laser also uses a smaller aperture and HD-DVD claims would be more prone to errors.

  2. #2
    Xavier
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    Wheres option 3? DVD is good enough for me at this point still.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Xavier
    Wheres option 3? DVD is good enough for me at this point still.
    I vote fuck them both until incredible amounts of movies actually look significantly better in HD.

  4. #4

    UMD4lyfe

  5. #5
    Sea Torques
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    Quote Originally Posted by Xavier
    Wheres option 3? DVD is good enough for me at this point still.
    There will be a successor at some point. How many people were saying "VHS is fine, sure DVD looks better but..." back in '95. PS2 introduced DVD to a lot of people that weren't really planning on changing. People are getting the choice to upgrade now.

  6. #6

    There really wasn't a competitor with DVD's, though. It was either stick with shitty VHS, or move to the better DVD format. Now it's stick with DVD, or move to either HD-DVD or Blu ray, and watch either your choice, or the other fail.

  7. #7
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    from what i have read the smaller aperture of the blue laser means that they can fit more information on the disk without increasing compression by making the pit size on the disk much smaller, and in the world of audio and video compression is always a bad thing. so from what i have heard and read so far Blu-Ray should in theory be alot better. for HD-DVD in order to get enough information on the disk because the pits size is the same as a normal DVD they have to add more layers and increase compression.

    this is just in theory i would have to actually compare both side by side to see which one i like better.

  8. #8
    Sea Torques
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    Quote Originally Posted by zoobernut
    from what i have read the smaller aperture of the blue laser means that they can fit more information on the disk without increasing compression by making the pit size on the disk much smaller, and in the world of audio and video compression is always a bad thing. so from what i have heard and read so far Blu-Ray should in theory be alot better. for HD-DVD in order to get enough information on the disk because the pits size is the same as a normal DVD they have to add more layers and increase compression.

    this is just in theory i would have to actually compare both side by side to see which one i like better.
    If you have a 600MB Divx file on a CD or a 600MB Divx file on a DVD, which is better? They both use the same video encoding, and they're both capable of holding almost as much space, so the files are the same, just the media is different. HD-DVD isn't more compressed or doesn't have to be. A full length HD feature is supposed to be around 10GB/2h, which both discs can do easily at the same level of compression.

  9. #9
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    Yeah all that matters is what resolution they shoot the movie at. Right now they do it at 720p, which makes the 1080p that Blu-Ray does kinda pointless until moviemakers start shooting at that resolution. The whole audio argument makes me laugh considering what the human ear can hear, so much of a placebo effect there. I won't buy either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray until I have a TV that does 1080p or 720p. Otherwise it is pointless. I have a receiver that is dolby 7.1 and thats good enough for me haha... really don't think it will make that huge a difference audio wise. I can tell a huge difference between something in standard TV resolution and something in 720p though.

  10. #10
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    For reference:
    Standard Definition TV - 480i
    Enhanced Definition TV - 480p
    High Definition TV - 720i > 720p > 1080i > 1080p

    Almost no HDTVs now have 1080p but the newest of the new have it.

    I have some criterion releases where the quality of the DVD was actually better than the film used to capture it, as a result you can actually see the film grain. Once Upon a Time in Mexico was filmed in HD and you can tell from the quality of the DVD, would be awesome to see on HD/BD disc.

  11. #11

    Quote Originally Posted by Aodh
    Quote Originally Posted by Xavier
    Wheres option 3? DVD is good enough for me at this point still.
    There will be a successor at some point. How many people were saying "VHS is fine, sure DVD looks better but..." back in '95. PS2 introduced DVD to a lot of people that weren't really planning on changing. People are getting the choice to upgrade now.
    I don't remember anyone in my circle of friends saying "vhs is fine", and most of them are saying "fuck hd-dvd/bluray" at the moment. Maybe the difference lies in the accessibility of DVD versus magnetic tape (hi2u instant seek, no rewind, better durability, along with better picture without having to buy a new TV) as well as the fact that the transition was primed by music going from cassettes to cds with noticeable increase in accessibility/quality/durability only a few years earlier.

    To further illustrate my point, how many people are still using CDs as their storage medium now? A lot of people--even a significant slice of people don't have DVD readers on their computers. Why? The technology isn't that expensive, and has been stable/available for several years now...but there's been no reason for most people to move forward, even though DVD is clearly better.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by aurik
    Quote Originally Posted by Aodh
    Quote Originally Posted by Xavier
    Wheres option 3? DVD is good enough for me at this point still.
    There will be a successor at some point. How many people were saying "VHS is fine, sure DVD looks better but..." back in '95. PS2 introduced DVD to a lot of people that weren't really planning on changing. People are getting the choice to upgrade now.
    I don't remember anyone in my circle of friends saying "vhs is fine", and most of them are saying "fuck hd-dvd/bluray" at the moment. Maybe the difference lies in the accessibility of DVD versus magnetic tape (hi2u instant seek, no rewind, better durability, along with better picture without having to buy a new TV) as well as the fact that the transition was primed by music going from cassettes to cds with noticeable increase in accessibility/quality/durability only a few years earlier.

    To further illustrate my point, how many people are still using CDs as their storage medium now? A lot of people--even a significant slice of people don't have DVD readers on their computers. Why? The technology isn't that expensive, and has been stable/available for several years now...but there's been no reason for most people to move forward, even though DVD is clearly better.

    I think a fomat is worth getting when the -R become easily accessible. DVD wasn't really needed before you could burn them easily. Price was still high and they didnt reach high speed (selecting chapter is nice, but 2x speed fast forward still suck).

    Also, the jump from VHS to DVD didnt only enhance the quality, like you said, the durability also got improved. From DVD to Blue ray/HD, the durability won't be improved at all

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aodh
    Quote Originally Posted by zoobernut
    from what i have read the smaller aperture of the blue laser means that they can fit more information on the disk without increasing compression by making the pit size on the disk much smaller, and in the world of audio and video compression is always a bad thing. so from what i have heard and read so far Blu-Ray should in theory be alot better. for HD-DVD in order to get enough information on the disk because the pits size is the same as a normal DVD they have to add more layers and increase compression.

    this is just in theory i would have to actually compare both side by side to see which one i like better.
    If you have a 600MB Divx file on a CD or a 600MB Divx file on a DVD, which is better? They both use the same video encoding, and they're both capable of holding almost as much space, so the files are the same, just the media is different. HD-DVD isn't more compressed or doesn't have to be. A full length HD feature is supposed to be around 10GB/2h, which both discs can do easily at the same level of compression.
    i am not talking about the resolution they currently use what i meant is the potential is greater in blu-ray because they will be able to fit more information on the disk without compressing it more. i agree with you but in the future they will continue to increase resolution and increase the data size on each disk and as they do that the blu-ray will pull ahead imo.

    also i reserve all my judgement on quality until i actually look at them because i can talk physics and math till i am blue in the face but i wont know which one i like better till i see what they look like. its the same thing as picking out speakers. you can look at bell curves and graphs of response and all that crap but you wont know if a speaker is good until you listen to it.

  14. #14
    Sea Torques
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    Should have just put Sony vs Microsoft in the poll!

  15. #15
    Xavier
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lawls
    There really wasn't a competitor with DVD's, though. It was either stick with shitty VHS, or move to the better DVD format. Now it's stick with DVD, or move to either HD-DVD or Blu ray, and watch either your choice, or the other fail.
    Weren't laser-discs the competition for DVD?

  16. #16
    blax n gunz
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    Yeah seriously, where's the 'none of the above' or 'wait until hardware that supports both formats is released and affordable' option.

    I see no real reason to re-buy all the movies I've already upgraded from VHS to DVD. Movies simply don't look good enough to warrant HD (pssst top secret: very few movies are FILMED to take advantage of actual 1080 lines of horizontal resolution). If I want to watch 'Blazing Saddles' it really does look just as good on DVD as it ever will. All putting a movie like that into HD does is make things like scratches and production defects look more noticeable.

    Maybe Pixar will change my tune, but not until I can have faith that the hardware I buy won't go the way of the Betamax. And right now neither format nor their standard bearers are giving me any of that needed confidence to plonk down that much cash.

    Sup niche market.

  17. #17
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    I can't see either of them picking up steam like DVD did.

    DVD's reason of being omg because it was unique in comparison to VHS, but DVD compared to HD-DVD/Blu-Ray, it's hardly a step up.

  18. #18
    Xavier
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    I can't imagine most people seeing a reason to spend $600-1200 on a new HD/BLU-RAY player, when they won't really notice the quality upgrade and DVD technology has become so cheap.

    The whole PS3 as your primary Blu-Ray player is kind of a non-issue right now anyway, since Sony can't seem to make enough of the systems for that factor to matter rofl.

    IF HD-DVD becomes the new standard, I'll probably pick up the 360 add-on, but I'm not going to gamble on it beforehand.

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  20. #20
    Yoshi P
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    I can't really tell the difference between DVD quality and HD quality when I go to stores like Best Buy...

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