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Topic: HD DVD or BLU RAY
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Barry Attwood
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1411
From: Enfield, U.K.
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted June 01, 2006 04:23 PM
Adrian,
This reminds me of the VHS or Betamax war of the 70's where the inferior format became the standard (although I doubt you would recollect that at your tender age!). A friend of mine who lives in the U.S. has bought a HD-DVD player an some of the early releases, and he is really dissapointed at the early results, he doesn't have a video projector, but does have a large screen plasma set up, and he said that he doesn't think there is a lot of difference with the naked eye between the best normal DVD's and the new system, although he does concede this may be different with a video projector. It's hard to tell without seeing one running, but the extra exspense of having a HD ready TV or video projector, may put a lot of people off initially, and as many people are very happy with the DVD's already coming out, especially the lovers of vintage material, then I do wonder if there will be a serious market for 2 systems, as I do not think any of the HD DVD formats will be as succesful as the makers hope for, but we will just have to wait and see.
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Joerg Polzfusz
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 815
From: Berlin, Germany, Europe, Earth, Solar System
Registered: Apr 2006
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posted June 01, 2006 04:41 PM
Hi,
there's no winner (yet): a) The HD-DVD-players that are available in the USA at the moment are reported to have several problems. E.g. they sometimes shut down in the middle of a film (heat problem). So even if the BD-players arrive later, they might be of better quality and hence better acceptance. b) If the PS3 (or any version of the X-Box) comes with a BD- or HD-DVD-player, this might change a lot. c) The two systems differ in the used codecs (different license costs for the producers of the HD-DVDs and BDs!) and in copy-protection-systems (which is a major factor why different studios prefer different systems). (BTW: Do both systems support Dolby Digital 7.1?) d) It's still unclear if the studios will release the same number of films for both systems or if one system will win because it has got more / better choice. e) Last, but not least: "Everyone" who now owns a DV-cam will get a HD-video-cam sooner or later. But AFAIK at the moment there's neither a BD-writer nor a HD-DVD-writer for your PC/Mac available. IF the BD-writers arrive first and/or are cheaper (incl. cheaper media), this still might change a lot! f) BD and HD-DVD aren't the only HD-video-disc-formats. And there are rumors that the BD and HD-DVD might be merged into a new, "combined" format. Not to mention that both BD and HD-DVDs are using lossy video-codecs. So there's still the chance that the race between BD and HD-DVD might end like the race between Video2000 and Betamax
Jörg
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Joerg Polzfusz
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 815
From: Berlin, Germany, Europe, Earth, Solar System
Registered: Apr 2006
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posted June 02, 2006 04:11 AM
Good point Jan - with the newest DivX-versions (or similar) you can put two hours of HD-video onto a normal DVD-R(W)/+R(W). (Of course it only has got one soundtrack, no subtitles, ... then.)
Nevertheless I forgot one point: Both HD-DVD and BD will be available as a media to hold the back-ups from your computer. A BD will store approx. 25GB per layer (and they've managed to produce BDs with up to 4 layers!), while a single-layer HD-DVD can only store 20GB (double layer = 30GB, there are only 1 or 2 layer-HD-DVDs). This might become a selling point, too.
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