Honest Opinion on HD DVD Releases vs Blu Ray Releases

[kalby8]

Can anyone give me an honest opinion - I am told that a lot of movies will only be released on Blu Ray and some on HD DVD. For instance - I want to own The Thing - but I see it is only available on HD DVD. Will it ever come out on Blu Ray or will I have to buy a dual player eventually. How can I really determine which is better (as far as which studios will release the most movies) HD DVD or Blu Ray?

[BTBuck1]

try Searching.

a good site for info on this:
http://www.highdefdigest.com

[Blu Tiger]

"The Thing" is Universal and won't be on blu-ray until they go nuetral. Blu-ray has the support of every studio except Universal, which is HD-DVD only and is the only studio that only makes HD DVDs. Blu-ray has the most "exclusive" studios with Disney, Sony, MGM, Fox, and Lionsgate making blu-ray movies only. Blu-ray is the way to go as they have almost won the war already.

[BStecke]

The only studio exclusive to HD DVD is Universal. With the recent news that has been coming out regarding Blu Ray, ie it's beginning to pull away from HD DVD like a Cobra racing a Civic, it may not be that long before Universal removes its head from its ass. From what I've heard about Universal's HD releases though, you're not missing much in terms of quality. Most of their standard DVD releases are sub-par as well, now that I think about it. But . . . unless something drastic happens to tip the scales in HD DVD's direction, Universal will have to go Blu Ray or stay out of the HD game entirely. But as of right now, Blu Ray has more titles available than HD.

[richteer]

Originally Posted by kalby8

Can anyone give me an honest opinion - I am told that a lot of movies will only be released on Blu Ray and some on HD DVD. For instance - I want to own The Thing - but I see it is only available on HD DVD. Will it ever come out on Blu Ray or will I have to buy a dual player eventually. How can I really determine which is better (as far as which studios will release the most movies) HD DVD or Blu Ray?

The Thing is a Universal title, which means that for the time being, it will be available on HD DVD only.

As for the number of titles on each format, Blu-ray has the backing of every major studio except Universal, so Blu-ray having a greater selection of titles is a no-brainer. HD DVD is sinking faster than the Titanic at the moment, so I don't think we'll have to wait very long for Universal to go neutral (or better, Blu only) and/or Warner and Paramount to go Blu-exclusive.

Once that happens, the war will officially be over, and I forsee all the neutral studios slowly becoming Blu-exclusive. There's no economical reason why they would continue to support a dead format.

[jedisinclair]

kalby8... I know it's hard when you want a small handful of titles that "right now" will be HD DVD only. But, these guys here are right: it makes no sense to feed a dying beast. When this format war does end and the smoke clears, Blu-ray will emerge on top and Universal will HAVE to release "The Thing" and other titles on Blu-ray. I guess what I'm saying is you may have to be patient waiting for certain titles, but they will eventually come to Blu-ray.

[KingDeezie]

I am patiently waiting for my Epson 1080 Pro-Cinema to come tommorow, and as such I have up rooted everything and moved the Television into the bedroom so I have no videogames or movies I can watch right now...

The point? I will surely answer your question, because I am bored out of my mind. However, all of your questions could be answered with a quick search.

HD-DVD has only Universal and Weinstien to claim as exclusive. As such, The Thing, which is universal will at this time only be on HD-DVD. Other titles to note that will at this time only be on HD-DVD from Universal are King Kong, Knocked Up, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and 40 Year Old Virgin.

Currently Warner Brothers and Paramount are releasing on both formats, but some would argue that Warner might slightly favor HD-DVD, as evidenced by the Matrix trilogy being temporarily exclusive to HD-DVD.

Bluray has a monsterous content arsenal with the likes of Sony, Columbia, Tristar, MGM, Fox, Disney, Buena Vista, Lionsgate, and Anchor Bay all being EXCLUSIVE to Bluray. Expect to see Spiderman Trilogy, POTC Trilogy, Independence Day, Toy Story, Die Hard Trilogy, Aliens Quadrilogy, Ghostbusters 1 and 2, Cars, X-men Trilogy, 1408, Rocky Anthology, Evil Dead 1 and 2, Pulp Fiction, Reservior Dogs, The Punisher, and Predator to name a few only on Bluray.

As far as buying a dual player, I would strongly be against it. Eventually the cradle will fall and Universal will have to go neutral, so you will eventually see The Thing on Bluray. If not, there isn't much point in paying for a dead format for one movie. Wait till its on Universal HD, Tivo it, and then burn it to a BDR.

The insane prices they are charging for dual players is off the wall. You could buy a PS3 and a cheap Toshiba player for less then the LG Dual format player was introduced at.

But I still wouldn't condone buying into HD-DVD because it is a worthless format in my opinion. With only one major studio exclusive to it, and limited bandwidth and space available to it, its only a matter of time before it is phased out and you are left with a very expensive paper weight, save for the fact that you can watch The Thing, but, really as good of a movie as it is, is it worth 300 dollars?

Try a little patience...

[goodstuff]

It pretty much boils down to which studios have the movies you want to watch:

Blu-Ray:
Sony
Disney
Fox/MGM
Lion's Gate

HD-DVD:
Universal

[aaronwt]

They all have moivies I want since i want HD movies. So I purchase on both formats.

[babyBlu]

Originally Posted by goodstuff

It pretty much boils down to which studios have the movies you want to watch:

Blu-Ray:
Sony
Disney
Fox/MGM
Lion's Gate

HD-DVD:
Universal

Don't forget about Weinstein (sp?) for HD DVD, you don't want to anger the red fans. I've honestly never heard of Weinstein until HD DVD fans kept whining about how it is exclusive to HD DVD.

[The Don]

Originally Posted by babyBlu

Don't forget about Weinstein (sp?) for HD DVD, you don't want to anger the red fans. I've honestly never heard of Weinstein until HD DVD fans kept whining about how it is exclusive to HD DVD.

that's funny, what you said about Weinstein happened to me too..

all I know is that umm TMNT is put out by them and those tarantino flicks...I forget their names..

[goodstuff]

Oh yeah I forgot Weinstein for HD-DVD, woohoo! Then I also forgot Anchor Bay/Starz for Blu-ray

[GoldenRedux]

Thread moved to General Discussion

[GoldenRedux]

Don't forget Exoptron Limited is also exclusive to Blu-ray.

So
Blu:

Sony
Disney
Fox
Lionsgate
Starz Home Entertainment (Anchor Bay)
Exoptron Limited
and all their subsidiaries (Pixar, MGM, Tristar, SonyBMG, Buena Vista, etc.)

HDDVD:

Universal
Weinstein
and all their subsidiaries.

Neutral:

Warner
Paramount
Magnolia Home Entertainment

[movies3]

its all about studio support as from what ppl have said on here. But since blu-ray is doing well, im pretty sure blu-ray will be the next format. And with blockbuster only supporting blu its only a matter of time.