The differences of Blu-ray vs. HD DVD

[doctorsteve]

Maybe I'm wrong, but HD-DVD is listed as using a blu laser. Is that an error?

[darkblueme]

Originally Posted by doctorsteve

Maybe I'm wrong, but HD-DVD is listed as using a blu laser. Is that an error?

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD use the same blu laser.

Here is a great wiki piece on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD comparisons:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...l_disc_formats

[fredbrown]

I have a 57" DLP and 50" plasma with Dish VIP722 in each room. I want to get a Bluray or HD-DVD. I don't know much about either one except those HD-DVD players are selling pretty cheap. Picture quality is about the same right? Which format has more titles available and where can I rent them? Last time I asked Blockbuster, they didn't rent either. Why did you go Bluray?

[Snowgod]

It's all about the amount of data. More is better. HD-DVD holds about 30gig to Blu-ray's 50gig.

[buckshot]

Originally Posted by fredbrown

I have a 57" DLP and 50" plasma with Dish VIP722 in each room. I want to get a Bluray or HD-DVD. I don't know much about either one except those HD-DVD players are selling pretty cheap. Picture quality is about the same right? Which format has more titles available and where can I rent them? Last time I asked Blockbuster, they didn't rent either. Why did you go Bluray?

i just told someone else that thorough research is necessary before buying anything for your home theater. i suggest the same here. blockbuster is expanding their blu ray rentals to just under 2000 locations. hd dvd only at a little over 200 locations. Blu ray has the ability to offer better features, picture quality, and sound quality. The studio support favors blu ray and in my opinion the quality of the titles on blu ray far surpasses that of hd dvd. the one thing that hd dvd has going for it is price. and i've never made a decision in my home theater based on whats cheapest. i find out whats BEST, then find the best price for it.

thats why i chose blu ray

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Your best bet is to consider studio support for each format. Here are the major companies that I know of:

BLU-RAY: Warner Bros. (New Line), 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures (MGM), Disney (Buena Vista/Pixar), Lionsgate

HD DVD: Universal Studios, Paramount (Dreamworks), Warner Bros.

I know that I'm missing some in there, but someone else can fill in the blanks.

Also, consider the fact that Blu-ray can hold much more detail information due to its larger disc capacity. In turn, its higher bitrate capabilities make it possible to read/decode/transfer/produce that large amoung of information faster, thus providing a much higher quality image. This bitrate ability also reflects the superior ability to handle UNCOMPRESSED AUDIO TRACKS! This means that the audio track on the disc does not have to be decoded before being output to your sustem. Any compression/decoding of information is going to create a loss in quality. So, Blu-ray is the technically superior capability format. However, HD DVD is a complete format (which also means "no room for growth and future proofing") that allows for a more immersive "extra feature" experience with your movie... until more profile 1.1 Blu-ray players are unleashed onto the market. BUT! Who really cares about the extra features THAT MUCH? It's the film and its presentation quality that is most important, right?

[bluperch]

And to clarify buckshot, the PLAYERS are cheaper with HD DVD, but the discs in both camps are priced the same (you can find cheaper ones in both camps).

However, I went blu the first moment I read about the specs some five years ago (or thereabouts) before anything hit the streets. When I read that blu-ray would be 50 GB and HD DVD 30 GB it just seemed the higher capacity disc would be better (more features, etc.). Then when I heard it would be in the PS3 that sealed the deal. Great blu-ray player and a great gaming console as well.

[MasterXeus]

Originally Posted by fredbrown

I have a 57" DLP and 50" plasma with Dish VIP722 in each room. I want to get a Bluray or HD-DVD. I don't know much about either one except those HD-DVD players are selling pretty cheap. Picture quality is about the same right? Which format has more titles available and where can I rent them? Last time I asked Blockbuster, they didn't rent either. Why did you go Bluray?

Well you might want to take a look at movies you want.
As of right now studio support is

Blu-ray has 20th Century Fox, Disney/Buena Vista, Liongate Films, MGM, Sony

HD-DVD has Universal, Paramount.

Warner Bros and New Line Cinema release their movies on both Blu-ray and HD-DVD.

[CAB]

Originally Posted by fredbrown

I have a 57" DLP and 50" plasma with Dish VIP722 in each room. I want to get a Bluray or HD-DVD. I don't know much about either one except those HD-DVD players are selling pretty cheap. Picture quality is about the same right? Which format has more titles available and where can I rent them? Last time I asked Blockbuster, they didn't rent either. Why did you go Bluray?

Take a look at the studios supporting and make a decision based on what you would like to see more. Blockbuster in the US doesn't carry HD DVD (as a general rule) but does online. NetFlix carries both.

Picture quality is about the same but consistently better for Blu with more potential to get better in the future.

HD DVD has better interactivity now but there is more potential on the Blu side. That's why I believe Disney is on only for Blu-ray - what other studio could claim to have more to gain by linking movie content with interactivity and product marketing?

The player costs matter less and less over time. At $25 per movie your expense in media will be much more in no time especially if you have kids who love the Cars, the Rat, the Lion (Simba and Aslan), Jack Sparrow (Captain Jack!) etc.

There are already demos of Blu-ray hardware and content in 3D!

Blu has more potential. IMHO, HD DVD has reached it's potential.

Edit: Panasonic is about to ship their new player for $499 MSRP. All indications are that it is wonderful. Whatever you decide, your purchase should match and compliment your current and/or planned audio processor.

[buckshot]

Originally Posted by bluperch

And to clarify buckshot, the PLAYERS are cheaper with HD DVD, but the discs in both camps are priced the same (you can find cheaper ones in both camps).

thank you.

[damandan05]

Quality my man, sheer quality! Plus there was Disney!

[SingingTheBlues]

1. Because Blu-ray has not lost a single week to HD-DVD in disc sales this year. The average sales per week are approximately 65%Blu-ray to 35% HD-DVD, according to AC Nielsen.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=8608

The only time, and I mean the ONLY time HD-DUD ever came close was when they released Transformers a few weeks ago, but they still LOST, despite Blu-ray releasing nothing new. And sales have bounced back to their usual since.

2. Blu-ray has better sales, and more often, on discs. That's a fact. You'll save. The prices are NOT the same, because BR often has more sales.

[mdm1699]

Originally Posted by fredbrown

I have a 57" DLP and 50" plasma with Dish VIP722 in each room. I want to get a Bluray or HD-DVD. I don't know much about either one except those HD-DVD players are selling pretty cheap. Picture quality is about the same right? Which format has more titles available and where can I rent them? Last time I asked Blockbuster, they didn't rent either. Why did you go Bluray?

I went with the PS3. Why?

1. My projection is 1080i. When it is time to upgrade it, I don't have to upgrade my HDM player since the PS3 is 1080P.

2. At time of purchase, It cost the same as a 1080P HD-DVD player. I still think that this is still the case for a comparable HD-DVD player.

3. Significantly larger catalog from exclusive Studios.

3. The titles that I wanted on HD-DVD were all Warner titles for the most part and are available/soon to come on blu-ray.

4. It is like a hub for my living area. The kids use it for movies and games. I use it for movies and browsing. It is constantly being used, so it feels like money well spent. Future proof.

5. It is upgradeable and load movies faster than anything else.

6. When the family is over, we browse old family photos and laugh ourself silly.

Buy something that you will actually use. Better yet, buy something that your family and friends can enjoy as well.

[Uberfy]

This seems like as good a place as any to post my first message.

For me, the studio support (mainly Disney) was the biggest reason to go Blu. Second is the 50 GB storage capacity. You know there will continue to be improvements in PQ and AQ from the studios, and BD makes much more sense when you look into the future and the need to hold more data.

[Kirsty_Mc]

Larger disc capacity and higher bitrate. Sadly not all movies currently available take full advantage of the format, but when you get a good one from such as Fox, Sony etc... there is a definate advantage over a somewhat less sophisticated format.

I know some people complain about grain in the picture (Grain is an artifact of film). Perhaps this is why some prefer a certain unsophisticated format as I have a feeling that titles released for this format are tweaked to remove the grain. After all if they left the grain in you'd maybe have to change the disc over half way through to fit it all in along with a decent soundtrack.

[tommyboy81]

For me it was the exclusives. Fox, Disney, and Sony (duh). I might be forgetting one. Better selection of movies to. There's just a bigger selection of great movies compared to HD-DVD.

[Shawnsmail35]

My friends and I did a side by side comparison using his HDDVD of 300 and my Blu Ray of 300. Fortunatley we did have the same T.V. so it worked out nicely. We invited a few of are friends over and all unanimously preffered the Blu rays picture and sound. Needless to say a week later he bought a PS3. So IMHO if you are looking for superior sound and vision i would say go Blu Ray

[SingingTheBlues]

Oh, and a big, big one: Blu-rays are extremely scratch-resistant, because a hard "diamond" anti-scratch coating has been added to them.

HD-DVDs are easily scratched, and finicky when scratched. The HD-DVD guys will say, "oh, you can just buff them out" but the truth is, how many times do you buff scratches out of your CDs? You just throw them away.

And scratches on HD-DVDs are much worse, because more data is squeezed into a smaller area than with a regular CD. So even tiny scratches cause issues.

[Kirsty_Mc]

Oh and you don't have to boil them first

Will Toshibas next trick to be a free kettle with every player????

[richard lichtenfelt]

11 of top 15 movies of 2006 are from blu-ray exclusive studios. 7 of top 15 from Sony themselves.

Box Office 2006 Source: Box Office Mojo

Position Title Studio Domestic Gross

1 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest BV $423,315,812 blu-ray only
2 Cars BV $244,082,982 blu-ray only
3 X-Men III: The Last Stand Fox $234,362,462 blu-ray only
4 The Da Vinci Code Sony $217,536,138 blu-ray only
5 Superman Returns WB $200,081,192 both
6 Ice Age: The Meltdown Fox $195,330,621 blu-ray only
7 Happy Feet WB $185,625,671 both
8 Night at the Museum Fox $165,150,384 blu-ray only
9 Casino Royale Sony $160,047,891 blu-ray only
10 Over the Hedge P/DW $155,019,34 hd-dvd only
11 Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby Sony $148,213,377 blu-ray only
12 Click Sony $137,340,146 blu only
13 Mission: Impossible III Par. $133,501,348 hd-dvd only
14 Borat Fox $126,598,982 blu-ray only
15 The Pursuit of Happyness Sony $124,834,524 blu-ray only

Paramaount only holds the #10 + #13 spots, Universal didn't make the top 15.

Top Ten Global Summer Blockbusters of 2007

# Film Gross ($M)
1 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End $958 blu-ray only
2 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix $912 both
3 Spider-Man 3 $890 blu-ray only
4 Shrek the Third $757 hd-dvd only
5 Transformers $685 hd-dvd only
6 The Simpsons Movie $482 blu-ray only
7 Ratatouille $390 blu-ray only
8 Die Hard 4.0 $356 blu-ray only
9 Ocean's Thirteen $305 both
10 The Bourne Ultimatum $278 hd-dvd only

7 on blu-ray, 5 on hd-dvd. 5 blu-ray exclusives, 3 hd-dvd exclusives, 2 neutrals.

For me it came down to movies available and on the horizon. Studio backing, and elec. manufacturer support. Most electronic hardware producers have joined blu-ray including Philips, Sharp, JVC, LG, Daewoo, Loewe, Denon, Funai, Hitachi, Harmon Kardon, Sony, Apple, Dell, Acer, TDK, Samsung, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, intel, and Hewlett Packard.
Manufacturer support of hd-dvd, Hewlett Packard, Acer, Toshiba, LG (combo player), Microsoft, Samsung (combo player).
http://blog.pixelperfectproductions.com/?p=71