OT: Blu-ray tops HD-DVD

[Jacob D]

Yeah, I didn't catch all of what the "next generation" blu ray was going to entail, only that discs burned in that format won't play on the existing format (according the the news station tech "expert").

My TV supposedly supports 1080p - but only from a source such as blu ray. Something to do with the frequency... I dunno. I'm only techy enough to be dangerous

It would be cool though to get a native 1080p signal. My Oppo does a decent job for now and it didnt set me back too much.

 

[P.Kelly]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11888992#post11888992 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jimdogg187
And MS can now contract sony or matushida to make a BR player for their console. Once again, Gates makes another brilliant move!!!

Looking into my crystal ball there is no way Gates will allow a JVM to run on the 360 after the last Sun/MS Java fiasco, and I'm a Java guy, so I'd love to see it happen.

If you aren't aware, a Java Virtual machine is a prerequisite for the Bluray spec.

 

[Jim_S]

Very interesting!! I did not know that

 

[Sparkss]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11888374#post11888374 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bladeruner143
Oh yeah, one more thing, did you hear that one of the major Toshiba execs said that that havent "officially" decided anything after they heard about the leak yesterday morning? I'm not sure if there had been an "official" announcement or not yet. After Warner hopped on to the Blu-ray side, it was over. If Toshiba thinks that they can somehow gets into this, they are crazy!!!

You totally missed the point. BR didn't win over DVD, there was never a competition between the two. That would be like comparing a Ford Focus to a Porsche 911. Of course the Ford is going to have a bigger market share due to the price point being more "average America". Who would say that Porsche would win over Ford ? or vice versa. (of course most of us would rather have a Porsche than a Ford, jsut not the bills that go along with one ). They are not really competitors, except maybe the Ford GT , but I am getting off track/off topic . The format war was between HD-DVD and BluRay, and BR won that war.

As Jimdogg stated, the announcement by Toshiba that they were stopping HD-DVD support and production was made earlier this morning and is quite very "official"

About current versus "new" BR players, the BD1.0 players don't even support the full BRD specs, so I would definitely wait until they get it right before buying one. There was alot of talk about class action suite against the BRD consortium over that, but nothing ever materialized. The rumors are that the BD2.0 players will finally deliver what was promised a couple of years ago by the BRD.

I am saddened to see Blu-Ray lose, only because of who is behind it and the general history of the formats. BR would not be anywhere near the quality it is now if not for HD-DVD. The first couple of BR titles that came out where barely better than their DVD counterparts. And until HD-DVD started using the superior VC-1 codec, BR only used the old AVC Mpeg-4 codec. At least HD-DVD played it's role in helping the HD format in general.

But BR has "won" and LG won't be able to sustain the format now that Toshiba has bowed out, although they have stated that they will stay the course and support the existing HD-DVD fan base.

 

[Sparkss]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11888961#post11888961 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jimdogg187
Well, unless they make a new format, the best picture resolution that the B-R can produce is 1080p. True, more space does allow for more information, but the 1080p is the max the TV and player can put out.

You will however, be able to put more movies or episodes on 1 disc though! that'll be sweet. With being able to put that much info on a disc, video games will be able to be broadcast in 1080p as well. I'm sure we'll see those soon too

exactly.. I think there is alot of confusion out there about what those specs all mean.

Plus, there was a 50gb HD-DVD disc spec developed, that it looks like will never get off the ground. So space was not really a concern.

 

[Jim_S]

Thanks for the insight Tom!! Good stuff

I hear what you're saying about HD-DVD pushing things along.

I was thinking the other benefit to such available space will be more room for audio as well!

 

[tfp]

lets just hope that blu doesn't get lazy w/o the competition...
i totally agree with what sparks said.

 

[Sparkss]

I was thinking the same thing Jim, about the additional space for audio .. that is one area that the HD discs in general had been occassionally "lite".

That is a fear that alot of people have Tim (including myself)... competition is a good thing, although I think that it is also good for the HD format in general to standardize to a single one. I just wish it hadn't gone to the format with the worst track record for caring about the consumer . Now the competition will be on hte hardware side, which can still serve to benefit the consumer. On the content side of things, if enough studios join in and produce HD discs (I am not sure if any are currently abstaining from releasing their moview in HD, but if so then those fence sitters will likely get off the fence and start releasing BR discs) then hopefully consumer spending will drive them to not get too slack. Face it, why pay $1k for a player and $30+ for the discs for only marginally better quality ? So both the studios and BRD will need to stay up to par to continue to draw new customers. I know I went to the high end for both on prices (player and disc), but those are what can drive a market segment as niche as HDV is right now. And to get that audio that you seem to be angling for Jim, then you will need that ~$1k player (at least the last time I looked.. but that all can change with the new 2.0 player line.. and will hopefully change for the better ).

Also with a single format now, the number of adopters will grow, both from those previously on the fence about buying a player and those needing to replace their HD-DVD player with something that will actually have newer movies available for it. That larger market share could help drive down prices for both movies and players (unless BRD just gets greedy, then they will end up losing out IMO).

I also don't know about those saying that the existing HD-DVD players are paper weights.. it is not like my HD-DVDs are going to go *poof* at sundown tonight and cease to exist . I just don't plan on adding any more of that format to our library.

 

[Reefugee]

I wonder if Blue Ray will come with a rootkit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Sony_BMG_CD_copy_protection_scandal