BRD vs. HD-DVD - Honest Unbiased Speculation - Who will win?

[polkatese]

Disclaimer:

I don't own any, both I think looks great. I am interested in understanding the audiophile/videophile folks (if they care enough) to predict who will win.

Personally, I am interested more on what the BRD group offer. Titles coming from Disney, Sony, etc. are more in-line with what I want. Of course, my kids' wants are also clouding my judgement.

In any case, thanks for voting!

[univera]

Don't know enough from a technical standpoint to truly evaluate, but from a coolness factor, Blu-Ray sounds pretty cool. HD-DVD isn't catchy, is hard to say 10 times in a row (see!) and could become confused with all the other DVD-A, SACD, etc stuff out there. If all things were equal, I'd gravitate towards the Blu-Ray on name alone. It just feels good to me, rolls off the tongue, is more consumer friendly and unimposing. A/V philes won't care as much about name, but mainstream America, if they are to buy into it, will gravitate towards catchy, cool sounding stuff.

[unc2701]

HD-DVD... they've got the jump start and never underestimate Sony's potential to screw itself.

That said, I'd like to see Blu-Ray win, but just don't think it's gonna happen.

[Monster Jam]

I whole-heartedly agree with UNC.

[jdhdiggs]

Yup, HD-DVD will win, unfortunately....

I mean, what a great business model for Blueray: Let's wait more than 6 months after our competitor launches and then launch our own player at double the cost! If that doesn't bring 'em running, let's not learn from our competitors release and give out crappy quality videos that look worse than standard def DVD's!!! Woohoo!

[polkatese]

Interesting result so far...so, the slight majority think HD-DVD will prevail. Interesting to note that Sony has been here before, and they lost big time (i.e. Betamax) One would think that they would look into these formats, and for the sake of survival, agreed on one format. But, noooooo, that would be too easy.

[amulford]

I still have a Betamax...

[Emlyn]

Isn't the real "format war" currently between standard definition DVD and the new high definition formats? It's going to be hard to convince the general buying public that either high definition format is worth the expense for the next couple of years. Meanwhile, upsampling of standard DVD gets better and better and cheaper.

Of the two formats, HD-DVD is "winning" by a score of 22 discs to 0 in my house. Which one will survive is a different question though, considering the general buying public is interested in $49 DVD players and watches DVD's on smallish non-high definition displays. Standard DVD (upsampled to 1080i or even 1080p) is now more than fine for most people and will be as long as the DVD plants keep churning out inexpensive standard DVD's. The main reasons for the new disc formats are copy protection, triple-dipping opportunities for the movie studios, and providing a niche market with another choice similar to what was provided with DVD-A and SACD (which I bought both formats of as well). I haven't bought into Blu-Ray because the current Samsung player is not performing as well as the format allows and the movie selection is inferior on Blu-Ray now. Once Panasonic produces a player, I might check out Blu-Ray again. I predict both formats will survive to serve a niche market, but I can't guess how many years they'll be around before they're replaced with something else.

[Sherardp]

Not to mention the outstanding service toshiba has been releasing to upgrade its current HD DVD players, you can now get lossless True HD via the new update, cant beat it. And as others have said you can get into the format fairly cheap.

Personally I dont care which format wins, but Im living for the moment now, and I have been very happy with the PQ/SQ of HD DVD, BR has yet to make me say aaaaahhhhhh, they need to do something though or yeah the war will be over. Just my thoughts and on another note I totally agree with Emlyn.

[bknauss]

Both die off cause people are more than content with DVDs and have amassed a huge library. The difference isn't stark enough to make the expensive upgrade... and it'll be an expensive upgrade as long as there isn't a large mass market appeal. Its not like the difference between VHS and DVD or standard TV vs HDTV. Its also a pain to see the new audio formats take so long to become main stream. How many receivers decode them at this point?? None last time I looked.

Look for whatever is next to come out with better features and be the next standard.

[Sherardp]

my receiver decodes everything

[EricBurg]

I think it is too early to tell. The wildcard in the whole equation is going to be the gaming console market, specifically, the playstation 3 and peripheral add on computer drives. I don't know many people that will shell out $1k for a new dvd player, when the current ones produce a good enough picture on their 32" standard TV, but those same people will pay $600-700 for a new gaming console.

Eric

[bknauss]

my receiver decodes everything

Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD?

[adam2434]

Before I got a front projector, I would have been in the "don't care" camp and believed that SD DVD is good enough.

Now, since owning a large (100") display, the limitations of SD DVD are obvious, especially when compared to HD TV.

I hope that HD-DVD or BRD becomes the new mainstream standard, but I have my doubts.

I believe HD-DVD is ahead at this point in the game.

[Sherardp]

Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD?

With HDMI 1.1, you get the full TrueHD 5.1 audio.

Using HDMI gets you the best sound quality possible -- even higher quality than analog if your processor/receiver doesn't have analog bypass.


Here's what happens on a HD-DVD with TrueHD 5.1 when you have the latest firmware on your player:
TrueHD 5.1 is decoded by the HD-DVD player's advanced signal processor into 5.1 LPCM at up to 14Mbps.


The 5.1 LPCM digital stream is output directly over HDMI 1.1.

The 5.1 LPCM digital stream is run through 24/196 digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and output over 5.1 analog.


The 5.1 LPCM digital stream is run through a PCM->DTS downconverter (encoder) for output as lower-fidelity 1.5Mbps DTS over legacy optical / coax.


Toshiba HD-A1 re-encodes the decoded TrueHD signal to lossless 24/96 PCM and outputs that via HDMI, so you do get the full resolution.

So to answer you, yes I am able to enjoy True HD right now using my HD DVD---> Sony 7100ES AVR----> Panny 60 inch display via HDMI.

[unc2701]

So what you're saying is that your receiver doesn't decode it.

[sickicw]

hd-dvd is winning right now, but blu-ray is slowly catching up. If blu-ray can start pumping out 50G duel layer disks quickly, then i think blu-ray will start picking up even more. Still, it is too early to tell.

[Sherardp]

So what you're saying is that your receiver doesn't decode it.

yes it is able to decode it

[Ron-P]

Yup, HD-DVD will win, unfortunately....

What's wrong with HD-DVD?

hd-dvd is winning right now, but blu-ray is slowly catching up. If blu-ray can start pumping out 50G duel layer disks quickly, then i think blu-ray will start picking up even more. Still, it is too early to tell.

Yes, it is still too early to tell but disk space has zero to do with Blu winning, after all, HD-DVD can store up to 45 gigs.

Personally, I want the best format to win, right now that is HD-DVD, maybe next year it'll be Blu, who knows? I bought into HD-DVD and if Blu pulls it's head out and can match HD-DVDs PQ and SQ and price point I'll buy into it as well.

[Sherardp]

What's wrong with HD-DVD?



Yes, it is still too early to tell but disk space has zero to do with Blu winning, after all, HD-DVD can store up to 45 gigs.

Personally, I want the best format to win, right now that is HD-DVD, maybe next year it'll be Blu, who knows? I bought into HD-DVD and if Blu pulls it's head out and can match HD-DVDs PQ and SQ and price point I'll buy into it as well.

Agreed, I was going to buy into BR also but I have to see to clean DEMO. HD DVD is working great for me as of now though.