Hello:

I would like to make an article, its a project I am working on and I will be posting it on my web-site, once my site has a full make over.

If you don't mind sharing your thoughts, please share them here :)

cheaper players

I bought the $200 360 add-on and haven't looked back since. I WILL NOT purchase a Blu-Ray player until prices come down to the $400 mark. I already had the 360 for six months or so, so the add-on was a no brainer. I won't purchase the PS3 solely for Blu-ray playback.

Better overall video quality
Interactivity (when available)
More video content (extra features)
Cheaper stand-alone players
Cheaper disk retail price (unless it's a combo)

Because if HD-DVD tanks then the terrorists have won! ;)

Seriously, I'm as jittery as everyboody about the format war and I don't want to back the wrong horse and be stuck with movies from the losing format (regardless of the PQ/AQ being excellent) to the tune of a small fortune I don't have. Enter the XBox 360 add-on, a cheap sub-$200 entry into the HD format thanks to me already owning a 360. I'm up to 11 HD-DVD movies and happy with the PQ and AQ (the lower-quality of sound is still good-enough for me). I consider myself format neutral because I intend to get a PS3 eventually, but not until (a) the PS3 is down to 360 price levels, (b) the PS3's upscaling abilities for PS1/PS2/DVD are activated and (c) the BD movies aren't released at insanely above-$30 prices without bonus features (I'm looking at you Fox). HD-DVD has given me an affordable entry into HD that has allowed me to buy movies for my HD player. I expect nothing less from Sony if they want me as an HD customer. I'm patient, I can wait it out with HD-DVD provided I get a steady stream of quality hit movies.

because HD dvd provides the picture that every one expects from SD dvd: cleaner,sharper, more contrast and details...it keeps the promise..that 's all...i don't like grainy, noisy or film like or what ever of this kind at all ...please stop convincing yourselves that it was author 's intent...

The cost is cheaper to enter the HD movie experience, ie stand alone player.
The overall picture is superior to that of the Blu-Ray camp. I know this statement will anger many, but it is the truth, if you are willing to admit it or not.
The cost of the disc are cheaper, if you are not including the combo discs.
Sony is just plan evil, and if they had the advantage on everything I listed above, I would still prefer HD-DVD over Blu-Ray. :p

The $199 Xbox 360 add-on. I still want to purchase a stand-alone player, but they're too expensive to get a second gen with analogue audio outs.

I purchased the A1 3 months ago because of:

1) Price - I needed a good upcovnerting DVD player and wanted HD movies so this player was perfect at it's price point
2) HD-DVD had more movies I wanted to buy at the time.

Now that there are actually a handfull of movies I want on BluRay I will probably buy a player once they become cheaper or get a PS3 once some good games are available.

I went the HD-DVD route for a few reasons.

1. I don't like Sony and I don't like to spend extra money!
2. I like Toshiba and at the time I liked the current selection of movies!
3. $500 is a lot nicer price point that $1,000
4. I don't think a console should be used only as a dvd player (like the ps3)?
5. I already planned a party when Sony goes out of business or at least the gaming division. So if I support them it will only drag it on. I want that party!

btw anyone can come when Sony bites the dust! The clock is ticking I can't wait! :)

I bought HD because I'm brand loyal. Toshiba has been synonomous with quality products for more than 15 years, a title Sony once held in the 80's.

Cheaper Players, Universal Studios, Better quality releases, Better films, for the most part cheaper titles as well.

Well I happened to see a A1 on sale for 399 and bought it.

So I'd say the low price and I liked more of the movies on HDDVD at the time. Although I'm seeing a lot of good movies comming to blu-ray so I may get a ps3 this if they get good games. But that's if they do other wise ill wait for a cheeper player. Hopfully sub 400 like my A1. Don't need a video game system I won't use...


Although if you look around the world a lot of great HDDVDs can be imported that would otherwise be blu_ray only here.

Also all HDDVDs are region free. Unlike blu_ray which has region coding on some discs. Although I'd think HDDVD will get it in time. prehapps not. Hofully not as a lot of french films look great. Ones that are only french that wound never come to the US due to language and such.......

.......

- Much cheaper players. I already have a 360 and a Wii and I use them for games, I don't want a PS3 as a movie player especially since it won't work with my Harmony remote.
- Excellent quality.
- Better selection of quality movies that I enjoy....so far Universal and Weinstien have trumped both Fox and Disney in movies I would actually buy. Warner still has the best selection overall.
- Cheaper price of movies.
- Very few barebones releases. I believe if you're going to charge $40 for a movie then it better include more than just the movie.
- To a lesser extent, the arrogant attitude of many of the BD companies, notably Sony and Fox. I don't like to feel like I'm being treated as a sheep who will buy what I am told to and like it. That's a strong feeling I get from Sony and Fox.

1. HD-DVD has more consistent video quality(most of my Blu-Ray stuff has too much grain/digital noise in my opinion).
2. I like the classics better such as Casablanca and Mutiny on the Bounty and for now HD-DVD has this covered better than Blu-Ray.
3. Cheaper players to begin with($200 for the Xbox 360 was a no brainer as far as I was concerned.
4. One of my favorite movies is exclusive to HD-DVD right now and that is the 1982 version of The Thing.
5. I don't like the fact that Sony makes statements that I consider to be bully/ arrogant statements and I feel Sony quality has been going down for years(I still buy all their game systems and support their products though).

Price and equal quality, in fact they made the BD step up it seems and for many at one time it was the leader in content. However not married to it, if I have to go over I'll get a PS3. But then again I'd be just as happy sticking with HD DVD and what I got.

1. I prefer everything and nothing.

2. Never met a player I did not like. Own 'em all, from beta, vhs, LD, dvd, divx, dvhs, hd-dvd, bd, and beyond. Oops, I missed Selectavision. But that was crap anyway.

3. I like to support losers and orphan formats. It's American to support the underdog. With Microsoft behind hd-dvd, though, this may be the biggest underdog ever backed by an overdog.

4. Cheap is good. Keep the competition alive by throwing them a few bones. Result: the top dog has to kow-tow to the low dog, since the bark takes a bite out of prices. Namely, why should I buy ABC when I can buy XYZ for 20% less? Duh, my dad did not raise a spendthrift. My mom did.

If you don't mind sharing your thoughts, please share them here :)

Because, I love a bargain. Show me any stand alone player in the $400 to $500 range that can touch it? I'm waiting...

PS: software is great too.

Not Sony is the primary reason.

But if the price of the HD DVD players was up there with the BD players, I'd currently have neither.

1) Great PQ, great AQ, great media support from the leading sofware comany in the world; Microsoft.
2) You can tell that they will continue to tweek the technology and continue to improve upon it, CES 2007 made that very evident to me.
3) The competition are mainly interested in movie announcements, and intimidation, (we have so many studios) which proves to me that they have ZERO to offer as far as improvements are concerned.
4) Quality and an affordable price.

Better prices, fully featured, better menus, showed us that 50 GB and Sony's propaganda is not necessary, superb PQ and AQ.

I have an Xbox 360 and wanted to have high def movies. The HD-DVD add-on was the cheapest way to do that. And I really don't like what Sony is doing with Blu-Ray. But, cost is definitely the big issue for me. I haven't read up on which one has better PQ/features/etc, but HD-DVD was the most inexpensive option so that's what I went with.

1.price
2.price
3.picture Quality Of Hd, Sd Movies
4.movie Title Quality

I like rooting for the underdog and I want Jurassic Park.

HD DVD offers the best best gen movie experience. Period. So, if you're more interested in quality over quantity, HD DVD is the way to go. Also, given that HD DVD players are some of the best DVD upconverting players as well, they offer overall the better movie experience across all types of disks....

-HD DVD player is affordable, compared to overpriced BD players.
-SD DVD Upconversion, that's the whole reason I went shopping in the first place.
-BD is a Sony 'group of companies' standard, I've had horrible experience with thier hardware in the past, so I stay away from anything with that brand name.
-Combo format discs, some people see this as a negative, but for me it's a plus. No more buying SD DVDs, this way I can watch the combo anywhere I want. (laptops, portable, in the car, bedroom player, etc)
-I see thru Sony's marketing hype for the next big thing, with an overpriced tag attached.

Toshiba Brand name , Great bang for the buck co unlike Sony cost always too high..
Best Price A1 $400.00
Best picture Quality(most consistant)Stunning movies KK Corpse Bride Etc
Three Free Movies
The A1 has a good rating and is a very good product (I like the reveiw on xa2 also)
Firmware updates
Can hook up and download w/ ethernet port , I used it ...
Upconversion A++
I believe a lot of titles are being pressed as we wait patiently ...
Am tired of Sony and Blu invaders trying to bully , lie , cheat and steal there way to a quick win a any cost . No class !! Let us consumers decide instead of so called experts trying to sway unimformed customers to believe the rhetoric ..
I guess I go for the underdog Too , look at my user id !!

Besides the quality, because Sony are underhanded lying a-holes and proffesional bullsh*t artists.

Consistent picture quality.

Consistent picture quality.
Because my wife and I love saying "WOW" simultaneously each and every time we watch SD or HD! :)

Price, quality, availability.

I'd already had an Xbox $360, so the HD DVD addon was a sub $200 way to enter the HD realm. My thinking was if HD DVD goes the way of Betamax, i invested less than $200 in hardware. I believe the cheapest route BlueRay has to offer is the 20GB PS3, which is substantially more.

great PQ/AQ, that's been much more consistent since day 1 of the format
much more affordable hardware price, be it on a gaming system or a dedicated stand-alone (although I HAVE to have a stand alone)
much more mature hardware starting right out of the gates (even at G1), that will play advanced audio codecs, interactive features, PiP, etc.. knowing I didn't spend $800 - $1500 on a player that can't and won't be able to play certain interactive features when summer 2007 arrives (not even firmware updateable), and that currently still don't do advanced audio codecs
not having to have a game console as a reasonably priced player
region free, unlike the other format, allowing me to import titles from other countries if they're not available here in the U.S. (thank you, Amazon.uk for my FAVORITE HD DVD of all time, HPGoF! See THIS ONE if you want to see and hear what HD DVD can do!)
network port for firmware updates

My reason is on the audio side. The first players by Toshiba (A1/XA1/D1) have discrete analog outputs. I can listen to the high-end audio tracks (Dolby TrueHD and DD+) through the analog outputs in my system. On the Blu-ray side, the PS3 plays back high-end audio tracks only through its HDMI output. All of the uncompressed Blu-ray tracks are not useful to me until (1) a reasonable-cost Blu-ray player comes out that supports them in analog form or (2) I upgrade my receiver.

SCD

5. I already planned a party when Sony goes out of business or at least the gaming division. So if I support them it will only drag it on. I want that party!
:)

Since the PS2 is the biggest selling console by far today (outselling all others by at least 2x), I very much doubt Sony will get out of the gaming console business soon. add to that fact that the PS3 is actually selling far better than when the PS2 launched and you get the picture. They're in it to dominate the business as long as possible.

FAVORITE HD DVD of all time, HPGoF! See THIS ONE if you want to see and hear what HD DVD can do!)

Just odered my copy CAN'T WAIT!! :D

As for me:

1.Region free
2.Less Expensive
3.Better titles (BD titles require the attention span of a canary)
4.Mature, not rushed technology
5.Sony's quest to become the Microsoft of the living room

getme :cool:

+ Consistent picture quality
+ No region coding
+ Cheaper players
+ No Mpeg-2

DVD Forum Approval
Mass use of Advanced Codecs (audio and Video)
Flexibality of the discs (SL, DL, Combo, Double Sided)
Price of Purchase
Universal Support (all that matters to me is Jurassic Park, outside that any movie is a bonus)
No Region coding
Most importantly no BD+ (a technology that completely goes against any fair use policy and should be considered as bad and illegal as the Rootkit disaster of 05)

Bought the HD DVD add on due to price. Anticipate I will buy the Toshiba XA2 as well sometime in the future.

1. Value - Price & Quality

2. First to market - aggressive and delivers

3. Consistent standards and HDi

4. Microsoft backing - with a player and VC1 codec

5. Microsoft/Toshiba/Universal work hard to establish a cost effective HD
solution that provides quality. They are willing to go the extra mile.

6. Like their strategy to gain market share and hit all price points for 2007.

7. Expect HD market with be flooded with low priced players and studios will be
convinced HD DVD is here to stay and will go neutral.

8. Knowing that Microsoft wants to be in my living room and is fighting to gain
that market, I expect they may buy a studio (Disney or Warner) to level the
playing field with Sony.

9. Do not like Sony's BS and their attitude towards its customers. Nor do I like to
over spend money on a technology that can be bought much cheaper with the
same quality.

+ No region codes, great worldwide importing options
+ Quality content rather than just quantity
+ Reasonably prized standalone players with high quality
+ Well standardized, consistent capabilities in players
+ More consistent use of advanced codecs in content
+ More consistent high quality in content transfers (for the most part)
+ Better audio options for my setup (can't use uncompressed PCM)
+ Less DRM
+ Less arrogance in marketing
+ My Toshiba HD-XF2 player is not making too much fan noise (unlike my PS3)

if hd dvd did not exist i would only have bought an sd dvd player and waited a couple more years to get into hi. def.

1. needed a good source for a new projector that makes sd look close to as good as sd gets
2. hd software quality. advanced codecs, features, extras.
3. price. $400 for the a1 including hdmi cable. (oct. '06)
4. hardware features including analog 5.1 (a1), ethernet, non-volatile memory, usb (waiting for good stuff there)
5. most of the movies i like are warner/universal
6. region free.

btw: i have 6 hd dvd import disks that are "bd exclusive" and a couple of other movies that are not available in the us. imports are fun to see what the other side of the world sees.

7. HDi which i knew was also going to be part of windows vista. IMO software integration will be important in the future.
8. managed copy in the future (or whatever works to rip to a hd). file sizes using advanced codecs are smaller. IMO mpeg2 is a non-starter for hi. def. i don't want to buy disks that are encoded with it due to the file size.
9. planned support for downloading of extra content. IMO the disk should be a key that unlocks added content.
10. use of dvd production lines. IMO this lets smaller studios and disk manufacturers support hi. def. easier.
11. combo disks are useful.... wish they were cheaper.
12. hd dvd seems well designed overall and seems flexible enough to add features over time. this is from my perspective as an ee.

Welcome to the AVS Boards Kannisto. Glad to see the 1% of people in Japan that actually give a damn about HD-DVD is represented with your post! :)

+ No region codes, great worldwide importing options
+ Quality content rather than just quantity
+ Reasonably prized standalone players with high quality
+ Well standardized, consistent capabilities in players
+ More consistent use of advanced codecs in content
+ More consistent high quality in content transfers (for the most part)
+ Better audio options for my setup (can't use uncompressed PCM)
+ Less DRM
+ Less arrogance in marketing
+ My Toshiba HD-XF2 player is not making too much fan noise (unlike my PS3)
I see you're from Japan. Is it true that HD DVD is not doing well there as some claim?
And some claim that Blu-ray has won the battle in Japan, what do you see out there?

No region encoding.

More consistent standards.

Potentially amazing exclusive catalog (that is, if Universal bothers to make it happen)

Most of all - less expensive, but equal (and often better) quality compared to Blu-Ray.

- Affordability.
- Delivered on what it promised.
- cheaper to make which will end up benefiting the consumer's eventually.
- The name is perfect, no one is going to ask what HD DVD stands for.
- PQ and AQ great from the start, they delivered.
- Best of all it's not a forced media for me, it was optional and I appreciate it more because of it.
- No region coding
- less restrictions
- HDi since day one and man is it awesome.
- Internet connectivity will only improve HD DVD in the long run.
- Dolby TrueHD, man I was a DTS freak with dvd now I am loving me some trueHD.
- Combo's are ultimately a good thing, if only they can lower the prices a bit.

1. Price
2. Better quality content from the get go.
3. Not Sony

I admit I have a PS3 in addition to my HD-A2 though.....what can I say, I'm a HD content slut. ;)

1. PQ and upconversion quality.
2. Price compared to BD - BD player price is INSANITY for a consumer content playback device.
3. Universal releases are better than what we've seen from Sony/Columbia/Disney
4. Sony is batting .000 in consumer formats. Beta, Minidisc, MemoryStick, what a joke...

I fully expect to own a dual-format player at the end of next year for no more than $375...

MEC2

For me it was
I despise Sony as a company
I like toshiba
The price was right when I bought mine(BD was still 1k)
at the time they had out the movies I wanted.
Now though I'm shopping for a BD player.
I'm not sorry I bought HD-DVD I just want some titles that I can't get on HD-DVD so I'm looking for a BD player in the next month and a A20 in the spring(to replace my A2)

main reason in general:
- no region coding: since it's unclear at this point if legal region free BD players will be available later, it's a 'no go' for this format.

reason to buy into HD DVD now:
- < €200 for the Add on: I already owned a XBox 360 and this small investment made it irresistible for me.

No region coding.
Value.
HD-DVD delivered quality results when I was ready to buy. BD did not.

I don't really prefer HD DVD any more but I chose to go with HD DVD first because:

-It was clearly delivering better picture quality when I entered the scene.
-The XBOX 360 HD DVD drive was cheap and works with my HTPC.
-The information was intelligent compared to the obvious inflated propaganda coming from the other side.



...waiting for Blu Ray drives to become affordable.

Thats an easy one:
Price
No region coding, coming from europe, that's verrry important
and the arrogant behaviour of Sony and some other members of the blu-ray clan during the last few months makes me glad I have chosen HD-DVD.
Now, bring me the titles....

I see you're from Japan. Is it true that HD DVD is not doing well there as some claim?
And some claim that Blu-ray has won the battle in Japan, what do you see out there?

I'm living in Tokyo since '96 but originally I'm from Finland.

I don't see any battle being won yet here in Japan although Blu-ray is having some more visibility in content side now. It's way too early to declare either side a winner though.

There was hardly any HD movie content visible in local shops until December last year, so it's still very early in the game. Usually in Japanese shops that sell DVDs there is now a Blu-ray stand with roughly 10-30 titles in some corner and quite often there is a bit smaller HD DVD section next to it (in some cases no HD DVD content at all though). Haven't seen practically any people paying attention to those stands whenever I've been looking around so I guess these are not yet selling too much.

HD DVD players are fairly well presented in big electronics stores, in most cases better than Blu-ray standalones.

I guess Blu-ray content is just selling gradually more here now because of the PS3 effect. DVD is still very dominant compared to either of the HD formats though.

It does seem that new HD DVD releases are coming out pretty slowly here recently though, which is a bit worrying overall. For me that's not so much of a problem since I tend to import most of my discs anyway, but I think most Japanese people need Japanese subtitles for their content and for that reason there are not so many who import. Local prices are so much higher than e.g. in U.S. that otherwise importing would be a lot more popular.

For me one interesting point is that almost all the Blu-ray content here seems to be very mainstream Hollywood stuff and HD DVD on the other hand has more varied content available, including a few Japanese and Korean movies. HD DVD is mainly getting releases from these distributors here: Warner Brothers, Universal, Paramount, Toshiba/Emi, Shochiku Home Video, Pony Canyon, Happinet. It would be better if more of the local content included English subtitles though...

Welcome to the AVS Boards Kannisto. Glad to see the 1% of people in Japan that actually give a damn about HD-DVD is represented with your post! :)

Thanks! I think real movie enthusiasts and early HD adopters care about HD DVD, but there might be larger population of those here who got PS3 for games and started buying some BD movies as well. I wouldn't quite declare HD DVD dead in Japan at this point though :-)

Xbox 360 addon.... I had enough gear laying around to trade in for a free one.

Price, distrust of Sony (too many failed formats!), and, more importantly, better movies. Blu-ray may have more movies coming out right now, but most of it's garbage. You can go spend 20 bucks on "The Marine" if you'd like; I'd rather get quality content like "Children of Men", "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", and "The Deer Hunter".

+ Consistent picture quality
+ No region coding
+ Cheaper players
+ No Mpeg-2
+1 :D

I bought the $200 360 add-on and haven't looked back since. I WILL NOT purchase a Blu-Ray player until prices come down to the $400 mark. I already had the 360 for six months or so, so the add-on was a no brainer. I won't purchase the PS3 solely for Blu-ray playback.

This is (almost) exactly my situation as well. I had the 360 for about 3 months prior to getting the add-on for x-mas 2006.

Honestly because xbox 360 and future xbox models will support it so I will always have a player.

The other reason is I think Sony creates too much stuff that flops.

I could care less if one can do 30 gig and the other 60 as it will have little to no impact.

THINK about this. Microsoft will have hd burners and software to take advantage of it much faster than Sony will compete. When sony does...the first 3 years you will have to buy a Sony computer to get a BR burner "most likely".

Adult films are getting support from HD DVD and this was a huge factor why BETA failed from Sony even though it was a better over all format.

I have both formats and like them both for the most part for their ability to produce high quality HD content, however I prefer HD DVD for the following reasons.

1. The PQ and AQ is just as good if not better than BD. PQ and AQ is for the most part a result of the effort that the studio puts into it and not really a format differentiation. I guess I like the efforts of Miscrosoft and VC1 with the HD DVD studios.
2. The price is reasonable given where it is in its life cycle.
3. The studios supporting HD DVD are putting out quality titles. The BD exclusive studios are not putting out their "A" game yet.
4. HD DVD was a perfectly good step forward into HD DVD, and BD was and is in essence redundant. I feel I have been put into a position to buy two formats because the likes of Sony (and others) wanted to generate more profits at my expense. They should have to eat their R&D spending and learn a lesson from the consumer on this. Sony has done this so many times it is nauseating.
5. BD has extra layers of copy protection which may impact my fair use of the format down the line. I have always been a paying customer and am very weary of what issues are going to come down the pike.
6. After paying more than $1,000 for a BD player and retail for the discs I should not have anti-piracy videos thrust upon me every time I put certain discs in.
7. I feel that the collusion between the CE manufacturers and the studios and to some extent the retailers is trying to force me into supporting a format that for all intents and purposes has no advantage over HD DVD with respect to playing movies. As a consumer I hate to be manipulated in this fashion. On sheer principle I will support HD DVD as long as it is supporting itself.
8. Intangibly, I have not been this excited about home video in years. HD DVD simply brings back the excitement of the early days of DVD. For some reason, all the negative feelings I have for BD (and its supporters) gets in the way of me enjoying it the same way.
9. Even though there were some studios supporting DIVx I was glad I jumped into DVD early and supported it and the result, as we all know, is that the right format/sales model came out on top. I feel the same way about HD DVD and am convinced that the longer I support it the more likely it is that it will continue as a going concern. I have no doubt that HD DVD will be around for many years to come.
10. There will be nothing more gratifying than seeing the BD studio and CE supporters eventually have to acknowledge the HD DVD market and support that format as well. It's inevitable and is the principal reason why we are currently seeing such a strong push to convince the consumer that BD has won the war or should win the war. BD needs HD DVD to bow out quickly or else they will have to start competing on price (hardware) and quality (of titles more so than of performance). They are hoping they can get the consumer to kill off their competition so they can continue to gouge it. Why would any consumer be so intent upon doing this?
11. The studios that comprise the BD group have a history of treating their catalog as product and have been beating consumers over the head with repeated re-releases of marginal incremental value for years. I have not liked Sony/Columbia's treatment of their catalog in SD DVD and I expect the same crap from them in HD. Early releases with minimal bonus features are just a pre-text to an already planned SE, then extended edition, Super-bit, then maybe a full-frame only re-release down the line. This kind of general expectation that a customer base can be infinitely pilfered from has always left a bad taste with me. I already see them thinking this way for BD (lackluster initial releases many with no extras, etc...).

To sum it all up, I'm very pleased with HD DVD and will principally support it. That includes buying all titles that I want that are available in HD DVD (all new copies). I will buy new releases (and some very strong catalog titles) from BD but that is about it (preferably waiting to find a used copy). I don't plan on buying much SD DVD material anymore unless it is not expected to see the light of day in HD for a long time (again preferably waiting to find a used copy). If Fox, Disney, Lionsgate and others want to re-sell me their catalog they will have to do it in HD DVD.

Thanks everyone, I will compile your thoughts and put it in the artcile I am working on for later.

I'm living in Tokyo since '96 but originally I'm from Finland.

I don't see any battle being won yet here in Japan although Blu-ray is having some more visibility in content side now. It's way too early to declare either side a winner though.

There was hardly any HD movie content visible in local shops until December last year, so it's still very early in the game. Usually in Japanese shops that sell DVDs there is now a Blu-ray stand with roughly 10-30 titles in some corner and quite often there is a bit smaller HD DVD section next to it (in some cases no HD DVD content at all though). Haven't seen practically any people paying attention to those stands whenever I've been looking around so I guess these are not yet selling too much.

HD DVD players are fairly well presented in big electronics stores, in most cases better than Blu-ray standalones.

I guess Blu-ray content is just selling gradually more here now because of the PS3 effect. DVD is still very dominant compared to either of the HD formats though.

It does seem that new HD DVD releases are coming out pretty slowly here recently though, which is a bit worrying overall. For me that's not so much of a problem since I tend to import most of my discs anyway, but I think most Japanese people need Japanese subtitles for their content and for that reason there are not so many who import. Local prices are so much higher than e.g. in U.S. that otherwise importing would be a lot more popular.

For me one interesting point is that almost all the Blu-ray content here seems to be very mainstream Hollywood stuff and HD DVD on the other hand has more varied content available, including a few Japanese and Korean movies. HD DVD is mainly getting releases from these distributors here: Warner Brothers, Universal, Paramount, Toshiba/Emi, Shochiku Home Video, Pony Canyon, Happinet. It would be better if more of the local content included English subtitles though...
Thanks very much for the candid response. Listening to some here one would think that the war was already over in Japan, and the BR group has won.

Main reason is because of companies like Sony. They continuously try to push their proprietary formats down the throats of consumers. Cost of entry for Blu Ray is also just a tad too high.

some posts deleted

some warning PM's sent: next step is suspensions

Come on people let's be honest:

The one and only reason people here prefer HD DVD: it was out first.

Quality: Whoever said HD DVD PQ is better is being stupid. Are you trying to tell me that videos, using the same codec, look different ? Let's don't forget lower bandwidth and lower storage mean the theory quality limit of HD DVD is obviously lower than Blu-ray.

Price: About the most arguable advantage for HD DVD. But it's about to go down the drain with combos. HD DVD may have the cheapest stand-alone player (no, it's not an add-on that must be plug into a gaming machine), but Blu-ray also have a relatively cheap player out, which also is a gaming console.

IME: who care? The blu-ray have something similar, but I don't care enough to read up on it.

Content: Im not gonna go into this, just look at the release chart.

Backup solution: Bluray have PC manufacturer supports, Hardware manufacturer supports, price/GB, bigger space. Need more ?

There I said it, people here prefer HD DVD mainly because it's the first to come out, and attracted movie/tech enthusiast (who is gonna have everything anyway), uninformed people and impatience people.

Wow, Sedaku, none of your points stand up to further scrutiny:

Quality: Actually depending on the codec used and compression technology employed, the amount of space on a disk or bandwidth is pretty much irrelevant. There is absolutely no guarantee that a blu-ray movie made using MPEG 2 with higher bandwidth over the transport will have better PQ than the same title encoded with VC-1 on HD-DVD. Your making an assumption that is not based on reality.

Price: If you take the game consoles out of the equation, HD-DVD has a CLEAR price advantage. The PS3 for all its glitz and glory cant do upconversion of SD-DVD content. All Toshiba stand alones do upconversion. When you factor this in, the price advantage of HD-DVD over Blu-Ray becomes enormous.

IME: If you cant even be bothered to read up on it, or understand what you're missing, you should probably stick with plain old DVD. Blu-Ray has no set standard yet for something similar so you really cant say they do have an IME equivalent now can you?

Content: Ah, yes. Content. Blu-Ray is littered with a mind numbing array of utterly awful films from Sony and Fox. Click? Little Man? Broken Arrow? Eragon? More bad movies on Blu-Ray still means they're bad movies. Just because they're on Blu-Ray doesnt make them better.

Backup Solution: Ah, yes. Backup solution how? 30.00 media for one disc? 600.00 for a blu-ray burner? Sorry, price per GB in that case would go to DL DVD. I can get 212.5 GB total storage AND a burner for less than 100.00 total. Or I could just get a 500GB USB drive. As a backup solution, Blu-Ray is still a clumsy media format, just like CD's and DVD's were.

Wow, Sedaku, none of your points stand up to further scrutiny:

Quality: Actually depending on the codec used and compression technology employed, the amount of space on a disk or bandwidth is pretty much irrelevant. There is absolutely no guarantee that a blu-ray movie made using MPEG 2 with higher bandwidth over the transport will have better PQ than the same title encoded with VC-1 on HD-DVD. Your making an assumption that is not based on reality.

Price: If you take the game consoles out of the equation, HD-DVD has a CLEAR price advantage. The PS3 for all its glitz and glory cant do upconversion of SD-DVD content. All Toshiba stand alones do upconversion. When you factor this in, the price advantage of HD-DVD over Blu-Ray becomes enormous.

IME: If you cant even be bothered to read up on it, or understand what you're missing, you should probably stick with plain old DVD. Blu-Ray has no set standard yet for something similar so you really cant say they do have an IME equivalent now can you?

Content: Ah, yes. Content. Blu-Ray is littered with a mind numbing array of utterly awful films from Sony and Fox. Click? Little Man? Broken Arrow? Eragon? More bad movies on Blu-Ray still means they're bad movies. Just because they're on Blu-Ray doesnt make them better.

Backup Solution: Ah, yes. Backup solution how? 30.00 media for one disc? 600.00 for a blu-ray burner? Sorry, price per GB in that case would go to DL DVD. I can get 212.5 GB total storage AND a burner for less than 100.00 total. Or I could just get a 500GB USB drive. As a backup solution, Blu-Ray is still a clumsy media format, just like CD's and DVD's were.
:)

Come on people let's be honest:

The one and only reason people here prefer HD DVD: it was out first.

Quality: Whoever said HD DVD PQ is better is being stupid. Are you trying to tell me that videos, using the same codec, look different ? Let's don't forget lower bandwidth and lower storage mean the theory quality limit of HD DVD is obviously lower than Blu-ray.

Price: About the most arguable advantage for HD DVD. But it's about to go down the drain with combos. HD DVD may have the cheapest stand-alone player (no, it's not an add-on that must be plug into a gaming machine), but Blu-ray also have a relatively cheap player out, which also is a gaming console.

IME: who care? The blu-ray have something similar, but I don't care enough to read up on it.

Content: Im not gonna go into this, just look at the release chart.

Backup solution: Bluray have PC manufacturer supports, Hardware manufacturer supports, price/GB, bigger space. Need more ?

There I said it, people here prefer HD DVD mainly because it's the first to come out, and attracted movie/tech enthusiast (who is gonna have everything anyway), uninformed people and impatience people.

Sorry dude but I was being honest with what I said. I guess some people can't handle things unless they have control of what other people believe and say.

Wow, Sedaku, none of your points stand up to further scrutiny:

Quality: Actually depending on the codec used and compression technology employed, the amount of space on a disk or bandwidth is pretty much irrelevant. There is absolutely no guarantee that a blu-ray movie made using MPEG 2 with higher bandwidth over the transport will have better PQ than the same title encoded with VC-1 on HD-DVD. Your making an assumption that is not based on reality.

Price: If you take the game consoles out of the equation, HD-DVD has a CLEAR price advantage. The PS3 for all its glitz and glory cant do upconversion of SD-DVD content. All Toshiba stand alones do upconversion. When you factor this in, the price advantage of HD-DVD over Blu-Ray becomes enormous.

IME: If you cant even be bothered to read up on it, or understand what you're missing, you should probably stick with plain old DVD. Blu-Ray has no set standard yet for something similar so you really cant say they do have an IME equivalent now can you?

Content: Ah, yes. Content. Blu-Ray is littered with a mind numbing array of utterly awful films from Sony and Fox. Click? Little Man? Broken Arrow? Eragon? More bad movies on Blu-Ray still means they're bad movies. Just because they're on Blu-Ray doesnt make them better.

Backup Solution: Ah, yes. Backup solution how? 30.00 media for one disc? 600.00 for a blu-ray burner? Sorry, price per GB in that case would go to DL DVD. I can get 212.5 GB total storage AND a burner for less than 100.00 total. Or I could just get a 500GB USB drive. As a backup solution, Blu-Ray is still a clumsy media format, just like CD's and DVD's were.


Well lets be a little fair and apply your judgement startegy equally, ok?

Stop with the upconversion. I have 2 dvd players, and XBMC that does upconversion better than any silly a1 that cant even playback HD DVD content properly. If you buy a PS3, A1, or any piece of HD equipment to upscale, your waisting your money. Doesnt come close to true hd. Upconversion has no real value beyond a $50 dvd player.

Blu ray stomps HD DVD in data storage, period. For each layer, you get 10 gigs more than HD DVD. Which of course, HD DVD has no drive to be seen doing this, so its a moot point. As for your price arguement, it holds no ground. The first DVD burner was well over $2000 with $25 disks. pfft... HD DVD cant even be debated in this field cuz it doesnt have any drives capable of doing so.

Content? Whatever. I know more people who avoid universal like the plague. I know more who prefer lions gate than any silly second rate Unviersal. Its all in the preference which is not debatable, its in the eye of the beholder. Your reasoning here is meaningless, as I know plenty of kids who prefer Disney to universal, period, nuff said. Not an issue.

Amount of content, that is entirely debatable, as content amount matters. #1 reason behind xbox 360 not going out like dreamcast. Sure the 360's content is made for 4 year olds, but it has the most atm and has a thread to hold onto.

IME - HD DVD rocks in this category. And if you had a blu ray player you would know that. IME is very well polished and compatable among the different players. Again - argue potential all you want, but BD doesnt even have a standalone capable not the content available to use. IME is a very strong plus when compatability issues plague the BD equivalent. Whether you even care or not for these features is another thing. Has nothing to do with watching an HD movie.

Price- HD DVD without question is easier and cheaper to get into.

Support- The players themselves are bug ridden, just hop on over to the HD DVD player forum to see for yourself. Toshiba (the main player here) has shat all over its customers, sending back fixed units that still dont work, and then trying to charge 90$ just to look at it again. etc etc etc. And we should expect things to improve with the ever elusive cheap chinese players? Please, make a player that can play movies back first, then we will talk about cutting corners. Still waiting for my 360 add on patch... lol ok.. dont hold your breath.

HD DVD has its own set of problems, fanboi your comments all you want, that doesnt make it go away. Truth is, HD DVD isnt attracting more customers, but has the potential to stomp BD. When HD DVD gets off its crippled butt to fight back lemme know, Im waiting to beef up my HD collection.

So is this a BD fanboi post? No, cuz blu ray has its own fair share of issues as well. Neither product is any where near perfect. If only toshiba would get off its arse and compete, I might have more of a reason to buy HD DVD than two movies and defective players, and cheaper defective chinese players.

If HD DVD died, Id sell my ps3 cuz we all know where blu would go then.

No region encoding. (I am free to buy the best release from wherever in the world)

Blumoon,

I still dont see the storage argument as anything but a canard at this point. Until I see an HD-DVD requiring 2 DVD's the storage argument is utterly worthless. A consumer who buys a HD movie doesnt care how many layers it has, how much each layer holds etc, whether it's blu-ray or hd-dvd. The consumer wont care. As for backup and archival, what percentage of computer users do you honestly think will buy and use blu-ray burners? Copying of copyrighted material is illegal, and should be much more difficult than with DVD. Consumers who currently use programs to automate the copying of DVD's probably won't be using debug tools to see inside the memory address that their dvd program is using to get the key. As a media format for making system backups, it's too small for meaningful amounts of data. 25 or 50GB is far too small for application data and far too big for backing up user documents. Windows system states, application data and files can be backed up remotely over the network. It's not providing a new benefit that isn't already out there when it comes to storage. Just a fact.

I didn't even mention Lionsgate, but they do make some fun popcorn flicks. If you like them better than Universal that's cool, and like you said it's your opinion.

But what's with all the fanboi nonsense? What, are you in high school? This is not some gaming forum. Move along if you think you have to defend your PS3 purchase. No one here cares. I dont get your point about the 360's content, and I really dont care so please dont reply back about game systems. This is not the right forum for it.

As for bug ridden players, you honestly cant make that statement without knowing the exact defect rate and only then if it came directly from Toshiba. I'm sorry but anecdotal stories from people on forums dont count as evidence.

Wow, Sedaku, none of your points stand up to further scrutiny:

Quality: Actually depending on the codec used and compression technology employed, the amount of space on a disk or bandwidth is pretty much irrelevant. There is absolutely no guarantee that a blu-ray movie made using MPEG 2 with higher bandwidth over the transport will have better PQ than the same title encoded with VC-1 on HD-DVD. Your making an assumption that is not based on reality.

Price: If you take the game consoles out of the equation, HD-DVD has a CLEAR price advantage. The PS3 for all its glitz and glory cant do upconversion of SD-DVD content. All Toshiba stand alones do upconversion. When you factor this in, the price advantage of HD-DVD over Blu-Ray becomes enormous.

IME: If you cant even be bothered to read up on it, or understand what you're missing, you should probably stick with plain old DVD. Blu-Ray has no set standard yet for something similar so you really cant say they do have an IME equivalent now can you?

Content: Ah, yes. Content. Blu-Ray is littered with a mind numbing array of utterly awful films from Sony and Fox. Click? Little Man? Broken Arrow? Eragon? More bad movies on Blu-Ray still means they're bad movies. Just because they're on Blu-Ray doesnt make them better.

Backup Solution: Ah, yes. Backup solution how? 30.00 media for one disc? 600.00 for a blu-ray burner? Sorry, price per GB in that case would go to DL DVD. I can get 212.5 GB total storage AND a burner for less than 100.00 total. Or I could just get a 500GB USB drive. As a backup solution, Blu-Ray is still a clumsy media format, just like CD's and DVD's were.

You know that I am making a counter-argument against the point brought up in this thread right ?

-Some claim HD DVD have better picture quality: I say BS.
There is absolutely no guarantee that a blu-ray movie made using MPEG 2 with higher bandwidth over the transport will have better PQ than the same title encoded with VC-1 on HD-DVD. Your making an assumption that is not based on reality.
What about Blu-ray title using VC-1 over HD DVD tittle using MPEG-2 ? What kind of argument is that ? Same tittle, same codec mean it look exactly the same, unless you are looking through your fanboy eyes. Say ANYTHING belong the line of HD DVD can have better PQ is BS. Other than that how the video look it's up to the studios.

Point being made is this: there is ABSOLUTELY NO level of PQ HD DVD can produce and Blu-ray cannot. Which mean what ever HD DVD can put out Blu-ray can also do it too. The best that can be done on a 30GB HD DVD can also be done on a 50GB Blu-ray, with identical quality at least. NOT VICE VERSA, mind you.

-If I take the game console out of the equation ? Sorry, NO IF. The PS3 might not be able to up conversion, big deal, it can play game though, have you factor this in? If you complain about the price of new technology, maybe you should just wait for the war to settle.

-Yes I don't give a f*** that I can listen to director comment or watch the same scene from a different angle. So if you want to claim victory for HD DVD base on that, feel free too. I would rather blu-ray cut that out and reduce the cost. By the way thanks for the advice, I don't give a * though, it's my money.

-Content: nice selection of movie btw, tell me much about your taste in movies. And yes blu-ray have more bad, good, and mediocre movies. What do you know, when you have more you have more of everything. ;)

-Back up solution: Blu-ray is at war with HD DVD. Now do you have any point to defend the statement: "HD DVD is a better back up solution" ?

To sum it up, I give HD DVD the advantage IME (which other blu-ray supporter might disagree with me, due to my lack of interest in this feature) and 100$ cheaper stand alone player.

because I can play it on my 360

not because it was out first, better quality, better in movie experience, selection of movies(not saying all of these are useless btw)....simply because it was a hell of a lot cheaper to get into than bluray.

I already had a 360 and a modest 37" lcd hdtv. I thought for 200 hundred beans I can make better use of my tv by getting the add on and enjoy hd movies without breaking the bank. I'm your average consumer...and for the consumer --- price is king.

HD DVD offers the best best gen movie experience. Period. So, if you're more interested in quality over quantity, HD DVD is the way to go. Also, given that HD DVD players are some of the best DVD upconverting players as well, they offer overall the better movie experience across all types of disks....

:)

"Why do you prefer HD DVD?"

I don't. I bought into HD-DVD based on initial price of players and reviews of PQ heavily favoring VC-1 verses early mpeg2 releases. (With PCM taking up room on 25Gb BD using mpeg2, it's still a problem, but we're starting to see better releases at 50Gb and/or newer codec.) Initially with Universal, WB and Paramount producing great HD-DVD, but only limited and inferior BD titles in 2006, the choice was easy, especially with the players at half the price.

However, with more studio support still on the BD side, improved PQ, and entry price with a PS3 (with some discounts), being format neutral makes the most sense for me. I just want the best HD source out there to play on my Ruby and picking a side would only hurt me.

"Why do you prefer HD DVD?"I don't. But it is the only format I can afford at this time so that's the one I have. So far my 360 addon has worked great for me and movies look awesome. It has been a great value. I just wish I could get a similarly priced Blu-ray solution.

I don't prefer HD DVD, but I own a player so I can see Universal titles.

great PQ/AQ, that's been much more consistent since day 1 of the format
much more affordable hardware price, be it on a gaming system or a dedicated stand-alone (although I HAVE to have a stand alone)
much more mature hardware starting right out of the gates (even at G1), that will play advanced audio codecs, interactive features, PiP, etc.. knowing I didn't spend $800 - $1500 on a player that can't and won't be able to play certain interactive features when summer 2007 arrives (not even firmware updateable), and that currently still don't do advanced audio codecs
not having to have a game console as a reasonably priced player
region free, unlike the other format, allowing me to import titles from other countries if they're not available here in the U.S. (thank you, Amazon.uk for my FAVORITE HD DVD of all time, HPGoF! See THIS ONE if you want to see and hear what HD DVD can do!)
network port for firmware updates


:)

Better price
Better menus and extras
more consistent image quality

Now that I watched both HD DVD & BD of The Departed, now I know why I went with HD DVD first!

Price.

Why pay more for something that isn't really any better?

I got my A2 for over 100 bucks (125 to be exact) cheaper than a PS3 than doesn't even upconvert SD or work with my remote out of the box (and the 20GB PS3's are tough to find).

Also, I think it's funny that people who DON'T prefer HD DVD (or even own a player) are posting in a thread clearly titled "Why do you prefer HD DVD?"

Saying things like, "I don't necessarily prefer the format, but I own a player because..." is perfectly fine, but coming in here and making argumentive posts in an otherwise informative thread is straight trolling.

Broken Arrow? More bad movies on Blu-Ray still means they're bad movies. Just because they're on Blu-Ray doesnt make them better.

Just have to speak up here for a film I personally enjoy very much -- Broken Arrow. I realize it's a popular title for bashing (as is Waterworld which I also enjoy), but I consider it well above the average action flick. John Woo may have "screwed the pooch" with Windtalkers, but Broken Arrow has many very enjoyable elements to it.

My half-penny's worth :)

(By the way guys, is this BR Vs HD-DVD battle of words really worth all the effort you're putting into it? Doesn't change ANYTHING, not in the least!)

I bought the $200 360 add-on and haven't looked back since. I WILL NOT purchase a Blu-Ray player until prices come down to the $400 mark. I already had the 360 for six months or so, so the add-on was a no brainer. I won't purchase the PS3 solely for Blu-ray playback.

What he said, plus combo discs

You know that I am making a counter-argument against the point brought up in this thread right ?

-Some claim HD DVD have better picture quality: I say BS.

What about Blu-ray title using VC-1 over HD DVD tittle using MPEG-2 ? What kind of argument is that ? Same tittle, same codec mean it look exactly the same, unless you are looking through your fanboy eyes. Say ANYTHING belong the line of HD DVD can have better PQ is BS. Other than that how the video look it's up to the studios.

Have you ever compared two discs on the same tv for each format? No? Maybe you should go look up some threads that show pictures of each. You might be surprised.


Point being made is this: there is ABSOLUTELY NO level of PQ HD DVD can produce and Blu-ray cannot. Which mean what ever HD DVD can put out Blu-ray can also do it too. The best that can be done on a 30GB HD DVD can also be done on a 50GB Blu-ray, with identical quality at least. NOT VICE VERSA, mind you.

Your not making much sense.


-Yes I don't give a f*** that I can listen to director comment or watch the same scene from a different angle. So if you want to claim victory for HD DVD base on that, feel free too. I would rather blu-ray cut that out and reduce the cost. By the way thanks for the advice, I don't give a * though, it's my money.

that's nice, everyone else likes the special features. But yeah, I do agree that blu-ray discs are too expensive.



-Back up solution: Blu-ray is at war with HD DVD. Now do you have any point to defend the statement: "HD DVD is a better back up solution" ?

why does he have to defend anything? This forum is for people that prefer Hd-DVd. why are you posting here when you could be off learning english?

-Some claim HD DVD have better picture quality: I say BS.

Well I say BS back. I am format nuetral in this so called format war and I have to say that the only BR title that wasn't grainy that I have watched thus far is X-Men III. As others here have stated, HD-DVD has more titles that are encoded better than most of the BR titles. If you do not have a HD-DVD player you cannot comment on the PQ. What kills me about people from either side is they always want to say one is better than the other without actually have both at their homes to determine which is better on their own. Both formats have great potential, just right now HD-DVD is winning in PQ from my eye sight.

One other thing about HD-DVD, to me it seems that it is geared more toward the consumer. The reason I say this is because the format does not require you to go out and completely upgrade all of your existing equipment in order to truly experience HD. If I want to see 100% what BR has to offer, I would have to spend > 2K on a 1080p set and buy another receiver that supports 1.3 HDMI.

Again, I have both formats so these comments are not because I am a BR or HD-DVD fanboy. There are so titles that I wanted that were only on BR at the moment and since I have a PS3 without any games I thought I would give BR a try (something I think most people with the PS3 will do until more games are available). Mark my words, next month when worth while PS3 games are released, BR sales will most likely decrease.

On another note, using a gaming console to play HD content will only last so long. Speaking from experience, I was using the 360 add-on to playback my HD-DVDs, but it was becoming a constant battle with kids that want to play the 360 while I wanted to watch a movie. So I went out an purchased the XA2 today.

Just have to speak up here for a film I personally enjoy very much -- Broken Arrow. I realize it's a popular title for bashing (as is Waterworld which I also enjoy), but I consider it well above the average action flick. John Woo may have "screwed the pooch" with Windtalkers, but Broken Arrow has many very enjoyable elements to it.

My half-penny's worth :)

(By the way guys, is this BR Vs HD-DVD battle of words really worth all the effort you're putting into it? Doesn't change ANYTHING, not in the least!)

I liked Broken Arrow too but the Blu-Ray transfer absolutely stinks. I wish these studios would clean up the transfers for release on HD.

I bought the $200 360 add-on and haven't looked back since. I WILL NOT purchase a Blu-Ray player until prices come down to the $400 mark. I already had the 360 for six months or so, so the add-on was a no brainer. I won't purchase the PS3 solely for Blu-ray playback.

Same here. Although, the price for the Blu-ray player would need to come down more for me. For around $200-$250 I would buy a BD player in a heartbeat.

Ehhh broken arrow blows... :(
Sorry, could never enjoy it, but to each their own.

I do however, cough cough, enjoy waterworld very much so. A guilty pleasure, so hang me.

just like every neutral released bluray/hddvd disk review i have read the hddvd disk has been giving the nod on video quality, hell this one was even givin the nod on sound quality as well Babel (http://www.dvdtown.com/reviews/bbel/4337/2)
:D

Now that I watched both HD DVD & BD of The Departed, now I know why I went with HD DVD first!

Was the PQ of the Departed better on HD DVD?

^^^ yeah ok sure.

same review:

Colors are slightly subdued and not as true as one would expect from a new picture, though the Blu-ray release does have sharper and more vivid colors. Black levels and shadow detail are definitely improved over the standard definition release and look nowhere near as murky, but there are still times when fine details seem to be lost in the shadows. Whereas I found a few shortcomings in the standard definition release, the Blu-ray transfer is an improvement and allows for "Babel" and its beauty to shine far more than the disappointing standard definition release.

grow up - thats from your babel review. The blu ray BLEW the HD DVD out of the water in PQ.

So? still want to argue and act like a kid about this?



Look at:

Compared to the HD-DVD release, the Blu-ray fell slightly behind the competing format and did not sound quite as crisp and clear when compared to the HD-DVD release. An A-B comparison found the HD-DVD disc to be slightly sharper sounding and fuller in sound

and finally:

The Blu-ray release is slightly bested by the HD-DVD release in picture and sound.

Paramount has been releasing nearly identical next-gen releases, but this was a throwback to the early days when HD-DVD typically held a small edge in performance.

Sorry plaz - nowhere in the article does it state that blu ray only looks better when compared to the SD version.

It just so happens he didnt mention HD DVD in the pq quality.

And we all know why he didnt either.

Well I say BS back. I am format nuetral in this so called format war and I have to say that the only BR title that wasn't grainy that I have watched thus far is X-Men III. As others here have stated, HD-DVD has more titles that are encoded better than most of the BR titles. If you do not have a HD-DVD player you cannot comment on the PQ. What kills me about people from either side is they always want to say one is better than the other without actually have both at their homes to determine which is better on their own. Both formats have great potential, just right now HD-DVD is winning in PQ from my eye sight.

One other thing about HD-DVD, to me it seems that it is geared more toward the consumer. The reason I say this is because the format does not require you to go out and completely upgrade all of your existing equipment in order to truly experience HD. If I want to see 100% what BR has to offer, I would have to spend > 2K on a 1080p set and buy another receiver that supports 1.3 HDMI.

Again, I have both formats so these comments are not because I am a BR or HD-DVD fanboy. There are so titles that I wanted that were only on BR at the moment and since I have a PS3 without any games I thought I would give BR a try (something I think most people with the PS3 will do until more games are available). Mark my words, next month when worth while PS3 games are released, BR sales will most likely decrease.

On another note, using a gaming console to play HD content will only last so long. Speaking from experience, I was using the 360 add-on to playback my HD-DVDs, but it was becoming a constant battle with kids that want to play the 360 while I wanted to watch a movie. So I went out an purchased the XA2 today.

I own both formats as well and I would like to know what titles you have watched on Blu-ray. As someone who owns both formats, I have watched titles that have looked phenomenal on both. I cannot honestly say that one format has better PQ than the other.

**** my bad man

I didnt see that.

*edit - apologies to plaz - your right this time ;)

**** my bad man

I didnt see that.

*edit - apologies to plaz - your right this time ;)

Cool. I'll delete my posts then.

I own players from both formats and in terms of PQ and AQ I like both. I have zero problems with BD and I am not complaining about the quality of the product. However, I do have problems with some of the tactics the BDA seems to be adopting in order to win the format war. That's all...

I am all for truth, justice and fairness. Even if I am wrong sometimes :)

Thanks everyone, I will compile your thoughts and put it in the artcile I am working on for later.

Are you going to post your results when your ready ??
Looking forward to the Write up !
A thought would be for the blu people to do this on their forum . I' would read theirs too ...On the blu-ray site .....
Bob

Are you going to post your results when your ready ??
Looking forward to the Write up !
A thought would be for the blu people to do this on their forum . I' would read theirs too ...On the blu-ray site .....
Bob

Sorry was busy during the weekend watching movies and relaxing. Wow, I didn't notice how many posters added to the goodness! I'll most likely write up the info in words then put it on the web-page, I still need to redo my layouts on my site.

So by Friday it should be complete, unless more great posts are added :D

Well I say BS back. I am format nuetral in this so called format war and I have to say that the only BR title that wasn't grainy that I have watched thus far is X-Men III. As others here have stated, HD-DVD has more titles that are encoded better than most of the BR titles. If you do not have a HD-DVD player you cannot comment on the PQ. What kills me about people from either side is they always want to say one is better than the other without actually have both at their homes to determine which is better on their own. Both formats have great potential, just right now HD-DVD is winning in PQ from my eye sight.

One other thing about HD-DVD, to me it seems that it is geared more toward the consumer. The reason I say this is because the format does not require you to go out and completely upgrade all of your existing equipment in order to truly experience HD. If I want to see 100% what BR has to offer, I would have to spend > 2K on a 1080p set and buy another receiver that supports 1.3 HDMI.

Again, I have both formats so these comments are not because I am a BR or HD-DVD fanboy. There are so titles that I wanted that were only on BR at the moment and since I have a PS3 without any games I thought I would give BR a try (something I think most people with the PS3 will do until more games are available). Mark my words, next month when worth while PS3 games are released, BR sales will most likely decrease.

On another note, using a gaming console to play HD content will only last so long. Speaking from experience, I was using the 360 add-on to playback my HD-DVDs, but it was becoming a constant battle with kids that want to play the 360 while I wanted to watch a movie. So I went out an purchased the XA2 today.

I don't even need to see anything to know that a media format is not responsible for its content. It's just like I know if I take a crappy picture, it's gonna look like crap whether if I put it on CD, DVD, or Hard drive. It's call common sense.

Now of course the physical capabilities of the media determine the maximum quality of content that can be put on it (but since Blu-ray have advantage in this part, I guess many overlooked this). The physical capabilities draw a line of how far you can go. But anything BELOW the line, the media is not responsible.

Now from scanning through the forum, countless time I come across argument like this: Some of Blu-ray title look good, but many of them look like crap, Blu-ray suck. You seem like to have one similar argument with X Men III

Now let say I make a really crappy video, put it on HD DVD and used it as an argument to prove that HD DVD PQ suck. What are you gonna say?

See, common sense.

The VC-1 codec supplies us with great transfers and discs are cheaper for low budget companies.

I realize it's a popular title for bashing (as is Waterworld which I also enjoy)

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Who doesn't like Waterworld???!!! Let me at em.

:eek: :eek: :eek:

True value. Great picture and sound quality for an acceptable price, something the BR camp cannot offer. I've had my Toshiba A2 since mid January and have nothing but praise for the format and hardware.

Ehhh broken arrow blows... :(
Sorry, could never enjoy it, but to each their own.

I do however, cough cough, enjoy waterworld very much so. A guilty pleasure, so hang me.

Don't apologize for it ("cough cough","A guilty pleasure"), stand proud! If others fail to appreciate it, that's their loss, not yours!

For me, likewise with Broken Arrow :).

1) Toshiba makes a complete product that is compelling and not missing feature.
2) Price and availability.
3) I like the idea that it is better integrated with DVD. Combo discs or the twin discs can be a back-up plan to format success (if they become reasonably priced).
4) Mandatory networking combined with efficient codecs means that there could be downloadable content in the future.
5) Mandatory ability to networked content means the feature is more likely to be will be used.
6) Apparent ability to home-brew Hi-def contents onto DVD-Rs
7) not DRMed up the wazoo.
8) Toshiba appears more honourable and less deceptive than the BDA.

Did I mention that I can justify the price and still buy movies.

Hello all!

I wrote up an artcile based on comments and replies from you all as well as some personal experiences.

http://robertaronovici.com/

Its not much its just a brief rundown on why most of us around this board prefer HD DVD!

Thank to all, I tallied all the categories, which took me a bit :cool:

I hope I receive a decent grade!

1. Best Buy told me to get Blu-rRy
2. Sony pisses me off with their "1 PS3 = 1 Blu-rRy player" bull$#it FUD
3. Dude MPEG 2..... why?
4. Oh the players are only 500 bux, if you don't mind using a gaming console....

I find HD DVD fanboys less irritating than Blu-ray fanboys.

The PS3 got delayed in Europe.

I prefer HD-DVD for no region coding in addition to the described opinions by most posters.

Region coding hardly ever served its purpose for DVD. The end result was region free DVD players.

Region coding is stupid. Without region coding I can get my HD-DVD player from the UK (220 V) and order my HD-DVDs from Amazon.com (USA). I can't do the same with Blu-Ray so I have to wait for a region free Blu-Ray player as the ones in the US are 110 V.

Thought this might be a good place for my first post with the AVS Forum.

I purchased HD DVD for 4 reasons:

1. Cost of Player - bought an A2 from Amazon for less than $400

2. What the Player Can do - with 300+ SD DVD's, upconversion was very important to me.

3. Cost of Movies - HD DVD appeared to be between $5 and $10 cheaper per movie than BD

4. No Interest in 1080P - my choice for a display was the Sam 5053, so 720P or 1080i was fine by me

My overall experience with HD DVD is a very pleasant one. Everything works fine, the PQ is excellent and I am looking forward to seeing all my old movies again on my new system.

I do know that this time I will not be so liberal in buying movies as I was with DVD.
After spending $8000 plus on a LD library which I eventually sold for $500 another $5000 for the 300+ DVD's, I believe the powers that be have received quite a bit of my money over the past 15+ years.

Lee

Hello:

I would like to make an article, its a project I am working on and I will be posting it on my web-site, once my site has a full make over.

If you don't mind sharing your thoughts, please share them here :)

I don't prefer HD DVD. I have both formats. The Panasonic BD player pummels my A2 in every way. Never a glitch with the Panasonic. But all sorts of problems with the A2.

I find HD DVD fanboys less irritating than Blu-ray fanboys.

Do you actually read the forums with an objective mind? If you did, you'd find the truth is the opposite of what you would like to believe. There are NO Logosians or LoudSUVs (both of whom have already been banned) in the BD sections.

Do you actually read the forums with an objective mind? If you did, you'd find the truth is the opposite of what you would like to believe. There are NO Logosians or LoudSUVs (both of whom have already been banned) in the BD sections.


So are you saying Beatboy should be banned in the HD DVD section? ;)

I try to keep an open mind, but many comments from BD owners, especially those who are putting down HD DVD hardware are at best not being honest, and most likely just making up tall tales. This is just based on my experience with 3 different HD DVD players (XA1, A2 and XA2) and 1 BD player (Sammy) at my home (I own one of each now - XA2 and Sammy), but I've also seen multiple movies on both the Panny and the Sony (which my next door neighbor owns and which I helped set up for him). I have not seen a movie on a PS3. My XA1 is loanwd out to a friend to evaluate. If it were buggy and unusable, I would never lend it to someone else to evaluate HD DVD for himself.

I strongly urge everyone to check the post history of anyone who is trashing hardware or software from one format. I am afraid not all opinions expressed here is credible. I see a lot of BD supporters making up stuff, with little or no basis in reality. I find the spreading of dis-information seems to be considered a valid BD strategy. Please do not accept this sort of thing as business as usual. Some things are more important than simply trying to win a format war. IMHO.

I try to keep an open mind, but many comments from BD owners, especially those who are putting down HD DVD hardware are at best not being honest, and most likely just making up tall tales. This is just based on my experience with 3 different HD DVD players (XA1, A2 and XA2) and 1 BD player (Sammy) at my home (I own one of each now - XA2 and Sammy), but I've also seen multiple movies on both the Panny and the Sony (which my next door neighbor owns and which I helped set up for him). I have not seen a movie on a PS3. My XA1 is loanwd out to a friend to evaluate. If it were buggy and unusable, I would never lend it to someone else to evaluate HD DVD for himself.

I strongly urge everyone to check the post history of anyone who is trashing hardware or software from one format. I am afraid not all opinions expressed here is credible. I see a lot of BD supporters making up stuff, with little or no basis in reality. I find the spreading of dis-information seems to be considered a valid BD strategy. Please do not accept this sort of thing as business as usual. Some things are more important than simply trying to win a format war. IMHO.

thanks. wouldn't it be nice if we could get back to discussing something other then the format war? like... why we like hd dvd.

This forum IS already split. Four ways in fact. BD hardware, software, HD hardware, software. Some people just don't know how to follow rules.

this stuff gets really old

Closed