Hi,
I jumped on the HD DVD bandwagon last June. I've built a collection of over 50 titles and I love HD DVD.
I have been keeping my eye on the blu-ray side of things. Basically, I've been keeping track of current opinions, reviews and hardware upgrades.
Well, amazon.com has the 50% off sale, Walmart had a PS3 60gig unit for half of what the Sony stand-alone sells for here in Canada, and I've been itching to see some blu-ray exclusive titles in hi def. My goal being to still buy HD DVD exclusive titles, as well as HD DVD titles that are format neutral. My Blu-Ray purchases would solely be for Blu-Ray exclusive titles.
I took the plunge a few days ago and bought the PS3 along with Crank, The Descent, Stargate and American Psycho. These films seem to follow in the same order for picture quality.
Well, I watched Crank and was reasonably impressed. Seemed to rival some of the better HD DVD's in my collection. BUT, I've been unhappy thereafter.
The Descent had too much chroma noise and lack of detail for me. Stargate only looked good in the desert scenes and seemed excessively grainy, and American Psycho basically looked like a good dvd.
From what I've read, Warner Bros is using VC-1 for both HD DVD and Blu-Ray and THOSE particular titles are supposed to be equal in quality.
These mpeg 2 transfers, and even the mpeg 4 transfer for The Descent don't seem to do justice to the films.
I'm wondering now if the smart move might have been to simply buy Blu-Ray exclusive movies on standard dvd and rely on the HD-A1 to upconvert.
I'm using both players on my 34" Sony hi-def tube tv set. I also have a 32" Sony XBR LCD, but I prefer the better contrast on the tube set, so I use that as my main display for hi-def movies.
The Toshiba is hooked up via the HDMI output, and the PS3 via the component output.
Basically I'm wondering what the current opinion of the recently format neutral HD DVDer is.
Any regrets?

I'm not neutral though on one of the other forums I regular there are a couple HD DVDers who went neutral that regret doing so and even one who sold his PS3 and Blu-Ray discs after being disappointed for months due to a reported lack of consistency with Blu-Ray titles.

How can there be regrets? If one wants specific releases in HD, you have to be neutral. And as far as I'm concerned, even the most putrid of HD releases (HD DVD or Blu-Ray, it doesn't matter) should still spank the SD DVD version mightily.

I have the best of both worlds. Viva la choice!

No regrets. I love movies. Plus I love them even more in high definition.

How can there be regrets?

Because going neutral = spending more money (at least $500), as well as dedicating more real estate to another player. If the format you invest in doesn't wow you, then you just wasted $500 as you could have just upconverted standard DVD and had the same lack of wow-factor.

If one wants specific releases in HD, you have to be neutral.

Only if impatient. I think its quite clear we are moving towards format coexistence.

Viva la choice!

I agree, and I think sticking to your guns with one format creates choice, as studios will be required to publish in both formats in order to maximize profit, giving consumers true choice in which version they want to buy.

Zero regrets.

Before I bought the PS3, my plan was to import North America blu-ray exclusive titles that are on HD DVD abroad.
But the debates on incorrect audio pitch via Studio Canal had me worried. I did buy the Japanese import Equilibrium. Great movie, no audio issues, but the cost was about $20 higher than the typical North American HD DVD.
So, I figured I'd go the PS3 route for blu-ray exclusive movies...I ordered some more from amazon so I will give the format a good chance before I give up on it.
The annoying thing is blu-ray can be equal to HD DVD... Warner Bros. seems to have proven this with their identical transfers....

Been format neutral since both formats have been out. No regrets. Both formats have had winners and duds. I have every HD title available to me, and thanks to sites like HighDefDigest.com I get a good idea of what PQ I can expect from each one. Given the choice between the two formats for a title, I'll rent Blu-ray because playback is more reliable- no scratches, etc. For purchases it's either or. Though I tend to lean Blu-ray on those too since I have 2 rooms that are Blu-ray capable. No regrets. I'm a happy camper with both.

No regrets. If HD DVD craps out, I've still got a great upconverting dvd player. If BD craps out, I've still got a gaming machine that will be produced for several more years.

No regrets here at all. If anything I have been more impressed overall by the Blu-ray technology since going format neutral.

~Josh

No regrets. If HD DVD craps out, I've still got a great upconverting dvd player. If BD craps out, I've still got a gaming machine that will be produced for several more years.

EXACTLY! While I have no regrets on becoming format neutral, there are some titles I will absolutely refuse to buy. I will not buy any of the early releases that are on single layer discs with MPEG-2 compression as they have just been reviewed as being terribly inconsistant. The only exceptions being "Stealth" and "The Covenant" which aren't worth my $20+.

I think it's silly to assert that one who has both formats would regret it. After all, if you wanna see the product you need both formats, no?

Of course, that doesn't mean one blindly buys any and ever release. I never do that anyway. I'm rather selective, after all. Caveat Emptor!

I can't believe how "sectarian" this whole thing has become around these parts.

It's just a bunch of AV gear and movies, after all. Get some perspective.

No regrets. I got Blu-Ray for the Blu-Ray exclusive movies. Its either Blu-Ray..or nothing!

No regrets. If HD DVD craps out, I've still got a great upconverting dvd player. If BD craps out, I've still got a gaming machine that will be produced for several more years.

Exactly!

All I need is HD content and I'm happy :)

Not really neutral but I have blu-ray play back via software and back-up bd. Doesnt cost me a dime and I dont feel dirty helping Sony and the rest of the BD cronies.

Not really any regrets, though when I bought my ps3 I had already amassed about 40 HD-DVD's, and IMHO, I was a bit let down by some of my first BR disks. Don't get me wrong, tier 0 and upper tier 1 are incredible on both formats, but below that the BR disks just really fail to impress me.

Right now I have 42 HD-DVD and 12 BR, I buy HD-DVD when the disk is on both, but I'm glad to have the movies I would have otherwise missed.

Also - not really "regret" on my part either, but I'm constantly disappointed by BD releases - which is frustrating.

BD has released / plans to release lots of titles that I'm really excited to get... but then it seems 75% of the time they come out as MPEG-2 BD25 discs, with fewer special features than the SD DVD.

This is true with Sony & Fox releases especially. Fox is even worse since the barebones discs come out at street prices in the $30 range. :confused:

Some examples…: Kingdom of Heaven, Big Fish, Planet of the Apes, From Hell

(Yes… I *did* enjoy Planet of the Apes. I’ll watch anything from Tim Burton.)

Disney / Buena Vista has been the saving grace for BD so far from my view. They're really starting to show that BD has the stuff.

HD DVD still earns my favor by a pretty significant margin though.

No regrets here. The latest BR releases have been FANTASTIC. Picture quality that has even surpassed the best HD DVD (that I have seen). I got a 20GB PS3 for $450 and I haven't looked back. Still getting HD DVDs regularly, but if they come out on both formats I ususally get BR due to PCM audio and they are usually cheaper (HD DVD combo).

I've been format neutral for a couple of months or so. No particular regrets, although I must admit that the ratio of substandard to good Blu-ray titles is a lot higher than it is for HD DVD, at least as far as the exclusive studios are concerned.

No regrets at all. Neutrality allows me to rent and/or buy either format. The only regret I have is purchasing so many SD-DVDs. ;)

HD DVDer's gone format neutral- regrets?Seems like an interesting time to ask the question with "Casino Royale" coming out tomorrow. I'm guessing that not having to watch it on DVD to see it will reduce any feelings of regret for a lot of format neutral people. If I didn't have players for both formats I would have regrets (although I would go get one for whichever format I didn't have one for).

I know that just like with any movie there are people who don't care for that one, so this isn't an invitation for people to jump in and say how much the personally disliked that movie and how little it matters to them. :)

--Darin

No regrets other than now occasionally being lumped with other BD fan boys. I still buy HD DVD when I have a choice and will only buy Blu-ray for the exclusive studios. 102 HD DVDs and 62 Blu-ray discs so far.

Format neutral, no regrets.

My thought process goes like this:

Is it flipper on HD DVD? Yes, go BD.
Is it LPCM? Yes, go BD.
If it's not LPCM, does the equivalent HD DVD have Dolby TrueHD? Yes, then go HD DVD.
If the two are the same 640k DD/DD+, is it mpeg2 on BD? Yes, then go HD DVD.
Assuming the above lead me down to this line, is there a severe price difference between a BD and HD DVD that does not have any kind of lossless sound and does not offer a flipper? If so, pick the cheapest.
Otherwise, go BD.

If everything's the same and the BD has AVC to match the HD DVD's VC1, then I know I'd rather be watching any movie on BD on my PS3 than on HD DVD in my much slower, historically less reliable HD-XA2.

I bought my HD-A1 last year in April when the format first launched. I bought into BD in November when the PS3 launched. Having experienced some of the low's of BD (TFE, Ultraviolet), I can safely say that no matter how low BD goes, it's still always better than DVD upconversion. I keep reading in threads like this where people make the argument that the XA2 upconverting is as good as BD, but that's patently false. Only a biased person could make the claim. It's not even close, if only for lossless audio. And having my Panasonic AE1000U, I can tell you on a 1080p display, there is still a big, big difference between dvd upconversion of a great DVD and the worst BD transfer (TFE).

So no, no regrets. I admit, there are a lot of BDA-exclusive movies that I love and could not live without. That right there is enough to keep me from having regrets. And I know from firsthand experience that as good as the XA2 is at upconversion, it's not good enough to be better than BD's.

Therefore, I say no one who goes Blu-ray should regret it unless they aren't really taking advantage of the format with 1080p video and lossless audio. In that situation, maybe they shouldn't be going high def in the first place.

I went format neutral a few weeks back.
3 regrets.
1 going neutral has hurt my wallet bad because there are so many titles I want.
2 my PS3 has terrible black level performance when playing at 1080p.
3 Some of the titles are barely better than their SD-DVD counterparts I kinda wish I'd rented these before buying them.

one more really as well. I bought the first 2 superman movies on HD-DVD and bought superman returns on BD. I now wish I'd gotten returns on HD-DVD because BD isn't PCM for that title.

No regrets. I do like HD DVD best of the two. But I am warming up to BD and have enjoyed having it available to me also.

Also - not really "regret" on my part either, but I'm constantly disappointed by BD releases - which is frustrating.

BD has released / plans to release lots of titles that I'm really excited to get... but then it seems 75% of the time they come out as MPEG-2 BD25 discs, with fewer special features than the SD DVD.

This is true with Sony & Fox releases especially. Fox is even worse since the barebones discs come out at street prices in the $30 range. :confused:

Some examples…: Kingdom of Heaven, Big Fish, Planet of the Apes, From Hell

(Yes… I *did* enjoy Planet of the Apes. I’ll watch anything from Tim Burton.)

Disney / Buena Vista has been the saving grace for BD so far from my view. They're really starting to show that BD has the stuff.

HD DVD still earns my favor by a pretty significant margin though.

+1 on this thought. I find the lack of special features disapointing. Especially when compared to discs like Harry Potter which is LOADED with extra features and the movie still looks great.

I was in the Blu-Ray camp and became format neutral.

My only regret (and it's not really a regret as mucha s a wish) would be that I spend too much time reading threads like this and not enough time watching HD movies.

more movies please - from both formats.

Also - not really "regret" on my part either, but I'm constantly disappointed by BD releases - which is frustrating.

BD has released / plans to release lots of titles that I'm really excited to get... but then it seems 75% of the time they come out as MPEG-2 BD25 discs, with fewer special features than the SD DVD.

This is true with Sony & Fox releases especially. Fox is even worse since the barebones discs come out at street prices in the $30 range. :confused:

Some examples…: Kingdom of Heaven, Big Fish, Planet of the Apes, From Hell

(Yes… I *did* enjoy Planet of the Apes. I’ll watch anything from Tim Burton.)

Disney / Buena Vista has been the saving grace for BD so far from my view. They're really starting to show that BD has the stuff.

HD DVD still earns my favor by a pretty significant margin though.


I wonder if the recent Fox postponements have anything to do with the lack of supplements on Fox BD's. They charge as much as HD DVD does for combos and have very little on them and less that stellar transfers.

My only regret is that I did not have both sooner.

I wonder if the recent Fox postponements have anything to do with the lack of supplements on Fox BD's. They charge as much as HD DVD does for combos and have very little on them and less that stellar transfers.

That would be awesome if they were... but my pessimism makes me think it likely has more to do with them investigating BD+ copy protection or something similar in light of the recent AACS hacks.

Funny that just a little while back all the discussion and debate was about using ICT to prevent analog copying - yet here we are not a year later and I've not heard of anyone even attempting to make copies over component... with digital copy protection simply broken instead.

That would be awesome if they were... but my pessimism makes me think it likely has more to do with them investigating BD+ copy protection or something similar in light of the recent AACS hacks.

Funny that just a little while back all the discussion and debate was about using ICT to prevent analog copying - yet here we are not a year later and I've not heard of anyone even attempting to make copies over component... with digital copy protection simply broken instead.


They have postponed EVERYTHING except ERAGON and NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM for the next couple of months.

Regrets galore. I paid too much for BR. The way things are going, there might be a sub 500 unit before Dec. 07.

I bought the PS3 20GB on launch day and regret only one thing: this game system is not really designed to work well with older 1080i CRT TVs and audio receivers. Buy the PS3 only if you have HDMI inputs on your TV and on your audio system. Dealing with the analog out issues of the PS3 is a pain -- special dongle cables, ground loops, and sub-par audio and video quality compared to my Toshiba HD DVD player -- which has a full complement of analog video and audio outs, by the way.

SCD

I wish I could afford to go neutral. BD has too many movies coming out right now. It's crazy. But my finances won't allow me to go neutral anytime soon, so HD-DVD only for me. For now!

No regrets here at all. If anything I have been more impressed overall by the Blu-ray technology since going format neutral.

~Josh

C'mon Josh, be honest... while you may own both formats you have NEVER been "neutral" in any capacity.

Owning both formats != format neutral.

In all candor, I would not consider myself format neutral either. I own both, but still have a preferance for HD-DVD and if there has to be a winner as opposed to long-term coexistence, I would prefer that the winner be HD-DVD.

That being said, I'm enjoying the heck out of both formats. I bought into HD-DVD the 3rd week in April, and Blu-Ray the day before Thanksgiving, so I've owned both formats pretty much as long as they've been available.

I maintain that if you can afford players of both formats, that will give you the most pleasure over having to choose one format over the other...

No regrets here at all. If anything I have been more impressed overall by the Blu-ray technology since going format neutral.

~Josh
Which part of the technology is more impressive?

No regrets. I do like HD DVD best of the two. But I am warming up to BD and have enjoyed having it available to me also.


I concur with Brad1963 ,and will add....I wish there was more titles in hd-dvd. :eek:

I have no regrets buying into BD as there are movies I want and can purchase. Heck I'm picking up Casino Royale and possibly Layer Cake tomorrow. Now if only HD-DVD would start releasing some decent movies so I can start buying them again.

The last movie I bought for HD was Equillibrium and that was imported. How sad is it that you have to import movies in order to watch anything. :mad:

I would have to say that the only regret here is with the fact that Sony is the main force behind Blu-Ray and so I am I am feeding the monster not by choice but by necesity. Have had too many issues with this brand as of late.

I would have to say that the only regret here is with the fact that Sony is the main force behind Blu-Ray and so I am I am feeding the monster not by choice but by necesity. Have had too many issues with this brand as of late.
That is the main reason I held off so long. Hell I even made sure I bought a used ps3 so as to not be directly aiding their lie campaign where they tout their "superior installed base"

It comes down to the fact that I want Buena Vista, Lionsgate, and Disney, so I am tolerating Sony.

Well i tried to be HD-DVD only, but about 3 weeks ago i took the plunge and bought a 20GB PS3 after some trade in credit of old movies i didn't want. I have only seen Talladega NIghts (freebie with overall bad PQ) and The Prestige which looks just awesome. Sadly my PS3 crapped out on me already after only 2 1/2 weeks and have to contact Sony tomorrow about getting it fixed/replaced. Which saddens me because of Casino Royale being released tomorrow and now i have o player to play it on. Still i will be buying all my non-exclusive movies for HD-DVD to enjoy my TrueHD tracks over my analog connection and becaus ei trust it more then the PS3/Blu-ray at the moment.

Well i tried to be HD-DVD only, but about 3 weeks ago i took the plunge and bought a 20GB PS3
Sadly my PS3 crapped out on me already after only 2 1/2 weeks and have to contact Sony tomorrow about getting it fixed/replaced.
That sucks.

No regrets... Some great movies on Blu-Ray that you can't find on HD-DVD (and vice versa)... Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven, Reservoir Dogs, The Usual Suspects, The Prestige, Crank (mediocre movie, but the best pic i've ever seen). There are more on the way as well with Casino Royale, etc.

In fact, even though I started HD DVD only, I have begun to by all of my dual-format movies (departed, babel, etc) on Blu-Ray. Largely because my 360 w/add-on sounds like a freight train. I don't see a point in staying on one side unless there is budget issue. No one can predict who wins, so I'm not going to put all my eggs in one basket. Only half of my movies will be obsolete when the dust settles :D

Well i tried to be HD-DVD only, but about 3 weeks ago i took the plunge and bought a 20GB PS3 after some trade in credit of old movies i didn't want. I have only seen Talladega NIghts (freebie with overall bad PQ) and The Prestige which looks just awesome. Sadly my PS3 crapped out on me already after only 2 1/2 weeks and have to contact Sony tomorrow about getting it fixed/replaced. Which saddens me because of Casino Royale being released tomorrow and now i have o player to play it on. Still i will be buying all my non-exclusive movies for HD-DVD to enjoy my TrueHD tracks over my analog connection and becaus ei trust it more then the PS3/Blu-ray at the moment.


Good luck with that. I hear Sony's return policy is a nightmare. I hope I am wrong but I think there even a thread started on Sony's horrible policies.

Good luck with that. I hear Sony's return policy is a nightmare. I hope I am wrong but I think there even a thread started on Sony's horrible policies.


So far i have heard pretty good things about their PS3 returns. Fast turnaround and they just ship you a new system instead of fixing the one you send in. Well form the few people i got his from on the IGN Boards who have had to return their system

So far i have heard pretty good things about their PS3 returns. Fast turnaround and they just ship you a new system instead of fixing the one you send in. Well form the few people i got his from on the IGN Boards who have had to return their system


I pray you are right....seriously. In the mean time....good luck. :)

No regrets here at all. If anything I have been more impressed overall by the Blu-ray technology since going format neutral.

~Josh
Oh shock, gasp! Of all the people I never would have thought YOU would say something like that! [/sarcasm]

Personally I see no reason to support Blu-ray. If I want one of the few titles that they have on Blu-ray, I'll just get the DVD and wait until they come around to their senses and release on HD DVD. :D

Format neutral, no regrets.

My thought process goes like this:

Is it flipper on HD DVD? Yes, go BD.
Is it LPCM? Yes, go BD.
If it's not LPCM, does the equivalent HD DVD have Dolby TrueHD? Yes, then go HD DVD.
If the two are the same 640k DD/DD+, is it mpeg2 on BD? Yes, then go HD DVD.
Assuming the above lead me down to this line, is there a severe price difference between a BD and HD DVD that does not have any kind of lossless sound and does not offer a flipper? If so, pick the cheapest.
Otherwise, go BD.

If everything's the same and the BD has AVC to match the HD DVD's VC1, then I know I'd rather be watching any movie on BD on my PS3 than on HD DVD in my much slower, historically less reliable HD-XA2.

I bought my HD-A1 last year in April when the format first launched. I bought into BD in November when the PS3 launched. Having experienced some of the low's of BD (TFE, Ultraviolet), I can safely say that no matter how low BD goes, it's still always better than DVD upconversion. I keep reading in threads like this where people make the argument that the XA2 upconverting is as good as BD, but that's patently false. Only a biased person could make the claim. It's not even close, if only for lossless audio. And having my Panasonic AE1000U, I can tell you on a 1080p display, there is still a big, big difference between dvd upconversion of a great DVD and the worst BD transfer (TFE).

So no, no regrets. I admit, there are a lot of BDA-exclusive movies that I love and could not live without. That right there is enough to keep me from having regrets. And I know from firsthand experience that as good as the XA2 is at upconversion, it's not good enough to be better than BD's.

Therefore, I say no one who goes Blu-ray should regret it unless they aren't really taking advantage of the format with 1080p video and lossless audio. In that situation, maybe they shouldn't be going high def in the first place.


Just when I thought there was no rational people left on the board, you go and totally redeem it :)

I agree with your post & thought process 100%

I could easily cut & paste your post and put my sig to it. And only a "hater" or "fanboy" IMHO could disagree with it's logic.

very good post!

No regrets. Actually, I'm very happy with my 20gb PS3 as a BD player. It never skips or freezes...wish I could say the same for my HD-A1. The HD-A1 has analog audio outs, though, and it upconverts DVD (albeit with CUE). So I get the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, due to the skips/freezes with my HD-A1, I'm only buying Universal/Weinstein titles on HD-DVD from here on out (and there's precious few of those that interest me right now). Still waiting on Toshiba to issue a firmware that fixes this.

I might go neutral as soon as the first BluRay-Player can be hacked region free for BluRays.

The software situation here in Germany is a catastrophy for both next-gen formats. But since HD-DVD is codefree right out of the box, I can enjoy all the american releases.

Can you be format neutral without owning both types of players? Or would that just make you the-I-don't-give-a-damn crowd. :p I only own hd dvd now and I could care less if it ends up obsolete in a year or 2. I owned blu-ray for only a couple of weeks at the beginning. I will buy another player when they come down to at least $299 although I prefer $199. If in the meantime, hd dvd garners extra studio support then it may become unneccessary. In any case, the movies will still be there to buy. As long as Universal releases their classic library, and Warner and Paramount throws a bone or two, I should be fine in the short term. I can only buy so many movies at a time. I think it is only a scare tactic that says both will die if there is not a winner soon. As far as I am concerned, if the products are so weak, let them die. As long as all the companies involved have advertising dollars to spend on their product, neither will be going anywhere.

Hi,
I jumped on the HD DVD bandwagon last June. I've built a collection of over 50 titles and I love HD DVD.
I have been keeping my eye on the blu-ray side of things. Basically, I've been keeping track of current opinions, reviews and hardware upgrades.
Well, amazon.com has the 50% off sale, Walmart had a PS3 60gig unit for half of what the Sony stand-alone sells for here in Canada, and I've been itching to see some blu-ray exclusive titles in hi def. My goal being to still buy HD DVD exclusive titles, as well as HD DVD titles that are format neutral. My Blu-Ray purchases would solely be for Blu-Ray exclusive titles.
I took the plunge a few days ago and bought the PS3 along with Crank, The Descent, Stargate and American Psycho. These films seem to follow in the same order for picture quality.
Well, I watched Crank and was reasonably impressed. Seemed to rival some of the better HD DVD's in my collection. BUT, I've been unhappy thereafter.
The Descent had too much chroma noise and lack of detail for me. Stargate only looked good in the desert scenes and seemed excessively grainy, and American Psycho basically looked like a good dvd.
From what I've read, Warner Bros is using VC-1 for both HD DVD and Blu-Ray and THOSE particular titles are supposed to be equal in quality.
These mpeg 2 transfers, and even the mpeg 4 transfer for The Descent don't seem to do justice to the films.
I'm wondering now if the smart move might have been to simply buy Blu-Ray exclusive movies on standard dvd and rely on the HD-A1 to upconvert.
I'm using both players on my 34" Sony hi-def tube tv set. I also have a 32" Sony XBR LCD, but I prefer the better contrast on the tube set, so I use that as my main display for hi-def movies.
The Toshiba is hooked up via the HDMI output, and the PS3 via the component output.
Basically I'm wondering what the current opinion of the recently format neutral HD DVDer is.
Any regrets?


I have an HD-DVD player and will buy BluRay only titles on SD, like Casino Royale today. I'll take it one Step further, I'll even Buy HD-DVD titles on SD ifthe price is right. I bought departed for $13.99 on SD because the Combo HD Title was $28 bucks

Just when I thought there was no rational people left on the board, you go and totally redeem it :)

I agree with your post & thought process 100%

I could easily cut & paste your post and put my sig to it. And only a "hater" or "fanboy" IMHO could disagree with it's logic.

very good post!

Are you and Sisko trying to tell us that I can't enjoy blu-ray unless we have 1080p? Why not? Does the format have issues with 1080i or 720p? If thats the case then I REALLY don't understand why anyone would even support blu-ray. I have the xbox add-on....I watch movies in 1080i and I use a simple optical cable and I am thoroughly impressed with both PQ and AQ.

I don't mean to come across as combative....I'm more confused by your logic thats all.

...as I wrote in some other threads, my neutrality has come at a very opportune time. Hours after purchase, AZN threw up their 50% off sale, allowing me to buy titles that 'till then were simply way overpriced.

I have hardware now with the Panny that seems entirely more flawless, for lack of a better word, than my A1. Still, it's not 'till this point in the fun that BD has accumulated titles in numbers to justify the plunge. Just as I think it'd be mildly insane to be a BD fanboi holding up your "exclusive" copy of Click while I get to watch Cassablanca, Casino and Kong, there are (only now, for me) titles showing up that made me absolutely want to have a player. With dvd-a support on the Panny, and a great deal I got thanks to this forum, it was an easy decision.

In the last week I've bought 0 HD and 5 BD, preordering 8 others. I've got the Game on preorder for HD, but will probably switch my other options over to BD for the future - NOT becasue of any superiority of disc format, but for the very fact that I really don't think EITHER format is better than one another, it's that the implementation of the formats has been unequal. Given that my harware experience with the Panny (load time, no skips, no HDMI>DVI colour space issues, etc.) is far superior, when everything's equal in terms of disc quality/features, why wouldn't I go Blu?

If I could buy a HD-DVD with the same stability as the Panny I would do it today, simple as that. My most disheartening HD moment was getting the A2, fighting with FW upgrades for a couple weeks, having to rely on the charity of AVSers to EVER get it to work, only to find my first disc (Miami Vice) barfing like mad. Any thoughts of getting an XA2 went out the window, and my money went for expanding my palate of HighDef content rather than improving my great but flawed HD-DVD playback.

If the impending G1 FW updates do help with the stabilty issues of the A1 I'll be even happier with my choice - I've got that big, loveable beast for all those tremendous films that are here and coming this year from the likes of uni, and another for those other flicks I couldn't imagine not having part of my collection (BRING LAWRENCE ALREADY, DAMMIT! :) )

there, my two cents...

Are you and Sisko trying to tell us that I can't enjoy blu-ray unless we have 1080p? Why not? Does the format have issues with 1080i or 720p? If thats the case then I REALLY don't understand why anyone would even support blu-ray. I have the xbox add-on....I watch movies in 1080i and I use a simple optical cable and I am thoroughly impressed with both PQ and AQ.

I don't mean to come across as combative....I'm more confused by your logic thats all.

You can totally enjoy HDDVD or BD in resolutions less than 1080p. Hell, I'm one of the few who would tell you that you could still see improvement over DVD with HD at 480p!

I was agreeing with his logic on how he chooses which disk to buy.
And the rest of his post.

Although I will say, once you see the smoothness of 1080p, you will never want to go back to anything less. ;)

I changed my original post to include ALL of Sisko's post.

It has been a perfect time for me to catch up on BD. So far I only have 27 BD titles compared to 107 HD DVD's. Overall, HD DVD has better titles than BD. Next month (April) It will even out more and I will be buying equal amounts of each format.

The HD DVD camp really should have released more titles Jan-Mar, because it gave HD supporters pause to think about supporting BD also. If HD DVD had been steadily releasing titles I may not have jumped into BD at this moment in time.

My BD collection right now is 77 discs.
My HDDVD collection is 35.

If it weren't for the Buggy playback & uncertainty in the format(HDDVD)
My collections would be much closer.
My collection right now is on par with the current state in the format war with BD outselling HDDVD 2:1 I was buying HDDVD's almost everyweek, I haven't bought an HDDVD since Lucky # Slevin, that was January 16th.

HDDVD wanna sell me more titles?
Universal/Weinstein: Release more exclusives
Toshiba: Fix my Damn A1~!

Went format neutral over the weekend with a PS3 purchase (really wanted a 20gb, but never found one, so just bought a 60). No regrets so far. Remote actually works well, although it stinks it's bluetooth only. The commands are pretty "gamish" (can't seem to turn it off without a second "yes I really want to turn it off" command.

Somewhat of an easier decision for us, because we wanted it to replace our PS2, so not just strictly blu-ray playing (I know there might be problems with PS2 games, but it's worked okay for the ones we've tried). It worked very well for movie watching on the one movie we watched over the weekend, and I was unexpected impressed by the sound quality (it was Talledaga Nights). I didn't really want to support blu-ray, but lack of HD-DVD releases lately, better blu-ray releases, better blu-ray support for lossless audio (even if it is the uncompressed version), and alternate use of the player for gaming convinced me. There's no way I'd have spent the money on the standalone blu-ray players.

I went format neutral for one reason: I wanted some freakin titles. HD DVD stopped putting titles out and I want HD content, so there you go. They forced my hand.

I am happy with 90% of my HD-DVD titles and only happy with 10% of the Blu-ray titles I own and I have close to 40 titles for each. It seems there is a lot of garbage on Blu-ray early on. As of late things are getting a little better for Blu-ray. The lack of HD-DVD titles and audio cut outs with my A1 is starting to turn me off a little bit on HD-DVD.

I'm glad I went format neutral, but I'm a gamer so a PS3 purchase was inevitable. At any rate, the best blu-ray still can't touch the best HD-DVD as far as PQ goes.

I bought my PS3 for almost exclusivly Blu-ray movies. I like to use it for trailers and demos ect. but my 360 is 10 times the media unit that the PS3 is. It can get video, music, and pictures off my computer.

That being said the PS3 is the best player of any kind I have ever know. I have an A-1 and an A-2 and the PS3 is a WAY better player than either of them. Not a single glitch of any kind which is more than I can say about my 2 HD DVD players.

So no regrets here. You really have to have both to get all of the movies. And that is what it is really about right ?

I find that this format war is far easier to deal with if you're a gamer. Myself being a long-time video game enthusiast, I fully intended to, and did purchase both an x-box 360 and a ps3. From there, my only extra expendature on hardware was a measly $200 for the 360 hd-dvd add-on. I pretty much only use my PS3 as a Blu-Ray player, thus far no regrets, and I also don't regret spending $200 on the HD-DVD addition, even though I do percieve HD-DVD as the eventual loser in this war.

From my experience (15 BDs and 9 HDs), I can honestly say that both formats are fully capable of giving the same exact experience. Image quality has ranged from incredible to lackluster across both, and even though HD-DVD offers HDi capabilities whereas BD-J has yet to surface, a BD-50 disc thus far has allowed for a second encode with picture-in-picture in-movie-experiences. I've also seen errors on both formats. Blu-rays on PS3 have little 5-second freezing moments occasionally, and The Descent had trouble playing on early players that weren't properly updated with up-to-date firmware. On HD-DVD, certain Weinstein discs have had compatibility issues, and I've had Universal discs error out when it came to U-Control useage.

So I say this: Both formats offer the same experience, but different content. HD offers Universal, and Weistein discs, and if Universal follows through with their 100 disc planned this year, that's quite substantial. And without Blu-ray, you'd miss out on all the great Sony, MGM, Columbia/Tri-star, Disney, Touchstone, Lionsgate, and Fox films. What is there to regret about being format-neutral?

I'm wondering now if the smart move might have been to simply buy Blu-Ray exclusive movies on standard dvd and rely on the HD-A1 to upconvert.
I'm using both players on my 34" Sony hi-def tube tv set. I also have a 32" Sony XBR LCD, but I prefer the better contrast on the tube set, so I use that as my main display for hi-def movies.
The Toshiba is hooked up via the HDMI output, and the PS3 via the component output.

As an aside, on a 34" CRT set, I would expect you to see only a very modest difference between HD and upscaled DVD. That's probably a tougher situation for justifying players for both formats.

Someone had a point on one ofthese threads. Sometimes its best not to release anything when you see that a major mover from the competition is about to happen. For example, when Halo games are released...do you think any other games come out at the same time? Not really. Companies tend to hold back due to the attention that one product is recieving. In fact...one of my favorite games of all time suffered this fate. Tron 2.0 came out on the xbox 3 days before Halo.....can we sayBONEHEADED MOVE?!? In short...not many people bought Tron but 5 million people bought Halo 2. The PS3 came out thisholidayseason and obviously had some strenght andattentionto it. Not to mention it was Sony's chance to boast blu-ray. I think the HD-DVD camp decided to lay low for fear of ignoring or overshadowing of their product. Well...what has happened..the PS3 has lost plenty of steam and NOW...HD-DVD iskicking it into high gear with new releases and some advertisements not to mention the whole Circuit City deal. We tend to get mad at the blankness of Jan.-Mar. but somehow...I think it was deliberate.

As an aside, on a 34" CRT set, I would expect you to see only a very modest difference between HD and upscaled DVD. That's probably a tougher situation for justifying players for both formats.

Believe it or not, but there is a noticeable difference. HD DVD is much smoother and more film-like. I did an A-B comparison between my standard copy of Batman Begins and my HD DVD copy. Noise in the picture disappears when you switch to HD DVD. I hate chroma noise and dvd artifacts. Also, the picture is at least slightly sharper and more detailed on the HD DVD side. It's the smooth film-like aspect that I love. Easy on the eyes.
That's why the chroma noise on The Descent irked me. Another odd aspect about blu-ray... the picture alternates between sharp and clear, and dull, often scene to scene. With HD DVD, there is a consistency to the quality of the picture.
Just some observations... I've got a pile of blu-rays coming so I will be able to give the format a fair shake.

I was out to purchase blu ray only until I started to see the early reviews of the disks and the Samsung player. I purchased the A1 in July and have had not a single regret. The moment I popped that first movie in (Unforgiven) I was hooked for all time. I have always been a big believer in high definition content and the moment it came out for tv I was a buyer. And that's what I want: high def content.

So when blu ray started to deliver I purchased the PS3 in January and haven't looked back with 35 blu ray movies and 65 HD DVDs and counting. It's all about the high def content for me. The fact high definition finally arrived for our movie watching is great.

As an aside, on a 34" CRT set, I would expect you to see only a very modest difference between HD and upscaled DVD. That's probably a tougher situation for justifying players for both formats.


Modest? Not all all. The difference on a 34" CRT Tube like the Sony is amazing.

I went neutral with the PS3 as well last week,. I only regret is waiting this long to get the PS3, now I'm way behind on the BD movies to buy. it's great shopping for HD movies, and not worrying about the color of the case.

I bought my PS3 solely to play Formula 1, and I rented a few titles on BluRay to see how I liked it. I already have the 360 HD-DVD player and about 20 movies. I've ended up all but abandoning HD-DVD at this point and have purchased 10-15 BDs in the last couple of weeks. At this point, looking at the facts as objectively as I can, at the prices that they are charging, I just don't see much of a future in HD-DVD anymore, which sucks, given how much better HD-DVDs tend to be put together.

No regrets here. I got the HD-A1 back in July and currently have 63 titles. Then after seeing Casino Royale in the theater and knowing I had to own it, I bought a 20GB PS3 in late December and I'm already up to 28 titles.

I still favor HD-DVD and go with that for dual format releases(Nine Inch Nails being the lone exception since the BD version is superior). But I'm glad to be able to pick up any HD title I want.

I felt that I had to become format neutral after being a long time hd dvd supporter.
picked up a ps3 a while back,

blu ray IMO has a much better selection of current and future titles, while hd dvd may have a diamonds in the library, however hd dvd just isnt cutting it with releases. This year so far hd dvd, has been horrible with a release list resembling a concede of the the format.

I do not like blu ray and their transfers, they come off softer looking and sound quality is not up there with hd dvd. however I dont use pcm. So thats probably the culprit.

My only real regret is the lack of films that I really want to own. I have 15 Blu-Ray titles and it was a strain to find even that many good movies that I could support with a purchase.

I know that what constitutes a good film is largely a matter of personal taste, but I cannot escape the feeling that Blu-Ray is throwing a lot of junk films at us hoping we will take the bait. Most of the Fox releases and all of the Sony Pictures releases just aren't doing it for me. There isn't much of anything in the Disney catalog that I want to own other than a few Pixar films. I mainly bought Blu-Ray for access to Fox, and so far its been a bust. I'm not really excited by the release anouncements either.

I will also note that I am in the same boat with HD DVD. I have 86 titles on that format and have not bought a disc in nearly two months. Releases and new release buzz has really evaporated. I know Amir keeps saying great things are going to happen in the future, but eventually they need to happen. The format is going nowhere in my opinion. I guess the future ain't what it used to be. ;)

I really don't know what is going on with either of these formats, but I am starting to loose interest. If I could say anything to the leaders of both camps it would be this: If you want your format to fail then by all means keep doing what you are doing right now. For the Blu-ray camp that means keep releasing garbage on the format, and a lot of it. Pretty soon the novelty is going to wear off and your customers are going to stop buying this junk. To the HD DVD camp all they need to do is continue to not release anything of note and the format will die off fairly quickly. This "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today" mentality with HD DVD is not going to get it done. HD DVD is bleeding customers to Blu-ray because it has made no meaningful effort to prevent it.

Content is king fellas. It's not about codecs or disc capacity or bandwidth or interactivity, and it never was. From where I sit 2007 is shaping up to be a pretty boring year for HD optical disc formats.

--Jerome

I'm psyched at some of the BD titles coming in May and June. There's one or maybe two movies listed in the next few months for HD-DVD that I have any interest in buying especially at the higher prices that have started showing up. Like you said a matter of taste. And it's been too long to remember how fast DVDs jumped out of gate in the first year.

larry

No regrets, I don't care to wait for the format war to be over to enjoy movies.





Toshiba lost their edge, but getting Blu-Ray isn't a bad thing like it used to be.

Because going neutral = spending more money (at least $500), as well as dedicating more real estate to another player. If the format you invest in doesn't wow you, then you just wasted $500 as you could have just upconverted standard DVD and had the same lack of wow-factor.

I know that we run the gamut here at AVS from "held together with duct-tape" to "that speaker system cost more than my house", but IMHO, when being an early adopter of any format, money either needs not be a consideration, or one shouldn't be in the early adoption game, because there is a 100% chance that the equipment will be outmoded fast, and in the case of a format tussle, at least a 50% chance that your choice will be the one that won't succeed.

That being said, that is why I bought a PS3. Even if Blu-Ray loses (I don't think that either will 'lose'), I still have a game system/media streamer/Feng Shui thingy/whatever.

Only if impatient. I think its quite clear we are moving towards format coexistence.

This is where I think you might reconsider. I have kids, and we want Disney titles, specifically, Pixar films. They aren't going neutral anytime soon. Universal isn't going neutral anytime soon either. Both will continue to co-exist until something better comes along. In the meantime, I've got the best of both worlds.

I agree, and I think sticking to your guns with one format creates choice, as studios will be required to publish in both formats in order to maximize profit, giving consumers true choice in which version they want to buy.

I can respect someone for wanting to stick to their guns with one format, but honestly, unless it is a matter of fiscal issue, why would one deprive himself of HD when they don't have to? I harbor no ill will against any one company or studio. I have no favorites either. I like movies. I like movies even more when they're in HD. I'm not going to let some squabble between corporate bean-counters keep me from my HD. :)

As far as I'm concerned, I can't go wrong. If HD DVD wins, I've got an HD-A1 and the PS3 gets relegated to a game machine (the main reason I bought it in the first place). If Blu-Ray wins, I can buy a stand-alone player or continue with the PS3, and I still have a killer SD upconverting HD-A1 and 20 HD DVD titles that I will gladly watch for all eternity......Or at least until the next best format comes out. ;) :D

No regrets, my love for BR is stronger every day. When I watch CR this weekend it will go over the top.

My Fiancee just said I could get the PS3 for my bday. I have the Tosh A2 with an LG 50" and Yamaha HTR 5990. Question. What is the best way to connect the PS3? I have two HDMI inputs and one output on the Yahama. Should I just connect via digital optical and S video from the PS3 or is that just a waste of time? Should I just pull the HDMI cable from the back of the A2 and connect it to the PS3 each time I watch BD titles? Thanks.

rushed out to CircuitCity tonight and found the 60gb PS3 for $599.99. Had them pull it from the back and ran over to the BD movies. It was 8:55 and they closed at 9PM. The only reason I am getting the PS3 is because I am a huge Bond fan and want CR. Guess what? They were out. I told the guy that I did not want the PS3 and just walked out. Zero patience. I was driving home and realized that Target was open until 10. Now I own PS3 and getting ready to watch CR. Will let you know if it was worth the trouble. I, like most of you, love the HD-DVD format but I just have to experience Bond in HD.