Format neutral members: Which version are you buying?

Will you buy the BD version (June 5th) or rather wait for the loaded HD DVD version (July 2nd)?

BOTH
While both versions will share identical tech specs, including matching 1080p transfers, supplemental content will be far from identical. The basic suite of extras are the same, including a filmmaker's commentary, four featurettes and a music video.

HD DVD
The HD DVD of Blood Diamond will be the first HD DVD to include web-enabled extras which allows viewers to use their players to offer opinions in WHV’s online polls and to view other exciting special features such as maps of conflict pertaining to war-torn areas in Africa.

The HD DVD version of Blood Diamond will also contain the In-Movie Experience (IME), an exclusive interactive feature that allows viewers to enjoy new ways of accessing interviews and other material while the movie is running. In addition, for the first time WHV will include the new Focus Points feature that takes the viewer to exciting in-depth featurettes and production diaries. The IME for Blood Diamond allows viewers to embark on an epic journey with director Edward Zwick, charting the emotional and filmmaking challenges of Blood Diamond.

HD-DVD, although, it will be up in "HD" on the Xbox Marketplace this week and might have to check it out there first.

I am not a dual format supporter so I buying the HD DVD version, however I am not an extras guy.

Since both are priced that same, but one offers more value then the other ill buy the HD DVD version.

I am a features guy not necessarily an extras guy. I want as much tech as I can get whether or not I use it doesn't matter to me. You never know when something will come up. Besides That I am far from Format Neutral so HD-DVD is the only way for me to go.

Couldn't care less about the extra stuff, especially the web enabled stuff. Just another glitch threat in my opinion. I'll take the BD.

100% hd for me.

Normally I'd answer HD DVD because I'm a bigger proponent of that format, but in this case I actually do want the extras. I'm interested to see how the online connectivity plays out.

Frankly, the Blu-Ray disc seems like a ripoff (however self-induced it may be, thanks to Blu-Ray's problems) if they are only a month apart.

If Warner decides to go this route, I think they should hold the inferior Blu-ray version for day and date release with the superior HD DVD version and not try to level the sales playing field by releasing it early. I think the studios deserve to know where consumer interest lies regarding these high def releases.

This news coupled with the Matrix Trilogy begs the question: Is it possible that Sony is now responsible for "dumbing down" the high definition experience with its Blu-ray format? I became neutral and began to shift my purchases toward Blu-ray. But lately I have been thinking that I shouldn't have been so quick to run out and buy a PS3 and should have just stuck with HD DVD.

I am so confused :mad:

I am an HD DVD supporter and will get the HD DVD version but in the interests of fairness IMO this should have been posted in the general high def. forum, not the HD DVD forum

HD DVD version.

I'd be interested in checking out the online connectivity stuff. More info is always cool. I love the choice at any rate.

If given a choice, I always buy HD DVD. Simply looks better to me!

I am an HD DVD supporter and will get the HD DVD version but in the interests of fairness IMO this should have been posted in the general high def. forum, not the HD DVD forum

Yes I think so , as well. Most people here are certainly going to vote for the HD version. I have a PS3, but will be getting the HD version. Not because of the extras, I simply favor HD DVD.

I will be getting the BR, because I like getting the least for my money.

:p

I will be getting the BR, because I like getting the least for my money.

:p
:confused:

BD-J is really holding things back it would seem. The question is if they get their act together. Will a new super deluxe blu-ray version come out. I think this may happen with a lot of the BD discs that were rather lacking. In fact I'd wager superbit HD will come out at some point. So lets see if sony charges $30 for a regular BD disc the super bit version will be 40-50. But what codac will it Use.


Anyway I think ill get the HDDVD as long as its just HDDVD and not a fliper. Not that I don't mind them it just seems like theirs an issues with the QC on them. I'd say the majority of the problom discs are. I will be going back to BB to trade Happy feet, childreen of men and maybe smokin aces. Although I have to test that one which may be ok. But I noticed the inner clear ring seem to have glue spots or air bubbles in the middle. I played the extras just fine. I've not tryed the movie....

Why not put this poll in the HDTV Software Forum to at least pretend that you want unbiased answers? Oshodi strikes again.

This should have been posted in the general area where more Blu owners go.

HD-DVD, I'm a sucker for IMEs. Although I'm first going to watch it on Xbox Live like one of the previous posters stated.

HDDVD version for me.I love IME and i see no point in preferring the inferior version if you are format neutral anyway.

BluRay here, since my PS3 seem to be the only HIGH DEF player (didn't try other bluray player) that actually plays my movie from 00:00:00 to the end without issues..

HD-DVD version for me... format neutral but I love the IME stuff. Never had a playback issue on my A2 on over 30 titles - even with CoM.

Why not put this poll in the HDTV Software Forum to at least pretend that you want unbiased answers? Oshodi strikes again.
It didn't make any difference moving it here did it?

Same result. :D :p

Probably neither. If the Blu-ray had PCM, then I would choose that. Otherwise, the HDDVD.

This is a little silly, your just going to get a buttload of people who aren't going to buy the disk voting as if they were. I'm not buying or voting.

The forum is kind of scraping one of it's partisan lows ever since the HD DVD buy-in and Samsung announcement IMO.

HD DVD for me...I haven't had a single problem playing over 13 HD movies in my Toshiba A2...love it!

HD DVD version.

BTW - I was concerned about the release dates of the BD/HD versions and whether this was due to any consideration by the studio to The Matrix or that the BD version has no IME.

I've heard back from the studio and there is absolutely no consideration at all like that in relation to these dates.

There is a reason, but I can't tell. ;) But it is a VERY GOOD thing.

Eveeryone is going to be VERY happy with the HD DVD version of this disc.

HD DVD. I want to check out the new Web interactivity stuff!

The HD DVD version has Dolby TrueHD...the Blu-Ray version has PCM 5.1 audio.

Eric

HD-DVD for me. I'm interested in the online features and IME, have no problems waiting a month longer and IT IS NO COMBO.

This is a little silly, your just going to get a buttload of people who aren't going to buy the disk voting as if they were. I'm not buying or voting.

The forum is kind of scraping one of it's partisan lows ever since the HD DVD buy-in and Samsung announcement IMO.

Agreed on both counts. Most of the people who voted for any of the options probably won't be buying this movie on either format.

If given a choice, I always buy HD DVD. Simply looks better to me!

LOL!

This AVSforum website is not at all representative of most Hi-def consumers. Microsoft's very active participation here makes AVS a last bastion of HD-DVD enthusiasts.

The majority of Hi-def consumers are choosing Blu-ray only.


Yes, I made a similar observation. Even though I would express it as the more informed and more educated people, who are the majority in the AVS forum, tend to prefer HD DVD whereas the less informed people who are easy influenced by marketing tend to buy bluray. But I expect the sales ratios to shift further towards HD DVD once the masses get more informed.

And BTW: the majority of the high-def consumers did NOT choose Bluray, it was forced down their throat in form of a PS3. The majority of the PS3 owners are gamers and the majority of them do not care about bluray. If you can really spin this fact, Sony should pay you a big bonus.

This news coupled with the Matrix Trilogy begs the question: [B]Is it possible that Sony is now responsible for "dumbing down" the high definition experience with its Blu-ray format If online content is important to you then in a certain sense yes, at least until the feature is ready on Blu-ray. However each of these formats in my opinion has helped "raise" the high definition experience by the nature of competition, and probably by no small margin.

In the areas I personally care significantly more about than online features, space and bandwidth (a permanent limitation), HD-DVD has been the format contributing to a "dumbing down" effect via instances where versions of Blu-ray movies are released with identical video specifications and bonus material features as the HD-DVD counterparts, taking no advantage of Blu-ray's extra capacities, for I assume ease of simplicity and perhaps as well an opportunity to more easily double dip in the future. All in all however I think the formats, through their competition, have greatly helped raise the high definition experience, except for possibly whatever factor the war has had on the rate of adoption and this rates subsequent impact on quality, whatever that may be.

Yes, I made a similar observation. Even though I would express it as the more informed and more educated people, who are the majority in the AVS forum, tend to prefer HD DVD whereas the less informed people who are easy influenced by marketing tend to buy bluray. But I expect the sales ratios to shift further towards HD DVD once the masses get more informed.I disagree. Several points. First AVSers are early adopters, and HD-DVD released first.

Second, many AVSers support Blu-ray, and of these AVSers who's to say that the ones who support Blu-ray aren't "the more informed and more educated".

Third, I believe there has been a strong internet effort to campaign for HD-DVD especially here in the AVSforum and this has contributed greatly to the support HD-DVD has gotten here and so I would say that it isn't nearly as much of a situation where people outside of AVS support Blu-ray because of marketing as much as the people within AVS are exposed to a larger pro HD-DVD voice than the people elsewhere.

This place has shown me to have an incredible pro HD-DVD bias in the face of reason. There was a poll here some time ago, maybe its in the archives, where the question was asked whether Blu-ray would ever match the picture quality of HD-DVD, and over 70% of the participants (and there were hundreds) voted that it would not. This was an absolutely ludicrous opinion even at the time, HD-DVD definitely had an average picture quality advantage at this point but there were some Blu-ray titles that were very close to matching the best HD-DVD titles and certainly several HD-DVD titles well below that of best Blu-ray titles. It was clear to any "informed and educated" person that the quality variances we were witnessing were do to the individual transfers and compressions each title received and was not an issue inherent to the format, a claim that existed here for months even after Blu-ray titles proved to be every bit as good as the best on HD-DVD. With polls like this, which I think is a fairly good representation of the type of bias I believe to exist throughout the forum to this day, it is no suprise to me that HD-DVD has done better here than perhaps anywhere else.

Fourth I think the more informed a consumer is the more likely they are to choose Blu-ray than HD-DVD, all marketing aside. Blu-ray seems to have everything important going for it except for the price of a stand alone player, which is of course a solid advantage in favor of HD-DVD.

Sure i'm going to buy THE BD version and i dont care about extras,all i care about is PQ and SQ .Blood Diamond is using PCM soundtrack

This place has shown me to have an incredible pro HD-DVD bias in the face of reason.
Let me balance one biased statement with another, that makes as much sense.

There's the HD format and there's the PS3 format. Most gamers don't visit this forum and BD isn't necessarily outselling HD because of expert opinion.

I disagree. Several points. First AVSers are early adopters, and HD-DVD released first.

Second, many AVSers support Blu-ray, and of these AVSers who's to say that the ones who support Blu-ray aren't "the more informed and more educated".

Third, I believe there has been a strong internet effort to campaign for HD-DVD especially here in the AVSforum and this has contributed greatly to the support HD-DVD has gotten here and so I would say that it isn't nearly as much of a situation where people outside of AVS support Blu-ray because of marketing as much as the people within AVS are exposed to a larger pro HD-DVD voice than the people elsewhere.

This place has shown me to have an incredible pro HD-DVD bias in the face of reason. There was a poll here some time ago, maybe its in the archives, where the question was asked whether Blu-ray would ever match the picture quality of HD-DVD, and over 70% of the participants (and there were hundreds) voted that it would not. This was an absolutely ludicrous opinion even at the time, HD-DVD definitely had an average picture quality advantage at this point but there were some Blu-ray titles that were very close to matching the best HD-DVD titles and certainly several HD-DVD titles well below that of best Blu-ray titles. It was clear to any "informed and educated" person that the quality variances we were witnessing were do to the individual transfers and compressions each title received and was not an issue inherent to the format, a claim that existed here for months even after Blu-ray titles proved to be every bit as good as the best on HD-DVD. With polls like this, which I think is a fairly good representation of the type of bias I believe to exist throughout the forum to this day, it is no suprise to me that HD-DVD has done better here than perhaps anywhere else.

Fourth I think the more informed a consumer is the more likely they are to choose Blu-ray than HD-DVD, all marketing aside. Blu-ray seems to have everything important going for it except for the price of a stand alone player, which is of course a solid advantage in favor of HD-DVD.

HD DVD is a more polished product overall:

1. Only use of advanced codecs by ALL major studios (VC-1, AVC) for video
2. Only use of advanced audio codecs by ALL major studios (DD+, TruHD)
3. More sophisticated menu systems (details matter)
4. More sophiticated presentation of extras (IME, U-Controls)
5. Combo disks allow the same disk to be played in all DVD and HD DVD players.
6. Other features such as bookmarks and my scenes.
7. Region free, so import disks from any country.....

So, if depends on whether you care about a more refined v. crude product. The best car analogy here would be - BD is more like a souped up Ford Mustang, whereas HD DVD is more like a Prosche 911)....to each his own.

If Warner decides to go this route, I think they should hold the inferior Blu-ray version for day and date release with the superior HD DVD version and not try to level the sales playing field by releasing it early. I think the studios deserve to know where consumer interest lies regarding these high def releases.

This news coupled with the Matrix Trilogy begs the question: Is it possible that Sony is now responsible for "dumbing down" the high definition experience with its Blu-ray format? I became neutral and began to shift my purchases toward Blu-ray. But lately I have been thinking that I shouldn't have been so quick to run out and buy a PS3 and should have just stuck with HD DVD.

I am so confused :mad:

Perhaps it takes them longer to do the "superior" HD DVD version. So, why should they hold up the "inferior" Blu-ray version just to have them be day-and-date?

BTW I am not very excited about these IME features anyway so I am not sure that "inferior" and "superior" really apply, but I am just following your own logic which seems to be that the studio should not delay one format for another.

Let me balance one biased statement with another, that makes as much sense.

There's the HD format and there's the PS3 format. Most gamers don't visit this forum and BD isn't necessarily outselling HD because of expert opinion.


This is completely wrong and false ,i think you should reconsider your opinion and visit many websites about how BD is outselling HD-DVD

[QUOTE=plazman]HD DVD is a more polished product overall:

1. Only use of advanced codecs by ALL major studios (VC-1, AVC) for video
2. Only use of advanced audio codecs by ALL major studios (DD+, TruHD)
3. More sophisticated menu systems (details matter)
4. More sophiticated presentation of extras (IME, U-Controls)
5. Combo disks allow the same disk to be played in all DVD and HD DVD players.
6. Other features such as bookmarks and my scenes.
7. Region free, so import disks from any country.....

Contrary the opposite BD is:
1. Only use of advanced codecs by ALL major studios (VC-1, AVC,MPEG2) for video
2. Only use of advanced audio codecs by ALL major studios (DD+, TruHD,DTSHD)
3. More sophisticated menu systems (details matter) SONY BLU Wizard is the answer for you and Disney Titles.
5. Combo disks allow the same disk to be played in all DVD and HD DVD players.Why i should buy this if cost me $5 more.Bullshit
4. More sophiticated presentation of extras (IME, U-Controls)Its coming dont worry but 99% percent nobody use it all it depends on PQ and SQ

7. Region free, so import disks from any country.....Sony are doing now region free titles and more to follow already many BD are region free

Conclusion low assumption makes BD a stronger format,just keep throwing untruth Statements and FUD tell the truth

If given a choice, I always buy HD DVD. Simply looks better to me!

I own both formats, and I think HD-DVD mostly has the better picture and sound quality, but that's JMHO.

I own both formats, and I think HD-DVD mostly has the better picture and sound quality, but that's JMHO.

You are wrong in this statement,you can say honestly you backup HDDVD

but its untrue to say HD-DVD is better than BD.Totally wrong

HD DVD is a more polished product overall:

1. Only use of advanced codecs by ALL major studios (VC-1, AVC) for video
2. Only use of advanced audio codecs by ALL major studios (DD+, TruHD)
3. More sophisticated menu systems (details matter)
4. More sophiticated presentation of extras (IME, U-Controls)
5. Combo disks allow the same disk to be played in all DVD and HD DVD players.
6. Other features such as bookmarks and my scenes.
7. Region free, so import disks from any country.....

So, if depends on whether you care about a more refined v. crude product. The best car analogy here would be - BD is more like a souped up Ford Mustang, whereas HD DVD is more like a Prosche 911)....to each his own.

Most of what you stated provides HD-DVD with a near-term advantage (?) at best. I expect Blu-Ray to exceed HD-DVD in all respects: storage capacity and bandwidth resulting in potentially higher bitrate audio and video codecs, (it already exceeds HD-DVD with audio quality, in general). I expect Blu-Ray to eventually have the same "frills" with future players with the possible exception of Combo disks (which I couldn't give two cents about) and Region coding (which I do detest).

HD-DVD is more mature at the moment, but Blu-Ray has the long term edge in virtually every respect. Cheap Chinese HD-DVD players ? I'd expect cheap Chinese Blu-ray players in response.

I own both formats, and I think HD-DVD mostly has the better picture and sound quality, but that's JMHO.

You are wrong in this statement,you can say honestly you backup HDDVD

but its untrue to say HD-DVD is better than BD.Totally wrong

Yes, it is wrong of a dual format owner to express his opinion :rolleyes:

P. Anthony! How dare you own both formats and come to the conclusion that HD DVD has better video and/or audio quality than Blu-Ray!!!! That goes against everything Scorxpion believes, therefore you are incorrect and you must retract your statement at once!!!

Talk about FUD!!! A dual format owner coming to the conclusion of one format over the other!