Is it true that the Blu-ray Disc supports 24p with its native timing, while HD DVD uses 60i timing for 24p for watching movies on HD players?Is the audio on both formats any noticable?I heard that HD DVD's had more interactive features.Is Blu-ray incorporating interactive features now?I'm planning on buying a laptop next year thats light and that has an HD DVD player and preferably with Linux or Leopard.What laptops do you guys suggest for under $2,000?I will buy the PS3 next year that way I have both formats.Is it better to buy a stand alone HD DVD player and Blu-ray or will the way I plan on watching HD movies the same when it comes to video and audio?

Welcome to the AVS Forum! That's a lot of questions. I am *far* from an expert, but I'll be happy to give my *opinion* to your questions...

Is it true that the Blu-ray Disc supports 24p with its native timing, while HD DVD uses 60i timing for 24p for watching movies on HD players?
I'm not really up on the technical details of 24p etc...

Is the audio on both formats any noticeable?
Most people would agree that you probably wouldn't be able to hear the difference unless you're a dog (or a pro sound engineer).

I heard that HD DVD's had more interactive features.
Is Blu-ray incorporating interactive features now?
Blu Ray Disc has recently released their 1.1 Profile which enables interactive/PiP features. As of the recent update to PS3, yes. As well as all 1.1 compliant players released.

I'm planning on buying a laptop next year thats light and that has an HD DVD player and preferably with Linux or Leopard. What laptops do you guys suggest for under $2,000? Next year = Jan or Next year as in June/July? CES is in Jan and you will start hearing about the technology that will be released in the next year (and beyond). It's largely going to depend on how far technology goes; which laptop companies side with which HD player/recorder, & more importantly (to me and others) what Apple decides to do. MacWorld is also in Jan, so there *may* be news there, but I doubt it. There has been speculation that they are going to side w/ BD since HD DVD is partly dev'd by MS, but I think it's a wait-and-see attitude.

I will buy the PS3 next year that way I have both formats.
Cool. I own one and haven't been disappointed. I do plan on updating to a full stand alone, but will wait for a full-spec dual format player.

Is it better to buy a stand alone HD DVD player and Blu-ray or will the way I plan on watching HD movies the same when it comes to video and audio?
I think your approach may work for you... it's really hard to determine that, since your lifestyle may be different than mine. Student/Professional/Retiree - Students may be more mobile, whereas retirees may be more apt to view all their media in their dedicated 'man cave'.

If I were you, I'd read through a ton of the threads here (and other HT Forums) and gather some data to form your own conclusion. You may be surprised as to what you come up with ;)

Cheers!

Is it true that the Blu-ray Disc supports 24p with its native timing, while HD DVD uses 60i timing for 24p for watching movies on HD players?Is the audio on both formats any noticable?I heard that HD DVD's had more interactive features.Is Blu-ray incorporating interactive features now?I'm planning on buying a laptop next year thats light and that has an HD DVD player and preferably with Linux or Leopard.What laptops do you guys suggest for under $2,000?I will buy the PS3 next year that way I have both formats.Is it better to buy a stand alone HD DVD player and Blu-ray or will the way I plan on watching HD movies the same when it comes to video and audio?
Both support full 1080p/24fps. (HD-20, HD-30, HD-XA2, HD-A35 etc.)

Both have phenomenal sound quality. Dolby TrueHD, DTS MA etc. (Even when Paramount used Dolby Digital Plus 1.5 for Transformers HD DVD, the Audio Quality Scored an amazing 5 out of 5) :rolleyes:

HD DVD by far has a lot more interactive features. HD DVD had finished specs before they were released to the public. Blu-Ray does not have finished specs yet. Though profile 1.1 is on its way, it will quickly be on its way out for profile 2.0 which should be the last specification for Blu-Ray. Possibly a 2009 release date for profile 2.0.

Toshiba, HP, Acer etc. All will be releasing HD DVD based notebooks. Toshiba expects to sell well over 5 to 8 Million HD DVD based notebooks in 2008. They’ve already sold quite a few in 2007. I am using one right now and I love it. It has full HDMI so I can easily connect my big screen HDTV to it & watch HD DVD movies.

I recommend the one I am using: Or something similar. I think this is the Canadian Release, so you may want to look for the USA release model, their are so many to choose from. I game on this notebook and its amazing.
TOSHIBA Satellite P200-RT9 Notebook
http://www.shopbot.ca/p-59796-1802304.html

Yes, it’s better to buy a Stand Alone HD DVD player only right now and use the PS3 for Blu-Ray playback.

Both formats have some excellent quality titles and both formats have some crappy titles. They are basically the same in quality and the only way to be truly happy is to buy from both formats since they both have some titles that are equally desirable.