The actual Picture Quality....  

in theory it is much better especially if they go with bigger disks. On the other hand if they go with HD-DVD-9/ BD-9 then the disks won't have the capacity for quality video

Well, I question this as well.
I have not seen the picture quality of either format yet, but I question how much better it will be over what we now see with an up-converted 720p image from a decent DVD player.

Craig

There are two things that will allow a much better picture:
on HD-DVD you have more space: 15GB at least, and a better/more efficient compression than the current DVD's mpeg. Those are two things that allow a significant increase in picture quality.

Here is a comparison with some answers for you then.
http://www.dvdreview.com/html/new_format_war.html

At CES, the video looked better than current DVDs with an upscaling DVD player, but its not a really big difference. I would need a side by side comparison to see how much of an improvement there is. I was expecting a "WOW! That's a lot better" reaction from both formats, but was pretty darn dissapointed.

Not a surprise.

I think anyone that was expecting a major quantum leap right from the get-go, first gen, on either side, had unrealistically false hopes.

Well, I have not seen them yet but I guess it's just like the 1080i LCDs and the 45" sHarp 1080p LCD. At optimum viewing distances they are all the same.

What video did they play at CES. I find that movies aren't the best demo material. Sure people love to see HD Big Budget flicks but they are oft overprocessed and corrected.

I think the best video is night bright scenes straight from a HD cam. Then show how well the format does well with blacks and you have the ideal demo albeit not too sexy.

That article seems to keep coming up and people keep pointing out that it's from June 2, 2005

LDLemu4U: They look the same - BECAUSE THEY ARE!!! LCDs are a progressive display. Just because the input signal is different, doesn't mean you'll see a difference on the display.

What we need are more 1080p24sf displays so that there is a 1:1 relationship with the source.

I can tell a BIG difference between my D-VHS tapes which were recorded off a compressed cable source and regular DVD. It is apparent even on a CRT HDTV. The PQ should be fabulous on a FP setup.

If you are utilizing a projector with a large screen you should see a huge difference. On my 120 inch screen, 1080i DVHS is far superior to upscaled dvd through a faroudja processor via hdmi. Even sattelite 1080i, with all the compression issues, looks much better than the best DVD's on a large format screen. However, the differences may not be as great on smaller screens (i.e. 50 inch and below) when viewing from a distance

I thought that at CES the picture was definately noticeable. But you also have to remember, with everything going on there, it is tough to focus.

It's just another bullet point of why this format has a huge uphill battle:

1. Two formats.
2. Masses happy with current generation.
3. The people that really are going to dig this are the one's with extra huge displays. What is that .01% of the market?
4. New DRM limitations.

There are others. I'm one of the .01% and would have loved this a year ago but there is so many things going wrong here to me it seems like a train wreck in the making. The only way I see this living is dual-formatted discs. One side STD and one side HD, but I'm sure that is the last thing the studio's want to do, because they really want to sell you the same movie as many times as possible. Add that as bullet point #5.

Here is my take. Movies in both high def formats will look Terrific, OK, Mediocre, or Lousy, just like movies on SD DVD do now. We will sill will have BoZos in the telecine room converting some films and bean counters with their hands on the cash outlays funding the conversions. Fortunately, the level of Terrific, OK, Mediocre, and Lousy will be higher with the high def formats. Will you get the WOW OMG effect at home? Once again that is going to depend a lot on if your display is Terrific, OK, Mediocre, or Lousy. There has been a lot of mediocre and lousy consumer HD displays sold by Circuit City and Best Buy that won't be fully capable of showing off the new format, and a lot of dismayed consumers.

I think you pretty much hit that nail on the head. Of course, even the lousy displays should look better, but it's just a question of how much better. In that case the biggest difference for educated consumers will be the size of their display. Unfortuntely, how many consumers will buy next gen optical and watch it at the wrong resolution (480i/p) and/or with the wrong interconnects (s-video, component, composite, etc)?

"What do you think which format will be better suited to deliver your 10.2 dts sound track in the future?" Clearly, here is a man who has a prophetic vision for what the masses want.

This is an excellent point. There are sooo many people out there that are watching dvd's connected with the composite video cable that came with the player. Even on hdtv's.....

At the CES there was only one booth that I saw Blue Ray/HD DVD comparison - Pioneer. They had identical plasmas playing the same content - but cannot tell if there was any cheating at play (cables, calibration, quality of players chosen...). Both players were I think Pioneer - but cannot tell you anything about them.

My personal impressions after 3-5 min watching about 3 times in 3 days being there: Blue Ray wins hands down on sharpness and resolution. It looks noticeably clearer than HD DVD. HD DVD looked great but compared to Blue Ray - muddy. One thing I noticed on Blue Ray (but not on HD DVD) was significant amount digital noise (mosquito niose???).

Content was a demo of the Atlantic resort in Bahamas...

Good luck with that :) Aleks.

Apparently, watching 3-5 minutes three times over three days wasn't long enough for you to notice it wasn't a comparison between Blu-Ray and HD DVD; it was a comparison between Blu-Ray and regular DVD.

bferr1, nice catch:)

I have not seen Blu-Ray, but did attend an HD-DVD demo put on by Toshiba at my local HT store. They had the $1000 player hooked up to a 60" plasma showing a demo disk with trailers from several movies, some that had been out (i.e Spiderman2) and some coming (King Kong). I thought the resolution, clarity, and color were outstanding. I would definitely want one of those in my HT. It was noticably better than current dvds and even D* for some of their broadcasts.

As several have stated, you are going to see greater difference on a larger screen. I have a 106" front projection setup and really appreciate HD content.

I'm excited (but wish there was just one format).
michael

Interesting that they could get away with showing a trailer for a Sony movie (Spiderman 2) on an HD-DVD.

I wasnt at CEs, but I've been following the news and AFAIK Pio isn't making a HD-DVD drive, so I wonder how they were showing both? I remember someon posting there was a comparison of Blu-ray and regular DVD and they made the same comment adding 'why does hd-dvd look so washed out?' until they realized the mistake. *shrug* Everyone I know that has seen the 1080p encoded stuff on 1080p screens has been very impressed, especially as the screen gets bigger. So I'm bullish on both formats in general.

They were comparing BluRay with standard DVD. Not HD-DVD.

I think I already covered this well, nataraj. See post #21.
Orogogus, ditto for you.

You people should know that Pioneer compared qualities of BluRay with Regular DVD.

Um, I think Pioneer was comparing Blu-Ray with [i] regular DVD. And no, I did not read the other posts above, so no correcting post is necessary.