Question for dual format owners. Is BD less problematic than HD?

4215 Views 68 Replies 53 Participants Last post by CasualCat2001, May 23, 2007

John Meno

Discussion Starter · May 16, 2007

I was fully in the HD-DVD camp since I bought my A1 almost a year ago and now my A2 5 months ago. I bought quite a few titles and even though it had a hard time playing certain discs and the machine being slow and quirky, the PQ blew me away and I loved the format. I also hate Sony and would much rather see an American company like Microsoft win the war.

I'm at the point now that I'm going back to DVD. I rented a bunch of titles from Blockbuster, and it won't play any of the newer discs or anything with even a hint of a scratch. I also have a DVI preamp so I have to play around with that. I sent the card in for both players for the firmware upgrade to be sent to my house because I have no way of hooking my A2 to my computer. These bums still haven't sent me a single disc. Not the 1.3 or the 1.5. I'm trying to burn the upgrade onto a DVD R and I can't find a way to do it. I'm almost about to chalk my A2 up to a clunky and slow upconverting DVD player.

My question is, Is Blu-Ray any less problematic than HD? I want to hear from people who have both formats. Not those who drank the kool aid one way or the other. I hear that BD has a better coating than HD. Does that appear to be true. I'd especially like to hear from those who have rented both HD and BD.

Thanks in advance.

1 - 20 of 69 Posts

JamesO

· #2 · May 16, 2007

I have an A1 also that's had it's share of quirks. I don't mind the slow loading, I knew that going in. It's still plagued by audio pops, video stutters and the very rare hard lockup (only twice). It's not enough to put me off of the format, but if a movie releases on BD and HD at the same time, BD definitely has the upper hand in my purchases.

I also have a Samsung 1000. So far, the only issue I've had (aside from silly stuff like the reversed speakers) has been two spots roughly two thirds of the way through Rocky Balboa that pixilated for a few seconds. Overall, it's been a better playback experience.

My thought is to tolerate the quirks of both of these machines until the third generation of each. Then I'll buy machines that I expect to keep in my rack for years...these first two machines are just something to get me by.

ack_bk

· #3 · May 16, 2007

I have both the 360 HD DVD add-on and the Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-Ray player. I have had numerous (serious, as in one title would not play, and two titles that kept freezing) problems on HD DVD with several titles from Universal (combos) and have had several "hiccups" with two other titles although the movies played through.

Recently for the Samsung, I had a movie that would not be read. I noticed the movie had a few smudges and cleaned it, and then it played through with no issues.

Based on my experience I have had much better luck with Blu-Ray and consider it to be a more stable player at this point in time.

donricouga

· #4 · May 16, 2007

PS3 owner here. I've never had a problem playing any movie except for "Legends of Jazz" which was simply a bad batch. Every other movie i've played had no glitches, freezes or anything of the sort. I'm a Blockbuster Total Access subscriber(3 at a time) so I've had many BD's (In my house, DVD is out

)

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bferr1

· #5 · May 16, 2007

More stable and reliable playback performance on my Panny BD10 is why I choose the BD version over the same HD DVD version, regardless of extras. YMMV, of course.

DavidHir

· #6 · May 16, 2007

I've had my PS3 since January - no issues. I've had four different HD DVD players (two HD-A1s & two HD-A2s) at different times since last year; each have had issues. My current HD-A2 started off fine, but had some glitches recently.

Mad Chemist

· #7 · May 16, 2007

My A1 occasionally glitches on Netflix titles. Watched Babel the other night and probably had half a dozen glitches. Never had a problem with titles I own. My BD-P 1000 has been flawless. Not once has it not delivered perfect playback. I do watch alot more titles on HD-DVD though. Its actually to the point that I only demo my system with Blu Ray titles when friends come over. Can't wait for the universal Samsung to come out.

youknowryan

· #8 · May 16, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mad Chemist /forum/post/0

My A1 occasionally glitches on Netflix titles. Watched Babel the other night and probably had half a dozen glitches. Never had a problem with titles I own. My BD-P 1000 has been flawless. Not once has it not delivered perfect playback. I do watch alot more titles on HD-DVD though. Its actually to the point that I only demo my system with Blu Ray titles when friends come over. Can't wait for the universal Samsung to come out.

agreed.

I own an hda2 and a bdp1000 and neither have any sort of issues, they just play the movies.

i had 2 netflix discs stutter or have playback issue but under the light they looked like a hockey rink after the end of the first period. even after cleaning them they still were buggy... honestly i am amazed that the discs played at all. one was on the bpd1000 and the other on the a2. i am very happy with the performace of both players.

MidnightWatcher

· #9 · May 16, 2007

I have HD DVD and love it, no problems for me. Some will have problems with Blu-ray, some won't. Same thing goes for HD DVD.

Paul_Seng

· #10 · May 16, 2007

my A1 has been fine except for Happy Feet and Children of Men. Everything I've put in the 360 add on played just fine. My PS3 plays everything just fine.

FatiusJeebs

· #11 · May 16, 2007

I have the add-on......so far....not one problem.

rdjam

· #12 · May 16, 2007

The Samsung BDP1000 player I have is incredibly slow to navigate, much slower than the Toshiba XA2 HD player, while the load times are about the same. From what I have seen in the shops, this sluggishness is pretty much standard for all the bluray players - something to do with BDJ and horsepower needed, as I understand it.

I have not had some of the problems with HD DVD players that some have reported here and there, except for the occasional firmware update being needed for certain new discs - the only one that "got me" was the Australia, Italy, etc National Geographic set. I have two HD players - the A1 and XA2.

The main "quirks" on the BD players, is their lack of the standard features - not only those offered by the HD DVD players, but even the very features that will become standard for Bluray in November.

However, even the new "standard profile" in November will not match the HD DVD standard player specs...

Hayrab

· #13 · May 16, 2007

I have no problems with the 360 add-on or the PS3, neither are as sluggish as the Toshiba HDA1 my friend has.

joe_six_pack

· #14 · May 16, 2007

no problems with the ps3. Movie loads fast & plays well. The new firmware that auto-logs you out of the PSN seems to have fixed the occasional freezing that people used to complain about.

Edit: Note that I'm not a dual format owner.

builty

· #15 · May 16, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by John Meno /forum/post/0

I want to hear from people who have both formats. Not those who drank the kool aid one way or the other.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MidnightWatcher /forum/post/0

I have HD DVD and love it, no problems for me. Some will have problems with Blu-ray, some won't. Same thing goes for HD DVD

He requested fanboys to not answer, please respect this.

JE3146

· #16 · May 16, 2007

I've had plenty of hiccups/stoppages with my A2 and a recent combo error(Children of Men, but its a known issue). To be honest it's driving me nuts.

PS3 playback has had 1 momentary freeze on a rented title Invincible. Lasted a quarter second and was gone. Might have been a layer change to be honest. Never experienced such a thing with anyother disc though.

So from my personal experience. YES. BD is far less problematic.

ETA::

All Blu-rays I've received from online rentals have been flawless. They look brand new. For all I know.. they very well could be brand new ??

Every HD-DVD I've rented has had atleast one minor scratch. Some looked like they were scratched with steel wool. What do people do to these things!??

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rlindo

· #17 · May 16, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by John Meno /forum/post/0

I also hate Sony and would much rather see an American company like Microsoft win the war.

Not a fan of global economy or other humans in the world and just want supposed American companies to dominate? That's cool. I disagree since I believe I live in the world rather than just my country and I want the companies who offer the best stuff to succeed (why I have a Japanese based car since those companies care unlike GM, Ford, etc) but to each their own. BTW Microsoft's main deal is offering the VC1 codec and they do that for both formats. If you want the two main companies then it seems to be Sony and Toshiba...both Japanese based. Uh oh, who do you want now?

hehe

I own both the PS1 and the HD-A1 and I can say that I have had less issues with the bluray side than the HDDVD side. Yes, the HD DVD issues I have had are minor but the fact is that my experience with bluray is pretty much problem free. Oh and yes, bluray discs have a sweet coating that prevents them form being scratched unless you really go to town on them. I hope the hd dvd group decides to add something that down the road.

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joe_six_pack

· #18 · May 16, 2007

^^

The interesting thing is that in many ways, there's no such thing as an "american company" or "japanese company". You have foreign manufacturers producing in the US & other countries with labor & materials from yet even more countries. You have US companies producing in foreign countries or assembling parts produced in foreign countries. Most big companies are multinational.

An example would be a toyota car assembed in the US from raw materials shipped from around the world. So, by buying Toyota, you are probably still supporting american jobs (and getting a better - IMO - product out of it).

Of course you already knew that, and I'm rambling.

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vvista

· #19 · May 16, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by John Meno /forum/post/0

I was fully in the HD-DVD camp since I bought my A1 almost a year ago and now my A2 5 months ago. I bought quite a few titles and even though it had a hard time playing certain discs and the machine being slow and quirky, the PQ blew me away and I loved the format. I also hate Sony and would much rather see an American company like Microsoft win the war.

I'm at the point now that I'm going back to DVD. I rented a bunch of titles from Blockbuster, and it won't play any of the newer discs or anything with even a hint of a scratch. I also have a DVI preamp so I have to play around with that. I sent the card in for both players for the firmware upgrade to be sent to my house because I have no way of hooking my A2 to my computer. These bums still haven't sent me a single disc. Not the 1.3 or the 1.5. I'm trying to burn the upgrade onto a DVD R and I can't find a way to do it. I'm almost about to chalk my A2 up to a clunky and slow upconverting DVD player.

My question is, Is Blu-Ray any less problematic than HD? I want to hear from people who have both formats. Not those who drank the kool aid one way or the other. I hear that BD has a better coating than HD. Does that appear to be true. I'd especially like to hear from those who have rented both HD and BD.

Thanks in advance.

I've had rentals from BB and Netflix on both formats and encountered minimal playback issues. The discs don't have any scratch marks at all on the data sides. What's common is dirt particles from the current packaging that they have.

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heavyharmonies

· #20 · May 16, 2007

I find both formats to be fine. My Toshiba HD-A1 had it's share of initial quirks (especially in April of 2006 before the first firmware update came out) and the bootup times were quite slow. Still, nothing I wasn't willing to get past because of the gorgeous PQ. Since I've upgraded to the XA2, playback has been flawless.

My 20GB PS3 has been (for the most part) rock solid. Every couple of movies I will occasionally get a brief stutter, but nothing reproducible (I'm thinking dust speck).

In short, I find neither format to be inherently more or less reliable than the other.

1 - 20 of 69 Posts

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