HD DVD Anyone?

[Conan71]

Shades of Beta vs. VHS (That's tape for you young whippersnappers)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080219/ap_on_bi_ge/japan_toshiba

[blindnil]

Luckily I invested in Blu-ray. Very happy with it, too. Looks great on my new TV.

[Wilbur]

I've been holding out eagerly waiting to see who would win the war.  Have been leaning towards the Blu-Ray the past couple months and was about the make the plunge anyway.  This may hasten things up a bit.

Does anyone know which Blockbusters in town carry Blu-Ray movies for rental?  The one I usually go to at 93rd and Yale does NOT carry any.  The clerk said only certain Blockbusters are carrying any Blu-Ray DVDs to rent.

[TheArtist]

I looked at the stats on both when they first came out. Looked to me like Blue Ray was the better format from the get go.

[Breadburner]

I don't know what the hell either one is....

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by Breadburner

I don't know what the hell either one is....

I don't know either, I figured I'd post it as a service for the techies on here and I might be able to figure it out finally. []

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by Wilbur

I've been holding out eagerly waiting to see who would win the war.  Have been leaning towards the Blu-Ray the past couple months and was about the make the plunge anyway.  This may hasten things up a bit.

Does anyone know which Blockbusters in town carry Blu-Ray movies for rental?  The one I usually go to at 93rd and Yale does NOT carry any.  The clerk said only certain Blockbusters are carrying any Blu-Ray DVDs to rent.

Go to 101st & Memorial. That is the closest one with a decent supply.

I have HD-DVD but My total investment for the player and 8 movies is about $0 so it's no big loss for me. If I could've gotten a good deal on blu-ray I would've bought that instead.

Oh, and this is actually the opposite of the aforementioned betamax experience.. think about it.

Sony has tried to garner mass distributions of the following formats:
1. Betamax (Loss)
2. 3.5" Floppy (Win)
3. Minidisc (Loss)
4. SACD (Loss)
5. MMCD (Loss to DVD)
6. VideoCD (Loss)
7. Hi-MD (Loss)
8. UMD Movies (Loss)
9. Memory Stick (Loss)
10. Blu-Ray (Win against HD-DVD)

[cannon_fodder]

They are Digital Disks with about 6 times the capacity of a standard DVD (50 gigs).  Blue-Ray is Sony's pet and HD DVD was Toshiba's bet.  Sony was pissed they lost the BETA war, so they set out to win this one I guess.

They use the extra space for higher definition (1080 standard, where a typical DCD is 480) and progressive scan as well as additional audio channels, more features, alternative scenes, and even alternative camera angles.  Max output rate is 48000 kbs (typical DVD is 10080 kbs).
- - -

The Blockbuster at 31st and Harvard has Blue-Ray for all who might be interested.

[restored2x]

Anybody wanna buy a slightly used HD-DVD player?

[sgrizzle]

I'm keeping mine because it does good upconversion and because blu-ray still costs $500.

[TUalum0982]

quote:Originally posted by sgrizzle

I'm keeping mine because it does good upconversion and because blu-ray still costs $500.

I wonder if Toshiba saw this coming in Dec when they offered select players at walmart and best buy for $149.99?  Blu-ray is far superior then hd-dvd in my opinion and experience.  I guess you could always hold onto those hd dvd players and see if their value goes up 15-20yrs down the road.  Whats the going rate for a betamax player?  

I went to an estate sale with my dad a few weeks ago and saw some blank sony betamax tapes on a shelf in the garage.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by TUalum0982

quote:Originally posted by sgrizzle

I'm keeping mine because it does good upconversion and because blu-ray still costs $500.

I wonder if Toshiba saw this coming in Dec when they offered select players at walmart and best buy for $149.99?  Blu-ray is far superior then hd-dvd in my opinion and experience.  I guess you could always hold onto those hd dvd players and see if their value goes up 15-20yrs down the road.  Whats the going rate for a betamax player?  

I went to an estate sale with my dad a few weeks ago and saw some blank sony betamax tapes on a shelf in the garage.

HD-DVD was cheaper because the parts are easier to get ahold of. That is why PS3's were tough to get out the door for so long. HD-DVD is just supercharged version of DVD whereas bluray involves entirely different laser systems.

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by TUalum0982

I went to an estate sale with my dad a few weeks ago and saw some blank sony betamax tapes on a shelf in the garage.

Beta was technically superior to VHS in almost every way, but they lost the marketing war.
It was BetaMax that changed the motion picture industry forever when Sony fought for the right to keep home recording legal.  The MPAA argued that home video was just for pirates, and they fought Sony viciously to stop the technology that would ultimately end up saving their greedy arses.
 
Beta did much better in professional broadcasting, where it is still used today in digital form.

BetaMax decks are still sought out by people wanting to convert old videos into DVD's, so they still have a lot of value for the time being.

Blu-ray's biggest asset was the name rolled off the tongue a lot easier than 'HD-DVD'.

[si_uk_lon_ok]

The HD DVD Meeting at Toshiba

[TheArtist]

I was actually afraid we might see a betamax redo. Blue Ray was and is a bit more expensive than HD-DVD and HD-DVD was ready to roll off the assembly line before Blue Ray technology was up to its full potential. But what Blue Ray did was go ahead and put out some players and disks that were not up to the full capacity of the technology. Because if they didnt get something out at the same time, HD-DVDs would have an advantage. In effect with an early launch, Blue Ray was not as high capacity/high resolution as the first HD-DVD players and disks, and on top of that it cost more than HD-DVD. However in time Blue Rays basic technology had the capacity to smoke HD-DVD and of course it would come down in price. The trick was, would the consumers see that Blue Ray was ultimately the best technology, aka BetaMax, or would they go with the "still better than the old CDs and cheaper" HD-DVD, aka VHS, technology?

I think a couple of things went in their favor this time, having them in the game consoles got a lot of the Blue Ray players out there.  And very importantly it is my personal opinion that HD-DVD sounds very much like old DVDs. Many assume that all DVDs are HD. And when they hear that there is a new, better, technology, Blue Ray sounded new. Plus, Blue Ray just sounds kewl[]