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High Def and BlueRay...

Fireball said:
Well according to that Blu-Ray is winning already. And just look at those figures for Japan! And that doesn't include Paystation 3 sales - That's a real shocker!
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Yes, at the moment the future doesn't look very bright for HD DVD. What a pity, because I believe HD DVD performs better for movie playback. HD DVD offers nice features like "interactive in movie experience" Blu-ray titles currently lack because the required features (like two separate video decoders for PIP) are not mandatory for Blu-ray players, so the studios can't rely on it. :(
The japanese market seems to be lost (which isn't really such a big surprise, XBOX360 market share in Japan is about nil), and Sony's strategy to plant a "Blu-ray trojan horse" in many households might indeed work as planned.
If the BDA can convince Universal to switch neutral, HD DVD would vanish, at least in the US. But I believe this won't happen anytime soon, as Microsoft and Universal are working "too close" together to let that happen (Zune).
Europe might be a different story, Blu ray is almost not present there (PS3 hasn't been released yet), and big players like Studio Canal, who have a huge back catalog, are supporting HD DVD exclusive.
I am sure Microsoft isn't very pleased with the current development, so they could try to plant a "HD DVD trojan horse", too. They already have developed a cheap reference design based on Windows CE together with Broadcom, so they have created the basis for "cheap HD DVD standalone players flooding the market". In the mass market, price *does* matter. And availability. There are only a few manufacturers able to make Blu-ray discs, where HD DVDs can be made by almost everybody. If the demand for discs really goes up fast, it would be quite embarrassing if nobody can produce the required numbers for Disney, Fox & Sony Pictures.

So, what could Microsoft do? They could:
1.) Release a new XBOX360 version with an internal HD DVD drive for a "price you can't resist" (much cheaper than the PS3). If they are dead serious, they would subsidize such a unit like Sony does with the PS3, so they could sell it for USD300,- or less.
2.) They missed the opportunity to ship Windows Vista with a full blown HD DVD software player application. But they could try to correct this mistake by offering a free download/update/service pack, at least for Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate users. They would plant a "HD DVD trojan horse" with every Vista PC, and the folks at Dell, HP & Co. would probably be happy to add a HD DVD ROM drive to the machines.
If they play their cards right, they might still be able to turn the steering wheel. I have the feeling that Microsoft will not give up so easily. Let's wait and see.

For data storage, both formats are currently too small anyway. Who wants a 25GB backup medium, with hardisks >500GB?
 
James said:
Europe might be a different story, Blu ray is almost not present there (PS3 hasn't been released yet),
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Yes there is no Region2 PS3 available yet. I think we have to wait until September to get it here in the UK much to my son's disgust!


If the demand for discs really goes up fast, it would be quite embarrassing if nobody can produce the required numbers for Disney, Fox & Sony Pictures.
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I am finding it quite irritating already trying to buy BD movies here. I dare say it will be easier in 3 months time but that's not very helpful right now.

2.) They missed the opportunity to ship Windows Vista with a full blown HD DVD software player application. But they could try to correct this mistake
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That was a huge over-sight, but then Vista was not ready for release anyway IMHO.

For data storage, both formats are currently too small anyway. Who wants a 25GB backup medium, with hardisks >500GB?
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My drive can write 50Gb discs and I can buy Philips media here. Looks like $60 per disc for you guys but we pay the equivalent of about $75 here which is not so attractive. but no... It is not big enough yet to be much use and I don't suppose it will be for some time yet!
 
James said:
In many countries, the PS3 isn't ready for release either. :D
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In other countries, no one cares. :D The PS3 is available in my area just sitting on shelves unsold. Meanwhile those looking for a Wii have a better chance of finding Santa Claus. :) In any case, the PS3 is not doing as well as Sony would like. In Japan, I believe there's 4 Wii's for every PS3 sold. HAHAHAHAHA
 
It's about time SCE took a hit with the Playstation; their arrogance was getting extremely irritating. They made some of the same mistakes with the PS3 that Nintendo made on the N64... though I hope Sony doesn't recover the way Nintendo did.
 
Although recent numbers have reflected a sudden surge in Blu-Ray sales, it's obvious this is due to the release of the PS3. What most people would have you believe, however, is that these sales will continue at this rate. This is most likely not the case IMO. I know when I got my Xbox 360 HD DVD addon a few months back I immediately went and bought about 4 titles to go with it. I'm certainly not the only one, and I'm sure that boosted HD DVD's sales numbers for a while. I got an HD DVD addon on launch day, and I had to hunt to find one, as everyone was sold out. So in a short periord, far more HD DVD addons were sold than on average, temporarily boosting numbers. Once most of the enthusiasts had their HD DVD drives and bought several accompanying titles, they settle in an buy one or two here and there as they are released. I myself hit a point where I had every HD DVD title I cared about buying, and have been waiting patiently for more titles to be released that warranted the spending of my hard earned dollars. The first title recently is Hollywoodland which I plan on purchasing soon. Anyways, we didn't have HD DVD sales numbers back then. Of course, how lovely of Sony to finally release Blu-Ray figures covering the two month period after the release of their console. Of couse these figures are going to be flattering, but they won't last. IMO we won't ever have a winner to this format war, Blu-Ray and HD DVD will probably both last longer than Betamax did, but not necessarily in their current state. Once consumer adoption grows, I see alot of people getting upset when they realize that X title isn't on X format, and that kicking up some dust, probably leading to most studios releasing titles on both formats, whereas only some studios are currently doing that. I like HD DVD because of several factors:

1) I was able to get a HD DVD player for $200. You could also argue $500 dollars if you count the price of a 360 Core as a base.

2) I like the extra features like IME.

3) It's hard to explain, I just like the way it *feels* when compared to Blu-Ray. Maybe it has somethign to do with the responsiveness of the discs, it's hard to say.

4) Even though both formats are technically identical, for some unknown reasons, transfers of the same movie tend to look slightly better on HD DVD over Blu-Ray. Check out hidefdigest.com for comparisons that support this.

5) A much higher percentage of HD DVD's use next-gen codecs, usually VC-1, compared to the large number of early Blu-Ray discs that used MPEG-1. The importance of this difference is debatable given the extra space on Blu-Ray discs for higher bitrates, but I don't care to get into it.

-Muffin
 
Fireball said:
Well according to that Blu-Ray is winning already. And just look at those figures for Japan! And that doesn't include Paystation 3 sales - That's a real shocker!
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Funny, while we were talking about this, HD DVD suddenly catched up:
http://www.eproductwars.com/dvd/
Blu-Ray is still in the lead, but no more "outselling 1:3".

An interesting read is this article:
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/feature_microsofthddvdinterview.html

Although I am really no Microsoft fanboy, I agree with Microsoft's Amir Majidimehr argumentation.

Data storage is an other issue, but IMHO optical discs are really not suitable for backup purposes anyway, only for short term storage (transport data from A to B).
 
Regardless of where the two stand at the moment the one and only deciding factor in this battle is witch is more cost effective and witch is easier to use...

And this is Just for Sony USE THE Blu-Ray for PS3 games...
its the only smart move...

For those of us in the open source department its going to be which is easier to rip and encode from. Whether using Anydvd HD or some other pirate software that comes out in the next 6 months...

Second if the open source community doesn't figure out a EVOB codec That can be used to decode to different formats, (ie Divx Xvid X.264 exct...) and put it into a GUI that normals like general public can use to encode to different formats. Then its uphill battle that I see no resolve...

As it sits the have been not one encoder that I have found that can encode HD or Blu_ray DVD material... If anybody has any projects that Handel this problem I face then I would be glad to hear of them...
 
the outselling of each format , i would imagine far more hd hardware as been sold, and with the porn industry almost fully backing hd dvd this alone is a massive chunk of the market we are talking BIG millions of pounds/dollars, did beta max do porn???

history repeats sony will do ok with the ps3 , but the hd vs blu ray I already know the winner hd dvd for me,

imagine writing a game for the ps3 to its full capacity / capabilitys it would take years im sure the xbox720hd would be out about the same time:D
 
http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2007/20070210.jpg

:) And it's not a whole lot different in my area. If I wanted one, it wouldn't take me long to find one. Pretty pathetic. Now, a Wii, otoh...I have people asking me about that thing every day. Hell, I just happened to find 2 Wiimotes on the shelves Friday night and grabbed them cause I've been looking for them for so long! :)
 
SamuriHL said:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2007/20070210.jpg

:) And it's not a whole lot different in my area. If I wanted one, it wouldn't take me long to find one. Pretty pathetic. Now, a Wii, otoh...I have people asking me about that thing every day. Hell, I just happened to find 2 Wiimotes on the shelves Friday night and grabbed them cause I've been looking for them for so long! :)
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I've been looking for Wii accessories too, everything is sold out.
 
DetroitBaseball said:
I've been looking for Wii accessories too, everything is sold out.
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When I saw the last 2 Wiimotes I about passed out. EVERYONE comes over to play the Wii and having 4 Wiimotes now will make that a much more fun experience. :) But, yes, it's VERY difficult to find accessories, let alone the Wii. The PS3, otoh, what a joke. :D
 
SamuriHL said:
When I saw the last 2 Wiimotes I about passed out. EVERYONE comes over to play the Wii and having 4 Wiimotes now will make that a much more fun experience. :) But, yes, it's VERY difficult to find accessories, let alone the Wii. The PS3, otoh, what a joke. :D
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I still only have the one that came with my Wii, I want to get atleast 1 more so that I can play multiplayer games with someone else.
 
DetroitBaseball said:
I still only have the one that came with my Wii, I want to get atleast 1 more so that I can play multiplayer games with someone else.
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If you can find Wii Play it should come with a Wiimote. It should be coming out tomorrow I think.
 
James said:
An interesting read is this article:
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/feature_microsofthddvdinterview.html

Although I am really no Microsoft fanboy, I agree with Microsoft's Amir Majidimehr argumentation.
Click to expand...

Good read, I agree. Ahhh...good ol Amir. You gotta love this quote.

"If you look at Windows, why do consumers buy it? Because of compatibility. It is a platform that has everything in it."

This is why I truly hate Microsoft. What do they program these guys with this stuff?

While I truly hate both Microsoft AND Sony, I truly hope HD-DVD prevails. It is a MUCH better product hands down. It don't look to hopefull but still too early to tell.
 
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