HD vs. Blu-Ray: Who Will Be the Victor?

HD DVD will definitely win because the players are significantly cheaper and more accessible to the general user.

Blu-ray is backed by a larger group of electronics manufacturers, and movie studios who have said that they will not make hd-dvd's. Disney is only going to be on blu-ray, couple that with Blockbuster, as you mentioned, and the PS3, I believe that hd-dvd's will soon go the way of the betamax.

I am about to spend around 6 or 7 grand on a large flat screen and home entertainment center. I've been researching this very subject (thoroughly) for several weeks now. I've decided to take a chance on the Blu-Ray. The picture quality is superb and will support the ever enlarging tech field of enhancing home entertainment. Blu-Ray players are coming down in costs (Sony & Toshiba have units for under $500) and this will bring many undecided viewers into the fold for Blu-Ray. For around $700 you can get a player that supports both formats.

I'm really not sure who will win this format war. I do think we are still years away from being able to declare a winner. Until HDTV's come down in price even more and you can get a player for $100 or less I don't see either having real mass market appeal. I can also see a lot of people sticking with regular dvd because they don't want to take a chance that they pick the loser. Also I've heard people say that both formats will lose and digital downloads will be the winner. I don't really believe that though. I guess personally I see a lot more dual format players coming out so people don't have to choose. I myself have an Xbox 360 with HD DVD add-on and plan to buy a Playstation 3 in the next few months. So I won't have to worry about who wins.

Toshiba claims the HD-DVD is cheaper to manufacture, yet I continue to see identical price points for dual-format movie releases lately. (This includes the new release of "300", which, if I am not mistaken, is the first company-wide rollout of HD-DVD/Blu-Ray titles to all, if not most, Borders stores.)

Blu-Ray holds several advantages: exclusive Disney support, larger disc capacity, and the smooth-as-playback Java-BD interactivity, as used to satisfyingly extreme gimmick with the Liar's Dice game bonus feature on the HD releases of the first two Pirates.

However, Sony's public image has taken a significant plunge in previous years, and it's constant stubbornness in all matters of market dominance may be the primary hindrance in BLu-Ray's chances for success.

Still, the potential for universal video players supporting both HD formats is strong enough that we may see a fairly even balance in the field of home video entertainment.

So many people liken this current format "war" to that of the VHS/Betamax conflict, but I feel that is an incorrect comparison. VHS/Betamax had completely different cartridge sizes and analog playback systems, thus were absolutely incompatible with each other.

The opposing HD disc formats both use discs of the same thickness and diameter, as well as the same laser frequency (within that blue spectrum for which the Sony format is named). The only difference is BR employs a broader numerical aperture for its laser versus HD-DVD, something which can be adjusted mechanically within a universal device (though I believe current universal players simply use two separate lenses for the differing discs).

Home computing, I feel, is the true battlefield for the new high-capacity discs. The promise of the BD-R, Sony's writable disc based on the Blu-Ray format, holds great potential. 50GB capacity on a dual-layered disc will seem a much better option over a 30GB HD-DVD, particularly for the days when HD home video cameras become more common.

I think the real tipping-of-balance for the coming home PC war may come should any major manufacturer of computer ever take side with a format. Presently, we just see the format drives supported in their creator's respective Sony and Toshiba branded laptops.

Should we ever see the (slim) possibility of, say, Apple take on a specific format exclusively, it would be a near-death sentence for the opposition.

It is a puzzlement. At the present time HD has the pricepoint lead and also the lead in implementation of the format specifications. Blue Ray (Sony) has more movie producers signed on in addition to its own vast library of titles. Subjectively, I can see no difference in the visual and aural qualities of the two variations of the basic technology so there is no clear cut winner here.
I must agree with David W's observation on the tipping point coming with adoption on pc platform.

Industry pundits are mixed on their predictions.

As to the PS3 including blue ray (this is still the most economical way to get a blue ray capable player) I don't believe that this is much of a factor seeing the overall lackluster reception to the machine so far. I have a PS3 and find that I use it more for viewing movies than for gameplay.

One other factor not mentioned so far is Sony's iron handed licensing policies wherein they demand content control. I only mention this in the historical perspective of that same mindset in the vcr beta war.
There are many in the field that believe that one of the crucial factors in VCR becoming the winner is that pornography could be released in VCR format whereas Sony would not allow the beta format to be used for such content.

I have both formats but in truth cannot see any difference in the experience. Normally I would say let the free market determine the outcome, however when the big corporate interests are lining up and limiting the content offered on either format it is not a free market and I wonder to whose advantage this really is.

I have been an Broadcast Engineer for over 25 years, and having seen the beta/vhs war from the beginning to the end, my hope is that Blu-Ray wins this one. When will people wake up and realize that a cheap price on a machine yields you a cheap product. Blu-Ray is by far the better quality piece of equipment and has greater capacity when it comes to the disc. HANDS DOWN....BLU-RAY IS BEST.

I believe who will win is the consumers, even though the studios are taking sides, the player makers aren't. LG has a very popular selling player that does both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.

It's also obvious that we haven't seen many laptop computers yet with either drive in them, this is because they only work with graphics cards/systems that support HDCP content copy protection, and only specially labeled cards today support HDCP. This also requires a CPU that's at least 2.2 Ghz to run nicely, because of the requirements of decoding. Nvidia has came out with a new HDCP compatible series of graphics processors the 8500 and 8600 that have a chip just for HD decoding on the card. It offloads 100% of the CPU usage on both blue ray and HD-DVD and h2.64 video. Their higher end 8800 CPU does not contain these chips or support this function. It still relies on the CPU, so bigger in this case isn't better.

In one camp you have Toshiba/Microsoft/and others (HD-DVD), in the other camp you have Apple/Sony/Others...

I see this arguement as being like Beta and VHS, VHS won before because it was cheaper, not because the quality was better. Even if Blu-Ray has more capacity it might not win.

What will win is the combination players that do both, and new PC/Laptop DVD burners which do both which are do out at the end of this year. Just like competing DVD burner platforms of the past the industry is moving to a standard that supports both formats. I think we will see both standards implemented in on drive in the future. Then it will be a matter of what format people pick to use. Blu-Ray does have better capacity. Both use the same blue laser format. HD-DVD does have better interactive features for multimedia developers (iHD) if you were to develop interactive content. Blu-ray claims a better codec, but so far half the blu-ray discs are encoded copies of the dvd converted from the older 480p codec so the quality of the video on a lot of the available content isn't any better or up to par. I kinda expect the industry standard VC-1 codec (available in both platforms) to take over soon...

Advantages, Disadvantages? Besides capacity they are dead even products, if you want disney family material at this point you have to go Blu-Ray.

Most people are waiting for cheaper multi-format players/recorders that do both (on both the PC/Mac and stand-alone).

lol I'm taking the cowards way out and letting dave make the decision when we get our next tv. then he can also take the blame !

;-)

There is no right answer because we do not know the successor of the DVD yet. Many people talk about Sony's $500 Playstation 3, but what about the XBOX 360 $180 HD-DVD add-on? The HD-DVD player is cheaper than a comparable blu-ray player by $200. However, the software is the same price. Even though BD-ROMS have more storage capacity, only HD-DVD has a hybrid format of HD and regular DVD, which makes it more accessible. Also, despite the storage gap, HD-DVD may have higher quality due to the decoding technology used you should see movies and compare them yourself. However, both formats are still too expensive for average consumers. Until the players approach under $200 levels, we will not see a wide distribution into households. Until there is a proliferation of that such as the regular DVD, neither side can declare superiority. Unless you have a lot of money to spend, it is wise not to buy into one side until you are sure you want it. HD videos may never succeed in disc format at all, because you can get the same quality over cable, satellite, or Internet. Why bother spending the money on an expensive player and discs?

I bought an HD-DVD player for just over $200 and it came with a coupon for 5 free HD-DVD movies. The movies are worth at least $100. So, I consider that a HD player for under $200. In fact, it was barely over $100 in price. It does a superb job upconverting my current SD dvd's. Most of the movies I want are from Universal or Warner and both of those companies make HD-DVDs. I have not seen one convincing reason to have gone with bluray over HD-DVD.

Quite honestly I don't care. I've already upgraded to DVD from VHS. I'm not doing it again. :)

Blu-Ray.

Wait, too late to vote?

=D