I'm curious which format you are supporting and why.

Supporting HD-DVD for the following reasons:

1. HD-DVD has adopted the VC-1 codec which is far superior to the MPEG 2 (very old) codec that Sony/Blu-Ray Camp has adopted. I am not convinced the MPEG 2 will ever be good enough regardless of how high a bitrate is used. VC-1 has a better color space resulting in far more vibrate colors. Overall, image quality trumps Blu-Ray hands down.

2. Combo Disk - The ability to buy a disk that has HD-DVD content on one side and standard DVD on the other is very cool. It allows consumers to build a library before purchasing an HD-DVD player. It also allows you to share disks with friends who do not have a HD-DVD player or use in other players in the home (that are not HD-DVD).

3. Audio support is more consistent - TrueHD is becoming a standard on many new HD-DVD releases. In addition DD+ 5.1 and DTS are commonplace. Many Blu-Ray supporters are sticking to PCM uncompressed audio.

4. HD-DVD will move to 45GB in the spring/early summer, neutralizing Blu-Rays ONLY advantage (which is really not an advantage as HD-DVD image quality on 30GB disks beats Blu-Ray running at 1080p on 50GB disks.

5. Standards should not be forced upon consumers - Sony is very heavy handed with Blu-Ray which is ironic considering their track record with standards in the past (Betamax, MiniDisk, UMD, etc)

6. Cost - Toshiba HD-DVD players debuted at 500.00 vs 800.00 to 1200.00 for Blu-Ray players. The XBOX 360 HD-DVD player is only 199.00 and works on the PC (very NICE - a cool Trojan horse).


L8

__________________
Editor - www.hidef.com

"True adaptability involves changing ones self to meet ones environment, not changing ones environment to meet ones needs" - Species8472

Agree with species for the same reasons. HD-DVD cheaper format = cheaper for consumers in the short AND long run. And the quality is not less than blu-ray. I only hope that Studios stop with the backing of media types and go wherever the money is! like all businesses should do lol.

Evilfud

Thanks for the very detailed feedback on your selectiion. I agree that Sony always seems to be the odd ball with all these different standards i.e. memory stick.

Could Blu-Ray also use the VC-1 codec? If that's the case then wouldn't Blu-Ray have best of all? I agree that the price of Blu-Ray drive is pretty expensive but since one comes with PS3 it's about the same price as XBOX 360 add-on if you think of as seperate units.

If HD-DVD is much superior to Blu-Ray then I hope that format wins out but if Blu-Ray is the superior format it would be shame if it didn't become the standard.

Truth be told, the war is about a niche, within a niche. It's silly to me to begin with.

What percentage of TV owners own an HDTV? What percentage of those bought it because it WAS an HDTV as a status symbol? What percentage of those are willing to pay $30-$40 (seriously, $40 for Transport 2 on BluRay?!? In the words of Eric Cartman... suck my balls) on movies instead of the sale prices of $15 when they are first released.

Right now, both are a luxury item and they both serve a niche within a niche. I don't really have a preference since both have a rather limited lineup (I have both a PS3 and a 360 with the HD-DVD).

Plus, the market is changing. Audiophiles the world over are buying iTunes so obviously quality isn't taking preference to affordability and convenience.

This is my 1st post here. I am neutral!! I have had my Toshiba HD DVD HD-A1 for almost a year now August 1st will be a year!! I'm up to 41 HD DVD's!! Very happy with that purchase I'm also happy that I have netflix as well so when a bad transfer comes out I rent it and see I dont want to buy it ya know what I mean I've seen many horrible transfers!!

Now on to Blu Ray I have had my PS3 since launch in November!! I am up to 39 Blu-Ray's!! Well once a few more come in the mail anyways. I'm very happy with that one as well!

Well I'm happy to be neutral so like when 300 comes out I'll get the better version on HD DVD!! I'm glad I can do that!! Most of the time I get dual format disks on Blu Ray since the PS3 is much faster than my HD-A1 that thing is so slow!!

That's my take!!
Mischa.

Blu-Ray uses MPEG-2, VC-1, and AVC MPEG-4 (which kicks the crap out of VC-1) and the 3 layer HD DVD that is spoken of is, in fact, not happening. It should also be pointed out here that the ONLY HD DVD-exclusive studio is Universal. Every other studio out there is either format-neutral or Blu-Ray exclusive. HD DVD being the "cheaper" format doesn't hold water, either. The new $499 SONY stand-alone player is the same price as the cheapest 1080p output-capable HD DVD player (something ALL Blu-Ray players have done since the beginning). Now, I know 1080i deinterlaced to 1080p through an HDTV is "effectively" the same thing to some, but for my money, it's sure nice to know that I'm passing a NATIVE 1080p signal through to my set with no scaling being performed in the interim. Blu-Ray software is also consistently a few dollars cheaper (especially if the HD DVD version is a combo-format disc like Superman Returns or The Departed). Considering the fact that software is a continuous expense and hardware is a one-time expense, Blu-Ray ends up cheaper in the long run. Couple that with the overwhelming studio support Blu-Ray has, its consistent 2 to 1 software sales lead over HD DVD, and the similarly overwhelming sales advantage it enjoys in hardware when PS3 units are included in the data (I personally bought mine for Blu-Ray viewing though I'm a supposedly non-existent demographic), and it's a no-brainer. Just my two cents.

Amen, Croweyes! Seriously, there is no contest. And the thing about HD DVD being better quality? Totally untrue. Hell, a lot of the format-neutral titles are EXACTLY THE SAME TRANSFER. But I digress. lol

You have your codecs backwards.. VC-1 is far superior to MPEG2 and MPEG4. MPEG 2 and 4 were NOT designed for HD content where VC-1 is. Sony changed from MPEG2 to MPEG4 because they were getting destroyed in image quality at the launch last year. MPEG4 is better than MPEG2 but still cannot surpass VC-1. VC-1's adaptive motion support and low SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio - MPEG2 and MPEG4 must use bitrates sometimes 2 to 3 times higher than VC-1) make it superior.. Casino Royale is the best Blu-Ray movie from Image quality standpoint and cannot surpass (it comes close) Riddick, Batman Begins, Serenity, Matrix or Mummy Returns (check our HD-DVD review section). All of these are excellent uses of the VC-1 codec.

As for software sales, if you count the PS3 which is NOT counted by Nielson and others for movie player sales, there around 3 million Blu-Ray players. The sales ratio comes to 1 movie for every 8 players on the market. That is a horrible number. HD-DVD is more like 1 movie for every 2 or 3 players on the market (Toshiba and XBOX 360) as there are only 300,000 HD-DVD Players. Blu-Ray should be killing HD-DVD in movie sales with all of those PS3's on the market but that is simply not happening (a fact). Home Player sales have always driven the movie sales. Most people are not going to build a home theater using a PS3 because these people will prefer a dedicated player that they will not have to fight with gamers over to use.

But since PS3 is not counted for hardware sales, HD-DVD is destroying Blu-Ray in home player sales. There are 75,000 Blu-Ray home players vs nearly 170,000+ Toshiba players on the market. Toshiba's price reduction is working very well. HD-DVD is winning the important home player battle as every player sold will result in movie sales. The majority of PS3's are not being used to watch movies. Yes, many are, but the number is not HUGE.

As for Studio support, Warner is a strong supporter of HD-DVD. Paramount has done a decent job as well. Universal will release 1000 titles this holiday for HD-DVD, giving the library a huge boost.

Features - Blu-Ray has NO Interactive features AT ALL. No "In Movie Experience" or Internet connectivity features. True-HD is not being supported either which is such a shame as TrueHD audio is absolutely awesome. Ethernet ports and persistent storage are not mandatory on Blu-Ray but they mandatory for HD-DVD Home Players per the spec. PS3 does not support Persistent Storage or TrueHD. The Blu-Ray camp will make these features mandatory in a spec to be finalized in Oct. How weak is that? The format war started last year and they still do not have their act together.

The Combo disk guarantees forward compatibility meaning those without HD-DVD players can buy a version that can be used in the future when they obtain one. It also allows the disk to be used on multiple players.

You may want to reconsider why you are supporting a format that has nothing to other while the other format does the things that really make the offering Next Gen? The only advantage Blu-Ray has is capacity and it does not matter as the kick ass movies I listed above are all around 20GB to 22GB in size because VC-1 is that efficient. Casino Royale is 33GB and does not beat the best of HD-DVD.

L8

__________________
Editor - www.hidef.com

"True adaptability involves changing ones self to meet ones environment, not changing ones environment to meet ones needs" - Species8472

Codec is the difference. And it makes a huge difference. See my post above... Blu-Ray marketing has fooled you guys...

__________________
Editor - www.hidef.com

"True adaptability involves changing ones self to meet ones environment, not changing ones environment to meet ones needs" - Species8472