Blu-ray/HD-DVD War Over?

[Master Yoda]

Well, don't worry, at least you'll have a fancy coaster for your coffee table!

It is no big loss. I got a Toshiba A2 when they hit $98 at Wal-Mart and I needed a new DVD player anyway. So far I have only purchased 1 HD-DVD and it is a dual format disk (both HD-DVD and DVD). I'll probably pick up a blu-ray player by Christmas of next year.

 

[dxwwf3]

I'll probably pick up a blu-ray player by Christmas of next year.

You mean you'll pick up a PS3, which is not only the highest tested Blu Ray player on the market today, but also has the ability to easily have firmware updates making it much more future proof than a lot of the stand alone players :animwink:

Seriously, I would hate for someone to be disappointed when their stand alone player can't be updated to new profiles as they are introduced. The PS3 is the way to go if you are going Blu.

 

[Master Yoda]

You mean you'll pick up a PS3, which is not only the highest tested Blu Ray player on the market today, but also has the ability to easily have firmware updates making it much more future proof than a lot of the stand alone players :animwink:

Seriously, I would hate for someone to be disappointed when their stand alone player can't be updated to new profiles as they are introduced. The PS3 is the way to go if you are going Blu.

The Toshiba A2 I got can do firmware updates pretty easily and I was assuming that the blu-ray stand alone players would do the same. The PS3 idea is being tossed around but I already have an xbox 360 elite so I really do not need another console especially when blu-ray stand alone players can drop down to nearly half what a bottom of the line PS3 costs. If PS3 starts having some must have exclusive titles it might sway my opinion. There is also the possibility that Microsoft will make blu-ray player add on for the xbox 360. So many options.....:brick:

 

[WDWFREAK53]

Any idea if AppleTV will get Blu-Ray?

Right now it's not even HD. I'm holding out on that until some new technology comes to it. They recently upgraded from the 40GB to the 160GB hard drive but I want the ability to not only purchase movies and TV shows...but also rent them and view them at 1080p!

 

[dxwwf3]

The Toshiba A2 I got can do firmware updates pretty easily and I was assuming that the blu-ray stand alone players would do the same. The PS3 idea is being tossed around but I already have an xbox 360 elite so I really do not need another console especially when blu-ray stand alone players can drop down to nearly half what a bottom of the line PS3 costs. If PS3 starts having some must have exclusive titles it might sway my opinion. There is also the possibility that Microsoft will make blu-ray player add on for the xbox 360. So many options.....:brick:

If you want to look at the PS3 as being a non-gaming machine, you're still better off paying a little more and getting a better machine. Even if you never play a single game on it (don't know why though), it's still the best player on the market and you also have the ability to have your own media server (with wi-fi or wired internet connection) or just use the hard drive space to put videos or MP3's on.

 

[dxwwf3]

Here's the link I was looking for earlier:

http://ps3.qj.net/Current-Blu-ray-players-won-t-play-extras-in-future-BD-titles/pg/49/aid/111511

You need to see this Master Yoda

 

[Master Yoda]

Here's the link I was looking for earlier:

http://ps3.qj.net/Current-Blu-ray-players-won-t-play-extras-in-future-BD-titles/pg/49/aid/111511

You need to see this Master Yoda

Definitely food for thought.

 

[garyhoov]

Here's something to think about:

How much is your player worth?

How much are your disks worth?

That's the reason I got a Blu-Ray player as soon as it seemed pretty clear they would come out on top. If there's a movie I like, I'd rather buy it on Blu-Ray now than DVD now and Blu-Ray 5 years from now.

 

[WDWFREAK53]

Here's something to think about:

How much is your player worth?

How much are your disks worth?

That's the reason I got a Blu-Ray player as soon as it seemed pretty clear they would come out on top. If there's a movie I like, I'd rather buy it on Blu-Ray now than DVD now and Blu-Ray 5 years from now.

Is it true that Blu-Ray players can upconvert the current standard DVD's to a better resolution? (Maybe not 1080p...but 720p?) (Only asking because I have 400+ DVD's...and there is NO WAY I'm buying them all again :lol: )

 

[garyhoov]

Is it true that Blu-Ray players can upconvert the current standard DVD's to a better resolution? (Maybe not 1080p...but 720p?) (Only asking because I have 400+ DVD's...and there is NO WAY I'm buying them all again :lol: )

Yep. I got the basic Sony (something something 300) and it upconverts to 1080P.

 

[WDWFREAK53]

Yep. I got the basic Sony (something something 300) and it upconverts to 1080P.

Wait, are you sure? So NON-Blu-Ray discs can upconvert to 1080p? This sounds wrong. I'm not doubting you Gary, I'm doubting why Sony would do it.

Why would you spend the extra money on a BluRay disc if you can just buy a standard DVD and have it upconvert to the 1080p resolution?

People CAN'T be just spending that much more for a few extra features...can they?

 

[Master Yoda]

Wait, are you sure? So NON-Blu-Ray discs can upconvert to 1080p? This sounds wrong. I'm not doubting you Gary, I'm doubting why Sony would do it.

Why would you spend the extra money on a BluRay disc if you can just buy a standard DVD and have it upconvert to the 1080p resolution?

People CAN'T be just spending that much more for a few extra features...can they?

I am pretty sure that 1080p is correct but as in everything else electronic it is never that simple.

In order to fill in the extra pixels missing when you go from a lower resolution to a higher resolution A DVD Upconvert player fills in these blanks by evaluating the pixels on the existing DVD, and then predicting how the surrounding pixels should appear on your higher resolution HDTV. The DVD Upconvert player then generates the final image that you see on your HDTV.

On a true HD format disk there is no conversion process...the pixels are what they are and are not estimated.

In a nut shell the true HD disks have better image quality or more to the point truer image quality.

 

[dxwwf3]

As Master Yoda said, upconvert DVD's look great, but they ARE NOT comparable to true high definition presentations on Blu Ray. There's no way I'm going to rebuy a lot of my titles either (a lot of movies all I want is a digital, widescreen presentation and DVD is fine for that), but an upconvert is certainly not the same as Blu Ray.

 

[garyhoov]

Wait, are you sure? So NON-Blu-Ray discs can upconvert to 1080p? This sounds wrong. I'm not doubting you Gary, I'm doubting why Sony would do it.

Why would you spend the extra money on a BluRay disc if you can just buy a standard DVD and have it upconvert to the 1080p resolution?

People CAN'T be just spending that much more for a few extra features...can they?

Here you go:

http://www.abtelectronics.com/product/31465.html?source=bizrate

From the link:

Key Features:

• Full HD 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema Video Output
• DVD Upscaling to 1080p via HDMI™2
• BRAVIA® Theatre Sync™ (HDMI-CEC)
• BD/DVD/CD playback4 and AVC-HD with x.v.Color output
• Multi Channel Linear PCM & Dolby Digital Plus Decoding

Features:

• BD-ROM Playback
• DVD Video, DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW4, CD Playback
• AVC-HD Media playback4 with x.v.Color output
• Video Codec Format: MPEG2/MPEG4-AVC/VC-1
• Full HD 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema Video Output
• DVD Upscaling to 1080p via HDMI™2
• BRAVIA® Theatre Sync™ (HDMI-CEC)3
• Cinema Tuned Picture Presets
• Uncompressed Multi Channel Linear PCM Output
• Dolby® Digital Plus decoding capability
• Dolby® Digital and dts® 5.1 channel Output
• Multi Channel 192KHz/24bit Audio D/A Converters
• BD-Java Interactive Capability
• Popup Menu
• Quick Set Up
• FL Off/Dimmer Mode
• Screen Saver
• MP3 and JPEG Playback from DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW
• Parental Control

But as Master Yoda points out there's a limit to how well any player can upconvert the lower resolution signal, but I've always felt that my old upconverter and the Blu-Ray I have now make old DVD's look better than the HD signals I get from Comcast.

The actual picture you get from an actual Blu-Ray disk is indescribable. Just about perfect (I've got the JVC 3-chip LCOS which I think beats most other display technologies other than maybe SXRD - which is, sadly, being discontinued).

 

[WDWFREAK53]

Ahhh ok...gotcha. I was going to say...why would anybody spend the extra dough! Thanks Master Yoda for explaining how that works, it makes perfect sense now.

 

[DMC-12]

Here you go:

http://www.abtelectronics.com/product/31465.html?source=bizrate

Ooo I like ABT! They are right down the street from me. Too expensive though... their markup on everything is insain. I guess they have to pay for their uber fancy showroom somehow. :lol:

http://www.abtelectronics.com/about/gallery_attractions.php3

 

[erasure fan1]

If Paramount have now also defected to Blu-Ray, there is no feasible way for HD-DVD to ever win the format war. I wonder how long it'll be before they cease selling the HD-DVDs?

Well not for movies most likely. I dont think they will stop selling them. Toshiba has to much invested in it to stop selling it. It will still make a good data backup system because HD DVD costs a lot less than blu-ray.

I dont really care all that much about who wins or loses. But it is kind of sad that its going to be the movie studios that decide who wins and not the consumers. Im no expert on it but I think the studios want it to win because the DRM capability is a lot better than the HD DVD.

If sony wasnt so greedy we would have a standard format and we wouldnt have a format war and the HD home video business would be well on its way. Standard DVD is still killing anything HD, the numbers are not even close.

 

[dxwwf3]

I dont really care all that much about who wins or loses. But it is kind of sad that its going to be the movie studios that decide who wins and not the consumers. Im no expert on it but I think the studios want it to win because the DRM capability is a lot better than the HD DVD.

If sony wasnt so greedy we would have a standard format and we wouldnt have a format war and the HD home video business would be well on its way. Standard DVD is still killing anything HD, the numbers are not even close.

Why is Sony greedy and Toshiba isn't? The consumers are the ones deciding this format war for sure. That's why Warner switched over. Why support something that isn't selling as well software wise?

Give the HD format winner some time. Once Blu Ray wins (barring a major change), the gap will close. Standard DVD will lead for a while though, as expected.

 

[Aurora_25]

My dad predicted that HD wouldn't win this thing. He did that when Beta and VHS were battling too (he said that even though Beta was the better machine, it would loose because it didn't have the $$ like VHS did at the time)- guess he's just smart that way. Anyway, he bought be a blu-ray for Christmas and it is phenominal.

 

[erasure fan1]

Why is Sony greedy and Toshiba isn't?

because toshiba went to sony for single format and it was sony that said no. They wanted all the money instead of sharing. One of the sony executives said if he was in charge when it was happening there would be a unified format. And if the consumers really got to choose all the studios would have made their movies for both and let things play out, but they didnt.