Comments on: Blu-Ray wins, HD DVD loses. Probably.

Warner Bros. Entertainment may have cast the deciding vote in the Blu-ray vs. HD DVD format war, announcing yesterday-- just before the big Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas got started-- that it will support Blu-Ray exclusively starting in May 2008.

[brandonh33]

YAY. Thats all I have to say.

[thepoetrydude]

Well, I guess I won't be buying warner bro movies after may. At least not in High Def, cause I won't buy Blu-Ray, but I sure do love my HD DVDs.

[Waam]

all this HD war has created is sour grapes like thepoetrydude. the loser group is bound to act this way. nobody wins because of this. the best thing the hd-dvd group can do now is strike a deal with the blu-ray group and offer trade in deals or some kind of easy transition for hd dvd players that were sold.

[mbenson111]

You won't have much of a choice, soon enough. Your selection will become smaller and smaller until you will have no choice but to buy a new player, sadly.

the writing is on the wall. Warner went over a last month, and that leaves a small amount of support. Microsoft will move to support Blu-Ray as soon as it can, as Apple will likely do it sooner.

[flywithsean]

Why do the studios think they need to decide for us. All studios should have put out movies in BD and HD DVD and let the consumer decide what they want. Having both formats made prices drop but without that competition prices will stagnate. What the hell happened to total HD from Warner.

[DarkHawke]

Having only one DVD standard didn't maintain high prices. The swift and massive adoption of DVDs by the consumer drove prices for players and media down, same as VCRs, once VHS won. One of the motivations for the new high-def disc standards is the slim profit margins for current DVD hardware and software. The price drops we've seen so far in the high-def disc market are temporary loss-leader efforts to get folks to choose one standard over the other. Once one format is the clear winner, the prices will fall precipitously and they'll STAY down.

[Class_of_2010]

I have seen the future!!! What is everyone talking about? The future holds for a high tech world with extrodinary technology! What is the difference between a "DVD" and a "HD DVD, nothing! The name was simply changed from regular boring "DVD" to "HD DVD". An HD DVD is not that different, it may have slightly new features but it's just plain boring; it's like going from diet soda to regular soda ( its still soda but with different "taste") A Blue-Ray Disk is a huge step into the future. (its like going from soda to ... to beer) Haven't people heard at the copasity a Blue-ray disk could hold? There quite a lot of features in a Blue-ray disk has, plus when you hold a Blue-ray disk (say a PS3 game or movie) to a light, you can carefully see a blue coat surrounding the disk, this shows a Blue-ray disk is indeed the future, plus I heard Apple may choose Blue Ray for their computers and that's awesome. The future is BLUE-RAY!!!!!! (Not HD DVD)

: )

[genesisofthephoenix]

you're right bd uses several encoding formats and actually dual layer wise has a 20g advantage of hd-dvd, which means more quality.

[hockeyfan1969]

this was not hard to see coming, i have been buying HD-dvd since last year because of the xbox addon. I have been frustrated lately with lack of good titles in HD and have not bought any regular dvd because i figured something was going to happen soon. i think this will be the end of the HD-dvd sales. this might also be the chance for sony to sell more PS3's because if i switch formats that is what i am going to buy and i might even play a few games on it, but it will ne mostly as a Blue Ray player. lets hope the end is near so we can all get everything in HD.

[Pogmo]

That figures.... I got the 360 add on for Christmas. At least I didn't go out and load up on a bunch of HD-Dvd's.

[chelvestor]

Wow, Class_of_2010, really informative comment, sounds like you know what you're talking about.

On a more serious note, downloading HD content is now feasable and offered by several companies. If you have a PC connected to a TV or a Xbox 360 you can already "rent" movies online in HD for about the same price as blockbuster without buying any additional hardware and view nearly the same picture and sound. (Note: online HD content is compressed)

Ultimately who needs either player? I already own a Toshiba HD-A2 but i'm not worried, the beauty of HD-DVD is that it only cost me $99.

[Favesis]

What in the world is a "copasity"?

[mungrin]

wow Class_of_2010,you are a huge moron.I can tell you know absolutely nothing about Hi Def or Blu Ray discs.How can you say DVDs and HD DVDS are the same and that Blu Ray is the future because they have some blue **** on the disc?Man ur an idiot.Bottom line is that HD DVDS and Blu Ray are almost exactly the same.Blu Ray holds like 5 gigs more than HD DVDS.Thats all.HD DVD players are also way cheaper than Blu Ray players and side by side comparison,they look the same with the same resolution and everything.Do some research before you make up a bunch of crap and then post it.

[genesisofthephoenix]

actually you're both right, and off a little hd-dvd dual layer is 30g, blu ray dual layer is 50, so it's actually 20 gigs more, which transfer to a much higher transfer rate and more data, other than that the concepts basically are the same, but an idiot he's not, class of 2010 has done some homework. Do your research b/f insulting someone who's right

[SCAZMarketing]

HA! At last a thumb in the nose of Bill Gates! That XBOX 360 is a piece of crap. I thought this was funny: An article from an old guy who got screwed during the BETA/VHS wars as well at the HDDVD/BLUERAY!

http://www.socoolaz.com/article.cfm?articleID=30121

[Killmore101]

Ahhh..Is this a Blue-ray vs HD-DVD fire or did we create a spark under the XBOX 360 vs PS3 highly flammable debate? More then likely both. As for the format, Blue-ray definitely has the higher potential for multi platform usage given its higher capacity storage. The battle was very close and I think it could have gone on much longer but Toshiba probably had other fish to fry (and not necessarily "bigger" fish). It is clear that Microsoft did not have complete confidence in the HD-DVD format given that it was not included in the XBOX 360. This should lead us to understand that they (Microsoft) are prepared to utilize the Blue-Ray format in the Windows operating system and perhaps the Xbox 360 as an add-on (wouldn't that create a nudge in PS3 fansites...;). If and when Blue-ray becomes as standardized as DVD has become for the home PC, it would make no sense for them NOT to support it. As for the movies, nuff with the old flicks coming to Blue-Ray (garbage in = garbage out no matter the format)! Its time for the studios to invest in cameras that can really take advantage of the 1080p resolution. Though I think the lack of inniative lies with the predicament of which format to release on and thus not wanting to invest in the trainning and use of expensive gear. Perhaps with the fall of HD-DVD, we shall be witness to a "true" HD film industry. As for the game consoles, XBOX 360 is hands down the clear leader in the the industry. Side by side screenshot comparisons of the most popular game titles such as COD4, Turok, Devil May Cry 4 etc..., clearly show its brawn when it comes to "DirectX9" method of rendering. The XBOX is definitely relying on the experienced DX9 game devs to push the system where as the PS3 is starving for next-gen coders (shame on them for not properly educating or at least offering better support tools for PS3 devs!). When the next -gen coders become available to Sony, perhaps with Blue-Ray surviving this initial battle, tides may well turn in the console war as this is were the money's at now.

[Killmore101]

Ahhh..Is this a Blue-ray vs HD-DVD fire or did we create a spark under the XBOX 360 vs PS3 highly flammable debate? More then likely both. As for the format, Blue-ray definitely has the higher potential for multi platform usage given its higher capacity storage. The battle was very close and I think it could have gone on much longer but Toshiba probably had other fish to fry (and not necessarily "bigger" fish). It is clear that Microsoft did not have complete confidence in the HD-DVD format given that it was not included in the XBOX 360. This should lead us to understand that they (Microsoft) are prepared to utilize the Blue-Ray format in the Windows operating system and perhaps the Xbox 360 as an add-on (wouldn't that create a nudge in PS3 fansites...;). If and when Blue-ray becomes as standardized as DVD has become for the home PC, it would make no sense for them NOT to support it. As for the movies, nuff with the old flicks coming to Blue-Ray (garbage in = garbage out no matter the format)! Its time for the studios to invest in cameras that can really take advantage of the 1080p resolution. Though I think the lack of inniative lies with the predicament of which format to release on and thus not wanting to invest in the trainning and use of expensive gear. Perhaps with the fall of HD-DVD, we shall be witness to a "true" HD film industry. As for the game consoles, XBOX 360 is hands down the clear leader in the the industry. Side by side screenshot comparisons of the most popular game titles such as COD4, Turok, Devil May Cry 4 etc..., clearly show its brawn when it comes to "DirectX9" method of rendering. The XBOX is definitely relying on the experienced DX9 game devs to push the system where as the PS3 is starving for next-gen coders (shame on them for not properly educating or at least offering better support tools for PS3 devs!). When the next -gen coders become available to Sony, perhaps with Blue-Ray surviving this initial battle, tides may well turn in the console war as this is were the money's at now.

[genesisofthephoenix]

fact is they were both great concepts, and blu ray fumbled horribly out of the gate, but it had a lot more supporters. and soon enough it's possible the war will cost even blu ray, b/c if i can download an hd movie, I might stop buying period.

[genesisofthephoenix]

fact is they were both great concepts, and blu ray fumbled horribly out of the gate, but it had a lot more supporters. and soon enough it's possible the war will cost even blu ray, b/c if i can download an hd movie, I might stop buying period.