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There is 1 kink in HD DVDs armor. Thats movie studios. Sony owns 1 or 2. So HD DVD will never get a James Bond novie....

Actually 1080P is simply better than 1080I with all the electronics being otherwise equal.

I have to agree with Croc's original reply - in content, not in the tone.

But I think, technologically, Blu-ray is better. In terms of market acceptance - I think the jury is still out, and I am not quite as cynical as Croc.

It seems that MS (defectors) and the HDDVD camp has got a leg up on the Blu-ray camp, for now. Their argument that HDDVD is less costly to produce is true, however, it remains to be seen how those cost savings will be passed to the consumer.

Content will probably rule all. I would hate to see both stick around for a long time, at least as separate entities. It was really a shame the talks broke down when they were trying to reach a common ground.

Sony does have studios in their pocket, however, yet MS's endorcement (which they deny) of HD DVD is huge.

It would be a shame to end up with something like VHS / Beta or even SACD and DVD A. The latter situation is the reason I have to have two DVD players...I am not looking forward to spending $1,000+ for each of the technologies in question...

A year ago I was really rooting for the then-upcoming Blu-Ray over the HD-DVD format. But since the PS3 had such troubles (seems like most of it was because of Blu-Ray) I've really began to wonder if they have the stuff to make this technology worth getting.


Now that both technologies have been out for awhile, I think that some other format should be invented that doesn't bother with DRM and other annoyances to blow both of these out of the water. Something that's just, like, a CD with a really large capacity. Mostly all I want is something to back up large amounts of data onto one disc.


There should be a "neither" option in the poll.

Sony's history should tell you to stay away at all costs! Market share in the end resides in the consumers hands, consumers being frugal in nature will opt for the cheaper of the two. Sony's storage capacity(50gigs) has not seen the stable light of day, they are having problems.

Storage is not going to win the wars since the average consumer will not be buying/using them at least not initially for that purpose, but well be buying it by way of movies and games, and also consider the movie rental community will have an impact as well and from what I've read they are leaning towards the more friendly HD-DVD.

As far as picture quality is concerned the average consumer couldn't tell the difference between the two unless a side-by-side was conducted and at this point 720P (1080i) being the highest stable output there is, there is no discernible difference. There are no broadcasts in 1080p.

Someone mentioned the console wars having a determining factor, to a degree this is correct but consider this, Xbox is offering an external HD-DVD drive which makes it more universal in its use, while Sony's version is an internal proprietary drive.

In the end all of you should be praying for HD-DVD, if for no other reason, there is the cost factor, you're going to be paying more for being told how and when to use Blue-ray, remember Sony's diabolical root kit fiasco? That alone should keep you away!

Blue-ray started off with problems because of all the controls they are trying to infuse.

Sony knows technology and they make damn good products but at a premium and if there are peripherals attached you pay for those as well, mem-sticks, etc. They don't like others playing in there sandbox and most, if not all, of there products are not compatible.

I pray to the tech gods for HD-DVD!!!

As for movies dual format player will be out soon so that wont be an issue. The whole disk battle will be short lived as downloads to DVR will take over within 5 years.

As a storage medium the same will hold true for the format.

One last thought, Sony has the worst marketing team on the planet.

So far good points have been made. I am still in the anti-sony camp for the reasons I specified and such DRM issues that have been discussed.

Let's look at this from another perspective, the TV market.

You can expect HDTV's to continue to drop and increase the adoption rate of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray and as the prices drop on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players, expect HDTV's to drop in price, but also to include 1080p. From what I have seen, most HDTV's are 1080i (if they support 1080 at all). Ok, it is nit picking but if I am going to buy a HDTV it is going to have HDMI + 1080p. I realize it is circular reasoning but the two go hand in hand and create a synergistic effect in the market. The point about competing standards bringing down prices quicker is likely to hold true, but I am not sure the market wants to deal with two formats long term.

In the end it comes down to 2 question:

Can Sony get their $hit in order and manufacture affordable players/discs?

Can the HD-DVD consortium get access to Sony's movie studio to release the movies on HD-DVD?

I'd like to deal with the hard drive point:

I agree that when you are speaking to a computer usage context, hard drives will likely be the way to go for a long time (probably still have a good 10-15 years left in them). However, as for distribution of HD content, i.e. movies, then I don't see them taking over. Simply put its cheaper to do for movies.

I would keep my eye on broadband services and HD content delivery. We see movies being streamed on demand, and as networking speed opens up I wouldn't be surprised to see some attempt at HD content on demand. It is an idea probably 5-7 years off, but something to watch.

I agree it is possible, but the networking demands are extraordinary, not to mention the attempt to match the convenience of a disc. Before you can get people to accept downloaded movies, you are going to need to match quality, provide it in a reasonable amount of time, and have a way to back it up. Hard drives fail randomly, discs degrade due not to use really, but poor handling. Just some things to ponder before we all jump on the deliverable content bandwagon

I concur. Last time I checked iPod's plug into Xbox 360's and work, but when was the last time you saw something non-sony plug into a sony item and work correctly? When was the last time Sony created something that didn't have something go wrong with it? How many delays has Sony had due to Blu-Ray with the PS3? How many PS3's can they make? How restrictive can Sony DRM get?

These are all valid question and most have discernible unfavorable answers. So why Blu-Ray in theory may be better, in typical Sony fashion, Sony has f***ed up the implementation.

Way to go Sony!

Take a lesson from Nintendo: Create something that works, not a trouble plagued revolution with poor software support.

Take a lesson from M$: Make products cross compatible

I don't think that most consumers realize that all HD-DVD movies are in 1080p(all the ones I own at least). Sony has beaten the Blu-Ray 1080p drum so much that I dont think people realize that both formats are 1080p. Toshibas first gen. player only output up to 1080i but the 360 does 1080p if your set will accept it through the vga or componant inputs(many sets only accept 1080p through the HDMI input), and the second gen. Toshiba's coming out any day will do 1080p.

My vote: HD-DVD

Reasons:1) Not as proprietary (a consortium is better than Sony)
2) More robust than the micro-thin protective layer on BR disks (to kryojenix: it isn't diamond, so a diamond will scratch it - the only question is how deeply)
3) Both are equal in terms of potential for storing HD movies in 1080p, so no benefit to either there. The fact that BR can store more on a single layer, while HD-DVD will come out with DL disks shortly (if they haven't already) means that both can store more than a 3 hr movie in full 1080p HD with HD surround sound. Anything else is just empty disk space or advertising
4) The lower cost of HD-DVD manufacture (while that difference lasts) will mean that for products competing on price, manufacturers will wholesale at lower costs to retailers. That means lower costs for me for those products if offered on both media formats.
5) The Sony digital content division will cripple the ability of the Sony electronics division to innovate competitive features by trying to enforce DRM that is beyond what is deemed acceptable by consumers.

Someone noted that this battle is more like DVD-A vs. SACD than Betamax vs. VHS. I agree, because (a) the physical formats are sufficiently similar that one player could conceivably play both, (b) the marketplace isn't yet quite sure why they need HD movie disks, when they think DVDs are "good enough", (c) there is already a tremendous number of DVDs in consumer libraries, which they won't necessarily want to upgrade for $30 each.

I think Sony Columbia should be charged under anti-trust if they refuse to manufacture their digital content on HD-DVD, but that's just my own gripe.

That is a perfectly informative post defanitly was worth reading.


@fire_zealot actualy 50 gigs is way to small and i think i saw a paper somewhere about it being able to hit 100gigs if not already had. considering i have 400 to 600 gigs of data to backup (i dont know with all the deleting) i could use the space.

600Gb? damn boy what do you have? I guess if I backed up everything like I should and actually downloaded my CD's to my hard drive instead of losing them I would have somewhere near that, but who knows.

All most all of the current HD-DVD releases have been on dual layer 30gig. disc. King Kong is just over 3 hours and it is on a dual layer. Sony just started releasing the dual layer 50gig. Blu-Ray disc. Click was the first movie to use it , but I think all of the movies are using it now. I'd been interested to see Superman returns on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray to see if their is any notable differences.