Hybrid Blu-Ray/HD-DVD/CD?

[captain_tinker]

Folks,
Just found this article on Reuters.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2006-09-19T183927Z_01_L1944792_RTRUKOC_0_US-DISC-INVENTION.xml

It seems to be an interesting idea that claims to bridge the gap between the two competing HD media formats. I am not sure if this is really a good answer to the problem, but it seems that someone at least thought that having more than one format was a dumb idea.

"From the standpoint of a manufacturer, it is disadvantageous to have to manufacture and distribute three different types of disc formats to satisfy consumer demand for one product -- such as a motion picture," the inventors said in their patent application"

What do you guys think? In my opinion, I am not really waiting with bated breath for either format to win out. I like my SD DVD's thanks. I still have not been all that impressed with HD. I went to a friends home the other day to see their new Samsung 50" plasma, and watched some HD material on it, and even at 8 to 10 ft away, it still looks pixelated to me. I still don't like HD much for video. For me HD-Audio excites me a whole lot more.

-capT

 

[Hi Ho]

I went to a friends home the other day to see their new Samsung 50" plasma, and watched some HD material on it, and even at 8 to 10 ft away, it still looks pixelated to me. I still don't like HD much for video. For me HD-Audio excites me a whole lot more.

You need to get out and see HD-DVD properly connected to an HD dislay. Because of bandwidth restrictions, HD cable stations don't always look so great. HD-DVD looks better than anything I've ever seen on broadcast HD.

You say you're interested in HD audio. Both formats have this. I would rather one format won and stuck around, that format being HD-DVD.

 

[captain_tinker]

By HD Audio, I meant DVD-A and SACD. But yeah, the idea of the new kinds of audio on the HD DVD and Blu-ray discs do sound appealing too. I have seen blu-ray set up properly, and yes, it was quite clear and very very big! But I just was not impressed with it even then as much as I am with the sound that comes from it.
The movie I was watching was Ultraviolet, on a huge plasma screen. I don't remember the size of it, but they told me it was the largest one on the market at that time, about a month or so ago. It was indeed larger than 50 inches I am pretty sure. I think the blu-ray player was either a samsung or a pioneer, but I think it was samsung. They had it all hooked up to their Martin Logan wall mounted speakers, and turned it way up. Oh My Goodness what a thrill with the way it sounded, I about died and went to heaven! Oh and the picture was nice too.

-capT

 

[Hi Ho]

I have seen blu-ray set up properly, and yes, it was quite clear and very very big! But I just was not impressed with it even then as much as I am with the sound that comes from it.

I wasn't impressed with Blu-Ray video either. HD-DVD titles look significanly better than virtually all Blu-Ray titles. This is because Blu-Ray is stuck with MPEG-2 and is battling disc capacity while HD-DVD is using MPEG-4.