right here right now, which would you buy: BLU-RAY or HD-DVD player?

[SamW]

FYI: Image quality is basically the same

I got so tired of trying to make comparisons in stores where they never used the same TV, the same movie, etc., etc. No way to ever get an apples to apples comparison so I finally bought both an HD DVD (Toshiba) and a Blu Ray (Sony's 2nd gen).

I've spent countless hours comparing them on my 61' Samsung 1080p TV and I can't tell a difference. To tell you the truth I don't think you can see the difference between a 1080i image from an HDTV source versus a Blu Ray versus an HD DVD image. Course there is a HUGE difference between all of them and normal TV...but once you get into the HD category image differences are viturally not perceptible.

SO, the difference today if you had to choose one...is that Blu Ray has waaaay more available movie titles. Blockbuster in store rentals are also only doing Blu Ray now (though you can still get both HD DVD and Blu Ray online at both Blockbuster and Netflix).

Drives me nuts the studios can't produce all movies in both formats...or that the industry couldn't decide on a format.

 

[fmw]

I got so tired of trying to make comparisons in stores where they never used the same TV, the same movie, etc., etc. No way to ever get an apples to apples comparison so I finally bought both an HD DVD (Toshiba) and a Blu Ray (Sony's 2nd gen).

I've spent countless hours comparing them on my 61' Samsung 1080p TV and I can't tell a difference. To tell you the truth I don't think you can see the difference between a 1080i image from an HDTV source versus a Blu Ray versus an HD DVD image. Course there is a HUGE difference between all of them and normal TV...but once you get into the HD category image differences are viturally not perceptible.

SO, the difference today if you had to choose one...is that Blu Ray has waaaay more available movie titles. Blockbuster in store rentals are also only doing Blu Ray now (though you can still get both HD DVD and Blu Ray online at both Blockbuster and Netflix).

Drives me nuts the studios can't produce all movies in both formats...or that the industry couldn't decide on a format.

I'll second that. I have both formats as well and the picture quality is the same on both - HD or upscaled SD discs. My HD-DVD is the 1080i model but my signal chain de-interlaces things anyway so it is pretty difficult to image how there could be a difference. People who want to make one out to be better than the other are doing what audiophiles do and that is engage in flights of fancy and emotional preference. I also agree that, if there is survivor in the format war, it will be Blu-Ray. There might not be a survivor at all, however.

 

[ParkerAudio]

Price Wins

Have both, PS3, A2, can't tell a difference in the picture quality, or sound quality. If you would have asked me early in the year which format would win out, I would have said Bluray, now I believe there will either be a dual format player or HD DVD will win due to the entry level price. Price wins in America, that has been proven time and time again. Quality is at the bottom of the list. Paramount shifted to HD DVD after the price drop.
HD DVD, an A2, can now be had for $217 at Amazon, what is the nearest Bluray model $420 or something like that. You can quote all the stats you want on the Bluray model, 1080p, HDMI 1.3, whatever, people won't care.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

You forgot to include the "neither one" option. I am perfectly happy with standard DVD, and have no intention of upgrading.

 

[supervij]

I'll second Joe's sentiments. Standard DVDs upconverted on my Oppo look stellar. I'll start considering which to buy early '09 at the earliest. Oppo said they have no plans for a combo hi-def player any time soon, so my interest in still pretty small.

An interesting sidebar . . . one of the reviewers on DVDFile.com took a look at all his reviews for HD DVDs and for Blu-rays, and he found that his "video quality" scores were, on average, higher for Blu-ray movies than for HD DVD ones. He also found that his scores went up for Blu-ray over time, while it was the opposite for HD DVD. Maybe Blu-ray is really ramping up its video quality on its later titles. Something to keep in mind, perhaps . . . ?

cheers,
supervij

 

[evilkat]

Are load times/start times on HD/BD players still pretty slow?