Would u get a hd-dvd now or later?

[runninkyle17]

Blu-ray is the superior technology; however, I have absolutely no respect for Sony and the HUGE chip they have on their shoulder. Currently HD-DVD is only 1080i, so that sucks. I will be waiting till they get this stupid thing figured out.

My bet is that HD-DVD will win because it is a cheaper technology and it also has gotten a huge head start. Blu-ray is a very promising technology and it would be great for mobile computer storage, but I just think Sony is not going to be competitive price wise.

It is going to be very difficult for companies to convince consumers to pay $30 or even $50 for a single movie when they can buy a DVD for around $10 and be perfectly happy with the quality.

I give the battle between the two formats 6 months before John Q Public even realizes that there are two competeing formats. Once that happens I think the clear winner will be the technology that is able to sell the cheapest.

Look at it this way, HD-DVD is brand new right now and the discs are expensive, blah, blah, blah. By the time the PS3 comes out and Blu-ray is officially released, HD-DVD's will have already gone through a price cut and only the educated Hi-Fi people will pick up on the Blu-ray thing because Blu-ray will be very expensive.

In the end, Sony is gonna have another Beta disaster and I will be laughing at them all the way to the store as I buy a PS3 !

 

[mtrycrafts]

Hmmm,would u get hd-dvd? or wait for the price drops lower on hd-dvd players?

While I will get one, it will not be soon. I will wait for one that plays both formats and $$ to drop. Unless I win a lottery. But, I just remembered, to win, you must buy tickets

 

[mfabien]

Receiving my HD-A1 next week (Launch date in Canada is May5)

After reading 3000 posts at AVS,

- Owners are very impressed with the HD image, as I was at a recent Toshiba demo at a Montreal Expo

- The new sound codecs are very nice, including the use of the 5.1 analog outputs.

- Upconverting qualities for SD DVD match the best Oppo Upconverters.

- Our DVD rental online service will rent HD DVD movies for the same price.

- My Harmony 880 already programmed and ready to operate the HD-A1.

- The 1080p HD DVD encoded data will be transmitted in 1080i to my 1080i display. (Most 1080p display sets available now cannot receive 1080p/24 fps data).

With picture and sound excellence plus a more affordable acquisition price, Toshiba's HD DVD is here to stay. Whether that means defeat for Sony's BR, not sure, but Sony will not kill HD DVD by a long shot.

HD DVD offers up to 30 Mbps bitrate for Video/Audio. The very best bitrate I monitored for an HD cable program was 18.267 Mbps (as good or better as OTA). Therefore, with a well calibrated Picture display for an HDTV, if one wishes to have the best picture there is, HD DVD is here... NOW.

 

[Electone]

May I ask why people want HD-DVD to win? Now dont consider me a Sony Fanboy... I already have the Toshiba HD-A1 and think it is awesome {just wish there was more flicks to watch now} but BluRay is the better technology so why are people routing for something inferior to win?

I mean blu-ray has more space, more studio backing, 1080p, etc etc... I guess people always choose the underdog.

My opinion is that Sony is a bully. They didn't support DVD when it was first developed, and then confused the hell out of everyone by creating the ultra-stupid DVD+ format. The logical progression of DVD should be HD-DVD. I don't care that Blue-ray has more storage. I'm also sure that the bugs in the current HD-DVD machines will be worked out and that they will be outputting 1080p in the next generation players. Name recognition is important. "DVD" means movies on disc. "Blue-ray" means nothing yet. Cost is also an issue. Average Joe will support HD-DVD if it is cheaper. The movie studios will back whoever they believe is selling more players. Actually, Average Joe will probably decide that SD-DVD is more than good enough and decide that both of these formats are not worth the cost of buying new equipment and replacing his entire movie collection again.

 

[mfabien]

...
Actually, Average Joe will probably decide that SD-DVD is more than good enough and decide that both of these formats are not worth the cost of buying new equipment and replacing his entire movie collection again.

No need to replace DVD collection with HD DVD player. In fact these movies look much better with the upconverting feature of HD DVD.

 

[Electone]

No need to replace DVD collection with HD DVD player. In fact these movies look much better with the upconverting feature of HD DVD.

Yes, but I'm sure the HD versions of the movies will still blow an upconverted SD-DVD away.

 

[mfabien]

Yes, but I'm sure the HD versions of the movies will still blow an upconverted SD-DVD away.

Depends on the quality of the production. One very good reported one, in Upconverted, is "Master and Commander".

If you like movies in your library, you will enjoy them better in the Upconverted format. Some say they will buy the HD DVD version of what they have in DVD. I really don't understand the logic of doing that. Keep good movies in DVD and move on to new movies in HD DVD.

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

Yes, but I'm sure the HD versions of the movies will still blow an upconverted SD-DVD away.

Should be easy to figure out, find somebody who owns both a HD DVD and its DVD counterpart and play both through the HD-A1 using their HDTV or FP. I'm sure somebody has has by now.

 

[JES14]

1 - The player prices to drop to < $200.
2 - A player that play both formats, Blu and HD.
3 - The HD movie selection to grow and sell at reasonable prices.

What he said.
Considering I will have have to upgrade my rec. to one with HDMI ver. 1.3 just to have "HD" sound, maybe not even then. Although I can see the PS3 landing here a year or so after release.

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

Im waiting until there is a selection to put in the damn thing. If I bought one now, it would only collect dust anyway because because of the lack of HD-content.

As soon as I can go to the store on any given tuesday, and pick any fresh new release of my choosing in a new format, I'll buy a player. My decision to upgrade rests solely on the selection of HD-media. I dont care what the players cost. If fact, I'd spend $1500 on a universal player that plays both formats, but I refuse to spend the exact same amount to buy both players.

 

[mpompey]

A couple of things need to happen before I buy either of the formats:

1.LOTR EE titles will need to be named to a format
2. Pixar titles will need to be named to a format
3. The Star Wars series needs to be named to a format
4. PRice of the player drops below $200 (dual format player depending on how the format war plays out)
5. Increase in the numer of titles available

 

[GlocksRock]

If the price is right, I'll end up getting the add on external HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360, but it will have to be cheap. Even then I'm sure I'll wait a bit to see how they hold up.

 

[HTHOLIC]

Waiting is hard but the best thing to do

I'll wait for ....

1 - The player prices to drop to < $200.
2 - A player that play both formats, Blu and HD.
3 - The HD movie selection to grow and sell at reasonable prices.

Until then regular DVD will do just fine.

Steve

Same Here, I hope native 1080p projectors fall in price. I wonder if its worth getting that new westinghouse 1080p tv, with a 720p projector and a carada screen. A lot of money, but Ill wait until 1080p becomes standard.

If the denon 3910 is $1,000- the first denon blu-rays will be a lot of money. Kudos though to toshiba pricing their model at an affordable $500, now only if we could get dts-hd rolling, and 1080p compatibvility standards worked out.,

 

[majorloser]

I'll wait till at least the second or third generation players come out. By then the format war should be over. I have a decent investment in standard def DVD's. Also, don't feel like buying a new 1080P projector any time in the near future.

 

[dburchet]

I will eventually end buying a next gen DVD player but only when the format war is over or someone comes out with a dual format player and more titles are available.

 

[fredejo]

i'm waiting, looks like its gonna be a long long wait till someone wins this one...

 

[Pyrrho]

I don't plan on ever buying HD-DVD. I expect that it will never catch on, and I don't want to be invested in the next failed format.

Right now, different studios have agreed to release on different formats, so if you want to be able to watch all movies in HD, you need both. And the owners of the formats are saying (the last I heard, anyway) that they will not licence a universal player to play both (which makes it unlike SACD and DVD-A, as "universal" players that play both are common, and therefore make it easier for the two formats to coexist). Well, I don't think the current situation can last. I think one of the following will happen:

1. One format will catch on fairly well, then all studios will release films in that format, as they all want to sell movies.
   
2. The owners of the formats will relent and licence universal players that can play both. In my opinion, this is the ONLY way both formats are going to be able to survive.

Most people are not going to be willing to buy two players so they can watch all movies. It just isn't going to happen. Also, I have not looked at the latest numbers, but there are still a lot of people who do not own HDTVs, and they obviously will not see any benefit to the new formats.

If I were to guess about what will happen, I would say 1 above. The format to win will be the one with the most films that are popular (regardless of which format is better in itself). If I were to guess right now, I would guess that Blu-Ray is going to win. But so many things can happen, I would not want to bet on it.

If 2 happens, then all of the current HD players will immediately become obsolete.

Given the financial advantages to owning THE way to put out HD discs, I don't think that a universal player is going to happen. If one of the players starts catching on in a big way, all the studios will jump on board the winning format. They do, after all, want to sell movies.

Unless you have a grand or two you don't need, I would advise waiting until there seems to be a clear winner. Not only would picking a losing format be costly, even picking a winner is costly, as prices for both hardware and software will likely drop soon. And, of course, there will likely be remastered, deluxe versions that come out later to replace the early releases of HD discs; they will probably get better at making them over time, just like they did with DVDs. Of course, if both formats flounder for a while, a new, better format may come out to replace them both.

 

[Pyrrho]

Remember, though HDDVD only has 3 studios, they are the biggest ones.

SheepStar

Take another look at that list. If it is accurate, Paramount and Warner Bros are planning on releasing in both formats. So there is only one studio's films you will miss if you go with a Blu-Ray player.

If the studios actually support the formats as claimed in that list, HD-DVD is sure to fail.