# Congrats: HD DVD and BD share the same forum- and no fights.



## gsmollin (Apr 25, 2006)

I spend most of my "forum-time" over at AVS, probably because of the life-in-the-fast-lane-big-city atmosphere. However, AVS is a hard place to be comfortable. There are thousands of flame-wars over there, raging like a California wild fire, at any one time. Some of the worst are in the HD and BD forums. It had gotten so bad that AVS management shut down the forums and re-opened with a large set of restrictions on discussing the formats. Personally, I think the large amount of industry presence has been contributing to the problems. It had reached the point where many of the problem-solving posts had become frustrated, because the problems were not real- they had been posted by "shill(s)" who's hidden agenda was to show that the HD/BD format in question was no good, and couldn't be fixed. This quickly led to attacks on those posters by other forum members, who were detecting the mis-information tactics. Imagine being a newbie, and venturing into that cess-pool.

Yet here at the Shack, you have BD and HD co-exisiting in peace. It is amazing how different the atmosphere is here. Without draconian restraints by the moderators, you have achived grace. Congratulations, and keep up the good work. Never forget that adoption of HD by the populace at large is the real goal of the early adopter. If we are bickering over which favorite format will win, they may both lose. I believe that HD and BD will both win, if we all encourage those interested in the formats.


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## wbassett (Feb 8, 2007)

I agree that The Shack is a very unique place.

One thing that helps is the rules are spelled out very clear, and the moderators take care of things before they become a problem like seen at other places. Pretty much people know how to act here and respect the rules.

As far as format, I have both but it really comes down to what type of movies you like. Each format has it's own niche, and the rest of the movies are on both formats. I personally like a lot of the older epic style movies and am not really concerned with seeing the latest comedy in High Def. 

I think we run into this in all walks of life though and not just forums. I've seen guys argue over which car was better, a Mustang or a Camaro, or even more humorous to me, the argument between a Z28 and a Trans Am! Pretty much in my opinion I think people have certain tastes and also when they spend money on something they really want to believe it's the best there is. Sometimes a few people cross the line and get personal about things, and if you really step back and look at it, it is a very silly thing to get worked up over.

One thing I never fully understood is why Sony isn't underfire for trying to create a monopoly. I say that because not only are they pushing a format, but they own studios and distribution rights. I'm not bashing Bluray by any means by saying that, like I said, I have a BD player myself. 

Both formats are excellent. It does depend on the transfer though but I personally don't see any difference in PQ between a top notch HD DVD and a top notch Bluray disc. I also have some of each format that don't look any better than the SDVD upconverted. So the High Def format war still has a ways to go before it totally displaces SDVD, but we are starting to see 'budget' players and movies under $20. 

I know of three people now that bought a second high def player for their bedroom. The next thing needed is for one format to make a dramatic drop in disc prices and that could seal the deal for many. Once players are priced to where a person does an 'impulse buy', or people start buying multiple players for other rooms in their house, the studios will ultimately follow that format, whether it be HD DVD or BD. Right now though, it is undeniable that HD DVD has the upper hand. I expect to see Sony come out with something big though in the next few weeks... that's the way this 'war' has been going if anyone has really been watching it. Toshiba makes a big announcement and rides the wave, and then it's Sony's turn for a few weeks. Which format is 'winning' all depends on what wave is the highest at the time. It's more like a battle front constantly changing ground.

At least movie prices are coming down for both formats!


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## thxgoon (Feb 23, 2007)

Ya and with the recent aggressive pricing on Toshiba players I think this holiday season will be huge for both formants! Personally I'm under the impression that there will never be a clear winner in this war. Future technologies like VOD or flash are hot on the heals of HD disc formats. Not to mention companies like LG making players for both formats. Just my .02c


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

I think that most people understand the basic differences between the two formats and so far both have picture quality that is the same and in the end its the price I think that will decide this war. Its a Batamax vs VHS format war all over again.
Personally I like the Blu-Ray format slightly better simply because of the storage size available but the HD format looks very good and as I just got my HD player for $100 That cant be beat.


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## thewire (Jun 28, 2007)

Are the HD-DVD movies available over the internet being discussed about at AVS that are Sony Pictures pirated versions of the movies? Why is a German version available in HD-DVD format and not in america? Does that mean they get releases sooner than we do sometimes? Why do people order those from overseas when they are available on Blu-Ray? Wouldn't it make more since to just buy the Blu-Ray player than to pay the extra cost of shipping overseas?


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## thewire (Jun 28, 2007)

Are there certain rules that are unspoken or any tips on good manners?


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## bobgpsr (Apr 20, 2006)

thewire said:


> Are the HD-DVD movies available over the internet being discussed about at AVS that are Sony Pictures pirated versions of the movies? Why is a German version available in HD-DVD format and not in america? Does that mean they get releases sooner than we do sometimes? Why do people order those from overseas when they are available on Blu-Ray? Wouldn't it make more since to just buy the Blu-Ray player than to pay the extra cost of shipping overseas?


There are ripped(pirated) titles from both Blu-ray and HD DVD available on the *torrents. Sad really to already see piracy, but neither new hi def optical format is thoroughly protected. Good news for those who want to have a Media Center (Fair Use with PC hard disk drive storage for on-demand viewing). Reports are that SlySoft has BD+ defeated in house.

Movie title DVD distribution rights are often granted to different companies in different countrys. Nothing pirated about that. 

Well, people order HD DVD versions of some titles from overseas (or imported by XploitedCinema which is based in the US) just so they can get a title that is otherwise only available on Blu-ray in the US. They may not want to buy a PS3 or spend ~$450 for a BD player. No region coding for HD DVD. I got Total Recall on HD DVD from XploitedCinema. I have multiple HD DVD players in my house and extended family. Will wait a lot longer before building up a BD collection. We will see how the format war goes. IMO might take another year or so to really know.

So I picked a particular new hi def optical format and am enjoying hi def from it at this moment in time. Willing to suffer the loss (limited to rent & upconvert SD DVD versions of BD titles) of the other format for now. Life goes on.


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## gsmollin (Apr 25, 2006)

I might also add that I _like_ the "format war". The brutal competition has given BD players in game consoles with Sony subsidizing $100s of dollars on each console, and it has also given $100 HD players. Without the competition, players would still be $1000.

What I wish for is the studios to get busy and lower HD/BD disk prices. That move would spark the HD/BD format's acceptance. But no, Hollywood plays their greedy games. I wonder if Hollywood wants HD/BD formats to become successful. That would tend to displace the importance of the theater distribution channels, which are a large part of the Hollywood establishment.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

I was just in a Music store last night and speaking with the sales person allot of people (one or two a day at just that store) buy the HD or Blu-Ray DVDs without even realizing that they must have a HD/Blue-Ray player at home and return them complaining that they "don't work"
It seems they think that any DVD player will play the discs giving them better picture.
The industry is not promoting HD properly and this also could be holding back some people from investing in them.
I have a cousin who thinks that an upconverting DVD player is HD and there is no need to buy a true HD/Blu-Ray player and he wont listen to me.


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## wbassett (Feb 8, 2007)

thxgoon said:


> Ya and with the recent aggressive pricing on Toshiba players I think this holiday season will be huge for both formants! Personally I'm under the impression that there will never be a clear winner in this war. Future technologies like VOD or flash are hot on the heals of HD disc formats. Not to mention companies like LG making players for both formats. Just my .02c


I think I may have an interesting perspective on VOD.

We dropped cable, satellite, all broadcast television back in November of 2004. Our main reason was poor programming, constant service outages (the area in PA we lived in had the worse cable service we've ever had), and the never ending commercials! When I moved back to NY, I was hoping to go back to Road Runner over Verizon DSL but alas it was the same cable company as in PA!

Time Warner recently bought that company and took over, so now we have Road Runner and Time Warner. (I need high speed internet for work reasons). Anyway, with Road Runner came cable, and we decided why not do it all! 

VOD and the HD DVR- I must say at this time I am not very impressed with VOD. Granted it very well may be the service in the area I'm in, but the VOD service is down a lot, and worse, I called up a movie and 3/4 of the way through watching it the service went down! So to me VOD isn't quite ready for prime time yet.

The DVR setup is pretty cool, and HD movies look good, but to me the sound isn't the same as the HD DVD or BD version when I watch them. I also filled my DVR drive so fast it wasn't funny! I probably will be adding an external eSATA drive to it soon.

One thing you mentioned though, Flash... Flash drives and memory cards are getting bigger and bigger and the price is getting lower all the time. I've had some fun discussions and I can see media cards being something coming in the future. No moving parts to wear out, and HD movies on something the size of a credit card or smaller. That would be very cool, but sadly I think VOD and PPV or subscription type downloads with key coded players are probably the way things will ultimately go, and quality will suffer. Sure it will look great, better than standard definition now, but like mp3 players and audio, I expect video and HD to be slightly inferior to either HD DVD or Bluray. I could be wrong, and hope I am.


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## khellandros66 (Jun 7, 2006)

:cunning:

I bet I could stir it up here LOL 

No really this place is quite a bit more sophisticated then what goes on there.

~Bobby


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## thxgoon (Feb 23, 2007)

wbassett said:


> One thing you mentioned though, Flash... Flash drives and memory cards are getting bigger and bigger and the price is getting lower all the time.


Ya, the neat thing about flash is that you could essentially buy one card and take it to a kiosk and have a movie loaded onto it then take that home to your player. It's a concept that's always had some talk but I don't know of any companies actually moving forward on it. Another competitor that hasn't been mentioned is the HTPC. You can already download standard DVD quality online, how much longer until the high def formats are downloadable I wonder? Also, it won't be too hard in the future to install an HDDVD drive and a Blue Ray drive and play both formats. To me I just can't believe how silly this whole thing really is. With HDMI problems and now 3 dvd disc formats to confuse people.... good grief!


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