 
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
|
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
192.91.173.42
This came out "officially" today but there were rumors about it late yesterday.
The other forums are treating this as big news (or at least some of Blu-Ray fan boys). At least big enough news to initiate lively discussions. I treat this as bad news for HD-DVD, but not necessarily good news for Blu-ray. Time will tell.
Now let's see if other B&M stores start to defect from the HD-DVD bandwagon....
Follow Ups:
(refer to link, below) As I write this, Planet Earth on HD DVD still holds Amazon's #4 position. The top-selling B-D is also Planet Earth, at #10. This relative ranking has remained more or less unchanged for weeks. And even if we subtract reviews from folks who obviously made a mistake in thinking HD DVD was playable in a DVD player, there are still more customer reviews of the HD DVD.
Unfortunately, other titles in both B-D and HD DVD have tended to drop off the charts quickly eg Pirates, Casino Royale, Matrix et al.
And though I initially dismissed it as rumor, it does appear to me that Costco (in my area anyhow) is favoring HD DVD: They sell both formats online, but in the stores, only HD DVD.
But overall, I don't think success is guaranteed for either format just yet. Buy and enjoy either format (or both) NOW, because if these flop, it may be awhile before another true high-def alternative reaches the market. And if your chosen format(s) flop, you still have a fine upscaling DVD player and, in the case of the Playstation 3, a game console (albeit one still waiting for it's killer game)
Its not all of their B&M stores, its 85% apparently. They still will do HD DVD for online rentals. Despite the blu-boys messing themselves up over this, its really not that big of a deal.
Jack
Not good publicity for HD DVD, I'm not sure it's that good for Blu-Ray.
J6P is going to walk into a Blockbuster (BB1), notice the Blu-Ray stuff and not see any HD-DVD stuff. He start thinking Blu-Ray is winning or HD-DVD is already dead, or becomes curious about Blu-Ray enough to check it out Best Buy (the other BB2). It may not be a fatal cut, but it just might be a significant part of death of a thousand cuts for HD-DVD.
I think 1500 stores will represent 85% of the BB1s with HD video, not 85% of all BB1s, not even close). And HD rentals probable represent less than 1% of all rentals.
has both, side by side, with equal rack space, which is still nothing compared to their SD selection.
My hope is that more dual format players will make it all a non-issue for the consumer.
Both HD DVD and Blu Ray. Time will tell. They began getting these on June 1st. Hope locations tell their customers they need a special player and don't just let them walk out of the store with something they cannot play!!
.
Actually with $30 HD discs, it might actually make more sense to rent than to buy, Can't say the same about $10-15 DVDs
-------------"I have found that if you love life, life will love you back." -Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982)
-------------"I have found that if you love life, life will love you back." -Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982)
As I stated below, I have no dog in this hunt, but I'd rather purchase a universal player or a cheap HD player and buy the movies I want than purchase the theoretical front-runner technology with more data space that is ALSO 1) more expensive, 2) fraught with QC issues, 3) robustly region locked, and 4) doles out fewer desired titles than the competition.
AuPh
> As I stated below, I have no dog in this hunt, but I'd rather purchase a universal player or a cheap HD player and buy the movies I want than purchase the theoretical front-runner technology with more data space that is ALSO
> 1) more expensive,
for now, but what's $100-200 for an "early adopter" ?
> 2) fraught with QC issues,
Early Blu-Ray releases might have had PQ issue and early firmware issues because the standards are still evolving: but the software releases are hitting their stride with the release of high bit rate AVC encodes with lossless audio tracks on dual layer discs. Arguably exceeding the PQ of anything currently on HD-DVD. In contrast, check out the grumbling about half-baked PQ from current Universal releases. Granted these are older catalog releases but still they probably could have put more TLC into the getting the possible PQ (and they need the PQ to be far better than the DVD versions because of the price premium and doubledipping).
Most of the hardware/firmware issues have been ironed out except for the advanced features which haven't made it into the hardware (e.g. DTS HD MA decoding, the java crap I'm not interested in, etc). If I didn't already have a 720p display, I would have held out until the hardware/firmware was more mature.
> 3) robustly region locked,
I agree with you here but for me that would be concerning UK releases I might be interested in but which likely won't be available for years anyway.
> 4) and doles out fewer desired titles than the competition.
that's a matter of taste. There are very few HD-DVDs on my Gottahave list including "Matrix"; but I'm holding out for the Blu-Ray version later this year. I have "King Kong" and "Serenity" but both could have been better; maybe when they re-release on Blu-ray, I'll get versions with lossless audio and even better PQ (particularly with "Serenity") :o)
Oh yeah, I expect size to matter when/if the "Lord of the Rings" trilogies become available. E.g. it might mean the difference between a single Blu-ray disc or two (2) HD-DVD 30G disks to hold the movies.
Both Pirates movies on BD are 2 disc sets, so the whole space argument is kind of moot. Studios like multidisc sets, even if they can fit things on 1 disc, since they can charge quite a bit more for it.
As for region coding, I have 4 or 5 HD DVDs imported from Europe that aren't available in the US, thanks to no region coding. I expect to get more in the future.
Jack
You are right, POTC does come with 2 discs. I had to re-check since I vaguely recalled playing only one (1) disc to watch the movie. The 2nd disc is bonus material stuff I haven't gotten around to watching. Some people might actually like the idea of watching a movie without interruptions (e.g. flipping over to a 2nd disc).
Yeah, I've noticed some folks buying discs overseas. But is it because Blu-Ray-challenged HD-DVD folks are having to look overseas for movies already available on Blu-Ray in the USA ? :0)
I'm sure there will be examples of Region coding hacking me off but I suspect that's a few years away with HD media.
> > > Some people might actually like the idea of watching a movie without interruptions (e.g. flipping over to a 2nd disc). < < <
I don't really see that happening, despite the blu-boys' rants.
Jack
OTOH "Lord of the Rings" is not out on Blu-Ray (yet.....).
Hmm...haven't see it on HD-DVD yet either. Of course, the use of really low bitrate encodes for longer movies can save space (just ignore the extra motion artifacts....)
... standard Blu-ray has 25 GB available space (50 GB on dual layer) as opposed to HD-DVD's 15 GB (30 GB on dual layer). From a technical standpoint that should make Blu-Ray superior, but when assessing whether the length of a movie might require a second disc that's still up in the air. It wouldn't surprise me if the MPEG-4 AVC codec makes the available space issue a moot point. Note: Currently MPEG-2 is still employed for high definition video releases, but both HD & BR have MPEG-4 codec specification mandated.
Blu-ray is currently more expensive and just as slow loading as HD; that's one reason I'm holding off until the 3rd generation players arrive this fall. By the holiday season I intend to be feeding our 1080P Sammy HD and (hopefully) Blu-ray movies (I've already ordered some HD movies because, subjectively speaking, there are too few Blu-ray titles of interest currently available).
Like you say, the standards are still evolving, which is another reason I've opted for a 3rd generation player. By that time all or most of the bugs will have been worked out, format functions standardized and prices stabilized. Also, it will be much clearer which format has the best promise for movies and I can decide with greater confidence whether to go with an all-format player or buy a cheaper separate. For me, the region lock-out issue isn't a deal breaker, but it's pretty darn close. I like my BBC based programming too much (concerts, dramas, etc.), to be precluded from obtaining the better Brit fare in higher definition when it becomes available.
Finally, quality issues between the two formats appear to be a draw for now even with the GB differences. Quality-wise, the comparisons of films transfered to both HD & BR have varied little in most cases, but who knows what the future will hold. The LoTR Trilogy (Dir. cut) is certainly high on my list of MUST haves in a highest definition format possible, but so is John Carpenter's The Thing, Forbidden Planet, Pitch Black, Starship Troopers, Matrix (the 1st one), Alien & Aliens, The Abyss and all of the Harry Potter films. Some of these are already available on HD and LoTR is supposedly in the pipe, but few if any on Blu-ray, ...but Blu-ray does sport the Durabis scratch-resistant coating! ;0)
Cheers,
AuPh
... for both formats.
I have a totally different take on this, and I don't see any reason for nervousness among early adopters of either format. First of all, Blockbuster no longer drives the software rental market like they once did in the hey-day of over the counter rental (first on VHS; then DVD). A lot of the current market share has been taken up by Net-flix (mail order) and PPV (especially for HD delivery of recently released movies), not that Blockbuster has opted out of these newer delivery systems.
As the two formats compete it's becoming apparent that both are going to make *some* progress due to lowering prices and the onset of dual format players. Blockbuster is relying on the fact that Blu-ray is the format favored by most sudios because it offers more vigorous copy protections and dedicated region coding as part of it's codec, but I suspect the primary reason for Blockbuster's enthusiastic support of Blu-ray is the Durabis coating which provides greater scratch resistance.
OTOH, long term it wouldn't surprise me if Blockbuster hedges their bets because it's far from clear that SONY can meet quality expectations and lowered costs while supplying sufficient product.
FTR, I don't care which format prevails because I plan on buying a dual format player and buying my favorite movies whether they're issued on Blu-ray or HD. My own personal preference is for the best of both worlds: 1080P capable software medium which is 1) inexpensive, 2) NOT region restricted, and 3) durable [scratch-resistant]. Other than that both camps can roll around in the mud as long as they like. :o)
AuPh
I suspect a lot of people are sitting the format war out until there is a clear winner. Which means HD video will continue to stagnate until one side wins. Blockbuster may be attempting to help pick the winning side more quickly so that their business base can start to thrive on HD video as the DVD rental market starts to dry up. The quicker one format can thrive, the better the chances of it competing with SD-DVD and/or surviving the HDVOD onslaught in the coming years.
Yeah, I'm not too happy with Blu-Ray concerning Region coding and DRM, but I'd rather have Blu-Rays's better technical specs for movie watching. There's quite a bit of subjective, anecdotal evidence that low bit rate video codecs can suffer if the TLC by the compressionist ain't up to snuff. Or even that high bit rate encodes on 50G discs are already better than anything possible with 30G discs. Still, that's all subjective, but when you've got the supersized screen, you want the best possible PQ from the source and I'm far from convinced HD DVD can give me that with 1080p. [BTW, I put your screen in the "supersized" category :0)]
| FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
