The Successor to the DVD Is?

I am pro blue ray. I use computer a lot. I want a technology that can grow. I need more storage.

I've heard that the Blue-Ray players will "self-destruct" (BlueRay = BlueDeathRay) if they play a non-authorized disc. I would never buy a player that threatened to self destruct. Also, the players need to be on a network, so that they can get "authorization" from some central repository before they will play the media. I don't want my viewing choices tracked, or submitted to another party. However, I want to write my own disks as I need lots of storage.

My main focus is Home Entertainment, so I'm leaning towards HD-DVD, but if we get to the same price-level as current DVD-players I wouldn't balk at buying two players. On the other hand, I'm sure somebody will follow-up on what Sony did for the combination of the -/+R(W) into one drive. Wheter or not that is possible soley depends on the willingness or consumers to express interest in the next-gen discs. If consumer are waiting until the battle has been fought, it is unlikely that the willingness will be there on the manufacuters-side. Classic chicken-egg story...

I really like the blue ray technology and the storage capacity it can hold. But how practical is the blue ray in terms of manufacturing(cost) and compatibility. I would like to see blue ray being the standard, but I see HD-DVD coming out on top.

Did you all read the technical specs of both disc?

This is a really simple question....

HD-DVD sucks for many good reason
and
Blue-Ray is far more good

Thats all ;)

In response to Paul William's comment/concern:

I'm nto a member of either party, just someone who's been reading up on all this. BluRay does not "self-destruct" on a non-autorized disc. That would be bad business, and they know it. Plus, it's simply an absrud notion. True, non-authorized discs won't play, but that's a far cry from exploding players. Also, HD-DVD will have a similar protection scheme in place.

As far as the networking for authorization, I don't see how they could successfully implement that.

I don't have much of a preference between the two formats, but I WILL NOT buy either until a standard has emerged.

I think that the Ougssi should just move out of town. The Addioc tribe is the superior in this type of land. If the Ougssi don't leave then the Addioc could pull on their allies from the land of Uhjis who are superior to the Ougssi. But the Addioc should make shure that they keep their eye on the Uhjis because they might want the land for themselves. The history of the Uhjis shows that they ally with others that they are superior to and then when that tribe gets into trouble they are there to help them out but at a cost of some of the land.

There's still loads of life left in DVD yet. What with MPEG 4 and that. You can have a high def movie fit onto a normal DVD without any noticable loss in quality. It will be a few years yet before they settle on a format. I can see both formats sticking around as their respective manufacturers have enough muscle to push them and the emergence of dual format players. But until the dust settles (which will be a few years down the line yet.) I won't be buying one.

The concerns of the movie industry are irrelevant. I want a new DVD format for archiving data and saving shelf space. Therefore I don't care which standard becomes dominant, but I won't buy either until one of them does.

I've always been mystified why regular DVD burners (the kind that burn 'real' DVDs, not those recordable DVD-R discs) aren't available. I'd buy one of those now.

Alex M,

'real' DVDs are pressed, not burned. you have to press several (hundred) DVDs at once to make it cost-effective. doesn't save shelf space.

I am joining the "conservative crowd" and waiting for an industry standard. I agree with Alex M, I am into mass storage capacity for data. I am a computer person, that is why I read PC Magazine and not "Star" magazine. I own an HDTV and love it, but I don't see any huge picture quality advantage over what I see on my HDTV when I play a standard DVD movie.

I'll buy whatever product or format that will play Netflix discs.

I am with the Blue-Ray.
For the enormous space it offers... I can keep my shelves clean with few discs. And would like to have more features.
And price? Does it really matter if you get a single blue-ray for the price of 10 DVDs but with just as much space? I don't think price really concerns.

Blue Ray = 50 GB
HD DVD = 30 GB
From a purely size standpoint, Blue Ray is far superior in my mind. The other capabilities of each brand will be comparable in the end. Knowing how easy it is to fill up 50 GB, I don't want use more disks than I need to. Even if the disks cost 80% more, it's worth it, imho.

This is just plain stupid! Both sides should understand that consumers want one product, Why wait for the dollars to decide like with the VHS/ Beta. Is a repeat of history really necessary for greedy, rock head management to get the point?
Personally, I like the greater size of the Blue Ray, That's it!
I lean more towards HD-DVD cause I like the prospect of the HD-DVD being an easier move for the manufacturers. It means cheaper products, which is a big plus in my book. 20GB's is a pretty good amount of space, but if it's a difference of a few hundred in price, I can live without it. Something else will be coming down the pipe.

When playing purchased HD movies though, either one sounds just as good.

I'm usually a pretty early adopter of new technology that looks like it will be mainstream, I'm not going to plump down 600+ this time around, like I did with my first DVD player. I'll wait it out. If there is a war, I can live a couple of extra years with out HD DVD's until a winner is determined (hopefully!)

Look at the names of the companies that have lined-up behind each technology. Behind BluRay are most of the heavy hitters in the PC industry, Sony for game consoles, and most of the big movie & music content providers.

On the other side you have HD-DVD with a few significant companies, but they do not sell anywhere near as many DVD drives as Sony, HP, Dell, etc.

HD-DVD may get an early lead in this race, but once this race really gets going, it will be over within a year and BluRay will be the clear winner.

I have an HDTV but my primary video source is network television. Most of the time I'll watch a prime time program on an HD channel if possible. There is a significant difference in video and audio quality. While I do watch movies on DVD, I don't watch them over and over again until I am sick of the movie. I've owned LaserDiscs and learned that while I owned the movie, I very rarely watch it every week like series TV. For 22-24 weeks, I can watch a fresh episode of a show.

I do own DVDs but it has to be something I really like before I buy it. I don't intend to buy into another format (such as RCA's needlevision and Pioneers LaserDisc) to wind up with another pile of worthless plastic, aluminum or whatever.

I think there should be a stronger movement to get every channel to HD sooner than the current FCC deadline. Movies are a great way to pass a couple of hours but how many times do you want to see Leonardo screaming "I'm king of the world"?

Sorry, I like the Blu-ray format but I'm not buying into either format unless it is the only format.

Blue-ray for sure, it's much better and much more capient (fundamental for high definition low compression movie and music)

furthermore if the playstation3 sell as the playstation2 there will be no contest of format

and one will have more than one reason to buy a ps3 (movie, music, games... :)

mrrd...some of us RENT movies...

READ: NETFLIX

However, I usually spend my time watching auto racing....

Blu-Ray will win. The PS3 will probably release at or near $299 (the XBox 360 price), so there will be a reasonably priced (actually it would be underpriced) player within the year.

I'd prefer the superior technology of Blue-Ray and anyone else in the technology field will as well. It's not like the manufacturers are going to pass on the savings of HD-DVD to me anyway.

Besides if they stop including all the extraneous crap that isn't worth watching on DVDs, they could easily put things on in HD quality.

forget blue-ray or hd-dvd......just get fios (ie fiber to the house) and get video on demand with hd quality no disks to break, store, buy.....my 2 cents

sooner or later this will be the trend as with music so will movies....you see it coming to if your smart

I am old enough to have been burned on the VHS / Beta format wars and I have been on the bleeding edge of technology for long enough. I'll buy nothing until a standard exists.

I'll admit that Blue-Ray comes out on top with its superior capacity and newer technology, but HD-DVD is cheaper and almost as good as Blue-Ray. Customers will want to buy the cheaper format, and companies won't have to spend money on a whole new disc system. HD-DVD is the cost-effective choice.

Also, it doen't need an internet connection, and the player won't become useless if an un-authorized disc is played.

I still own and use a Beta VCR. I doesn.t pay to get stuck with an obsolete technology. Of course I have two VHS!
It looks to me that HD-DVD had an advantage over Blu-Ray because it transitions from existing DVD technology and should be cheaper to mass produce. The consumer benefits from that. Sony is a lot like Apple, it always wants to go its own way (monopoly) which is not good for the consumer. Don't you think 30GB is plenty of storage for you? In a few years it will be TB's.

Both formats will die... just look at SACD or DVD audio, the DVD format is here to stay for many, many years. Also the disks/films will cost a fortune, those film companies will want to make up for lost profits from DVD copying and will once again make the mistake of thinking that consumers will just buy it because it`s the lastest tech. We have all been burned to many times in the past.... yes I remember the VHS/Beta war as well. That time the worse format won (VHS) and the better beta format was taken on by the professtionals ( ie. TV stations etc... ).

When you read the specs, it is quite plain to see that Blu-Ray is by far the "better" format. Most of the postings I've read here agree with me too. This makes sense because it was engineered to be a superior format from the beginning, whereas HD-DVD was built trying to make use of current media production equipment.

If both formats are released, there will be lots of people who simply won't buy until one emerges on top. I'm really hoping that it's Blu-Ray. If I have to fork over cash for a new player/discs, I don't want to be paying for HD-DVD which is in my opinion, a second-class standard. HD-DVD manufacturers would not pass along savings anyway, they'd just be making a higher percentage of profit.

The new xbox 360 will be supporting HD-DVD. Just wanted to throw that out there.

I see this war including the Console War too since the first mass marketing of these 2 formats are essencially the PS3 (Blu-ray) and the Xbox 360 (HD-DVD). Which ever wins the consumers interest will lead to a winning format.

Been an engineer too long. Technology is changing too fast and the cost and risk of early adoption is richer than my blood. I'll wait for the Blue-Ray HD-DVD combo decks and $0.50 bulk disks. Someone else can pay for the new technology and work out the bugs!

I think looking at all the posts and from the research I've done on the subject we're all in agreeance - Blu-Ray is better but will cost more.

Stop to think about that for a second.

Initially - yes, I agree, but CD-R media used to cost $14 EACH when I bought my first $830 Kodak burner.

Yes, Blu-Ray manufacturers will charge more initially per disk to cover the cost of the new equipment, but even if both formats lived on equally for 2 years let's say, I bet they will both cost the same by then.

Seriously - are we, as consumers, going to push BETA (Blu-Ray) down the drain again and go with the marketed, cheaper VHS (HD-DVD), and then cry and whinge like babies years later?

WE MAKE THE DECISIONS with our dollars. Not the suppliers.

WE CAN MAKE BLU-RAY OUR format of choice.

Stop letting the manufacturers and marketers rule our life.

The format most computer compatible, and cost effective will win.... Period. Since Microsoft has sided with HD-DVD, it's a no brainer. Sure it would be nice to have the capacity offered by Blu-Ray, but no one in their right mind wants Sony's propretary formats, watermarks, and meddling. Unfortunately Sony has boxed themselves into a corner again. They made this very clear recently when Sony's president announced the PS3 would be too expensive for the average family.... Duh, just who do they think is going to buy them? Both the Xbox 360, and the HD-DVD formats will own the market by the time the over-engineered, and over-priced Blu-Ray and PS3 hit the stores.

Why not get DVD's working first. I have three DVD recorders and four players and they don't seem to play the other's DVD's.

50 GB Versus 30 GB? For commercial DVD's this will not make a difference. Like some have said, you can fit HD movies on a regular DVD as it is now. Either choice will easily be able to fit HD content up to 2 hours (standard running time for movies).

Now if you're looking at burning data at home... you need to look at the cost per disk. You can fit more on a blu-ray, but if the disk is twice as much as a HD-DVD, you really are not saving anything in the long run. except maybe a few spots on your spindle / case.

Sometimes good enough is good enough. The fact that BluRay hold 50G and HD-DVD only holds 30G is completely irrelevant to 95% of the consuming public. If 30G is "good enough" to hold an HD movie, the war will swing on price and content. I DO have an HD TV (just got it 1 week ago) but I think I'll sit this war out and wait for a winner.

Don't befooled by Sony, they came out a loser in '96 with DVD standards & licensing and now they're trying to get back - at the expense of us consumers!! BluRay is a unique format, backward compatibility with the current DVD is not a given. Don't be fooled by Sony, they want to obsolete DVD because they lost out on the licensing, if this happens, the consumer ends up with DVDs that don't play on BluRay machines. It's all about their greed and PlayStation. HD DVD RULES!!

Hey all you bloggers, HD DVD disc capacity is up to 45gb and will be far cheaper to produce than a Bluray 50gb - HD DVD will come out on top.

We don't need Blue Ray of HD DVD because with MPEG4 based codecs HD movie can be delivered on the standard DVD discs. We just need players that can decode and output HD picture.

I am ready to buy a blue ray recorder as soon as they come out and go below $1k. I have multiple hdtv's and want something to record hdtv content. I hope blue ray wins because of capacity and no compression.
Vote with your wallet.

yes mp4 will compress a hd movien on 1 dvd but in reality most people who realy want a way to save lots of data on 1 disk but something that works for me is and i will do whit hd-dvd and bluray is wait till one emerges victorious then give them a year to work out all the kinks and then ill buy one i might the last one to get one but im not in eany hurry

I'd just like to mention that even though Blu-ray will cost more to produce doesn't mean that HD-DVD will be any cheaper to buy. Also the DVD gained popularity in Japan because of the Playstation 2 and the PS3 will do the same for Blu-ray. Also, someone said that the Xbox 360 will support HD-DVD, well thats not totally true, at least not at first. Microsoft has stated that they might incorperate it into newer versions but it won't be supported with the launch version of the 360.

Alot of people are arguing about technical specs, and a few people are arguing about price.. but I'll point out that if one of the formats uses region lockouts like current DVD's and video game consoles and the other format doesn't, then the region free format will win.

Personally, I can't stand the fact that by Hollywood's opinion, I should own 3 DVD players. If HD-DVD is region free, and Blu-Ray has region lockouts, I'm going HD-DVD.

i think everything go step by step, 30GB first then 50GB. I won't profit until it has the market. It takes time for all (from source video capture, PC I/O, to display device ) to go from current 9GB to the closest next level.

The Sony-BMG debacle with XCD suddenly makes the managed copy issue for Blu-Ray a whole lot more interesting. Sony has proven itself tone-deaf to consumers. They build what they think is best for their company and expect consumers to just buy.

Yeah, Apple doesn't play well with others, either. But Apple doesn't sue their customers, or cripple their customer's computers.

I haven't been paying much attention to the format debate because I don't plan to buy an HD anything any time soon.

I wonder will either or both formats play the 500+ movies I already own on DVD? I hope they are backwards compatable!

If HD-DVD players (certainly) and movies (likely) cost less, and they are of a better quality, and have the clear majority support of AV enthusiasts already (see AVSForums.com). Then why can this format war end sooner than later so we all can benefit when purchasing a single player.
Sounds to me like someone needs to let the Blu-ray camp what the CONSUMERS want!

Computer and video technology are two areas where we the general public can be a part of the future. It's 2007 soon 2010 and beyond. I am building my home right now and it is going to be as modern as I can afford. Blue Ray seems to offer the best in this area. I can here people using the term when asked what did you do today. I sat around the house and Blue Rayed which hopefully will end the boob tube term used by WWII vets. HD-DVD sounds like Oldsmobile to me and you know what happened to OLD's. Maybe HD stands for "Humble Dinosaur". Blur Ray sounds like the future,thats where we live.As long as I can still play the library of DVD's I have now I will buy a Blue Ray asap. Were living on the edge of space travel why live in the stone age on our planet. I am a 56 year old consumer who was promised a flying car by now. Blue Ray