HD-DVD

[Fost]

HD-DVD's will not work in an old DVD player.

Both BR and HD-DVD players play DVD's. BR players will likely have DVD compatibility hacked off sometime in the future as the standard does not say it has to support DVD.

Ahh, you're right, I'm taling rubbish. I read somewhere that JVC had made a 3 layer disc, which had a standard definition DVD first layer. So the disc would work. I think now, that this may have been a Blue-Ray disc and not HD-DVD as I first thought. In any case, it doesn't appear to be a part of the spec for HDDVD or bluray. If either had done that, and then brought out discs from then on that work in old players with standard def on the first layer, and new players with high def on the additional layers, then I think they''d have easily won the format war. After all, if you'd bought a couple of DVDs over the course of a year, and they just happened to work in a bluray player, then wouldn't you consider getting one at some point?

--==EDIT==--
Yeah, it is real, and it does work on new and old players:
http://www.jvc-victor.co.jp/english/pre ... d-dvd.html

If they start releasing these, then I think blu ray will have a huge chance of success. Although I'm pretty sure the PSIII will give it enough clout all on its own.

[jp]

I don't think either format is really going to do all that much. Too many people seem to forget that "average joe" either:
A. Doesn't have a HDTV
B. Has a HDTV but doesn't care about $30 movies and $500-1000 movie players.



If either wins, I predict it will be HD-DVD just because its cheaper (just like BetaMax vs. VHS). Though I think both formats will wind up like Laser discs, VCDs, etc.

[Specineff]

I was thinking this earlier this morning.

DVD was such a success because all manufacturers decided to put together their ideas and had to give up some of their patents while at it. For example, Sony and Phillips had come up with a double sided disc, and Toshiba had made a super density disc. So they combined their ideas and DVD was born the way we know it. (At least that's what I read.) Now because of their greed, the next video format is split. What they should do is use BR discs with MS's WM HD codec (That's what HD DVD uses, I think).

It's going to suck big time. And this next format war will not start with a bang, but with a whimper.

I heard that DIVX is capable of HI-Def Video. Is this true? If so, it wouldn't kill them to develop a copy protection container for it, and then cram it inside a regular DVD. Bastards.

(Sorry, I'm hungry and tired ATM)

[sethsez]

B. Has a HDTV but doesn't care about $30 movies and $500-1000 movie players.

Well, this was certainly the case with DVD when it came out (minus HDTV, obviously). It took years to really take off.

That said, I don't see either of these formats going anywhere. The transition to DVD happened fairly recently, and the public isn't terribly fond of switching formats constantly.

[Turrican]

Well, this was certainly the case with DVD when it came out (minus HDTV, obviously). It took years to really take off.

It took PS2 to take off - well, that's exaggeration perhaps, but sure PS2 was a huge boost. At least here.

[benj]

The PS2 was indeed my first DVD player, and therefore the reason I got into DVDs in the first place. If the PS3 is just as successful, it just might give BR the edge over HD-DVD.

[Specineff]

Nah. I doubt it. The PS2 did help, but DVD was very well established by then. And the PS2 was what? 300 bucks? You were getting a PS2, a PS1 and a DVD player. But I doubt that the PS3 with its hefty price tag, and yet-to-be proven format will make more than a ripple.

[jp]

Nah. I doubt it. The PS2 did help, but DVD was very well established by then. And the PS2 was what? 300 bucks? You were getting a PS2, a PS1 and a DVD player. But I doubt that the PS3 with its hefty price tag, and yet-to-be proven format will make more than a ripple.

Oh I don't know Speci, you should have more faith in good ole' Sony.


I mean honestly, look at what the PSP did for UMDs!




...



Oh wait...

[MSZ]

Nah. I doubt it. The PS2 did help, but DVD was very well established by then.

Only in the US market.

In Japan, PS2 was the only reason why DVD became the mainstream format in their market. Most of the DVD players in the Japanese market at that time were all over 100,000 yen each.

[Specineff]

Nah. I doubt it. The PS2 did help, but DVD was very well established by then. And the PS2 was what? 300 bucks? You were getting a PS2, a PS1 and a DVD player. But I doubt that the PS3 with its hefty price tag, and yet-to-be proven format will make more than a ripple.

Oh I don't know Speci, you should have more faith in good ole' Sony.


I mean honestly, look at what the PSP did for UMDs!




...



Oh wait...

Ha ha ha. You make me laugh so much, I'd marry you if we were gay.

[Bingo]

Right now, the odds for either format aren't terribly good. But neither were those of DVD when it hit. If you want to talk about success, you have to look at a longer term. What's happening now is the tech-toy phase for us geeks with displays that show a big difference. But all we'll do is decide the format war, not the success. Success will, if it happens, only come with a large userbase. At that point prices won't be anywhere near what they are now, the 360 will have its HD-DVD add-on drive and the PS3 will be on the market. Chances are high that the next TV you buy will be an HDTV, even if you don't give a damn about it. Chances are that at that point, whichever format prevails will not cost any more than DVD costs now. Hell the 30 bucks that was quoted here is list price, not street price. The HD-DVDs in Japan go for 4800 Yen, standard DVD price. In short, I think the transition will happen naturally over time. But it will happen, HD isn't a format, it's a new broadcast standard that all equipment will conform to in a few years.

[neorichieb1971]

Well so far 3 movies are out on the HD-DVD format

Some websites offer all 3 for $50 if you buy the machine from them.


I can understand a console launching with 2 or 3 games because its likely the games will last 30-60 hours in some cases.. as with Mario 64/Pilotwings.. But a movie format with 3 movies, shit I could do the lot in one day.

[Bingo]

I agree that the launch lineup was pathetic in quality and size, but there's already more of it hitting shelves. There's at least another 3 now (Million Dollar Baby, Doom and Apollo 13), with a steady trickle of catalogue titles planned. It's slow, and uninteresting, and of course it's not enough to switch over completely right off the bat. Gotta say though, the 360 isn't any better off as far as video game launches go. Releases are even slower, and there's still not a single one that caught my eye.

[visuatrox]

Well I can that the launch movie lineup is pathetic. Although it gives me fond memories of when I got my first DVD player. I was so hyped about the quality, that I bought all kinds of crap movies just because there was nothing to choose from. It was so bad I even bought a couple of movies with Steven Seagal

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I can remember when the first DVD "players" came out from Sony and a few of the other Japanese electronics giants, they retailed at $1,000+ USD. Sure, there were some hybrid DVD/Laserdisc players from Sony & Pioneer to help tide the Laserdisc fans over to make the transition to DVD format.

The earlier video cassette wars of Sony's Betamax format video cassette player versus JVC's VHS (Video Home System) video cassette player...of course the Betamax player had sharper picture presentation but the cheaper VHS format won in the end. It's been said that an average VHS tape will last for about 20 years (one has to periodically fast forward and rewind it to keep the tape from sticking to itself in the long run though). Hence VHS conversion to DVD for longevity storage purposes & posterity of video content.

In the early 1980's, it used to be hard to buy or even rent movies on Betamax format since majority of the Hollywood studio's movies were being released on the cheaper VHS format instead. Also in the early 1980's, the movie studios priced their Betamax and VHS movies at $80 to $90 apiece. Why so high? Because they thought that they would be losing picture rights so hence, the high price for a pre-recorded movie...it wasn't until Pepsi partnered with Paramount to start selling VHS pre-recorded movie Top Gun at $25 to $20 price range that did other movie studio adopt that cheaper pricing scheme. Sony still did manufactured it's high end Betamax video cassette recorders for the high end techno geeks, film production studios & video production studio companies into the mid 1990's.

Even the world's first DVD recorder was none other than Panasonic and that was sold at $1,000 USD and could even be used as a DVD burner when hooked up to a PC.

Eventually by 2009, the U.S. government will have mandated that all cable companies, satellite station providers, and general "off the air" TV stations that all TV channels broadcast will be in digital HD format in order to free up the exsisting airwaves for emergency broadcasts, etc. A special set top convertor box will have to be used to get HD content to be viewed on standard defintion TV monitors like those made in the 1980's-1990's.

I remember quite well that Japan was furious that the USA was going with digital HD broadcasting format and not with the analog HD broadcasting format that Japan had adopted...all that $$$ spent on analog HD equipment just to fade into obsolesence. The USA wanted to be ahead in the digital HD format wars race. Hence going with the digital HD broadcast format versus the Japanese analog HD broadcast format proved a wise decision...this was planned in the late 1990's going into the early millennium.

I remember going to my local Good Guys store one time and they had a Sony 5" Trinitron CRT-type monitor for sale...it was priced at $499.99 USD and only Sony manufactured 500 available worldwide! The sale guys asked me if I was interested in it...I told him that I was just looking and then he gave me his business card and to call him back if I needed anything. Yeah, that five inch Sony Trinitron monitor with composite video input was bitching cool! This was back in 1994-1995. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~