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"HD-DVD Vs Blu-ray"

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Sun 06/01/08 at 08:04
Regular
"the Great"
Posts: 8
So who out there has brought a hd dvd or bluray player?
Which do you think will win the war?
Which has the best movies?
Will Sony idea of putting bluray into PS3 have an impact?

as far as im concerned i think im gona wait before i purchase a player, i love to watch hd content but dont want to waste money on a machine that may soon become obsolete.

i looked at a few sales figures and in the uk and hd-dvd seems to be out selling blu-ray, but its a different story in the usa.

sony putting a bluray in ps3 seems a sensible idea, if microsoft had put hd dvd into the 360 at launch this war would proberbly not be happening as hd dvd would of had a massive head start time wise, but as standalone players come down in price the fact the ps3 has a built in player will become irrelevant. hd dvd players are cheaper at the moment with bluray costing around £100 more for the cheaper units on the market

hd-dvd is cheaper to produce but blu-ray seems to be the better technology, its is capable of storing 25gb of data on a single layer with a theoretical space for upto 8 layers, thats 200gb of storage. this has not yet been achieved but sont think it is possible, as for hd-dvd it stores 15gb per layer as is theoretically capable of holding 4 layers which is a maximum of 60gb, which is plenty for now

i would like to see blu-ray win, with its thin layers and larger capacity but not using it now, the lower storage of hd-dvd may become and issue a start a new format war so i would rather skip that and go for the better tech now, but from my past experience its not the better format that wins, its the cheaper (vhs over betamax, dvd-r over dvd+r).

so what do you people think????
Tue 12/02/08 at 16:14
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985
Machie wrote:
> So Blu-ray is well ahead in both countries but I'm not sure why
> we're giving up on HD-DVD much faster than Americans. Is it the
> exclusive movies still on HD-DVD or the cheaper DVDs and players?

Looking at the shops, people who don't use the internet to buy their discs (or who like to impulse buy while out shopping) don't really have much choice. Blockbuster, Woolies, WHSmiths etc all sell Blu-rays, with Woolies selling only a few HD-DVD titles. Only Zavvi (formerly Virgin) and HMV around here sell HD-DVDs, and the prices tend to be slightly higher.
Tue 12/02/08 at 15:34
Regular
Posts: 19,415
Garin wrote:
> No surprise to anybody who has been in a Best Buy store.
> They've always been in the Blu-Ray camp, the exposure they gave
> to HD-DVD was pitiful in comparison.

Yep, but now they've officially announced it :) A double blow for HD-DVD in one day, that's got to hurt.

Here are some pointless stats...

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank

There are 11 blu-ray titles selling ahead of the best selling HD-DVD.

There's a difference of 3,100 DVDs between Blu-rays #10 seller and HD-DVD #10 seller.

The movie, 300 is selling for £17.98 on Blu-ray, £19.98 on HD-DVD. They're placed #595 for Blu-ray and #3,938 for HD-DVD. So given the choice between the two it looks like consumers are picking blu-ray.

Amazon.com Sales Rank

Blu-rays #10 seller is #124 while HD-DVDs #10 is #259

----

So Blu-ray is well ahead in both countries but I'm not sure why we're giving up on HD-DVD much faster than Americans. Is it the exclusive movies still on HD-DVD or the cheaper DVDs and players?
Tue 12/02/08 at 14:46
Regular
"Devil in disguise"
Posts: 3,151
pb wrote:
> Best Buy - One of the biggest US retailers - has announced in
> the last few days that it will be going Blu-ray only for High
> Def, selling only Blu-ray players and discs instead of HD-DVD.

No surprise to anybody who has been in a Best Buy store. They've always been in the Blu-Ray camp, the exposure they gave to HD-DVD was pitiful in comparison.
Tue 12/02/08 at 11:28
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985
Another update.

Netflix - the big US DVD Rental company - has decided to go Blu-ray only, phasing out it's HD-DVDs through their natural cycle and not ordering new ones.

Best Buy - One of the biggest US retailers - has announced in the last few days that it will be going Blu-ray only for High Def, selling only Blu-ray players and discs instead of HD-DVD.

If this trend continues we could see HD-DVDs become quite rare in the near future, which would signal a move to consumers that Blu-ray is the way to go.

Ideally for me that would mean current HD-DVDs become cheap as companies sell off their stock and future titles going to Blu-ray as companies change alligience.

Still no word from Universal after the rumours that they won't renew their contract for HD-DVD after it runs out in May.
Sat 19/01/08 at 17:39
Regular
"Author of Pain"
Posts: 395
The increase in LCD/Plasma is more likely due to a reducing range of alternatives.
Fri 18/01/08 at 14:31
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985
Latest report from a private market research institute is that Blu-ray players had the lion's share of the market with 94.9% of total HD sales. The highest market share came from Sony with 61.1%, followed by Matsushita Electric at 23.7%.

Toshiba has seen a small rise in market share from 1.6 due to reducing the cost of it's HD-DVD players, but it still needs to push further to get anywhere near the sales of Blu-ray.

Interestingly, LCD and Plasma HD TVs also jumped by 59% in sales from the same time last year, showing that more people are taking to High Definition.
Thu 17/01/08 at 11:26
Regular
"@optometrytweet"
Posts: 4,686
I actually need an HD TV first...
Thu 17/01/08 at 00:22
Regular
"Picking a winner!"
Posts: 8,502
Yeah pb some of the high street shop prices are laughable.

The likes of Hmv are selling films for ~£24, and thats not just the big latest releases like shrek3 but films which can be found online for under £10.

I'll not be buying any films on either format unless they are well priced and I feel they are worth the purchase.
Wed 16/01/08 at 19:57
Regular
"@optometrytweet"
Posts: 4,686
I'm only concerned with the Blu-Ray rot. Seen some PS3 displaying a litle and I'm not fully convinced that a new format will be necessary anyway assome DVDs are pretty good at their upscaling features.
Wed 16/01/08 at 18:20
Regular
"Author of Pain"
Posts: 395
To an extent, the unit pricing is probably still based on skimming strategies, although the level of profits available currently is probably debatable - particularly with Blu-Ray.

Of course, as Blu-Ray looks likely to take a strong lead, they've done a good job of creating solid replacement demand already because the early version of Blu-Ray players aren't compatible with the latest Blu-Ray features, something I read on the news the other day. So everyone that paid £500 or more for a player got truly stiffed imo.

It'll be interesting to see how the market develops. HD-DVD doesn't look like it'll give up, Blu-Ray is a long-term product selling itself to a mid-term market, and Microsoft among others are desperate to spoil the party with movie downloads.

For me, it's looking increasingly like I'll avoid committing myself any which way until my existing DVD player packs in which, given modern technology, won't be for another 2-3 years minimum. Everything looks awesome on my 42" Panasonic Viera anyway.

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