Blu Ray or HD DVD - which will win the war?

Question

Which format will win out in the end? I was leaning towards buying a HD DVD player until I heard the new PS3s that will be coming out will play Blu Ray discs and not HD DVDs.

Answer 1

My preference is for Blu-ray because of the larger storage capability and given that, in general, I'm a fan of Sony products television and audio products.

But the Blu-ray ship dates keep slipping. And their initial prices are way too high ($1000 vs $500 for HD-DVD).

The good news is that if there is not enough movement, they Blu-ray folks may find themselves slashing the prices more rapidly so they don't lose the war. They are playing it cool for now but I expect that they will not want to cede this to the HD-DVD camp. In my opinion, it is the game that the Blu-ray folks will lose if they don't change their pricing strategy quickly.

Answer 2

No one knows for sure. Both formats have large companies backing them. HD-DVD has the advantage of being on the market several months ahead of Blu-ray, but this does not guarantee the winner. The PS3 will indeed use the Blu-ray format for its DVD playback, and this could be key factor. In the end, no one knows for sure. Every article I've read on this topic basically says to hold tight and see. One article I've read said if the prices of these player remains too high, both formats will lose. This happened with laser disc player many years ago, despite superior image quality over video tapes. The difference between standard DVD and Hi-def DVD may not warrant the price tag for the average consumer. If I were a betting man, though, I'd go with Blu-ray.

Answer 3

Blu-ray will definitely win the war. HD-DVD supports a maximum of 45 GB on *triple-layer* discs. I keep hearing about defective Topshiba HD-DVD machines that choked on single-layer discs! Blu-ray can easily handle 50 GB on double-layer discs. We bought our first Blu-ray title today (Blu-ray discs came out today), and we don't even own a Blu-ray player yet--that is how sure we are that Blu-ray will win in the end. Only thing I do recommend is to wait a couple of months. This $999 Blu-ray player today should be $799 by Christmas, of this I am sure.

The first DVD player I got was a 5-disc Sony carousel model which cost me $799. A 200-disc model soon came out for that same price, and 300- and even 400-disc models came out for even cheaper a couple of years later.

You definitely should also wait because of the extremely limited availability of true 1080p TV sets (meaning sets which accept a 1080p signal through the HDMI port). You might see a set advertised as 1080p, and while in fact it is capable of displaying 1080p, it may not accept 1080p.

I see HD-DVD going the way of the DivX disc.

Answer 4

i dont know why people keep saying both companies have large companies backing them.
Bluray has about 75% of the major entertainment companies backing it. and HDDVD has a total of 3 major companies.

Blu-ray will be the outcome just because they are taking there time to make sure there product is a quality product that doesnt need to cut corners to cut cost and market placement.

i work for a high end entertainment store and ive had 3 demos of those toshiba HDDVD players b4 one worked.
Maybe a bad batch but more likely its just a cheap product design to put HDDVD on the market b4 bluray and assume the consumers dont know which alot of them dont.

Answer 5

blu ray is the future of dvd .

Answer 6

Good question. Only one thing's for sure consumers will lose, and there's gonna be alot of pissed off consumers down the road who own movies they can't play, and players that are obsolete.

Answer 7

SONY SUCKS: I HOPE THEY GO OUT OF BUSINESS

VHS is to HD-DVD
AS
BETAMAX is to BLU-RAY

NO BRAINER

SUPPORT AMERICA: HD-DVD