Blu Ray Or HD DVD?

Question

Which one will you choose i heard that the blu ray has many advantages over the hd dvd

Answer 1

Blu-Ray - has the exclusive support of Disney, Fox, and Sony.
HD-DVD - has the exclusive support of Universal.
(Paramount and Warner Brothers are releasing titles in both formats).

Blu-Ray - except for the upcoming (and going-to-be-hard-to-get) PS3 (priced at $500-$600), all players are about $1000
HD-DVD - players are available starting at $400; XBox 360 owners will soon be able to buy a $200 external drive.

Blu-Ray - players have 1080p output
HD-DVD - low-end players only have 1080i output (which is converted to 1080p on 1080p monitors anyway)

Blu-Ray - built-in to the PS3
HD-DVD - $200 add-on to the XBox 360

Blu-Ray - higher data capacity (though most titles don't take advantage of it)
HD-DVD - some titles are "combo" format that can work on regular DVD players

While Blu-Ray is technically superior on paper because of its potentially higher capacity, HD-DVD has all the advantages right now--even "shootouts" comparing titles that are common to both formats hand HD-DVD the win when it comes to video quality. HD-DVD was out earlier, the players are cheaper, there are more titles out, and more people are buying them.

Things may change, though, when the next major "battle" between the formats happens in the next couple of weeks, as the PS3 is released--will PS3 buyers really jump into the Blu-Ray movie camp, or will they just think of it as a fancy extra that they won't use? Will many of the current 5 million plus XBox 360 owners spend $200 on an HD-DVD add-on for their console? We'll just have to wait and see.

Answer 2

Neither --- at least for now.

See the link for an excellent, and thought provoking, article on the marketing of Blu-ray and HD-DVD. What you think you "know" about the superiority of Blu-Ray may not be so....! A second link provides another view.

I'm not going to go into the technical differences because they are largely irrelevent given the real question is whether either provide a sufficient bebefit over existing equipment and, indeed, whether either will be around (other than as a curiosity) 1 year from now. They are largely a solution looking for a problem that most consumers won't have high on their purchase list. They are analogous to SACD and DVD-A: good technology, but basically ignored by the bulk of consumers.

Sure it would be nice to have higher resolution but neither Blu-Ray nor HD-DVD provide a compelling benefit over an upsampled DVD player over HDMI. I'm quite satisfied for now with the 100" picture I get from my OPPO player ($200) fed to my Canon projector in my home theatre.

Bottom line: I would not buy either at this time. They are too expensive, program material is lacking, implementation (particulalry of Blu-Ray) is mediocre, and most important the two systems are incompatible and locked in a format war that neither may survive.

That said, given that HD-DVD has the most material available, has the lead re technical excellence and is by far the most reasonably priced ($500 vs $1000), IF (and I'm not, so I won't) I were in need of a new DVD player I'd buy the basic Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD player ... at worst it is an excellent upscaling player for normal DVDs and also plays HD-DVD. I wouldn't touch Blu-Ray. Sony have once more blown it big time.

Like many consumers I got burnt on Beta in the VCR wars, bought SACD and DVD-A, and I am not doing it again.

Answer 3

Ooh, thats a tough one, I think that it is too early to tell. I have seen Blu-Ray and the resolution is razor sharp, so I am partial to Blu-Ray, but only time will tell.

Answer 4

Some movies have better video and audio qualities then others.