Blu-Ray or HD-DVD - what's going to become the dominant standard

[kalniel]

It's really not as simple as DVD+ Vs. DVD-. The two current DVD formats are so similar, that it was dead easy to produce drives that supported both that manufactures just make dual drives. It was hardly a proper format war like Betamax Vs VHS and was never really an issue for most people. Ask the average Joe on the street and he probably wont even know there were two types called DVD- and DVD+. However, HDDVD and Blu-Ray work quite differently and while im sure we will see a few high end drives supporting both, there is a much greater need to settle on one type this time around - especially for the lower to mid end consumer living room type players - because they use a differnt type of laser optics, so need two lasers for a dual drive.

True, but samsung have already announced they will have a player that reads both. Things that start of early as high end quickly become cheaper. I purchased a Samsung DVD-CDRW combi drive when they were first out and it was ridiculously expensive, but now they are cheap as chips - They use two different lasers driven by the same output.

[BubbySoup]

If you think of a HD-DVD/Blu-ray writer will cost $1000 at least initially you would rather spend the money on 300x8 of harddrives which gives you 2.4TB already. And the discs probably cost $50 each? A harddrive will be backed by 3 yr warranty but HD-DVD/Blu-ray discs aren't.

Since when do people compare the cost of hd storage vs backup/copy media and its associated hardware?

That's like telling me how many HD's I can buy for the cost of my 72Gb DAT drive ...

[Butcher]

Well the PS3 is no where to be seen and the 360 got HD-DVD already. And if PS3 ensure Blu-ray success then how bout M$ backing up HD-DVD ? Surely a company whose OS runs by 90% of the world PC got some influence ?

XB360 does not have HD-DVD. It has a standard DVD drive.

A HD-DVD drive is slated to be released for the 360 later this year, but no firm date yet: http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=7687

Additionally, XB360 may even get a blu-ray drive is it proves the more popular: http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/10029/...ive-an-Option/

Nothing like sitting on the fence.

As for them having influence, yes some, but that's mainly because they have pots of cash, not because of windows.

[prehensile]

hdvd is definitely going to be much cheaper 20 GB standard for the PC-most players will definitely be double standard in a couple of years if Samsung can make one

A completely different technology will probably take over on the PC within the next three years-for backing up data volumes.

I actually used to work as a data backup manager and we had lots of different types of digital tapes going up to 80 GB including tapes that sat in a library with a robotic arm in a glass box. I actually had about six backup tape formats in a company with about 250 employees.

Anyway anything that can be scratched is never going to last that long compared to a mini disc type disc cassette.

Consumers want a new format they don't want some ****ty CDs with more space.

ray I am betting on an enclosed mini disc with four layr blue ray or inphase technology. there is a much much more convenient standard just round the corner compare to b that consumers will want as soon as it replaces both discs.

[dannyboy83]

Well the PS3 is no where to be seen and the 360 got HD-DVD already. And if PS3 ensure Blu-ray success then how bout M$ backing up HD-DVD ? Surely a company whose OS runs by 90% of the world PC got some influence ?

The Xbox360, at present, only supports plain old DVDs as far as I'm aware.


edit: didnt see Butcher's response.