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

[davidstone28]

Reminds me of the VHS v Betamax wars.

As much as I love the idea of huge Blu-Ray capacity (and detest anything associated with Microsoft), I suspect that HD-DVD is going to become the dominant standard not least because its easier to manufacture, cheaper, backwards compatible, likely to be first to market, sold as a loss leader etc. Its also got a name (dopey) consumers can understand more ready - High Definition DVD. Whereas with Blu-Ray, average Joe consumer will probably ask whether its a type of fish

So wadya reckon?

[Funkstar]

undecided.

Don't forget the comments made by Memorex (http://lifestyle.hexus.net/content/i...313&search=blu) about the excessive DRM being a factor against Sony.

Personally i like the idea of the huge capacities of BluRay, if they are able to get 100gig disks working and out the door at a reasonable price that is.

[dave87]

HD-DVD - BluRay is crippled by sony, also some of the prominent backers have switched over to HD-DVD

[[DW]Cougho]

HD-DVD i hope

Blu-ray is sony....... nuff said.

[killie99]

probably end up with all players supporting both standards just like DVD +/-

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28855

[shaithis]

IMO, neither will win.

I do not beleive that the masses are ready for a DVD replacement, most have only just upgraded to DVD from the vastly inferior VHS......now you want to sell them another £200+ player and tell them to wait again for a recorder.....and this time the difference in quality isn't as noticable - and you need a HD TV to even notice the difference.

Enthusiasts will buy the tech but I think both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray will become the new LaserDisc.

[5lab]

i think blu-ray will win for one single reason - the ps3. the ps2 is probably in as many houses as standalone dvd players - and as such the 'free' ability to play b-r disks is a huge bonus.. there is no extra hardware needed - i think people will start their collection because they are already able to play them..

as for back compatibility - i'd be very surprised if anyone makes a blu-ray player that doesnt cope with dvds - have you seen a dvd player that cant do cds?

[Hans Voralberg]

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 ?

[kalniel]

Same as the answer to which is the dominant standard between DVD+ and DVD-

[specofdust]

HD-DVD will be in my opinion. Its the lesser format yes, but aparently the Blu-Ray consortium are wanting to keep Blu-Ray retail only for as long as possible. So that means no 100GB discs, and no burners, maybe even no PC readers for a good while, but mostly just they dont want the things being used for files. I guess 'cos they know if people have easy access to drives that can dupelicate stuff, it'll be done.

So, thats why Blu-ray will lose imo, add to that its DRM'd to the hilt, MS are backing HD-DVD and sony are backing Blu-Ray.

[Kef9]

Piracy will decide the winner. Pure and simple. The easiest to copy will win.

Hence HD-DVD from what ive heard.

Even the PS3 will not be able to combat it.

[5lab]

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 ?

you're missing my point.. its not about support, its about pure ability to play..

the average joe in the street will not have a xbox 360 with hd-dvd player in (unless they come as stock after a while). he might have a xbox 360 or a ps3, but he probably wont have upgraded either. as for pcs.. how many average households actually play dvds on theirs? i've over 200 dvds in my collection, and i rarely, if ever, use my pc to play them. the screens small and the quality shoddy.

theres no definitive answer to the question, but the ps2 did help the dvd market more than i think some of you realise.. i suspect the same may be true of the next-gen kit.. as for piracy, i dont think it'll be an issue. both players will probably play dvdrs, which i suspect will be the dominant format for pirate stuff for a while - theres no point in putting a cinema rip onto hd-dvd or blueray because the quality is already lower..

[autopilot]

Same as the answer to which is the dominant standard between DVD+ and DVD-

Sorry but your very wrong (no offence matey )

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.

Personally i think its still far too early to say and we will probably wtill be having this conversation in a years time, even if some drives are on the market by then. But HDDVD looks to be getting a foothold earlier on which will give it a big advantage. Nazi DRM really puts me of Sony's efforts and i think many people will think the same, especially after their rootkit scandal (although there is not that much difference between them in terms of DRM, both use HDCP, physical identifiers and AACS). But never underestimate the power of Sony's marketing machine. After all, Betamax was the better video tape format by a country mile in almost every respect, its just that good marketing (from the likes of Sony) swung it for VHS.

And don't take too much notice of which companies are backing which format right now. They will soon switch camps once we see where the big dollar signs going to be.

But at the end of the day, neither are going to replace DVD's in any significant way for some years. Personally i think only enthusiasts and small companies (for backup purposes) will really take up HDDVD or Blu-Ray for the next 1-3 years. Must people have only just got used to DVD and not to mention that HD TV's will still take a few years before they become really mainstream. It's still possible we will see another generation of optical disks before the masses abandon DVD. But Kef9's point about piracy will probably a massive factor too, but lets face it it wont be long before someone develops a crack for both but i think it will happen sooner for HDDVD.

One other thing, Blu-Ray has to have a much thiner coating than HDDVD (0.6mm Vs 0.1mm), making it much more easy to scrach. This could be a factor too. Blu-Ray will also be signifactly more expensive to produce in the short term - you can pretty much use existing DVD fabrication processes to produce HDDVD's, Blu-Ray is a whole new ball game. This will be a bigger factor that what console has what type of drive.

PS, 5lab you really should probably not have your email address in your sig mate. Not if unless you want spam bots (and it really does happen) picking it up.

[BubbySoup]

In terms of a drive I am going to bung in my PC, hd-dvd for sure. It's far more pc friendly than blue-ray will ever be. As someone else also pointed out, Sony seem keen to push blue-ray as a consumer mainstream product rather than a data storage product, so the likelyhood of seeing blue-ray burners anytime soon is remote, which gives hd-dvd a big head start for the PC market.

The HTPC market is also picking up which will mean more & more people will want to play their films via a PC of some sort.

Another interesting point to think about is what impact M$ could have if they decide to ship special editons of Vista on HD-DVD.

[arthurleung]

In terms of a drive I am going to bung in my PC, hd-dvd for sure. It's far more pc friendly than blue-ray will ever be. As someone else also pointed out, Sony seem keen to push blue-ray as a consumer mainstream product rather than a data storage product, so the likelyhood of seeing blue-ray burners anytime soon is remote, which gives hd-dvd a big head start for the PC market.

The HTPC market is also picking up which will mean more & more people will want to play their films via a PC of some sort.

Another interesting point to think about is what impact M$ could have if they decide to ship special editons of Vista on HD-DVD.

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.

[5lab]

PS, 5lab you really should probably not have your email address in your sig mate. Not if unless you want spam bots (and it really does happen) picking it up.

cheers for the warning but my email addy has been in the public domain for 9 years and counting.. i get ~100 spam per day and yahoos filters take care of 99.9% of it - i maybe get 1 message a week squeazing thru