HD DVD needs to die. Blu-ray's copy-protection isn't great for consumers, but it's still a lot better than HD DVD.

But what has changed since the last report? I don't see any new names that are supporting Blu-ray now. Blu-ray has had good support for a while, but that doesn't mean it's the winner. Microsoft has a lot of weight.

Isn't Intel also behind HD-DVD? That would be a pretty big player. Not enough to derail Blu-ray but worth a mention.

I think Microsoft's chance to sway this has passed. It played its hand in a desparate bid to at least delay blu ray take up for one reason, the Xbox. The fact that its big move behind HD DVD a while back even with a compliant Intel feigning obedience didn't have any impact and that since some of its supporters have even actually moved over to the other side, or at least are now agnostic rather suggests its move is now simply a busted flush. Expect it to hold out as long as it can and then try to bring in blu ray support on the QT.

First of all, I honestly believe HD is very overrated. What's wrong with a normal DVD? The one's I have seen/bought are playing with impeccable quality. I think it's another ploy to get our money. If you see the price of regular DVD's today, you can imagine how much more the new varieties will cost... I'm saying in advance, thanks but no thanks. I can't be bothered if Blu-Ray or HD-DVD makes it in the end. I'm not going to buy or rent either as I'm not about to write off my current equipment, which works to my full satisfaction. My DVD-player is about 2 years old. Do they really think I'm about to pay some more for yet another standard??
Nope.

Blu-ray and HD DVD are already extinct.
The new technology will be Holographic DVD by Maxell.
Read the story here...
http://www.betanews.com/article/Holographic_DVD_to_Hold_16_Terabytes/1133197797

Blue Ray is being brought to you by Sony. For that reason and that reason alone you should not trust or buy Blue Ray.
It goes alot further thatn just the recent BS they pulled with the copy protection too. For years Sony has been taking it's own intrests first and leaving the consumer holding the bag.

Sony's name is in the toilet now and we all need to give it a good flush. I would support any standard so long as its not backed by Sony.

-Tonboc

because we all know that Maxell will garner incredible support from studios and device makers. HVD right now has no support from anyone of merit in the industry so it will be yet another great technology that will sit on the sidelines while the people really in the market (those with sound business plans and partnerships) sell players and content to the mass market. HVD would have to come out in Spring for absolute certain with content from major studios in order for it to make a dent in the consumer space.

One day people will realize that technology is just a tool. Content is king and will always be king. Great technology without content might as well have never come to market.

If you do, then you realize that your comments are worthless. Sony isn't steering the ship anymore, the BRD committee of which Sony is only a member is.

Someone wrote:
What's wrong with a normal DVD?

First, here's what's wrong with DVD....
1) Supports only analog quality output. High Definition formats are not really HiDef... (not enough resolution)

2) Limited capacity. Lets face it, 4.7GB is tiny by today's standard.

3) Weak copy protection.

4) New emerging standards in digital TV. What to do when your TV finally blows, and your new set might not support analog input?

yeah, and the US government continues to table a law that would require every television broadcast network to use this new HD "standard" to shaft the consumer

http://cryptome.org/broadbandits.htm

this is more legislation to support business and restrict the freedoms of the consumers-- the general populus of the US

when this format "war" ends, the new format will be the only thing acceptable-- it will be illegal to sell VHS tapes and DVD's -- leading eventually to everyone being forced to own a $3000 television to be able to watch television-- we will revert back to the 1950's where only an elite few owned the technology to watch television-- and more poverty line families will feel the necessity to have a television thus throwing further into the jowels of debt

these formats are NOT for the consumer-- they are for the comapnies who back them so they can make more money since they will be the only game in town-- and can sell movies for $50 apiece because they are supposedly better than the current format available

the next thing on the list is everyone who cannot afford a new television because of the obscene prices of "HD"TV's will still need to buy additional equipment to descramble the "HD" signal for an analog television they may already own

if y'all cant tell, i am for new technology-- but i am opposed to new technology being forced down our throats

TRO

Your kidding right? Blue Ray copy protection is way more restrictive then HD-DVD, HP is holding out as well because they wanted the Blue Ray to include the fair use technology that HD-DVD currently has, so you can use it for personal use in mutliple machines. So go ahead and buy Blue Ray which I am sure will come complete with a root kit.

Get your facts straight before you open your mouth, that way it does not resemble A S S

More storage than HD and I don't think anyone here including me knows what kind of copy protection will be included on either format for sure. We all will have to wait and see when they finally get something released. No matter what there will be some form of DRM included that is a given fact.

Sony is fine. Every company wants to make a profit. Did you know that half of the products Sony sells, that Sony takes a LOSS?

(PSP, future PS3, etc)

"What's wrong with a normal DVD? The one's I have seen/bought are playing with impeccable quality."

Impeccable quality is only relative. Any one of you that has a High-Definition TV and High-Defintion service know what i mean. The difference is truly hard to believe until you have seen and experienced it yourself. I used to think the same way, "tv and dvd looks great now". That was until my cousin got high-def service and high-def tv. The detail and picture quality is simply astounding.

[quote="randompro42"] the next thing on the list is everyone who cannot afford a new television because of the obscene prices of "HD"TV's will still need to buy additional equipment to descramble the "HD" signal for an analog television they may already own...


The House of Reps has passed a bill giving everyone, rich or poor, two $40 converter vouchers per household (on request). The Senate bill requires the consumer to cough up $10 per converter, but pays the rest of the cost. Once the differences are ironed out, the bill will go to the Prez.

No couch potato will be left behind.

The downside of the Blu-Ray copy protection that MS and Intel have been complaining about is nothing but a Red Herring. Blu Ray's copy protection is exactly the same, except it does not make the ability for the disc to be playable by a computer mandatory, while HD-DVD does. Only if the content producer desires the ability to play discs on a computer does he need to allow it.

While this may sound like a big plus in theory, in reality, this is not so. The same mandatory copy protection in HD-DVD allows content producers to charge a fee each time the disk is played on a computer, and those who want to prevent people from playing their HD DVD's on a computer, simply need to charge a fee in the unpayable range, like $1000000. So the only 'advantage' of HD DVD is not a real advantage either.

I agree both the formats seem 'evil' (I dont agree with this, but it seems most people do), but why not choose the more technologically advanced devil?

For those who can't see forward, remember when DVD players were $300 at very least? Now, progressive scan ones for less than $50!

A couple years from now, that DVD player of yours will be useless as the WHOLE WORLD will go HD. Smell the pixels!

Why would anyone support an obsolete OLD standard of resolution when you will be able to have at least 1080p on CHEAP HiDef TV's (i.e. 30" Sony Widescreen CRTs $650 (720p) ??

I don't know whay anyone with a brain would buy or accept any current DVD technology, you just aren't looking forward.
'Til then, have fun with your crappy 350 lines on your Beta Deck!! d

Quote

Guest wrote:
First of all, I honestly believe HD is very overrated. What's wrong with a normal DVD? The one's I have seen/bought are playing with impeccable quality. I think it's another ploy to get our money. If you see the price of regular DVD's today, you can imagine how much more the new varieties will cost... I'm saying in advance, thanks but no thanks. I can't be bothered if Blu-Ray or HD-DVD makes it in the end. I'm not going to buy or rent either as I'm not about to write off my current equipment, which works to my full satisfaction. My DVD-player is about 2 years old. Do they really think I'm about to pay some more for yet another standard??
Nope.

I agree with this post. I'm sick of technology advancing. I say we all put our foot down and say “This has gone on long enough!” We don’t need HD, things don’t need to be any higher definition! I’ve been saying the same thing about cable television for years! We don’t need the newfangled ‘blue-ray’ we didn’t even need DVD’s while we still have VHS! We don’t need new faster computers (my apple II is just fine, thank you), we don’t need bigger and better storage devices (cassette players have been around for decades… they’ve withstood the test of time), up to date and –more expensive – operating systems (what’s wrong with Windows 3.1, it can do everything this XP nonsense can do). Technology has got to stop advancing! I say now is the time!

wow, some people truly are paranoid. The only reason why HD TVs are thousands of dollars is because Americans love big screen tvs. If you go to Japan, you'll see a 20in hd for less than a thousand.

And the government doesnt really care about giving more money to big business by forcing digital broadcast; they're not smart enough to arrive at that conclusion. The reason they want digital broadcast is to clear up bandwidth in the spectrum for other stuff that needs microwave communications

I agree with this post. I'm sick of technology advancing...
Technology has got to stop advancing! I say now is the time...

We are not a third world country and possible the most powerful county in the world because we invest in advancing technology. We have arguable some of the best medical treatment facilities in the world because we invest in advancing technology. If we simply stoped investing in technology the rest of the world would roll right over us and you, yes you would be on tyhe streets looking begging for food because our economy would be shot. This being said go crawl back into the cave you came out of and enjoy your Model T... Or is that too modern for you?

CJR

Quote

Guest wrote:
I agree with this post. I'm sick of technology advancing...
Technology has got to stop advancing! I say now is the time...

We are not a third world country...go crawl back into the cave you came out of and enjoy your Model T... Or is that too modern for you?

CJR[/quote]

Oops.
Warning, irony by-bass in attendence. Please curb any urge to use humor.

RandomPro42, first of all chill out.. Second you believe all HD tv's are $3,000?? Please follow my link to a perfectly good 27" HD TV for $299:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7006045&type=product&productCategoryId=cat03003&id=1099392081898

Let the HD revolution begin!
BB

Quote

Guest wrote:
Blue Ray is being brought to you by Sony. For that reason and that reason alone you should not trust or buy Blue Ray.

Yeah. Because CDs and PlayStations turned out just so awful and evil, right?

Give me a break. Sony did indeed screw up with their recent copy protection fiasco, but the royal spanking they got should insure a change in policy. And its not like there isn't thousand of companies out there that wouldn't have done the same thing, standing in Sony's shoes.

Remember the major music companies a few years back wanting to put a sonic 'notch' in CDs at about 4KHz or so, to insure you couldn't record them?

Quote

Guest wrote:
First of all, I honestly believe HD is very overrated. What's wrong with a normal DVD? The one's I have seen/bought are playing with impeccable quality.

'Impeccable quality' is a relative term.

Current DVDs can be very nice-looking, but resolution-wise, HD totally spanks them. Current DVDs are 480p, hi-def DVDs will be 720p or 1080i.

Side-by-side, the difference is not quite as large as analog TV broadcasts (480i) versus high-def TV (again, 720p or 1080i), but it is very noticeable.

"But what has changed since the last report? I don't see any new names that are supporting Blu-ray now."

If not already mentioned, Paramount and Warner both moved recently to support Blu-ray. Universal is the only major studio that has not declared support, but it's inevitable that they will, particularly after Warner budged (Warner was Toshiba's earliest and staunchest ally on HD-DVD - if they're also now support Blu-ray, it should tell you something).

Blu-ray pretty much is the effective standard now, and frankly I'm glad. It's better for everyone that a clear standard emerges quickly, and it looks like that's what's happening. If Universal switches to Bluray too - and I think it'll happen - I think it's very likely Toshiba will capitulate, and seek to cut their losses by merging HD-DVD into Bluray, on the Bluray group's terms.

Quote

Guest wrote:
This being said go crawl back into the cave you came out of and enjoy your Model T... Or is that too modern for you?

CJR

Um... Maybe some of the old things shouldn't be left completely by the wayside, as you seem to have forgotten how to detect Sarcasm, perhaps you're too souped up on useless technology to regcognize humour...

Sincerely
Suckbunny Tooley Fanboy

Listen, when Blu-Ray comes out it doesn't mean that DVD support will be completely cut off and all of your DVD players will self-destruct. The market will still exist for a few years in a transistional stage. You can hold off on the purchase of your new format player for quite some time. You can wait for the price drop. Hell VHS is still around. It's harder to find but it is still there. Funny thing is, DVD players are cheaper than VCRs right now. Additionally, Blu-Ray is backwards compatible which means you can keep your DVD collection; you don't have to replace them.

By the way, VHS sucked. After you watched that tape about ten times you could see the quality degrade and it only got worse with each view.

Uhh... I think you are referring to legislation that is 5 years old and has been struck down as Unconstitutional earlier this year, called the Broadcast Flag.

They came close. If you want to protect your rights as a consumer, you ought to support the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and visit their website www.EFF.org. They played a key role in squashing the government's and Hollywood's attempts to control broadcast television.

The networks can still include the Broadcast Flag in their signal, but since no consumer electronics device is required to recognize it, it has no affect on what you can and can't record.

Although you can't get it till June a site bluraylive.com has a Samsung player on it that says it will still play the million DVDs I have which is a least somewhat of a comfort. It would be nice to have the high definition play but I don't want to spend a lot of money on something that will only support the new format. They may all be like this.