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5 Replies Last post: Feb 19, 2008 12:45 PM by mpheadley  
Click to view PCWorld's profile PCW News Bot 16,026 posts since
Aug 1, 2007
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Feb 18, 2008 12:45 PM

HD DVD vs. Blu-ray Disc: A History

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Click to view zman00's profile New Member 41 posts since
Oct 7, 2006
1. Feb 18, 2008 3:59 PM in response to: PCWorld
Re: HD DVD vs. Blu-ray Disc: A History
IF this is true and the format war is finally over, then 2 things will happen. 1) Consumers will begin to by into the new HD format if they haven't already and 2) other customers that have already bought into the HD-DVD format will request some sort of compensation which they probably will not get. But all in all, my idea of the winner was correct, which means my friend owes me about 100 bucks.
Click to view JeffAHayes's profile New Member 3 posts since
Feb 18, 2008
2. Feb 18, 2008 9:25 PM in response to: zman00
Re: HD DVD vs. Blu-ray Disc: A History

I've been betting on Blu-Ray all along, myself, even though it was priced prohibitively higher than HD-DVD, largely due to its larger storage capacity... HOWEVER, I'm STILL banking on a replacement technology coming along soon enough that not only the folks who invested in HD-DVD will be upset.

My guess is that now that HD-DVD appears to be "officially dead," Blu-Ray will cease the price decreases for the time being (possibly even find reasons for higher prices with "new-and-improved" player-recorders), but with new flash drive technology already being demonstrated in the 100 GB range, and larger sizes on the horizon, my guess is that we'll be seeing movies on Flash Drives or some similar sort of chip technology, and optical discs will go the way of the dinosaur within the next five to ten years... I could be wrong, but I'm STILL not willing to bet on it and invest all that money in a player and discs to play on it only to be stuck with a dead-end platform when regular DVDs still do a perfectly fine job, for the most part, and I can watch plenty of high-definition via my high-def cable connection.

If, unlike me, you're "flush with cash," go ahead and buy a Blu-Ray player and enjoy all the format offers for the next couple of years, or so... But mark my words, it won't be for as long as you hope.

Jeff

Click to view zman00's profile New Member 41 posts since
Oct 7, 2006
3. Feb 18, 2008 9:39 PM in response to: JeffAHayes
Re: HD DVD vs. Blu-ray Disc: A History

you have a great point Jeff, and there already is another format in the works, but its pretty hush-hush. But you have to think, will the next advancement be for quality upgrade or ease of use by the consumer. I myself am a partial graphics person and I can spot details that full time graphics people cant, but I still wouldn't see the point in making TV or Movies any higher resolution than HD or Blu-Ray and even then I do think there marketing is a little extreme about the quality achieved. So the question is, will there ever be a final format of quality and will that stay consistent or will something newer and supposedly better come along?

As for the media that the movies and things come on, I think were gonna go away from physical media and switch to direct, secure downloading right from the companies as a way to "go green". Still you will be given the option to buy the movies or burn them to a disk or write to a flash drive, etc. to back them up. This surely will be an interesting era to come.

Click to view nortearbor's profile New Member 1 posts since
Feb 19, 2008
4. Feb 19, 2008 2:53 AM in response to: PCWorld
HD DVD vs. Blu-ray Disc: A History
Hey! You forgot to include that Apple announced it's support of Blu-ray March 10, 2005, six months before Microsoft and Intel decided to support HD-DVD. see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc_Association
Click to view mpheadley's profile New Member 48 posts since
Jun 19, 2007
5. Feb 19, 2008 12:45 PM in response to: PCWorld
Re: HD DVD vs. Blu-ray Disc: A History
It would be interesting to go back and try to find reported sales figures on both players and especially movies on both formats. I say this because I think truly it was the sales or rental figures of the movies themselves that propelled the key decisions of companies such as Blockbuster, Netflix, WalMart, Warner Bros, etc. which in turn led to Blu-Ray winning.