Topic: hd-dvd or bluray

[creekfreak]

so you equate better technology to more storage space?

I agree with you on Sony though...I can't stand most of the formats they back.

I will take superior audio and video over storage space any day of the week...any die hard taper would believe in that

[John Kelly]

so you equate better technology to more storage space?

I agree with you on Sony though...I can't stand most of the formats they back.

I will take superior audio and video over storage space any day of the week...any die hard taper would believe in that

The video and audio are technically equal on both formats.  I shouldn't say they're technically equal.  BluRay can use the same codecs HD-DVD does, plus some additional codecs it can't.  So the video compression technology is equal.  However, with the larger storage space, BluRay *should* get better picture quality due to the larger bitrates they can use.

Just because current examples of BluRay aren't better doesn't mean the format isn't inherently better.


(edited for clarification)

[hzgone]

from everything I've read, HD-DVD is beating out bluray.

http://news.digitaltrends.com/talkback158.html

In my opinion, I see bluray going the way of betamax, md, memorystick, and everything else propriety that sony makes.

porn is set to kill bluray, claiming media is to expensive and not able to make multiple copies.

[Ed.]

its coming:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/30/lg-bh100-hd-dvd-blu-ray-hybrid-player-reviewed/

now we just have to wait for it to get better...and cheaper.

[scervin]

While the LG doens't have all the features it is a start.  Only advantage to HDMI 1.3 will be the color.  The audio will be the same as the player must do the decoding.  Current HDMI will pass along this info.  The review seemed to be based on subjective evaluation.  Was the picture calibrated?  Pass BTB WTW? 

Again, it is a start!

[OFOTD]

Score one for Blu-ray

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/Adult-film-company-secures-Blu-ray-replicating-company.html


Adult film company secures Blu-ray replicating company

Despite Blu-ray appearing like it was going to lack adult movies, at least outside of Japan, Vivid Entertainment Group is now set to be the first adult-film maker to release its content on Blu-ray Disc, according to Digit Online.  However, they are not mentioning which provider they are using to replicate its Blu-ray titles, particularly with how difficult it was for them to finally find one in the first place.  So far, most adult film makers have resorted to sticking with the rival HD DVD format after having no success in getting any Blu-ray company to replicate their discs.

There are currently eight companies involved in Blu-ray disc replication world wide.  Unfortunately, two are controlled by Sony and are not allowed to replicate adult films.  Another five are have contracts with Walt Disney and say that they they will not work replicate adult films as a result.  With just one left over, Vivid Entertainment is not going to give away the name in order to give it the competitive advantage, not to mention being one of the leading adult film companies.

Unfortunately due to Vivid mentioning that the Blu-ray format is extremely expensive to work with at three times the cost of HD DVD to replicate and four times to author, they will closely watch the sales of one of its first Blu-ray title that will be avaliable on both formats to see how Blu-ray sales compares with the HD DVD version.  If the Blu-ray format turns out to be a failure, they will end its use.  On the other hand, if Blu-ray proves successful, they plan on releasing four more adult films this year on the Blu-ray format.  Vivid decided to take a chance with the Blu-ray format due to strong Blu-ray disc player demand, helped with 2 million PS3 game console sales, with each console doubling up as a Blu-ray disc player.

[dunebug81]

Just like video games for new video game systems it takes about a year for the game designers to realize the full potential of the new hardware the same is true for HD-DVD/BD.  The more recent titles for both formats look better then the older titles. 

Ive got both PS3 and Xbox 360 w/ HD-DVD drive and id say that neither looks that much better then the other.  If there is a choice between blu-ray and hd-dvd i pick blu-ray cause the ps3 is really quiet where the damn xbox sounds like its got a 4 cyl. engine inside it...not to mention the xbox remote just sucks.

[John Kelly]

Just like video games for new video game systems it takes about a year for the game designers to realize the full potential of the new hardware the same is true for HD-DVD/BD.  The more recent titles for both formats look better then the older titles. 

Ive got both PS3 and Xbox 360 w/ HD-DVD drive and id say that neither looks that much better then the other.  If there is a choice between blu-ray and hd-dvd i pick blu-ray cause the ps3 is really quiet where the damn xbox sounds like its got a 4 cyl. engine inside it...not to mention the xbox remote just sucks.

My XBox remote is great - it's a logitech harmony.

I really wish the PS3 would've come with IR built in.  As it stands you can't use universal remotes with the PS3, and that just sucks considering how good of a video player it is.

[OFOTD]

Sorry to keep bringing up new stories for the format wars but this one really surprised me.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/Blu-ray--HD-DVD-replication--setup-fees-compared.html

Blu-ray & HD DVD replication & setup fees compared


When it comes to replicating high definition content, there has been quite a lot of publicity about Blu-ray costing a lot more than HD DVD to replicate in bulk, mainly put down to Blu-ray’s design that makes it impossible to modify existing DVD stamping equipment to replicate Blu-ray discs with.  Even the adult film makers have been complaining about Blu-ray's costs.  However, one thing that has not been made clear is how much of a difference there really is between the two competing formats.  Well, Wes at WesleyTech went to investigate by contacting a few optical disc industry contacts and published an article with some very interesting results:

The first plant (kept confidential) which replicates both formats mentioned it costs $1.15 per 15GB HD DVD and $1.30 per 25GB Blu-ray disc based on a quantity of 25,000.  DVDs cost $0.50 per Dual Layer disc for the same quantity at this plant.  While Blu-ray looks more expensive to start with, let's not forget the capacity difference, where a single layer Blu-ray disc is closer to a Dual Layer HD DVD disc capacity.  At the second plant, which produces Blu-ray only, he was quoted $1.35 to $1.45 per disc based on a quantity of at least 25,000.  They also do 50GB Dual Layer Blu-ray disc replication at $2.15 to $2.25 per disc also based on a quantity of 25,000.

The third company, ProActionMedia makes their pricing publicly and while their pricing is more expensive than the first two plants Wes contacted, it clearly shows the difference between Blu-ray & HD DVD disc replication publicly on their Website.  For a quantity of 25,000 discs, ProActionMedia charges $1.45 per 15GB HD DVD disc and $1.59 per Blu-ray disc.  However, as a Single Layer HD DVD is not enough for some movies, the movie industry often has content replicated on dual layer HD DVD, which costs $1.69 per disc based on a 25,000 quantity from this replication company.

Finally, one interesting point Wes makes about the replication costs is that most HD movies are replicated on Dual Layer HD DVD and Single Layer Blu-ray media.  As a result, it actually works out move expensive to replicate movies on HD DVD in most situations.  Of course, this does not include setup fees and other costs such as authoring, AACS copy protection, packaging, etc.  As a result, these extra costs will need to be added to the replication costs.

At this stage, some would ask just how much the setup costs would be.  Well, Wes had a look into this by contacting his first plant again and published another article comparing the difference of the two.  Apparently for a replication of a large quantity of discs, the plants normally waive the mastering fee.  As the studios typically use 30GB Dual Layer HD DVD and 25GB Single Layer Blu-ray media, let's take a look at the fees for these:  The plant charges $3,000 for 30GB Dual Layer HD DVD and $2,500 for 25GB Single Layer Blu-ray media in setup costs and $1.30 per disc of either of these two formats based on a quantity of 5,000.  So for this small quantity, HD DVD works out cheaper when the setup fee is taken into account, assuming the studio can manage with Blu-ray's 25GB capacity limit for its Single Layer format.  Even for larger quantities where the setup fee is waived, both these two formats work out at the same price from this plant.

So in the end, while Dual Layer Blu-ray replication costs more to setup and replicate than Dual Layer HD DVD, most movies do not need to avail of Blu-ray's Dual Layer capacity.  Even if a movie does need Blu-ray's Dual Layer 50GB capacity, then if the studio decided to also release it on HD DVD, they would either need to either reduce the quality to fit on a 30GB Dual Layer HD DVD or release two HD DVD discs to retain the quality, not to mention the extra costs associated with two HD DVD discs instead of a single Blu-ray disc!

Further information, including cost tables can be accessed in this replication cost article and in this setup fee cost article; both on WesleyTech.

[Cooker]

http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/13/hackers-discover-hd-dvd-and-blu-ray-processing-key-all-hd-t/


Hackers discover HD DVD and Blu-ray "processing key" -- all HD titles now exposed

Posted Feb 13th 2007 7:46AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: HDTV
Those cooky kids over at the Doom9 forums hate themselves some DRM. Not more than two months after discovering a means to extract the HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc "volume keys" to decrypt AACS DRM on individual films, we're now getting word that DRM hacker arnezami has found the "processing key" used to decrypt the DRM on all HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc films. Let's break this down for what it is: instead of needing individual keys for each and every high-definition film -- of which there are many -- the processing key can be used to unlock, decrypt, and backup every HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc film released so far. As arnezami points out, "nothing was actually hacked, cracked or even reverse engineered." All he had to do was keep an eye on his memory, watch what changed, and voila... the processing key appeared. So kick back and watch the trickle of HD titles hitting the torrents quickly turn into a flood (at ~20GB a pop, that's not an exaggeration) when the BackupHDDVD and BackupBluray utilities (or AnyDVD HD) are updated to reflect the new hack find.

[Ed.]

I love hackers.

[dunebug81]

Thats cool and all but how much are blank HD-DVD/BD discs?  I guess for the pirate it doesnt matter as long as he's not be held down by "the man"

20+GB torrents would be mighty hard to keep a decent share ratio going.

[John Kelly]

Thats cool and all but how much are blank HD-DVD/BD discs?  I guess for the pirate it doesnt matter as long as he's not be held down by "the man"

20+GB torrents would be mighty hard to keep a decent share ratio going.

I think BluRay discs were $20 last time I was at Best Buy.

And I tend to get the best share ratio with large torrents - it's the small ones that kill me.

[Ed.]

give it time, media will drop once the players start dropping.  it'll all come together. 

[John Kelly]

give it time, media will drop once the players start dropping.  it'll all come together. 

Yep.  DVD-Rs were the same price at one point.