One Question

[plasmafreak]

Why are most people anti Blu-Ray in here?

I've read so much over the past few months and there is a large amount of people that really dislike Blu-Ray.

Either you guys bought into HD-DVD and now as SOny has released the PS3 overseas and are soon to release it here Blu-Ray is starting to get momentum.

I noticed in one thread about the Pirates of the Caribean on Blu-Ray how there will be a 2nd disk with features, many commented about oh Geez all that space Blu-Ray is supposed to be superior and they need a 2nd disk for the special features and PCM audio instead of Dolby Lossless Bla Blah Blah.

Maybe they could have used the full 50GB for the movie???

I'm not a Sony fan boy. Only Sony product(s) I ever had was a Sony Cassette walkman with MEGAbass and the Sony Playstation.

Oops I forgot I also had a Sony BetaMAX video cassette recorder in the early 80's. Muwaahahahhahahaaaa

[ajm1503559545]

In a nutshell: Price vs performance.

[Gino]

I'm more 'anti-war'. I've chosen to support HD-DVD as I believe it offers as good as if not better performance for less $$$. If I buy into bluray, I believe this only fuels the war for longer. I think I am more 'anti-bluray fanboi'

[kamma]

im not anti BR but i dont like all the outrageous claims and bullsh1t propaganda. in saying that i'll still buy a BR player soon. probably a ps3.

i think you'll find that most here agree except your odd couple of hd-dvd fanbois

[AndrewW]

price vs performance

region coding issues

bullshit claims about the 'war being won'

having said all that, and knowing full well that I am tarred with the 'HD DVD fanboi' brush, if you look at some of the PS3 threads I am weighing up the cheapest way to get my hands on a PS3 (almost exclusively to use as a BD player).

Andrew.

[big_marcelo]

Like Kamma mentioned before.... the sony/BR marketing is what gives me the shits... they are spreading so much misinformation .... and HD DVD has a better PQ (at least for now) with VC1 encoding vs mpeg 2

[-Bishop-]

For me, I just started off hating the name, it seemed such a dumb thing to name HD, kind of like a way to confuse consumers for no reason.

Later on I realised it was just an unnecessary use of technology, the way I understand it, the DVD group got together and formulated a new HD plan, and somewhere along the line Sony decided rather then work with it, they would work against it.

Then I looked at both technologies in more detail, they both play basically the same thing, using the same codecs etc, but one is cheaper, so what was the point?

I hate Sony because they got greedy, it was not enough for them to work with an existing co-developed format, they obviously decided they wanted the big bucks of their own developed format, which basically offers no advantage where it counts, in picture quality, sound or price.

[betty boop]

I'm more 'anti-war'. I've chosen to support HD-DVD as I believe it offers as good as if not better performance for less $$$. If I buy into bluray, I believe this only fuels the war for longer. I think I am more 'anti-bluray fanboi'

I'm with you gino.

I'm sure I'll buy a blu-ray one day. jsut not now given the choices. And yeah nothign worse than fanbois all pumped up with the war propaganda from the format pushers ...

[Chesty]

Firstly it amazes me that people say they dont like blu ray because of the propaganda and that BR keep saying they have won the war. Stupid reasons for not buying into a format.

If someone believes a format is superior and because it suits their tastes then i think they are more suitable reasons.

Not everyone is anti BR although there are some nutbag Br supporters around here.

Yorac was right in that there are alot of early adoptors who are protective of their heavy investments. They would hate to be left with obselete equipment. No disrespect as i would be the same.

Despite BR's issues I still like the fact they they have the content quality and quantity that I am after hence my support of BR.

[AndrewW]

Yorac was right in that there are alot of early adoptors who are protective of their heavy investments. They would hate to be left with obselete equipment. No disrespect as i would be the same.

I disagree with this.

I spent less on my HD DVD player than I did on my first DVD player.

I purchased my HD-A1 after careful consideration of the two formats.

I have no concern at all about being left with a useless 'brick'. I do no believe that either format will ever fail.

But even if HD DVD did, I would still have all my HD DVD discs to play on the player.

Cheers,

Andrew.

[Kirium]

Firstly it amazes me that people say they dont like blu ray because of the propaganda and that BR keep saying they have won the war. Stupid reasons for not buying into a format.

I don't think anyone here has made their purchase of HD DVD based purely on their hatred of BDA's propaganda. Most have made their decision on a simple price and performance basis. Perhaps the BDA's empty bullshiit rhetoric merely solidifies them in their decision.

[Hydrology]

Either you guys bought into HD-DVD and now as SOny has released the PS3 overseas and are soon to release it here Blu-Ray is starting to get momentum.

Im sure you meant no offense but even a comment like that can be taken as rude. All the HD-DVD owners weighed up the pros and cons of both formats, and made an educated decision to go with HD-DVD. The PS3 marketing hype in my opinion since its release OS has died down dramatically - there was more talk about it BEFORE it was released.

Im not anti BR, just anti-Sony.

[plasmafreak]

I spent less on my HD DVD player than I did on my first DVD player.

I'm holding out this time round on buying either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.

As I bought my first DVD Player back in 1999 for $1,300.

It could not play Divx, MP3, JPEG, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW

Only damn original DVD's, VCD's and audio CD's.

But let me tell you, I was the first one in the family, friends to buy a DVD player and when they came over it was like wow. Some of my mates even went and bought a whole DVD Surround Sound system the very next day they saw my setup.

But also don't forget, this was going from everyone watching VHS movies to DVD movies. This was a quantum leap. This time round going from DVD to HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, I think it'll be a little longer before these formats become adopted compared to DVD which just sky rocketed.

Me's thinking of buying a PS3 in the not to distant future. But also thinking of the XBOX 360. I like the XBOX Live setup, this feature would push me more to XBOX 360 than the HD-DVD add on.

ALso XBOX plays HD-WMV. I've got The Fifth Element in HD-WMV 720P format. It's about 4.3GB.

[momaw]

Im sure you meant no offense but even a comment like that can be taken as rude. All the HD-DVD owners weighed up the pros and cons of both formats, and made an educated decision to go with HD-DVD. The PS3 marketing hype in my opinion since its release OS has died down dramatically - there was more talk about it BEFORE it was released.

Im not anti BR, just anti-Sony.

In the flood of seemingly pay-per-comment articles espousing the virtues of Blu-ray over the evil pretender rival, it was with great satisfaction to read the most "real" review of the format's machines yet. Well actually no, it wasn't at all. It was a review of the PS3 in the latest edition of Hyper. The best it had to say about blu-ray as a movie format was that, yeah it plays movies. But unlike most articles related to anything PS3 or blu in the print media, this ones end conclusion was.......wait for it.......meh. To say they were underwhelmed, would be, well, an understatement. End conclusion was: has potential but not till better games come out (my summation). The most truthful review ever!

PS: They stopped short of saying the sixaxis was the worst controller ever in the history of things used to control other things, but were pretty clear on their opinions. Who the hell gave that thing an award?

I do recommend it as a read as it is quite interesting. Apparently all the real, not bought off journalists work for Hyper magazine now. Should be an interesting read come election time.

Wait a minute, aren't I about to buy a PS3? Why am I saying this................idiot!

[Tweet]

Hey Mo', I think your regular avatar is much more agreeable than that monster from the Star Wars disco, but then again some women just don't care .....

With regards to HD DVD..... it is all pluses, and with the prospect of Total HD discs making Blu-ray movies available why would any one not buy HD DVD.

From my point of view, Blu-ray seems to be an unfinished product and never quite matches its pretensions,whereas HD DVD appears to be a solid, well thought out and refined technology that exudes 'Quality'.

C.M

[momaw]

Hey Mo', I think your regular avatar is much more agreeable than that monster from the Star Wars disco, but then again some women just don't care .....

Due to popular demand, Jason will be back as soon as the update feeds through

Now you can all recognise my BS at a glance again and the visual ignore filter should work it's magic

now for random emotes cause I like em

Just out of curiosity, how many out there are familiar with Jason from Adult Swim's "Home Movies"? Great show. Not really HD material, but I love my DVD's of the show.

[snaggs1503560016]

Nor am I anti BR, I am many times declared on the forums anti Sony, this has to do with their control freak attitude and the fact that they were the one's that really prevented the format war from being resolved, their publicity machine will tell you otherwise.

I honestly get real p***ed when I hear and now see a petition from people like Bill Hunt from Digital Bits basically declaring that Toshiba should kowtow to Sony and co (read bend over and take it up the A**e), like all players on both side Tosh has invested big dollars in their product so why should they just let Sony have control.

Finally let's just imagine Sony having majority control over the format....mmm, frightening if you think about it

This is just absurd. Sony had majority control over CD... any problems there? As for the fact that it was all Sony's fault the HD-DVD group split, thats just silly. Takes more than one party to have a disagreement. Toshiba/MS had some stuff they wouldn't budge on too.

Doesn't the fact that the majority went along with Sony show something about who *might* have been the stubborn party? I say*might*, since like you, I was not privy to these meetings so won't make generalisations about what happened.

And this threads original question has just been upheld. Every HD-DVD fanboy here just couldn't leave their thread end without adding criticism of Sony and Blu-ray. If you could up the number of threads here posted, you'll see the HD-DVD whiner threads outnumber the BR fanboy threads by a substantial margin.

Daniel.

[WayneB]

I do not hate Blu-Ray and could possibly buy a Blu-Ray player when the prices come down significantly.

My deciding factors were

1. I like watching movies and have become a customed to watching DVDs and anything that enhances the experience is good.

2. Price - (US $385 HD-A1 + US$40 Delivery) this is the first generation of players (now second as well), these players normally do not have as longevity, you are probably looking at upgrading in 2-3 years time as the 5 generation players will have new features that you need.

I am willing to risk AU$500 on new HD player, but not AU$1500 or more.

3. Region Coding - HD-DVD's are not region coded and nor are the players, which means I can buy any HD-DVD over the internet from any country and not have an issue. This is also good from the aspect that quite a few Blu-Ray only movies will be released on HD-DVD in other countries. Also a Toshiba engineer and executive said that any current released HD-DVD player would remain region free, even if they decide to put region coding on in the future.

4. Performance/Picture Quality/Sound Quality - all the reviews prior to purchasing my HD-A1, indicated that HD-DVD was as good if not better than Blu-Ray. HD-DVD players had Analog outputs for lossless sound output. I also went to 2 stores where they had the Samsung Blu-Ray player demoing and was not impressed.

5. Sony's handling of the whole situation. Blu-Ray and AOD (now called HD-DVD) were proposed to the DVD Forum to make a decision on which format would be the next generation format HD-DVD. The forum pondered on the information and selected AOD. Sony immediately started locking in film studios and manufacturing companies to support Blu-Ray exclusively. Sony were going to Bully the Blu-Ray into the market.

6. There is a plus though of there being competition mainly being price, if only one player was in the market we would probably be paying $3000 or more for the player and $80 for a movie. There would not be any discounts we would pay the full cost of manufacturing and retailing.

Now I am going to pose a question, if all the film studios supported both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, which player would you buy. This takes the studios out of the equation. HD-DVD player is region free, cheaper, as good quality picture and sound maybe better. And take gaming out of the equation (Purely for Movies and TV shows).

I don't know if this helps.

Wayne

[50mxe20]

And this threads original question has just been upheld. Every HD-DVD fanboy here just couldn't leave their thread end without adding criticism of Sony and Blu-ray. If you could up the number of threads here posted, you'll see the HD-DVD whiner threads outnumber the BR fanboy threads by a substantial margin.

And this statement is less provacative? Indeed! Give me/us a break. Why so emotive I wonder.

[AndrewW]

This is just absurd. Sony had majority control over CD... any problems there?

what, other than Sony putting root-kits on their CDs ?

*before you get all pedantic on me, I know this has nothing to do with Sony having a big say in the CD format, and it was a snipe, but it was a bloody well aimed one, and it goes to show why many people have a problem with Sony's business ethics (or lack thereof).

And this threads original question has just been upheld. Every HD-DVD fanboy here just couldn't leave their thread end without adding criticism of Sony and Blu-ray.

No, the original question has been answered.

I don't see any raving frothing at the mouth answers in this thread.

Of course there will be anti-Sony sentiment expressed when you ask peoples reasons for supporting HD DVD. What did you expect ?

If you could up the number of threads here posted, you'll see the HD-DVD whiner threads outnumber the BR fanboy threads by a substantial margin.

Ahhh, so HD DVD threads are 'whiner threads', but BD threads are 'fanboy threads'.

Interesting choice of words.

I think that what you will actually find is that for the most part the HD DVD threads are started by people who have actually gone out and spent their money and invested in a technology that they believe in, and want to discuss the format.

Apart from a couple of exceptions (Jace et al), the majority of BD posts are simply reposting Sony's unsubstantiated press releases and trying to derail any constructive HD DVD thread.

The ironic thing is that the majority of the trolls doing this, who seem so hell bent on supporting BD, don't even own a player ...

Andrew.

[50mxe20]

Now I am going to pose a question, if all the film studios supported both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, which player would you buy. This takes the studios out of the equation. HD-DVD region free, cheaper, as good quality picture and sound maybe better.

That's a compelling summary. I own neither BTW. But I can't help thinking this makes a lot of sense.

[AndrewW]

Now I am going to pose a question, if all the film studios supported both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, which player would you buy. This takes the studios out of the equation. HD-DVD region free, cheaper, as good quality picture and sound maybe better. And take gaming out of the equation (Purely for Movies and TV shows).

I asked that very question here.

Andrew.

[momaw]

And this threads original question has just been upheld. Every HD-DVD fanboy here just couldn't leave their thread end without adding criticism of Sony and Blu-ray. If you could up the number of threads here posted, you'll see the HD-DVD whiner threads outnumber the BR fanboy threads by a substantial margin.

Am I a HD DVD fanboi? if so, can you kindly point out where I have fallen into this category so far in this thread?

WayneB, fantastic well thought out post that truely sums up the situation.

[boric]

it goes to show why many people have a problem with Sony's business ethics (or lack thereof).

"Business ethics" is an oxymoron. The anti-Sony thing troubles me only so far as it gives the impression that the only bad entity here is Sony.

I don't trust Sony much, but I don't trust Microsoft or Toshiba either. Or Apple. Which one do you really want controlling your living room? None, I hope.

But I especially don't trust the content owners, Universal, TimeWarner (or whatever it's called these days), Sony (again) etc. These are the guys with the dodgy accounting practices, odd tax breaks and deals, desire to charge you every time you watch a movie, pay a subscription for everything etc.

I'm sure it would be much worse if the content owners designed the hardware (remember the original DIVX?).

Back on topic-ish: I won't be buying HD-DVD or Blu-Ray in the next few years. The actual content is more valuable to me than whether it looks/sounds better at this stage and I know I'll get most, if not all, of the content I want on DVD. A good movie is still a good movie even if it has 1/4 of the pixels (Chicken Little might look fantastic on Blu-Ray but it is still a sh*t movie).

[Chesty]

Am I a HD DVD fanboi? if so, can you kindly point out where I have fallen into this category so far in this thread?

WayneB, fantastic well thought out post that truely sums up the situation.

Snaggs is looking for you guys to bite at his comments and you do. Best bet is too ignore them and let them go through to the keeper...