Bet your money: HD-DVD or Blue-ray.

[Smokey]

Suppose one of these High Definition format win the format war in near future. Which one would you bet your money on?

For reasons mentioned below, I would bet my money on HD-DVD:

1. Cheaper to produce.
2. Backward compatible with current DVD.
3. DVD-HD discs will be less prone to damage and handlling (finger prints, etc..).
4. Good specifications from blue-ray (such as 50 GB disc or the hybrid disc), but no actual implementation anywhere in sight.

[Hawkeye]

September 27, 2005
DVD Fight Intensifies: Microsoft and Intel to Back Toshiba Format
By KEN BELSON
Microsoft and Intel are throwing their full weight behind one side in the long-running battle over the format for the next generation of high-definition DVD's.

Today, the two companies will announce that they are backing the HD-DVD format developed by Toshiba over the Blu-ray standard championed by Sony, Matsu****a Electric, Samsung and others. Microsoft announced in June that it would work with Toshiba to develop high-definition DVD players. Now, Microsoft and Intel say they will develop software and chips that will allow personal computers to play the next-generation DVD's from Toshiba.

The companies said they had not ruled out incorporating Blu-ray technology in their operating systems and on their chips in the future. But they are convinced that as of now, the HD-DVD format discs can be produced more cheaply and more quickly than the Blu-ray discs, and are therefore likely to become the dominant technology.

For the last two years, Microsoft and Intel have been careful not to alienate either camp in the format battle because they sell software and components to companies on each side. They also hoped that the electronics makers and Hollywood studios developing the formats would reach a compromise.

But the major Hollywood studios are now split between the formats, and electronics companies on both sides plan to start selling next-generation DVD players as early as Christmas. Sony also plans to include Blu-ray technology in its new PlayStation 3 game console to be released next spring.

As the format standoff has deepened, demand for the current generation of DVD's and DVD players has slowed, alarming Hollywood studios, which have come to depend heavily on disc sales. The studios, as well as electronics makers and computer manufacturers, expect high-definition discs to restart sales growth. But the lack of a resolution over the future format has slowed the changeover.

"We were neutral for a long time," Jordi Ribas, the director of technical strategy for Windows at Microsoft, said. "But we're approaching the time when this has to come to market and from our standpoint, the earlier the better."

As early as last year, however, some industry executives said that Microsoft was likely to side with the Toshiba camp.

Though Microsoft and Intel do not make DVD machines, they benefit from the sale of next-generation discs because consumers will also want to play the new discs on their PC's. That means that the computer operating system will have to be designed to read those discs.

Microsoft and Intel say that Toshiba has proven that its discs can be copied onto hard drives and home servers and sent over home networks. The companies also favor the "hybrid" disc developed by Toshiba that includes a standard definition version of a movie on one side and a high-definition version on the other side.

Their decision to support Toshiba's HD-DVD format also creates another fissure in the tug of war between the companies backing the two formats.

For instance, Dell and Hewlett-Packard, two of the world's largest PC makers, are part of the Blu-ray group. Their computers, assuming they include Microsoft and Intel products, will be capable of playing HD-DVD discs. But if they want their machines to play Blu-ray discs, they may have to find a third-party to design software for them.

In addition to developing software to play HD-DVD discs on PC's, Microsoft may also create software so its new Xbox game console, which will be released later this year, will be able to play HD-DVD discs.

[Smokey]

Today, Microsoft and Intel will announce that they are backing the HD-DVD format developed by Toshiba over the Blu-ray standard championed by Sony, Matsu****a Electric, Samsung and others.

That might another good reason to vote for HD-DVD

[edtyct]

Maybe this deserves another thread, but there is something called The HD Disc Consumer Advocacy Alliance (www.dvdsite.com), which has a platform of five demands built around the need for the two camps to find a compromise. Without going into any detail, all of the demands reflect concerns that people have expressed on this board repeatedly. The alliance includes such parties as AVSForum.com, eCoustics.com, TheDigitalBits.com, and many more. Choosing sides, posturing, lying, and bluffing don't cut it any more. I'm wondering if the mods have any pull to get AudioReview on the list of supporters, if the site works that way.

[topspeed]

I'd prefer BluRay, if only because it will be included with the PS3. Chances are however, we'll just have universal players like we do for hi-rez .

[Jim Clark]

EZ money... only a sucker would bet on Sony. Sadly I think they come up with superior formats but when push comes to shove they must be doing something deadly wrong.

jc

[ericl]

Whatever Sony is backing will lose, therefore, it will be HD-DVD.

[GMichael]

Whatever Sony is backing will lose, therefore, it will be HD-DVD.

I'm not a big fan of Sony anymore. Blue-ray to go the way of Beta.

[Smokey]

Whatever Sony is backing will lose, therefore, it will be HD-DVD.

Damn, that is the first time I seen anybody put it like that

And thanks everybody so far for your vote and discussions.

[Woochifer]

Not a good question because at the moment it's a fool's bet. The smart money in this case is whatever does not get spent, so the answer is NEITHER!

until they fix the following issues with both formats --

- required internet/phone connection
- remote activation/deactivation of player
- downsampled video with analog outputs

And we're not even on the subject of neither format being able to play much more than half of the available titles. If anything, Blu-ray will achieve much larger market penetration, but not because of HD video, but because of the PS3. Millions of Blu-ray players will go into people's homes, and not play a single Blu-ray movie.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Not a good question because at the moment it's a fool's bet. The smart money in this case is whatever does not get spent, so the answer is NEITHER!

until they fix the following issues with both formats --

- required internet/phone connection
- remote activation/deactivation of player
- downsampled video with analog outputs

And we're not even on the subject of neither format being able to play much more than half of the available titles. If anything, Blu-ray will achieve much larger market penetration, but not because of HD video, but because of the PS3. Millions of Blu-ray players will go into people's homes, and not play a single Blu-ray movie.

Any new format needs content. While both BluRay and HD-DVD split the movie studios, BluRay has Universal music and Sony/BMG as supporters which represent 50% of all music sales last year. That is a huge feather in their cap. The fact that Warner and other studios supporting HD DVD have pulled back content until early next year, that shows that all parties involved are getting mighty nervous about its format.

Unless a single format emerges, or one of the parties are able to appeal to early adopters more than the other, both IMO are in big trouble when roll out time comes. I am with Wooch on this one.

We still have not heard(as opposed to heard from) either of the new sound formats.

My support is strongly behind BluRay, that is why I know it will fail. My sucess with early adopting new Sony technology is a perfect zero.