Comments on: Big retailers launch HD DVD price war

By: Anthony Brooklyn, NY

Anthony Brooklyn, NY — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 07:47:46 +0000

Funny how the BluRay camp say the one sided hard coating discs give them an advantage over the HD-DVD and DVD double sided discs because it's more durable. It is the total opposite! in fact.

With dual sided HD-DVD and DVD disc's, if one side is scratched by a freak accident, then at least you can still watch the movie on the other side. But with BluRay's hard coating (needed because of pits are very close to surface) even though it is resistant to scratches, hard surfaces are less flexible. So in actuality these discs will start cracking easier. See all the info online about how almost all rented BluRay discs from netflix arrive cracked when sent through the mail, while others aren't.

Also an HD-DVD CAN be resurfaced, and regain functuality after deep scratches, a BluRay disc, can NEVER be resurfaced. So you can never polish out any scratches, the disc is shot if the coating is polished cause info is too close to surface.

So what seemed to be the better idea turns out more fragile, amazing isn't it?

By: kris,houston tx.

kris,houston tx. — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 17:01:37 +0000

Missinformation is all anybody seems to spew out of thier mouth about bd vs. hd dvd. Production costs on bd disc's are only pennies more on 25,000 or more units produced. All i hear about is how hd dvd players cost less and how price will affect the format war. If people will read the specs on the cheap hd dvd player they will see its only capable of 1080i not 1080p. Those hd dvd players that will produce a 1080p picture start at 299.00 and go as high as 399.00. Sony sells a 1080p bd player for 479.00. Most higher end hd tv's produce a 1080p picture which seems to be becoming a standard for high def. To compare 1080i and 1080p, it is important to compare framerates. Due to interlacing, 1080i has twice the frame-rate but half the resolution of a 1080p signal using the same bandwidth. As far as how many units are sold, a ps3 units basic function is to play a bd disc and should be considered in the overall sales of bd players as should xbox hd drive for the 360. When it comes down to construction of the disc's themselves bd disc win hands down because of thier storage capabilities and durability. Hd dvd's are produced with both the standard dvd copy on one side and the hd copy on the other, which to me that in a real world situation means that hd dvd's are more likely to get damaged than a bd disc which is one sided and has a super hard coating over its iformation layer. i own 3 bd playes(bd-rom,ps3, and panasonic stand alone) along with a hd-dvd player and can say that bd and hd are both great formats but i will have to choose bd.

By: tom, atlanta, ga

tom, atlanta, ga — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 23:10:01 +0000

I have a playstation 3 and a hd-dvd player. It not so much the cost of the players, as it is the cost of the movies. Even having both i still find myself buying regualr dvd's when i can use the hd-dvd players upconversion and it is awsome. I bought the regular for 14.99$ while the blueray and hd-dvd movies are 29.99-39.99. To me its the price of the movies not so much the cost of the players.

By: Ti, Irvine, CA

Ti, Irvine, CA — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 02:16:12 +0000

@ Kevin H.

To quote the da vinci code "the mind sees what it wants to see"…

1. your post infers that toshiba just can't crack or isn't capable of 1080p. do a product search and you will find HD DVD players that are capable of such.

2. More importantly, your post shows you how powerful marketing is. There is virtually no difference with any content you currently own between 1080i and 1080p. That more vivid and crisp picture you see is all in your mind. Nearly all content on a high-definition disk was shot on film or in high definition video at 24 fps. Because most HD screens use a refresh rate of 60 fps (or some multiple thereof), a process called 3:2 pulldown displays one frame twice, and the next frame three times. So whether you're watching 1080i or 1080p, that same 24 frames are being temporally "stretched" to accommodate the native frame rate employed by HD displays. The result is that 1080p doesn't show more information than 1080i because both are starting with material acquired at an even lower frame rate than either.

3. Lastly, with #2 in mind, there is no other source of content that provides 1080p resolution. All current network HD offerings (to my knowledge) are either 720p or 1080i so other than downloading 5 minute clips on the internet, there isn't a source for true 1080p enjoyment on your 1080p capable set. I'd be willing to bet you a buck that if you popped in your 1080p movie and compared it with the live Sunday afternoon NFL game in 1080i or even 720p, the picture quality of the game would blow away that of the movie you put in…if you were honest with yourself.

By: Rolf, Saginaw, MI

Rolf, Saginaw, MI — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 16:23:06 +0000

I would have already bought a BlueRay player except I found Sony in all their cleverness, decided that I if I owned a Region 2 disk or an All Regions disk here in America it must be because these are pirated DVDs.

They are fools setup a company policy that treats paying customers like common criminals.

And yes I have gathered and used the information I need to remove Regions, Encryption, and Macrovision from all of the DVD standards and have applied that knowlege when neccessary. This is something I wouldn't have bothered with but you know what they say: people will always behave in the way that you expect them to.

By: Jeffrey Stockton, San Francisco

Jeffrey Stockton, San Francisco — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:58:57 +0000

The sad thing about this is that the longer the HD format war goes on, the less likely it is that either medium will be a huge hit. HD-DVD makes more sense to me. It will be easier for many of the smaller independent studio to get HD content out because its easy for even the smallest DVD replicators to get their existing plants converted, whereas BluRay production facilities have to be build from the ground up. 80% of DVD content now come from the independents, so in the long run, HD-DVD means much more content availability. Jeffrey Stockton

By: dane trenton new jersey

dane trenton new jersey — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:15:30 +0000

i work for at&t. my thought process says "why would people pay $600 for an iphone when i can have another phone that does the same stuff?" the answer is simple pitch it hard enough and claim its the greatest thing since sliced bread and people will buy it. now i personally know the iphone sucks. people still bought it in record numbers and still want it now that it has dropped off some. again people will buy anything you want them too regardless of price if they think their need is great enough. salesmanship 101 baby!!!

By: kevin houston tc

kevin houston tc — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 04:20:28 +0000

1080i v 1080p its a arguement of quantity vs quality. does neone here even know what the "i" and "p" stands for and how pixels reprduce images? neone know the structure of a tv now. lol i bet alot of ppl still think signing up with cable gives them all hd channels? the stupidity of this blog is high.

By: kevin houston tx

kevin houston tx — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 04:17:19 +0000

trust me when i say this but microsoft had no choice when they had to go to hd dvd … theyre major competition is sony. why would they join the ps3 camp when theyre at each others throat with the gaming console war. Todd, Broomfield, Colorado said microsoft picked hd dvd b/c of quality; wrong it was because they had too.

By: kevin houston tx

kevin houston tx — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 04:11:41 +0000

what you guys dont understand or havent seen is the true quality of 1080p! 1080i is more lines but strung together. 1080p is more vivid and crisp and is worth the $280 dollar different. you guys have not seen 1080p on a samsung with 120hz refresh using blu ray… i know u havent because it is unreal. its like looking into glass. what is toshiba going to do when 1440p comes out????? argue then 1080p is the same? not true. the idea behind television now is to reporduce the image as if u were looking at it with your own eyes bringing u too places u never been. did u know that the sony ps3 is only a firmware upgrade away from processing 1440p????!????!?!? long term there!