roguefan99

The porn thing (whilst a moot point because everyone downloads it because "The Internet is for porn") was not fully a liscencing issue but also a cost issue early on. Some companies have gone with BR now.

As for price of discs arent they both running at the same prices in Australia these days, I thought most titles were around $40. As for players I'll give you HDDVD are cheaper, but then again if I was going BR I would go PS3 as its the most "compatible" BR player on the market (I await Padre's correction). I wouldn't buy a standalone BR player because of the way the "standard" is moving around at the moment.

Trance

Appearantly MicroSoft is in the HDDVD camp with Toshiba, Sanyo, NEC, Universal and Dreamworks where BRD consisted by Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Fox, Viacom, MGM etc. Deals were cut and contracts were signed for content on only for one format by individual companies! Only exception was WB and sat on the fence for a while and jumped to the BRD side.

suffocator

The porn thing is not as big as it was back in the VHS days, but I still think it will have an impact on the outcome.

The good thing about HD-DVD is tahat you can buy them from anywhere so the prices will be better (esp from the states). Many BD's are also region free which is great to see, they are also a fair bit cheaper from the US.

I think that there are better players out there than the ps3, the pana bd30 is pretty close to the profile 1.1 and it is rumoured to be one of the better players out there, scheduled to be here in feb/march.

I do agree with the holding back on a S/O player due to the constant changing in the BD market.

Thats why I picked up a HD-DVD player and some discs from the states to get my HD fix until blu-ray is locked down. At least the HD-DVD will always work with the player I have, thats while they are still being produced...lol

I am not on any side and as soon as a reliable BD player hits the market at at a reasonable price I will grab it to grow my HD collection. The good thing about HD-DVD is that many of the releases had the TrueHD audio that was lacking on the BD releases.

At the moment there is still so many unknowns floating around and lots of money being thrown around so until all of this settles I think we still have a war to endure.

Thanks,
-Suff

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Australian iPhone Development

suffocator

Its my understanding that microsoft as of yet has stayed out of the format war, the main reason they opted for the HD-DVD for xbox 360 was because it would be a simple plug and play option with cheaper reproduction.
They have been throwing some money at HD-DVD but they still are not officially backing HD-DVD 100%.

Its a shame because the money/marketing that MS could bring to the format would give it a real boost.

-Suff

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Australian iPhone Development

Trance

Not what i read from this official MS press release in 2005

Microsoft and Intel Back HD DVD as Next-Generation High-Definition DVD Format of Choice: Companies cite key criteria for consumer and industry success, join HD DVD Promotion Group.

bassett

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The Porn industry is a big factor, it's also Australia Posts biggest customer,
The fact that Warner have gone with Blue-Ray, may simply be due to the fact they have offered a better deal. It might also me there saving grace.

This war will be won in the states, we in OZ have no control over the outcome , due to our small population and buying capacity. But we are being ripped of with the price of players, the average price in the USA at the moment for a HD-DVD player is $199.00. and despite what you might read the HD-DVD format is miles ahead, with sales and availability.


While these formats might be well known and available in the bigger cities, there non-existent in the bush. Retailers like Sanity Music, and Wow Wicked, simply don't stock any titles And while people can go into places like Woolies and buy a DVD for 8 bucks the take up will not gain strength.
Strangely retailers like Woolies also don't stock the new formats.

Security Man

But Woolies do stock and sell Blu Ray & HD DVD

suffocator

My bad, I hadn't read that press release before, I was simply going off the lack of real support and input from MS. Hopefully they will start to actually get behind it and push it harder.

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Australian iPhone Development

bassett

they might well do in the cities and bigger towns, the Country area's is another matter

connormmii

Then don't bitch about the price then! (Not you obviously)

Padre

Aside from WB goign BD exclusive, Paramount have also announced no new titles for HD DVD...

Looks to be officialy dead now..

FT.com / Mergermarket - Paramount in HD DVD blow
nclick_check=1

therufus

'nother link

FT.com / Companies / Media & internet - Paramount in HD DVD blow

Lazer

Don't forget about HD VMD Versatile Multilayer Disc - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They will start to launch in Australia soon.... another format to battle it out but atleast there player is only around $200 AUD

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Lazer

Padre

this player will be much like the way divx is accepted.. .. people know its good, but it wont get the wideangle backing from most distributors.

I mean pu tit this way, Divx pukes on MPG2, and u can fit al hellofalot more content within a DivX DVD5 disc than u could with MPG2 at the same image quality (note i didnt say encoded bitrate quality as DivX doesnt require high bitrates to offer a decent image
)
DivX doesnt require as many resources as MPG2, but the mass market went with mpg regardless...

In any case, its a decent idea, but i dont see it being adopted by many.

In addition, to specify Wikis innacuracy...
BD/XDcam can only go up to 35mbps. THATS the Blueprint format agnostic.. ie the Sony stnadard for BD @ 1920x1080p
Where they got 48mbps from i have no idea..

Then youve got audio above that but you wont ever see Dolby Digital True with video at 35mbps.. BD just doesnt have the bandwidth for a dual stream at 70mbps, unless its buffering..
More than likely youll see AVCHD at 15mbps with DDD true at teh same bitrate.. in any case, id rather see full raster non GOP AVCHD as opposed to long gop MPG2..
Check out Mr and Mrs Smith on BD and take note of the camera pans and youl'll see what im talking about.

HD DVD can only go up to 25mbps simply because the density of the disc itself cannot handle higher bitrates/bitstreams

VC1 is prety much windows media, well it is windows media just with another name.
In any case, we wont see much unti they work out their issues with DRM