Blue Ray dominates

[revl8er]

I guess the Hi Def war is finally over as Toshiba has dropped out of the Hi Def run. Good thing too since I own a PS3, xD.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080219/ap_on_hi_te/blu_ray_triumph;_ylt=AtjwRIDqVcl_tGiX0wx 9sHAjtBAF

[smcd]

Bad for consumers and their rights as BluRay has mandatory additional protection layers over HDDVD, and backwards compatibility problems across revisions (1.0, 1.1, 2.0 etc) 2.0 requiring internet connection capability, and once again (kept from DVD, and thankfully not required [though i imagine 99% of releases will use]) the lovely region coding nonsense :(

[Toasty]

I find it somewhat annoying that consumers didn't really have a whole lot to do with the decision either. Warner's recent move to exclusively backing Blu-ray was ultimately what triggered the victory. I'm not too fond of Sony either, so the news was disappointing to me. As far as copy-protection goes, whatever they come up with always seems to get cracked, so that part doesn't bother me. Who knows, if internet distribution gets moving, maybe Blu-ray (and physical video distribution in general) will go out of style anyway. :P

[squall_leonhart]

i find it somewhat annoying that people didn't see this happening from the start.

[Mavtak]

At least it's over. I liked HD DVD in the beginning, but at the end of the day I just want one format. Besides, maybe Blu Ray will be better in the long run, as the disks are higher opacity.
Well, also the name is just cooler.
My only real reservation is that I am apprehensive about how Sony will manage the standard. Didn't they already screw over early adopters by making the 1st gen players incomputable with the newer disks?

[JKKDARK]

HD-DVD will be back (at the top), Microsoft promise...

[spartan]

if ps3's didnt have blue ray, HD-dvd would of won. i read somewhere that 97% of blue ray players purchased were ps3's.

[Cyberman]

I doubt there is any victor. Since HD formats thus far aren't worth spit. Literraly they are mostly worthless. They use MP2 and more data to get HD. Instead of a better compression format (MP4) this was purposefully done because MP4 is all over (Can't have people reading our data streams we must protect our.. MONEY).

Remember it's not about format it's about, money.
It will be several years before HD or BR will be even necessary. Namely DivX gives you the same resolution without the studio annoyance. I've been looking at tools for making Divx discs looks practical and CHEAP. A lot of progressive converting DVD players support it. So who cares about BR or even HD DVD. I don't.

Cyb

[knowitman]

Consumers had a big choice in this "victory." Blu-Ray outsold HD-DVD every week since the launch of the PS3. That is consumer choice.

Blu-Ray uses MP4 codecs as well. Only the very first disk releases used MP2. I don't think any of them use MP2 anymore.

ALL Blu-Ray players will be able to play ALL Blu-Ray movies. They just won't be able to play all of the features that may be available on the disk. Early adopters of DVD had a very similar problem. The PS3 is upgradeable to all Blu-Ray specs anyways.

I know that I am enjoying Blu-Rays a lot, and DVDs just look very fuzzy to me now. I can't hardly watch them anymore. The same goes for DL HD content. It isn't anywhere near the same quality as Blu-Ray, and the bandwith infrastructure isn't anywhere close to being able to provide all the needs of everyone DL their content. I for one also prefer physical media so that I have my physical copy.

[EmuFan]

I don´t give a rats ass about ANY of the formats. I am more then happy with regular DVD. And yes, i have tried them both, and yes i have a HD badass TV. It is all a big gimmick to me, even though i know the image quality is better.

[t0rek]

Haven't tested any of them, but I'm happy that the war is over, that will make HD mainstream in a shorter time.

[Stalkid64]

Great, now I can go out and pick up a cheap 360 HD-DVD player for my PC and watch Serenity and Heroes over and over again forever. :)

[smcd]

Wow stalkid64 back from the dead eh? :P

[Stalkid64]

Argh, spotted. Apparently I'm infamous even having been gone for 6 years or so. ;)

[revl8er]

Welcome back even though I don't think I ever saw you before.