Blu-ray vs. HD DVD Discussion Thread

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The next generation of DVDs are here, but we are not sure which is going to stick around. Some think there will be a victor in this battle, some think both formats will be fine.

Blu-ray Disc- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu_ray
HD DVD - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_DVD

Before Blu-ray and HD DVD movies were released, it was generally understood that:

Blu-ray = Expensive, but holds more data

HD DVD = Cheaper, but holds less data

But with the achievement of dual and multiple layer technology(just like the ones on regular DVDs) on these discs, and with the movies in high definition fitting onto both format of discs just fine, Blu-ray's larger data space no longer seems to be a big advantage that once it was.

But at the same time, HD DVD doesn't seem to have a big edge in pricing, so far. I'm not 100%, but difference in Blu-ray or HD DVD movies seem to be just few dollars at the most, if any.
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The key to winning this battle is really about the distribution. How much Blu-ray or HD DVD can they put in people's homes. Blu-ray has the clear edge, however. I think it's safe to say that Playstation 3 will become the best selling "next gen" DVD player, and this automatically puts Blu-ray Disc players in millions of homes. They also have larger backing from movie studios, which equals to more movie titles on their discs.

HD DVD of course is getting a boost from a video gaming company as well. Sony's main rival in video game biz, Microsoft is releasing an add-on HD DVD player for their Xbox 360, soon. This should help with the sales of HD DVD, greatly.
 
Dang. I forgot why I created this thread in the first place. I apologize for the double post, but this is an article I wanted to post, separate from the original post.



latimes.com
MGM Deal a Bold Miscalculation for Sony
The electronics giant took only a minority stake in the studio, then lost control of the prize it had fervently sought.
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When Sony first bought the rights to MGM movies, I thought Sony had clinched a victory in the next gen DVD format war. But the latest news is, the deal was a failure for Sony.

Good news for Blu-ray fans, or Sony is this part:
from the same article
Sony remains a 20% investor in MGM and is sure to recoup its initial $250-million investment. MGM's commitment to Blu-ray remains intact, giving Sony an edge in a format war with Toshiba Corp.'s competing HD-DVD technology. And Sony Pictures gets to share in the proceeds of the James Bond sequel opening next month and a future installment of the popular spy series, which could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue.
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i think more capacity is better, and over time blu-rays will get chaper.
In future resolution will rise from 1080p and then capacity is king.
Blu-ray drives or players are bit steap though(combo drives are even more expensive).
 
I'm pretty much undecided for either, but I often lean towards HD-DVD now and then. I think money obviously plays the biggest role in what format I would support at the moment, and given that my funds are limited overall, I don't like either. But as things get cheaper and technology costs are lowered in reguards to equipment that can take full advantage of the formats, I'm happy with regular DVDs.
 
a6m5
HD DVD of course is getting a boost from a video gaming company as well. Sony's main rival in video game biz, Microsoft is releasing an add-on HD DVD player for their Xbox 360, soon. This should help with the sales of HD DVD, greatly.
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No, it won't. The HD-DVD drive will sell like a turd like every other console add-on ever (with only 3 exceptions that are even arguable), and the help the format will get from it will be negligable. (This has been an opinion based on historical precedent)


But anyways I personally am going to take a wait and see approach with both.
 
YSSMAN
I'm pretty much undecided for either, but I often lean towards HD-DVD now and then. I think money obviously plays the biggest role in what format I would support at the moment, and given that my funds are limited overall, I don't like either. But as things get cheaper and technology costs are lowered in reguards to equipment that can take full advantage of the formats, I'm happy with regular DVDs.
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Same here. HD-DVD costs half the price of Blu-ray, but it's movie selection isn't as good as Blu-ray. Blu-ray has a better selection of movies, but it costs $1000 compared to $500. If someone put a gun to my head and told me to choose which format will win, I'd choose Blu-ray, if only for the fact that the PS3 supports it.
Toronado
No, it won't. The HD-DVD drive will sell like a turd like every other console add-on ever (with only 3 exceptions that are even arguable), and the help the format will get from it will be negligable. (This has been an opinion based on historical precedent)
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Well, it depends. If Blu-ray wins, it of course won't sell, and I doubt the add-on will be a big seller even without a clear winner now. However, if HD-DVD won, and since many people have Xbox 360s, sales for the add-on would probably greatly increase.
 
Duċk;2460993
Well, it depends. If Blu-ray wins, it of course won't sell, and I doubt the add-on will be a big seller even without a clear winner now. However, if HD-DVD won, and since many people have Xbox 360s, sales for the add-on would probably greatly increase.
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I know. But saying that one format or the other may get a legitimate boost from the addon itself will most likely prove inaccurate.
 
Toronado
No, it won't. The HD-DVD drive will sell like a turd like every other console add-on ever (with only 3 exceptions that are even arguable), and the help the format will get from it will be negligable. (This has been an opinion based on historical precedent)


But anyways I personally am going to take a wait and see approach with both.
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IMO, Yes, it will. Will HD DVD sales be slow, I think so, too. But remember, I never said that HD DVD will be popular, or outsell Blu-ray. If anything, what I said was the opposite of that.

Microsoft, just by offering add-on HD DVD player for the Xbox 360 is free advertisement and media exposure for the HD DVD Camp(Toshiba, etc.). These new formats need exposure to the public telling them that next generation DVDs are here. Now imagine if Microsoft never touched HD DVD. No news of HD DVD player for Xbox 360, nothing. Consumers interest in HD DVD would drop significantly, especially in the teen to 30's age group, which would be doing most of the DVD player and movie shopping anyway. Also, I have a hunch that X360's add-on player will be the best selling HD DVD player. I think there is a strong possibility for that, and if it was even in the top-3, would you still claim that it didn't boost the sales of HD DVD?

In my early assumption :D , numbers of HD DVD players sold will not even come close to the sales numbers of the Blu-ray Disc players(which of course include the PS3). But when I say that X360 add-on will help HD DVD sales, I'm not claiming that this will make the HD DVD sale profitable or anything like that. ;)
 
a6m5
Also, I have a hunch that X360's add-on player will be the best selling HD DVD player.
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Being the best selling HD-DVD player outright for the next 6 years? I doubt that. Remember, this add-on is an add-on, not an actual player by itself. It still requires an X360.
 
Duċk;2461015
Being the best selling HD-DVD player outright for the next 6 years? I doubt that. Remember, this add-on is an add-on, not an actual player by itself. It still requires an X360.
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You are right. I'm just thinking about next couple years, because I presonally believe that Blu-ray/HD DVD battle will be decided in next year or two. But of course, I never explained any of that. Sorry! :D

Edit:
Also, just like I would count the PS3 as a Blu-ray player, I would count X360 add-on as a HD DVD player. If I buy a PS3, it would save me hundreds on not having to buy a separate Blu-ray Disc player. My thinking is that there will be millions of people like me, who buys PS3 not only as a video gaming console, but also a next gen DVD player.

As for the X360 add-on, as far as I'm concerned, the system requiring Xbox 360 to play movies does not change anything. Of course, one of the reason why I believe this add-on will be the best selling HD DVD player is because of the low price(to the people who owns X360).
 
It's no doubt HD-DVD had a much better start than BD. HD-DVD had great looking movies from the start and had a great player that best displayed them.

Sony, didn't have a player on BD release day, and NO decent movies, either. The only player available made even the good BD movies look bad, and there weren't too many of them, either. (A picture noise filter that could not be turned off was to blame).

This is classic example of Sony promising us the Sun, Moon and the stars and giving us a comet that crashes on Earth.

But, things are improving. I'll have to wait and see how I like the BD movies on my PS3 to decide if I'll stick with it, or move to HD-DVD.
 
I had no idea. :ill: This could be really bad for Sony and Blu-ray....... And since they are rushing the release of PS3, could the PS3's BD capability be pretty poor, too?
 
a6m5
I had no idea. :ill: This could be really bad for Sony and Blu-ray....... And since they are rushing the release of PS3, could the PS3's BD capability be pretty poor, too?
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I wouldn't say "poor", but I doubt it'll be that good.
 
a6m5
Before Blu-ray and HD DVD movies were released, it was generally understood that:

Blu-ray = Expensive, but holds more data

HD DVD = Cheaper, but holds less data

But with the achievement of dual and multiple layer technology(just like the ones on regular DVDs) on these discs, and with the movies in high definition fitting onto both format of discs just fine, Blu-ray's larger data space no longer seems to be a big advantage that once it was.
Click to expand...
Actually it only gave Blu-ray more of an advantage. Blu-ray stores 25G per layer, while HD DVD can only store 15GB. Because HD DVD uses the same disc architecture as SD DVD, it is limited to three layers, although DVD manufacturers were never able to make 3-layer DVDs for production. Blu-ray on the other hand is capable of having as many as 8 layers (200GB). However, the specs for pre-recorded films on both Blu-ray and HD DVD is limited to 2-layers... so either way, Blu-ray not only has a significantly more capacity for HD films, but for games, recorders, and PCs, 4-8 layer (100-200GB) discs are not out of the question.

Another advantage to BD over HD DVD is it's higher bit rate capabilities.

The key to winning this battle is really about the distribution. How much Blu-ray or HD DVD can they put in people's homes. Blu-ray has the clear edge, however. I think it's safe to say that Playstation 3 will become the best selling "next gen" DVD player, and this automatically puts Blu-ray Disc players in millions of homes. They also have larger backing from movie studios, which equals to more movie titles on their discs.
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Agreed.

Blu-ray also has a significantly larger support from DVD player manufacturers giving consumers a much wider selection of hardware as well as software.

I posted this in a different thread before seeing this thread, but it really belongs here:

For those wondering about who may win the optical HD format war, HD DVD (Toshiba) now appears they might be losing their only exclusive studio support. Insiders at Universal have been leaking rumors on AVS that they are strongly considering supporting Blu-ray as well starting later next year.

This would be the fourth studio now to drop their exclusive support for HD DVD. Should this happen, then Blu-ray will have the support from all the major studios. Blu-ray already has exclusive support from Columbia TriStar, 20th Century Fox, and Buena Vista (Disney, Miramax, Dimension, Touchstone, Pixar, etc). Adding to that, the vast majority of manufacturers that dominate the DVD market exclusively support Blu-ray.

This is likely one of the reasons why many speculated that MS didn't wait to include HD DVD drives in the XB360, and only offer it as an add-on in fear that they might get stuck with a losing format.


Duck
Same here. HD-DVD costs half the price of Blu-ray, but it's movie selection isn't as good as Blu-ray. Blu-ray has a better selection of movies, but it costs $1000 compared to $500.
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If you want to spend that. You can get full 1080p Blu-ray playback capability with HDMI 1.3 no less (something missing from the current HD DVD players) on the $500 PS3. As a fully committed Home Theater enthusiast, I know for a fact that there are many home theater enthusiasts who are planning on buying PS3s strictly as a Blu-ray player. So while we wont know just how good or different it will be compared to standalone BD players until it is released, it still means you can have a blu-ray player for $500, and not limited to $1,000 players.


Personally, while I don't think HD DVD even has a slim hope for survival, at least not in terms of any meaningful sales, I also don't think Blu-ray is going to set any sales records. Although the PS3 will help, the vast majority of the consumer marketplace have three primary concerns, cost, convenience, and content. For these reasons, SD DVD will be outselling both HD DVD and Blu-ray for many years to come! Blu-ray may not be entirely relegated to nichedom thanks to the PS3, recorders, and PC users, but I don't think we'll find any reputable industry analysts who are predicting either of these formats to do as well as SD DVD has.
 
Digital-Nitrate
Although the PS3 will help, the vast majority of the consumer marketplace have three primary concerns, cost, convenience, and content. For these reasons, SD DVD will be outselling both HD DVD and Blu-ray for many years to come!
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For the first few years, yes, DVD's will outsell HD and BR, just like VHS outsold DVD's. When prices dropped (cost), more movies were released (convenience) and the Easter Eggs, deleted scenes, etc. (content) were added, VHS didn't stand a chance. Besides, what guy can say no to a new remote? DVD's will suffer the same fate, as the cycle will be the same - prices will drop, more movies with more "stuff" will come out and DVD's will be something my kids ask "What is that, dad?"
 
I agree with most of what you are saying, and I hope your right becuase if it does take off, then costs will drop quickly and there will be a great deal more content to choose from.

However, there are some big differences that will likely prevent HD video from suceeding at any where near the same pace as DVD did against VHS.

After all, with DVD, every consumer could immeadiately use all of what DVD had to offer. It also provided many conveniences and added features that VHS did not. In the case of HD video, it has very little added value over SD DVD other than performance... but to fully enjoy the additional performance you'll also need specific types and sizes of displays.

Even when more HDTVs penetrate the market, there are still obsticles to be passed. For instance, in a recent nation wide poll of HDTV owners, more than 50% of those polled said that they don't use HD receivers or HD Cable service because everything they watch is already in HD because they own an HDTV.... so there is a great deal of misunderstanding of what HD really means, and the difference between a source that is scaled to HD and one that is native HD.

I hope you are right, but by all appearences HD video has a long road ahead of it before it is adopted by the majority of consumers, and I really don't think it will come close to matching the same pace of adoption that we saw with DVD over VHS. :(
 
Digital-Nitrate
Actually it only gave Blu-ray more of an advantage. Blu-ray stores 25G per layer, while HD DVD can only store 15GB. Because HD DVD uses the same disc architecture as SD DVD, it is limited to three layers, although DVD manufacturers were never able to make 3-layer DVDs for production. Blu-ray on the other hand is capable of having as many as 8 layers (200GB). However, the specs for pre-recorded films on both Blu-ray and HD DVD is limited to 2-layers... so either way, Blu-ray not only has a significantly more capacity for HD films, but for games, recorders, and PCs, 4-8 layer (100-200GB) discs are not out of the question.

Another advantage to BD over HD DVD is it's higher bit rate capabilities.
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I do see your point of view, but I still think this helps HD DVD, more. Please hear me out. I believe that for majority of consumers(casual ones), HD DVD doubling 15GB is more important than BD going 50GB with their dual layer discs. I could be wrong here, but for games and movies, 30GB will be sufficient and it also puts HD DVD in the same league with the Blu-ray Discs, as fars as the storage space for most movies and games goes.

This of course doesn't apply when it comes to data storage for computers, but I think most of the sales on these discs comes from the recorded medias like the movies, music and games.
 
As far as films go I agree, although there are some exceptions of films that would have to be broken up as they would need more than 30GB, and that's not even counting special features. For instance, one of the key issues for Disney in their support of Blu-ray is that they already knew they wanted more than 30GB disc space, which is why they have been waiting patiently for the dual layer Blu-ray discs to become available.

Then there is the issue of releasing entire TV series on as few discs as possible... which again gives Blu-ray the edge.

But perhaps most important is getting the content you want. Currently the only exclusive titles for HD DVD are from Universal... and if the rumors are true that may end soon. Blu-ray on the otherhand is exclusively supported by studios with thousands of hit films and classics at their disposal. Unless things change, this in itself will kill HD DVD, because at the end of the day its about getting the films you want.. not the format. Much like the format war with consoles. It wont matter how good any of these consoles are, or even how bad as long as they have highly sought after exclusive games that are only available on one console.

Speaking of games, even if Blu-ray games never exceed 20GB, that's still twice as large as what's available for the XB360 as it doesn't support HD DVD games. I also suspect that game developers will exceed 20GB, and even more as long as it means offering a better selling game.

Peter Jackson has been talking about developing moviegame combos that would easily eat up a 50GB BD disc, and this is still early in the game. I'm sure in the next two years, developers will likely find all sorts if fun ways of eating up all the disc capacity that Blu-ray is able to offer.


In the end however, as you said, its all about distribution, and product choices, and clearly the studios and manufacturers by their overwhelming support of Blu-ray over HD DVD despite the big head start HD DVD has had in the market place, feel the added advantages of Blu-ray are worth betting on.

Only time will tell, but if HD DVD has any chance of survival its going to have to get more support from the studios, and they also need a lot more manufacturer support!
 
I wasn't aware that there were films that could take more than 30GB of space, plus, good point on TV series DVD sets. I'm a huge fan of those, so I do hear you loud and clear there.

Edit:
I'd rep you, but it won't let me! Keep up the good work, I guess. :lol:
 
Six months ago I would have been "BLU-RAY FTW!! W00T!!"

While I do still think that Blu-Ray is the technically superior format, with the added advantage of increased storage space, at this point I'm in a holding pattern. I'm going to wait to see which format wins before I fully commit to one or the other.

When I get my PS3, I'm going to buy one, maybe two Blu-Ray movies to watch on it. Depends on what's out at the time, and what format it's in (I'm ignoring all of the launch titles.. single-layer MPEG2 << dual-layer VC1). It kind of bugs me that I actually have to research specific titles beforehand to find out what codec it uses. DVD was simple, everything was the same.. hehe.

So while I'll buy a couple movies for PS3, I'm not committing to the format unless it becomes obvious that it's going to win the format war. I'm not committing to HD-DVD, either... I won't even have a player for that (if Microsoft thinks I'm buying their add-on just to watch movies, they can bite me).

Wait and see.... wait and see.
 
Jedi2016
When I get my PS3, I'm going to buy one, maybe two Blu-Ray movies to watch on it. Depends on what's out at the time, and what format it's in (I'm ignoring all of the launch titles.. single-layer MPEG2 << dual-layer VC1). It kind of bugs me that I actually have to research specific titles beforehand to find out what codec it uses. DVD was simple, everything was the same.. hehe.
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While DVDs use the same codec (MPEG2), they most definetely do not all look the same.

Technologically speaking, codecs are no where near the weak link in the chain of events required for a film to be transferred to video. There are absolute reference DVDs that have been made over the years that despite the low resolution of DVD, look spectacular! At the same time there have been far more absolutely dreadful looking DVDs.... and yet they all use MPEG2.

The real value of VC1 and MPEG4 is higher compression, which uses less disc space and is faster to stream over the internet. Picture quality from film transfers is practically unnoticeable when comparing the same film sources compressed using different codecs, except under unrealistic viewing conditions. Garbage in is still garabage out, and neither VC1, MPEG4, or MPEG2 is going to do anything to improve or detract from the picture quality by any significant amount.

Just like with DVD which only used MPEG2, the determining factor for reference quality HD DVD and Blu-ray releases will depend almost entirely on the quality of the original source (camera used, lens used, processing used, quality of negative or worse, if they have to use a print), and then the quality of the transfer... too often, technicians using old or improperly calibrated equipent which can take a pristine film negative and ruin it with over processing, edge enhacement, dithering, poor color balance, etc).

I have read some of the reviews for Blu-ray titles.. often coming from HD DVD "guys", and they are alomst entriely laughable in their ignorant focus and blame for any problem due to MPEG2.... its nonsense, and shows a total lack of understanding on how films are transferred to video, and how that effects the end results.


However, for those who feel passionate about VC1 and MPEG4, Most studios will likely be using them for their Blu-ray releases, as it gives them more space on the disc, and saves them money by being able to use the same transfers for multiple distribution uses.


So while I'll buy a couple movies for PS3, I'm not committing to the format unless it becomes obvious that it's going to win the format.
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Which is a very reasonable thing to do.
 
This alone, with 150-200 GB discs possible, will push the hard drive capacity race even further.

I have an 80GB hard drive. This just blows my mind.
 
I have to sayI'm preferr the blue ray disk. But this poll is almost a no-win situation. but if was for quality I go for blue ray. If it's quantity I would rather have, I'd go with HD DVD
 
As I did with DVD (remember Divx?), I'm going to wait until the dust settles in 18-24 months. Soon enough we'll see "sideline players" in the electronics industry come out with units that play both Blu-ray and DVD-HD, and the argument won't matter much to me.

DVD is still a viable product for at least another 5 years, I'm not a huge fan of those extras in movies, anyhow. The one advantage I can see is for having one disk for an entire season of a TV show, or perhaps long movies like The Godfather without having to get up from your seat (although an intermission is quite necessary).
 
I'm surprised this many people voted for Blu-Ray, but then again this is a Playstation forum per se. Every other forum (not necesarrily a Xbox forum, or a console forum, say like AVSforum or other PC hardware forums), people have gotten word about HD-DVD out and a big majority prefer it and would like it to win the format over Blu-Ray. All the votes here are probably from misinformed people and I doubt anyone who has voted in this poll even has a blu-ray player and/or movies. I have the 360 hd-dvd add-on drive myself. My only complaint is relatively low sound volume, I have to crank my surround system near to maximum for what I would call acceptable "theatre experience volume" or whatever, but then again my audio system isn't that great either.

Anyway at the moment HD-DVD is winning just like it has for the past 6 months or however long it has been since it came out. I think it will be a long battle ahead and IMHO both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will keep being niche formats in the same way Laserdisc was in comparison in VHS. It was better, but it wasn't more popular. The good thing is that both are not that much more expensive than DVD. Compared to new releases on DVD, they average from same to $5 more for an average HD-DVD or possibly $7-$8 more if it's a expensive combo disc. At least that's how it is over here anyway (this is comparing prices of DVDs and HD-DVD at Wal-mart).
 
Beta vs. VHS. Beta was clearly the technical advantage over VHS, but who one that battle? VHS. The Porn industry, believe it or not, was the deciding factor that made VHS the winner. With Al Gore's invention of the internet, and being the media of choice for the Porn industry, I wonder what will be the deciding factor this time?

Quite honestly, the uninformed public can understand what HD-DVD is as HD is the buzz word of late, and DVD is a familiar technology and term for the laymen. "Blu-Ray" on the other hand doesn't have the marketing clout or leverage of association for the ill educated John-Q.

I would hope that the better technology wins, but unfortunately, the best marketed product usually wins.
 
MustangSVT
I'm surprised this many people voted for Blu-Ray, but then again this is a Playstation forum per se. Every other forum (not necesarrily a Xbox forum, or a console forum, say like AVSforum or other PC hardware forums), people have gotten word about HD-DVD out and a big majority prefer it and would like it to win the format over Blu-Ray.
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This is absurd nonsense. I have been following with great interest the development of both these formats for over four years and have been a participating member on both leading Home Theater forums (AVS & HTF) for nearly ten years.

While it is true that on AVS and HTF the HD DVD marketing machine is in full swing hoping to sway unsuspecting consumers who do not bother themselves with actually understanding the real differences between the formats - and those who have already invested in HD DVD obviously want to convince everyone to support it so they don't get stuck with a useless player - the facts remain the same. The ONLY advantage HD DVD has over Blu-ray is price, and as anyone who follows the history of electronics, knows these are cost differences that will obviously narrow as sales grow.. leaving HD DVD with NO advantage over Blu-ray... while at the same time Blu-ray has many key advantages over HD DVD.

The problem with HD DVD is that its nothing more than standard DVD, but with a different laser, and new codecs. This means it is restricted in many of the same ways that DVD has been over the last ten years. The reason for this was to keep costs down, as they could use the same equipment to manufacture and press HD DVD discs.

Many members of the DVD Forum found this to be a poor direction to go, and that an entirely new disc format needed to be designed to offer consumers a significantly superior product over standard DVD in order to insure that the next format would not simply become a niche product.

With that in mind, many of the largest consumer electronic companies worked together to create Blu-ray. As it uses an entirely new disc design, it has the advantage of greater capacity, more layers, and higher bandwidth.

In addition to those benefits, Blu-ray supports film playback at its original 24p frame rate with its native timing, while HD DVD uses only 30p timing for 24p thus it must use 3:2 pulldown adding repeating frames which can easily cause motion artifacts, more easily noticeable in panning shots because each pixel in each frame is changing.

Blu-ray also supports AC-3 audio at 640 kbit/s, while HD DVD's maximum for AC-3 is 448 kbit/s. And as an added bonus to developers, it also includes open source java support.

All these advanatges that Blu-ray offers have earned the support of companies like Dell, HP, Apple, and almost every major DVD manufacturer with the obvious exception of Toshiba.

The success of any format though will be largely decided on by content, and in this regard HD DVD is again in a losing battle. Not only are consumers limited in their choices of players, but HD DVD lost their exclusive support from Paramount, Warner, and New Line. This means that the only major studio that currently exclusively supports HD DVD is Universal Studios, and insiders have been hinting that may end soon as well. Meanwhile, Blu-ray enjoys the exclusive support from the following studios:
In addition Blu-ray has non exclusive support from the following studios:

Bottom line: Besides being technically better than HD DVD, Blu-ray has exclusive support from far more manufacturers resulting in far more choices in players than HD DVD. Most importantly though, with its numerous exclusive support from major studios, thousands of highly sought after film titles will ONLY be available on Blu-ray.


All the votes here are probably from misinformed people and I doubt anyone who has voted in this poll even has a blu-ray player and/or movies. I have the 360 hd-dvd add-on drive myself. My only complaint is relatively low sound volume, I have to crank my surround system near to maximum for what I would call acceptable "theatre experience volume" or whatever, but then again my audio system isn't that great either.
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It would appear they are far more informed than yourself judging by some of your comments on these formats... however, it is understandable why you are trying to suggest otherwise as you admit you bought the HD DVD add-on to your XB360... which would be entirely useless if HD DVD dies (as many industry analysts have predicted) as the XB360 does not support HD DVD for games.
 
Looks like HD DVD format isn't going to get much support from the XB360 HD DVD player install base. So far they have sold only 42,000 players which means that only 1% of XB360 owners have so far purchased one.

Combining sales of Toshiba's & XB360 HD DVD players and then comparing that to the combined sales of Panasonic's, Philips', Pioneer's, Samsung's, Sony's, and PS3 Blu-ray players - currently the installed base of Blu-ray players is estimated at being over 15 times greater than HD DVD.
 
Pako
Beta vs. VHS. Beta was clearly the technical advantage over VHS, but who one that battle? VHS. The Porn industry, believe it or not, was the deciding factor that made VHS the winner. With Al Gore's invention of the internet, and being the media of choice for the Porn industry, I wonder what will be the deciding factor this time?
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Your use of the word "uninformed" is interesting.

The adult industry was only partially responsible for the victory of VHS. They went along with it for the same reason that the consumers did.. you could fit more on a VHS tape than you could on a Betamax tape. At the time VHS was launched, Betamax tapes were only available as one-hour tapes. So you'd have to swap tapes if you were watching OR recording a movie. Whereas VHS could hold an entire movie on one tape. By the time Betamax caught up and started making two-hour tapes, it was too late.

The other contributor was the manufacturers of the players. Sony was the only one making Betamax players. Everybody and their brother was making VHS players, which means the cost of those came down significantly faster, allowing more average consumers to buy them.

If you're aware of ALL of the facts behind the loss of Betamax, you'll actually find that it's HD-DVD that's in the same situation Betamax was, not Blu-ray. Limited studio support, limited manufacturer support, and lower capacity. People like to say that the failure of Betamax was Sony's fault, so Sony couldn't possibly release a successful format. They conveniently forget the fact that Sony also has quite a few successes under their belt.. Like reel-to-reel tape, the 3.5" floppy diskette.

And this isn't Sony's first disc technology, either. Back in the late seventies, they teamed up with Philips (like they're teaming up with other manufacters on Blu-ray) to create a little thing called a "compact disc". Maybe you're familiar with this technology?
 

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