So Blu Ray is dead ... WRONG... Read this

[gotnotime]

For all of you that have jumped on the bandwagon to celebrate the apparent demise of blu ray. Well think again. This from Tom's Hardware site:



Culver City (CA) - According to figures released by Nielsen VideoScan, recent Blu-Ray sales are trouncing HD-DVD by a 2 to 1 margin. The figures add up sales from retail registers, along with some websites, and cover the second week of January 2007. According to Nielsen, Blu-Ray has also closed the gap in total sales since inception from 14% to 7%. If the trend continues, Blu-Ray should overtake HD-DVD in less than a month

http://www.tgdaily.com/2007/02/01/bluray_beating_hddvd_nielsen/

[ozymango]

Reminds me of the Laservision vs. CED disc battle for supremacy.

[gotnotime]

CED disc that was a great one. I never saw them, but I was always curious what it would sound like if played on a reord player.

[Conquest10]

I guess the brain washing and constant ads are working. I got a pack of Sony DVD+Rs for Christmas. At first I thought they had messed up and gotten me Blu-Ray discs. There was more info on Blu-Ray than DVD+R on and in the packaging.

[SingSing]

Of course, they are ringing up the free disc that Sony are paying.

[Bjs]

Well thats my stock going up ... better buy more asap .

[Timmychuck]

I hope Blu-Ray and HD-DVD do good in sales, so they make a dvd players that play both
formats.

[yoda313]

I hope Blu-Ray and HD-DVD do good in sales, so they make a dvd players that play both
formats.

They're supposed to I just don't know when it will hit the markets - and I don't know if it will be cheap enough to make it worthwhile to future proof your collection....

[Dubber]

If they called HD-DVD something distinctive and flashy like Alpha, Hi-Ray, Blaster... something.... , they'd have a better chance.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Of course, they are ringing up the free disc that Sony are paying.

Your probably right,the same as gift certificatestores don't track sales until they are redeemed.

[MJA]

they alraedy hit the market.The LG play cost over $1200

[FulciLives]

Other than those that want a PS3 for game play first (and movies second) I don't see too many people buying dedicated Blu-Ray players.

So is this surge of sales in Blu-Ray attributable to the PS3? My guess is YES.

I've heard that Microsoft is working on a Xbox 360 Version 2 that will have a built-in HDMI port (missing on the original Xbox 360) but I hope they also make Version 2 a "combo unit" that can also play HD-DVD discs so you don't have to buy the separate HD-DVD add-on. A all-in-one unit would not only look nicer but would probably boost HD-DVD sales.

Also where are the 2nd generation of HD-DVD dedicated players? The 1st gen was about $500 so I expect the 2nd gen to be no more than $400 if not less.

Oh and one last thing ... I thought Warner Bros. was in the HD-DVD camp but I see on AMAZON.COM that there are many Warner Bros. titles that are available on HD-DVD as well as Blue-Ray so like what's up with that!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[cal_tony]

It all seems so close The new hi def formats. The new TVs. As far as I'm concerned it's like the concept cars at the Auto show. Look great, and all ready to go, but in actuality, maybe a decade ot two away at best from being in my garage.
I have had my big screen for a couple of years. Works great. Super picture with over the air hi def or some well done Dvds. Last week on this site someone was looking for advice regarding a good Dvd player that would also do DivX. The suggestion was given that the Philips model DVP5960 was the ticket. So, I bought one. Hooked it to the HDMI port on my tv and now my Dvds do look a little better, but I,m afraid it will be quite a while before anything else is plugged into my Tv using that port.

All in all, quite a disappointment. Not the new technology.... but the greedy bastards, including the congress, who all want more than their share of this new technology to go their way before they let it get to far ahead of them.

Without someone to really push either format forward, it all seems to be... slow as molasseses.

[MozartMan]

Of course, they are ringing up the free disc that Sony are paying.

Toshiba was giving away THREE HD-DVDs with the player.
So, if you count those disks on both sides, the sales is even more in the favor of Blue-ray.

[adam]

Oh and one last thing ... I thought Warner Bros. was in the HD-DVD camp but I see on AMAZON.COM that there are many Warner Bros. titles that are available on HD-DVD as well as Blue-Ray so like what's up with that!

Warner Bros. announced non-exclusive support for HD-DVD. So they favor that format but still release certain movies in both formats. Universal and the Weinstein Company are the only studios that exclusively support HD-DVD. On the other hand, Sony, Lion's Gate, Fox, Disney, and MGM are all exclusive to blu-ray. (caveat: MGM coproduces most of its films so if any HD-DVD backed studio is involved it may also be released on HD-DVD.) In my opinion, that is what explains the increased blu-ray sales. The three studios that had the highest box office revenues last year were Sony, Disney, and Fox. All of these studios only release on blu-ray. People aren't necessarily choosing blu-ray as the better format, they are just buying the most popular films out there and right now those films are only available in blu-ray format. If Universal released a major blockbuster it could sway the numbers back in the favor of HD-DVD for a while. That's the way it goes with exclusive content. But all in all, studio backing strongly favors blu-ray.

[Wile_E]

Reminds me of the Laservision vs. CED disc battle for supremacy.

These links hold a lot of nostalgia for CED. I did not know that laserdisc came out at around the same time as RCA's Selectavision CED. My dad used to sell CED players and discs. I thought they were neat, but had a lot of drawbacks. They were clunky machines, and sometimes the stylus would skip and scratch a disc.

www.cedmagic.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SelectaVision

[Chopmeister]

I am still planning to watch this unfold from the sidelines for some time before I plonk down cold hard cash for anything. I want to make sure of key things like which format is likely to survive and (more importantly) which DRM turns out to be the least craptastic (of even better still - I would like to buy one when it is irretrievably broken, so that I know I retain fair use rights!).

I still think that it is sad and ironic that I am one of the normal early adopters, who can afford a whole system upgrade (HD TV, Hidef player, 7.1 sound etc) and because they are so worried that I might keep the rights I have with DVD or pirate a disc (which I don't do) that they have ensured that they will instead get no new money at all out of me.

When it all shakes down and I know what will survive, and that I can buy a TV etc that won't be stranded by the next iteration of the DRM spec, just like those poor saps who outllaid a fortune in HD TVs with no HDCP. then I will purchase. Until then, DVD remains "good enough", and the format wars and pricing remain of curiosity/academic interest only.

[rhegedus]

Sony's stranglehold will continue: the biggest film of 2006, Casino Royale, is only being released on Blu-Ray and standard DVD, not HD-DVD.

[Specialist]

But all in all, studio backing strongly favors blu-ray.

Yes, but if you want the original Star Trek series (Paramount), you have to buy "HD DVD."

HD DVD continued to emphasize the importance of their partnerships with Warner Brothers, Paramount, Microsoft and Intel. But this press conference was more about new alliances. HD DVD signed on several hardware manufacturers to manufacture HD DVD players: Onkyo(Japan), Alco(China), and Shinco(China) will help expand the HD DVD player line in hopes to match the amount of makers on the Blu Ray camp, such as Philips, Pioneer and Samsung—clearly bigger names. Meridien, a well known company that makes high-end digital video and audio devices, has also boarded the HD DVD train.

In set-tops, Toshiba is already starting to ship the HD-XA2 and the HD-A2, the current generation HD DVD players. Toshiba just announced the HD-A20, which ships in spring 2007. Two days ago, they announced the first HD DVD writer for desktops. As you may recall, the first HD DVD-ROM did not have burning capabilities, whereas Blu-Ray did. Later on in the year, Toshiba will announce slim drive HD DVD writers for laptops. They plan to expand storage capacity from 15GB to 17GB, still far less than the 50-GB dual layer discs Blu-Ray currently has in the market.

HD DVD also announced a partnership with Broadcom, a leading provider of wireless chipsets, to work on their reference designs.

In terms of content, HD DVD has received international support from Bandai, one of the largest animation companies in the world; Studio Canal, a French-based production with the third-largest film library in the world; Pathe, a French movie company; and HDnet, founded by Dallas Maverick's owner, Mark Cuban.

All in all, however, execs professed themselves satisfied with the format's progress, and its efforts to compete against the rival Blu-Ray format. HD DVD has released 250 movies worldwide, and they expect to release 300 more in the year 2007, executives said. Some of the planned new releases in 2007 include Happy Feet, The Departed, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. They plan to re-master older flicks, too, like the Matrix trilogy, ScarFace, and the original Star Trek series. Best of all, a growing percentage of these titles are combo discs, easing the transition between HD DVD and DVD formats.

And yes, people are buying HD DVD movies. HD DVD annualized it to 28 movies per player bought this year. The 2007 forecast, based on annualized attached rates, should reach over 600 million dollars by the end of the year, according to the group.

One of the biggest improvements that HD DVD has over Blu Ray is the interactive content on their discs, the group claimed. Take King Kong, Superman Returns, MI:3, and The Fast and the Furious(Tokyo Drift) for example: the "Extras" on the disc feature black and white storyboards and in-depth commentaries from the actors and producers. In Tokyo Drift, they actually embedded a virtual GPS device that mapped out the exact location of the speed chases in Japan.

HD DVD is also touting their online community, where you can create bookmarks of your favorite movie scenes and share them with people in that community. For example, you can select your favorite scenes from a movie, access the HD DVD "online community", and have someone from the community download those scenes directly into their HD DVD player. Memory will be built-in to these set top players so you can save these bookmarks.

http://tinyurl.com/ywqohc

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[rhegedus]

Yes, but if you want the original Star Trek series (Paramount), you have to buy "HD DVD."

Aside from a few nerds, who is that going to effect?

[Specialist]

Aside from a few nerds, who is that going to effect?

Many of us absolutely must have the GORN episode in high def.

8)

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[FulciLives]

The newly remastered HDTV episodes of the original STAR TREK are breath-taking when I can catch it on TV. I would love to have the whole series like that on HD-DVD.

Sure beats staying up til 2am to watch it LOL

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[rhegedus]

Your parents let you stay up that late on school days?

[FulciLives]

Your parents let you stay up that late on school days?

I admit I am 34 and love William Shatner (in a non gay way of course) and I am more than willing to share this as I don't live in my parents' basement (nor garage).



BTW here is a killer youtube link for you Shatner fans out there: CLICK HERE

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[rhegedus]

I just had a look at the specs of HD and BR - it really is no contest:

Disc capacity: 15/30Gb vs 25/50Gb
Max Video bitrate: 29.4MBps vs 40MBps

Seriously, a 15Gb disc isn't really worth the fuss........

[xxiangg]

I just had a look at the specs of HD and BR - it really is no contest:

Disc capacity: 15/30Gb vs 25/50Gb
Max Video bitrate: 29.4MBps vs 40MBps

Seriously, a 15Gb disc isn't really worth the fuss........

Aside from a few nerds, who is that going to effect? Seriously,
I can wait for a few years, unless there is already a winner.

[Heff]

I just had a look at the specs of HD and BR - it really is no contest:

Disc capacity: 15/30Gb vs 25/50Gb
Max Video bitrate: 29.4MBps vs 40MBps

Seriously, a 15Gb disc isn't really worth the fuss........

Yes but HD-DVD is using the more efficient Microsoft VA1 (?) codec where bluray is using the old mpeg2. Also HD-DVD is also using two layers and I don't knw about lately but Bluray as I understood it has had trouble with doing 2 layers.

Also HD-DVD is doing more to back up the porn industry with some new releasing coming out and they outsell mainstrean DVDs.

[rhegedus]

33% higher bitrate and 60% more capacity is going to effect a lot of films in the 2-3 hour range and all the extras they come with.

Going from 720x480 to 1440x1080 is a 4x increase in resolution - going from a 9Gb to 15Gb disc isn't a 4x increase in capacity/bitrate......

[rhegedus]

Yes but HD-DVD is using the more efficient Microsoft VA1 (?) codec where bluray is using the old mpeg2. Also HD-DVD is also using two layers and I don't knw about lately but Bluray as I understood it has had trouble with doing 2 layers.

Both look the same to me:

https://www.videohelp.com/hd

Also HD-DVD is doing more to back up the porn industry with some new releasing coming out and they outsell mainstrean DVDs.

What is the current financial data for the porn industry?

Until we get some relistic and accurate data (estimates are between $1Bn and $10Bn a year) not just for total revenue but breakdown into VHS/DVD/interenet, the effect of the porn industry cannot be counted on.

[FulciLives]

Well I guess the argument is that a Dual Layer HD-DVD is 30GB whereas a Single Layer Blu-Ray is only 25MB ... thus there are those that say HD-DVD has the capacity needed.

Of course this kinda ignores the fact that BR can be 50GB if Dual Layer and I have no idea how true or false the reports are of BR having trouble with Dual Layer Discs.

So maybe 30GB is enough for a full length movie at 1080p but for us that like to record stuff at home ... having a single layer disc at 25GB is a lot better than having a single layer disc at 15GB so there Blu-Ray is the clear winner.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman