UN-biased comparason of blu-ray and HD-DVD

[ssj2_goha]

I am looking into getting a high def dvd player for my 32 in jvc lcd tv and i was wondering if there is a unbiased comparison of the two formats any where? While yes my computer being able to play the format is important I really just want to know witch is the best out there.

on a side note i am leaning towards blu-ray just because of the storage options and that i can get a blue-ray drive fo my iMac........ but i could be easily swayed.

[kurbads]

Wait while there will be players of both formats.
Find a way to connect you 32" LCD TV directly to iMAC.

[ssj2_goha]

I will probably wait, but I just want to know witch one has best quality and such. The main question is typically witch has better video and audio quality on the disc? I use my dvds as master material for my AppleTV. And when I go to a HD disc format i will convert those to AppleTV's 720P format, So i don't have to dig through my already large (800+) dvd collection.

(edit)
iMac to JVC tv is real easy mini-dvdi to dvi adaptor, dvi to HDMI cable. but that is not my main question......

[guns1inger]

There is no difference in quality from a technical perspective. The quality difference comes form the encoding and mastering. The same film watched on both formats will be identical if it has come from the same masters.

That said, not all titles are coming up roses on the new format. The HD version of The Fifth Element is a very poor quality, grainy transfer that is inferior to the SuperBit DVD release. You would have to question the point of releasing films in the HD format if they are inferior to the upscaled DVD version.

Until all the studios release in both formats, or a clear winner emerges, I would question the value of buying into the either camp. But then I would also question the logic in taking a perfectly good 1080p video and dropping the quality to suit Apple's inferior, mid-definition product.

[ssj2_goha]

But then I would also question the logic in taking a perfectly good 1080p video and dropping the quality to suit Apple's inferior, mid-definition product.

As I said in my previous post too many disc to dig though to get the movie I want.....

And 720P IS a HD format not a "mid-deinition" and I am quite happy with it.

[edDV]

But then I would also question the logic in taking a perfectly good 1080p video and dropping the quality to suit Apple's inferior, mid-definition product.

As I said in my previous post too many disc to dig though to get the movie I want.....

And 720P IS a HD format not a "mid-deinition" and I am quite happy with it.

You will have just about as many disks using commercial Blu-Ray or HD DVD releases. If you are talking about authoring your own VC-1 or H.264 @720p, you might get 2-3 movies per layer at resonable picture quality.

[ssj2_goha]

i know and expect to have a lot of High definition discs. I just am defending my choice to back up my discs to the AppleTV 720P format. I do the back up so I have access to all my movies while i keep the originals in a climate controlled room in my basement. (Yes i know i might be considered a bit of a nut job but oh well i don't really care....)

[kurbads]

Blue-Ray has a larger storage capacity, also Blue-Ray is winning because it has more stylish name.

On the other hand a price of 400Gb hard drive cost 25¢ per gigabyte but Blue-Ray or HD blanks cost like 40¢/GB. So the winner is HDD.
Blue-Ray disks will become chepaer, but also the size of HDDs will become larger at the same price. Also you do not have to buy a Blue-Ray recorder, just a harddrive removable bay and bunch of inner cases for the drives. It will certainly take less storing space on the shelf. I have at least three DVD disk folders of 230 disk capacity - it is realy difficult to manage them. But storing a backup on DVD blanks is still cheaper then on HDD, because it costs like 4¢ per gigabyte.

Unless Blue-Ray blanks cost less then 1$ per blank I would not choose them at all.

[guns1inger]

Did anyone actually read the original post ? The question is about players and the quality of commercial releases in each format.

[kurbads]

How can the question be about quality if they are the same bytes and bits just the different media? Does the author suggest that some of two formats skip more data when reading the media?

The question is ceratinly not about commercial releases in each format.

The bytes and bits differ only on machine level in the way it controls the data is read and written corectly. User do not have to care about it. The difference is in encoding formats. A DVD blank can perfectly well store a 2 hour movie in 720p quality when encoded with appropriate codec.

Maybe authoring movies in the disk native format (like mpeg2 for DVD) will require different codec and quality options. But who is going to reencode movies if they are already compressed with some codec like Apple Quicktime.

If you want watch your movies on blue-ray or HD disks, just buy the a HighDefinition DivX player wich recognizes both blue ray and HD disks and also the QuickTime format.

If the industry is not prepared to offer this, well... watch them on computer.

[ssj2_goha]

Did anyone actually read the original post ? The question is about players and the quality of commercial releases in each format.

Absolutely correct! I was just wondering if there WAS a difference in quality or not. I have several TB of hardrive space to store the AppleTV formated files.... I just wanted to know if there was a quality difference so i could get the best "master".

[kurbads]

Are not they both encoded in mpeg2 ? Does FinalCutPro manual have anything about it?

[ssj2_goha]

AVC (h.264, mpeg-4 part 10 what ever you want to call it) is the "recommended" codec for both appleTv files and HD discs.

[edDV]

AVC (h.264, mpeg-4 part 10 what ever you want to call it) is the "recommended" codec for both appleTv files and HD discs.

I don't see the connection with HD-DVD or Blu-Ray which are more about hardware player authoring formats. Both use MPeg2, h,264 or VC-1 in similar specification but they need to be specifically authored to play on Blu-Ray or HD-DVD hardware players.

MPeg2, h.264, VC-1, divx and xvid can also play from hard drives, network servers or special red laser hardware players (most based on Sigma Designs 8xxx chipsets) it you want to bypass Blu-Ray and HD DVD hardware.

The only reasons to care about Blu-Ray or HD-DVD is if you want to buy or rent commercial high definition DVD releases.

[vcdlover]

Wait while there will be players of both formats.
Find a way to connect you 32" LCD TV directly to iMAC.

There is one right now.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8203311&st=8203311&type=product&id=1165610378688

[videopoo]

That LG doesn't support HDi for the advanced interactivity on HD DVD so its basically useless. There may have been an update from a couple months ago.