And, oh, here's the link made clickable.

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HD-DVD replication was available to the studios, while Blu-ray wasn't, so that's why the HD-DVD releases are coming first. I don't think it has anything (at this point) to do with picking one format over the other.

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to me, it's the ability not to resolve any pixel as such: 1080p does matter (although the guide-lines in this blog are somewhat indicative indeed ...)

p_n

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I first went with HD-DVD and do like it. I just hate the player I own and prefer Blu-Ray over HD-DVD at the moment. It's sad that I prefer the PS3 as a movie player over my Toshiba HD-DVD player. Before I checked out Blu-ray I would have loved it if Blu-Ray just died. Quite stupid I'd say, but now that i've tried Blu-ray I like it quite a bit and do notice a difference in picture quality, but I have a 1080p TV.

I think both formats will be around for quite a long time.

I don't think 1080p is a fad. Most people don't need it, but if I was a consumer in the market for a new TV that costs thousands of dollars and wanted something that'd still be good years from now, i'd be stupid not to get a 1080p TV. Of course, some people only need a standard definition TV and will never ever play Blu-Ray or HD-DVD discs.

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Yes Internet downloads of movies will increase in the next few years, especially as set top boxes that let you watch them on a REAL TV sets begin to appear. Boxes like the recently announced Apple TV.

However, prerecorded media is still king and likely will be for many, many years to come.

As for Bluray dying, let's not forget that it is a technically superior format in several ways, most notably that it has more storage capacity than HD-DVD. Let's also not forget some very important facts. Bluray is not a Sony only product. The Bluray consortium includes Phillips, Panasonic, Apple, Pioneer, LG, Sharp, Mitsubushi, Dell, Warner Brothers, Disney, and more.

Also remember that while Sony designed Beta in a vacuum and lost, they also codesigned the CD standard with Phillips. This design follows those lines and obviously includes the support of many big companies.

This is not to say that HD-DVD isn't also good, or doesn't have big name backing. Indeed the HD-DVD consoritum includes Toshiba, Microsoft, NEC, and Hitachi.

Now what really shocked me was a recent trip to Best Buy. There's a very slick Blu-Ray demo loop, using a Sony player and a Sony XBR 42" panel display. It is very eye catching and stopped me in my tracks to watch it. The resolution and color definition are outstanding.

I went off in search of HD-DVD players and their display. I found one poorly set up demo system that didn't say it was running HD-DVD, but I looked at the player to make sure. It looked good, but not as eye catching. This was likely a set up issue. The only other HD-DVD player in the store was connected to a Samsung display. It wouldn't work with the display.

There may be good news for consumers yet. Initial reports indicated that licensing terms prohibited companies from making hybrid players that would play both formats. I haven't heard much about that recently, but what I *have* read is that a company has just released a chip set that supports both formats. Now, any player using this chip set would need two optical pickups (one for each format) as they are slightly different. This should mean that we'll start seeing universal HD optical disc players. This would be very good IMHO.

Enough tech talk in the porn pool forum.

Dr. P

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Neither...wait for Ultra HD.

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Digital Playground Joone just confirmed in an interview that Sony REFUSES to allow porn on Blu-ray, so unless they change their stance Blu-ray WILL die as a format.

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Regarding Sony's stance on porn, that surprises me. Well, not their stance, but their ability to enforce it. What allows them to control content at all? Couldn't porn companies just shoot in HD and engage a duplication house to produce Blu-Ray discs for them? These are honest questions, not rhetorical. Perhaps I should do more research into this, but my first few tries on google only produced old stories about DP having selected Blu-Ray over HD-DVD.

I've read that Beta died because of no porn. I've also read that Beta's recording capacity was only 1 hour on original tapes, so you couldn't fit an entire movie on one tape. That's kind of a big deal.

Consider the market differences of today versus the betamax era. Right now, Sony Pictures owns a vast movie catalog which, presumably, they will only release on Blu-Ray. I think that's also a big deal.

Finally, it seems here like I'm arguing that Blu-Ray will win or something. Truth be told, I haven't studied the market well enough to make a prediction. I'm just offering the evidence that I see, that indicates to me that Blu-Ray is a very strong product. We'll see.

Dr. P

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Your the only one I've heard so far that said that the quality of Blu-Ray is better than HD-DVD. Only recently have any of the BD releases been up to par with a mediocre HD-DVD release.

I know the HD A1 is very slow and buggy. I have one myself. The good news is that the HD-A2 performs much like a regular DVD player. When Onkyo sells there player and all the chinease companies start coming out with players this year that are going to be sub $400.00, I think that will be the end of blu-Ray.

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I also believe that Sony may currently own all Blu-ray replicators...not sure about that.

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Reading this thread on ADT, and being in the middle of a mail conversation with Meridian Audio (owner of MLP (part of the MPEG standards)), I asked him about his thoughts about pornography on BD (knowing them more then a decade now, I'm not shy to ask ). The funny thing is, they happen to co-work with Thomson-Technicolor a lot: a HD DVD and Blu-ray certified production/ replication company. This is how I'm told there is no hard 'no porn on BD' policy at this time, although the Blu-ray Group is severely discouraging it by making it a hot topic in eg. licencee-meetings (...).

And although there are clearly no porn movies on BD available right now, Blu-ray Group's Compliance Committee itself is very vague in answering questions concerning their allowance of pornographic content on BD. They probably know all to well (...) a 'no porn on BD' policy will severely hinder market-acceptance. And as the BD-standard is own by the Blu-ray Group, having Sony as owner on BD's technical rights 'only', the Group as a whole will have to decide on pornographic content. Soon.

p_n

edit to correct on wrong info

Edited by - pinc_noiz on 1/13/2007 2:16:47 PM

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I sure hope that the industry will move to and shoot in 1080p. Until then, 720p will be prefered over 1080i.

In a world without walls and fences - Who needs Windows and Gates???

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p_n

Edited by - pinc_noiz on 1/13/2007 11:22:06 AM

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