What is better, Blu-ray or HD DVD?

[mitch57]

Originally Posted by JerryDelColliano

Seriously - how can you live without both formats?

BR players are $500. HD DVD players are a little less.

Look at the overall value of your system and tell me you can't afford to pour $1,000 to $1200 into it so you can get the BEST in video and some day KILLER surround sound via HDMI 1.3? Sell a few audio interconnects on Audiogon - ebay some crap out of your garage (my 911 is up there to show you where my head is at) and so on.

And don't start with the boo-hooing about discs because Netflix will send you every movie you might want to own.

HD is MORE than just some $5 per month cable box. Your set (even non 1080p ones) deserve better sources.

Forget the format war argument. Playstation and xBox are going nowhere but gamers bought 1.8 million copies of Madden in week 1. If you don't buy into the HD disc formats - expect Apple and the studios to sell "HD" movies by the download however I bet they wont be as bad ass as HD DVD and Blu-ray. We all play a part in HD as early adopters and that often costs us some money to be as cool as we are. In this case - the cost of entry isn't too bad.

Easily! That $700.00 plus can buy a lot of new gear and movies that will be more enjoyable then having two competing formats. At a viewing distance of 13 feet from a 50" display with 720p, or 1080p resolution for that matter, I would challenge you to be able to resolve the difference between a good upscaling DVD player or video scaler on SD DVD compared to HD DVD or blu-ray.

I would love to own a HD player but until these manufacturer's get on the same page and stop creating confusion and skepticism for the consumer I won't be buying either format.

Buy both? No thank you! I don't have the space nor the desire to deal with the setup and bug issues that plague both of these new formats. When a winner is declared I will jump aboard but not until then. I made that mistake once with Beta and VHS. I won't make it again.

[JerryDelColliano]

Respectfully, the idea that you can't see the difference between native 1080p and 720p is silly. I guess some people might feel that way but I have personally NEVER seen 720p look like 1080p. 1080p is ALWAYS BETTER and in most cases by a large margin....

I will restate my warning - it is this kind of "stay on the sidelines" attitude that makes the likes of 1/2 resolution Apple "HD" downloads a possibility. Early adopters are a KEY factor in the success of a new AV format. I wish we didn't have to pick between two and I am suggesting for $1,000 you can have both but obviously issues like space become real in some systems...

[kennyt]

OK,

I am so with Jerry on this one! Mitch, you really need to see good 1080p native sources to appreciate the difference. When watching a good scaled DVD, things look good, when watching an HD DVD or Blu-ray, you can actually perceive the texture of the items you are viewing, the fine detail is so flippin' off the charts once you, or anyone I've shown it to, see it, they can't believe the difference. If you had a 20" LCD, then yeah, you don't need it, but at 50"... Buy one, nay buy both like Jerry said.

I just did a quick google search for players and found the Toshiba HD-A2 for $199.95 and a Samsung BDP-1200 for $377.95. That brings you into both formats (and with a smoking hot Blu-ray player that is still a reference for me) for a whopping $577.90. This is less than my electric bill living in Florida a month. OK, I understand many folks live on a tight budget, so no reason you couldn’t afford ONE of these players and be in the game right now is there??

Let’s face it, for sub $400 for an excellent player, there really is no reason not to buy one. Worried about software?? Join Netflix and rent them, if your format of choice dies, so what! You only lose the player cost, which is pretty small to say the least!

KT

[Big-Brian33]

Originally Posted by JerryDelColliano

Respectfully, the idea that you can't see the difference between native 1080p and 720p is silly. I guess some people might feel that way but I have personally NEVER seen 720p look like 1080p. 1080p is ALWAYS BETTER and in most cases by a large margin

I gotta say, looking at the NFL these past coupe weeks. I've seen 720p looking every bit as good as 1080p. It really lost me since I thought it would be a major drop off but the view has been just as crisp and clear when watching the football games on CBS and FOX.

But I'm thinkin in my step by step to near perfect views of movies etc. I'm gonna have to grab the Toshiba HD HD-A2 while it's cheap and hope to grab a PSIII sometime before the end of the year. I don't wanna get burnt in the format war and trow money away either. And since it's no real dual format player that gets good marks ( I've seen mixed stuff about the LG player) it's all you can do.

[JerryDelColliano]

Originally Posted by Big-Brian33

I gotta say, looking at the NFL these past coupe weeks. I've seen 720p looking every bit as good as 1080p. It really lost me since I thought it would be a major drop off but the view has been just as crisp and clear when watching the football games on CBS and FOX.

But I'm thinkin in my step by step to near perfect views of movies etc. I'm gonna have to grab the Toshiba HD HD-A2 while it's cheap and hope to grab a PSIII sometime before the end of the year. I don't wanna get burnt in the format war and trow money away either. And since it's no real dual format player that gets good marks ( I've seen mixed stuff about the LG player) it's all you can do.

Maybe it is your display.

For me 720p looks good but "soft" compared to 1080p. The ABC coverage of USC's trouncing of then once 14th ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers was a perfect example.

Monday Night football looked better to me however. I wonder how much cameras versus compression factors in.

[kennyt]

Big-Brian33,

Way to go! You won't regret the new players! Like we said, going your route with an HD-A2 and PS3, you are pretty safe, even if both formats fall flat on there faces and my idea of internet bandwidth increases allowing us all to download 1080p with uncompressed audio in real time comes around you still have a great gaming system and would only lose the $199, so really low risk.

I think if more people would 'get off the pot' and do what you are doing, they would see, and then their friends would see, the advantages of these formats and like Jerry and I have been saying, they wouldn't want to go back to SD DVD again!


KT