Blu-ray Wins! But The Real Format War Has Only Just Begun

[Ken S]

Originally Posted by i30krab

I'll get a lower priced BR model now and later when the industry releases a high end user friendly unit I will give the cheaper one to my son.

This brings me to the question, currently which model is the most reliable in the $400-500 price range??

Have you considered the Panasonic DMP-BD30K ? Most places have them at < $500.
See: http://panasonic.net/pavc/blu-ray/dm...fications.html

Some of the Pros:
. 1080p output at 24/60 frames per second
. HDMI 1.3b
. Blu-ray Profile 1.1 compliant
. Secure Digital (SD) card - Nice feature for showing digital HiRes (JPEG) photos.
My Cons:
. Will not play PAL format DVD's
. Will not play JPEG's that are stored on a -/+R DVD (Only DVD-RAM or CD-R/-RW)

I have not had any issues playing BD's.

[deacongreg]

The Panasonic, though I have no personal experience with it, seems to be a very good choice. However, I still maintain, when everyone was having their problems with their Blu-Ray players, the SONY PS3 kept on chucking along for the most part. There is some truth to the point that some other players did outperform it in other ares, but obviously not enough, to make that much of a difference.
So, do your research, and decide. But from what most of the forum owners of PS3`s have said, they are very happy with it as a player.

[TheMoose]

Well now that Comcast is testing bandwidth limiting for their internet customers how do you think this will effect downloadable HD movies?
If you have a 5G monthly limit on your internet that'll be less than a HD movie so you are going to have to pay extra to your IP for going over your limit which means you'll have to get a package with higher limits.
How much are you willing to pay for HD downloads?
$4.99 for a 720p movie with lossy audio & $150 a month to your IP for enough bandwidth to download several movies a month?

Blu-Ray movies don't look so expensive now do they!

[prerich]

Originally Posted by TheMoose

Well now that Comcast is testing bandwidth limiting for their internet customers how do you think this will effect downloadable HD movies?
If you have a 5G monthly limit on your internet that'll be less than a HD movie so you are going to have to pay extra to your IP for going over your limit which means you'll have to get a package with higher limits.
How much are you willing to pay for HD downloads?
$4.99 for a 720p movie with lossy audio & $150 a month to your IP for enough bandwidth to download several movies a month?

Blu-Ray movies don't look so expensive now do they!

Everything is starting to look expensive now!!! Gas is predicted to reach $7.00 a gallon by December 31 st!!! I've curtailed my desire for that tube CD player - and bought one of my last pieces of tech for a while (a 42 inch 1080p Phillips - just like the one I bought for my son - the last piece will be a Xonar HDAV 1.3 soundcard for my HTPC). This whole thing is getting crazy! BD's have to come down in price...period. The economy is not helping. I still buy BD's, but no more than 2 at a time. The PQ and AQ is superior to anything out there, and I will still buy must haves - but movies that I'm questionable about - I've been waiting until the movie shows up on my HD cable channels to view it first. If I really like it - I buy it, if not - I pass. By the way I use Mediacom and I believe that they are throttling customers internet service also (mine goes at blinding speed while people who I know do a lot of downloading - their speeds crawl like dial-up!!!

[Robinson_A]

Blu-ray may have won out as the lone HD disc format but the format war is being played from all sides from downloads to discs. I watch them all very closely and see the good and the bad in both. As a person who has now worked in the native 4K realm every option is a compromise on more than a few levels. My down converted dailies are 1080p and look horrid compared to the native files. It would be easy to snub my nose and say all the HD options are going to make a hash of my baby but that's stupid because with 4K at the helm I have more than enough data to play with to make every option look great, knowing full well that 98 percent of the world will never see the footage in its true glory. As a filmmaker the idea is to have people see your film and this means every format from Blu-ray to AppleTV. We've never had a singular format and we never will. DVD always competed with TV and On Demand, just as Blu-ray competes with downloads etc. The trick is making your content look as good as can be for whatever format the end user chooses.

[The Kipnis Studios]

Originally Posted by Robinson_A

As a person who has now worked in the native 4K realm every option is a compromise on more than a few levels. My down converted dailies are 1080p and look horrid compared to the native files.

While I certainly agree that 4k down-converted to 2k or even 1080P is a loss of 75-80% of actually recorded picture information, I think it is just a little bit misleading to say that it "looks horrid".

I have screened thousands of HD programs on my Sony SRX-R110, most in 1080p, some in 2k, and several in 4k from the DCI Digital Media Prints. There is a big, big difference, but I wonder what the 1080p version you have created looks like in comparison to some of the best HD-DVD or BD titles (like LOST)?