Xbox 360 Elite

[Carlos_E]

Nah every blockbuster I have been to, if the have HD movies they have both Blu-ray and HD DVD...

Not here.

[manwithin]

Not here.

I work in the city also, where in NYC did you find a blockbuster that rents Blu-ray and not HD DVD because no one as seen a place... Paramount supports both blu-ray and HD DVD so why wouldn't Blockbuster support both? They are both owned by the same company Viacom...

[Beefkake31]

Ok these discussions prompted me to do a little research that is up to date. I don't have either so I am not biased and here.



Sales

Both the Blu-ray and the HD DVD are almost identical in sales so far up to this month. The Blu ray just passed the million unit mark and the HD DVD is at 998,000 so 2,000 units behind or less than 1%. And yes they do count the PS3 as a blu ray player when it comes to totaling up these numbers so that is a big plus for blu ray.

Round 1 winner : BOTH


Storage capacity

The Blu-ray can hold 25-50 gigabytes while the HD DVD holds 15-30 gigabytes. This is the range on the standard units without any add ons, etc.

Round 2 winner : Blu-ray


Price

When it comes to price the HD DVD is about 25% cheaper than the Blu-ray on average.

Round 3 winner : HD DVD


Physical aspect

HD DVD has a thicker protective layer making it more scratch resistant than Blu-ray. On Blu-Ray discs the recording layer is only 0.1 mm distant from the lacquer layer, compared to HD DVD which is 0.6 mm. Blu-Ray discs must be handled more carefully, any scratch on its surface can easily reach the recording layer, compromising the recorded data. That is why some Blu-Ray discs come inside a caddy in order to avoid physical damage.

Round 4 winner : HD DVD



Backers

The Blu-ray has more companies backing their format compared to HD DVD. Which is a big plus.
Round 5 winner : Blu-ray






So in my opinion there is no winner yet so it is really pointless to argue about all this stuff until there is at least some clear picture as to who will win or if they will both co exist like PC and Apple have done and not like VHS and Betamax. The consumers are the ones that are paying the price for this. I might be leaning more towards Blu-ray at the moment but very slightly and it's not even close to enough to buy one so that's why I will still be waiting to buy.

[Carlos_E]

Funai Confirms Blu-ray Support
Posted May 21, 2007 by Josh

Low cost electronics manufacturer Funai (who make components for such low costs brands as Sylvania, Emerson, and Magnavox), has revealed in their latest financial report that they plan to launch a Blu-ray player. With 52% of the DVD player/recorder market in the US, it is very likely that a low cost Blu-ray player would be widely adopted, similar to the success Funai continues to have in the DVD market.


No specific player has been announced, nor any time frame, or manufacturer partnerships, but the inclusion of the bullet in their annual financial report alerts stockholders of their intention to move into the Blu-ray market. As a favorite manufacturer of Walmart (who awarded them a Billion Dollar Supplier Prize in 2006), these low cost players would most likely see wide distribution through the retail giant.

[manwithin]

HD DVD has a thicker protective layer making it more scratch resistant than Blu-ray. On Blu-Ray discs the recording layer is only 0.1 mm distant from the lacquer layer, compared to HD DVD which is 0.6 mm. Blu-Ray discs must be handled more carefully, any scratch on its surface can easily reach the recording layer, compromising the recorded data. That is why some Blu-Ray discs come inside a caddy in order to avoid physical damage.

I agree on all your points but the one above... Yes Blu-ray disc data are only 0.1 mm distant from the lacquer layer but all discs have coating that was developed by TDK and is called "Durabis". You can use Steel wool on a blu-ray disc and it will still play... No blu-ray discs come in a caddy!!!

Also HD-DVD is much cheaper... Look at the deal they have at bestbuy now.... You can get an HD-DVD player for 299.99 with 5 free movies and if you buy the matrix in HD-DVD you can pickout 2 more HD-DVD moives for free..... SO that $379.98 total and you get HD-DVD player and 10 HD-DVD movies.. I'm really thinking about buying into HD, If I did I would pick these 10
Complete Matrix Trilogy
Good Shepherd
Batman Begins
Seabiscuit
Constantine
Four Brothers
The Rundown
The Perfect Storm

[biglouie250]

arent they making a dvd player that will decode both??

[biglouie250]

also suppose blu ray wins out wouldnt sony face many anti-trust regulations. what i mean is that blu ray is licensed technology, IE sony lets them produce products but under the ultimate directtion of the sony corp. Id think that they'd have to give up some rights which would lead to cheaper products. I mean blu-ray discs should not cost more then regular DVDs

[Beefkake31]

While Sony is a big company, Microsoft is the real powerhouse and mover/shaker. So that's one reason I am still undecided I think if Microsoft wants something they will get it so we will see. But as for now I'm still leaning towards Blu-ray at the moment but again only by a few percent.

[Carlos_E]

While Sony is a big company, Microsoft is the real powerhouse and mover/shaker. So that's one reason I am still undecided I think if Microsoft wants something they will get it so we will see. But as for now I'm still leaning towards Blu-ray at the moment but again only by a few percent.

Microsoft said they are open to the idea of releasing an external blu-ray player for the 360. That's why they're not shipping a HD player built into the Xbox.

[Carlos_E]

http://www.gamesdog.co.uk/news/news....ay-sales.phtml

23 May 2007 - News from the Blu-ray Disc Association suggests that the impact of PlayStation 3 on sales of Blu-ray Disc movies in North America and Japan after the launch of the console last November has been "significant".

Early market data sourced by the association indicates that a similar trend is developing in Western Europe.

Industry data for the period from 1 January until the end of April shows a change in market dynamics in the European HD software market.

Up until the PS3’s launch on 23 March, HD DVD was comfortably outselling Blu-ray discs. However, in the week after PS3 was launched in Europe, Blu-ray discs accounted for almost 87% of all HD disc sales.

In the period since 23 March, Blu-ray discs have consistently out sold HD DVD's rival product by a significant margin.

In the latest week that the figures report, Blu-ray discs outsold HD DVDs by a factor of more than three to one.

This means that despite the PS3 being available for only one month of this four-month period, Blu-ray software sales account for over 64% of the total volume since the start of the year.

[Giants11]

I still think that HD-DVD might win the battle. Only because as more and more people get savvy to this technology I believe it will be easier for them to Equate HD TV to HD-DVD. IMO the name is what will end up selling the product. We'll see though.

[Carlos_E]

I still think that HD-DVD might win the battle. Only because as more and more people get savvy to this technology I believe it will be easier for them to Equate HD TV to HD-DVD. IMO the name is what will end up selling the product. We'll see though.

I agree. The blu-ray name is confusing.

[Beefkake31]

With all this talk about video games, consoles, HD, etc. we need to have a "Technology" or "Audio and Video Entertainment" sub forum in the lounge or a forum of its own

[Beefkake31]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6171498...stnews;title;2

Looks like some company is suing Sony and it's Blu-ray because of a certain patent on the Blu-ray.

[Deluge1]

So I just found out today that both the wii and the 360 can be modded to play copied games. Anyone have any of their consoles modded?

I'm leaning towards a 360 because I prefer their controller as well as games over ps3.