Blue-Ray or HD DVD

[IrishJedi]

Yeah, music is one thing (because, face it, most folks don't even pay for it) but I have a hard time believing that downloadable movies will replace physical media.

 

[Andy Bergholtz]

I think 5-10 years is overly optimistic (at least for HD content anyway), but I do see it going that direction eventually. I'd bet the farm that we're at least 10-15 years or more from seeing downloads actually replace tangible media. 10 years is a SHORT time, and there are too many factors that need to come into play before it would happen on a large enough scale.


Still, if I had the ability to download HD movies thru iTunes, and stream them to my HDTV via something like an Apple TV unit, I'd be in heaven. That technology is dangerously close and I don't doubt that we're only 5-10 years away from seeing that become popular. But as a total replacement for disc media? That's gonna take a lot longer I think.

 

[Agent23]

Amazon has a Buy One, Get One sale going on right now for certain Blu-Ray movies, here's the links:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.h...&docId=1000161701&plpage=1&tag=blurayforum-20

and some Disney movies:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.h...rd_p=324338901&pf_rd_i=130&tag=blurayforum-20

I ordered Donnie Brasco and The Patriot, w/free shipping. Came to under $20 for the both of them.

 

[Darklord Dave]

I think 5-10 years is overly optimistic (at least for HD content anyway), but I do see it going that direction eventually. I'd bet the farm that we're at least 10-15 years or more from seeing downloads actually replace tangible media. 10 years is a SHORT time, and there are too many factors that need to come into play before it would happen on a large enough scale.


Still, if I had the ability to download HD movies thru iTunes, and stream them to my HDTV via something like an Apple TV unit, I'd be in heaven. That technology is dangerously close and I don't doubt that we're only 5-10 years away from seeing that become popular. But as a total replacement for disc media? That's gonna take a lot longer I think.

You can already do exactly this with TIVO and Amazon Unbox. That's why I'm so confident it's sooner rather than later. As storage capacity becomes cheaper and compression becomes better it's going to come down to available bandwidth. That's going to be the bottleneck in the forseeable future.

 

[JoeSweden]

Still, if I had the ability to download HD movies thru iTunes, and stream them to my HDTV via something like an Apple TV unit, I'd be in heaven. That technology is dangerously close and I don't doubt that we're only 5-10 years away from seeing that become popular. But as a total replacement for disc media? That's gonna take a lot longer I think.

But then the writers and other talent won't get paid any residuals, because the studios will label these "promos" instead of movies and episodes.

 

[Andy Bergholtz]

You can already do exactly this with TIVO and Amazon Unbox. That's why I'm so confident it's sooner rather than later. As storage capacity becomes cheaper and compression becomes better it's going to come down to available bandwidth. That's going to be the bottleneck in the forseeable future.

That's absolutely true, I don't know why that didn't occur to me. In fact I've got Casino Royale and The Prestige saved on my DVR at this very moment (titles I don't plan to delete since it saves me having to wait for them to release on HD-DVD). If there was more downloadable HD content out there, and if the hard drive capacity of my DVR was adequate enough, I guess the scenario I mentoned WOULD be here a lot sooner than I thought. It's exciting to think that's just around the corner.

I love the tangibility of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, and will continue to enjoy the materials I've bought thus far... But if downloadable HD media becomes the norm in the next few years I don't think I'll be sad to see the discs go. I used to think I would miss buying CD's, but I've become a total MP3/iPod convert now (especially since "iTunes Plus" started offering higher bit-rate downloads). I think the same transition for video media is inevitable.

 

[Radagaster]

I've worked in the storage arena, and I can tell you that until they've mastered the solid-state drives at a capacity of over 250GB, I have no plans keeping movies I treasure a lot onto one. Let's say each HD movie takes up 25GB . . . then to 250GB on a USB flash drive would only contain 5 movies. As for downloading, they'd also need to open up the bandwidth for downloads to be speedy. As it is, no one right now would want to download a 4.4GB DVD movie to their home to get the same HT quality. Those are the 2 things that's preventing downloadable content for me. For TV shows, that's probably fine, but for real HT experience . . .easily 7GB per episode or movie will be hard to download.

The reverse is not true for DVR though . . . because that downloads the signals from the airwaves on the fly. BUT, I'll wait until they master solid-state devices before I'd say it's a keeper.

 

[tomandshell]

I picked up "Close Encounters" on Blu-ray this week, and if you are a fan of the film then I recommend getting it. The package is a bit on the expensive side, but it includes the 1977, 1980 and 1997 versions of the film (along with a neat subtitle feature that pops up and explains the differences between the three when appropriate). There is also an additional disc with several nice documentaries and other features. We are in the middle of a very crowded video release season, and this is a title that I almost skipped--but I'm glad I got it.

 

[IrishJedi]

I picked up "Close Encounters" on Blu-ray this week, and if you are a fan of the film then I recommend getting it. The package is a bit on the expensive side, but it includes the 1977, 1980 and 1997 versions of the film (along with a neat subtitle feature that pops up and explains the differences between the three when appropriate). There is also an additional disc with several nice documentaries and other features. We are in the middle of a very crowded video release season, and this is a title that I almost skipped--but I'm glad I got it.

Damn, I forgot that came out this week. Will definitely be picking it up.

 

[SSC_Nerd]

Yeah, I was gonna bring it up the other day, but I forgot to. I can easily reccomend the Close Encounters set on blu-ray. The price is kinda crappy, but you can get it at Deep Discount for about $27 I think, which isn't too bad I guess. FYI, at Walmart there is a full movie soundtrack packaged with it. I never really noticed how good the music was, but the soundtrack was really cool to have.

Anywho, the movies look great for something that was made 30 years ago, there is a fair deal of grain, but it's easy to get around considering what they had to work with. I will say that they did an excellent job with the audio quality. It sounds very good all around. It's awesome that they included all three versions of the movie, so any fan should be pleased with that. As Tom said, it does come with a fair deal of extras. There is a brand new documentary on it with Spielberg talking for about a half hour. It's nice, but short. It also has the hour and a half long documentary form a few years back. I never saw it before, and it taught me a lot about the movie.

There really hasn't been any movie edition anywhere near this nice on HD media yet. It's also great to know that Spielberg is finally plunging into HD media, and if this movie set is any indication, I predict the HD editions of stuff like Indiana Jones are going to be packed with really cool stuff (unless Lucas makes a freaking bare bones edition, like you know he would.) Thankfully, Paramount didn't get the Indiana Jones movies with the HD DVD deal since Spielberg movies weren't included. This way, both formats can enjoy them when they come out. Like I said before, the Close Encounters set makes me really anxious to have other big name movies on HD without worry of them being bare-bones. I'm guessing the Blade Runner and Harry Potter sets are next. I'm not getting the Harry Potter set since all I want is seperate cases for all the movies, but it looks like that damn set makes you open up a box to get to anything. Bull. Blade Runner looks to be the same, but we'll see...

 

[tomandshell]

After lots of hypothetical talk and conjecture, it's finally been officially approved by the DVD Forum:

https://www.engadget.com/2007/11/15/dvd-forum-approves-51gb-triple-layer-hd-dvd-spec/

The specs for a 51 GB triple layer HD DVD have been approved as part of the standard for the format. So HD DVD capacity now officially surpasses that of Blu-ray by one gig.

Now--how long before anybody actually releases a title on one of these discs, and which players will be able to read it? And how long before Blu-ray officially approves a triple layer disc?

The war continues!!

 

[Darklord Dave]

How much info do you really need to store on a single disc? I'd imagine the hardware to read it will change too - I don't see people transitioning to yet another format any time soon.

 

[IrishJedi]

How much info do you really need to store on a single disc? I'd imagine the hardware to read it will change too.

Not necessarily. With the proper formatting and code they should be able to accomplish it with a firmware/software upgrade on most current players.

 

[tomandshell]

This is not a new format, just an advancement of HD DVD, just as regular DVDs went from single to dual layer discs over time. Whether or not existing hardware will read it is certainly a good question. Early DVD players couldn't read the dual layer discs when they arrived, so now as then early adopters might be in trouble. The same is true with early Blu-ray adopters trying to take advantage of the special features on upcoming discs that their players won't be able to access due to the universal specs arriving over a year into the life of the format.

As to the need for space, many BR supporters claim that the extra space on a 50 GB Blu-ray disc allows more room for the film encode and lossless audio tracks. HD DVD will now have that capacity as well--although I have many 30 GB HD DVDs that look a lot better than some 50 GB Blu-ray discs.

 

[Darth Loki]

A bit off topic, but if anyone knows of any great Black Friday deals (in stores or online) can we please post them?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Reinhardt]

As to the need for space, many BR supporters claim that the extra space on a 50 GB Blu-ray disc allows more room for the film encode and lossless audio tracks. HD DVD will now have that capacity as well--although I have many 30 GB HD DVDs that look a lot better than some 50 GB Blu-ray discs.

this is true. look at transformers. they didn't have enough space to include Dolby True HD. still one of, if not the best HD DVD i own.

 

[Natrix]

How much info do you really need to store on a single disc? I'd imagine the hardware to read it will change too - I don't see people transitioning to yet another format any time soon.

A part of the HD DVD standard specifications is to read a triple layer disk so there is no need to buy a new player to read them, possibly new firmware though.

 

[darthviper107]

This is good though, If they end up having LOTR on HD-DVD then they shouldn't have a lot of problems trying to make it fit well. Although they've already done King Kong and that did fine.

 

[Jair]

For those waiting for a decent deal on the PS3, it seems Walmart is going to have a Saturday special after Black Friday on the PS3, when you purchase the PS3, you can add up to 10 Blue Ray dvd's under the $30 mark for free, so basically you get the PS3 and 10 Blue Rays for free at check out. You still get the 5 by mail for free as well, so all in all not a bad deal for those who still use brick and mortar shops.

https://holiday.ri-walmart.com/

Not sure which day the special is going to be announced but I noticed my local walmart sure has stocked up on the Blue Rays, there are about 10 blue rays for every hd dvd in stock.

Evan

 

[IrishJedi]

That's indeed an awesome deal. Problem is, I highly doubt you'll have an easy time finding 10 in-stock Blu-Ray titles for under $30 at most Wal-Marts on that day.

BTW, Amazon is having another sale on Universal HD DVDs. "Shaun of The Dead" and "Dawn of The Dead" remake for under $16:

47% off Select Universal HD DVDs