[cjr888]

http://neasia.nikkeibp.com/wcs/leaf/CID/onair/asabt/news/324348

[Rob Babcock]

Disney has thrown their hat in the Blu-ray ring now.  I believe they're going Blue exclusively.  Most of the companies that have committed to one or the other haven't agreed to do so exclusively, though.

Blu-ray excites me more than HD-DVD, but both look promising.  Unfortunately we'll probably get a long bitter format war for our efforts.

[byteme]

That's gonna suck.  Widescreen review had a big article in their last issue which detailed who is on what side.  Looks like much of the hardware side is on the BlueRay side, although with Disney there are more "software" companies as well.  They aren't SO different - why not just bridge the damn gap and make 1 format.  If they have two people (except early adoptors) will run like crazy and it'll slow implementation.  Didn't these idiots learn their lesson from the Beta/VHS bullshit?  Was that SOOOO long ago?  Can't they look at DVD and it's increadible success and think - hmmm, why did that work so well?

Oh well.  It'll be at least a year before we see players, minimal software availability and incompatible to boot.  I guess I'll wait a while and hope that scaling DVD players improve and come down in price...

Gotta say, depending on the transfer, a DVD looks damn good now from my RP82 into the JVC 61Z585!!

[Rob Babcock]

They're pretty different.  HD-DVD uses a red laser and Blu-Ray of course uses a blue one.  I'm thinking the blue laser operates at a wavelength of 360 nm while the red on is 720 nm.  They're not compatible at all, although I thought I read about a company trying to make a laser that could read both.  A blue laser can read a much smaller pit.

On the one hand, you have Disney and Sony firmly backing Blu-ray.  Sony has announced it's Playstation 3 will utilize Blu-Ray, too, giving the format instant cred.  On the other hand, Microsoft has thrown it's weight behind HD-DVD, saying it will be incorporated into future versions of Windows Media Player.

Blu-Ray is technically somewhat more advanced, and can store a little more data.  HD-DVD will be somewhat cheaper to implement (more "off the shelf" technology).  I'd rather see Blu-ray become the standard, but I'd gladly crown as king whichever one looked like it could most quickly unite the labels under one banner.

The great risk is that the format war will delay acceptance of either long enough for yet another technology to emerge as a challenger.  While technological advance is inexorable, a format needs to endure for awhile to be economically viable.  And I don't think consumers will tolerate completely changing formats every five years.

[Ears]

I know this is asking a lot from such big corporations....but I would sure like one of the hi rez formats to take the place of dd/dts to add truely reference audio to the mix that matches the hi rez video.

It would be sweet to have hi rez audio surround while retaining dd for backward compatibility imo.

Happy Holidays everyone
Greg

[Rob Babcock]

I know this is asking a lot from such big corporations....but I would sure like one of the hi rez formats to take the place of dd/dts to add truely reference audio to the mix that matches the hi rez video.

It would be sweet to have hi rez audio surround while retaining dd for backward compatibility imo.

Happy Holidays everyone
Greg

Done!  MLP is already part of the accepted standard (the same exact spec as used for DVD-A).  And there's room for full hi rez sound along an HD picture.

[Ears]

I know this is asking a lot from such big corporations....but I would sure like one of the hi rez formats to take the place of dd/dts to add truely reference audio to the mix that matches the hi rez video.

It would be sweet to have hi rez audio surround while retaining dd for backward compatibility imo.

Happy Holidays everyone
Greg

Done!  MLP is already part of the accepted standard (the same exact spec as used for DVD-A).  And there's room for full hi rez sound along an HD picture.

Rob, is this going to happen whith either hd or blueray.....both?

[Rob Babcock]

HD-DVD has made MLP part of the mandatory standard.  There's no technical reason why DSD or MLP couldn't be part of the Blu-ray standard, but Sony is strangly mum on the issue.

[Ears]

HD-DVD has made MLP part of the mandatory standard.  There's no technical reason why DSD or MLP couldn't be part of the Blu-ray standard, but Sony is strangly mum on the issue.

It is going to suck if it comes down to having to choose one hd format whith hi rez audio or one whith a bigger library.

This is the kind of thing that will slow hd dvd's initial acceptance down big time imo, so I hope Sony gets on the ball soon.

I never really saw the hi rez formats as a format war whith many players available to play both, but a video as well as possible audio format war for this new medium can only be a bad thing.

Perhaps they can re-mame this losless format super audio mlp or something

[Rob Babcock]

That's the way I see it, too.  I'm surprised Sony hasn't already announced DSD as the lossless format for Blu-ray.  Like I was saying in the thread about universal players, I think the window of opportunity for SACD to really hit the big time has closed.  But DSD could live again on Blu-ray, assuming it's the one that makes it.  It's not that SACD/DVD-A will disappear, I just think they'll migrate to one of the Hi Def DVD formats.

HD-DVD discs will be cheaper, as they closely resemble current discs.  From what I've read, Blu-ray discs will cost more, as they are physically different and need a much smaller pit.  If they try to pass the increased cost along to the consumer, then Blu-ray will be dead before it hits the ground, IMOHO.  The public is used to paying $15 for a DVD; they aren't gonna pay $35 for a Blu-ray disc if HD-DVD discs cost $20.  No, if B-r is going to succeed then the studios will just have to eat the additional costs until they break even.

[Piledriver]

At CES in the Panasonic booth they said the Blu-ray would be backward compatable with current DVD's. But don't current DVD's use a red laser? If that is true, why wouldn't the Blu-ray read the HD-DVD's?

[Ears]

At CES in the Panasonic booth they said the Blu-ray would be backward compatable with current DVD's. But don't current DVD's use a red laser? If that is true, why wouldn't the Blu-ray read the HD-DVD's?

Maybe what they mean is there players will be backward compatible because they will use dual lasers...just a thought.

[PeteG]

Good News!!

Looks like Sony & Toshiba will unite, for ONE HD format.

Pete

http://www.avrev.com/news/0405/22.dvd.html

[Uptown Audio]

I guess that you mean't to ask "Then why wouldn't a red laser play back a HDVD?". Being backwards compatible does not mean that the technology can be used both ways, just as a CD player cannot read DVD's. The blue laser can focus on a smaller point, making it possible to get more information on a disc by squeezing it closer together. The blue laser could then read either format, but the red laser would not be able to focus on the smaller pit area of a Blu-ray disc. They could always use two laser mechanisms or two lenses also and different makers may opt for different solutions, but no red laser will be of use in achiving full HDVD resolution.
I suppose that by being backwards compatible, the new Blu-ray version would include HDVD on one side and DVD on the other so that you could watch the movie on any player, but only in HDVD with a Blu-ray player. It will be a great addition to the video arsenal!
-Bill

[John Ashman]

Piledriver, Blu-ray wouldn't even work with DVD except that the BD group *wants* it too.  It requires a separate "head" for this.  The same holds true for HD-DVD, but why support a rival?  

A new technology announced by a company called "Micron" or something like that, supposedly can read HD, BD, DVD and CD with one head, offering the promise of reduced cost and complexity, hopefully improved reliability AND the ability to have multiple formats that can be played by a single machine.

[bubba966]

At CES in the Panasonic booth they said the Blu-ray would be backward compatable with current DVD's. But don't current DVD's use a red laser? If that is true, why wouldn't the Blu-ray read the HD-DVD's?

A Blu-Ray unit could read an HD-DVD disc, but couldn't do anything with the info as it'd need an HD-DVD decoder in it.

So that Micron deck that John's mentioning must be a Blu-Ray deck w/ an HD-DVD decoder in it.

A Blu-Ray deck that had an HD-DVD decoder in it should playback an HD-DVD better than a HD-DVD deck would as the laser is a lot finer. Kinda like how the HD-LD decks played back regular LD's better as they had red lasers that were finer beams than the IR lasers that regular LD players have. This I know because I have a HD-LD deck

Kinda sad that in Japan they had commercially available HD content in 1993, and here in the US we might be lucky to get such a thing next year...

[Ears]

The good news is that the two sides are reportedly working together on a one hd format solution.
The bad news is it will probably take longer two actualy be able to buy the new players and software.

[Eric5676]

Exactly Ears.

If I have to make a choice, I'd choose Blu-Ray over HD-DVD. If they merge, I hope Sony doesn't give up too much ground in a compromise.

To me, Blu-Ray is clearly the better product.

Edit: Hmmm, this all may be moot.

Good news for all... Sony & Toshiba have somewhat agreed to a new format. Looks like they will opt for the Blu-Ray optical format with Toshiba's higher compression and copy protection for higher capacity....

Sony & Toshiba about to agree on new DVD format...