We'll be the first to say we truly hope that HD downloads -- be it on
one's computer or
main HDTV -- take off, but we're not so certain the technology is poised to overtake either Blu-ray or HD DVD anytime soon. A opinionated piece over at
Economist takes a look at the current state of the format war, and interestingly enough, even goes so far as to call both HD discs "interim solutions, if even that." Apparently, it expects both formats to soon be "eclipsed" by some alternative, most likely the instantly gratifying downloadable movie offered up by various carriers in the form of
HD VOD. Of course, we also expect this outlet to gain traction once broadband speeds ratchet up across the nation, but our main beef with the article comes with the proclamation that "[HD DVD and Blu-ray] are marginally better than upscaled DVDs." We've expressed our
true feelings about upconverting DVD players before, and quite frankly, unless one hooks up their high-definition movie player
with composite cables, we simply can't see anyone
not being able to tell the difference.
[Image courtesy of
GenerationMP3, thanks Paul F. and Daniel D.]
posted February 2nd 2008 7:49PM
* quote
Gamer XoverY
Hi all .. again. After owing both formats for about two months and seeing both and hearing both in action. I like HD-Dvd overall.. but before the WB announcement (2 weeks before) I sold my HD-Player HD movies on amazon and decided to go blue
================================================================================
Wherever you stand in this debate this is one kind of comment I just don't understand at all.
Why on earth would anyone dump their already bought & paid for collection of HD DVD movies & their HD DVD player?
It's going to be a very long time until even the dual format producers bring out certain titles on Blu-ray (Matrix for instance)
and you have no possible way of guessing just how long - if ever - the Universal & Paramount movies will take to appear on Blu-ray.
I can understand people going 'purple' but why on earth someone who already owns HD DVD would get rid of the lot to go Blu-ray relly doesn't make any sense to me.
I'd also add that this is even weirder for me cos I rate an aweful lot of Blu-ray movies as the worst trashy populist cr@p - and no, I'm not saying HD DVD's catalogue is immune to this effect either, but there's a lot less of it & I can genuinely say I find the HD DVD selection more appealing.
I'm sorry to but can honestly say that I'd be really pushed to name '10 Blu-ray must have' titles that I do not already own on HD DVD.
Upconvert the same? As DVD upscaled by the TV, perhaps, but the same as HDM? Bah!
This may just be that someone has a crappy TV or is watching HDM on a small 720p set from 20 feet away, but I think, coming from The Economist, the answer is:
"Old man, bad eyes."
Aaron @ Feb 2nd 2008 11:34PM :-
while you may be correct about O/S's not being able to provide 36bit colour depth (although you are incorrect about windows only being able to do 24bit, they do 32bit) barring ofcourse customized linux versions. Your statements about HTPC's only being able to output sound from a toslink cable are incorrect. There are fully HDCP (with HDMI including audio) complient pci-e video cards that are more than capable of this. I imagine within the next 2 generations of video cards (and the next version of windows, which i would think would see 48bit colour, in a 64bit o/s environment) we will see video cards that are HDMI1.3 complient. Given that will be within 12 months, I think that's pretty reasonable.
You really are an embarrassment to your side with your idiotic and childish carry on.
There is nothing wrong with strong debate or having a strong opinion, but your infantile carry on deliberately intended to inflame one individual you obviously despise is bringing this forum down to a ridiculous and childish level.
@Truth Teller -
a DVR is not on-demand movie downloading by any stretch of the imagination any more than existing VOD offerings by the cable companies are.
I do think that cable companies may integrate actual on-line movie rental into set-top boxes, charging their customers for access to other companies' on-line services (perhaps the FCC will mandate openness), but it simply does not exist now.
^^^^^^^^^^^
The above was a reply to "truth commenter"
@Truth Teller -
I am dual format myself (A2 and PS3) and when the Warner announcement came, I had no thought of discarding my HD player or content since it is not like either will be broken somehow because HDDVD is tanking.
I am not going to buy any more HDDVD disks (except maybe BSG miniseries and season one and even that is iffy b/c I have heard bad things about the quality), unless and until there is an end of format fire sale.
@ doug
I think it's fair to say that in all practical terms an HD TV service provider's partitioned DVR HDD is as near as damn-it - and they are attracting millions of paying customers because of this.
There's also the fact-of-the-matter that they do offer movies on demand (in HD) via their pay channels (here in the UK we have Sky Box Office - it's almost instantaneous & pretty reasonably priced if you can't wiat for the film to appear on their regular channels).
It's not quite the dream of a pretty complete database with absolutely anything on instant demand but that scenario is drawing ever closer.
The TV service providers are getting better and better at what they are offering & if the day is not quite here yet then I'd say it is not too far off when they genuinely rival the bought disc for convenience and ease......I'd say they are a large reason for the demise of the rental stores as it is now (my town used to have several large rental outlets, now it basically a small side-line at one or two of the local petrol/gas station).
(and bear in mind that these are the services that only approximate downloading, the real and full d/l services which are coming - no matter what else happens - have yet to get up & running)
@ Doug
Then I'd say you're going to be really missing out in that case.
American Gangster, Cloverfield, Beowulf & the Jack Ryan collection to name a few are excellent quality movies well worth the asking price.
But what ever rocks your world.....
@Truth Teller
I am not going to be missing out for long. I can get the HD DVDs on Netflix and, if I like 'em well enough to buy, they will probably be on blu next year.
and when someone puts an 'open garden' real download service on a cable box, with unlimited backup for failed HDD, and easy transfers to $100 portable players, then I will believe downloads can compete with physical media.
do keep in mind Apple is probably the biggest Monoply out there and i'm not bashing it as i do own 2 macbook pros but to me apple seems to want the market only to itself
@haixin
I have no doubt that the studios' deal with Apple is non-exclusive. if someone else can come up with a good set top box, they will have content for it.
If the cable companies had any interest in this field, they could market a cable box that included an integral router, so anyone with a set top box could connect with an ethernet patch cord. but they aren't - they would much rather have their customers going to their walled garden of VOD than have them use their bandwidth to download movies from someone else.
@ truth teller
Think about it man, why do you think Blu Ray prices are soo high....because they are still running a profit
HD dropped prices because they still want to get whatever cash they can from where ever to recover as much of cost as possible. At least BD isn't going into a massive loss due to costing.....
Also, if u are really that desparate for Sony too lose, you my friend will be surprised that Sony is a very powerfull brand and most brands own part of one another so either way for them its a win-win situation.
and don't be a hater
@ doug
I think the only country ever able to deal with VOD or digital downloads would be japan as they do tend to have the fastest bandwidths int he world that we here in the Norht American region only dreamed of
@haixin:
oh, yeah. I mean, right now the quickest and most reliable way to send 50 or 80 gigs of video data to a consumer in the US is Netflix mailing someone a HDDVD or BRD.
I agree that the Cable companies will be the first door to a consumer if someone wants to try the HD VOD purchasing thing.
However, there are many people that still don't spend the 800+ dollars a year to watch TV and maybe one pay cable channel.(My Dad was spending 300 a month on his cable bill with all the movie and sports packages he had '.' )
For those thinking Internet connection, it's a much much longer way off. The percentage of people that have internet, let alone broadband is small. And even in say Korea or Japan, which have an average of 10 times our speed, heavy and constant moving of HD content would probably tax their systems as well.
The big one though is that people DO want to have a physical item in their hand.
People pipe dreaming that they are some futurist who can imagine a time when the paradigm of owning a physical object in the case of media(or any other case) will be an outmoded idea might want to look up the term Materialism and think about how quick that paradigm is likely to fade away.
For digital downloads to ever work you need a superfast and open structured ISP that doesn't impose bandwidth limitations on its subscribers. That is not going to happen unless Google somehow pulls off a major broadband wireless network with a $20 a month fee for 20mb per second download speeds.
Cable companies and AT&T are in the business of ripping off the consumer as much as they possibly can. They lie about services and bills, tell you you get free HD but charge you for the HD box and a HD transmission fee.
Cable and telcos will always charge less for a technology until it becomes mass adopted and then they will jack up the rates. To get a connection fast enough to make digital HD downloads a reality I would have to pay over $100 a month for the conection. Thats even before paying for the movie. I can buy 4-5 BluRay discs a month for the cost of the connection alone. Or I can pay $15 to rent as many as I want from Netflix.
The cost to benefit ration for ultra high speed internet just isn't there.
TruthTeller: "Talk about turning reality
on it's head"
Haha,hahaha, whoo,hoho,haha,
you jolly joker, for the lulz you are,
hahaaaa
Ok, ahaha, let's talk about turning
reality on it's head, ahahahaaaa,
Like despite all the trends, ahaaa,
you argue HD-DVD is making, haha,
a comeback,
Ahhha, hahaha,
Seen Elvis lately,
Ahahahaaa
As long as NetFlix is $20 a month for 4 DVDs (BR and HD included), then I will not pay anything more than $1 for an HD movie rental. Not sure who uses VOD or why but I guess they like to burn money.
I guess I'm in the minority. I hate optical media. At my house I now have a 1TB external that I rip all my movies onto. I also have media extenders on my TVs. So when I watch "DVD size" media off of my network.
Why fight about disk formats when it doesn't really matter which one you currently have. Neither Blu-Ray or HD DVD will be the dominant format. All ready Tivo and Scientific Atlanta (Owned by Cisco) and even Microsoft are working on DVR's that can download movies on demand in HD. The movie rental business will soon be online. While you sleep, movies from your CUE will be downloaded on to your DVR for next day watching. No mailing required or waiting two days for a disk. JVC who won the last format war has watched in the sidelines as it improves its harddrive technology they almost went bankrupt when they won the VHS Beta war. All this crap about which disk is better is pathetic, the true winner hasn't even stepped on stage yet. I also keep hearing about lack of bandwith, a few years back they said the same thing about VOIP and how it would never catch on. Today almost every telco company in the world have converted to VOIP.