45 GB HD DVD Tested.. bye bye Blu Ray

[navychop]

"Why would anyone ever need more than 640KB?"
-Bill Gates

 

[mike123abc]

It is way too early to call BR dead... One bad player and 25GB disks do not show the true potential of the product. Now if a year from now they do not have 50GB out, the PS3 completely flops and no other players make it to market that do better than the samsung, then the format may start to die.

I have about 25 HDDVD titles now, 0 BR. I am waiting for them to work the kinks out of BR first. If they do not get the format working properly then I will never buy a player. I could never bring myself to buy a Samsung player since they were not known at all for their quality and high end performance. Looks like they still are not up to the task. If Sony and Pioneer cannot get the format to work then it never will.

If HDDVD is doing so good and is dominating then where are all the movies for it? A couple of recent second rate hits and some old movies are all that have been released.

 

[navychop]

"... I'm sure the Toshiba could display BD with a firmware upgrade!..."

This is quite an interesting idea. Could it? With the "pits" closer to the surface in BD would that require different focusing? Or it's already "close enough?" Since HD-DVD gave up it's early idea of using a red laser and moved to the same blue frequency as BD, what else, save track density and proximity to the surface, would there be? Size of each track/pit?

Wouldn't that be a kick- buy an HD-DVD player and a year later it becomes a dual player!

 

[Stargazer]

The demand for the extra space will be needed when the next generation of HD comes out. We will need all the space we can get. If technology advances so fast that it is outdate in just a few years then it will be hard to keep up with the new stuff. A technology is needed that will support future reading of these more advances disks if that will be possible.

 

[vurbano]

It is way too early to call BR dead... One bad player and 25GB disks do not show the true potential of the product. Now if a year from now they do not have 50GB out, the PS3 completely flops and no other players make it to market that do better than the samsung, then the format may start to die.

A year from now, the HD DvD player will be even cheaper do to the volume they will have sold, and the media too. IF 50 GB disks are available they will be even more expensive. And do the the failure of SONY to deliver that media now, sales of there players will be so small that the price will still be 1 grand a pop. Its over.

 

[houselog442]

Why do so many people say this? Are they holding out hope that BD will catch up to HD DVD? That's what I think. Currently, BD is HD lite at best. Maybe they can fix it (they probably will). Why not declare the less expensive, better picture quality, cheaper to produce, cheaper movies the winner?

Because Hollywood does not want to seem to put thier movies on HD DVD (very limited amount of companies are committed to HD DVD) plus HD DVD will not put out anything on 1080p ultra high definition whereas blu-ray can.

I went to walmart today and saw an RCA HD DVD player there, I guess Walmart is now selling HD DVD players. It was $500

 

[teamerickson]

Because Hollywood does not want to seem to put thier movies on HD DVD (very limited amount of companies are committed to HD DVD) plus HD DVD will not put out anything on 1080p ultra high definition whereas blu-ray can.

HD DVDs are 1080p. The first gen players do not output 1080p. But do you call down converted then upconverted 1080? That's what the Samsung does.

Yes BD has more studios, but the studios HD DVD have represent 60% of the DVD sales in 04. I'm sure more studios will come around to HD DVD when Sony continues to blow even more smoke and they realize the cost savings (more profit) of HD DVD.

 

[T2k]

MPEG-2 on DVD + 8.5 GB = game over as far as movies and players go. There is simply no need for anything bigger. You must be nuts if you think 45 GB will ever be used for movies.

MPEG-1 on VCD + 800 MB = game over as far as movies and players go. There is simply no need for anything bigger. You must be nuts if you think 8.5 GB will ever be used for movies.

Umm you're not making sense...
VC-1 is on pair if not superior over h.264 but certainly superior when it's compared to the MPEG2 on Blu-Ray.

 

[T2k]

"Why would anyone ever need more than 640KB?"
-Bill Gates

Yep... and it took how many years to pass that...?

Blu-Ray is already dead if they are baking on this.

 

[mike123abc]

A year from now, the HD DvD player will be even cheaper do to the volume they will have sold, and the media too. IF 50 GB disks are available they will be even more expensive. And do the the failure of SONY to deliver that media now, sales of there players will be so small that the price will still be 1 grand a pop. Its over.

The current # of players and discs sold by HD DVD cannot support that format either. As I mentioned there have been no major movie support on HDDVD yet. Neither format is beyond the experimental stage yet. Studio support is key, even if you have the best picture and the cheapest price, if you are selling old movies and not the hottest hits you will not succeed.

 

[vurbano]

The current # of players and discs sold by HD DVD cannot support that format either. As I mentioned there have been no major movie support on HDDVD yet. Neither format is beyond the experimental stage yet. Studio support is key, even if you have the best picture and the cheapest price, if you are selling old movies and not the hottest hits you will not succeed.

HDDVD does not need 50 Gb disks to look and sound incredible. They have accomplished that on DL 30 GB disks. There are enough studios and the rest will follow the money.

The list of movies announced for HD DVD:
(Last updated 07/10/2006)




Universal Studios

Serenity - 4/18/2006
Doom - 4/25/2006
Apollo 13 - 4/25/2006
Jarhead - 5/9/2006
Cinderella Man - 5/9/2006
Assault on Precinct 13 - 5/9/2006
The Bourne Supremacy - 5/23/2006
The Chronicles of Riddick - 5/23/2006
U-571 - 5/23/2006
Van Helsing - 5/23/2006
Happy Gilmore - 06/13/2006
The Rundown - 06/13/2006
Friday Night Lights - 07/11/2006
Pitch Black - 07/11/2006
Ray - 8/8/2006
National Lampoon's Animal House - 8/8/2006 (DVD/HD DVD Combo)
Unleashed - 8/8/2006 (DVD/HD DVD Combo)
The Interpreter - 8/22/2006
Spy Game - 8/22/2006
The Bone Collector - 8/22/2006
Traffic - 9/12/2006
Red Dragon - 9/12/2006
Seabisquit - 9/12/2006
Backdraft - 9/19/2006
End of Days - 9/26/2006
Dazed and Confused - 9/26/2006 (DVD/HD DVD Combo)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - 9/26/2006
George A. Romero's Land of the Dead: Unrated Director's Cut - 9/26/2006 (DVD/HD DVD Combo)
Army of Darkness - 10/10/2006 (DVD/HD DVD Combo)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High - 10/10/2006 (DVD/HD DVD Combo)

King Kong - ?
The 40-Year-Old Virgin - ?
Fast and the Furious 3



​

Warner Bros.

Phantom of the Opera - 4/18/2006
The Last Samurai - 4/18/2006
Million Dollar Baby - 4/20/2006
Swordfish - 5/02/2006
Goodfellas - 5/02/2006
Rumor Has It - 5/09/2006 (DVD/HD DVD Combo)
Training Day - 5/09/2006
Full Metal Jacket - 5/16/2006
Unforgiven - 5/16/2006
Blazing Saddles - 5/23/2006
The Fugitive - 5/23/2006
Constantine - 6/06/2006
The Perfect Storm - 6/06/2006
Firewall - 6/06/2006 (DVD/HD DVD Combo)
16 Blocks - 6/13/2006 (DVD/HD DVD Combo)
Syriana - 6/20/2006
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - 6/20/2006 (DVD/HD DVD Combo)
Lethal Weapon - 6/27/2006
Enter the Dragon - 7/11/2006
Dukes of Hazzard - 7/11/2006
Aviator
Batman Begins
Twister
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The Matrix Trilogy
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Charlie & Chocolate Factory
The Green Mile Special Edition
Ocean's Twelve
Troy
Friends


​

HBO Video

Band of brothers
Sopranos
Deadwood


​

Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment

Tomb Raider - 7/25/2006
Sahara - 7/25/2006
Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow - 7/25/2006
Sleepy Hollow - 7/25/2006
Four brothers - 8/01/2006
We were soldiers - 8/01/2006
Manchurian candidate - 8/01/2006
U2: Rattle and Hum - 8/08/2006
Aeon Flux - 8/08/2006
The Italian job - 8/08/2006
Braveheart
Mission Impossible
Mission Impossible 2
Mission Impossible 3
The Ultimate Star Trek Movie Collection


​

New line

Seven
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy


​

Magnolia Home Entertainment / HDNet

Best of Get Out! Vol.1 - 07/11/2006
Best of Get Out! Vol.2 - 07/11/2006
HDNet World Report Special: Shuttle Discovery’s Historic Mission
World Extreme Cagefighting: Halloween Fury 1
World Extreme Cagefighting: Unfinished Business 2
Best Of True Music
World Cafe Music
Bikini Destinations: Mexico
Bikini Destinations: Hawaii
Chic Corea - Rendevouzs in New York - Part 1
Chic Corea - Rendevouzs in New York - Part 2


​

Magnolia Home Entertainment

Bubble
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
The War Within


​

Brentwood

Classical Touch Beethoven - 07/11/2006
Classical Touch Chopin - 07/11/2006
Classical Touch Mozart - 07/11/2006
Classical Touch Tchaikovsky - 07/11/2006


​

Morningstar Entertainment

Chronos​

Concert Hot Spot

View From Space With Heavenly Music - 6/06/2006
Muriel Anderson: Guitarscape Planet - 6/06/2006


​

BCI/Navarre

That's the Way of the World - 08/29/2006
Galaxina - 09/19/2006
Golgo 13 - 09/19/2006
The Sonny Chiba Collection (box set)
The Bob Hope Collection (box set)
The Spanish Horror Collection (box set)
Son of Paleface
The Lemon Drop Kid
That's the Way of the World
Night of the Werewolf
Vengeance of the Zomblies


​

Additional titles revealed at Microsoft website:

12 Monkeys
2 Fast 2 Furious
American Pie
Animal House
Army of Darkness
Backdraft
Battlestar Galactica (2004) Season 1
Conan the Barbarian
Dante's Peak
Dazed and Confused
Dracula (1931)
Dune Theatrical
End of Days


​

Expected list price is $29.99 to $39.99

HD titles shown in green are expected to be exclusive to HD DVD.

I think more can be found here http://www.thelookandsoundofperfect.com/

 

[mike123abc]

HDDVD is producing a lot of titles, but how many of those are big hits? None that have been released are recent hits. Yea a few big ones are listed (like Harry Potter, MI, etc) but they are not exclusive to HDDVD. Having 400 titles and only a few recent hits vs the promised (and I know not yet released either) 200 titles with many more recent hits listed, which will the consumer pick. Yeah they have to pay $500 more for the player with the hit movies, but what good is a $500 paperweight if the movies the consumer wants are not released.

Nobody ever said this is a technology contest. Content is what matters. Sony by hook or by crook has managed to line up the studios and appears to be holding on to them very tightly. Yes controlling 55% of the movies ever made gives them a huge advantage, they are not stupid at Sony. Other studios will probably release on both formats eventually, but it will be a long time before Sony controlled movies make it to HDDVD.

I own an HDDVD player, and yes I agree 30 GB of VC-1 seems more than enough, but then I have not seen what could be done with 50GB of VC-1. It looks like Sony botched the launch by not having VC-1 or MPEG-4 authoring software available. The 50GB disc issue was pretty well known, they were not expecting 50GB until next year, so it is not a shocker. What I think is the real shocker to Sony is that HDDVD would use VC-1 so successfully that they ran away with the disc quality in round one.

The average Joe will be walking in to BB/CC and see 5 BR players and a PS3 at the end of the year. Due to Sony buying the space they will be prominately displayed, the HDDVD player will be hidden in the back of the store somewhere. They will also see the hits they want in BR. They do not have any idea of picture quality, they will look better than DVD and in their minds to justify the expense they will look fantastic... This is what will happen if Sony manages to get its ducks in a row. The whole price and quality issues will not be there because the consumer will never see the choice to start with.

 

[colofan]

So does anyone have a calculation that if a movie was 1080p60 what the speace requirement would be? Just looking at the frame rate being 2 1/2 times higher than the current release would lead one to increase capacity that much? I know that compression could make a big difference here.

 

[vinnyv07]

A year from now, the HD DvD player will be even cheaper do to the volume they will have sold, and the media too. IF 50 GB disks are available they will be even more expensive. And do the the failure of SONY to deliver that media now, sales of there players will be so small that the price will still be 1 grand a pop. Its over.

I do agree with you somewhat. I think before this format war really gets heated and on its way...PS3 will have been released. I'm not saying that HD DVD won't win the format war....I'm saying that the success of PS3 will have a great deal to say about the success of BLURay. I remember when the first PS2 came out and the game system was actually the first DVD player that some people had in their homes.

 

[T2k]

So does anyone have a calculation that if a movie was 1080p60 what the speace requirement would be? Just looking at the frame rate being 2 1/2 times higher than the current release would lead one to increase capacity that much? I know that compression could make a big difference here.

Actually not really as both would use the same VC-1 codec.

OTOH VC-1 only supports 1080p60 in Advanced Profile@L4 which would be out of range for probably anything until some upcoming new format like HVD kills these current wannabies.