I think blu-ray is the way to go just look at its supporters!

[italianninja]

list of supporting companies! theres some big names there!

Board of Directors:
Apple
Dell
HP
Hitachi
LG
Mitsubishi Electric
Panasonic
Pioneer
Philips
Samsung
Sharp
Sony
Sun Microsystems
TDK
Thomson
Twentieth Century Fox
Walt Disney
Warner Bros.



Contributors:

Adobe Systems
Almedio Inc.
Alticast
Aplix Corporation
ArcSoft, Inc.
ATI Technologies Inc.
Atmel Corporation
AudioDev AB
Broadcom Corporation
Canon Inc.
CMC Magnetics Corporation
Coding Technologies GmbH
Cryptography Research Inc.
CyberLink Corp.
DATARIUS Technologies GmbH
DCA Inc.
Deluxe Media Services Inc.
Dolby Laboratories Inc.
DTS, Inc.
Electronic Arts Inc.
Esmertec
Freescale Semiconductor
FUJIFILM Corporation
Fujitsu Ltd.
Gibson Guitar Corp.
Horizon Semiconductor
Imation Corp.
InterVideo Inc.
Kenwood Corporation
Lionsgate Entertainment
LITE-ON IT Corporation
LSI Logic
MediaTek Inc.
Meridian Audio Ltd.
Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co.Ltd.
Mitsui Chemicals Inc.
Moser Baer India Limited
NEC Electronics Corporation
Nero
Optodisc Technology Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation
Pixela Corporation
Prodisc Technology Inc.
Pulstec Industrial Co., Ltd.
Ricoh Co., Ltd.
Ritek Corporation
ShibaSoku Co. Ltd.
Sigma Designs Inc.
Sonic Solutions
Sonopress
Sony BMG Music Entertainment
ST Microelectronics
Sunext
Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd.,
Texas Instruments, Inc.
Universal Music Group
Victor Company of Japan, Ltd.
Visionare Corporation
Zentek Technology Japan, Inc.
ZOOtech Ltd.
Zoran Corporation



Members:

Alpine Electronics Inc.
Arima Devices Corporation
Asahi Kasei Microsystems Co., Ltd.
ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG
Bandai Visual Co. Ltd.
BASF AG
Basler Vision Technologies
BenQ Corporation
B.H.A. Corporation
Bose Corporation
B&W Group
The Cannery
Cheertek Inc.
Cinram Manufacturing Inc.
D&M holdings, Inc.
Daewoo Electronics Corporation
Daikin Industries, Ltd.
Daxon Technology Inc.
Degussa
Eclipse Data Technologies
Elpida Memory, Inc.
ESS Technology Inc.
Expert Magnetics Corp.
Fujitsu Ten Ltd.
Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
GalleryPlayer Media Networks
Gear Software
Hie Electronics, Inc.
Hoei Sangyo Co., Ltd.
IMAGICA Corp.
INFODISC Technology Co., Ltd.
Infomedia Inc.
Intersil Corporation
Kadokawa Holdings Inc.
Kaleidescape, Inc.
Kitano Co., Ltd.
Konica Minolta Opto Inc.
Laser Pacific Media Corp.
Lauda Co. Ltd.
Lead Data Inc.
LEADER ELECTRONICS CORP
Lenovo
Linn Products Ltd.
LINTEC Corporation
M2 Engineering AB
MainConcept AG
Mitsumi Electric Co., Ltd.
Must Technology Co., Ltd.
MX Entertainment
Netflix Inc.
Newtech Infosystems Inc.
Nichia Corporation
Nikkatsu Corporation
NTT Electronics Corporation
nVidia Corporation
OC Oerlikon Balzer AG
Omnibus Japan Inc.
Onkyo Corporation
Online Media Technologies Ltd.
Ono Sokki Co., Ltd.
OPT Corporation
Orbit Corp.
Origin Electric Co., Ltd.
Osmosys SA
Pinnacle Systems
PoINT Software & Systems GmbH
Pony Canyon Enterprise
PowerFile
Primera Technology, Inc.
Quanta Storage Inc.
Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Rimage Corporation
Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
Dr. Schwab Inspection Technology GmbH
Shinano Kenshi Co. Ltd.
Singulus Technologies
STEAG ETA-OPTIK GmbH
Sumitomo Bakelite
Tao Group Limited
Targray Technology International Inc.
TEAC Corporation
Teijin Chemicals Ltd.
THX Ltd.
Toei Video Company Ltd.
Toho Company, Ltd.
Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.
TOPTICA Photonics AG
Trailer Park
UmeDisc Ltd.
Vivendi Universal Games
Yamaha Corporation
Yokogawa Electric Corporation
1K Studios, LLC

[mattym]

best don your flame suit friend...

welcome along, btw

[Rasczak]

Most have hedged their bets and are also supporting HD DVD though - even those not doing so directly are linked to the format via the DVD Forum.

Evening looking at those companies in the Board Of Directors you can see things aren't that clear:

Apple - rumoured to be considering a dual stance
Dell
HP - already selling HD DVD products
Hitachi - rumoured to be working on a dual solution with LG
LG - rumoured to be working on a dual solution with Hitachi
Mitsubishi Electric - also backing HD DVD.
Panasonic
Pioneer - leaked plans to create a dual third gen drive
Philips
Samsung - already selling HD DVD products
Sharp - selling optical heads to BOTH camps
Sony
Sun Microsystems
TDK - already sellign HD DVD rewriteable media in Japan
Thomson - staying "open minded" on the format war
Twentieth Century Fox
Walt Disney
Warner Bros. - releasing more titles on HD DVD with better specs

...confusing old war isn't it?

[samuelowens]

Rasczak, Thomson's actually actively behind HD-DVD, having rebranded the Toshiba A1 as an RCA in the US...

[italianninja]

i know that alot of companies will be behind both but looking at the board of directors for blu ray! i am positive bluray will be ahead of the game due to its capabilites which outway hddvd.

[gixxerman]

Originally Posted by italianninja

i am positive bluray will be ahead of the game due to its capabilites which outway hddvd.

- What "capabilities", exactly?

Cos I keep hearing people talk about how Blu-ray is meant to have some kind of in-built qualitative advantage but no-one ever seems to be able to actually pin down what this is besides making the claim periodically.

It certainly isn't on show with the movies released to date.
HD-DVD still sets the standard for PQ and SQ.

In any event retail Blu-ray is set to go VC-1, in large part.
When they do that the likelihood is that they will drop the difficult to produce dual layer disc as a wholly unnecessary expense.

At that point it will be the much more easily produced HD-DVD that will actually have the capacity advantage (30gb v 25gb).

.....and as for theoretical limits of 100gb or 200gb these are not only utter vapor-ware at the moment (unlike the TL 45gb HD-DVD discs) but your Blu-ray kit on the market right now (including PC burners) will not touch them.

[Rasczak]

Originally Posted by samuelowens

Rasczak, Thomson's actually actively behind HD-DVD, having rebranded the Toshiba A1 as an RCA in the US...

Interesting - didn't realise that Thompson was linked with RCA - cheers for the info!

[Rasczak]

Just for info here is the list of those directly supporting HD DVD:

Ad Seeds Co.,Ltd
Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.
ALMEDIO INC.
Moser Baer India Ltd
ALPINE ELECTRONICS, INC.
NEC Corporation
BANDAI VISUAL CO., LTD.
NEC Electronics Corporation
Broadcom Corporation
NEC Fielding,Ltd.
CANON INC.
NIHONVTR INC.
CMC Magnetics Corporation
ONKYO CORPORATION
D&M Holdings Inc.
Paramount Home Entertainment
Digital Theater Systems
PONY CANYON INC.
Diskware Co., Ltd.
PonyCanyon Enterprise INC.
EXPERT MAGNETICS Corp.
Prodisc Technology Inc.
FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD.
Protron Digital Inc.
Fujitsu Limited.
PULSTEC INDUSTRIAL CO.,LTD
FUNAI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
Q-TEC,INC.
Gibson Musical Instruments
RICOH COMPANY LTD.
Hewlett-Packard Company
RITEK CORPORATION
HIGH-DEF Technology GmbH
SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.
Hitachi Maxell, Ltd.
Sonopress GmbH
Imation Corp
TAIYO YUDEN CO.,LTD.
Intel Corporation
TEAC CORPORATION
Interchannel, Ltd.
TEIJIN CHEMICALS LTD.
InterVideo, Inc.
Toemi Media Solutions Limited
ITRI TOPPAN PRINTING CO., LTD.
Justsystem Corporation
TOSHIBA CORPORATION
KADOKAWA HOLDINGS,INC.
TOSHIBA DIGITAL FRONTIERS INC.
Kenwood Corporation
TOSHIBA ENTERTAINMENT INC.
kinyosha printing co.,ltd.
Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Corporation
KITANO CO.,LTD.
TOSHIBA-EMI LIMITED
Konica Minolta Opto, Inc.
TRENDY Corporation
Lenovo Japan
Ulead Systems, Inc.
McRAY Corporation Unaxis Balzers Ltd.
Memory-Tech Corporation
Universal Pictures
Microsoft Corporation
Warner Home Video Inc.
Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co., Ltd.
Verbatim


Acer Inc.
Kaleidescape, Inc.
ACSES Co.,Ltd.
M2 Engineering
ALTECH ADS CO., LTD.
Megan Media Holdings Bhd
ArcSoft, Inc MITOMO CO., LTD
AudioDev AB Nero AG
B.H.A Corporation
NICHIA CORPORATION
BEKO Elektronik
NIKKATSU CORPORATION
CDN Corporation, LTD.
Nixbu Entertainment GmbH & Co. KG
CyberLink Corp
OMNIBUS JAPAN
DAIKIN INDUSTRIES, Ltd.
Onken Corporation
Daiko.co,ltd.
Online Media Technologies Ltd.
Daxon Technology Inc.
Origin ELECTRIC CO.,LTD.
Dedicated Devices, Inc.
OUTPOST FX (AB) International
DigiOn, Inc.
Pegasys, Inc.
Digital Site Corporation
PICO HOUSE Co.,LTD
DISC LABO CORP.
PIXELA CORPORATION
PLANNET ASSOCIATE CO.;LTD.
DT JAPAN INC.
PROBOXX.inc
EBISTRADE,INC.
PRYAID RECORDS INC.
Enteractive GmbH Query inc
Entertainment Network Inc.
Sanken Media Product Co., Ltd.
EXA INTERNATIONAL
Shibaura Mechatronics Corporation
Finepack . Co.,LTD
Sonic Solutions
Flag,Inc.
SUMITOMO HEAVY INDUSTRIES. LTD
FUJI PLASTIC CO LTD
SUPER VISION, INC.
FUJI SEIKI CO., LTD.
TOEI VIDEO CO., LTD.
GEAR Software, Inc
TOHO COMPANY, LIMITED.
Hamamatsu Metrix co.,ltd.
Tokyo laboratory ltd.
Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation
TOPTICA Photonics AG
HOEI SANGYO CO., LTD.
TOYO RECORDING CO., LTD.
IDE-AVA TRANSMIX Co., Ltd.
IMAGICA Corp.
U-Tech Media Corp.
Info Source Multi Media Korea Ltd.
VAP inc.
INFODISC Technology Co., Ltd.
Visionare Corporation
JP Co., Ltd

...of course the DVD Forum, which is officially backing HD DVD, is much larger. See the full member list here. Doubtless some companies (Dolby for example) consider membership of the DVD Forum alone sufficient for access to the new formats.

As you can see from both lists HD DVD is also extensively supported - largely by the same companies as are behind BluRay. It seems almost everyone is hedging their bets - wise move as the future is almost certainly dual format IMHO.

[av-phile]

Really now, with such formidable supporters as you say Blurry has, you'd think, as most industry pundits did this time last year, that Blurry would already have won by now. HD DVD was the UNDERDOG. People normally love underdogs, don't they? Especially an underdog that did their job right the first time to the surprised delight of early adopters. Now all that Blurry can do, with all those supporters that are in reality also supporting the other camp with as much gusto and perhaps better returns, is just catch up.

[Avi]

Originally Posted by italianninja

list of supporting companies! theres some big names there!

Board of Directors:
Apple
Dell
HP
Hitachi
LG
Mitsubishi Electric
Panasonic
Pioneer
Philips
Samsung
Sharp
Sony
Sun Microsystems
TDK
Thomson
Twentieth Century Fox
Walt Disney
Warner Bros.

Just a thought but.....

Doesn't HP make HD DVD media centre PC's?
Doesn't RCA (Thomson) sell HD DVD players in the US ?
Doesn't Warner Bros release more titles on HD DVD i.e Batman Begins, V for Vendetta etc ?

AVI

[Nic Rhodes]

I think out of date and one sided lists are a poor wasy to assess how well or badly either format might do. Sales are what matters.

[Avi]

Originally Posted by Nic Rhodes

I think out of date and one sided lists are a poor wasy to assess how well or badly either format might do. Sales are what matters.

I completely agree. I've learned the hard way that what often may look better on paper doesn't always equal better in the real word.

AVI

[mattym]

people keep saying that the bd50 are hard to produce, but im sure i read that there were now 3 full scale plants manufacturing these things?

[Rasczak]

Originally Posted by mattym

people keep saying that the bd50 are hard to produce, but im sure i read that there were now 3 full scale plants manufacturing these things?

They are still having yield problems though which I think is where these comments are coming from.

Regardless it's slightly academic IMHO - the tiny numbers of BluRay discs being shifted at present means they can meet the demand which sort of makes the whole point moot. If supply equals demand there is no problem.

[sinizterguy]

It's going to be a dual format future - but the question is when are good dual format players going to appear on the market ?

It's better to have one player rather than one for each format.