BR/HD DVD anyone else not bothered?

[Combatcolin]

Is anyone else out there simply not bothered who wins?

It seems like you HAVE to pick a camp and any disention in the ranks and your shot at dawn!

Or maybe its an age thing, im 30 now and money is tight (mortagage/bills/repairs), 10 years ago i think i would have staked my banner and stood my ground - now i've given up being an "early adopter" and wait till the price comes down.

 

[Inked]

Yep, I don't care who wins. I'm happy with both formats.

 

[Combatcolin]

Do you have both? Thats cheating!

 

[mattym]

a one player solution would suit me, i think despite all the fainboism thats flashed around by the Sony must Die camp, both formats are here to stay, BD is technically very good and has vast potential(dare i say it, more potential that hddvd - awaits flaming), hddvd has produced the goods so far, so neither format is likely to just vanish

 

[magicman72]

not bothered in the slightest at this moment in time 2-3yrs down the line i'll probably defo wants the latest & best high def player.
I have Sky HD & a Pio 989 to keep me happy until then.

 

[Bald Monkey]

After seeing HD-DVD's I really do want a HD format to suirvive and prosper, it really is a worthwhile improvement in my opinion over dvd's, I want there to be contuinuous good quality releases, and I don't want any studios to start producing anything other than the best HD discs possible... However I couldn't care what the format was called!.

 

[Packetfront]

I have Sky HD & a Pio 989 to keep me happy until then.

Not exactly comparable...

 

[rooster-x]

You should have been on this forum a year ago, HD-DVD was despised and everyone was singing BluRay praises. Then those bad reviews of Fifth Element rolled in earlier this year and HD-DVD didn't look so bad after all, especially as it managed to debut with 30 GB discs and the new AVC codec.

Slowly but surely the Forum has swung in HD-DVD's favour. Who knows where we'll be in another years time

Rooster-X

 

[Inked]

Do you have both? Thats cheating!

Yep

 

[Rich777]

Its not necassarily a good thing to be "not bothered", which in itself is a belief of some kind

Far better to say; I'll keep my eye on the formats and buy into it at a point of status quo allied to a certain price point.

However with the hype and level of misinformation about the "HD revolution" the former option seems rather attractive, if not cool

 

[shilv]

I am not personally bothered which format becomes mainstream but I do hope at least one of them survives this damaging format war.

Personally, I entered the door through the Xbox HD DVD add-on as this was the easiest, cheapest and least risky way to see what HD movies had to offer.

Upon watching films I am very impressed and I would hate nothing more than to see this ridiculous format war to ruin my chances of watching HD movies in the future.

I firmly believe that the reason DVD was so popular was because it was the only format available and everything was available on that format. Some claim it was the PS2 that sent DVD mainstream but I believe the PS2 was simply in the right place at the right time.

You could/can get DVD everywhere - PCs, games consoles, standalones (all price ranges), HiFi's, HTiBs and supermarkets. Combine this with the fact that you could be confident that every single disc in the DVD rack was compatible with your equipment and you had a winner at every level from the enthusiast down to the casual veiwer.

I'm afraid that the majority of film studios support one or the other isn't enough - Joe Public wants 100% for either format and until they get that they will not part with their money. Everyone who sees HD wants HD but this will stop it going mainstream unless it is resolved quickly.

 

[jwramsay]

Bought the HD-DVD for the Xbox 360, watched, and really enjoyed King Kong, and sold it on as there are no other discs I fancy right now.

The improvement is obvious but not the quantum leap from VHS to DVD but rather like the jump from CD to SACD or DVD-AUDIO - and we all know who won that particular battle?

 

[andythescientis]

I'm afraid that the majority of film studios support one or the other isn't enough - Joe Public wants 100% for either format and until they get that they will not part with their money. Everyone who sees HD wants HD but this will stop it going mainstream unless it is resolved quickly.

This is exactly true, for all the BD folks out there, it's just as true for Universal as it is for all the other BD exclusives.

As soon as joe blogs walks into a shop and looks at either format, then sees they can't watch everything on either format they will walk straight back out.

All i can see happening any time soon is the pirates will prosper with HD-DVD versions of BD exclusives. If i was a pirate i know that's the market i'd be looking at to exploit.

 

[Dunwa]

The improvement is obvious but not the quantum leap from VHS to DVD but rather like the jump from CD to SACD or DVD-AUDIO - and we all know who won that particular battle?

Did anyone win the SACD or DVD-AUDIO battle as far as i'm aware it never made it to the mainstream mass market ?

The more I read about HD-DVD/BR the more I think that the HD Revolution will never arrive, an evolution maybe, but not a revolution. The jump from DVD to HD is just not as great as the jump from VHS to DVD.

The few friends & family I've shown HD clips to they have been relativly unimpressed. They've said it's a "nice" picture but not worth the upgrade. One even stated they couldn't tell the difference.

The demo I used for HD was T2 playing on DVD and the T2 Ultimate edition which uses Windows Media-HD. Whilst I know this is not HD-DVD/BR it gives you a fare idea of the quality.

 

[Rasczak]

The few friends & family I've shown HD clips to they have been relativly unimpressed. They've said it's a "nice" picture but not worth the upgrade. One even stated they couldn't tell the difference.

The demo I used for HD was T2 playing on DVD and the T2 Ultimate edition which uses Windows Media-HD. Whilst I know this is not HD-DVD/BR it gives you a fare idea of the quality.

The quality on WMV-HD is nowhere near the quality offered by HD DVD - not even close. HD DVD uses the latest WMV encoding technology, in full high def resolution, and using much higher bitrates (upto 30MBits/S versus upto 10MBits/S on the T2 Ultimate Edition). And that's before you even consider the gulf of difference with regard to the sound...

 

[JUS]

I don't mind who wins as long as someone does so they can get a core number of units sold and so start the AAA titles flooding onto the market.

Marketing for the new formats seems appauling to me. Still only seen ads in techy mags...not seen any in news papers, TV...not even seen anything in shops and I have looked in some major shopping centres!

I have a Tosh XA1...I'll buy into BR if they start to get quality titles I can't miss...LOTR etc.

 

[GrahamC]

I totally agree with the 'not bothered' stance taken by the op. I have found myself in the very same position and in fact have to force myself to have any enthusiasm to even read articals on either format. This apathy covers all aspects of hi-def sales pitch. The tech, disks, players or displays all suffer the same lack of interest and I'm not sure why. When DVD came along I was champing at the bit to buy but not with any hi-def stuff. Maybe when they actually launch the thing properly in this country I can be encouraged to open my wallet and buy, then again maybe not .... *shrug.....

 

[Dunwa]

The quality on WMV-HD is nowhere near the quality offered by HD DVD - not even close. HD DVD uses the latest WMV encoding technology, in full high def resolution, and using much higher bitrates (upto 30MBits/S versus upto 10MBits/S on the T2 Ultimate Edition). And that's before you even consider the gulf of difference with regard to the sound...

Not to get too far off topic as I know there is another thread comparing the different formats. I have experienced WMV-HD at home and I have experienced BD in the shops and to my untrained eye there was not a perceivable difference. I'm guessing I fall in with the vast majority of Joe public.

I’ll upgrade to which ever HD format is around when my DVD player packs up .. or when Star Wars is released in HD

I also can't hear any difference between DTS and DD

 

[jwramsay]

Did anyone win the SACD or DVD-AUDIO battle as far as i'm aware it never made it to the mainstream mass market ?

That was my point, CD won!

The only saving grace for High Def is that folks are buying into HD-Ready TVs, so want to watch HD on them.

 

[MI55ION]

I'm bothered! That's why I've chosen to get a high quality upscaling DVD/HD DVD player-in-one, namely the Toshiba HD-XE1. It should tide me over for next 2-3 years until this war is at an end - and hopefully HD DVD the confirmed winner. BR exclusives? No problem, I could always get them on standard DVD and have em upscaled on the XE1.

 

[epicdream]

I really dont mind who wins to be honest. I don't hate one side or the other but I currently own a HD-DVD player so am enjoying all of the benefits of high-def heaven right now and am loving it!

It's all still early days and by the time one or other format wins, the price of the players will more than likely be cheap enough to splash out on an upgrade without leaving a sour taste in the mouth.

If Blu-ray turns out to be the winner then so be it, i'll buy into it. But at this moment I am more than happy with what I've got.

Neill

 

[Combatcolin]

Good to see there are other people who feel the same as me.

Now if a dual format player comes out next year for £300 i'll be tempted otherwise i'll stick to up-scaled DVD's.

 

[Dunwa]

Good to see there are other people who feel the same as me.

Now if a dual format player comes out next year for £300 i'll be tempted otherwise i'll stick to up-scaled DVD's.

Completly agree with you.

 

[Pincho Paxton]

I heard that Catherine Tate's not bothered...

 

[[nothing]]

The only saving grace for High Def is that folks are buying into HD-Ready TVs, so want to watch HD on them.

Not entirely true.

People are buying into a 'buzz term' without even really thinking about it.

The amount of TV's I sell to people who are specifically looking for HD Ready TV's without even knowing what it means is unreal. Joe Public tends to believe that an HD Ready TV gives a High Definition picture from every piece of equipment connected to it. It's only when I tell them how much something like Sky HD would cost on top, or enquire if they intend on using an Xbox 360 or PS3 or a HD-DVD/Blu-Ray player on it that I get funny looks and a sense of disbelief from the additional cost.

Much like the situation with the digital changeover, the average person is either clueless or misinformed.