high def or blue ray ...mmmm!

Is the article implying that Intel and MSFT is switching to HD-DVD?

Good news for that camp, but now its definitely 2 technologies that won't merge for a long time.

Wasabi
 
You could just as well say:

Xbox360 (after they fit the new drive - early next year?)

or

Sony PS3

I'm sure either of these two machines will be the means to get the most players into the most homes in the shortest possible time.
 
I bought a universal DVD player for SACD and DVD A a few years ago, I doubt if I have more than 10 titles of either format, I won't be at the bleeding edge next time..
 
Whatever one has the most software. (see vhs vs betamax)
 
Mr.D said:
Whatever one has the most software. (see vhs vs betamax)

I bought Betamax cos it was the better format :(

In my opinion, what killed Betamax was Sony's greed.

I recall way back then (when Sony were even more snobs than they are now)
Some rental shops I went into to try and rent a Video (as they were like £500+ back then) said Sony would not allow them to rent out Betamax so they could only offer VHS for Rental.

I think that's what made a LOT of difference.
If you wanted to rent back then, you had no choice but to go VHS
 
Personally I'd choose bluray. Only because it has more capacity, costs may be a little higher but worth it IMO. I'd choose the next format with the longest life every time!
 
stryker said:
Personally I'd choose bluray. Only because it has more capacity, costs may be a little higher but worth it IMO. I'd choose the next format with the longest life every time!

Did you have a Betamax Video recoder too?

With it's better image quality, and far superior tape handling capabilities?

My Sony C9 was a superb machine (The top of the range) Even had a multi loader so you could stack 6 or so tapes in it and it would take tapes out and put blanks in whilst you were on holiday to record even more footage.

And here's a review of it:
http://www.totalrewind.org/betamax/B_C9.htm

It's tape speeds, in forward and reverse were better than even todays machines....

ho hum.
 
Tempest said:
Did you have a Betamax Video recoder too?

With it's better image quality, and far superior tape handling capabilities?

My Sony C9 was a superb machine (The top of the range) Even had a multi loader so you could stack 6 or so tapes in it and it would take tapes out and put blanks in whilst you were on holiday to record even more footage.

And here's a review of it:
http://www.totalrewind.org/betamax/B_C9.htm

It's tape speeds, in forward and reverse were better than even todays machines....

ho hum.

C9 Pah!

Have a look at my kit list - I win!

Oh and it was the C7 with the Betastack - first VCR with infra red remote, picture search (also colour picture search) logic control
 
MartinImber said:
C9 Pah!

Have a look at my kit list - I win!

Oh and it was the C7 with the Betastack - first VCR with infra red remote, picture search (also colour picture search) logic control

I had a C7 then upgraded to the C9 when that came out.
There was/is a betastacker for the C9 (as you can see in that link above) though I never had one.

A shame the best technology does not often mean something will win :(
 
stryker said:
Personally I'd choose bluray. Only because it has more capacity, costs may be a little higher but worth it IMO. I'd choose the next format with the longest life every time!

Bluray doesn't have more capacity, it is only 25GB compared to 30GB on HDDVD.

They claim that Bluray "will" be able to hold 50GB but they've yet to show that is possible outside of a lab and it most certainly isn't going to support that density for a considerable time.
 
MartinImber said:
C9 Pah!

[Have a look at my kit list - I win!

Oh and it was the C7 with the Betastack - first VCR with infra red remote, picture search (also colour picture search) logic control

Now come on Martin, I seem to remember having this debate on another thread about our oldest video recordings about 6 months ago. We all know you've got the biggest collection of Beta kit of everyone!

My C9 has just packed up. Sob. After 24 years.

Oh and to the contributor above who said you could only rent VHS you could also rent V2000, only you were barking if you did.
 
Back on topic, there's a quote from the boss of Samsung over on HCC equipment news. Samsung have undertaken to produce a deck that plays both HD - DVD and Blue Ray. Says Choi Gee San 'It won't be easy but you'll see our solution in the coming year'

Only sensible thing to do I would have thought and I imagine that we could see manufacturers like Pioneer, Denon, Arcam all doing the same.
 
What are the delays around this lot. Blue ray was on sale in Japan about 2 years ago. Why is it taking so long to become mainstream. PS3 is supposed to be out in a few months in Japan so if they can cram all that technology into a games machine why can't they release dedicated blue ray players now with a bunch of movies.
 
Siamese Cat said:
Oh and to the contributor above who said you could only rent VHS you could also rent V2000, only you were barking if you did.

No No, that was ages later.
I remember Video 2000 coming out (Philips and Grundig I seem to recall) where you could turn the tape over (like a giant casette tape)

This was a long time after Betamax and VHS first came out and the time when you could not rent Betamax from the normal high street stores.
 
V2000 came out in about 1980 if I remember correctly. Beta and VHS came out well before that but they hadn't relly become mass market by then. Probably because they were so expensive - about £700 fot a vcr and £10 for a tape, that was a lot of money then. A 4 hour tape for v2000 was £20! Seems even more expensive when you can get a decent dvd recorder for £200 and a blank disc for less than 20p these days.

I've got a copy of the second ever What Video which reviewed V2000. The headline said it was a great big lead balloon. Spot on, but I still rented one!
 
Tempest said:
I had a C7 then upgraded to the C9 when that came out.
There was/is a betastacker for the C9 (as you can see in that link above) though I never had one.

A shame the best technology does not often mean something will win :(

First time I've seen one of those
 
Siamese Cat said:
Now come on Martin, I seem to remember having this debate on another thread about our oldest video recordings about 6 months ago. We all know you've got the biggest collection of Beta kit of everyone!

My C9 has just packed up. Sob. After 24 years.

Oh and to the contributor above who said you could only rent VHS you could also rent V2000, only you were barking if you did.

RIP for the C9 - get it repaired!

For everyone

Working Sony SLHF950, Sanyo VTC-M40, Sony SL-F1UB.
Needs a service Sony SL-HF100P
Faulty Sanyo VTC-NX100
Spares a knacked F1

I sold a Sanyo 6500 a few years ago
 
I did have betamax. Anyways, this isn't the same, in the digital world were simply talking capacity here, not video quality. Could someone here explain why they think HD-DVD is better? with less capacity surely it means we'll all be having this conversation next time all the sooner?

Or am I being naive?
 
Tempest said:
Totally off topic:

But whilst we're travelling down memory lane, how about this ULTIMATE Gaming machine :thumbsup:

superb! I remember when that would have been complete overkill!
 
stryker said:
Could someone here explain why they think HD-DVD is better?

Cheaper production costs = cheaper films (cheaper and better don't necessarily go hand in hand, of course, but they do if picture quality is equal)
 
Choosing one format over the other seems to be a rather pointless activity at the moment. No one has seen either in action yet let alone been able to compare sound and vision quality. Equaly we don't know what the software support will be like for either. Are the film and TV companies going to put out films/programmes on both formats? That doesn't seem to happen with DVD audio or SACD. If they don't then choosing either format will limit what you can watch which must be absolutely key for the success of either of them.

Dual format players sound the best bet to me (if they work well) and let any manufacturer making machines that can only play one of the formats and thus only some films go rot.
 

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