Microsoft Announces External HD-DVD Drive for 360

[D_N_G]

thats because episode 3 was shot digitally and takes up pretty much all of those 9 gigs without any bonus stuff (thats on another disc). im sure i can pop predator 2 in dvd shrink and it would have a hard time topping 3 gigs. and its an old ass movie. unless companies take their time with the conversion to disc, the quality really suffers.

those were an example of my entire post, i wasnt stating a comparison

you pretty much restated my point

the media being used to generate the image has a direct impact on the quality of the presentation


the dude could have watched predator and predator 2 on that hd, and wrote off the quality as shite

[Dyne]

those were an example of my entire post, i wasnt stating a comparison

my entire point being...

the media being used to generate the image has a direct impact on the quality of the presentation


the dude could have watched predator and predator 2 on that hd, and wrote off the quality as shite

i wasn't arguing against you

And you think they'll take the time and effort for the BR/HD-DVD version if they didn't do so with the DVD?

probably not.

[D_N_G]

i wasn't arguing against you


probably not.

thats why i changed my second line you got me before the edit

[Rumpy]

I think it's going to be awhile before most people even care about HD DVD and Blu Ray. When the majority of people think that by having an HDTV means that everything they watch on it is HD when it isn't, there is a long way to go. I mean if anything, the image these people are watching looks worse than the last TV they had and they think they are watching HD!

The price is still a huge barrier for HD. With the cost of the tv, the new satalite/cable bill, a new movie player. People aren't going to be too happy when they see their movie library isn't what it used to be and they need to rebuy it. Movie sales were nothing on VHS compaired to what they are today with DVD. I only knew 1 person who had something I'd even call a movie library with VHS. Now just about everyone I know has a DVD library. Lots of money has been sunk into DVD.

That said, it's just a matter of time. There hasn't been a major tech shift in television in decades (just like with radio) so it's not like any of this is going to settle anytime soon.

[Razor Ramon]

Toshiba Pricing HD-DVD Unit Under $500

By KEN BELSON
Published: January 5, 2006

The fight for control of the market for new high-definition DVD players intensified yesterday when Toshiba, a leader of an industry group backing the HD-DVD format, said it would release a machine in March for less than $500.

New York Times technology reviewer David Pogue is at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show, posting blog entries and daily video updates.

The announcement, made at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, staked out Toshiba's position as the leader of the low-cost alternative to the Blu-ray format being promoted by a rival group dominated by Sony, Panasonic and others.

Three more Blu-ray supporters, Samsung, Pioneer and Sharp, said at the show that they planned to release machines this year costing $1,000 to $1,800.

Both camps have been working for years to create high-definition DVD's, which have better video and audio quality and more storage space than standard-definition discs. But the two sides have taken different approaches.

The Blu-ray group says its technology offers higher-quality programming and more features than Toshiba's discs. Though the Blu-ray players will be more expensive initially, the companies maintain that consumers will be willing to spend more for groundbreaking technology.

Toshiba, by contrast, has essentially upgraded existing DVD technology for its new discs to cut production costs and bring cheaper machines to market quickly. The company says high-definition DVD players will sell faster if prices are lower.

Jodi Sally, vice president for marketing in the Toshiba group that oversees these DVD products, said the sleek brushed-metal player it would sell for $499 was "a model to accelerate adoption, adding, "It's at a price point consumers expect."

Toshiba will also sell a second machine for $800 with more features. The Blu-ray group companies insist that their machines and discs will come down in price. The Sony PlayStation 3, to be released this spring, will also play Blu-ray discs and could invigorate sales, the companies say.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/05/te.../05videos.html

[StriderKyo]

Everyone saying HD media will fail is just flat out wrong. The players will still play people's old DVDs, they don't have to throw them away or anything. By the end of the decade, HD will be the standard, and people won't want to watch movies on their home theatre that look worse than TV broadcasts.

[Schlep]

So then, in your professional opinion, high def DVDs will overtake standard DVDs faster than any medium has ever overtaken another medium?

[mollipen]

Your PSOne comparison is stupid. It is impossible to buy a new TV larger than 32" that isn't an HDTV. That means that if you want a large TV, it has to be an HDTV. What PSOne and PS2 has to do with it, I have no idea.

My point was, people aren't buying HDTVs simply because there aren't regular models in those sizes available anymore. Are some people doing that? Sure. But here was my point. My point is, I'm willing to bet a majority of people going out today would prefer their TV to by an HDTV, because it makes NO SENSE to buy an SDTV at this point. And if you buy an HDTV, it would be silly to expect that you would then do nothing but watch SD content on it, just like it would be silly to go out today, buy a PS2, and only play PSOne games on it.

You're basing everything you say on whether or not I can see the difference.

No, I'm not. I'm basing what I say on the factual differences between SDTV and HDTV, the specifications for HD-DVD and Blu-ray, and the fact that everywhere you look, the opinion of HDTV owners is that they want HD content, and are not happy with how DVDs come across on HDTV.

I can also turn this around, you know - you based your comments on Blu-ray being made to "look silly" on opinions posted on an internet message forum.

You've consistently made statements that make no sense. The difference between SD and HD isn't just "sharpness." HT folk typically ARE the type who go out and re-purchase their libraries in a better format. HDTV owners ARE asking for these formats, the sooner the better - the argument has always, always been in wanting one format instead of two, not in that they're coming too soon.

The point is that people, for the most part, are more than happy with DVD right now the same way people are more than happy with CDs.

HDTV owners ARE NOT. How many times must that be said? HD-DVD and Blu-ray are - for now - primarily for HDTV owners. But that number is going to increase, and at some point, a majority of TVs will by HDTV. At that point, one of the two has a very good shot at being the main optical video disc, unless something else comes along to disrupt that.

All these two new techs offer to the average Joe is a picture that looks a little better to them, and that's assuming average Joe owns an HDTV, which most don't and won't for quite a while.

According to sales projections issued yesterday by CEA, HDTV sets will outsell analog sets by 89 percent in 2006, reaching total unit sales of 15.9 million and contributing to over $23 billion in total DTV revenue.

And by that thinking, there's no reason for the PS3 and the Xbox 360, and certainly no reason for them to support hi-def gaming.

If either tech eventually takes over DVD, the timeline will be much longer than the speed at which DVD overtook VHS. I guess this only seems obvious to me.

Nobody that I see is saying otherwise - you're just saying that we are. DVD is going to be here for a long time, but that doesn't mean that HD-DVD or Blu-ray won't become the next "major" format.

[StriderKyo]

So then, in your professional opinion, high def DVDs will overtake standard DVDs faster than any medium has ever overtaken another medium?

Why does it have to set some kind of record for it not to fail? If broadcast standard is HD, the media will definitely follow over time. It would make absolutely no sense for it not to. The studios themselves will push the new format once a winner in the Blu next gen format wars Ray is decided.

[Schlep]

Well, you said it would be the standard by the end of the decade, and I disagree. That would mean the format would be adopted even faster than DVD was, and that was the quickest media transition in history.

My point is I don't think either technology, as it stands right now, offers enough to supplant DVD as the standard. Shidoshi posted some link to something that said about 16 million tv's would be HD by the end of the year. That really isn't shit compared to how many tv's are actually out there.

For either of these to replace DVD, the majority of TVs (150+ million) need to be HD, and/or these players need to be as cheap as picking up a cyberhome or whatever other crap for $50.

There's nothing to say that blu-ray or whatever might not be completely bypassed as far as movies go either. SACD/DVD-A failed against MP3/AAC/WMA. S-VHS/D-VHS/DVD recorders failed against TiVo-like devices. It's entirely possible that someone like Apple could release a terminal that downloads HD movies off of the internet using h.264 and becomes the new standard for watching movies. There's no telling what could happen.

To me, simply upgrading the video isn't compelling at all, and adding the format wars on top of it, it's completely possible that some other technology will sweep both away like MP3's did with 5.1 channel audio.