Blu Ray / HD DVD Discussion Thread

[Just Myself]

Question: Are Blu-Ray players recordable as well as playable? And also, will my PS3, which will play BD's, record them as well?

[2099net]

Question: Are Blu-Ray players recordable as well as playable? And also, will my PS3, which will play BD's, record them as well?

No, a PS3 won't record. Its already going to be (a lot?) cheaper than stand alone Blu Ray players. As for BD-R, it does exist, but I'm not sure any recorders are due for production. They are likely to cost a small fortune when they do come out.

If only Deathie's monitor hadn't died on him. He would know for sure

[Hogi Bear]

Blu-ray Disc players will be available in BD-R and BD-RE (Rewritable), but they will likey have cersion that only do ROM (Read Only Memory) discs.

For those that don't know (if I remember rightly), Blu-ray was first developed as a Rewritable (violet blue) optical disc.

Anyway, check out www.blu-ray.com or www.blu-raydisc.com or www.sony.com or www.philips.com or www.samsung.com

Hope this helps (I currently can't be bothered researching it).

[Karushifa]

Same wil happen with the HDTV displays. what today costs a kilobuck will be much lower in price when it becomes the standart TV at home and everybody buys it, just like DVD players are now so cheap cus it's the movie machine you have at the house when before you had a VCR. etc etc

The thing is, the shift from DVD to VCR involved not only video/audio quality, but versatility (DVDs are easily navigable and can include special features - a BIG bonus over VHS), portability (you can take DVDs with you easier and play them on a variety of portable devices), and durability (if taken care of, DVDs can last longer than magnetic tapes which wear out with continued normal use). There was a huge leap from bulky analog tapes to digital discs. With HD, we're still talking about discs here, so the two big advantages are going to be storage capacity and audio/video quality.

Now, in the case of regular-def, Blue-Ray discs could potentially be a boon to folks who want to issue a lot of material (say, TV season sets) with a minimal amount of hardware. But hi-def material is going to need all that extra space for practically the same amount of entertainment on a regular DVD, so let's consider the improvement in A/V quality. Now, I'll admit to being impressed with HDTV, but I'm not sure if it's something I would sink a lot of money into right now. My parents probably wouldn't either. If a large number of people feel this way, then it won't be as much demand that drives down the cost of HD devices (as the various companies scramble to compete with consumers' money) as much as the companies working to improve the technology on their own. The street release of hi-def discs will be telling: will people flock to the new technology, or will the field of HD stagnate for yet another few years? We shall see.

[darth_deetoo]

I don't know if there's already a thread started about the new high definition formats, apologies if that's the case.

As I've posted in a couple of threads, I've just jumped on the Hi Def bandwagon with a PS3 and have got four Blu Ray titles now, and obviously with the intention of buying more. Blu Ray was the thing that really swayed me in getting a PS3, particularly with Fox and Disney supporting Blu Ray.

I'd be curious to hear from other people who have bought Blu Ray discs to hear their thoughts on them, and see what recommendations they have.

Obviously I don't want HD supporters to feel left out, so feel free to post your comments here too, but let's not have this develop into an argument over which format is better. There are other places to take that kind of discussion, and I'm not interested.

So far, I've got Open Season, Kingdom of Heaven (both of which came in a bundle), and Fantastic Four and Casino Royale.

Open Season was the first I watched. I thought the picture quality was fantastic, and the film was probably better than I'd anticipated. I'm a bit tired of all the CG animated films, although I do usually enjoy them, I just wish we'd get something more traditional. That said, these films do look good in Hi Def and are an excellent showcase for your equipment.

I watched Kingdom of Heaven last night, which was the Director's Cut, previously only available on DVD split over 2 discs. It's nice to have the whole thing on one disc. Only thing that bothers me a bit is that these Fox discs seem to be dispensing with the extras. Having said that, I very rarely watch DVD extras these days, and so if it's a choice between top quality video presentation, or a selection of extras I'll never watch, I think I'm inclined to go for the presentation of the movie. For this reason, I cancelled my pre-order of the DVD release of Eragon and went for the Blu Ray version instead. But I don't see why they can't keep the extras on the Blu Ray releases. Thankfully the Pirates films are going to keep their extras on Blu Ray.

I thought the video on Kingdom of Heaven was amazing, particularly on the huge battle sequences. I look forward to seeing something like Lord of the Rings on the format.

I've just this afternoon received Fantastic Four and Casino Royale, both of which I look forward to watching over the weekend.

Having just had a quick scan, it's nice to see the extras from the Casino Royale DVD are carried over. Disappointing to see Fantastic Four loses all extras save for a commentary, though as I've had the DVD for some time and never watched the extras, it's hardly a great loss. Picture quality looks great on both. Seen the pop-up menu feature on FF for the first time, I never tried this on the other discs. Basically, a 4 symbol comes up in the bottom of the screen, and you can swivel the circle around it to select scenes, audio options (commentary) and set up. All of this is done as the movie still plays, and there isn't a menu screen. Not necessarily a bad thing really as some DVD menus are terrible to navigate around.

Casino Royale looks absolutely stunning on DVD. I expect to watch this tonight. Even sat very close up against the display, the picture retains excellent resolution, with very little graininess, whereas on DVD's, you can start to notice some artefacting when close up to the screen.

I really look forward to more and more films appearing on the format.

I can't see myself being in a rush to replace everything, but I definitely will be replacing favourite titles as they come out, and if there's an opportunity to choose a Blu Ray release over a standard DVD, odds are I'll buy the Blu Ray version.

Would be very curious to hear of other people's thoughts about HD films, and what recommendations they have. As I say, obviously my preference is towards Blu Ray, but I wouldn't want HD adopters to feel left out.

[2099net]

You can check out my discs under my Gamertag sig. Although at the moment, my HD list is not 100% accurate and up to date.

On the whole I still prefer HD DVD to Blu Ray. I'm very disappointed with the carelessness of the Blu Ray releases to date - especially those from Blu Ray exclusive studios only, which seem to be full of arrogance!

HD DVD has less space available, but most of the time an effort is made to include all of the extras from the normal SD releases. Sometimes they fall short, but at least an effort is made.

I can't say the same for Blu Ray's releases. They may have technically the potential for better image quality and they most definitely do have the ability for better sound (HD DVD does not support lossless audio at all), but they seem to ignore the extras. They seem to have air of certainty about their product (due to the PS3 effect no doubt) that they think offering people value doesn't matter.

What's worse is I just got the UK Night at the Museum today, and it has even less extras than the US disc! (And yet they're still asking £25 for it) And both the US and the UK have less than the 2 disc set you can get on SD DVD. It is a sodding joke. It's not even down to disc space because the US Night at the Museum even has an extra soundtrack!

I was reluctant to get a PS3 for Blu Ray because I know it still supports region locking, and I knew crap like this was going to be pulled on us in the UK. I'm still more of a HD DVD supporter over Blu Ray because they offer better value and less DRM.

Fox especially seem to think that they are doing us a great favour just letting us have the opportunity to see their films in High Definition, and we should all be thanking them by throwing money at them. I doubt that Fox will get any more of my money for a long time to come, especially as they insist on region locking everything so I can't even import the cheaper US releases.

[DarthPrime]

Like 2099net I prefer HD-DVD to Blu-Ray (I don't own either format yet), but that doesn't stop me from wanting both formats. Even if I do eventually get both formats, I highly doubt I will replace my DVDs. Maybe for a few titles, but the majority of the purchases will be movies I don't own, and new releases.

Anyway with the prices of HD-DVD players falling fast I'll likely pickup a standalone HD-DVD player sometime in the next few months and take advantage of the 5 free movie offer. I was really debating staying out of the HD formats for now and buying an Oppo Upconverting DVD player, but for $50 more I can get a Toshiba HD-A2 that upconverts DVDs and plays HD-DVDs. Its becoming hard not to say, go for the HD-DVD player right now.

As far as Blu-Ray, unless the new Sony or Samsung players have a huge price drop before the end of the year/first of 2008, I'll probably buy a PS3 for my Blu-Ray player. Right now the price of Blu-Ray is one factor that is delaying me buying into the format. I know the PS3 is around the same price, but it also plays games, which makes the decision a little easier. I just wished there were better games available. Maybe by the holiday season we will see better titles.

For people that have the PS3, is it a good Blu-Ray player? How does it compare to the standalone players?

And for people that have a HD-DVD player, how are the combo discs? I've read online that a lot of people are having problems with the combo discs freezing, etc... Is this a big problem, or has the internet made this a bigger deal than it really is?

[darth_deetoo]

All the reviews I've read suggest the PS3 performs just as well as a standalone player, and of course, it's cheaper, and is also a games machine, and offers a web browser too.

I bought a PS3 bundle in HMV which included an extra wired controller, which I'll probably sell on Ebay. 3 games of my choice, I picked Virtua Fighter, Virtua Tennis 3 and Ridge Racer 7 - I figured you couldn't go wrong with a fighter, a racer and a tennis game, although there are other games getting better reviews. I also got a bundled HDMI cable, and 2 Blu Ray movies out of a choice of 5, which included Open Season, Talladega Nights, League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Kingdom of Heaven and Ultraviolet. I picked Open Season and Kingdom of Heaven.

I do think it's frustrating that extra's are not being ported over onto many discs at the moment, and it seems that Fox are the main culprits here. I don't actually watch extra's much these days, so it's not a huge issue for me, but I'd be disappointed if it was one of my favourite movies and I was looking forward to the extras.

In terms of future movies I'm currently looking as definite purchases, there are the Pirates of the Carribean movies, Superman The Movie, Superman Returns and Phantom of the Opera. There are one or two other movies I'm interested in, but I'm not in a huge rush at the moment.

Hopefully they'll get the PS3 update for upscaling Standard DVD's sorted soon.

I'm not too bothered about the machine being region locked at the moment, because the vast majority of stuff I buy these days is Region 2, with the exception of the odd Disney release. Unfortunately, alot of my Disney DVD's are Region 1, so most of them still have to be played on my old DVD player.

Hopefully something like DVD Region X will come out before long on the PS3.

[Mr. Toad]

I am going to be comfortably sitting out until a format winner is decided and am not going to pick up any more movies until it is decided. Looks like I have over 120 left watch anyways.

[2099net]

While Ultimate Disney was down, I updated my FORMAT NEUTRAL HD list.

Here it is

[TM2-Megatron]

As for myself, I'm staying out of the entire affair (except as an enthousiast of technology in general) until the winner is both decided and, more importantly, affordable. Hopefully by then, flat-panel television technology will have become somewhat more refined, as well. Until then, it'll be CRT HDs for me.

As for the winner, ideally I'd like to see Blu-Ray come out in top... with a few adoptions from HD-DVD. While Blu-Ray is clearly superior for a purely technological standpoint, HD-DVD is much more end-user-friendly for use in the home video market. It's region-free, and the HD-DVD standard makes many things mandatory while Blu-Ray leaves them as optional, thus degrading the overall experience if a studio decides not to use them. However, if those things could be changed in teh Blu-Ray standard, then HD-DVD wouldn't have any advantage left, other than its (relative) affordability... and even that's only a very short-term benefit; in fact, it's probably mostly used up even now.

If the dual-format players are released and affordable prior to a decisive end to the format war, then I'll just pick up one of those. As for the computer, LG already has a drive listed on their website that can burn all formats of DVD and Blu-Ray (including dual-layer) as well as read HD-DVD... this is ideal, taking into account the fact HD-DVD is a poor choice indeed for computer use, and blank discs are scarce to say the least.

I am going to be comfortably sitting out until a format winner is decided and am not going to pick up any more movies until it is decided. Looks like I have over 120 left watch anyways.

This is undoubtedly the smartest approach to this whole format-war crap. The only reasons I can see for someone to adopt this technology in its first generation are:

a) They have so much money that dropping $1000 or more on a player (that will be rendered obsolete rather quickly), and many thousands more on an HDTV (provided you care about picture quality, and not just the HDTV label; in which case $1000-$1200 would buy a TV) is inconsequential to their overall lifestyle.

b) Movies and television are the only (or primary) activity in their lives, so other than the standard bills/etc. there's nothing else useful to spend their extra money on.

c) They've bought a PS3, primarily for next-gen gaming (though I can't imagine why anyone would want a PS3), and therefore have a Blu-Ray player... so why not use it? The movies are only a couple bucks more expensive (if that), anyway... as long as you don't care about bonus features, that is.

d) They've bought a new computer that has come with an HD-DVD-ROM or BD-ROM (or BD-R/RE writer)... still not incredibly widespreed, but they do seem to be around.

[DarthPrime]

All the reviews I've read suggest the PS3 performs just as well as a standalone player, and of course, it's cheaper, and is also a games machine, and offers a web browser too.

I bought a PS3 bundle in HMV which included an extra wired controller, which I'll probably sell on Ebay. 3 games of my choice, I picked Virtua Fighter, Virtua Tennis 3 and Ridge Racer 7 - I figured you couldn't go wrong with a fighter, a racer and a tennis game, although there are other games getting better reviews. I also got a bundled HDMI cable, and 2 Blu Ray movies out of a choice of 5, which included Open Season, Talladega Nights, League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Kingdom of Heaven and Ultraviolet. I picked Open Season and Kingdom of Heaven.

I do think it's frustrating that extra's are not being ported over onto many discs at the moment, and it seems that Fox are the main culprits here. I don't actually watch extra's much these days, so it's not a huge issue for me, but I'd be disappointed if it was one of my favourite movies and I was looking forward to the extras.

In terms of future movies I'm currently looking as definite purchases, there are the Pirates of the Carribean movies, Superman The Movie, Superman Returns and Phantom of the Opera. There are one or two other movies I'm interested in, but I'm not in a huge rush at the moment.

Hopefully they'll get the PS3 update for upscaling Standard DVD's sorted soon.

I'm not too bothered about the machine being region locked at the moment, because the vast majority of stuff I buy these days is Region 2, with the exception of the odd Disney release. Unfortunately, alot of my Disney DVD's are Region 1, so most of them still have to be played on my old DVD player.

Hopefully something like DVD Region X will come out before long on the PS3.

Not bad. I haven't seen any nice bundles like that here. Most of the bundles are just the PS3 and like 4 or 5 games, no movies.

At $599 the PS3 is one of the cheaper Blu-Ray players. I'm really looking at the new Sony that is supposed to come out this summer. Its the same price, but a nice looking player. The 1st Gen Samsung is around $450 now, but I've heard a lot of bad things about that player. I think the firmware has fixed a lot of the problems though. Although I'll probably still go with the PS3. For a console its expensive, but if you plan to use it for Blu-Ray as well its a pretty good deal.

[2099net]

Here's an interesting article, based on a report from *yawn* Sony, who as always are keen to mouth off about Blu Ray "winning the war".

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/ ... igures/564

Now, I don't know about you, but I consider some of those figures as shocking. Considering that there's over 1M US PS3's in circulation, figures like sales of 21,504 X-Men 3's sold EVER is terrible. X-Men 3 is, you would expect, a film ideally suited to the average PS3 owner's demographic. Apparently some HD titles haven't sold more than 200 copies TOTAL since their release!

Basically, this just tells me to ignore everything Sony says about the war being won by Blu Ray - those miniscule sales figures show the war hasn't even begun yet. I have doubts it ever will begin properly this decade to be honest based on those figures (and the fact, judging by the sales, people seem content to stick with SD DVDs that they already own).

I think Universal and Warners should start to make every new day-and-date title a HD DVD/DVD combo - that way, when people do decide to upgrade they're likely to go for HD DVD as they'll have plenty of software ready to go. A little underhand perhaps, but no more so than Sony's cynical use of the PS3 to push Blu Ray.

Darth Deetoo - I have lots of combo discs (as you can see from my link below) and the Xbox HD DVD add-on, and the only one that has caused me problems is the new Children of Men release (which is a shame, as the film is probably the movie of the decade - no joke) and I'm in email negotiations to send it back (as you live in the UK, you will know how awkward it is to return stuff to the US).

However, I don't consider it a big issue - so far its just a one off, and there's plenty of early DVD players that had problems playing normal DVDs. The big test will be when my Good Shepherd HD DVD comes, as this has similar problems reported. That said, Hollywoodland was also reported as being a problem disc by some add-on users, and it works fine on mine.

[DarthPrime]

The attach rate for the PS3 is low. Thats why there are a lot of PS3s out and the movie sales are still low.

This want change either since most people will use the PS3 as a game console. I know people that are buying one, and have an HDTV, but want be buying any Blu-Ray movies.

I agree about the war, it will be awhile before its settled. Blu-Ray may win for awhile, and HD-DVD may make a comeback. I really don't see either format going away, and combo players becoming the norm in a few years.

Looks like a lot of people are having problems with Children of Men. I know the HD-DVD Happy Feet is also causing some problems. From what I keep reading its the combo discs that are having these problems. Hopefully they get it worked out soon.

[2099net]

Well, like I say, I've had one bad disc. Happy Feet plays fine (I watched it on Saturday) as does Hollywoodland. I don't consider 1 suspect disc out of about 40 a big deal. It's certainly not put me off the format. The only problem is, being as I import titles, its a bit of a pain to sort out a replacement (although one should be on the way now as I type this).

I suspect a new production line or something has been opened, and the equipment isn't quite fine tuned correctly. True, it shouldn't happen, but everyone knows new technology has teething troubles.

[2099net]

Just a quick update: I got my Children of Men replacement disc today and it appears to be fine. I can't say for sure until I watch the whole movie, but it doesn't seem to have problems on the second layer like my first one did (or on the first layer either). However, the player can be loud when searching the disc sometimes, so its probably not 100% flawless.

I also recieved The Good Shepherd (another reported 'problem' disc) too the same day and gave that a quick going over, and this too appears to be fine.

It should be noted that both The Good Shepherd and Children of Men feature the more ambitious use of HD DVD's HDi scripting than earlier Universal U-Control releases.

On these you get a visual timelines showing your saved "My Scenes", each pre-authored chapter selection has icons showing what U-Control features that chapter features, you can set the volume on the picture-in-picture inserts and whenever an additional display is shown on the screen (chapter selection, My Scenes, Picture-in-picture) the main picture shrinks so that the new information doesn't cover too much of the movie's image. It works very well and look forward to Universal's Q3 HD DVD releases which push the format even more,as they will be the first to include on-line integration with a playing movie.

[DarthPrime]

Nice to hear that your replacement disc worked. I wonder if there was just a bad run of this film that cause so many people problems.

[2099net]

Well, I've just switched my Blood Diamond pre-order from Blu-Ray to HD DVD, because of the news the HD DVD will have more features, including Internet connectivity!

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=64662

[PatrickvD]

I still see people around me finally making the switch to dvd.

I doubt either Blu-Ray or HDDVD will become the new norm sometime soon. It's gonna take quit a while, because only HD geeks know about the new formats. Normal people consider dvd the best quality and are unaware of new formats.

[DarthPrime]

Well, I've just switched my Blood Diamond pre-order from Blu-Ray to HD DVD, because of the news the HD DVD will have more features, including Internet connectivity!

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=64662

Good news for the HD DVD version.

Looks like the features were not put on the Blu-ray because of BD-J?

I still see people around me finally making the switch to dvd.

I doubt either Blu-Ray or HDDVD will become the new norm sometime soon. It's gonna take quit a while, because only HD geeks know about the new formats. Normal people consider dvd the best quality and are unaware of new formats.

I think it will stay this way for awhile. Most people that know about the formats are still uneasy about buying one of them because of the two formats.

It would have been an easier sale if there was only one format. With HD DVD and Blu-ray not going anywhere right now, combo players may help. Well when they get to affordable prices.