http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/07/0322220

Finally, this silly HD format war might be coming to an end.

Yeah, I would have liked to see HD-DVD be victorious, only because I hate to see a Sony format become adopted, but if it means the war ends, I'll be a little happy.

But I'm sure the prices for the players won't drop as quickly or as far as HD-DVD would.

I don't really mind who wins although I would want to see Blu-ray made region free... The picture/sound quality is essentially the same and the codecs etc are even the same - it's really just the media format (forgetting stuff like the interactive or BD-J stuff)

Like Matt, I just want it to come to an end so I can buy a player.

This is one of the bigger misconceptions out there about the formats. Blu-Ray is a format based on work by Matsushita, Pioneer, Philips, Thomson, LG Electronics, Hitachi, Sharp, Samsung, and Sony. HD-DVD is a format based on work by Toshiba and NEC when the DVD Forum wanted a new format. Both formats have a lot of backing companies, and neither was the sole creation of one company.

As far as the overall issue, I feel pretty much the same way of not really caring what format wins, and instead just wanting there to be one. Warner was probably in the best position to do what they did, since they have been releasing their movies on both formats at the same time. For them, a simple look at the numbers told them what format leaded, and prevented any misleading stats based off "stand alone hardware" sales, or sales of movies only on one side or the other.



The format war isn't helping the prices on either side. Technology gets cheeper to make as more units are produced, and neither side really has a strong enough of a foothold with the war to get prices anywhere near where they need to be for widespread adoption. While there were a few HD-DVD players that were cheep, they were usually generation one units simply being liquidated. If all the consumer electronics companies were competing over players that did just one standard, there would have likely been players more affordable then what is out now.

HD-DVD players are no less complex to build then Blu-Ray players. Both have to support the same codecs, both use blue lasers, and both offer up to 1080P video output. I was actually surprised to see HD-DVD players below the price of Blu-Ray players, since HD-DVD mandated certain interactivity and ethernet options from the start.

Glad it went this way as it means I don't need to fit an HD-DVD box under the TV as well as the PS3 :-)

Aside from that, I didn't see any material differences between them that would have swayed me one way or the other.

Well, Blu-Ray does have a size advantage too. It stores 25GB single layer, 50GB double layer, where HD-DVD only had 15GB/30GB respectively. Sure HD-DVD came out with a 51GB triple layer disc done by squeezing an extra 2GB onto each layer but that sounds like a hack and adds complexity, price and potential unreliability/fragility.

I'm looking forward to backing up on it.

I still love my HD DVD player. In the 3 months I've had it I've bought 55 HD DVD's, 22 of them from WB. It'll be sad to see them go especially since they were pushing the interactivity of HD DVD. I think its sad that the PS3, a game console, is the best BR player with the most compatibility.

I'll continue to put my money where my mouth is and support HD DVD.

How many Betamax tapes do you have?

I'm looking to start a collection, have any to sell?

I haven't researched deeply into players into either side, but my understanding was that the non gaming console players in general were pretty poor. Slow boot times, lots of firmware updates with some painful update processes, and some other issues. Where as the 360 and PS3 are pretty quick to load and play a disc, and with their built in online networks pull down the updates easily.

To me, the whole idea of having mandatory field upgradable players like this is another reason for neither format to succeed. Who honestly has ethernet in their home entertainment setup outside the world of geeks like ourselves? Built in wireless might have been better, but you are still mandating fast internet service and infrastructure just to watch a movie.

Yeah, because people who aren't geeks like ourselves are going to have no problem with WEP versus WPA, SSID configuration, etc.

I'm a self-confessed geek, and I'll opt for wired over wireless, because it's just too friggin' complicated.

Yeah, my HD-A30 takes probably around 40 seconds from power on to tray open (Hitting the eject button instead of power on then eject is much faster), then ~15 more seconds until the disc starts playing. I have heard the PS3 and 360 are faster, but only by like 5-10 seconds. It still is much slower than regular DVD players. At least every generation of HD DVD player will play all the features of their discs (even though it may take firmware updates to enable it)

I totally agree about having wireless. Most people won't go online to download a firmware ISO, burn it, and update their players (and how many will even know how to do that). Ethernet is definitely becoming more available, but not enough for mainstream consumers. The net update definitely is easy... but I do have 3 devices under my tv on my network. Like you said, "geeks like ourselves" are the typical people with ethernet there.

Hey everyone! A belated Happy New Year to you all.

I bought a HD-DVD about 25 days ago, and it looks like I'll be returning it to Best Buy for the other kind. It's not too much more money to get a 40GB PS3. I'm a casual PC gamer (Supreme Commander, anyone?), but I've never had a game console since I was a kid with my Atari 2600 and my brother's original Nintendo.

There was a place here in town selling discontinued 50" plasma 1080i screens for $800, which is how I ended up in this situation. I was foolish enough to think I could use all the old sources, but they all looked like crap. It looks nice with the HD Tivo and HD-DVD, though. I wouldn't have gotten the damned thing if I had done the research carefully. Then again, I might have. HD is quite nice.

Anyhow, so now I need a BlueRay machine. Should I get a PS3 instead? If so, how important is the size of the internal hard disk? What's it used for anyhow? Do you install your games to this hard drive or is it for something else entirely? I imagine I'd become the favorite uncle pretty quickly if I went this route.

Hope you all had a safe New Year.

Jim

The internal hard drive can be used for:

• Storing media (pictures/videos/music)
• Downloading games and demos from the online store
• Caching for games, handled by the games themselves
• Running Linux

It's also user upgradable, so if size is a concern, you can always upgrade it using a 2.5 inch SATA drive.

If you do get the PS3 for Blu-Ray playback, make sure to pick up the remote that is sold separately to make it easier. They chose to use bluetooth to interface the controllers and remote, so universal IR remotes will not work with the console to control movie playback.

I have a question about using the PS3 for playing blu-ray discs.

How noisy is it? How does that compare with dedicated blu-ray players?

My regular DVD player is essentially silent when it plays DVDs. Whereas the Xbox is only slightly quieter than a Pratt & Whitney J57. Both play DVDs just fine; guess which one I use to watch DVDs?

Also note that the lower capacity version, for some reason, doesn't include the ability to play PS2 games.

I'll have to check, as my Blu-Ray collection is tiny (pretty much consists of a disc that I bought when the format was new, along with HD-DVD to eventually add one to my failed format pile). Game playing, the PS3 is much quieter then the 360, both between the optical drive and the fan. The PS3 went with one very large fan at the bottom of the system to cool it, so while you do hear air moving, it's usually drowned out by anything else. Unlike the higher pitched noise of the 360 fans. A dedicated player is likely to be quieter, but I'm betting most do still have fans at this point.



Indeed. Much like the lower end 360 also can't play XBox 1 games. In both cases it's a cost cutting measure. On the PS3 they removed the PS2 hardware that was inside the console to provide the compatibility, and the 360 didn't include the hard drive necessary to store the recompiled binaries.

I've never had fan noise problems with my PS3. I've only got a couple of blu-ray's. Casino Royale, Layer Cake and PoTC 3 (bleh!), and I've been really impressed with what I've seen. 1080 rules!

It is pretty quiet. The only time I really notice the PS3 being noisy is while loading Uncharted. I didn't notice that in any other game. During movies, it doesn't make a sound. I've gone to using the PS3 to play my regular DVDs and free up an input on the receiver (as well as a shelf on the entertainment system).

Interactivity? Don't need it, don't want it.

Put the disk in, press play, movie and vegetation start.

Interactivity, trailers, special features, should all be opt-in.

If either of the formats had the ability to just put the disk in and press play, followed by the immediate launch of the movie. I'd have been all over it.

I'm thinking that I am missing a major pop culture reference here.

Scene 2

[thud]
[clang]
CART MASTER: Bring out your dead!
[clang]
Bring out your dead!
[clang]
Bring out your dead!
[clang]
Bring out your dead!
[clang]
Bring out your dead!
[cough cough...]
[clang]
[...cough cough]
Bring out your dead!
[clang]
Bring out your dead!
[clang]
Bring out your dead! Ninepence.
[clang]
Bring out your dead!
[clang]
Bring out your dead!
[clang]
Bring out...
[rewr!]
...your dead!
[rewr!]
[clang]
Bring out your dead!
CUSTOMER: Here's one.
CART MASTER: Ninepence.
DEAD PERSON: I'm not dead!
CART MASTER: What?
CUSTOMER: Nothing. Here's your ninepence.
DEAD PERSON: I'm not dead!
CART MASTER: 'Ere. He says he's not dead!
CUSTOMER: Yes, he is.
DEAD PERSON: I'm not!
CART MASTER: He isn't?
CUSTOMER: Well, he will be soon. He's very ill.
DEAD PERSON: I'm getting better!
CUSTOMER: No, you're not. You'll be stone dead in a moment.
CART MASTER: Oh, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
DEAD PERSON: I don't want to go on the cart!
CUSTOMER: Oh, don't be such a baby.
CART MASTER: I can't take him.
DEAD PERSON: I feel fine!
CUSTOMER: Well, do us a favour.
CART MASTER: I can't.
CUSTOMER: Well, can you hang around a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
CART MASTER: No, I've got to go to the Robinsons'. They've lost nine today.
CUSTOMER: Well, when's your next round?
CART MASTER: Thursday.
DEAD PERSON: I think I'll go for a walk.
CUSTOMER: You're not fooling anyone, you know. Look. Isn't there something you can do?
DEAD PERSON: [singing] I feel happy. I feel happy.
[whop]
CUSTOMER: Ah, thanks very much.
CART MASTER: Not at all. See you on Thursday.
CUSTOMER: Right. All right.
[howl]
[clop clop clop]
Who's that, then?
CART MASTER: I dunno. Must be a king.
CUSTOMER: Why?
CART MASTER: He hasn't got shit all over him.

totally unrelated question to the topic, but does anyone know how to get dolby digital 51. or dts over hmdi on the ps3? I've been losing my mind over here trying to figure it out.

I don't think I had to do anything to get it to work beyond connecting the PS3 to the receiver via HDMI. Do you have HDMI audio set to PCM on the PS3? I don't remember if there is such an option but if there is do you have the audio output on the PS3 set to HDMI?

I'm going to endure a little self-esteem crisis here, what with not recognizing a Python reference...

Well I was going to be smart and post a link to a Blu-ray version, but there isn't one yet...

The reference escaped me for a bit also!

Holy Grail isn't available yet, but you can get Meaning of Life