“the widespread rumor as to why WB is switching their allegiance, is that sony is paying WB a TON of money, like in the range of 450 million dollars”

Uh, the same rumor is that the HD-DVD camp was offering almost the same amount of money, and this was after Paramount/Dreamworks got around $140-150M for switching to HD-DVD only. So criticizing WB for this is akin to Louie’s reason for closing Rick’s in Casablanca. (Being shocked to find there is gambling going on there, right before he is given his winnings.)

Also, even with Toshiba slashing the price of their entry level player this past Xmas, Blu-Ray discs outsold HD-DVD ones by about a 2:1 margin in the US, and the margin overseas is even larger. (http://www.thedigitalbits.com)

So what’s the difference between HD and SD(DVD quality)? Blu ray and HD DVD use either X264 or VC-1 compression and DVD’s use MPEG2. X264 and VC-1 are based on MPEG4 which can handle bitrates up to 36MB on Blu-ray and 30MB on HD DVD. VC-1(crappy) is less complex than x264 and it was invented by Micro$t which is why it is even used. MPEG4 handles resolutions up to 1920×1200 in progressive frames while DVD’s use 720×480 so you do need a FullHD television to experience the full glory of the HD formats. While Blu-ray can use higher bitrates than HD DVD the picture quality between the two is pretty much the same since Blu ray can store a lot more data than HD DVD it has more room for extras and uncompressed audio. I remember a movie whose blu-ray version contained 7.1 channel PCM audio while the HD DVD used a compressed audio format. The only problem with Blu-ray is that it uses region codes and a more advanced copyright protection methods (which already have been broken) but still. The consumer market in mind it is very important that the movie industry picks a single format, so that the consumers don’t end up buying hardware that will be quickly obsolete. I’m afraid the future looks grim for a HD DVD, I do have an XBOX360 cause it kicks PS3’s ass but I haven’t bought the HD DVD drive for it. DO NOT BUY A BLU RAY OR HD DVD PLAYER YET! Wait for the market to choose which one it uses, most of the Blu ray players on the market are buggy and unfinished yet. They don’t support all HD audio formats and use an old version of the HDMI. Look for HDMI 1.3a to know you are buying the real thing. Most the blu ray players are slow too. The best Bluray player out there is actually the PS3 which ain’t sayin’ too much. Another good feature is 24p if you have a tv that supports it that is. It means that it can display the movie at it’s natural frame rate rather than submitting it to Pull-Down which converts the frame rate by adding the necessary pictures which makes the movement jittery as it just displays copied frames unevenly. One frame will be show thrice and the second frame only twice.

Yo Nancy, you can watch HD movies on your PC too. You monitor actually already is HD, all you need is a Blu-ray or HD DVD drive for you pc and a good processor and gfx card.

Does anyone know if Xbox 360 playes Blu-ray?

Herminny- Having HDTV does not mean that you can just play HD DVDs. You have to have an HD DVD player… which is just as expensive as BlueRay. The reason that the studios (I believe only Paramount is still doing HD DVDs now) have chosen to go stictly with BlueRay is because it’s proving more popular with consumers. There was bound to be a winner between the two and now the light at the end of the tunnel is starting to show… BlueRay.

Sorry, Herminny. I hadn’t seen page 2.

we’ve a PS3 and bought OotP on blu-ray, and it’s amazing!!!! i highly recommend it. (we also have at worlds end on blu-ray, and may i say that johnny depp and orlando are so beautiful up close and personal. he he)

exactly what IS the difference between a blue-ray, hi-def & a regular dvd?

Sorry! but no dice.

I will stick with what I already have. To hell with progress and exploitation.

Hello, has anyone heard what people said, WB will still be making the DVD version and that’s enough, can u see the person, can u hear them and is the picture good? right so until they stop making DVD which will be a while, people aren’t going to buy the BLU-Ray or HD DVD player unless they’re showing off or forced. Otherwise theirs no reason for example, my dad just bought Blue-ray for my stepmom, and she didnt even want it, but he bought it all because he likes to show off to his neighbors.

I haven’t read all the posts, so be patient, if I’ve said the same thing others have already said: My hubbie (a Computer Operator/Engineer) tells me (the technically challenged) that it’s pretty much this way: Blue-Ray is to standard DVD, what DVD was to VHS. You can’t play it on a standard DVD player. (PS3 takes them, by the way) Blue-ray players will, most likely, be less expensive than current DVD players. They may also be (as in the case of the PS3) compatible with current DVD. Unlike the VHS, which (for Captain Obvious, here) you could not play DVD’s on!

HD-DVD is much better than Blu-Ray. My mom did a ton of research, and not only is HD cheaper, but the picture quality is better (my mom compared a movie in HD and in Blu-Ray and thought the HD looked better).

@PigmyPuffPie: It is my understanding (correct me, someone, if I’m wrong) but Xbox 360 does NOT play Blue-ray (or any other type of DVD other than it’s own CURRENT games…ones created, just for Xbox 360)

PigmyPuffPie: Xbox 360 has no Blu-ray functionality. You can buy a separate HD-DVD add-on for the system (Microsoft are one of the key players behind that format), which costs about $100, I think, but that’s an optional extra; the standard 360 drive only accepts regular DVDs. The PS3, on the other hand, utilises Blu-Ray technology for its games, and therefore also works as a Blu-Ray movie player as standard.

In any case, I think I’m like most people in that I don’t really care which format wins, as long as one of them does in the near future. I’m a sucker for picture and sound quality, and we’ve just bought an HDTV, so naturally we’d very much like to start upgrading our movie collection to HD, but we simply don’t have the time, money, space or patience to buy two different players and start two different disc collections, in the knowledge that one of them is likely to become obsolete in the next year or so anyway. I’m not 100% clued up on the pros and cons of the two formats – Blu-Ray sounds like it’s technically superior, but HD-DVD sounds more user-friendly, particularly as regards its lack of the hated region encoding – but as I said, I don’t really care at this point, because I don’t have any control over which format wins anyway. I just want a format that I can be confident in; for me, having two formats is as bad as having none at all. If WB’s announcement helps turn the tide permanently, so much the better…

Oh, and just to slightly correct Confederate Lady’s post slightly (as she requested! :) ), in addition to the optional HD-DVD functionality, the 360 does also play regular DVDs and most original Xbox games as standard.