HD-DVD flatlining; Blu-Ray won...

[Wryan]

Which is unfortunate if only because the name Blu-Ray sucks. Awful.

But anyway, either rejoice or cry out.

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSL1643184420080216?feedType =RSS&feedName=technologyNews

[Morris Schæffer]

I was going to start a Blu-Ray thread myself, but I guess this will do.

Anyway, there's nothing bad about this news. Burn in hell HD-DVD.

[Wryan]

I was going to start a Blu-Ray thread myself, but I guess this will do.

Anyway, there's nothing bad about this news. Burn in hell HD-DVD.

I dunno about "nothing bad." I myself am not at all eager to see that cheerful blue color on every goddamn dvd for the next decade.

[megladon8]

What the hell is wrong with the name "Blu-Ray"?

I always thought it was pretty spiffy. And the blue colour is a lot more attractive than that blood-red HD-DVD colour.

[Stay Puft]

I still think it's a stop-gap at best. But I could be proven wrong.

[Rowland]

But I could be proven wrong.You won't be.

[Wryan]

What the hell is wrong with the name "Blu-Ray"?

I always thought it was pretty spiffy. And the blue colour is a lot more attractive than that blood-red HD-DVD colour.

The blue color invades the cover and completely takes over whatever poster or art is used. It's a color used exclusively to let someone tell, at a glance, that "hey! you've got a lot of Blu-Ray dvds!" It's branding at its canniest and finest. It also just irritates me cause it's so cheerful. :)

I preferred the muted, subtle "blood-red," as you called it.

[Sycophant]

I still think it's a stop-gap at best. But I could be proven wrong.
Yeah, I'm totally with you on this.

[Morris Schæffer]

I still think it's a stop-gap at best. But I could be proven wrong.

I hope that you will be. The idea of downloading movies as a standard sounds terrible. If both could co-exist, then I'm ok with it.

[eternity]

Hooray, the inferior format won and I have up to $700 worth of paperweights!

[number8]

Netflix is attempting to create a service where you can watch their instant movie streams on XBox 360 and PS3.

It's much better news than whoever's winning this insignificant pissing contest.

[Wryan]

Netflix is attempting to create a service where you can watch their instant movie streams on XBox 360 and PS3.

It's much better news than whoever's winning this insignificant pissing contest.

Except that some people don't give a shit about either of those platforms? :)

[Ivan Drago]

I wonder if Blu-Ray winning will make the PS3 cheaper.

[MadMan]

Until this new technology goes down in price (in terms of the players and the movies) I'm not buying it. I'm sticking with regular DVD and the regular DVD players, especially since I already own at least 60 DVD's and a DVD player.

[megladon8]

Hooray, the inferior format won and I have up to $700 worth of paperweights!


Is Blu-Ray actually inferior, or are you just pissed that you went ahead and got HD-DVDs?

[Mysterious Dude]

Until this new technology goes down in price (in terms of the players and the movies) I'm not buying it. I'm sticking with regular DVD and the regular DVD players, especially since I already own at least 60 DVD's and a DVD player.

I don't think I will ever have much use for Blu-Ray. The next movies on my Netflix queue are Queen Kelly (1929), 10th Victim (1965) and Under the Flag of the Rising Sun (1972). I don't think they're ever going to be released on Blu-Ray. I wonder if Criterion will ever bother switching to Blu-Ray.

[Acapelli]

Is Blu-Ray actually inferior, or are you just pissed that you went ahead and got HD-DVDs?
Knowing eternity, it's the latter.

[eternity]

Is Blu-Ray actually inferior, or are you just pissed that you went ahead and got HD-DVDs?
My friend owned both formats (he's fucking loaded), and I went over and did tests and rented the movies on the other format that he didn't have that movie for, and did the tests. HD-DVD looked better on 6 of the 9 movies we tested. That and HD-DVD's lineup is much better.

EDIT: For justification's sake, Blu-Ray's compression technique is a cheaper, much older developing method that distorts the picture and takes up more space then HD-DVD. They've optimized it as further generation disks have came out, but the problem still remains and a great HD-DVD transfer still beats a great Blu-Ray transfer any day. Blu-Ray is a more advanced format, but Sony made some bad decisions in creating it that make it lack where it truly counts. If they didn't do a much better job at monopolizing the format and the studios' loyalty, HD-DVD would have probably won based off name recognition alone.

[eternity]

Knowing eternity, it's the latter.
"Knowing eternity."

Watashi even knows me better than you do, dude.

[number8]

Except that some people don't give a shit about either of those platforms? :)

Likewise.

[Ezee E]

Likewise.
I'm just annoyed that I'll have to hear my roommates talk about, "I'm renting Elf... in BLU-Ray!!!!!"

Uh, cool.

[Winston*]

Pretty sure the only noticeable difference between these two things is that one of them's blue.

[Wryan]

Pretty sure the only noticeable difference between these two things is that one of them's blue.

It's "Blu" dammit! They didn't spend all this money just so you could get the word wrong! Do you have any idea how angry that would make--oh you meant the color, ok.

[monolith94]

I don't think I will ever have much use for Blu-Ray. The next movies on my Netflix queue are Queen Kelly (1929), 10th Victim (1965) and Under the Flag of the Rising Sun (1972). I don't think they're ever going to be released on Blu-Ray. I wonder if Criterion will ever bother switching to Blu-Ray.

I suspect that eventually technology will advance to the level where it will be cheap enough to create a HD-Dvd disc that it will become economically viable for companies to make hd-dvds of old films. Maybe in 3-5 years.

[Kurosawa Fan]

It's not so much that I don't have the use for it, it's that I don't want to invest that kind of money into it. I don't buy DVDs anymore, and with using Netflix, I'd have to have two separate accounts. Add in the cost of the player, and it's just not worth it to me. I'm happy with the way my picture looks now. This isn't like the jump from VHS to DVD. The impact isn't great enough to justify the price.

[Morris Schæffer]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=811102&page=2

This thread here is rather interesting. It's got a bunch of huge pictures taken from movies in standard DVD and High-def format. Click on the icon underneath the pics and it'll take you to a separate page where you can play around with a horizontal line.

[Kurosawa Fan]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=811102&page=2

This thread here is rather interesting. It's got a bunch of huge pictures taken from movies in standard DVD and High-def format. Click on the icon underneath the pics and it'll take you to a separate page where you can play around with a horizontal line.

That's a bit deceiving. I don't sit with my nose against the screen when I'm watching a movie. The picture on my television doesn't look close to as blurry as the images presented for standard DVD, mainly because when you sit at a proper distance the images retain more focus. I've seen a demonstration at Circuit City with two of the same televisions and the same DVD playing, one standard and one HD, and the difference wasn't nearly that severe. I'm not saying that HD-DVD isn't sharper, because that's obviously not the case, I'm just saying it isn't drastic enough for me to want to run right out and invest that kind of money in the technology. I'm not saying I won't at some point in the future, but not now. I'm satisfied with my system.

[Raiders]

I couldn't care less which one wins, but I do want there to be just one format.

[Scar]

When I first watched a Blu-Ray, I wasn't that impressed. Then I threw in a regular DVD, and the difference hit me.

[number8]

Thing is, HD DVD/Blu-Ray only promises an increase in picture quality. That's really not an enough incentive for most people to switch and buy a new player.

When VHS owners converted to DVDs, there were a lot more convenience factor that went with it aside from quality. Compact size, chapter selects, multiple languages, etc.

That's why I'm looking to Downloadable Content and Live Streaming as the next format instead of HD discs. That's the format to really play with not only distribution, but also presentation methods. There's no fucking chance in hell am I investing money into a format that's just "sharper."

[Ivan Drago]

Watashi even knows me better than you do, dude.

lol eternity.

[Skitch]

My friend owned both formats (he's fucking loaded), and I went over and did tests and rented the movies on the other format that he didn't have that movie for, and did the tests. HD-DVD looked better on 6 of the 9 movies we tested. That and HD-DVD's lineup is much better.


Sweet! I did the same thing with my rich friend!


Our results were completely opposite. Blu-Ray won hands down. As far as the line-up, it hardly matters now.

[Morris Schæffer]

The blue color invades the cover and completely takes over whatever poster or art is used. It's a color used exclusively to let someone tell, at a glance, that "hey! you've got a lot of Blu-Ray dvds!" It's branding at its canniest and finest. It also just irritates me cause it's so cheerful. :)

I preferred the muted, subtle "blood-red," as you called it.

On second thought, having held a Blu-Ray flick in my hands, I admit that the actual area where the design goes is rather small, the potential for a cover to shine less likely.

[Sycophant]

Blu-Ray packaging will eventually look less retarded. That's the way of things. VHS and DVD packaging often looked really stupid initially.

Also, I guess Toshiba announced it is ceasing production of the hardware. That's that.

[[ETM]]

VHS and DVD packaging often looked really stupid initially.

Yeah, those early DVDs with cardboard boxes were ridiculous.

[D_Davis]

;37298']Yeah, those early DVDs with cardboard boxes were ridiculous.

Yeah, the snap cases were lame, as were the GIANT VHS clamshells, or the even more GIANT porno boxes.

[Spun Lepton]

Yeah, the snap cases were lame, as were the GIANT VHS clamshells, or the even more GIANT porno boxes.

Oh, man, those giant porno boxes were the worst. It was so difficult to hide your porn under the other regular movie boxes you would also have to rent in order to show the clerks that you weren't a raging pervert.

People all KNEW you were renting them 'cuz they'd see your titles...

Time Bandits
Patton
Women Who Love Poo and the Men that Fuck Them

Thank science that we now have the internet and I can watch 2Girls1Cup in the privacy of my own home without anybody knowing that I jack it to that kind of stuff. Talk about embarrassment!

Er ... wait ...

[D_Davis]

Oh, man, those giant porno boxes were the worst. It was so difficult to hide your porn under the other regular movie boxes you would also have to rent in order to show the clerks that you weren't a raging pervert.


Right. Those things were MASSIVE. I'm surprised they didn't make them with flashing lights and sirens.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

as someone pointed out in the criterionforum, get ready for $50-60 SRP Criterion Blu-Rays when they come, because unlike HD, blu-ray requires a massaive overhaul of disc production equipment.

Obviously it will be totally worth it (but I can't fathom replacing any current Criterions I own with any possible blu-ray editions down to road)

A Blu-Ray Andrei Rublev would kick ass though.... Right now I only own 1 blu-ray DVD and that's 2001: A Space Odyssey which I picked up for $16 at DVDPlanets last sale.

[Scar]

as someone pointed out in the criterionforum, get ready for $50-60 SRP Criterion Blu-Rays when they come, because unlike HD, blu-ray requires a massaive overhaul of disc production equipment.

Obviously it will be totally worth it (but I can't fathom replacing any current Criterions I own with any possible blu-ray editions down to road)

A Blu-Ray Andrei Rublev would kick ass though.... Right now I only own 1 blu-ray DVD and that's 2001: A Space Odyssey which I picked up for $16 at DVDPlanets last sale.

2001 is selling for just a hair under $20 at most places. I picked my copy up on sale, too. And it was worth every penny.

[Morris Schæffer]

I don't like watching visionary classics such as Blade Runner: The Final Cut, which I did last night, on DVD knowing there's a Blu-Ray version out there as well. Especially since this is a movie that's set in dark locales most of the time and LCD+dark scenes is still a no-no. The artifacting was butt-ugly around the edges, remastered cut or not. I'm hoping that Blu-Ray will solve that.

[number8]

What, am I the only one still renting VHS?

[Sycophant]

What, am I the only one still renting VHS?You and Michel Gondry.

[Wryan]

Right. Those things were MASSIVE. I'm surprised they didn't make them with flashing lights and sirens.

Was an internet meme/program that if you went to a website, it loaded something on your computer that made a giant red screen spelling out, "HEY! I'M WATCHING GAY PORNO!" flash up on your computer and you couldn't click it off, it just moved around the screen when you tried. Plus it came with a voice that shouted the same information at top volume.

[Sycophant]

The word "porno" seems so archaic. As if one who would watch something called "porno" would drop his "pantaloons" and "crank his Model Ts."

My generation knows it as "porn."

[Derek]

The word "porno" seems so archaic. As if one who would watch something called "porno" would drop his "pantaloons" and "crank his Model Ts."

My generation knows it as "porn."

Yeah, we don't have time for a second syllable. Too much porn to find on the internet to worry about that kinda bullshit.

[[ETM]]

My generation knows it as "porn."

It's "pr0n", oldtimer.

[Qrazy]

I steal my movies from unsuspecting children.

[Melville]

What, am I the only one still renting VHS?
I rent movies on VHS all the time. In fact, I've got about six of them rented right now.

[Sycophant]

;37760']It's "pr0n", oldtimer.Well dress me in a full-bodied striped swimming suit and shoot Greedo first!

[Wryan]

The word "porno" seems so archaic. As if one who would watch something called "porno" would drop his "pantaloons" and "crank his Model Ts."

My generation knows it as "porn."

"Pornographic material" is way more archaic.

[Rowland]

The word "porno" seems so archaic. As if one who would watch something called "porno" would drop his "pantaloons" and "crank his Model Ts."

My generation knows it as "porn."[after Homer has crashed his car]
Insurance Agent: Now, before I give you the check, one more question. This place "Moe's'' you left just before the accident. This is a business of some kind?
Homer: [thinks] Don't tell him you were at a bar! Gasp! But what else is open at night?
[aloud] It's a pornography store. I was buying pornography.
[thinks] Heh heh heh. I would'a never thought of that.

[Sycophant]

Japanese electronics retailer, Edio, has a sense of professional pride and obligation to its customers that's pretty much alien to these American eyes.


The Japanese electronics retailer Edion is deeply ashamed it sold its customers HD DVD gear. So ashamed they that they're allowing buyers to swap in Toshiba HD DVD boxes for Blu-ray players. A little more investigation reveals that the trade must occur during March, and consumers only need pay the price difference.

[Wryan]

Japanese electronics retailer, Edio, has a sense of professional pride and obligation to its customers that's pretty much alien to these American eyes.

That's not very fair. Aren't the Japanese deeply ashamed of just about anything?

[Mysterious Dude]

That's why Japan will never catch up with the American market.

[Wryan]

That's why Japan will never catch up with the American market.

More cut-throat-manship imo!

[MadMan]

Most of this entire second page=:lol:


You and Michel Gondry.:lol: My local video store switched over to VHS entirely. But in some local pawn stores you can still find VHS copies of movies. I'm always tempted to buy some of them but I've completely gone DVD. I'm past the point of no return man.

[Sycophant]

Circuit City memo (http://gizmodo.com/364473/circuit-citys-hd-dvd-for-blu+ray-trade+in-confirmed-by-sources-readers):

Q; What about customers who may try to return an HD DVD player - even if they have owned it for several months?

A: We do not want to upset our valued customers. For this special circumstance, we are happy to offer an exchange for a Blu-ray player (customer plays any difference in purchase price) - even if it has been several months since the customer made their HD DVD player purchase. If the customer does not want a Blu-ray player, we can issue a gift card refund for their original purchase price. For products purchased in the last 30 days, handle as usual.

(Note: all open-box and defective Toshiba HD DVD players are Return-to-Vendor and must be sent back to Toshiba.)

As per policy, we will not accept refunds of opened HD DVD software.