The Major BBS Forums (Archive)

Well, I'm bored. .. not really mbbs/wg related....... but I've been considering which one I will eventually buy. Blu-ray has quite a bit more backers, has more disc space, and will be the first of the two to be integrated in to a video game system (ps3.)

Blu-ray now has 50gb discs, and it is rumored to be working towards up to 100gb discs, while the theoritical limit is 200gb.

HD-DVD is at 27 or 30gb currently and has a theoritical limit of 60gb I believe.

Blu-ray discs are rumored to be slower than hd-dvd, although both the HD-DVD and Blu-ray disc have a max bandwidth of 36mbps data flow.

Blu-ray uses a completely new technology, which leads to more expensive upgrade costs, compared to hd-dvd, which uses a close technology to dvd.

Microsoft was suppose to use HD-DVD players in their xbox 360s but didn't, and it is rumored they may add them later on. However, they are available in an external usb 2.0 hd-dvd player for $199, for the system.

Both systems can limit resolution on HDTVs for HD-DVDs and blu-ray discs via analog component outputs, as long as the BD and HD-dvds have it enabled. So far, from what I've read, none of the hd-dvds or blu-ray discs have this feature enabled, which means you can watch what's available through component output with full resolution.

Stand-alone blu-ray players cost $1000, while stand-alone hd-dvd players are about $500.

Both systems use both mpeg-2 and mpeg-4 video.

My opinion on this: If for costs alone, I would like to see HD-DVD players win. It's true: you can get a $600 blu-ray player if you buy a sony ps3, which cost around the same price of a Xbox 360 premium system (1 month xbox live, xbox console, headset, wireless controller, and hard drive) and the $199 external hd-dvd player, but who's to say how well a console can play dvds. Neither the original xbox or the ps2 really did 100% well for that.

Blu-Ray will have extra room for outtakes, commentaries, more language tracks, etc, but as long as HD-DVD doesn't overly compress longer movies (meaning they use 2 hd-dvd discs when needed) then they should be a viable option. The only problem I see is support. Blu-ray definately has more companies signed on to support them.

After more reading, I discovered that blu-ray will mainly actually use mpeg-2 for their blu-ray discs, while hd-dvd uses vc1 (their version of mpeg-4?) which offers a higher compression ratio.

Blu-ray will have a less-protected physical layer than hd-dvd, causing them to be scratched easier. HD-DVD will have pretty much the same physical protection as normal dvds.

HD-DVD supports hybrid discs. DVD movie on one side, HD-DVD movie on the other. Blu-ray will not.

Menus and chapter select features on HD-DVD will overlay playing movies. The movies don't stop. May not be a valuable feature, but apparently it's some thing that several people complained about on real dvds.

HD-DVD players are required to be network compatible. This is not only for anti-piracy reasons, but to have firmware/bug fix updates and even have added content downloaded if there is any. For example, maybe they either didn't have enough space on the hd-dvd or just didn't have time to add featurettes or commentaries and such. So, it downloads that content so you can watch it. Not sure if it's streamed or stored though.

Hd-dvd supports bookmarking.. Another thing that I probably would never use, but a lot of people would.. Start watching a movie, have to get up and go do some thing, bookmark it and come back, or bookmark your favorite gorey scene in a horror flick, etc..

note: mpeg-2 is a good method of displaying video. the only thing better would be a completely uncompressed video, which would take up god knows how much space, especially with hd. mpeg-4, while still able to have a dvd-like quality, I've never really cared for. one thing you may have noticed is the stop and go motion, as well as enhanced motion blur, when movies are compressed too much. Millions of dollars have gone in to research and development on the new method, and hopefully, they've found a way to improve it.

Malakai wrote:After more reading, I discovered that blu-ray will mainly actually use mpeg-2 for their blu-ray discs, while hd-dvd uses vc1 (their version of mpeg-4?) which offers a higher compression ratio.

Blu-ray will have a less-protected physical layer than hd-dvd, causing them to be scratched easier. HD-DVD will have pretty much the same physical protection as normal dvds.

HD-DVD supports hybrid discs. DVD movie on one side, HD-DVD movie on the other. Blu-ray will not.

Menus and chapter select features on HD-DVD will overlay playing movies. The movies don't stop. May not be a valuable feature, but apparently it's some thing that several people complained about on real dvds.

HD-DVD players are required to be network compatible. This is not only for anti-piracy reasons, but to have firmware/bug fix updates and even have added content downloaded if there is any. For example, maybe they either didn't have enough space on the hd-dvd or just didn't have time to add featurettes or commentaries and such. So, it downloads that content so you can watch it. Not sure if it's streamed or stored though.

Hd-dvd supports bookmarking.. Another thing that I probably would never use, but a lot of people would.. Start watching a movie, have to get up and go do some thing, bookmark it and come back, or bookmark your favorite gorey scene in a horror flick, etc..

note: mpeg-2 is a good method of displaying video. the only thing better would be a completely uncompressed video, which would take up god knows how much space, especially with hd. mpeg-4, while still able to have a dvd-like quality, I've never really cared for. one thing you may have noticed is the stop and go motion, as well as enhanced motion blur, when movies are compressed too much. Millions of dollars have gone in to research and development on the new method, and hopefully, they've found a way to improve it.

thats more research than ive done, good to know though, good job.
im buying a PS3 the day its released.

theres some talk over here my way where people dont like sony and think XBOX is god, so they are a little mad that XB wont be blu-ray and i hear bad things mainly cause they dont like sony, so good to see it from both sides of the fence.

One thing I'd be interested in knowing is if HD-DVD actually plays the compressed video at the 36mbps speed, or if it reads it a little bit slower, uncompresses it, and then outputs 36mbps of data.