A review I ran across:

HD-DVD vs. Blue-Ray

I too, saw the Best Buy blu ray unit......what I like, is the fact it will play "old" dvds, and improve the picture for them as well.

For once, we won't have to throw away all the "old" media quite as soon.

For that price, I think I can wait.....and, wait, and.....

Just a few comments, both Blu Ray AND HD DVD will play your "old" DVDs.

The image of the HD DVD (when Worst Buy sets it up correctly like that did at my local shop) looks the same to me as it does on Blu Ray. I wish that they had a demo disc mastered in both formats that would allow for a true A/B comparison.

I feel for Arcticair. $1200cdn is a big investment. If I made that kind of investment, I would be hoping that it ended up being the one that wins out as well.

Thanks DoubtingThomas29 for the review. As we all can see, both players are good and bad in different ways. I hope that all of the people in the world more wealthy than I am buy thousands of each type so that prices come down, technology gets better, and the world starts sorting through which one will win out in the end. Until then, I am keeping my money in my pocket.

For HomeDad and Arcticair, I cheer for Blu Ray. For the pure fact that HD DVD tried to come out with the first hi-def player that was more cost effective to make, and thus kept the consumer in mind for getting established, I like to cheer for them too.

Just curious...but how much will Blu-Ray DVD's cost, as compared to HD-DVD's? This is another factor, for people contemplating such a device.

Currently, at the local Worst Buy, HD-DVD's sell for around $30 + tax which is about the price of a double boxed set of regular dvd's.

I dunno, I guess we shall see which one of these formats wins...but I would say that Blu-Ray will take charge, since that is what Sony's PS3 will use. Maybe Microsoft will get their act together, and come out with an HD-DVD player for the 360...and not make it too expensive (since that would make the overall cost of the 360 right in the league of Sony's PS3).

I suppose we shall see...but for now, I will enjoy the new system with my current gear.

Microsoft has announced they will be coming out with a HD DVD add on for the 360, my guess is it will be released around Sept. when PS3 makes its debut.

Yes, so you can have another box in your entertainment system.
Oh wait. How exactly is that different from a standalone HDDVD?

My guess is that it will be cheaper than a standalone, but at this point it is only a guess.

I am enjoying my HD-DVD player.
Picture and sound is very nice!

Current Pricing info via Amazon(HD-DVD and Blu-Ray):

Amazon has free shipping and 10% off high definition DVD's (For one year) if you by 3 HD-DVD's or 3 Blu-ray discs.

Currently Amazon.com is selling both HD-DVD and Blu-ray titles for ~$21 on average.

Here is how much I paid for my HD-DVDs. There are more titles available, these are the ones I currently own.

The Bourne Supremacy $24.49
The Chronicles of Riddick $24.49
Van Helsing $24.49
The Phantom of the Opera $19.99
Serenity $24.49
Apollo 13 $24.49
The Fugitive $19.99
The Last Samurai $19.99

Subtotal: $182.42
10% Discount: $-18.24
Total: $164.18

Average price $20.53 per HD-DVD.

===========================================

Amazon's current pricing for Blu-ray titles:

The Fifth Element $24.99
The Terminator $20.29
Terminator 2 $20.99
House of Flying Daggers $24.99
XXX $21.99
Hitch $24.99
50 First Dates $21.99
The Punisher $20.99
Underworld-Evolution $30.99
Lord of War $27.99

Subtotal: $240.20
10% discount: $24.02
Total: $216.18
Average per disc: $21.62

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HD-A1 player is $499.
Blue-ray player is $999.

I noticed that the price of 2 HD-DVD's have changed since I purchased them.

Bourne Supremacy [HD-DVD] is now $15.99. With 10% discount this is $14.39.

The Fugitive increased in price to $21.99, from $19.99.

Hi all,

I just wanted to chime in on the Bluray HD DVD discussion.
Be careful not to get all caught up in the hype....to truely get the "fantastic picture" they are talking about you need to have a TV or monitor that accepts a 1080P signal. Otherwise, your set will downconvert it to 1080i and stop there or upconvert it back to 1080P. Most of the sets out there now say 1080P but don't actually accept the full signal. It down converts and then scales it up to 1080P. I personally am still waiting for the dust to settle before buying. I am happy with my old 53 inch Sony CRT. It's a shame the industry keeps tripping over itself in a hurry to make money but confusing and frustrating us all along the way....

One format, one general connection type compatible with all TVS and all HD channels = happy customers and profits for all.

I am about ready to pull the trigger on a DVD Recorder, should I be concerned with all this "Blu-Ray" and "HD-DVD" stuff?

I mean, I'm only buying the recorder as a replacement for my VCR that just died. I already have a standard DVD player that I watch movies with. I will also use it to make copies of home movies from my Sony 8mm camcorder, the camcorder isn't even digital.

The way I see it, I can always relocate this new DVD Recorder to another room of my house and purchase a "Blu-Ray" or "HD-DVD" in the future for my exclusive home theater room.

Any advice? Thanks.

Go for it! I think Samsung is soon to release a Blu-ray HD DVD recorder, but it's going to cost $2500 or $3500, or something like that.

Yeah, Pioneer has a recorder in the works too, as do, I would suspect, many companies. It will be a few years before they become affordable, so go with a regular DVD recorder. Besides, what would you put on to a hi-def disc anyway? (I know that at some point even HD-DVD and Blu-Ray will be considered "low capacity", but for now....)

The HD-A1 (HD-DVD) player is compatible with:

HD DVD, HD DVD-R, DVD, DVD-R/-RW/-RAM, CD, CD-R/-RW

Some report using Ulead DVD Movie Factory 5 or Apple DVD Studio Pro 4 to burn HD content in HD-DVD format on DVD-R.

The DVD-R then plays and is recognized as HD-DVD.

Still would need an HD source to burn to the DVD-R and the size of the DVD-R disk would be a limitation.

There is a lot of confusion regarding 540p, 1080i, 1080p, De-interlacing, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, etc.

Shugs1037 made a good point with the statement, “One format, one general connection type compatible with all TVS and all HD channels = happy customers and profits for all.” We are not there yet.

However, “fantastic picture” HD content is here now and available.

Like Shugs1037 mentioned it is important not to get caught up in the hype.

Before a purchase is made it is important to do research. There is a lot of misinformation out there, but there is a lot of good and accurate information as well.

I have learned a lot from reading various reviews, reading the AVS forums, researching information on various related topics and using my HD-A1 player. (In conjunction with my new Axiom Speakers)

It took me a bit to post because I didn’t want to shoot from the hip and this is an interesting topic to learn more about. With that said, here is what I found.


The “fantastic picture” being talked about does not require a TV or monitor to accept a 1080p signal.

Currently the picture quality of the HD-DVD player is reported to be better than Blu-Ray.

HD-DVD outputs 1080i along with other lower resolutions. If the TV has 3-2 Pulldown detection and good de-interlacing, it will be able to fully recreate the 1080p24 source from 1080i.

The following link is an interesting read. The section in grey is particularly on topic. Keep in mind that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray media are encoded as 1080p24 film, therefore it much easier to de-interlace than video sources.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_7_4/dvd-benchmark-part-5-progressive-10-2000.html

If using a 720p projecter/TV make sure that it downscales 1080i to 720p as follows:

1080i->1080p->720p
Not 1080i->540p->720p.

Currently I am using a Panasonic AE900U 720P projector with great results.

BenQ just announces a Blu-Ray writer (PC required) slated for late August 2006. Priced at about $1050 US. Competitors are going to be starting at about $1500.

This isn't a stand alone recorder, but a PC connected writer. Even so, it is coming.