What is the deciding factor for most of them choose BR over HDDVD? And wouldn’t it make sense for all of them (except Sony Pictures, obviously) to make both formats to get money from both sides of the market?
One of the biggest issues in this “war” is licensing rights. If you want to issue discs for a format, you have to pay money to the appropriate parties. E.g., Toshiba and MS (for codecs) expect dough for HDVD disc makers. MS has a long track record of not charging “fair market” prices and regardless of the current fees, a lot of companies don’t want MS to win this war since it will cost them more money down the line of HDVD wins.
This is also why dual-format players are going to have problems. Double licensing fees. In a world where a few bucks more means consumers won’t buy it, that’s going to be an issue.
Making and distributing films in two formats is an extra cost they would just as soon avoid. Plus, what if HDVD suddenly took a dive in market share (like Betamax c1985)? Then they’re stuck with stock.
Besides the added expense, it wouldnt make a whole lot of sense because millions more people already own a DVD player. HDDVD’s can be played in any regular old player, while the BR needs a special one…one which has not really caught on yet.
Uh, no. Both formats need their respective players. Though there are combo discs with HDDVD on one side and DVD on the other, not sure if BR does that or not.
ftg, with MS charging more for the HDDVD codecs, what is about the disc itself that makes it about $5 less than the BR for most movies? When i look at prices at Worst Buy, most of the HDDVD go for $25 and the BR for $30
This is false.
Both HD-DVD and Blu-ray support VC1 (the codec standard based on Microsoft’s technology), contrary to your insinuation that only HD-DVD does. As well, Microsoft was required to define their RAND (“reasonable and non-discriminatory”) license terms prior to the acceptance of VC1 as a standard.
In pointing out the inaccuracy of your post, SlickRoenick didn’t take issue with your last comment, but you do realize that there are a lot more Blu-ray players on the market than HD-DVD, right? Every PlayStation 3 is a Blu-ray player.
I’m sorry, i should get my facts straight, i was under the impression that HD-DVD cans be played in any player because Hollywood releases almost all of their material on HD-DVD now. Or dual layer, which is the same thing isn’t it?
Dual-layer DVDs have nothing to do with HD-DVD, which is a separate, blue-laser format.
Regular DVDs support up to two layers per side (four layers total). But most studios stopped releasing double-sided discs because the manufacturing tolerances were too high, and it became more profitable to release multiple single-sided discs instead.
HD-DVD also supports two layers on each side. It remains to be seen whether the studios will release large numbers of double-sided HD-DVDs – or whether HD-DVD will survive as a format at all.
Blu-Ray does not support double-sided discs, but it has a denser storage format, and can store around 50GB in two layers. A single-sided HD-DVD can store around 30GB, and a double-sided one around 60GB.
and every xbox is a potential HDDVD player. However neither is usually used to play videos.
sales of high definition DVDs are still only about 2% of normal DVDs as most people see no immediate reason to change.
The add-on for the Xbox 360* has been a dismal seller. Microsoft has only sold 155,000 (compared to nearly 12 million Xbox 360 units), and they haven’t even bothered to come out with a version to match their new black Xbox case.
In February 2007, Blu-ray movies edged sales of HD-DVD, despite the latter’s earlier debut. Considering that absent PS3s, more HD-DVD units than BD players have been sold, it’s likely that we can draw one of two conclusions: 1) people with BD players buy more movies than people with HD-DVD players, or 2) people with PS3s are using them to watch BD movies.
- It’s marketed as an Xbox accessory, but apparently it will work with any Windows XP (or later) PC with USB 2.0.
I use my PS3 to watch Blu-Ray movies.
This page: http://dvdempire.com/Content/Features/hidef_wars.asp?view=1&userid=99365771012857 gives a good idea of the sales of both formats.
Since I have been tracking it (6 months or so) the ratio has always been around 6:4 or 7:3 in Blu-Ray’s favor.
Also, Blockbuster announced in June that it would not be carrying any HD-DVD. Only Blu-Ray. Cite: Yahoo Finance - Stock Market Live, Quotes, Business & Finance News
This is despite the huge ratio of XBoxes over PS3s.