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Data Storage

Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD 413

Posted by CmdrTaco from the soemthing-to-think-about dept.
Michael S writes sent in a good story which sumarizes the current status of the battle between Blu-Ray & HD-DVD. There still isn't really a clear victor... or is there? I for one can't wait for this crap to get settled out so we can just enjoy having huge discs.
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Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD More

Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD

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  • I've already got a huge di (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 17, 2005 @03:48PM (#11969032)
    oh wait

  • Still no word from the pr0n industry (Score:5, Interesting)

    by WormholeFiend ( 674934 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @03:49PM (#11969045)
    From the article:
    And, as peculiar it may sound, both competitors are holding their breath to see what the pornographic industry will decide.

    That pretty much sums up the whole situation, now doesn't it?
    • I bet that the porn industry goes for the HD-DVD because of it's backwards compatability....

      I'd rather go for this tech [wired.com] though. Non moving parts would be great for power saving and have less chance of failure.

      • Re:Still no word from the pr0n industry (Score:5, Funny)

        by fm6 ( 162816 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:10PM (#11969328) Homepage Journal
        I bet that the porn industry goes for the HD-DVD because of it's backwards compatability....
        Only for gay porn.
      • I don't see how that tech is any better than solid-state? There are solid state memories out there that have comparable physical and data sizes to that tech. They are also marketing their stuff as being secure from piracy; but their reasons are totally laughable: Their main idea is that pirates wouldn't have access to their holographic media-writing methods. Anybody who was going to pirate info from them would just copy it onto a hard disk, or other non-difficult-to-write media. That's like saying DVDs were
      • I bet that the porn industry goes for the HD-DVD because of it's backwards compatability....

        You mean someone might seriously be proposing a new DVD spec which can't still play older disks????

        I can guarantee you, and new format player which can't play existing disks is going to utterly tank. People have invested money in their media and will be royally annoyed if their old disks can't play on a new player.
        • No, if I'm remembering correctly, the HD-DVD's are encoded in such a way that they will still play in most old DVD players too
          • The backward compatibility they are talking about is in the manufacturing, not in the player. The players for either BR or HDDVD will likely be built to play standard DVDs, but wouldn't necessarily have to.

            As mentioned elsewhere, HDDVD can be made in a way that it has a standard DVD layer and a HDDVD layer, but that isn't an official format, as far as I know.

            Rob

        • Not an issue (Score:3, Insightful)

          by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) *
          From the last story posted on the Blu-Ray vs. HDDVD battle, a step up was that laser assemlies that would enable blu-ray players to play both old DVD's as well as new HD DVD's was no more expensive than HD-DVD assemblies.

          In other words, any Blu-Ray player is going to be able to play old DVD's. Just not HD-DVD's.

          Personally I think Blu-Ray will win out, between the backing of Apple on the computer front and Sony/Disney on the media front. People will want greater storage densities for backing up hard driv
    • And, as peculiar it may sound, both competitors are holding their breath to see what the pornographic industry will decide.

      Interesting, both the American voter and the electronics industry both just throw their hands up in the air and let a bunch of dicks make their decisions for them.

    • Re:Still no word from the pr0n industry (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:21PM (#11969446) Homepage
      I'll tell you which one they will adopt.

      the one that is the cheapest or has no royalties required.

      If one of them want's to insure their standard will be chosen, make it the cheapest to use and royalty free.

      unheard of in corperate world, and borderline heresy, but truth.

    • Re:Still no word from the pr0n industry (Score:5, Insightful)

      by lovswr ( 633015 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:23PM (#11969481)
      Are you being sarcastic? The pr0n industry has been at the forefront (no pun inteneded) of home video tech since the VCR. As much as this counrty tries to present itself as Puritanical downhome homebodies; money talks & bs walks. The guy that sits across from me at work, & a good friend (they both used to work for the clearinghouse companies) have told me that the #1 state for pr0n video on demand rentals is good ole puritanical Utah. Basically, pr0n users will lead the way, & the asses, literally will follow.* So the choice of format by the pr0n industry is very important to both camps. *My apologies to Mr. Brown & EnVogue.

  • well (Score:2, Funny)

    by Wehesheit ( 555256 )
    I already enjoy having a huge disc.

  • Format war.....Who cares! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 17, 2005 @03:50PM (#11969062)
    Blu-Ray just sounds more futuristic.

    I am totally going for the format thatg
    has the better sounding name

  • one problem.. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Foktip ( 736679 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @03:50PM (#11969064)
    Huge discs are all fine and good... but wont they get scratched/ruined easily? I wait for someone to come out with an innovative new CD/DVD case design, perhaps something like combining a booklet and cases. (if that exists already, then its certainly not sold in any store ive been to)

    • Re: problem solved! (Score:5, Informative)

      by spungebob ( 239871 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @03:58PM (#11969164)
      but wont they get scratched/ruined easily? ... as reported previously on slashdot [slashdot.org]
    • Well, next to the tablet I'm typing this in on, I have a Mac SE that I'm setting up for my school's PreK. It's sitting on top of it's external CD-Drive, which is of course caddy-based. Everybody thought it was so much more convenient to not need caddys, but we still have cases. Why not just make cases that function AS caddy(s).

      Just a thought.
    • If sony wasn't such a bitch about their MD format... That should really have taken off. So what if it only holds half the info, at least it's properly protected, and the size is easier to handle too. But nooo they had use a restrictive license. The idiots. Sony will never learn. They have great ideas but crappy market sense.
    • Allsop released a CD case many years ago that is darned near indestructible in normal use (and then some). I bought some for some of my favorite CDs and they're still completely intact. You can pound on these things and they don't so much as crack. If I recall correctly, the marketing info for them showed cars running over them and not causing them to crack. They were not very sucessful in the marketplace, though. Here's a link:

      Allsop Strongbox [allsop.com]

  • "settlement" (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Phil246 ( 803464 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @03:51PM (#11969068)
    i honestly cant see either side giving ground. its going to be vcr vs betamax, or dvd-r vs dvd+r all over again.
    corporations rarely care about " whats best " , rather " what will make them the most money ".
    One side giving up for the common good, loses them money and so they wont do it.

  • Ah yes (Score:4, Interesting)

    by OverlordQ ( 264228 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @03:51PM (#11969071) Journal
    kinda like how DVD+ and DVD- got 'settled'?

    • Re:Ah yes (Score:2, Interesting)

      by NetNifty ( 796376 )
      By having drives that can use both standards? Sounds good to me!

      • Re:Ah yes (Score:3, Informative)

        by (54)T-Dub ( 642521 ) *
        From the article:
        On the other hand, the two formats are incompatible with each other, so it's certain that a similar solution to that adopted in the case of DVDs is not feasible, since a device able to operate both technologies would require separate reading lasers and mechanisms, and would be, in the end, too expensive and bulky for the average user.

  • Market Confusion Slows Adoption (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 17, 2005 @03:51PM (#11969075)
    Can't we all be along? It's much more profitable that way.

    DVD burners took so long to catch on because of all the + - RAM type confusion. The whole industry needs a single strong standards to keeping everything working. Joe Sixpack doesn't burn DVDs right now because of this silliness.

  • Blu-Ray will win... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Shadow Wrought ( 586631 ) <<shadow.wrought> <at> <gmail.com>> on Thursday March 17, 2005 @03:52PM (#11969087) Homepage Journal
    Because it sounds cooler and they misspell "Blue." Never understestimate the power of inanity over obscure details.

    To quote the American public, "ooh! Shiny!"

    • PS3 (Score:5, Insightful)

      by M.C. Hampster ( 541262 ) <M.C.TheHampsterNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:00PM (#11969184) Journal

      I wouldn't underestimate the influence of the PS3 on the format wars. The fact Sony is (obviously) using their own Blu-Ray format for their next generation console could mean an early victory for their format.

      • Re:PS3 (Score:5, Insightful)

        by incom ( 570967 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:10PM (#11969321)
        Yes, because sony has a history of being victorious in format wars, like their succesful betamax beating vhs, minidisc beating cdr, atrac or whatever beating mp3, memory stick beating SD and CF, and so on.

        • Try to keep up (Score:5, Insightful)

          by M.C. Hampster ( 541262 ) <M.C.TheHampsterNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:16PM (#11969385) Journal

          Come on, let's not get bogged down by simplistic logic. My point wasn't that it was because Sony was behind the format, it's that it is the format of the Playstation 3. The products you mentioned were not nearly as successful as the Playstation 2. It's fully expected by many that Sony will probably get a huge share of the console market in the next generation of consoles also. By extention, these people will automatically own Blu-Ray disc players. It's an immediate and huge market penetration.

        • Re:PS3 (Score:3, Informative)

          by doctor_no ( 214917 )
          People seem to forget that Sony has had a hand in many of the most prevalent formats around;

          The first being the 3.5" Floppy Disk. Sony invented the "micro" floppy disk drive, releasing its first commercially available model called the OA-D30V in 1981 for Apple.

          Not to mention the CD-ROM was created by a collabaration by Sony and Phillips. The same duo helped launch the compact-cassete in the 60s. The DVD-ROM was a compromise between Sony/Phillip's Multimedia MMCD and the Toshiba/Warner's SuperDisk.

          As fo
      • Hmmm...Sony's obviously going to use Blu-Ray, and MS has decided to stick with plain old DVD instead of picking sides.....what's Nintendo going to use?
  • Using a longer wavelength (violet vs. red) will I'm betting enhance the viewing experience, as the increased bandwidth may give more opportunity for additional features, and perhaps giving other companies a turn at the helm will result in more innovation and less restriction.

    Although, on the other hand, the better standard lost last time around, so maybe it's better to choose the same as you think everybody else will?

  • quote (Score:5, Funny)

    by circletimessquare ( 444983 ) <circletimessquar ... m ['l.c' in gap]> on Thursday March 17, 2005 @03:53PM (#11969102) Homepage Journal
    "Although at the beginning of the decade, the DVD seemed like a major discovery..."

    we discovered the dvd? where?

    atlantis? europa? the city of the dead?

    and all this time i thought we invented it

  • Is DVD fading away? (Score:5, Funny)

    by 14erCleaner ( 745600 ) <FourteenerCleaner@yahoo.com> on Thursday March 17, 2005 @03:55PM (#11969118) Homepage Journal
    They ask whether DVD is dying, as the sub-heading in the article. Here are some recent sales figures; judge for yourself:

    Um...

    Oops, sorry, MPAA won't release that information [hackingnetflix.com]. I guess we'll never know...

  • Why people don't RTFA (Score:5, Insightful)

    by frovingslosh ( 582462 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @03:58PM (#11969158)
    From the article: ... it will take a while till they become largely accessible - probably towards the end of 2005, but most likely in 2006 -....

    So it's probably this, but on the other hand it's most likely something else? My faith in anything the article might say was lost.

    • Re:Why people don't RTFA (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Qzukk ( 229616 )
      My faith in the article was lost long ago, with an average of 1 grammatical error per sentence.

      Aside from that, what do you bet that HD-DVD wins despite its low bandwidth and storage space, just so that the movie studios can have their precious control locking so I can't skip through the 20 3 minute long previews before the movie starts?
    • So it's probably this, but on the other hand it's most likely something else? My faith in anything the article might say was lost.

      Either way, we're still going to see one /. article a week about it until the end of 2005, but most likely even in 2006...

  • DeCSS and DivX major surprises? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dpbsmith ( 263124 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @03:58PM (#11969161) Homepage
    "But the main problem remains the poor security. DeCSS and DivX came as major surprises."

    All I can say is, what were they thinking?

    Edgar Allen Poe got it right in 1863. In _The Gold-Bug_, the narrator says: "Circumstances, and a certain bias of mind, have led me to take interest in such riddles, and it may well be doubted whether human ingenuity can construct an enigma of the kind which human ingenuity may not, by proper application, resolve."

    The movie industry can look forward to many more such "surprises."

  • just make Blu-Ray HD-DVD DVD-+RW CDRW drives (Score:4, Insightful)

    by iamhassi ( 659463 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:00PM (#11969185) Journal
    Think I'm gonna wait for my BluRay HD-DVD+-RW CDRW drive

  • Blaming copying again? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kelmenson ( 592104 ) <kelmenson@y[ ]o.com ['aho' in gap]> on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:00PM (#11969189)
    But the main problem remains the poor security.
    Do the companies really believe this? That blocking a little copying is more important in ANYONE's mind than being unable to display the full resolution of consumers' new $5000 television set?

    It's just sad, really.

  • Clear winner (Score:5, Informative)

    by bonch ( 38532 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:01PM (#11969201)
    There still isn't really a clear victor... or is there?


    Spec-wise, Blu-Ray wins. Blu-Ray also has the support of Sony (and therefore will be in the PS3), has Apple supporting it (and therefore will be in future Macs by default...and Macs are used in the media content industry), and it supports all the codecs and specs that HD-DVD supports. In addition, it has larger storage space. Even Dell and Disney are supporting it.

    HD-DVD's only benefit is that there won't be a need to alter today's manufacturing processes as much as Blu-Ray will require.

    I predict (and hope) Blu-Ray will win. I know people love to cite Betamax in these articles, but just because Betamax died out doesn't mean the better format will die out in this case either. There's a lot of important backing for Blu-Ray.
    • so.. hd-dvd's benefit is that pron industry can cheaply convert to it..

      hmm. we have a winner.

      (besides, really, if hd-dvd makes it apple and even sony WILL support it to some extent)

  • Matter is now settled... HD-DVD wins (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rworne ( 538610 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:02PM (#11969213) Homepage
    Apple officially is part of the Blu-Ray spec. That means the PC Manufacturers will support HD-DVD. Just like the DVD-R DVD+R wars.

    I'm really in no rush for all of this to shake out. The longer it takes the better. The fact that DVD got blown wide open with DeCSS was a good thing. The main driving force behind the new standard is not better resolution or more storage - it's just to get a second chance to re-DRM the crap out of the new standard and kill off DVD.

  • wait a sec... (Score:5, Funny)

    by nilbog ( 732352 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:03PM (#11969231) Homepage Journal
    What was wrong with betamax?

  • pR0n Industry (Score:3, Funny)

    by imrec ( 461877 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:06PM (#11969276) Homepage
    "didn't express its support to neither format."

    Ats rite, cause I ain't done got no reason to decide now whachur tatties get burned to anywise!

  • Blu-ray durability? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by dpbsmith ( 263124 )
    Oh, hell... "The protecting layer for CDs and DVDs (cover layer) is 0.6 mm. in thickness, while Blu-Ray's cover layer is only 0.1 mm. thick, which, roughly, means a better access to the recording area."

    And better access to scratches, ball point pens, ink chemistry, label adhesive chemistry.

    And the infuriating nuisance of buying marking supplies specifically labelled for use with the media and vice versa, and finding out three years later that everybody who used them is experiencing data loss.

    So much for
    • And the infuriating nuisance of buying marking supplies specifically labelled for use with the media and vice versa, and finding out three years later that everybody who used them is experiencing data loss.

      Surely you don't mark on the laser side of the disk, because unless I'm completely mistaken "while Blu-Ray's cover layer is only 0.1 mm. thick, which, roughly, means a better access to the recording area" can't possibly refer to the label side, since the laser doesn't read through the label.

    • Re:Blu-ray durability? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Jeff DeMaagd ( 2015 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:23PM (#11969473) Homepage Journal
      The plastic layer to the label side is something like 1mm thick, the laser side is 0.1mm thick. So the label side is safer.

      Scratches on the laser side, on the other hand, are a different matter. The Blu-Ray group is requiring the use of a particular anti-scratch material that supposedly won't scratch with steel wool. It was used on the PSP face plate and some journalists reported the only way to scratch it was to take a knife and dig into it.

  • Crap to get settled? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by adiposity ( 684943 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:09PM (#11969314)
    The degree to which you enjoy having "truly huge discs" will depend on which standard gets adopted. The formats aren't equivalent and have substantial differences in price and excellence. This is nothing like the DVD+/DVD- R/RW wars; the formats are too dissimilar.

    The preference of one format over the other could have ramifications similar to those of Betamax/VHS. Personally, I'm not excited bout HD-DVD's 2.5 hour limit on high-def video. Blu-ray has a 4.5 hour limit? Now we're talking. Even LOTR:ROTK will fit on that.

    I'm sick of standards that just *barely* satisfy the need for new formats. HD-DVD is an evolutionary upgrade of DVDs to allow a majority of films to fit in high-def. Blu-ray is a revolutionary change which may cost more initially, but provides much more headroom and has plans for even larger disc capacity. It also will provide an immediate benefit for long films or extensive data storage over HD-DVD.

    I can't wait for this crap to get settled...in favor of Blu-ray. I'm sure not going to be excited about it when I am sticking in the second HD-DVD for a > 2.5 hour hdef film because "HD-DVD" sounds more like "DVD" than "Blu-ray". So, world, take your time if you must; just choose the right format it the end.

    Bottom line: if you have to do a major upgrade of media and players, do it right! Don't upgrade the minimum amount required, but plan for the future.

    I'll be almost as happy if dual-format drives take over like DVD+/-, but it would still probably mean most movies came out on HD-DVD.

    -Dan
    • Bottom line: if you have to do a major upgrade of media and players, do it right! Don't upgrade the minimum amount required, but plan for the future.

      I agree 100%.

      People are only going to upgrade their equipment so often. I simply do not see the sense setting the new standard with inferior technology, even if it does save some money down the road. This is an investment ... you eventually get back a multiple of what you put into it initially.

    • I totally agree (Score:3, Interesting)

      by cryptochrome ( 303529 )
      The problem with DVDs is they are already totally cramped. Turns out a lot of the "extras" weren't so extra after all. That's why you have brits buying American region 1 disks, because the EU region 2 disks skimped on the quality so they could include a dozen different language tracks.

      A disk should allow for the regular HD-content, all the bonus materials, every language and dubbing tracks, previews, etc., all with room to spare. Alternatively, it should also allow for at least seven hours of normal-qua

  • Blu-Ray (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Fahrvergnuugen ( 700293 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:10PM (#11969333) Homepage
    Well, considering that Sony, Apple & the Porn Industry are all behind Blu-Ray, I'd say we have a pretty good idea of who is going to win this one...

  • new shiny hardware (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Oktober Sunset ( 838224 ) <sdpage103@nosPAM.yahoo.co.uk> on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:10PM (#11969334)
    Are we all about to throw our new shiny DVD players and all those extended edition lord of the rings DVDs in the bin just cos some fools have made new bigger disks that mean we don't have to have a cute little fold out case with a load of extras disks?

    I think not.

    bettamax and VHS? nah! I think these will be going the way of Minidisks, 8Tracks and Zip drives.

  • forget media (Score:3, Interesting)

    by J3Holaday ( 855909 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:13PM (#11969352)
    More bandwith to the masses! Then we could just download our movies. I seriously see a hard drive based movie device with built in wimax, a fancy remote, and an onscreen moviestore as a much better alternative to new media every for or five years. That way we don't have to have a war! We have all the technology we need to do it already. (besides wimax)

  • A huge help for Blu-Ray... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ScislaC ( 827506 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:13PM (#11969357)
    will be if Sony officially decides to make the PS3 use the format. With the market penetration of consoles, especially the PlayStation consoles, well, you do the math. I know plenty of people that were excited that their PS2s played DVDs, because then they didn't have to buy a standalone player. So, I have a feeling that the same will happen if they use a Blu-Ray drive in their next console.
  • I'm waiting for that HoloDisk (HVD), 1TB on the same 12cm and 1 GB/sec xfer rates!!

  • Nice grammar (Score:5, Funny)

    by StevenHenderson ( 806391 ) <.moc.liamg. .ta. .nosrednehevets.> on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:17PM (#11969399)
    Michael S writes sent in a good story

    Ouch.

  • Holographic Storage . Inphase. (Score:3, Informative)

    by zymano ( 581466 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:18PM (#11969417)
    Inphase in January introduced their prototype. [inphase-technologies.com]

    Where is the news on this ?

  • Good for Consumers (Score:2, Interesting)

    by VolciMaster ( 821873 )
    This can only be good for us, the consumers. I also expect that disc player manufacturers will figure out how to have dual format players (and if you count in current gen tech, 3..8 formats).

  • Can't anyone write anymore? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by drewmca ( 611245 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:20PM (#11969436)
    Am I the only one infuriated by the shitty writing in this article? I love lines like:

    "The future of DVD is still unclear, but what is certain is that a replacement is already needed and looked upon."

    "Although at the beginning of the decade, the DVD seemed like a major discovery, it shortly proved itself unable to solve some of the most important problems that lead to its very creation."

    "In brief, the movies offered on such a support...."

    "The big award for the winning format has so many zeros as even the companies used to astronomic figures would get dizzy with the taste of unlimited success."

    It's off just enough to annoy, and as you get through a few paragraphs, the annoyance builds and builds until you want to forcibly lead the author back to a book on English usage. I feel like I'm reading the back of a Japanese shampoo bottle.

    "Mr Sparkle is very disrespectful to dirt"

  • Unimaginable Optical Storage.... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by dspisak ( 257340 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:35PM (#11969608)
    in a tiiiiiiiny living space!

    But seriously, with the specs that Blu-Ray has for the physical aspects of the disc this format would force drive makers to reinstitute the disc-caddy system to keep your fragile Blu-Ray discs from getting scratched or otherwise hosed up by the environment. Just imagie what hell it is going to be to rent Blu-Ray's if there are no caddys!

    No matter how much error correction you put in at the block layer on a disc of this level of info density stuff like a ball-point pen or medium to fair sized scratches are going to present a HUGE problem for maintaining media readability and reliability! Not to mention old tricks like polishing scratches out with Turtle Wax just aren't going to work when the protective layer of the Blu-Ray disc is 1/6th as thick as a DVDs!

    Plus, why does everyone here think that Blu-Ray or HD-DVD is a wanted thing?

    I already own a sizeable collection of movies in DVD format and some older ones in Laserdisc format. I'm not about to buy the same movie again in Blu-Ray just because its higher resolution. Especially since I don't own a HDTV set and I still fail to see the compelling reason to shell out the extra cash for a set. HDTV still costs too much and is still too confusing for the average consumer not to mention you can hardly get dick-all worth watching on it unless your in a major metropoloitan area or have a cable provider that has dedicated a significant amount of their coax bandwidth to delviering premium HDTV channels.

    For starters the fact that people think there is this huge pent up demand for 1080i res movies is flat out ricockulous! Hello people, didn't anyone here see that VOOM just went tits up? You want to know how many subscribers they had?

    46,000!

    If you assume the VOOM subscribes are the same customers with sufficent money and HDTV equipment at home to want HDTV res movies on some format then I think its safe to say what format will win is moot at this point because there is hardly a sustainable market for this format for the movie industry at the current rate of HDTV adoption.

    Sure it would be nice to have a higher capacity format but I for one am sick and tired of formats that get mired up in Hollywood dick-swinging.

    Why can't the computer industry come up with their own format for optical data storage that is intended for JUST data and as such wont get hijacked by a bunch of egotistical profit grubbing movie studios who will just want to fsck with it to make it "Secure" for their precious movies.

  • Alternative "huge disc" format (Score:4, Funny)

    by lxt ( 724570 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:38PM (#11969631) Journal
    ...if you really want a "huge disc" that can store video data, why not just pick up a LaserDisc - the "hugest" video disc if ever I saw one...
  • Will I need to buy the "White Album" again?

  • To sum it all up... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by chia_monkey ( 593501 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @04:59PM (#11969832) Journal
    Blu-Ray wins.

    Sony backs it and the PS3 is a major influencer of such. I heard somewhere that the gaming industry is bigger than the movie industry. Hmmm...

    Apple backs it. The same people that dump money into R&D. The same people that pretty much made Ethernet, USB, and FireWire standard issue on all computers nowadays. The same people that got WiFi to the masses (instead of just us geeks) with AirPort.

    Dell backs it. C'mon, they're the big player in the PC industry.

    HP (they're innovators now, trying to find a new face to the company that was once a PC company), Hitachi, Panasonic, Pioneer, and Samsung are behind it. This, along with Sony, pretty much covers the consumer market.

    Now we move onto the financial aspects. That's a lot of money in R&D pushing it, plus Blu-Ray (having $450 billion vs HD-DVD's meager $221 billion) has a little more "oomph".

    I'd say the war is over unless some huge unexpected upheavel happens.

  • Transfer rate in article is wrong. (Score:3, Informative)

    by Chris Carollo ( 251937 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @05:04PM (#11969866)
    The transfer rate for blu-ray is, accoriding to their FAQ [blu-ray.com], 36 Mb/s, not 36MB/s. Which means that 1x blu-ray (4.5MB/s) is considerably slower than today's 16x DVD drives, which are ~21MB/s.

  • So long as they don't have region encoding specs (Score:3, Insightful)

    by WillAffleckUW ( 858324 ) on Thursday March 17, 2005 @06:00PM (#11970316) Homepage Journal
    I don't mind what gets chosen.

    But if I want to watch the Japanese or French version of the movie, that's darned well what I want to watch, with German subtitling if that's what I like.

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