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Originally posted by: Darth Simon
I really havent been following the whole Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD thing, I have read a few things and my impression was Blu-Ray is ahead of HD-DVD as far as being released, but while I understand that this forum is mainly focused on how the technology relates to movies and their releases you have to realize that with technology like this its ability to take hold of the market is going to be based on more than just its video quality.
For instance, Jimbo keeps repeating that even though HD-DVD can store less data (roughly 30 gigs vs 50) that due to its encoding it can hold more/better quality video. While this may be true I have to ask/offer, doesnt the encoding in and of its self hurt the quality...Im honestly not as up on the video codecs (or even audio ones for that matter) as id like to be, so i dont know, is MPEG4 a lossless compression?
But even still, this technology spans more than just movies. People who are more in touch with the pure computer side of this technology as I am will much prefer a 50 gig disc compared to a 30 gig disc. Albeit the price point has to be comparable. Im sure most of this information is known already, but the point im trying to make is that i think blu-ray is a more versitile format.
Im not backing or making a claim that Blu-Ray will win over HD-DVD just that in my opinion its more versitile.
Darth Simon
ps..mainly to jimbo, but also cause i didnt see it in this thread, Blu-Ray will be supporting MPEG4 according to their site http://www.blu-ray.com/faq/#1.8 sure its their PR guys saying it, but its kinda hard to lie about that kind of stuff without it biting you in the arse
The arguement that a better codec would decrease resolution is total bunk. In my opinion Blu-Ray is the winner. Before I have always supported HD-DVD because of the advanced codecs. Now that Blu-Ray has adopted those codecs Blu-Ray is the winner. With both VC-1, MPEG-4 and 54 gigabits of capacity a Blu-Ray should hold as much as 20 SD-DVDs while an HD-DVD holds as much as 12. Both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray have the same improvement in picture and sound and its a dramatic one. A total of six times as many onscreen pixels. Not only better then DVDs but also multiple improvment over HDTV. Thats greater then the difference between DVD and VHS which has amazed the populous into phasing out VHS. Both formats support lossless codecs with litterally 20x the sound of convensional doby digital. However HD-DVD supports such amazing picture and sound with the same playback times as SD-DVDs do. With its higher storage Blu-Ray could have that great difference in picture and sound but with almost twice as much playtime as current DVDs. With that we can fit entire high definition movies on a single layer with all the extras you need on the other layer. Expect in 2007 for a 6 disc Blu-Ray set of the Star Wars saga with all the extras you need and picture quality that will blow you away. Not to mention more changes but thats another discussion.