HD\Blu-ray question?

Question

on a scale of 1 to 10 how much better is blu-ray than HD

Answer 1

Which type of HD? Both HDTV and HD DVD/Blu-ray are HD.

If you mean 720p/1080i  HDTV, HD DVD/Blue Ray is from about 0% to 75% better (in terms of resolution only). But it depends a lot on the HDTV broadcast since OTA HD broadcasts can look very good relative to cable or satellite HD where compression varies quite a bit. It also matters what you watch it on -- if a 1080p HDTV you will see a much bigger difference than if on a 720p screen.

In addition HD DVD/Blu-ray has a broader colour range, so colour can look better too.

Finally, audio can be significantly better because of advanced audio formats on HD DVD and Blu-ray. How much better depends on both which audio track and whether your audio system can handle the better formats.

Answer 2

Despite the sony 'fan boys' - BluRay supports the exact same standard as HD-DVD: up to 1080p.

The codex's used in both formats are nearly identical.

The video quality on both is nearly identical.

(I have players for both and neither one jumps out as superior.)

Answer 3

10 - only because Blu-ray will be around for many years, and HD DVD is on it's deathbed.

Both technologies (HD DVD and Blu-ray) are pretty close in their presentation.

When ultimately deciding which is better, the Blu-ray wins out basically because of their studio support.  They have 70% of the movie studios backing them exclusively starting in May, whereas HD DVD only has 30% with only 2 (Universal & Paramount).

At this point, it isn't about which technology is better, it is about which one is going to win the "format war," which looks like will be Blu-ray.

Answer 4

Well, there are a few answers, capacity wise Blu-ray's rank over HD DVD on the scale would be around 5-6.

Current hardware -0

In the future- 3

Sales and studio support wise: 10

Exclusive support of Warner Bros, New Line, Disney (Walt Disney, Pixar, Touchstone, Hollywood, Miramax), Sony (Columbia, Columbia Tristar, ScreenGems), Fox (including 20th Centuary Fox, Fox Searchlight), MGM, Lionsgate - all exclusive to Blu-ray. Current 75% software share for all of 2008 currently. 2 to 1 software sales last year.

Interactivity (currently, taking into mind most Profile 1 players can't upgrade to 1.1 and 2) : -2

Most players aren't PIP compatible, profile 2 players aren't even around.

Audio (most standalone players): -2

Why? On Blu-ray standalone players not all lossless audio codecs are manadotory, so some streams will play downgraded like DTS HD, where HD DVD, it's mandotory.

Video: 4-5

Higher Bitrates.

Blu-ray is better in terms of support and likeness of winning the format war, that is the only thing you should care about, as HD DVD audio/visual and interactivity wise, is around the same as Blu-ray.

Answer 5

They're virtually the same.  The question you need to ask is which one offers the most movies, and which one will stay around.  Right now, it looks like Blu-Ray will be the one that will fit the bill best.  The have Warner Bros. and Hollywood video to back up that claim.

Answer 6

OMG I can't believe people still think there's a difference in video and/or sound quality between HD DVD and Blu-Ray. There is none.....it's the same quality.

When they first release it almost 2 years ago it was a different story though....sony decided to use the older MPEG-2 video encoding while HD DVD used VC-1 and one movie in particular, among many, "The Fifth Element" got some backlash from consumers due to the poor quality video transfer and Sony released a remastered version with the video encoded with MPEG-4 instead of MPEG-2....Blu-Ray is now using MPEG-4 thankfully.

So in the beginning HD DVD had better video quality....but the quality is equal now. Look at any Blu-Ray that has the same movie on HD DVD like 300 or Pan's Labyrinth and you will see little, if any difference in the picture.

Answer 7

Blu-ray & HD-DVD are the same (Almost)

they both look super sweet... what makes Blu-ray better is everyone supports Blu-ray except 2 major studios, Paramount & Universal.

Paramount have hinted that they will be going Blu-ray only soon leaving only Universal making HD-DVDs.

So Blu-ray is better in that way... major support for it and little to none for HD-DVD.

Blu-ray = 10

Answer 8

the image quality is about the same but you can hold a lot more info on a bluray about 25gigs more.  Plus the fact that HD will slowly go out of business I give Blu ray a 10.

Answer 9

Okay... we'll assume you mean HD-DVD.  Just saying HD can confuse people, fyi. Both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are HD.

Now, as for the answer... honestly that's something that's a little hard to rate on a 1 to 10 scale.  It also depends what you mean by better. As a whole? Convenience and Support? Technical Quality?

Lets assume you mean technical quality (picture/audio). Lets also assume a score of 1 means it's the same (not any better) as HD-DVD... and 10 is rediculously better.  In that case, the practical answer, if you were to compare current movies on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray is honestly probably 1.. if not maybe 2.   Both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are fairly comparable in what they support and they both of course do 1080p with similar compression technologies.

However, I wouldn't neccassarily say it's a completely rediculous misconception that Blu-Ray is any better quality. I have heard some say they notice a slight better picture with Blu-Ray. I won't say it's not possible... but there's alot of things to factor into something like that. What players you were using.. which movies you were playing.. and we'll only presume they mean on the same TV.  It's concievable not all Blu-Ray discs or all HD-DVD are created equal.. there's a various technical nuances that might effect the picture slighty.  Taking it even further, as far as what's technically possible... Blu-Ray may even fall into a 2 or 3.  No I'm not a Sony fan boy, but contrary to how 100% the same people would have you think HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are.. as formats they do support different data capacities and different bitrates.  As it stands, to a significant amount, a single Blu-Ray disc can hold more adata then a HD-DVD and play it back at a higher bitrate. Thus is technically (keywork "technically") feasible to put better quality (less compressed) video on a Blu-Ray disc.  That does not mean however you would neccessarily notice a different, or that the movies coming out now have a difference.  It would also depend heavily on what they are trying to fit onto one disc. Concievably if they were trying to fit a really long movie onto 1 disc of either, Blu-Ray would clearly have the advantage.  If a piece of video is somehow a technical challenge to compress without compression artifacts... then Blu-Ray would also do better there... although I don't know if that's even a likely scenario with current technology.

But yeah, the short answer is realistically on a scale from 1 to 10.. it's a 1 or 2.  Technically however it could be a 2 or 3.

For the sakee of seeming less biased however, if you asked which format could technically withstand more damage (bad scratches, etc) while still working.... that would be HD-DVD.. especially if said HD-DVD has a hard coating.  Plus I do like the concept of HD-DVD's combo format (HD-DVD on one side, DVD on the other), which makes for an easier transition to HD. It allows you to buy an HD movie to watch at home, but still allows you to see the same movies on the road in your portable DVD players, or bring it to any friends house, without having to buy the DVD copy as well.   If Blu-Ray came out with a combo format, it'd be wicked.

Answer 10

10