What DVD format will survive ? HD-DVD or Blue-Ray Disc ?

Question

Which one will be the lone survivor in five years from now ?

Answer 1

Blu-Ray without a doubt

Answer 2

Blu-Ray has won. Anybody saying HD DVD will win just doesn't all that has happenned in the last week and a half.

On the Jan 4th it was first reported that Warner Studios was cutting out HD DVD and releasing only BD movies. Warner was the only fence sitter in the battle. Universal and Paramount had been paid $150 Million contracts to go exclusively HD DVD and all the others except for Warner went BD exclusive. It is rumored that Warner turned down between $150-$500 Million to go HD DVD. Warner issued a press release that they took no payoff to pick Blu-Ray and were only interested in providing clarity to a very confused market. They chose Blu-Ray because the consumers had already chosen. BD movie sales are 2-1 over HD DVD in the States, 3-1 in Europe and 10-1 over HD DVD in Japan and Australia.

The HD DVD promotion group were caught right on the chin and cancelled their highly anticipated CES conference. Toshiba (beside Onkyo, the only manufacturer of HD DVD machines) stated that they are still firmly committed to HD DVD.(What choice do they have.)

Already many in the industry were calling the fight in favor of Blu-Ray

http://www.avtruths.com/blurayvshddvd.ht...

But that wasn't all!

On Tuesday or Wednesday Variety reported that both Universal AND Paramount released statements that they were NOT exclusively HD DVD anymore. This is HUGE. To me this is bigger than the Warner announcement. This gives Blu-Ray potential access to ALL Hollywood movie releases.

They both have prior movie release and promotional commitments with HD DVD but the fact that they felt that they needed to let people know that they could release Blu-Ray movies was a move to reassure investors that consumers who wanted High Definition movies would be able to buy Universal and Paramount movies without having to buy an HD DVD machine.

They haven't announced release dates for BD movies yet( they didn't have time too yet) but that wasn't the point. To an investor you have to have the appearance of a strong financial future. Releasing movies in a format nobody is going to buy doesn't make you appear strong financially.

Furthermore it was leaked at the CES that target is removing HD DVD from it's shelves. Retailers have to think about efficiency of shelf space. By having both some customers wouldn't buy either. By having one choice customers are less confused and be more willing to buy AND it takes up less space on the selling floor. Other retailers will come to the same conclusion.

Now HD DVD has lowered their prices to better compete. Really they have no choice but to lower prices because there is no chance of selling a machine if no movies are available for it. At least now it is a reasonably priced upconverting DVD player.

If you look at my answers from a week ago I predicted that this would happen. If I predicted that I know that Blu-Ray promo goup did. They have a trick up their sleeve to kill that effort too. If it were me running things at Blu-Ray that trick would be a discount on Blu-Ray players for early HD DVD adopters. Maybe a $100 mail-in rebate. (it would have to be mail-in.....maybe) Funai is already comming out with a $299 player so expect more 2nd tier manufacturers to drive BD player prices down to under $200 by mid to late 2008.

The question wasn't which format is better or cheaper. It was which will survive.

Hands down Blu-Ray.

For J Beppoy. Warner took NO payoff for switch to Blu-Ray.

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/W...

Answer 3

There is no doubt that Blu-Ray will win. Warner Bros. announced that they will stop producing HD-DVD and will make Blu-Ray DVD movies only in May 2008.

There are 6 movie compaines that support Blu-Ray and 2 that support HD-DVD. Blu-Ray has already won. Supporters of HD-DVD might as well just give up. Stores such as Target only sell Blu-Ray DVD players, and Blockbuster only has Blu-Ray DVD rentals. Everything is in favor of Blu-Ray.

Blu-Ray's success has come a lot from the Sony PS3's with Blu-Ray.

Answer 4

I believe that both will survive. Cheap dual format players are coming.

Answer 5

They both stink right now.  There is a 50/50 chance that if you buy a dvd for either of them it won't play all the way through.  It is too unstable for me right now. You buy a dvd player and before you use it you have to hook it onto the internet????  What the h**l is that??  It looks like B R is going to win sony is really pushing ti to get back at everyone for when Beta (that sony pushed) was beat by vhs.  Also blue ray disks can hold more so there is room for future enhancing.  I will not buy either however untill I can buy one of their players and not have to update it before I can use it.  How is it the consumers job to get a product into working order????  I'll stick with upconverting for now.

Answer 6

I'm not sure of your context, but the answer to your question -- as worded -- is BOTH will survive.

Blu-ray will no doubt be the premier HD disk format in 5 years.

BUT, HD DVD will still be in use by those who bought it. There may or may not be new HD DVD movies being produced.

Both formats will also be around as computer data storage formats.  Toshiba are building HD DVD drives into their laptops and Sony are building Blu-ray into their laptops ... and there are more Toshiba laptops.

That said, for computer use both may be superceded by Digital Holographic Disks by then, and the DVD itself will still probably be the predominent disk video format (i.e. Blu-ray will be a niche format for those willing to pay premium prices).

Answer 7

I'm shopping right now, and have found HD players to be very reasonable, 1080i for $129.00 and 1080p for $179.00. movies are ranging from $17.00 to $32.00. Blu-ray is right there on the movies, but the players will never be close, they are already losing money on the players at what they cost now. I'm choosing HD, I figure at the price, it's a win win situation and from reviews, regular DVDs play at near HD quality due to the excellent upconverting, so movie selection is not a big factor to me. Blu-ray is winning now as far as movie sells, but that was the before 1, the X-box 360 add on HD player and 2, the lowering of the price of the Toshiba HD players. The combination of these factors, I believe will draw the battle closer and extend the length of the war. Both technologies may be eclipsed by better tech before it's settled.

Answer 8

I have a blue ray so it better survive LOL

Answer 9

Most of studios have signed up with Blu-Ray, leaving only 3 major studios left supporting HD-DVD.  This is not good.

Toshiba is making one last ditch effort to keep HD-DVD alive.  They've seriously cut prices on their HD-DVD players, so a 1080p player is now only $199 vs. $399 for the cheapest Blu-Ray player.  If they can pump up sales enough, they may win back some support from the studios.

So bottom line, it's looking good for Blu-Ray, but the war is not over yet.

Answer 10

I would say the true movie format is HD-DVD. The only reason Blue-Ray staying afloat is because of a lucrative deal that Sony paid to Warner and the people who purchased a PS3 to do video game first and not movies.

I've read it many times on blogs and forums.. "oh i only use my PS3 for gaming" but in reality they are stuck with the BLU  movie format just because its there.

The real people who decided what format should win for HI DEF movies are the ones that bought stand alone HD DVD players. If BLU does go through then movie buying consumers never really got a chance to decide.

For the record I say that the both look great so why pay more? Besides Warner was doing both formats so they didnt choose to go with either side to begin with because they do look similar. It was only when they were offered a deal that they chose sides. This was also the p**n industries first choice before all this fuss of warner switching over.

If you look at my sources it is not over and that HD-DVD is better for the consumer and big corporations. So let us decide the format and not some corporate deals done in the background.

Answer 11

I think HD. =D

Answer 12

I don't understand them.  I've been trying to understand so that I won't get stuck with the wrong format like I did with beta.

Answer 13

The future is in downloadable HD content like Apple TV

Answer 14

blu-ray

Answer 15

Blu ray because some compaines are going strictly with blu-ray like disney. Their either gonna combine the 2 or HD-DVD will fall off

Answer 16

It's looking like blue ray right now but still tough to say.

Answer 17

This is what you get with Blu-ray;

Companies:

Sony

MGM

Warner Brothers

New Line

Lionsgate

20th Century Fox

Disney & Pixar (Steve Jobs?)

Movies:

The Matrix

Spiderman - X Men - Fantastic Four - Superman - *Batman

Harry Potter

Simpsons

Robocop

Evil Dead

Monty Python

Road Warrior

*(Batman is on HD-DVD at the moment but Warner Brothers just made the jump to Blu-ray, get it while you still can HD owners.)

Entertainers:

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Sylvester Stallone

Chuck Norris

Bruce Lee

Bruce Willis

Johnny Depp

Will Smith

Denzel Washington

Will Ferrell

Adam Sandler

Blockbuster Video (some still carry both formats)

Do you really think the HD-DVD stands a chance?

Answer 18

It's hard to say due to the competition... if the better format were to win it would blue-ray... but as those of a older generation know that videocassette won over it's competitior (The name eludes me right now)... though, that was partially due to porno support, of which I don't think either fomat is either supporting or denying at this time...

But from the storage capibilites and the speed, the blue-ray should win out the battle... But who knows if they really will, and with sony's marketing lately, it will probably be a hard battle for them to win...