Format Wars Poll

[TheGhost]

I want to see who you all think will win the format war... will it be HD DVD or Blu-ray? Vote now and explain why you made your choice.

[Bad Waffle]

Blu-ray is in the soul of the PS3, so DVD by default.

[someone]

Well, it doesn't matter. At the end there will be blue-ray and HD-DVD combo readers and burners. It's going to be the same as it is now with the DVD-R and DVD+R.

[Zeph]

At this point, its still hard to say. I find HD-DVD much better in quality and is cheaper to obtain. BD is great for storage, but not for streaming media. Ultimately though, it will boil down to whichever has the most movies the consumer is interested in. I think HD-DVD will take a clear lead now that HD movies can be downloaded to a 360. It'll bring more interest to the HD-DVD attachment.

[Metroid4593]

HD-DVD, by far. Blu-ray's too damn expensive. >=\

[klange]

Flash will own all forms of disc-based media.

But I think I'll go with HD-DVD, because it's an extension of something that we already have and love. Blu-Ray sucks because its name isn't a technical description of it and because it's too expensive and seems to be Sony exclusive.

[ExAm]

Blu Ray is a Sony format. 'Nuff said.

[Masterz1337]

HD DVD. Price is now about the same as normal DVD, plus some of them can be played on normal DVD players.

[Jelly]

HD DVD; apparently Blu-Ray disks have been rotting for some people.

[ExAm]

Rotting? Literally?

[Dal]

It was a rumor some kid made up.

[Pooky]

Blu-ray's too damn expensive.
,

Flash will own all forms of disc-based media.


and


HD DVD. Price is now about the same as normal DVD, plus some of them can be played on normal DVD players.

.

[X3RO SHIF7]

Blu Ray is a Sony format. 'Nuff said.
agreed.

[Warsaw]

I think HD-DVD is going to win, for all of the aforementioned reasons. However, I think that Blu-Ray will pull ahead in the long haul, as the red-laser becomes obsolete. The only problem then is that the flash drive will have become more practical than any optical, spinning, data storage median.

[Aeron]

blue ray is supported by more of the bigger movie companies i thought

[ExAm]

Sony offered more incentive for the companies to use it. I doubt they chose it for feature reasons.

[Skiiran]

Are there any actual Blu-Ray players, or is it just the PS3? Either way, I vote HD-DVD, simply because it will cost me less money in the long run.

[Hotrod]

There are Blu-Ray Players, but I think they cost like 600$ or something like that. HD-DVD is awsome and it has a future that we already know about, HHDDWDDBVD (Red vs Blue FTW).

[TheGhost]

I feel like if they can get HD DVD players out for under $200 this holiday season they will be in much better shape. Once the actual consumers start purchasing these devices, it should significantly lean to one or the other's favor.

[ExAm]

There are Blu-Ray Players, but I think they cost like 600$ or something like that. HD-DVD is awsome and it has a future that we already know about, HHDDWDDBVB (Red vs Blue FTW).
The RVB thing actually ends in BVD, which has some significance that my dad told me about, which I'm failing to remember at the moment.

[TIA Gangsta]

Even though I have a 360, and I don't particularly like the PS3, I have to go with Blu-Ray.

Even though it's more expensive, it has more storage, which means more space to store high quality media. Also, Blu-Ray is already on a winning streak, since even though it was out after HD DVD, BR is selling more than HDDVD, 2 to 1 (I think). The PS3 has just boosted Blu-Ray sales and advertising further, also Blu-Ray discs have just had better advertising.
In fact, I haven't seen one HD DVD advert, yet I've seen endless numbers of BR adverts.

I believe HD DVD should win, and has the potential to win, but if this continues, BR will win.

[Hotrod]

The RVB thing actually ends in BVD, which has some significance that my dad told me about, which I'm failing to remember at the moment.

Ooops, spelling error, I'll fix that up. I know that it's BVD and not BVB.

[FRain]

What about HHD DWDD BVDs?

[Cortexian]

HD DVD's, Blu-Ray is just another beta tape from Sony.

[ImSpartacus]

i personally dont really care which wins, but i thought blu ray was winning. guess not.

i kinda hope we go to flash in the next 5-10 years, i already see flash drive prices dropping like crazy. wally world had a cheapie brand 128 mb drive for less than $3 on sale. and i have seen 4 gb drives go under $50 before.

not too many years until we'll have 8 gb drives at like 20 bucks.

but until then, either blu ray or hd dvd will win, and they will be ultimately be down to old dvd pricing at that point.

[Emmzee]

Betamax.

[jahrain]

I don't know why everyone assumes that which ever one wins the movie industry will be the one that wins the format war. They aren't video cassette tapes, these are disks, which storing movies is one of the many things they are used for.

Whats going to be used to store future video games that require up to 40+ gigs of data years from now? No one is going to want to have to install software or play games from 5 to 10 DVD disks if you think games will only use DVDs from now until forever. What are people going to want to use to back up bulk data from their hard drives to a cheaper compact storage medium?

Sorry but comparing HD-DVD to Blu-ray is like comparing sedans to SUVs. They will both have their specialized uses, but unlike VHS vs Betamax, they don't have one sole purpose and it's not just to play movies. Many computer OEMs are including blu-ray with their systems as a next gen optical storage medium, not just to play movies. The PS3 uses blu-ray for games as it's sole purpose.The fact that it can play blu-ray movies is a novelty feature just like the ps2's ability to play DVDs. Stand alone HD-DVD movie players are selling by the butt loads compared to stand alone movie blu-ray players, but blu-ray disks are by far outselling HD-DVD disks. The xbox360 has a sold separately hd-dvd player available, but it can only be used to play HD movies.

Either way, which ever format becomes obsolete will not be determined by which one wins over support from the movie industry. I can also predict that by 10 years from now, digital content distribution directly to the living room will dominate the average home and distributing movies on disks will become obsolete as will distributing music on CDs will as well making either HD-DVD or Blu-ray both obsolete in the movie industry. So which ever format wins over the movie industry will have a short time to celebrate it's victory leaving what ever format that becomes adopted for data storage the true winner.

[Phopojijo]

Either way, which ever format becomes obsolete will not be determined by which one wins over support from the movie industry. I can also predict that by 10 years from now, digital content distribution directly to the living room will dominate the average home and distributing movies on disks will become obsolete as will distributing music on CDs will as well making either HD-DVD or Blu-ray both obsolete in the movie industry.In order for it to seriously take off, we'd need to see the telecom companies upgrade their infrastructure... particularly in rural and even full-on boondocks regions.

Oh wait, they were attempting to make laws for the specific purpose (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070311-study-net-neutrality-law-would-spur-service-improvements.html) of not needing to upgrade.

Oh well... a 1930's infrastructure is good enough for high-bandwidth transfers out through 2010, right? I mean -- its not like they didn't know what digital transfers were...

[jahrain]

The spread of ultra high-speed wireless based internet service will kick in eventually, making even phone lines obsolete with the cheaper VOIP phone services and wireless based cell phones. By the time that takes off, probably within the next 5 years, the online media distribution of streaming HD content will no doubt kick in to high gear for the average home.