Blu-Ray or HD DVD

[Shaun]

Not sure which, if either of these is winning the war - but if someone better informed about these things could advise it would be welcome.

I have a cracking Sony HD TV but no HD input.

I'm really tempted by Sky HD+ but I'm not paying another tenner a month just for HD - well, not unless I win the lottery or get a pay rise.

So I wondered about getting a HD player/recorded but don't want to invest in equipment that may be null and void in a years time (I'm old enough to remember the Beta and VHS fiasco!).

So, if I'm going to buy a player - which ones should I look at?

Cheers,
Shaun

 

[col]

Iv been puzzled by this for a while, what is the actual difference with blue ray and normal digital, my picture is very crisp and cant think of what difference it would really make?

 

[cisamcgu]

I have V+ (virgin cable) and it has a HD feed from the BBC. I must admit I have great difficulty seeming any difference between "normal" TV and "HD" TV.

 

[Carwash]

Do they even make HD-DVD products any more? Blu-ray 'won' some time ago.
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[grhm]

At the moment, I use a Playstation 3 as a player, which is excellent. The prices haven't dropped enough yet for me to look for a standalone one.

It's rumored that the PS3 is due to drop in price in April - although ISTR it was a dollar price drop and that might not make any difference this side of the pond.

 

[ColinJ]

If you saw them side by side on a decent sized screen, you'd be convinced. The picture on Blu-ray is far more detailed. If you're on a small screen it's much more arguable.

I was walking past a Dixons in Milton Keynes a couple of years ago and there was a big HDTV set right in front of the door, facing outwards. I took a casual glance at it and was stopped in my tracks by the quality of the picture. They were showing an HDTV demo shot from a helicopter swooping about over some big mountains (looked like the Alps). I could see tiny bubbles in the water cascading over the rocks, details of small plants growing on the rockfaces, and I could make out people on the ground way below. It was fantastic. Not a subtle improvement over normal TV at all - gobsmacking!

I bet there are a lot of very worried Hollywood stars now!

 

[number12bus]

I bet there are a lot of very worried Hollywood stars now!

Even more worried porn stars me thinks.

 

[marinyork]

I have a standalone blu-ray player and about 20 blu-rays. Unfortunately apart from last christmas where there were a lot of offers on the prices haven't budged, infact the price of mine actually went up for a few months after I bought it before finally dipping below what I paid for it recently. A few newer models have come out from other manufacturers.

The player I have is the samsung BD-P1500. Virtually no player you buy is going to go out of date, unless you worry about the extra content on blu-ray live or we're talking the subtleties of sound. If you're interested in 7.1 or uncompressed sound you'll have to think a bit. If 5.1 will do. Anyway PS3s have come down a bit in price though. The Sony S350 is pretty popular.

I have a v+ and sadly only have the joke that is BBC HD. Used to play around with cards but can't be bothered anymore. A friend has Sky+ HD.

The difference between blu-ray and SD on digital is a gigantic casm I would say. Apart from the resolution difference there is the difference of encoders and bitrates. Normal digital tv uses MPEG-2 at very low bitrates, usually 2-3 Mbs. Nearly all blu-rays use VC1 or the miracle codec AVC and have (average) bitrates 15Mbs+.

The upside is blu-rays are a lot cheaper now if you wait it out and hunt through the bargains.

 

[Speck]

I've just bought a Panasonic TH-42PZ800B 42" HD Plasma TV + blu-ray player + Sky+HD and compared to my 8 year old Panasonic 28" 100hz tele it is mind blowing, absolutely no contest.

The only problem is we have bought a Stressless sofa and I keep falling asleep!

 

[marinyork]

Keep you eyes peeled speck. There are a lot of temporary blu-ray offers on at the moment.

 

[Downward]

Sky HD and a PS3 is recommended.
Not sure the HD DVD V Blu-Ray War was really worth winning !
I have both, Paid £60 for a HD DVD player with 2 films as it upscales DVD's too. Got a fair few HD DVD's too for £4 so it was worth it. Esp as it was cheaper than the equivelent DVD player
So far only bought 1 Blu Ray DVD but spent £25 on the pack (Remote,Casino Royale and HDMI lead)
Wouldn't spend over £10 on a blu ray film either

 

[marinyork]

Hardly need to. There's so many been knocking around for £9 the last few months or 3 for 2s at that price too!

 

[ColinJ]

Wouldn't spend over £10 on a blu ray film either

I rent DVDs from easyCinema.com and received an email from Stelios the other day telling me that they are now doing Blu-Ray DVDs for the same price as the standard DVDs - £1.99 a time.

 

[Downward]

I rented loads of HD DVD's when they came out so might join up again for Blu-Ray.
Want Top gun but no way am I paying £15 for it when I paid £4 for the DVD. the difference isn't worth £10+ more.

 

[col]

Ill have to give blue ray a go, my sons ps3 plays them, will it be noticeable on my digital telly? I have a 32 inch screen.