Format Wars, Blu-Ray faltering

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-12-09 01:43pm

That tends to be the way to promote such technology. Look at certain game FMVs in full CGI. On a PC, you can get movies of real HD quality that look stunning and it's readily noticeable if you watch the same video on a console version of the game on a standard TV. For the most part though, HD is too expensive for what little it really offers that no one is going to seriously fork out the cash for the odd title that has maybe most of the movie in such clear detail as to read postage stamp sized lettering onscreen.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-12-09 02:04pm

NASA has been shooting a lot of stuff in HD over the last few years - I had the chance to see a big 1080p monitor fed from a Betacam HD VTR. It was downright amazing how much detail was there. They should have showed it side-by-side with a standard NTSC feed.

EDIT: Both Apple and Microsoft have demo HDTV clips you can download.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-12-09 05:39pm

Arrow wrote:When I look at it that way, I have to say Arthur, Uranium and Spanky are right: HD-DVD and Blu-ray are doomed to niche markets and failure.

Are you saying Laserdisc was a failure?

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2006-12-09 05:44pm

LaserDisc was certainly a failure in the US as a wide-market format (in Japan it actually caught on pretty well because it was released and marketed differently). When you get right down to it, settling into a niche market is really second-worst to failure.

Arthur_Tuxedo · Post by **Arthur_Tuxedo** » 2006-12-09 07:39pm

I don't think Laserdisc had billions poured into it. HD-DVD and BD have much loftier goals than Laserdisc, and need to move a lot more discs to break even. I'm don't know whether the developers of Laserdisc ended up profiting or not, but what's profitable for Laserdisc would be a huge loss for these blue laser formats, especially BD.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2006-12-09 10:13pm

Uraniun235 wrote:
Arrow wrote:When I look at it that way, I have to say Arthur, Uranium and Spanky are right: HD-DVD and Blu-ray are doomed to niche markets and failure.
Are you saying Laserdisc was a failure?

Pretty much. I can't improve on what Spanky and Arthur said.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2006-12-10 02:01am

I only ever knew one person who owned a Laserdisc player.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-12-10 02:09am

DPDarkPrimus wrote:I only ever knew one person who owned a Laserdisc player.

I've only seen one at school in a film class.

The Grim Squeaker · Post by **The Grim Squeaker** » 2006-12-10 05:47am

Praxis wrote:
DPDarkPrimus wrote:I only ever knew one person who owned a Laserdisc player.
I've only seen one at school in a film class.

We had one (With about 3 movies, one of them being "The Brady bunch" movie)

Losonti Tokash · Post by **Losonti Tokash** » 2006-12-10 08:28am

Friend of mine has one in his garage. Only movie they have for it is Blazing Saddles.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2006-12-10 12:14pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:You can't compare HD-DVD to the VHS being replaced by DVD. There is no real difference between DVD (especially when uprated by HDMI on an HD telly) and HD-DVD bar capacity, which just means more useless extras tacked on to the main feature.

VHS next to DVD looked a world of difference and sounded it too. DVD and HD-DVD? No one gives a shit. And that will remain until everyone has HD sets and players for cheap. Why pay a grand for HD-DVD or Blu-ray players when I can get a good DVD player for $30 today? I'm sure that slight increase in pixel count will be worth me paying a grand more for a player and buying all my DVDs again.

I'm on the exact same page. I'm slightly baffled by the idea of paying thousands of dollars for a TV in the first place. I've seen demos of HDTV in stores; it's pretty, and seeing football in widescreen is nice, but not that pretty. Not four digits worth of pretty, anyway. And now I'm expected to spend even more money on a new player for a marginal increase in quality on most films, if I also spend hundreds of dollars to purchase my DVD collection all over again? No way. For that kind of money I could buy a used motorcycle in good condition, or a trip to Amsterdam, or a pool table, or a really bitchin' reclining sofa, or pay down several percentage points of my school loans.

Sephirius · Post by **Sephirius** » 2006-12-10 04:38pm

Losonti Tokash wrote:Friend of mine has one in his garage. Only movie they have for it is Blazing Saddles.

screw you guys! I have a laserdisc player hooked up with no less than
All the Back to the Future movies
the ORIGINAL Star Wars Trilogy.
some Disney movies (haven't checked, but I know I have at least Beauty and the Beast, which looks spectacular on LD and two others)
and a some more, but I can't be assed to check right now.

Medic · Post by **Medic** » 2006-12-11 11:32am

The fact that both the X360 and PS3 can play HD movies [with some extra cost] is the lone saving grace in the money-pit that is the entire hi-def market -- the games, the movies, and the big-killer, that TV. That is no small grace though; HD players go for around a computer just over $1000.

A Quick froogle showed a $1,136.90 37-inch 1080p TV, which was the cheapest in the 1st page which showed 50 results. Combined with a system, peripherals and a few games and movies to start out, we've easily hit $2000 already.

How 'bout no?

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2006-12-11 11:52am

SPC Brungardt wrote:HD players go for around a computer just over $1000.

http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2006/11/8303/

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2006-12-11 12:40pm

Used to have Laserdisc player, and the quality was ok, but the laserdisc tended to be fragile.

Videodiscs are popular in Asia though, very popular.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2006-12-11 03:05pm

Aren't videodisks roughly the video quality of of video tape but with the advantages of being a on a CD instead of magnetic tape?

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-12-11 03:10pm

Tsyroc wrote:Aren't videodisks roughly the video quality of of video tape but with the advantages of being a on a CD instead of magnetic tape?

That and a lack of region lockout and copy protection which, understandably, makes them quite popular.