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Blu Ray v HD DVD Picture Quality


verticalzero

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I have a PS3 and very happy with the Blu Ray films picture quality..

 

I'm thinking of getting a 360 Elite with a HD DVD Player in a few weeks.

 

Just wondered what the real difference in picture quality is between

"Blu Ray" and " HD-DVD" films..? I

 

Is "HD DVD" Region Free so I can buy USA films and it playsback in a PAL / European machine..?

 

Has any 360 Elite's had the "Red Ring Of Death" error..

 

Inside the Elite 360:

 

http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/news/inside_the_xbox_360_elite.htm

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I own both a PS3 (I still do not own any games for it) and Toshiba's first generation HD-DVD player. In terms of picture quality, they are pretty much exactly the same. The same goes for sound quality as well, but that really depends on what sound format(s) they decide to include on the disc. Sometimes a certain titles will have better sound on HD-DVD, or on Blu-Ray. Unless you have a higher end sound system, I really would not worry about that right now. HD-DVD players can play any other HD-DVD from other countries/regions. So you can import any HD-DVD with confidence that it will work on your player. However, it will not play other region regular DVDs. So you will still need a regular region-free player if you want to do that. Blu-Ray does have region encoding, but most discs are region free. There are quite a few discs that I can import from Australia, Japan, and Korea that will perfectly work on my player. You just have to be careful and check to see if a certain disc is region free. There is a great web site you should check out which reviews titles on both formats which is found here: http://www.highdefdigest.com/

 

The format war has really been intense, especially since Paramount just recently announced that they will start only making HD-DVDs for the next 15-18 months, which makes Warner Brother's the only major studio that supports both formats.

 

HD-DVD

1. Universal (HD-DVD only)

2. Paramount (HD-DVD only)

3. Weinstein (HD-DVD only)

4. Warner Brothers (Both Formats)

 

Blu-Ray

1. Fox/MGM (BD-Only)

2. Sony/Coumbia (BD-only)

3. Disney (BD-only)

4. Warner Brothers (Both Formats)

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^What he said.

They are about the same, though HD-DVD sometimes has better picture.

I usually buy those if there is a choice.

If WB goes exclusive to HD-DVD, then more than likely it will win the "war".

But who knows.

It's safe to have both.

 

PS- I have a PS3 and a HD-A1 player.

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Is "HD DVD" Region Free so I can buy USA films and it playsback in a PAL / European machine..?

 

HD DVD is region free, was weird seeing "PG-13" and FBI copyright warning at the start of a movie when I first watched King Kong on HD DVD.

 

As for quality I cannot compare as I have only got the XBOX 360 HD DVD player.

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I suppose it depends mostly on what movies you want to watch. As previously stated, the quality is almost exactly the same. Many people, including myself, are waiting to see which format comes out on top before buying. You don't want to waste money, and you already have a blu-ray player. I would suggest waiting for a while before purchasing another hi def player.

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I'm waiting to see who wins the war between them. I also figure that within the next couple years they'll be at a much lower price. When I first looked at these things they were over $1000, now they're approaching $400. I think that in another year or so you'll start to see a few creep in under $200.

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I'm waiting to see who wins the war between them. I also figure that within the next couple years they'll be at a much lower price. When I first looked at these things they were over $1000, now they're approaching $400. I think that in another year or so you'll start to see a few creep in under $200.

 

Yeah, you can get an HD-DVD player on amazon for about 220 plus 8 free HD-DVDs.

That's not that bad.

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I personally have an HD-DvD player that plays pretty much every format but Blue Ray.

 

I think I'll eventually get a PS3 (or soon, seeing as the 60 gig ones are being discontinued and I'd love backwards compatibility) for both games and the player.

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You guys are looking at it wrong. Its not quality... it's content. Both are pretty much on par with each other but why is it that you should buy one over the other? Because one has better movies in Hi-Def over the other.

 

 

IT's like so what if the PS3 has slightly better graphics... the xbox 360 is still cheaper and it has a lot more games coming out for it.

 

That's where you thinking should be... not necessarily what has the better picture quality... what has the better content. Because when it comes down to it... hi-def is still hi-def. Standard dvd's still look pretty good when upscaled to the hidef formats and it still looks pretty good.

 

Also... did you really spend $30 on a movie? Was it really worth it?

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  • 1 month later...

Bringing an old topic back to life... Last night while at Walmart I noticed that they had several Toshiba HD DVD players locked up in one of the displays. The tag with the price on it didn't have any player details, but sure enough the selling price was $198. I don't think it was actually for sale yet, but regardless all rumors of a HD DVD player under $200 are true.

 

I'm wondering how long it will be before Blu-Ray can bring their price down and compete in that aspect with HD DVD. I perfer that format (bigger disk size will be nice when computer burners catch up) and there are more movies on Blu Ray. I'm hearing now that it'll be at least another two years before this format war is over, so at least for now I think I'm going to stand back and watch.

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Basically... HD-DVD & Blu-Ray will be permanently defined just as their console counter parts are.

 

I really don't think that one will ever beat out the other and until companies decide to cater to both, people will have to live with one or the other, or get both.

 

Personally I think its retarded to make people decide.

 

NOt to mention that I have not really seen anything positive from the "competition" between the two. While the player might have come down a bit in price, the discs themselves are still outrageously expensive.

 

So bottom line... I might get an HD-DVD add on for my 360, but never would I invest into a stand alone player. My assumptions for getting the add on would be that the player would be outdated when my system becomes outdated.. and I'd trade both in at the same time anyways.

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In a slight twist to my post I was at Walmart again tonight and suddenly the players are gone... Guess they were not meant to be out there yet.

 

Apparently it's part of the pre-Black Friday, Black Fridays sales.

 

Walmart's "Secret" Sales

 

I doubt i'll be getting one because, a, I hate shopping at Walmart, and 2, I don't have an HDTV.

 

Oh and i forgot to mention, they're under a Benjamin

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While the PS3 is a really decent blu-ray player, I've heard the xbox add on HD-DVD player is pretty poor quality.

 

Though the article that said that was before the Xbox 360 got a HDMI out so the picture quality might very have improved since then.

 

At this point, with Walmart, Circut City, and Best buy all having the toshiba unit for $99 there really is no reason to buy the 360 add-on, besides, if your setting up a top quality hi-def system, do you really want it anchored by a video game machine

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I bought a 360 Elite along with a HD DVD player, I know the HD player for the 360 is "Region Free" and order any films which are not out in the UK from the USA.

 

A copy of Transformers arrived on Tuesday on HD DVD for me, it looks amazing, so much detail and much better than at the cinema.

 

UK has to wait till 3rd Dec before "Transformers" comes out. Why wait when you can buy early.

 

I bought Blu-ray "Spiderman Trilogy" from Australia last week due to the running times being 10 mins longer than the UK version. 394 mins compared to 371.. Bargin at £40 inc p&p

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  • 1 month later...

Thought I would bring this thread back from the dead. I was at Bestbuy the other day and was shocked to see the price of Blu-Ray players has fallen from around $400 down to $299 on some models. It took me a few hours of telling myself that I didn't really need a blu-ray player before I caved in and rushed back and picked up a Sony BDP-300. So far I've been pretty pleased with it, the quality really is stunning on a few of the movies I've tried out.

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