Apple To Back Blu-ray and HD-DVD?
Blu-ray has seen stiff competition from HD-DVD, which beat the product to market and has consistently undercut Blu-ray's price point. Another point of interest is that Intel has supported HD-DVD since September of 2005. While ThinkSecret points out that neither format has yet to claim any clear market lead, some still view Blu-ray's trump card as the upcoming Playstation 3.
Blu-ray had initially gained a lot of studio support, but recently Universal Studios has decided to drop initial support for Blu-ray. Warner Brothers, who has not yet officially sanctioned a format, has recently filed for a patent for a Blu-ray / HD-DVD / DVD hybrid disk.
In 2004, Steve Jobs went on record siding with content creators on the topic of high definition DVD burners and the timing of their inclusion in computer hardware.
As the CEO of Pixar [ed note: now part of Disney], Jobs is taking sides with content creators, suggesting that studios not release movies in the high-definition DVD format until adequate copy protection methods are in place. Jobs even suggests that HD DVD burners not be bundled with computers at all, but admits this is an "extreme" scenario.
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However, as history shows us, this doesn't mean it will win :(
Apple supporting both? I think it's a good option to give the customers - it's us who'll decide... But a hybrid drive will be the best bet.
As a consumer I'm trying as hard as possible to sit this one out. :mad:
As soon as someone creates a dual format drive all this fuss will die down. It was the same with DVD +/- . Give it a year and NEC will have a dual format drives for both computers and players and no-one will have to decide.
I'm not sure about what you're saying here, because content producers will still be having to supply the same film in two different formats.
They'll likely drop the less popular format, and thus, we'll have a winner.
DVD +/- is a writing thing. It's not the same, because people don't care where they get their blank discs from as much.
Ick. This whole format war is nasty, but I guess I never understood why Apple decided to support blu-ray over HD-DVD. Seemed like they did it just to go against what Microsoft had chosen. The and the whole Steve wanting crippled hardware for another (his other) company's benefit over computer users...the whole situation stinks.
As a consumer I'm trying as hard as possible to sit this one out. :mad:
Have you read the format specifications? Blu Ray is clearly better (on paper at least), and I'd assume that's the reason they went with it.
Ick. This whole format war is nasty, but I guess I never understood why Apple decided to support blu-ray over HD-DVD. Seemed like they did it just to go against what Microsoft had chosen. The and the whole Steve wanting crippled hardware for another (his other) company's benefit over computer users...the whole situation stinks.
As a consumer I'm trying as hard as possible to sit this one out. :mad:
Apple chose sides before Microsoft did ;)
What will hurt the adoption of these is that there are too many standards. DVD came out and it was great. One format and it was easy. All these new emerging technologies will make consumers confused and market availability go down, so people will resort to iTunes. Yea! Better go buy more AAPL stock today. It's goin up after earnings tomorrow.
I'm not sure about what you're saying here, because content producers will still be having to supply the same film in two different formats.
They'll likely drop the less popular format, and thus, we'll have a winner.
No they won't.
If (I said IF) everyone can end up buying a player that plays both formats, why would they have to release both formats?
Maybe all Sony movies are on Blu-Ray and all Warner Brother's movies are on HDVD. Everyone can buy either and play them in their dual-player.
That's it. Easy.
I have lots of doubts that it will work out this way, but hey...that WOULD be best, wouldn't it?
I'd rather see Blu Ray win this. It's clearly the better product on paper.
However, as history shows us, this doesn't mean it will win :(
Apple supporting both? I think it's a good option to give the customers - it's us who'll decide... But a hybrid drive will be the best bet.
Bluray is clearly better, and TDK (I think) is definitely doing an incredible job of pushing disk capacities through the 200 GB roof (with multiple layers, and increasing the single-layer capacity to 33 GB). But I heard in this forum that the content creators are still using MPEG-2, which while H.264 and WM9 is fully supported in both Bluray and HD-DVD, only HD-DVD is using the advanced codecs. So, the end result is the studios aren't using Bluray to its full capacity.
If true, I'd like to see studios stop being stupid and start using the better technology. But another BIG problem I see with bluray right now is that it is so darn expensive. There is a 2:1, and sometimes a 3:1 price difference between them and HD-DVD. I don't have over a grand to spend on a Bluray player, and I don't want to wait a decade to get one either...
No they won't.
If (I said IF) everyone can end up buying a player that plays both formats, why would they have to release both formats?
Maybe all Sony movies are on Blu-Ray and all Warner Brother's movies are on HDVD. Everyone can buy either and play them in their dual-player.
That's it. Easy.
I have lots of doubts that it will work out this way, but hey...that WOULD be best, wouldn't it?
Warner looks like they will put movies out on the hybrid disks, so if you have a blu-ray player, you can play it, and if you have an HD-DVD player you can play it. Same end game. The problem comes when you have a studio like Universal that only puts out stuff on HD-DVD or Fox that just puts out on Blu-ray. Then you need the universal player.
NEC has developed a chip that can decode both, as you have hinted at. The optical technology is coming along (I saw something on Digg a little bit ago that noted some progress in that arena), but still not there yet.
HD-DVD is much simpler and has a more recognizeable name and getting much cheaper which a lot of times is what the consumer market will favor. Right now it's still going to be another 2 years before people start looking away from DVD itself. How many people have a HDTV right now? When I say people I mean non-tech aficionados like us in these forums.
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