Many people are talking about the movie studios, console support, price but also the porn studios that all influence the format war. What do you think is the most important factor in the war and will help any of the formats to win?

Pricing of both hardware & software is most important for mass market uptake of either format.

If you could buy a HD DVD or Blu-ray player and the discs for it at only a small price premium to DVD, the barrier to entry for most users should disappear.

Both of these formats could be short lived from what's to come, technology is moving rather quickly and this will be frustrating for the consumer.

Both last post are very valid and make total sense. I think price is the main factor and the first to get a player down to 200.00 USD will be ahead in the war and I don't mean a player missing stuff or crippled either at the 200.00 USD price tag. HD-DVD is coming out with 3 different model each capable of certain things except the pricier model that is priced at 500 USD which has it all. This 3 different models alone will or can cause the fate of HD-DVD altogether I think.

the price of hardware, the movies released on the different format

Region free format. This way we in my region don't get price gouged like when DVD first came out..

So actually HD DVD would be your fave.
Region Protection is not that bad today anymore, I think.
Now we have HDCP and all that crappppppppppps.

Usability for anything else but video.

We did not use CD for audio only, nor did we use DVD for video only and we'll not be using BR/HD for HD content only either. With dual-format players around the corner the video-question has become trivial.

For any other use, if I have two 12cm discs to choose from, size (capacity) does matter. So does speed. Price (falling constantly) is only a temporary question. I think BR currently has about a 12-24 Month lead over HD in the "other uses" department. That's ages in the computer industry.

Good analysis. Blu-Ray definitely has a huge lead in the "other uses" category (such as data storage backup). I take many photos and videos with my cameras, which take up lots of space, so I love these 25 and 50 GB discs. Plus I like to download DIVX/XVID sports from the net...space eaters, obviously.

2 years ago, I had a negative mindset towards blu-ray. I am no fan of proprietary technologies, and HD-DVD seemed like a natural upgrade/progression. But then blu-ray became backwards compatible, it was linked to all of the big names (Panasonic/Sony/Fujiflim/etc), quality burners and media was widely available. Whereas HD-DVD was (and continues to be) extremely slow in this area (Toshiba CEO commented that they were focusing almost 100% on movies - not a concern of mine at all).

If HD-DVD came out with quality media (Fujifilm/Maxell/Verbatim linked with TY) plus MIJ burners (NEC/Plextor/Pioneer/etc), I'd probably would have been aboard.

But I was able to get the bwu-100a for $325 last autumn, and now 25GB discs are selling for as low as $7.99 (on several occasions)...I see no reason to try out the other format even if it's available.

As far as movies go: from what I have seen in stores, there's almost no noticeable difference in picture quality. Both seem excellent.

Now we have BluRayDisc revision 1.1 with PictureInPicture and such gimmicks.
Why couldn't they include that like HD DVD did from the start?

Darn.

Also the 24p problem drives me crazy..... same with that crap overscan thing.

HD-DVD wins the usability award and has many more features.

Had!
Also, in case of recorders/burners, HD-DVD is a lost case and a dead cow.
Just read some HD-DVD recorder reviews. Shocking!

If no one is selling it then its dead in the water
Having 15gb capacity vs DL 8.5gb doesn't make any sense
HD DVD should had been 25gb to compete with blueray
That's like comparing 1ghz to 1.75ghz
The same goes for HD 300gb for 88 dollars or 500gb for 99 dollars
from 700mb to 4.7gb its about 6.5x
from 4.7gb to 25gb is about 6.5x
blueray had potential hddvd had already lost as soon blueray was out
even if blueray is more expensive, buying twice as many media to store as much would cost more in the long run.

HD-DVD has already updated to 3 layers (51gb, for data only), but the surely not make their burning abilities better.........

I'd like to update my earlier thoughts.

First i'll up the above figure to 24-36 months, if not even more. Also _Chef_ has already reported the bad news. HD-DVD seems to be seriously flawed when it comes to writing. This may perhaps please the film studios but it's really a KO-criteria for other uses.

Also the introduction of a triple layer 51 MB disc does not really solve the HD-DVD capacity problem. Initially HD-DVD boasted cheap production cost, saying it was much like producing regular DVD and therefore only little adaption to existing DVD production lines was required. Now a triple layer disc totally cancels this. It's very much terra incognita to existing DVD production. So in the HD-DVD camp costs are going UP.

In contrast, cost in the BR camp is on the way DOWN: http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2007/10/23/...possibilities/

Another nail in the coffin of HD-DVD ...

So true, hwp.

Nevertheless I'll buy a "combo" when its available and good, kinda like the upcoming one from LG.

I don't think there's a "war" anymore.

We can get combo Blu-ray/HD-DVD reader, burner, or standalone player from LG, Pioneer and Samsung. Let them war but let us enjoy the price drop!

Geeeeezzz triple layer. You cannot buy decent +R DL at this time that has a good history. yeah Verbatims but heck they are not that reliable

Yup, looks like a marketing joke to me.

Only for data and also not compatible with current 1x and 2x layer HD-DVD devices.

What about the 20GB HD DVD-RAM ?

Kewl Is it SL or DL?

This is the US list I think some of the "coming soon" is out in Europe.

HD DVD-R
(Available Now!) Recordable (write-once) 15GB / single sided single layer
HD DVD-R DL
(Available Now!) Recordable (write-once) 30GB / single sided dual layer
HD DVD-RW
(Available Now!) Re-Recordable 15GB / single sided single layer
HD DVD-RW DL
(Coming Soon!) Re-Recordable 30GB / single sided dual layer
HD DVD-RAM
(Coming Soon!) Rewritable 20GB / single sided single layer

Got 2 Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD players

at last Fridays Secret Sale!

Wow! I love it!

Enough said!


JohnnyJT
South Philly

I'm eyeing that one rather closely too

BTW: It seems that i (once again) managed to paste a link that doesn't work. The News concerning cost in the BR camp going down is like this:

"Pioneer and Mitsubishi have together succeeded in the commercialization of recordable Blu-ray Discs with organic dye in the recording layer. The organic dye means that large-scale investments would no longer be required, so that the current coating facilities for CD-R and DVD-R can be used for BD production lines. With only minor adjustments needed to CD-R and DVD-R production lines, it makes low priced discs a real possibility."

As for HD-DVD-RAM: Didn't i read somewhere that BR-RE kind of has this built in already?

I don't know who will win, but I put my money behind HD-DVD. It's not what the industry wants to hear, but I like a format that is easier to copy. So far, that's HD-DVD. If I can't back up my movies, there will always be a chance that a (Blu-Ray) disc will get scratched and there goes $20. The media is less important than the data, and I want to be able to backup my data. period.

Robert