Toshiba drops HD-DVD.

[Brown Sauce]

[web]https://www.reuters.com/article/technolo ... 4620080216[/web]

so that's that then ..

[Skylace]

My husband was telling me HD looked like it was losing the battle just on Friday. At least now I know which format to start buying.

[Griffo]

As soon as Warner swapped to Blu Ray i knew it was over

Makes the PS3's future all that much better, too. Not that i purchase Blu Ray's for my PS3...i just download the .MKV files and play them off of my PS3

[major.tom]

I heard on Friday that Walmart decided to stock Blue Ray exclusively. That's bound to have an effect.

What's too bad is that Blue Ray players are still much more expensive than HD-DVD.

Does anyone know if there's any difference in quality?

[nekokate]

Slightly off-topic, but what annoys me is all these people who are obsessed with the latest gadget and they spend shit-loads of money on HD-DVD equipment and then watch it all on a regular 20 inch telly, sat right across the other side of the room. Most of them wouldn't know the difference if you swapped in a VHS tape while they weren't looking. It's mostly just "emperor's new clothes" syndrome.

I say bollocks to bit-rate, frame-rate, clarity and all that. All that matters is if the content is good. A 60 inch plasma screen and a blu-ray DVD of "Dude, Where's My Car?" isn't going to make it magically not shite.

[Skylace]

I heard on Friday that Walmart decided to stock Blue Ray exclusively. That's bound to have an effect.

What's too bad is that Blue Ray players are still much more expensive than HD-DVD.

Does anyone know if there's any difference in quality?

There is no real noticeable difference in quality at all. What it is, is storage size. Blue Ray can hold 25GB one one layer (50GB on 2 layer) while HD can hold only 15 GB on one layer (30 on two). Blue Ray also has more support from film and music industry studios.

[major.tom]

There is no real noticeable difference in quality at all. What it is, is storage size. Blue Ray can hold 25GB one one layer (50GB on 2 layer) while HD can hold only 15 GB on one layer (30 on two). Blue Ray also has more support from film and music industry studios.

Larger storage size *should* mean better quality, but I've heard mixed reports. My bro says Blue Ray looks better. My nephew backs you up. Perhaps it only comes down to more content.

I thought this contest would be decided by consumers, or eventually lead to a slough of multi-format DVD players. But it seems like the studios largely swayed this outcome. At least it brings the battle to an end.

Glad I didn't buy a HD-DVD player yet.

[maycm]

I say bollocks to bit-rate, frame-rate, clarity and all that. All that matters is if the content is good. A 60 inch plasma screen and a blu-ray DVD of "Dude, Where's My Car?" isn't going to make it magically not shite.

Nice one Kate, amen to that thought.

Sony made a shrewd move many years ago when they started investing in film studios - from the point they started to control how and when media was released, they controlled much of their own destiny.

[eefanincan]

My husband was telling me HD looked like it was losing the battle just on Friday. At least now I know which format to start buying.

Same here..... we still have just the regular DVD players, but it's nice to know which way things are going so the next time we're in the market for one, we'll know what to get. I know my parents are planning to get a DVD player in the near future so at least they can get the proper thing right from the beginning...... not that they play many DVD's, but if you're going to have the new flat screen TV, you might as well have the proper player to go with it!

[faceless]

just tell them to get a PS3 eefan - nothing like a family battle on Guitar Hero or something! haha

[Bat]

I still use my old super 8. They don't make 'em like that anymore. I wonder why?

[eefanincan]

just tell them to get a PS3 eefan - nothing like a family battle on Guitar Hero or something! haha

My parents????????????? Now that's a laugh!!!!!

[faceless]

if your dad's into the golf he'd love it!

but of course, the PS3 is the most efficient way to get a Blueray all the same.

[eefanincan]

Actually, he is into golf, so maybe that's something I can suggest. I venture to say that if he got one of these, he'd be in the basement all the time playing it and my mum would never see him (Maybe it's a good idea then )