Galactus
Devourer of Worlds
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Posted: Friday December 8th 2006 12:23am
Source: Assorted Sources
Author: Garth Franklin
The battle over the next generation DVD format threw another interesting punch this week with independent market analytics firm Cymfony releasing figures from an extensive study showing that Blu-ray lagged far behind HD DVD in positive opinion.
According to Yahoo, the report distinctly cites that unlike many studies in this field, this one was not sponsored by any manufacturer or other organization affiliated with either of the formats.
It cites that 'the buzz' for HD DVD is 46 percent greater than that of Blu-ray, and that's among both high-def early adopters and the gaming community.
The biggest surprise though is that Sony's mandatory inclusion of a Blu-ray drive in the PlayStation 3 may have actually had the opposite effect of what they intended with core gamers "actually dissenting from the format" due to it its inclusion.
Posts indicate a more favourable response to the Xbox 360's HD-DVD drive due to the fact that its an add-on which is purchased separately, thus giving the consumer more options.
The cost increase resulting from the inclusion of the Blu-ray, the resulting delays of the PS3 due to it, and the inclusion of a film title ("Talladega Nights") which has been drawing frequently bad reviews for its transfer quality has not helped.
The report comes as another blow to the Blu-ray camp who's been fighting an uphill battle in the PR stakes since its somewhat awkward launch earlier this year.
The format often cites its bigger capacity over HD-DVD as its winning point, but HD-DVD's adoption of dual-layer discs from the start for all titles and the more advanced VC-1 compression codec has that format often winning the capacity stakes (30Gb on all HD-DVDs vs. 25Gb on most Blu-ray titles released so far).
Most damning though is that many independent review comparisons of the same title in both formats have clearly awarded victory to HD-DVD version for better picture quality, sound options and more interactive features.
As a result the more recent Blu-ray discs have begun utilising the same codec (or the similar H.264 AVC MPEG4 codec) with reviews for those few titles now stating the quality is about on equal terms for both formats.
The debate is expected to continue well into next year with some thinking one will come out on top, others thinking both will flop.
Personally I think the war will probably end up more like the +/-R for software - the big winner will be the first companies to come up with a under $300 player capable of playing both formats. In any case regular DVD will remain the standard for quite some time
Source: Assorted Sources
Author: Garth Franklin
The battle over the next generation DVD format threw another interesting punch this week with independent market analytics firm Cymfony releasing figures from an extensive study showing that Blu-ray lagged far behind HD DVD in positive opinion.
According to Yahoo, the report distinctly cites that unlike many studies in this field, this one was not sponsored by any manufacturer or other organization affiliated with either of the formats.
It cites that 'the buzz' for HD DVD is 46 percent greater than that of Blu-ray, and that's among both high-def early adopters and the gaming community.
The biggest surprise though is that Sony's mandatory inclusion of a Blu-ray drive in the PlayStation 3 may have actually had the opposite effect of what they intended with core gamers "actually dissenting from the format" due to it its inclusion.
Posts indicate a more favourable response to the Xbox 360's HD-DVD drive due to the fact that its an add-on which is purchased separately, thus giving the consumer more options.
The cost increase resulting from the inclusion of the Blu-ray, the resulting delays of the PS3 due to it, and the inclusion of a film title ("Talladega Nights") which has been drawing frequently bad reviews for its transfer quality has not helped.
The report comes as another blow to the Blu-ray camp who's been fighting an uphill battle in the PR stakes since its somewhat awkward launch earlier this year.
The format often cites its bigger capacity over HD-DVD as its winning point, but HD-DVD's adoption of dual-layer discs from the start for all titles and the more advanced VC-1 compression codec has that format often winning the capacity stakes (30Gb on all HD-DVDs vs. 25Gb on most Blu-ray titles released so far).
Most damning though is that many independent review comparisons of the same title in both formats have clearly awarded victory to HD-DVD version for better picture quality, sound options and more interactive features.
As a result the more recent Blu-ray discs have begun utilising the same codec (or the similar H.264 AVC MPEG4 codec) with reviews for those few titles now stating the quality is about on equal terms for both formats.
The debate is expected to continue well into next year with some thinking one will come out on top, others thinking both will flop.
Personally I think the war will probably end up more like the +/-R for software - the big winner will be the first companies to come up with a under $300 player capable of playing both formats. In any case regular DVD will remain the standard for quite some time
