Why do you guys support HD DVD. Technology always advances. Why would you bother wasting your money on a crappy HD DVD player when Blu is proven to be far superior.

<b>Despite the different type of lasers used, Blu-ray products can easily be made backwards compatible with CDs and DVDs through the use of a BD/DVD/CD compatible optical pickup unit. The benefit of using a blue-violet laser (405nm) is that it has a shorter wavelength than a red laser (650nm), which makes it possible to focus the laser spot with even greater precision. This allows data to be packed more tightly and stored in less space, so it’s possible to fit more data on the disc even though it’s the same size as a CD/DVD. This together with the change of numerical aperture to 0.85 is what enables Blu-ray Discs to hold 25GB/50GB.<b>

So let me ask you HD DVD fans….can your player keep up with that?? New computers are getting faster and faster. Wouldn’t you think a faster data rate is the next step in home entertainment?

Nutdriver, I’d be real embarrassed at how many facts you got wrong in that paragraph. Then misinterpreted on top. Blu-Ray tech isn’t so bad, but it’s politically flawed. Many of it’s supporters are hopelessly clueless.
For the record: HD-DVD also used blue-violet lasers at the same wavelength.  HD-DVD has better backwards compatibility with dvd - after all it is the format endorsed by the dvd consortium.
Blu-ray has a small edge in capacity, but HD-dvd is ahead of the game in the increases by several factors (dual layer, triple layer etc). However full length 1080p movies are far from filling up existing HD-DVD capacity.  Finally. Capacity of the disc had nothing to do with “data rate” delivery. In fact, both formats have equal quality and sonetines even use the same compressed files.

I have a Blu-ray Samsung BD-P1200 that will not play Pirates of the Carebean at world’s end. My Toshiba A3 plays everything without a hitch, no upgrades. I don’t care about the technical stuff. I just watch movies. HDDVD is more reliable and customer friendly.

Let me start this by saying that I have a Sony blu ray player and have never had any issues with any movie playing.  I own almost over 100 movies including Pirates of the Caribbean.  I have never heard of any problems playing that movie either, but for arguments sake lets say you did.  A simple software upgrade would fix that.

Here’s why I picked Blu over HD.  More movies, more studio support and lets face it… it is outselling HD in every country. 

I’m tired of hearing that Blu Ray is more expensive than HD.  Thats garbage.  HD Dvd players and Blu Ray players currently are the same price.  BJ’s has a Sony Blu Ray player for 287. and Best Buy has a HD Dvd player for 299.  And yes both give you free movies.  And the prices for movies for each are the same too.

I went to Best Buy the other day and was talking to one of the sales associates and he told me that they have to continuely resupply the Blu Ray movies but not the HD Dvd movies.  He said nobody buys them.  And you can tell.  I know the Best Buy by me has 6 rows of Blu and 3 of HD.  The Target also has 5 rows of Blu and 2 of HD.  You can’t really blame the stores.  They are just trying to make money and obviously shelf space is valuable so you put on it what people are buying.

If your on the fence wait until next christmas, if both are still around the players will be so cheap that you wont care if you buy both.

I support HD DVD Player since most movies have both DVD/HDDVD formats.  If you want to still use your DVD player in your car/van, the duel format makes sense.  Blueray will never make it once consumers realize they can only watch the movie in their living room.  Shame on you Sony!

I bought the Toshiba A30 and I love it!  Thank you HD DVD for thinking of the consumers!

That makes no sense.  Blu Ray players play standard dvds and upconvert them just like HD Dvd players do.  And if you want to watch a HD Dvd or a Blu Ray disc you have to have a HD dvd player or a Blu Ray player so I guess that would be “only in your livingroom”.  In time i’m sure there will be portable players that are decently priced but for now there is no HD Dvd or Blu Ray portable player unless you use your laptop.  If you think Toshiba and Microsoft care about the consumer….. well….. I don’t know what to say about that.  The facts are what they are.

I am a sales associate at a major electronics retailer in the NY Metro area. From my experience, the ONLY advantage Blu Ray has over HD DVD is the “SONY” name. Sony HD TVs are by far the most popular (although not necessarily the best) HD TVs we sell so it is much easier for me to “attach” a Blu Ray DVD player to a Sony TV sale than an HD DVD player - even though the HD DVD player costs less.
Personally - I cannot see (or hear) ANY difference between the two…and as far as available titles…for the moves I like, it’s a tossup (I’m not a big Disney fan or a “gamer” - nor do I care for animated movies).

In the end, I chose HD DVD…and I am quite happy.

I recently bought a Toshiba XE1 and couldn’t be happier.Flawless connection through HDMI to my High-Def TV , no region coding just pure HD goodness

Let me start this by saying I researched both formats for months before committing to HD DVD.  I also plan to buy a Blu-ray Player or dual format device at some point when BD gets their ducks in row.  In the end most consumers would be best served to look at their current catalog of DVDs, see which films are available on each format and choose the format that has the films they want.

Now for the facts that most Blu-ray supporters and the Blu-ray Disk Association don’t want you to know:

1. The Blu-ray spec is not final, nor will it be final when BD Spec 1.1 (called final) because BD Spec 2.0 is still waiting in the wings.  Spec 1.1 is going to add Picture in Picture and Spec 2.0 will add an Ethernet Port for on-line content.  All of that sounds really advantageous to Blu-ray until you realize the fact that every HD DVD player has been capable of both since the format as launched in April 2006.  If you buy a Blu-ray Player now you can expect to buy another one in a few months or years if/when Blu-ray is ready for prime-time.  With HD DVD there are no worries of that kind.

2.  HD DVD is region free and different films belong to different distributors in different countries.  That being the case The INderworld Series, The Saw Series, Resevoir Dogs, The Fantastic 4, Mr and Mrs Smith, Ghost RIder and many othe “Blu-ray Exclusives” can be legally purchased and played on HD DVD Players World Wide.  In many instances the HD DVD release is better than the Blu-ray release just Google Underworld:Evolution HD DVD and see what you discover.

3. HD DVD has approved Triple Layer 51GB HD DVDs and they are supposed to run on all HD DVD Players even those made in April 2006.

4. The truth is that both formats will be technically equal when the dust settles, but HD DVD has PiP, Interactive Menus and DL content today while Blu-ray does not.

Top 10 reasons to buy HD-DVD:

1.) Price is more important than ANYTHING
2.) Microsoft needs all the help they can get to rule the world
3.) Having a cool name is more important than what something can do
4.) Computers will never need 50GB of optical disc storage space
5.) Paramount and Dreamworks have all the movies anyone could want
6.) PiP is even cooler in HD than it was on your 1990 TV set
7.) $99 HD-DVD with 1080i proves that 1080p has no reason to exist
8.) Set top boxes are way cooler than game systems with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a hard drive, USB, flash card slots and hi-def video playback
9.) SONY is a big poo-poo head we should all hate
10.) Blu-ray is exactly the same as beta and will be dead next week when Zodiac: The Director’s Cut hits HD-DVD.

I was wondering if you watch a 1080P HD DVD on a 108oi TV played from a Toshiba HD-A35 player.

The model i bought is a Samsung LA46M81BDX which is a full HD LCD. C|Net Review of Samsung LA46M81BDX.
I decided on an 1080 Panel because i know i had more choices in what audio/visual equipment to add without having to compromise in quality or compatibility.
Mind you it’s by no means the “Best” 1080 Panel but price/warranty made it the best value overall.
It will suit me for the next 5-8 years with 4hrs of watching TV/ /Movies everyday.
Cheers
.

Blu-ray won every single week this year in disc sales.  Blu-ray consistently sold 20% to 50% more discs than HD DVD every week this entire year.

Enjoy it it while it lasts poohray fanboy.Sorry to hear that you still don’t get the drift how your ‘format war ’ is totally irrelevant.People want to enjoy movies in HD the easiest and cheapest and region free ,and once they find out its an easy choice to makeSo take your unqualified comment and go to a poohray forum, 181

I have both HD DVD and Blu-Ray.  I, for one, am happy that the format war is still going on.  If there was only one format, we’d probably be looking at $600 as an entry price point for an HD player.  As it is now, I got both of my players for less than $600.  Cool.

I just went out and bought a hd dvd toshiba A30 1080p model with two free movie I already had the movie 300 I was using my xbox360 for watching hd dvd I think the hdmi is whats hot the players are
cool & all but I yet have to buy a big tv I only have
A 22= lcd tv & hooked my hd dvd player too it with
hdmi and only get 1080i .Next christmas plug your
hd dvd player in to an optic cable audio system too get true digital sound also. Any way I wanted blade runner ,bad so I got it and got a toshiba hd dvd player and blue ray disc well they don’t have transformers the movie unreal . The movie that is and the web enabled features are some thing out of this world .

Blu Ray have more space on there discs, so is better for data storage!
why has hd dvd no pcm sound????

Indeed not enough space
SO i GO FOR BLU…....

Last time i checked 51GB disk hold more data then a 50GB disk.Get your facts right blu boi.HD DVD is region free,plays ALL of your SD DVD’s without any problems and is cheaper ! Why on earth would anybody with half a brain consider poohray,when Sony lets their costumers down with confusing and useless profile updates that won’t let you play BD that you bought 6 months ago.oh boy

Say Uwe, got a question for you.

plays ALL of your SD DVD’s without any problems and is cheaper ! Why on earth would anybody with half a brain consider poohray,when Sony lets their costumers down with confusing and useless profile updates that won’t let you play BD that you bought 6 months ago

What the heck are you talking about here?

Ok for starters my Toshiba XE1 is region free thanks to a special firmware upgrade i can play any SD DVD upscaled to 1080i.Bluray is region locked ,sorry to hear.
And what’s with the confusing and silly profile updates that renders disks with new profiles useless on older bluray players ? Got an answer to that ?
Diskspace ? Are you kidding ? ckeck this out :
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/09/11/hd_dvd_51gb_approved/