Discussion Forums - Questions about SwapaDVD

  I  do not know much about DVD?  Are HD and Blue ray the same thing and the only way to play either one is to have a Blue ray player? 

No, they are NOT the same thing. HD DVD's became obsolete back at the beginning of 2008 when Toshiba discontinued printing new discs and making new players.   HD & Blu Ray are 2 different formats requiring 2 different players.  There were a few DVD players created that could play both, but only Blu Ray players are made now.

This is a general overview I composed about a year ago for a thread, with a few updates:

They really should list on the front page the acronyms or else there will be tons of threads asking about them.  Plus I'd hate to have someone order the wrong version. 

UMD discs were created for play in the Playstation Portable and will not fit in a standard DVD player.  They're smaller in disc size as you can see in this picture:

Blu Ray - New prevailing format of DVD's that are in high definition (not to be confused with HD-DVDs) developed by Sony.  Typically come in Blue boxes.  Blu Ray DVD players have only been around a few years.

HD - The Failed new format of DVD's that are in High Definition (HD) developed by Toshiba.  Typically come in Red Boxes.  HD DVD players have only been around a few years.  HD DVD are NOT made anymore. 

 

Blu Ray and HD were supposed to be the next generation of DVD's, but Blu Ray is the prevailing format.  Why didn't they make just 1 format?  It's the same problem we've been having with technology when 2 different companies are trying to create the big new thing, ala:

VHS vs. Beta

DVD-r vs. DVD+r

It was VHS vs. Beta all over again but this time, consumers have the internet to find out the facts. 

• UMD Discs REQUIRE a PlayStation Portable

• Blu Ray Discs REQUIRE a Blu Ray DVD player or PS3

• HD discs REQUIRE an HD DVD player

• WideScreen and P&S (Fullscreen) are playable on all DVD players

My personal opinion is that Blu Ray succeeded because of the availablilty on the PS3.  People who could only afford one or the other (a player or a console) were able to buy the console and get both.  HD only had players, so I think it slowly turned in favor of Blu ray.  I'm glad I waited to buy mine until after the battle and the subsequent price drop.

Yeah, the PS3 was one of the big contributing factors to HD-DVDs downfall.  X-Box 360 had an external HD-DVD drive (for $200), and HD-DVDs were supported with Windows Vista.  Between the 360 being well behind in sales to PS3 (and only a handful of those who bought the X-Box actually bought the additional HD-DVD player) and Vista being a huge FLOP . . . yeah, that round totally went to Blu-Ray.

The death knell for HD-DVD started with the movie studios.  For a while, they were pretty much divided equally, half the studios releasing HD-DVDs and the other half releasing Blu-Rays.  Warner Brothers was the lone company producing both.  WB finally got annoyed enough with Microsoft and announced that they would no longer produce HD-DVD.  This happened right before CES (huge, international electronics trade show) and killed Microsoft's planned marketing push at the show.  Following WBs lead, retailers such as Walmart and online rental services (NetFlix and Blockbuster) announced that they would go strictly Blu-Ray.  Ultimately, Toshiba (HD-DVDs hardware producer) even pulled out of the format.  That did it.  HD-DVD was officially dead.

Of course, the main reason HD-DVDs never had a chance is because it was a Microsoft format.  Microsoft formats only work on Microsoft products, using Microsoft software and Microsoft technology.  Once again, Microsoft tried to corner the market on something and was shot down by someone else offering the same type of product that didn't use proprietary technology.

Blu-Ray was not the chosen format by the consumers, it was chosen by the industry. Sony got eclusive right for format from Disney, Fox and MGM.

These movie industry companies did not like the fact that HD-DVD had no real copy protection and no region encoding. In Truth, HD is cheaper to make and have the capabilty to have dvd on one side and HD-on the others. The players are cheaper to make as well. Sony finally got their wish on owning a format war (they created the ill fate mini-disc and betamax) Sony controlling this is not a good thing. But they won't be there very long. New formats are being worked on that will blow Blu-Ray out of the water. personally, I am still waiting

It was the industry that made the decision. 

In June 2007, well over 8 months before the war was finalized, Blockbuster went to exclusively Blu-Ray.   That was the first sign I noticed that it would prevail.  Then in Jan/Feb it became very clear when Toshiba pulled out of the E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, that HD was on the skids.  Soon after that, Netflix, WalMart & Best Buy pledged their allegence to Blu-Ray and in Feb 2008, Toshiba put up the white flag...

Not even porn could save HD.  I believe I remember hearing that the porn industry chose HD over Blu Ray which seemed like an indication that HD would come out on top.  As the porn industry chose VHS back in the 80's, I've heard reports that this was a large contributing factor to what pulled VHS into the winners spot.

I'm with Jason, I'm going to wait a while before I make an upgrade.  Besides, without an HD TV, the added benefit is lost. 

I'm pretty sure the industry was swayed by the consumer buying trend.  But again that's my personal opinon.  :P

without the PS3 sales counting into Blu-Ray, Sony was actually losing the sales. They were making it sound like all PS3 owner bought them for the Blu-Ray player. That was not the case. Surveys about 1 and a half ago suggest that only 1/3 of PS3 owner even used their Blu-Ray player capabilities.  But Sony kept jumping up and down and scream "see see we are winning the format war." 

I still don't like the idea of Sony owning a propietary rights to a format.  It is one thing to own the patent. It is another thing to demand money to manufacture something on a said format.  Of course that is why the DMCA needs to die. I still think that something will replace it in about 2 to 3 years.

Still, if only 1/3 of people used the their built-in PS3 Blu Ray players, the fact still remains 3/3 of the people who bought PS3s now owned a Bluray capable player.  So Blu-ray WAS in fact winning the war in terms of having more players out there.  And the more players you have out there, the more likely it is that when those people DO cave to blu-ray or HD, they are going to go with the one they already own.

So i still stand by my statement.  :P