Quoting Boykin:

Quote:
...people will only hear the audio from the speakers built into their tv.

OMG that is one scary thought.... I think I won't sleep good tonight...



I even have a HT in my bedroom

I ran across a forum today for HD DVD fans: HD DVD Supporters  I've only looked around a little bit so far, but it looks like it might have potential.

And in the interest of fairness, if you're on the other side of the fence, there's always Blu-ray.com.  I'm not a member there, but it's always good for a laugh.

'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' Gets Blu-ray, HD DVD Date; 'Years 1-5' Also Due:

"Rejoice, muggles! Warner Home Video has issued specs and a December date for 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' on Blu-ray and HD, as well as initial plans for a 'Years 1-5' limited edition box set.

One of the most eagerly-awaited franchises on high-def, Warner has finally ended over seventeen months of speculation by confirming a December 11 next-gen arrival date for the fifth and latest in the blockbuster series, 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,' day-and-date with the standard-def DVD release.

As the studio has done with several recent high-profile titles, however, the Blu-ray and the HD DVD editions will not be created equal.

Not unlike the recently-released '300' and 'Blood Diamond,' the HD DVD edition of 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' will contain a trio of exclusive bonus features, including a "In-Movie Experience" video commentary featuring "the cast from Dumbledore's Army coming together to share memorable moments," the ability to "Pick Your Favorite Scenes" and assemble your favorite clips from the movie into a montage, and additional web-enabled content including downloads and other goodies to be announced.

Extras shared between the HD DVD, Blu-ray and two-disc standard-def DVD version include an A&E documentary, "Trailing Tonks" and "Fun and Games" featurettes, additional "Focus Points" making-of vignettes, and ten minutes of never-before-seen deleted scenes."

[Goblet of Fire has been out in the UK for ages now, and most folks consider it a top 5 HD PQ title...]

Quoting Boykin:

Quote:
I wonder how many average DVD users have a home theater system?  I am the only person that I know that has one.  I don't think the audio quality of either format is going to sell the product since most people will only hear the audio from the speakers built into their tv.

I think you're touching the right point. Here's my rant.

On the ongoing debate two things are being debated over and over again:
a. Which of the two formats is technically better
b. Which of the two formats is winning over the customers
and this is (un)happily intermixed too often...
Well, I'm getting a bit tired of the debate, apart from the fact that half of this thread's pages are bogged down in more or less personal exchanges.

To elaborate your point, which consumer percentage has a TV with a) a full hd resolution AND b) the size to show it off?
To really see the PQ the TV must show it! What is the point of buying only a new player? It is a bit like the old situation where people spent a lot on an amplifier and a turntable, but re-used their old cheap speakers. Europe seems ahead in buying widescreen TV's, but not everybody chooses a 40" or more diagonal plasma or LCD -- the type of display where HD really begins to shine. Also: TV's are a saturated market, there is a huge amount of TV's not good enough to showcase hd-format over standard DVD's. How many have a HDMI port? How many can digest 1080i via RGB?

As for sound, how many have replaced their stereo with a proper 5.1/7.1 set-up? And how many use it well? Not too long a ago, a colleague of mine assumed he had a faulty disk, the LFE not playing. We checked and it turned out he was used to way lower sound levels than we experience in a cinema etc. In my experience A LOT of people set the volume of the TV or amp just loud enough to hear speech clearly, anything else is just ambient.

Let us not forget, the discs actually have to deliver. BR is said to have better PQ possibilities and SQ possibilities than HD. Attributed to the storage capacity and data throughput. Technically correct probably, but we all heard that initially (at least) some BR movies were not so good. See earlier posts. What this means it that any supposedly better PQ/SQ will only materialise if the studio is really putting any effort in it. Will they always? There are too many DVD's just being a copy of old VHS stuff...

What I am saying is, we "format enthousiasts" appreciate PQ and SQ. But we are not equal to "the masses". And any format war must be decided by the masses...

IMO PQ and SQ alone will not win over the average DVD buyer. It has been said before: it is not like DVD vs. VHS. VHS had a lot more disadvantages than PQ and SQ alone: think tape wear and tear, the sequential nature of the medium, the inconvenient size (over dvd).
It also one of the points why few were won one over by UMD (apart from the hefty price).

Ok, will price reductions of players then do the trick? A lot think so. Well I'm not sure.

It seems clear to me there must be a price drop too for full hd TV's, to the point that the average John Doe even wants to replace his 28 inch widescreen CRT TV of just 2 to 3 years old.

And by the way, tv stations are not much help either. The majority still have to go over to widescreen. Forget full HD. Only when the lady of the house can see Sex and the City, Friends or whatever is currently the hit sitcom, in glorious HD from the TV station, we'll get a chance to replace the TV...

Second, a price drop in the hd titles, be that the blue or red team. And portfolio VOLUME.
The majority of the titles are re-releases of titles that can also be found in the bargain bin a couple of meters away. 28 euro for a hd view of Denise Richards topless vs a 6 euro view. Is that an incentive for  BR? Yes, new dvd releases are pricier, in the Netherlands in the 15 to 20 euro price bracket, but hd/br releases of new big sellers are far and few between. Announcing hd/br of the next Harry Potter is great, but it should have been normal, not news.
Take a look on Amazon or Play on the full portfolio — the studio's are still building what I'd like to call "showcase stuff". The Mummy, The Matrix, King Kong, and so on. Where pixel perfect detail lets the CGI shine. This is not a portfolio that'll win over "the masses": too small, too pricey, ...

Manufacturers, studio's and retailers have a long way to go yet...

Quoting pplchamp:

Quote:
DVD Forum approves 51 GB HD DVD (Triple Layer)

http://www.screendigest.com/online_services/intelligence/video_and_dvd/updates/vi-060907-ec3/show

Hmmm...betcha ASC and SONY are not happy about this. 

Quoting pplchamp:

Quote:
There's talk that the discs would not be backwards compatible, hopefully somone can find out some facts on this rumor. I hope it's not true.

Yeah, that's the thing I'm concerned about is compatibility with current players out on the market.

This does make thinkgs that much more interesting. 

Quoting bob9000:

Quote:
DVD Forum approves 51 GB HD DVD (Triple Layer)

Hmmm...betcha ASC and SONY are not happy about this. 

ASC will just start with the HD DVD 51GB still having "not enough bandwidth" ranting. Its how he defends BD25, smaller than an HD DVD but capable of higher peak bitrates and thus infintely superior!   

Quoting Erik:

Quote:
Quoting pplchamp:

Quote:
There's talk that the discs would not be backwards compatible, hopefully somone can find out some facts on this rumor. I hope it's not true.

From AVS:

"Testing is going to start soon. Until then, there is no answer."

I read the same thing in the same place.  I find it odd that so much time and effort would have been put into this without any testing.  I suspect it works in at least a limited amount of cases.  But it's true that this could still die at this stage of the game if it proves to not be 100% compatible with existing hardware.

I've also heard that this could require a faster spin rate for the disc and that could means they would increase the bandwidth.

I'm in the camp that believes 30GB and existsing bandwidth is sufficient.  But that would be funny if this went through and increased both those numbers.   It would be good for bragging rights if nothing else.