Weekly IC Poll 2/11/07

[shaggy]

Who will win the Hi Def war?  HD-DVD or Blu Ray?

[Ando]

Honestly, I don't know; I'm HOPING that HD-DVD will win (it's DVD... it's HD... what more can you ask?) primarily because I'm hoping that Blu-Ray will fail. Sure, for now DVD will be the winner, but in the long run, I just see HD-DVD winning. A lot of people are saying that Sony's "not-allowing-porn-on-Blu-Ray" will kill them; apparently the same thing happened with the whole VHS vs. Betamax wars (although I wasn't really around to witness that, so who knows?).

[James]

I haven't really heard much about BluRay, I don't even know if it's out here yet or if it has just been hyped up for its eventual release. I've seen the players but I don't remember seeing the films for sale anywhere.

I've heard lots more about HD-DVD and I expect Microsoft's Xbox 360 HD-DVD player would help the format, what with it being able to plug into a PC. It's only about £130 compared to £500 or whatever for standalone players. If you already have a decent PC, that's a very good price.

On paper, BluRay seems better but it just doesn't sit right in my mind, like the PS2's original purple discs. I've heard there isn't much difference between BluRay and HD-DVD, so it would all depend on which format gets the most support, and for how long developers are willing to support it. For now, I can see HD-DVD doing better.

[UNFORGIVINGPAIN]

I really don't know how the High Def war is going. I'm happy with DVD's for now. It may be a few more years before we have a winner. The Betamax lasted ten years 1975-1985. Who knows, 10 - 15 years from now we may be watching Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD), which hold up to 3.9 terabytes, on a 100" OLED TV.

[Ando]

HVD's scare me. I want that multi-terabyte madness.
Granted, I'd never USE all that on a single disc, but it'd be cool to have.

[James]

Just imagine trying to burn something to an HVD then stuffing it up so it finalises with 2KB on it.

[UNFORGIVINGPAIN]

The way a today has all NES or SNES games on a CD is the way a years from now will have all GC, PS2 and XBOX games on a HVD.

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

I really don't care, watch movies, hell if it's cheap I'll pick up a VHS still.

One thing to watch for though is that PS3 is causing blu-rays to be sold, therefore putting more blu-ray players in people's homes.

[Tynstar]

I hope the HD-DVD wins but really it doesn't matter. That OLED TV is bad ass.

[Hydrobond]

Some company will come up with a player that plays both disks.  Then both will be successful.

[TraderJake]

Who the hell cares? The DRM age has made me sick of everything.

[Three]

Some company will come up with a player that plays both disks.  Then both will be successful.

Yeah.  I really don't care.  as long as I can play what I have already I really don't care, and as long as I will be able to play it on whatever in the future I really don't care.

Who the hell cares? The DRM age has made me sick of everything.

i have an old 800MHz computer that I used to play around with linux.  its not a bad way to learn, and it doesn't matter if you fuck anything up.  Let me know if you want to borrow it.

[Tynstar]

Some company will come up with a player that plays both disks.  Then both will be successful.

The company is called LG and it is 1200 dollars.

DRM?

[Tan]

I remember last year when EB games gave away those free 10 mp3 plastic cards with game purchases. I tried one and found out I had to keep acquiring licenses to listen to them and couldn't put them on my mp3 player so I promptly got rid of them. The next time i was in EB i told them to shove their DRM'd crap when they offered more and come up with something better.

A month later they had a container with dozens of them at the counter with a pathetic "please take one" sign over it because people kept leaving them at the counter when they left.

Stickin it to the man 

[shaggy]

I voted HD-DVD.  I sure as hell don't want Sony and Blu Ray to win.  I wonder if it will be a Beta/VHS thing or not.  Also, I don't relly care about the high def movies.  DVD's are fine for me and the added clarity doesn't bother me on high def movies.