Format Wars Poll

[fractured78]

Sorry if this has been done before. Search function brought up too much stuff.

[Ty]

I think all the talk about holodiscs supplanting the new formats before they take off is a bit premature. This technology only works in a lab environment, and the reports of it's supposed capacity by 2010 would only be reproducable in a lab at that time too I would imagine. That combined with the typical market behavior tells me that Blu-Ray (it will win within 2 years more or less) will get about the same mainstream run as DVD has gotten. That's my hunch anyway. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

[Chacranajxy]

This kinda belongs in the hardware forum, but anyway, I think that both will die out pretty quickly -- people just aren't ready for a new format (at least, the vast majority of people who just bought DVD players.) While yeah, people would get superior video and audio quality, the new formats don't have the gimmicks that DVD had. People went to DVD because it was a disc format rather than a bulky tape. There were new things like menus, extras, multiple languages, and chapters which made switching to DVD worthwhile for people. With Blu Ray and HDDVD, there's just better video quality and audio to promote the product... that's not enough for the Wal Mart crowd.

[WeirdlyGruesome]

Jessica Alba.

[JeffDM]

[ QUOTE ]
Xcalibur said:
I think all the talk about holodiscs supplanting the new formats before they take off is a bit premature. This technology only works in a lab environment, and the reports of it's supposed capacity by 2010 would only be reproducable in a lab at that time too I would imagine.

[/ QUOTE ]

Holographic storage has been vapor for so long (I think since DVD was formed) that I want to see one listed as ready for shipment from a reputable store before even bothering to say it is viable.

mmmmmmmmmmmmm, Jessica Alba /images/graemlins/noseblee.gif

[something]

I don't know who will win, but I want Blu-Ray to fail miserably. Hell, I have nothing but negative feelings towards this whole "next gen" thing. They can crash and burn and I'll be dancing in the street.

Since any new technology is guaranteed to be DRMed out the ass, I'm really not interested at all. I'm ignoring all of it until DVD is dead, and only then, when I have no choice in the matter, will I take a look around and see what's up... because right now I'm just disgusted with it all.

[ QUOTE ]
disarm said:
I don't know who will win, but I want Blu-Ray to fail miserably. Hell, I have nothing but negative feelings towards this whole "next gen" thing. They can crash and burn and I'll be dancing in the street.

Since any new technology is guaranteed to be DRMed out the ass, I'm really not interested at all. I'm ignoring all of it until DVD is dead, and only then, when I have no choice in the matter, will I take a look around and see what's up... because right now I'm just disgusted with it all.

[/ QUOTE ]

You're disgusted with Jessica Alba too? /images/graemlins/stunned0.gif /images/graemlins/depresse.gif

You sir, have no soul!

[TalonG4]

Personally, I think Jessica Alba has more support from the industry as a whole as well as having superior storage capacity and durability.

...and she's hot.

[hobie]

I dunno right now. Though as noted by others many times, the format confusion will only hurt adoption and sales. Just look at how sluggish the adoption of DVD burners are because of +R/-R/Ram. I finally bought one, but only because I got sick of burning an entire cakebox of CDRs when making backups. I also agree that Joe consumer isn't ready to start buying in another new format yet. As for the DRM mess, that will be broken 5 minutes after some determined cracker gets a good look at the system, if not sooner.

[Philemon]

I heard that the holographic storage technology has its origins in the 1980s, but what is preventing it from becoming a commerical reality? Is it just "good on paper"?

I have always supported Blu-Ray for technical reasons, and I wish that format eventually wins.

[fractured78]

We're prognosticating here, which, by definition, everything is premature!

/images/graemlins/happy.gif

Edit-Well, except Jessica Alba...

[jecca-neko]

My vote is not an option on the poll, and that vote is that I don't really think that the general public is ready for a new format yet. I don't see either format doing well.

HD-DVD and Blu-ray will be good for game development reasons, however, both in the PC and console market. Why? You can put a lot more data on the discs. Considering that it feels like gaming companies are starting to have problems stuffing data on even dual-layered DVD-rom discs, HD-DVD and Blu-ray will be helpful for that.

[fractured78]

Dude, that's what the Jessica Alba and Colin Farrel options are for! /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[Scaramanga]

[ QUOTE ]
disarm said:
I don't know who will win, but I want Blu-Ray to fail miserably. Hell, I have nothing but negative feelings towards this whole "next gen" thing. They can crash and burn and I'll be dancing in the street.

Since any new technology is guaranteed to be DRMed out the ass, I'm really not interested at all. I'm ignoring all of it until DVD is dead, and only then, when I have no choice in the matter, will I take a look around and see what's up... because right now I'm just disgusted with it all.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I'm with Disarm on the whole issue. I don't care if DRM gets cracked 5 seconds after it's released, that it even was put there to begin with is ludicrous, and turns us all into criminals, just to own the content we PAID FOR.

[jecca-neko]

[ QUOTE ]
fractured78 said:
Dude, that's what the Jessica Alba and Colin Farrel options are for! /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know who Colin Farrel is. I like Jessica Alba though. I'm a Dark Angel fan.

[Elana]

[ QUOTE ]
jecca-neko said:
[ QUOTE ]
fractured78 said:
Dude, that's what the Jessica Alba and Colin Farrel options are for! /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know who Colin Farrel is. I like Jessica Alba though. I'm a Dark Angel fan.

[/ QUOTE ]

And honestly... Colin Farrel? Please. Colin Firth!

[Kurou]

Where's the "anything except Blu-Ray" option?

For one, I don't trust Sony at all.

[fujishig]

Not to mention that the vast majority of the "Walmart crowd" won't even have HD-ready TVs in the near future, so that's an impediment to the new technology right there.

[gnikdrazil]

Jessica Alba and Jessica Biel (Sorry. Not into guys)

I'll just wait until someone cracks both systems and creates a DVD player that will play both. By the time that happens, I just may have an HD TV.

[ QUOTE ]
z2ei said:
Where's the "anything except Blu-Ray" option?

For one, I don't trust Sony at all.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why? And more importantly, what makes them less trustworthy than anybody else in this industry?

Ultimately, I don't think it'll make any difference. Super Audio CD and DVD-audio haven't exactly lit the world on fire, despite promising huge improvements in audio fidelity; between CDs and online distribution, neither of which sound exactly incredible but are still just fine out of a car stereo and both of which are eminently portable, there's no room for a new audio format. If BD and HDDVD both have DRM included, it'll cut down on the portability of movies as well, which will be damaging to the industry. (Because really, who wants an English-only Bible Black that you not only can't put on your iPod, but you also can't play it on anbody else's DVD player?)

[TheStrongMan]

Well...in order to utilize the "next gen" of DVD, you need a HDTV.

Just out of curiostity...but how many people actually have HDTVs? Then on top of that, you have to ask how many of those people would be willing to pay the money to not only upgrade their TV, but also the DVD player as well.

Even now, today, I still know people that will argue with me about fullscreen vs widescreen. Or people who have no clue what the "HD" even stands for. We expect these people to plop down their hard earned cash for a new TV (that'll they hate and/or not understand how to use) and a new "fancy-pants" DVD player? Somehow...I just don't see it happening. It's just too much, too soon for the general public.

Amongst the early adopters, one...or even both of the formats will gain traction, and it will become a niche market. Once HDTVs come down in price and/or make significant gains in terms of households owning HDTVs...then you'll start to see the "next gen" of DVD take off. However, I think by that point in time there'll be something better.

But, all of this ignores the PC aspect of things. Once the drives start coming down in price, I see Blu-Ray gaining traction and winning on the PC side of things with their clearly superior storage capacity.

As for who I'd like to see win...I want Blu-Ray to win...but I wouldn't mind if Jessica Alba does. (=

[JeffDM]

[ QUOTE ]
z2ei said:
For one, I don't trust Sony at all.

[/ QUOTE ]

It isn't Sony's format. I wish people would give that up. Sony is only one of dozens of companies in the BR consortium, and Sony doesn't control the BR format.

[ QUOTE ]
ADC said:

Why? And more importantly, what makes them less trustworthy than anybody else in this industry?

[/ QUOTE ]

Sony themselves can't be trusted because of the rootkit debacle. No other media company has tried to do what they did.

[ QUOTE ]
TwilightAria said:
Just out of curiostity...but how many people actually have HDTVs?

[/ QUOTE ]

IIRC, there are over ten million HDTVs in the US.

[ QUOTE ]
Once HDTVs come down in price

[/ QUOTE ]

Define "down in price", preferably with a specific number and screen size. Prices have been dropping dramatically for many years. A 42" HD plasma will be under $1000 sometime in the next year, and that's a much better deal than the 32" standard definition tube that the same money would have bought about four years ago.

[elmer92413]

[ QUOTE ]
JeffDM said:
[ QUOTE ]
Xcalibur said:
I think all the talk about holodiscs supplanting the new formats before they take off is a bit premature. This technology only works in a lab environment, and the reports of it's supposed capacity by 2010 would only be reproducable in a lab at that time too I would imagine.

[/ QUOTE ]

Holographic storage has been vapor for so long (I think since DVD was formed) that I want to see one listed as ready for shipment from a reputable store before even bothering to say it is viable.

[/ QUOTE ]

Retail holographic storage is not vaporware... (http://news.com.com/Maxell+focuses+on+holographic+storage/2100-1015_3-5973868.html)
Holographic storage is the logical next step after the current generation of 2D storage is done...
...
..
.

[JeffDM]

[ QUOTE ]
elmer92413 said:
Retail holographic storage is not vaporware... (http://news.com.com/Maxell+focuses+on+holographic+storage/2100-1015_3-5973868.html)
Holographic storage is the logical next step after the current generation of 2D storage is done...


[/ QUOTE ]

I wasn't aware that an actual media company has commited to such a format, but I'm not certain that helps. The tech has been vaporware for decades, so I'm still going to wait until it actually hits store shelves. That projected initial media cost for a currently unreleased product doesn't compare well with hard drive storage now, the it is about as expensive as a hard drive the same size. The initial indications seem to be that it is for the large business market.

[Suwako Moriya]

I'm not making any predictions, but I'm actually waiting off these formats for the very reason that I want to see which stand and which fall. Hence why I don't feel like bothering with any of these new formats until at least 2-3 years after they start. It's also the same reason I'm not sure which I want to win yet. I want to let each format show its true colors over the course of 2-3 years.

[TAS]

Neither, both will become niche markets and are supplanted in a couple years by<font color="blue"> something else. </font>

Bluray may be the next laser disc, HD-DVD the next RCA SelectaVision.

Bluray has a chance on compuers for storage if the disc price comes down fast enough. At under $.25 a gig it would start getting useful for backup.

[Algernon]

Personally, I think that both will be relegated to niche products due to a combination of massive consumer indifference and bad policy-making by all involved parties. Consumer adoption might pick up some once cheap Chinese players start popping up.

So I vote Jessica Alba, although nothing in the second poll appeals to me. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[Ty]

[ QUOTE ]
elmer92413 said:
[ QUOTE ]
JeffDM said:
[ QUOTE ]
Xcalibur said:
I think all the talk about holodiscs supplanting the new formats before they take off is a bit premature. This technology only works in a lab environment, and the reports of it's supposed capacity by 2010 would only be reproducable in a lab at that time too I would imagine.

[/ QUOTE ]

Holographic storage has been vapor for so long (I think since DVD was formed) that I want to see one listed as ready for shipment from a reputable store before even bothering to say it is viable.

[/ QUOTE ]

Retail holographic storage is not vaporware... (http://news.com.com/Maxell+focuses+on+holographic+storage/2100-1015_3-5973868.html)
Holographic storage is the logical next step after the current generation of 2D storage is done...
...
..
.

[/ QUOTE ]

You make a good point, but I'll take any bet it's not marketable to the masses for any reasonable price within the next 10 years.

[LexiJ]

[ QUOTE ]
JeffDM said:
Define "down in price", preferably with a specific number and screen size. Prices have been dropping dramatically for many years. A 42" HD plasma will be under $1000 sometime in the next year, and that's a much better deal than the 32" standard definition tube that the same money would have bought about four years ago.

[/ QUOTE ]

$250 is my absolute limit for tv spending. That's about what I paid for my 27" standard tv about 6 or 7 years ago. Of course, I don't really care about HD, since I don't have real cable, and am perfectly happy with the quality I have now on dvd. I don't want anything that's going to cost me more than what I pay now for entertainment, and that $60 dvd player I bought last year is still showing a great picture and working fine. I suppose I'll switch over when the industry forces me to, but unitl then, I just can't bring myself to care.

Just out of curiosity, what's that 10 million HDTVs translate to percentage wise?

[Algernon]

Now that I think about it, the next generational step could possibly be something like flash memory cards. Most likely in highly proprietary formats and with wicked DRM. /images/graemlins/relief.gif Really though, the lack of moving parts in a flash-based system would make the players compact and more reliable.

OOH! Integrate wireless data transfer between the reader and the home entertainment system and you could build the entire player into the TV remote control! The remote probably wouldn't be much bigger than Sony's all-in-one controller with the LCD screen. You could display the program menu and all the time/track info right on the remote's screen so that the unit connected to/integrated into the home entertainment center doesn't even have to be visible. It shouldn't be a whole lot more work to allow for recording. Just transmit the TV feed wirelessly back to the remote. That would be rock so hard.

Alright, who here's good with electronics and who's good at programming? /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[TAS]

[ QUOTE ]
JeffDM said:

Sony themselves can't be trusted because of the rootkit debacle. No other media company has tried to do what they did.

[/ QUOTE ]
Not just that, look at the years of no-mp3 on the protables, even now they only sort-of work with MP3. They just love their walled gardens too much.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
TwilightAria said:
Just out of curiostity...but how many people actually have HDTVs?

[/ QUOTE ]

IIRC, there are over ten million HDTVs in the US.

[/ QUOTE ]
Will sets without HDMI have full fuction? (see upconverting DVD players, even though only a fool would copy the HD video stream when they can just rip the DVD).
There are still a lot of set for sale without HDMI/HDCP, more then half of the "boxing day sale" deals I saw were old models with out the copy protection crap.

[ QUOTE ]

Define "down in price", preferably with a specific number and screen size. Prices have been dropping dramatically for many years. A 42" HD plasma will be under $1000 sometime in the next year, and that's a much better deal than the 32" standard definition tube that the same money would have bought about four years ago.

[/ QUOTE ]
Most of the people I know at work have something like a $200 27" RCA, with the DVD player plugged into the TV with the cables that came in the box. A cheap HD set is about the same price as a good SD set, maybe in a year HD sets will start to move into the low end range. HD cable still costs a lot more too.

[TAS]

[ QUOTE ]
LexiJ said:

Just out of curiosity, what's that 10 million HDTVs translate to percentage wise?

[/ QUOTE ]

That's world wide in March 2005. For US only 4 million.

Nielsen Media Research pegged the number of U.S. TV households for the 2005-06 season at 110.2 million.

So about 3.6% in the US.

Just for fun, the number of DVD players sold in the US 100,253,864
(3/97 to 11/25/05)

[fractured78]

More Holo (http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=177) fun! /images/graemlins/happy.gif

Yeah, 2 years was optimistic...but still, I think it will be less than 10 years by far. Quite a few big media companies have their toes in holo tech already (http://www.optware.co.jp/english/what.htm).

[Chris Beveridge]

[ QUOTE ]
JeffDM said:
[ QUOTE ]
Xcalibur said:
I think all the talk about holodiscs supplanting the new formats before they take off is a bit premature. This technology only works in a lab environment, and the reports of it's supposed capacity by 2010 would only be reproducable in a lab at that time too I would imagine.

[/ QUOTE ]

Holographic storage has been vapor for so long (I think since DVD was formed) that I want to see one listed as ready for shipment from a reputable store before even bothering to say it is viable.

[/ QUOTE ]

Even longer; IBM was heavily involved in a very public project about such a media back in the early 80's. Nothing came of that. I suspect they're much closer this time though but still, until it's viable in a mass production scale, it's still just vaporware.

[Chris Beveridge]

Let's talk numbers!

"At the end of 2004, there were 11 million HD households, each owning an average of 1.2 HD sets,� Kagan Research associate Patrick Johnson said in a prepared statement. �We project that the average price of an HD set will decline some 38% by 2010, reducing the average price to $1,139. Rapid price declines, coupled with increasing levels of HD programming, will drive the number of HD households to nearly 97 million in 2010, penetrating more than 82% of total TV households.�

"Elsewhere in its “The State of High Definition Television 2006� report, Kagan estimated that 9.1 million HD sets will be sold to consumers this year, compared with 3.4 million and 5.6 million bought in 2003 and 2004, respectively."

"Kagan also found that the number of cable HD subscribers grew from 675,000 in 2003 to 2.3 million in 2004. That total is expected to grow to 3.8 million at the conclusion of the current year and to surpass the 30 million mark in 2010."

"Consumers reported spending an average of $1,600 for HDTV sets over the past year, down from $2,400 over a year ago"

[mrtbringsthepain]

Seriously, Jessica Alba will win.


I think HD DVD seems to be a much better idea. It just seems to be better planned. In my mind, better planning=better execuation. Just seems like it's got a better chance at success now. Maybe it's just me...

[MSkinner]

As some one already pointed out, as far as the general public is concerned, there is nothing wrong with the current DVD format. It's the major movie studios that will be pushing, and pushing hard, these new formats in an effort to protect their product from piracy. They will hype the "high definition" and "capacity" aspect of the new formats but make no mistake, the studios want these formats purely for the piracy protection they believe it will offer.

Don't be surprised if in an effort to "persuade" consumers to adopt the new formats, that the studios will eventually try to phase out new movie releases on DVD leaving you with little choice but to upgrade to Blue-Ray or HD-DVD if you want to get your new releases. I'm not implying that the anime studios feel this way but it's evident by all the articles that you see major studios blaming stock performance on losses due to piracy that they are determined to force people to upgrade to the new formats if they think it will improve profits.

[fujishig]

I'm sure the number of households with an HD-ready set is increasing as prices go down (hey, I just joined that number last week!). But there are still a few impediments besides the all-important cost-of-tv:

1) Non HD signals: sure you can get OTA HD signals if you have an HD tuner, but most of the cheaper sets don't, which means you'll have to spring for the HD cable or sat package. Even then, the majority of channels won't be HD. And on most sets they look like crap, especially when you have HD to compare it to, and on mostly larger displays.

2) Widescreen format: HD sets should all be widescreen, but most programming is still 4:3, which means either you leave the picture distorted and stretched, or you don't use all the real estate. Seeing as how most of the Walmart crowd probably prefer fullscreen to fill up the screen, they won't be happy when their 32 inch widescreen has a 4:3 display less than their old 27 inch tv.

Eventually they'll stop moving the date for when every channel is supposed to be digital. We'll see.

At some point for the next-gen media format to be successful, new releases will have to come out only on HD formats, and they have to be at near current DVD prices or below. Even then, so many more people have huge collections of DVD movies than there were that had huge collections of VHS movies. How much of an impediment will that be to people that don't want to trash what they currently have and start all over again? Will that kill sales of older titles? How much better will older titles, especially older TV series, look with the upgrade? We already have a case where the DVD market is somewhat saturated as people have full DVD collections and realize they won't in a million years rewatch even a fraction of what they bought. I don't think a new format will necessarily start the buying frenzy again.

[TAS]

[ QUOTE ]
MSkinner said:
They will hype the "high definition" and "capacity" aspect of the new formats but make no mistake, the studios want these formats purely for the piracy protection they believe it will offer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Two other reasions.
More control (they realy want you to plug your new player into the net so it can phone home... to get a new subtitle track, no, to charge you money to unlock some extra that's already on the disk, you bet) more ways to charge you money. The control freaks think they can put the region code genie back in the bottle.
Another chance to sell you the same old movies again. First you bought VHS, then DVD, then the directors cut DVD, then the super deluxe box set DVD... Now you can start again with HD.

[JeffDM]

[ QUOTE ]
Fujishig said:Seeing as how most of the Walmart crowd probably prefer fullscreen to fill up the screen, they won't be happy when their 32 inch widescreen has a 4:3 display less than their old 27 inch tv.

[/ QUOTE ]

My experience with the "Walmart crowd" is that they wouldn't see anything wrong with a plain old stretch to fill the screen. They generally aren't the artistically or geometrically inclined crowd by any stretch of the imagination (no pun intended), those talents seem to be necessary to be able to discern the difference.

[ QUOTE ]
Eventually they'll stop moving the date for when every channel is supposed to be digital. We'll see.

[/ QUOTE ]

In my area, that doesn't matter, all local broadcasters, even some of the minor ones that don't seem to matter, seem to be broadcasting digital. I do live pretty close to a small-to-mid-sized multi-city population center though.

[mrtbringsthepain]

[ QUOTE ]
MSkinner said:
As some one already pointed out, as far as the general public is concerned, there is nothing wrong with the current DVD format. It's the major movie studios that will be pushing, and pushing hard, these new formats in an effort to protect their product from piracy. They will hype the "high definition" and "capacity" aspect of the new formats but make no mistake, the studios want these formats purely for the piracy protection they believe it will offer.

Don't be surprised if in an effort to "persuade" consumers to adopt the new formats, that the studios will eventually try to phase out new movie releases on DVD leaving you with little choice but to upgrade to Blue-Ray or HD-DVD if you want to get your new releases. I'm not implying that the anime studios feel this way but it's evident by all the articles that you see major studios blaming stock performance on losses due to piracy that they are determined to force people to upgrade to the new formats if they think it will improve profits.

[/ QUOTE ]It seems to me that anyone that has an HD capable set would like HD dvds to go with the tv. I certainly do, it's just logical.

[fractured78]

Problem is the benefit/cost ratio and the risk/reward ratio. Benefit of next gen formats isn't as great as the benefit of DVD compared to VHS. The risk is a lot higher too, because of the two formats...with the same reduced reward as compared to the DVD/VHS changeover.

Just look at SACD/DVD-A. There's tons of players out there that can play it, and receivers that can decode it...but still no one buys cuz the price is too high and it's not portable.

[raistlinmajere]

As much as I did support blu-ray, I will now avoid any format with such ridiculous DRM.

[TAS]

No details yet but from what I'm reading it looks like you have a choice of HDMI or analog for audio. HDMI has only started showing up on the high end stuff, and not all of the older stuff has multi channel analog (6 to 8) inputs. Quite a few people could find that they need a new sound system to go with the new TV...

My receiver has one 5.1 analog input, but 6 more cables? Oh joy. That will push the entry bar up a little more.

[Bonex]

Well... I voted for Jessica Alba. I'd really like to have a HD player, and higher video quality, but they're trying their best to not attract me.
First there's the damn region code again. Unless an easy trick to get rid of it comes out, I won't be bothered to buy a new player.
Then there's the whole copy protection rip-off. My tv can display 1080i video, but only using component analogue cables. No HDMI at all. I seriously doubt I will be buying another tv, even if this hurts my videophile instints. Unless some shady chinese player comes out with HD on the component output... /images/graemlins/icon_rolleyes.gif
Then last but not least the two competing formats confusion. I'll wait to see an affordable multi-format player before even thinking to upgrade. Are they thinking I'll buy two players? Or that I'll be buying only half the titles I like? It's like the SACD/DVDA mess.

No HD for me, unfortunately

[EWD]

[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:
[ QUOTE ]
JeffDM said:
[ QUOTE ]
Xcalibur said:
I think all the talk about holodiscs supplanting the new formats before they take off is a bit premature. This technology only works in a lab environment, and the reports of it's supposed capacity by 2010 would only be reproducable in a lab at that time too I would imagine.

[/ QUOTE ]

Holographic storage has been vapor for so long (I think since DVD was formed) that I want to see one listed as ready for shipment from a reputable store before even bothering to say it is viable.

[/ QUOTE ]

Even longer; IBM was heavily involved in a very public project about such a media back in the early 80's. Nothing came of that. I suspect they're much closer this time though but still, until it's viable in a mass production scale, it's still just vaporware.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, I remember reading an article about how holographic storage was "just around the corner" back in 1979. That was several years before CDs were available, never mind DVDs. I thought holographic memory was really cool at the time.

While holographic storage obviously has the potential for much higher data densities than 2-d storage, I think people tend to get caught up in the gee-whiz factor and overlook some of the practical problems. I haven't looked at the recent offerings, but I remember back in the 1979 article they were talking about using 3 laser beams that would intersect at the read (or write) data point. That means 3 sets of positioning devices that have to be co-ordinated. With a disk, you only need to position a single read-write head. Also, you have to worry about all the bits in the same rows as the one you want to read. I'm not saying that Holographic memory isn't the future, but I have yet to be convinced that it will be. I can see how technical issues may cause 2-dimesional disks to be more cost effective for many years to come.

Data storage is my primary concern, so I'll go with the format that has the higher capacity, and right now that's BD.

[Mateo_home]

JESSICA ALBA!

Seriously, I'm not turned on about bringing back region encoding. I guess studios are afraid of consumers buying foreign products. Also if they're pushing the new format out just because they're too concerned about piracy, no matter what type of format you have, you're always going to have pirates.

Although, I might get both if a company releases an HD-DVD/Blu-ray combo player... /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[mrtbringsthepain]

[ QUOTE ]
RiskyMatt said:
JESSICA ALBA!

Seriously, I'm not turned on about bringing back region encoding. I guess studios are afraid of consumers buying foreign products. Also if they're pushing the new format out just because they're too concerned about piracy, no matter what type of format you have, you're always going to have pirates.

Although, I might get both if a company releases an HD-DVD/Blu-ray combo player... /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[/ QUOTE ]THat would be really cool, but no doubt insanely expensive.

[Skywise]

I vote for Jessica Alba (http://gearmedia.ign.com/gear/image/article/679/679365/ces-2006-bluray-disc-association-booth-report-20060106001409610.jpg).

[Njr Scrawl]

[ QUOTE ]
fractured78 said:
We're prognosticating here, which, by definition, everything is premature!

/images/graemlins/happy.gif

Edit-Well, except Jessica Alba...

[/ QUOTE ]

Need to de-sensitise /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[ObiKenobi]

Neither. These two formats are way too similar to the old DIVX system for my taste.