Toshiba gives up HD-DVD...Sony Blueray dominates.

[DXNMedia]

Toshiba concedes defeat in DVD format war
Posted: 19 February 2008 1624 hrs

TOKYO - Japanese high-tech giant Toshiba on Tuesday announced its withdrawal from the high-definition DVD business, conceding defeat in a long-running format war with rival Sony.

Toshiba Corp. said that it aimed to end sales of its HD DVD machines by the end of March, clearing the way for the Blu-ray format developed by Sony Corp. and its partners to become the industry standard.

"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," said Toshiba chief executive Atsutoshi Nishida.

In a replay of the VHS-Betamax video cassette format war in the late 1970s, Japanese high-tech giants had been battling to set the industry standard in next-generation DVDs with two rival formats that are incompatible.

But Toshiba and its HD DVD partners suffered a series of heavy setbacks, with Hollywood titan Warner Brothers and US retail giant Wal-Mart both throwing their weight behind Blu-ray.

- AFP /ls


Source from CNA website.

 

[DXNMedia]

This implies a lot for the format & technology, and for us as media practitioners in the industry, it can mean a lot of opportunities & new investments. :thumbsup:

 

[samvision]

This implies a lot for the format & technology, and for us as media practitioners in the industry, it can mean a lot of opportunities & new investments. :thumbsup:

whats a good blu ray dvd external burner for mac ?
any recommendation ?

 

[DXNMedia]

dun jump into it yet....wait..
:bsmilie:

 

[AdyH]

Buying e PS3 is after all worth all the $$.

 

[jfoo]

dun jump into it yet....wait..
:bsmilie:

agreed :bsmilie:

 

[samvision]

agreed :bsmilie:

i have already order a ps3 ...its the best buy for a blue ray player.
just need some advice on blue ray burner...external burner for mac

 

[serametin]

:cry:

i m sad that hd-dvd lose the battle

 

[lwm]

i have already order a ps3 ...its the best buy for a blue ray player.
just need some advice on blue ray burner...external burner for mac

You can also store HD content onto a normal DVD (not sure about Mac), so no urgency for a BD burner now, although a BD can store longer video.

 

[creampuff]

If one compares HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray quality, it isn't immediately obvious when viewed on an LCD or plasma below 42 inches. However when the viewed on anything above 50 inches or a projection screen, it is very clear that the picture quality of Blu-Ray is so much better.

Buying a PS3 now makes perfect sense as a media player in addition to it's core function of being a game console.

 

[jaegersing]

If one compares HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray quality, it isn't immediately obvious when viewed on an LCD or plasma below 42 inches. However when the viewed on anything above 50 inches or a projection screen, it is very clear that the picture quality of Blu-Ray is so much better.
QUOTE]

Hi creampuff. Why is it so? I thought they were using the same type of compression so should have the same quality? What am I missing?

 

[creampuff]

If one compares HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray quality, it isn't immediately obvious when viewed on an LCD or plasma below 42 inches. However when the viewed on anything above 50 inches or a projection screen, it is very clear that the picture quality of Blu-Ray is so much better.
QUOTE]

Hi creampuff. Why is it so? I thought they were using the same type of compression so should have the same quality? What am I missing?

I don't know the specifics (I'm no techno-geek) but good 2 friends of mine who are in the business of fitting out private home theatres for the uber rich in Singapore demonstrated to me the superior image quality of Blu-Ray. Went with them to a few of their clients' installations and one can actually see the difference when projected on the big screen.

 

[DXNMedia]

I don't know the specifics (I'm no techno-geek) but good 2 friends of mine who are in the business of fitting out private home theatres for the uber rich in Singapore demonstrated to me the superior image quality of Blu-Ray. Went with them to a few of their clients' installations and one can actually see the difference when projected on the big screen.

It would be unfair to say that Blu-ray is better than HDDVD based on your visual tests.
There're simply too many factors involved in the resulting visual quality difference that you're getting.

Firstly, based on tech specs, HDDVD 12cm single sided disc can only hold 15gb of data, whereas Blu-ray holds 25gb. this simply means that in order to fit a 150mins movie into 15gb, a higher compression rate is used (lowered bit rate), and for the same movie in Blu-ray format, they can afford to master the movie with lower compression (higher bit rate).

You would have noticed better color, better temporal resolution & lesser compression artifacts in the blu-ray format assuming that the original video sources are from similar masters, and are compressed with similar compression format, eg. MPEG2.

But if both video are authored with the same compression, same bit rate & same format from the same master source, I don't see why you will get to notice any quality differences.

:thumbsup:

 

[sundazz]

It would be unfair to say that Blu-ray is better than HDDVD based on your visual tests.
There're simply too many factors involved in the resulting visual quality difference that you're getting.

Firstly, based on tech specs, HDDVD 12cm single sided disc can only hold 15gb of data, whereas Blu-ray holds 25gb. this simply means that in order to fit a 150mins movie into 15gb, a higher compression rate is used (lowered bit rate), and for the same movie in Blu-ray format, they can afford to master the movie with lower compression (higher bit rate).

You would have noticed better color, better temporal resolution & lesser compression artifacts in the blu-ray format assuming that the original video sources are from similar masters, and are compressed with similar compression format, eg. MPEG2.

But if both video are authored with the same compression, same bit rate & same format from the same master source, I don't see why you will get to notice any quality differences.

:thumbsup:

logical.. compression define the quality, media define the storage space.. :think:

 

[DXNMedia]

logical.. compression define the quality, media define the storage space.. :think:

Quality is always at the mercy of bandwidth & storage space.
Compression algorithms & technology are always striving to provide a balance between these two factors.

When storage medium increases capacity, video quality increases.
Eg. 352x288 VCD @700mb, 720x576 DVD @4.7gb, 1920x1080 HD DVD @15gb, 1920x1080 Blu-ray @25gb

And the irony is that when video quality increases, others will try to reduce filesize.
Shoot in HD video, go thru all that trouble in post, then deliver in a 320x240 MPEG4 video clip just becoz your iPod Video's screen is small? ;p

That's just the way it is if you study the history of recording arts & technology.
So what's next in 5 years? 2k or 4k video resolution for consumers? But that will be limited until they develop 2k consumer video cameras & 2k resolution LCD/Plasma/TVs for end users.....Then you'll probably be getting Super-HD video formats or Super-HDMI interfaces? :bsmilie:

There are already HUXGA projectors & QUXGA projectors available if we want to talk about quality....but is it a practical application?
:thumbsup:

 

[creampuff]

DXNMedia, I can only report what I observed firsthand. You may know more than me on the theory and tech specs relating to compression and bit rate. As I said, I'm no expert.

It was my 2 friends who did the technical set-ups and extensive testing for their clients. I happened to be present because I know 2 of their clients personally. Suffice to say they have been in the trade a very long time and all I can say is from a technical perspective they know their stuff. Well they ought to, considering their clients fork out 6 to 7 figure sums to set-up their private viewing rooms and mini theatrettes and who insist on the very best A/V experience.

 

[DXNMedia]

DXNMedia, I can only report what I observed firsthand. You may know more than me on the theory and tech specs relating to compression and bit rate. As I said, I'm no expert.

It was my 2 friends who did the technical set-ups and extensive testing for their clients. I happened to be present because I know 2 of their clients personally. Suffice to say they have been in the trade a very long time and all I can say is from a technical perspective they know their stuff. Well they ought to, considering their clients fork out 6 to 7 figure sums to set-up their private viewing rooms and mini theatrettes and who insist on the very best A/V experience.

Yep, never said that you or your friend's observation are wrong....just providing a logical explanation to the likely reasons for the outcome of your observations.

Very similarly, some customers/corporate companies are paying me for consultations to ensure that their vendors & equipment suppliers don't rip them off.
Most of the time, I end up helping my clients to save money in over-spec & unnecessary equipment for their needs.

 

[lwm]

Is the comparison done on the same movie in two different formats, e.g. Blade Runner in HD DVD and Blu-ray? Easier and fairer to compare that way than two different movies.

 

[tchoonyong]

You can also store HD content onto a normal DVD (not sure about Mac), so no urgency for a BD burner now, although a BD can store longer video.

yes, same with mac but you need dvd studio pro. DVD studio Pro can even do HD DVDS but too bad obsolete. But at least it can produce Blu ray videos. And i find out blu ray videos are much smoother in compare wif HD DVD videos.