Is the HD war over?

Yeah, I don't think the transition to downloadable video is something that's going to happen overnight, but I think it's inevitable and I think Apple just took a giant leap toward that goal.

As far as the storage problem goes, I actually dropped the cash for one of these puppies in anticipation of building my digital video setup. I started out with a TB of storage, but the beauty is that the appliance allows you to upgrade to several times that amount (~14 TB with today's SATA and external drive technology) while still offering the data to the network as a single logical disk.

I anticipate that home server and NAS appliances will get more popular as video downloads do, or at least media center computer hard drives are going to get huge.

 

Looks like Blu-ray is pulling into the lead. Target only sells blu-ray movies (that I could find). And according to this article today from the Motley Fool:

Netflix is taking a page from its bricks-and-mortar rival by no longer buying HD-DVD discs for its DVD rental service. Blockbuster reached that conclusion last year, after testing both Blu-ray and HD-DVD optical discs at some of its stores. After tallying the rental results, Blockbuster went Blu-ray, choosing to spurn HD-DVD as it expanded the program.​

 

Since the objective is to replace DVD with an HD format, there's still a very long way to go. Prices most definitely are not at a realistic point to do that yet.
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According to my wifes sister...she works at warner bros in burbank...Blueray will be the ultimate winner...seeing how warner is now only blueray...im holding off until a player /recorder is available...to replace vcr/and dvd recorder...i want blank bluray disks that i can record on as i can dvd now...i dont want to have to buy a player then a recorder...i want an all in one unit...there is no reason why a recorder/player cant be made as soon as the format war is over...

 

And apparently, today, Netflix announced they'll be buying only Blu-Ray from here on out, and Best Buy said they'll only be promoting Blu-Ray going forward. So, yeah, at this point I'd pretty much call the format war over. Unfortunately for me, I backed HD-DVD.

 

Ah, it's not so simple now, though. There's a new competitor whose video sales have surpassed HD DVD and Blu Ray combined (though they just started selling HD rentals)!

I just bought an Apple TV mostly because of the HD rental capabilities, and I have little desire to buy any other player at the moment (maybe if the Blu Ray players get below $100, but I want my movies stored on my home network rather than a physical disk).

 

Problem is the Blue ray prices are $25.00 to $35.00 each
they look and sound outstanding on my 46 1080P 24p but ouch with the prices for the disks... I use the PS3 BTW works well with HDMI cables.
PS3 40g is about the same price as the blue ray players are now. $399.00

 

Disk prices will come down as the volume of sales goes up. I remember when CDs cost $25 each, which is more like $50 or $75 in today's money.

As an electrical engineer, I like the Blu Ray system, but then I still have a Betamax box too. Beta was a superior format, but was killed commercially by Sony's poor business practices. The only thing that bothers me a bit about Blu Ray is that it was rushed to market, so the current units are missing some of the features that will be introduced with the next generation. These are features that can't be added with a firmware upgrade. HD-DVD did a cleaner roll-out, but I don't think it's going to help them in the long run. I suspect Sony learned something from their Betamax mistakes.

As for HD movie downloads, that area is getting interesting too. The latest fly-in-the-ointment is bandwidth. Many ISPs are starting to limit the amount of data their subscribers download. The standard argument is that a few "bandwidth hogs" are eating up all the capacity, so why should everyone have to pay. These bandwidth hogs are doing what we all will be doing if HD movie downloads become popular. Our local Internet systems will not support this at the present time. As fiber is extended to end users, capacity will greatly increase. The timing is going to be interesting. Don't be surprised if we end up paying for our Internet by the byte.

Tom

 

FYI. The AppleTV update allowing HD rentals is available now.

 

I agree that seems appealing, but AFAIK it's rental only. No option to own.

I'm debating whether I should get a PS3 or a standalone player. I've heard the PS3 is a really good quality Blu-Ray player -- but how is the noise level when watching a quiet movie? And how is the UI to start playing a disc?

 

Since some movies I would just rent and some I would just buy I would use the appletv for the rentals and a ps3 for the purchased discs.

The ps3 is truly the better buy for blu-ray discs. Not only is the only truly firmware-upgradable player it is also a full fledged next gen gaming machine.

 

But how long does it take to download a movie? Even with high-speed internet that will tie up your computer for awhile. And do you get the extra features, language support, etc?

Blu-Ray DVDs are expensive, but so are regular DVDs, it's only $5 more. With volume that will change. With my Mac I'll be able to burn my own videos in blu-ray format, but that's when I get a 16x9 camcorder and the DVD burner....someday.

Actually I wouldn't have gotten a Blu-Ray player already, but I got a deal I couldn't pass up when buying my 46" LCD TV. (Which I checked with the Kill-a-watt, it only takes 95 watts with a full picture, compared to 125 watts for my old 29" CRT. Of course, the first thing I did was reduce the backlight for a better picture and the side-affect of less electrical usage).

 

Another thing about downloaded HD ,if its anything like cable,the compression used makes the image pixilate during bright flashes or extreme motion.At first it really bothered me.
Otherwise the pictures great.
I just bought a PS3 for $399 .Its a good deal.
But I have a rather esoteric taste in films and there is next to nothing on Bluray that I even care to rent from Netflix that I havent already seen on DVD .

 

Talked about this with some friends over the weekend. One of them heard/read from a Sony engineer that playing a movie on a PS3 pushes it to its limits. So one used to watch movies will burn out before one just used for games. Not knowing how long a PS3 is meant to last, I can't say what this means in real life use.
After interrupting a movie on a PS2 by hitting the wrong button on the controller, I've decided the dual use isn't worth the hassle.

 

I have an Apple TV and I was surprised to discover that I could start watching an HD rental within 60 seconds of starting the download. Of course, the whole movie isn't downloaded by then, there's just enough of a buffer that you can start watching without fear of it skipping or catching up.

You don't get the bonus features you do with a physical disk (like deleted scenes and stuff like that) and I think the language is specific to where you're downloading from (I, for one, watch all my movies in English), but for rentals I'd say Apple is pretty compelling. The main disadvantage is that not all movies are in HD, only a selected few, and you have to wait until 30 days after the movie comes out on DVD to have it available on iTunes/Apple TV.

That said, I used the "Take 2" Apple TV rental update for a couple of days now and I can say that I'll probably never visit Blockbuster again (at least when the selection broadens as expected). My wife and I are also cancelling our Netflix subscription!

 

That's mostly true, but iTunes has a (somewhat meager) selection of SD movies and TV shows available for permanent download.

 

Yeah, I'm excited to see what's coming because of Apple! At launch, the selection of rentals is a little less than stellar, but everyone expects that to improve very rapidly (1000 SD and 100 HD rentals by the end of February, and new releases 30 days after they get released to DVD).

I've already rented "The Simpsons Movie" and a few older HD movies. I guess they have "Live Free or Die Hard" in HD, too, and I just saw that the iTunes store picked up "3:10 to Yuma" in SD the other day (which is a phenominal movie for anyone who hasn't seen it).

 

It's pretty much all, but over. Toshiba announces deathwatch of HDDVD.