gamescentral compares 360'HD-DVD vs PS3 BR vs DVD

[MasterDisaster]

very long and interesting read:

Overall this test was to see what next gen game system player is superior, and based on these tests, I would have to say that the 360 add on is the clear winner. Movies on the Blu Ray do look great, but with color levels that are more even allowing for greater levels of clarity, HD DVD just looks better, even over component cables.

When it comes to the format war, I would prefer the winner to be HD DVD, as I feel that they have more of an understanding of what consumers (and movie geeks) are looking for in a "next gen" format. I respect that Blu Ray looks and sounds great, but to me HD DVD feels more next gen with not only the great picture and sound, but also things like IME and U Control. Sony's half assed attempt to match this with the shoddy Blu Wizard almost feels like a joke, and I am almost insulted as a hardcore movie fan.

If you have a PS3, I would hesitate before buying the 360 add-on, but only for a second. If you are a movie fan, then you owe it to yourself to check out the other side and make your own decision on who you are going to back in the war.

360 HD-DVD

PS3 blueray

http://www.gamescentral.com/blogs/t...26/ps3-blu-ray-vs-xbox-360-hd-dvd-vs-dvd.aspx

 

[SugarCoat]

might be better to have this in Video Technology & HTPC to avoid unrelated banter.

 

[MasterDisaster]

might be better to have this in Video Technology & HTPC to avoid unrelated banter.

we are comparing the HD DVD of 360 and the bluray of a PS3, so not general HD Drive, but two feautures of two consoles, so that's why I think this is perfectly on topic in the General console forum

 

[Avon_Implosion]

I personally consider it an inconvenience to solely back HD-DVD. The wisest-albeit less cost-efficient-choice as of now is to support both. However, I think that its better to back Blu-Ray as of now, simply due to support. We absolutely know that we'll never see movies like Spider man 1, 2, 3, or Casino Royale on HD-DVD in a long time (if ever), and there's a good chance that companies like Disney and Fox wont be supporting the HD-DVD front for a very long time, at best. Then again, Universal is dedicated to HD-DVD as of now. Why are the companies divided so much? I have no idea. Probably involves some damn anti-piracy issue or something...regardless, it hardly benefits to us, I'm sure. But with Sony itself owning a very large movie library via Columbia pictures, and companies like Fox and Disney seeming adamant about their decision..
I dunno, the whole war is stupid, anyway-but I really dont want it to be 2008, and have a useless blu-ray player stuck in my PS3.

 

[Hale]

Why is that article absolute bull?

 

[Rolf N]

The last time I posted it it turned out to be so much fun, I'll just have to try it again:
Any JPG image that is 640 pixels wide and less than 480 pixels tall can be put on a DVD and reproduced by a DVD player at virtually no loss in visual quality. That is so because DVD players have been designed to reproduce images of roughly that size at virtually no loss in visual quality. The compression technique even shares/re-uses many jpeg core concepts.

Therefore using images of such properties to demonstrate a)advantages beyond DVD of HD formats and b)quality differences between such much larger source images which are known to be beyond DVD's ability to capture accurately is an excercise in useless flashiness at best, but can in more severe cases span up to a sign of limited thinking going on in the head. Many of the arguments taste like fabricated hifi-voodoo, such as the thing with the "more even color levels" that was quoted in the op.

The guy deserves credit for openly embracing his own subjectivity:
"When it comes to the format war, I would prefer the winner to be HD DVD, as I feel that they have more of an understanding of what consumers (and movie geeks) are looking for in a "next gen" format."
It's somewhat of a circular argument of course.

 

[PARANOiA]

I personally consider it an inconvenience to solely back HD-DVD. The wisest-albeit less cost-efficient-choice as of now is to support both. However, I think that its better to back Blu-Ray as of now, simply due to support. We absolutely know that we'll never see movies like Spider man 1, 2, 3, or Casino Royale on HD-DVD in a long time (if ever), and there's a good chance that companies like Disney and Fox wont be supporting the HD-DVD front for a very long time, at best. Then again, Universal is dedicated to HD-DVD as of now. Why are the companies divided so much? I have no idea. Probably involves some damn anti-piracy issue or something...regardless, it hardly benefits to us, I'm sure. But with Sony itself owning a very large movie library via Columbia pictures, and companies like Fox and Disney seeming adamant about their decision..
I dunno, the whole war is stupid, anyway-but I really dont want it to be 2008, and have a useless blu-ray player stuck in my PS3.

So? We'll never see Halo on PS3 any time soon, so should we back Microsoft?


At the end of the day, there's a format war which is bad for consumers, but that doesn't make it "better" to back a single format, particularly if it's inferior (based on the above review - I don't necessarily agree).

 

[rabidrabbit]

In that article, were the Blu-ray and DVD connected with HDMI, and the HD-DVD with component?
If so, maybe the "tester" should have calibrated his display first for the different connections and sources.

 

[Hardknock]

I've had the same experience as this reviewer. There is a slight but noticable difference in picture quality if you own both the PS3 and 360 add-on..

Both of my inputs were calibrated using Avia.

Obviously this has nothing to do with Blu-Ray as a format but more to do with the video signal the PS3 is outputting.

 

[slider]

So? We'll never see Halo on PS3 any time soon, so should we back Microsoft?

I think Avon was saying that Blu-ray has more studio support at the minute which is a valid argument I guess.

As for the article - is it reviewing the hardware or the encoding? Does he mention the superior studio support for Blu-ray? (That is true isn't it?) My memory's hazy but I think there's only one major studio exclusively backing HD-DVD. Happy to be corrected though!

 

[Crayon]

Wow the decision is going to be really tough for me. Hmm. HDDVD or Blu Ray. Wow, I don't know much about this stuff, I don't know what to pick...

Wait, what? I already have a Blu Ray player? My PS3?
Oh thank goodness. That was an easier descision than I thought.

Seriously, I wouldn't have even considered buying a hi def player. But now that I have the PS3, do you seriously think I would get an HDDVD player? Of couse I wont. Do you think I'll prefer to buy BD movies over DVDs? Of course I will. I think there's some 750,000 more people who aquired trojan-horse BD players in the last 5 weeks. How is HDDVD going to deal with that? I don't know and I don't care. The point is that my format of choice was decided for me when I got a PS3.

*By the way. This is my first post from my PS3. I don't know the first thing about Linux but I put YellowDog on last nite with minimal fuss and so far it's very easy to use and lovely. The PS3 runs all of it great and seams fully functional and stable. Now I can give my friend back the Dell he loaned me. The PS3 is now my primary computer. =) Bye for now, Wintel! you can both eat me!

 

[rabidrabbit]

I've had the same experience as this reviewer. There is a slight but noticable difference in picture quality if you own both the PS3 and 360 add-on..

Both of my inputs were calibrated using Avia.

Obviously this has nothing to do with Blu-Ray as a format but more to do with the video signal the PS3 is outputting.

Well, then the easy solution would be to pop in the Avia on your PS3 and calibrate the input for the PS3 too.
The brightness setting at least should be very easy to correct, as should be very slight the red push.

 

[Urian]

I never understanded the image quality war in the forums, is just stupid when two formats are fighnint for the same space in the market.

Content for me is the most important, and BluRay won the war when MGM was bought by Sony Pictures and Fox and Disney signed in exclusive for BluRay.

 

[Avon_Implosion]

So? We'll never see Halo on PS3 any time soon, so should we back Microsoft?


At the end of the day, there's a format war which is bad for consumers, but that doesn't make it "better" to back a single format, particularly if it's inferior (based on the above review - I don't necessarily agree).

I'm supporting both right now, seeing as that its the only way I can get the best of both worlds-limit yourself to one and you miss out on a whole world. What i'm saying is, if you truly MUST limit yourself to a world, I cant see why it shouldn't be HD-DVD...ironing out personal reasons, of course..this is all from a general perspective.

 

[rounin]

I'm supporting both right now, seeing as that its the only way I can get the best of both worlds-limit yourself to one and you miss out on a whole world. What i'm saying is, if you truly MUST limit yourself to a world, I cant see why it shouldn't be HD-DVD...ironing out personal reasons, of course..this is all from a general perspective.

Maybe you mean "I cant see why it should be HD-DVD" or "I can see why it shouldn't be HD-DVD".

 

[jonnyp]

very long and interesting read:



360 HD-DVD

PS3 blueray

http://www.gamescentral.com/blogs/t...26/ps3-blu-ray-vs-xbox-360-hd-dvd-vs-dvd.aspx

Wow, thanks for wasting my time with that garbage...

 

[Hardknock]

Well, then the easy solution would be to pop in the Avia on your PS3 and calibrate the input for the PS3 too.
The brightness setting at least should be very easy to correct, as should be very slight the red push.

You must have missed this:

Both of my inputs were calibrated using Avia.

For the record PS3 is hooked up through HDMI and 360 through VGA.

Wow the decision is going to be really tough for me. Hmm. HDDVD or Blu Ray. Wow, I don't know much about this stuff, I don't know what to pick...

Wait, what? I already have a Blu Ray player? My PS3?
Oh thank goodness. That was an easier descision than I thought.

Seriously, I wouldn't have even considered buying a hi def player. But now that I have the PS3, do you seriously think I would get an HDDVD player? Of couse I wont. Do you think I'll prefer to buy BD movies over DVDs? Of course I will. I think there's some 750,000 more people who aquired trojan-horse BD players in the last 5 weeks. How is HDDVD going to deal with that? I don't know and I don't care. The point is that my format of choice was decided for me when I got a PS3.

*By the way. This is my first post from my PS3. I don't know the first thing about Linux but I put YellowDog on last nite with minimal fuss and so far it's very easy to use and lovely. The PS3 runs all of it great and seams fully functional and stable. Now I can give my friend back the Dell he loaned me. The PS3 is now my primary computer. =) Bye for now, Wintel! you can both eat me!

So everyone that owns a PS3 owns an HDTV? And of those that do own an HDTV how many care about HD movies? How many would be more than satisfied just buying cheaper DVDs? Lots of variables there.

 

[Carl B]

I could understand people prefering the add-on, and could make some cases for it (though I personally prefer the PS3 arrangement). But that article was not the way... The problem is that the entire article is framed as Blu-ray vs HD DVD when in reality what the author is actually comparing is MPEG-2 vs VC-1. In his chart he even does this weird transitive property thing where he equates MPEG-2 to being the 'primary' codec for Blu-ray, and follows it with:

*Both are capable of outputting multiple formats, but these are the preferred by each manufacturer.

Manufacturer? No, because the hardware companies and the replication plants definitely do not care. It's a studio breakdown he should be doing if there's a breakdown at all. Sony studios prefer MPEG-2, and as the majority of BD releases thus far originate with them, so too are the majority of BD films MPEG-2. But Warner is VC-1, and uses the same video encodes for both HD DVD and BD; which means the exact same PQ (player dependent). Talk is that Disney will be increasing their VC-1 ratio on Blu-ray releases, FOX is going towards AVC, and Paramount I guess dabbles between VC-1 and MPEG-2.

The problem I have with the article is that he's making claims about the formats by comparing codec decisions made by the studios.

Anyway... so if people prefer the add-on, hey like I said I can make cases for it. But this article is constructed from the bottom up in the wrong fashion.

 

[Crayon]

So everyone that owns a PS3 owns an HDTV? And of those that do own an HDTV how many care about HD movies? How many would be more than satisfied just buying cheaper DVDs? Lots of variables there.

No. But Everyone who owns a PS3 owns a BD player. And I have Zero interest in HD movies. But If I buy a movie I'm going to give the BD version some consideration, seeing as I already have a player. And I'm certainly not going to even think about getting an HDDVD player now that I have a BD player.

 

[ihamoitc2005]

Incorrect information

This person who has made his blog is good propoganda. It is sad that someone has much so favor for inferior technology.

Here is review of PS3 vs other Blu-Ray player and mention of 1080i HD-DVD player on 1080P screen.

Sound and Vision Magazine:

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/hd-dvd-bluray/1927/shootout-3-blu-ray-disc-players-page4.html

With all the movie studio and consumer electronics muscle standing behind Blu-ray Disc, I expected to see great performance from the format, and my second round of Blu-ray Disc player testing has proved that out. The comparisons I made of the same movies on Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD showed the competing formats to be capable of delivering equal quality in all respects, including picture sharpness, stability, and depth. Granted, the main disc that I used for that test, Mission: Impossible III, is an exemplary transfer of a recent movie. But it puts to bed the notion that the controversial decision by Sony Pictures and other studios to use MPEG-2 instead of newer video compression formats like VC-1 and MPEG-4 AVC was a fatal one.

A more interesting outcome was the mild "jaggies" that I noted when watching M:I III on HD DVD — a video artifact caused by the Sony projector's deinterlacing of the Toshiba HD DVD player's 1080i-format output. Not all TVs will have this problem, but it confirmed for me the advantage of using a true 1080p source like Blu-ray (Toshiba’s second-generation HD DVD player will feature 1080p output over HDMI, which should bring it up to speed with the players tested here).

Getting back to our trio of Blu-ray Disc players, my personal favorite was the PlayStation 3. This machine's picture and sound quality were nothing short of stunning, and its HDMI 1.3 connection and built-in Dolby TrueHD decoding give it a layer of future-proofing that the other players currently lack. I also appreciated its multichannel Super Audio CD playback and 60-GB hard disk for storing compressed music files. And even though I don't have much use for the PS3's gaming capabilities, I definitely got a kick out of Resistance: Fall of Man. The PS3's $600 price — several hundred less than the others — also goes a long way toward making it the Blu-ray Disc player of choice.