This way I'll at least generate some discussion...

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl ... 09/1528235

Thoughts? Personally, I think Sony got whoooooped.

I think this says it all:

Yeah in my opinion HD-DVD is winning

As far as I know, Blu-Ray is still leading in weekly sales, but if they continue to stand by as the HD-DVD folks continue to buy up studios and slash prices on players, I could see that quickly changing. Regardless, the HD movie market is so small at this point that I don't really see a winner being declared any time soon.

I believe Blu-Ray has the advantage at the moment (sales figures are hard to dispute), but I believe HD-DVD with it's recent $100 HD-A3 sale (and more to come) are going to steal the momentum come this holiday season. I don't really care who wins, I just want someone to win so I can buy all the movies I want. I have an HD-DVD player now, though... Holy fucking shit, Transformers looks amazing.

At one time Samsung was rumored to be making a "universal" player that played both formats. Not sure what happened with that, but wouldn't it be nice with the way the HD war is going now?

LG has one out, but it's actually more expensive than the cheapest of each player combined.

You can get a combo drive for your computer for about $300 on Newegg (not that that's relevant).

Not for the average consumer, but for the typical crowd here, it works really well. Just run an HD out from your computer into your T.V. Bam.

Just watched 300 on HD DVD and i have to say it looks fucking brilliant.

Plus i hate how "locked down" blu-ray seems. the ones ive read about and played around with (in store and what not) suck. they're clunky, and they often dont work.

HD DVD by contrast feels like it has a lot more potential. I thought the ability to watch 300 as it was filmed (no special effects, bluescreen) was really cool. Web enabled features are also a nice touch. PLUS some of the HD DVDs are combo-discs (my copy of 300 is) so you flip it over and can play it in your older regular dvd player (for when the Mom of the household says "no" to watching spartan/persian-slaughtering-glory in the family room).

The only complaint i've heard about HD DVD is the capacity, which I feel is still more than enough. One HD DVD disc can hold a 2.5 hour movie, plus plenty of deleted scenes and special features to boot, and still have room to spare. From an entertainment perspective, blu-ray is overkill. Why pay more for a disc from sony that holds less content than HD DVD (less content in terms of whats on a BR Disc - just the movie)? Because the god-king-corporation Sony tells me they deserve more?

If you thought that looked good, check out some other ones. I have King Kong (came with the 360 HD-DVD add-on, don't really care for the movie), Hot Fuzz, Transformers (<--- fucking incredible picture), and Batman Begins, and while 300 looks good, those are incredible. I also rent HD-DVD's online, and have been going through movies in HD for no other reason than watching them in HD. Here's some recommendations from what I've watched (just for picture quality, don't judge the movie itself):

- Transformers (It doesn't get better than that)
- Blazing Saddles (believe it or not, the transfer is amazing)
- V for Vendetta
- The Matrix Trilogy
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Planet Earth Series
- Phantom of the Opera
- Smokin' Aces
- Batman Begins

planet earth is the fucking shit. I thought it looked beautiful as a DVD then i saw the High def, HOLY MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS GOOD. that is all i can say about that.

(shortened for space)

Batman Begins is supposedly a great one as well (we ordered that and Apollo 13 for my mom - a "family friendly" movie) of all the reviews i've read - a good deal of them end up comparing how the quality stacks up against BB, as if its the standard of how good high-def should be.

i think next on my dad's and my list is Serenity and V for Vendetta. I'll probably get him the Matrix trilogy for christmas, but we're waiting for Transformers to get to a more reasonable price (eg 19 bucks on amazon). I have to say that i can't wait for Indiana Jones on HD DVD. Planet earth looked amazing when i hooked up my laptop to the tv, and Hot Fuzz looked good at 576p, but does it look any better in hd?

any how... exciting shit.