Blu-ray etc

[Whickerman]

So when the next gen of dvd comes out this year- blu-ray and HD-dvd - will these be available alongside standard dvd? Is the aim to replace dvd? With players starting at �800, will there be any demand? Will they be backwards compatible? also, with them being HD format, will they play on standard tv, or will we need to buy new tvs too?>

[vehelpfulguy]

The long term aim is to replace DVD with Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, but of course this could take years.

Even though DVD has been out a long while people still use VHS tapes, only now is the number dropping rapidly.

Of course the big question is can both survive, and if so which one will come out on top.

Unlike current DVD players that can play DVD+ AND DVD- disks, it is difficult to have one device that can play both BlueRay AND HD-DVD.

The players will be expensive at first, all new technology is. VHS players and DVD players were expensive when they first came out, now you can get a DVD player for �20.

What will drive BluRay and HD-DVD sales is High Definition (HD) television.

As HD TV becomes more popular people will want to record programs, but a current DVD can only hold about 15 minutes of HD TV, so you need Blue Ray or HD-DVD to be able to record HD television.

The Playsation 3 will have Blu Ray and Microsoft plan to add a HD-DVD player to XBox 360 so that will also drive sales.

This is not the year of Blur-Ray or HD-DVD, maybe next year will be, or the year after.

[Whickerman]

Thanks, great answer. Can you tell me if the players will be designed to be backwards compatible to play standard dvd?

[vehelpfulguy]

I think both formats can play normal DVDs.

More about Blu-Ray here

http://www.blu-ray.com/info/

[twiglet4frog]

Sony announced that is launching another all-new video format used by one of its game platforms with an even more limited selection of movies. On May 23, the electronics giant will debut its Blu-ray Disc (BD) format, which will be used by the PlayStation 3, in North America with eight films of varying vintage, popularity, and acclaim: 50 First Dates, The Fifth Element, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight's Tale, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, XXX, and the 1978 concert film The Last Waltz. They will be followed by a second wave of releases on June 13: Kung Fu Hustle, Legends of the Fall, RoboCop, Stealth, Species, SWAT, Terminator, and Underworld: Evolution.
Though DVD-specialty sites such as the Digital Bits predict that the aforementioned launch BD movies will go for about $24.99 each, no pricing information was given for the initial octet, which will be released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. However, the other studio shipping BD films on May 23, Lionsgate, was more forthcoming. It said that two of its initial offerings, Lord of War and the Oscar-nominated Crash will retail for $39.99, while the other three--The Punisher, Saw, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day--will go for $29.99 each. The Canada-based studio will release a second wave that will include Reservoir Dogs, Total Recall, Stargate, and the Frank Herbert's Dune miniseries for $29.99 each, and the Rob Zombie-directed schlock-horror opus The Devil's Rejects for $39.99.
Though neither Sony nor Lionsgate made any mention of what extra features their initial BD movie offerings will have, both make much of the Blu-ray Disc's ability to store up to 50GB on one disc, more than five times that of a DVD. For a full rundown on the format, which will see competition in the form of the Microsoft and Time Warner-backed HD-DVD platform later in the year, check out Sony's official Blu-ray Web site.

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[twiglet4frog]

But while the variety of BD films will be limited, consumers will have even less choice when it comes to Blu-ray Disc players. Sony's announcement said that its BDs' debut will "coincide with the launch...of the first commercially available BD player from Samsung Electronics." That would be the BD-P1000, which will play HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) video at resolutions of both 720p and 1080i (720 lines progressive scanning and 1,080 lines interlaced scanning)--and will retail for around $999.