PC's Role Key in New Format War

An anonymous reader writes "With the PlayStation 3's launch still a ways off, Toshiba and Sony are turning to the PC as the next battleground for the DVD format. News.com reports that some manufacturers are, at least for now, planning to offer both options on upcoming desktop and laptop PCs. Only a handful of films and software are to be available for the formats this year." From the article: "PCs equipped with HD DVD or Blu-ray will cost several hundred dollars more than comparably equipped models with DVD drives--a factor that should keep sales relatively low this year as consumers wait for applications and video titles that can take advantage of the higher capacity."

Re:dell and ps3 = blu-ray win

[*weasel]

S-VHS technically beat ED-Beta too.

Lot of good it did em.

Re:why pay more for DVD drive?

[FuturePastNow]

They are talking about the recordable drives, which for what it's worth do not burn DRM to the discs you make.

You're quite right that hard drives are getting cheaper and better for backup; I am myself building a file server, but high capacity optical disks have their place. I can hand out CD-Rs and DVD-Rs like candy, and these next-generation formats will come down in price if they survive.

Oh, and as a competing anecdote, I've never had a failed write/corrupt DVD-R. It's been a couple of years since I last (accidently) turned a CD-R into a coaster, too. Maybe you should look into higher quality drives and media.

Re:Heard that one before...

[TheRaven64]

It's been addressed a lot of times, so I probably deserve to be moderated redundant for this, but here goes:

CDs had significant advantages over vinyl:

• CDs stored 74minutes of audio. Vinyl stored about 20 minutes per side. You had to touch your music player four times as often with Vinyl as you did with CD.
• CDs were physically smaller.
• CDs were more jog-resistent. You could use them while walking or in-car.
• CDs supported skipping between tracks easily. With vinyl this required manually moving the needle.
• (Later) CDs could be easily be ripped to a computer for creating playlists or transfer to a portable device.

The quality (which is very subjective; some people find the digital distortion more irritating than analogue, some are the other way around) issue was much less important. DVDs had a similar set of advantages over VHS (smaller size, more durable, playable in more places). For a lot of people the quality was not important; my stepfather can't tell the difference between DVD and VHS quality, and very few people actually use the 5.1 output.

For a next-generation format to succeed, it has to offer something other than increased quality. Sometimes it doesn't even have to offer that; compare SACD/DVD-A to MP3, for example. Direct-download of H.264 video would have the same advantages as MP3, as well as (potentially) better quality than DVDs. If someone decided to offer 720p H.264 downloads, I can see this eclipsing both formats. If not, I expect to see the movie industry wondering why there is so much piracy of recompressed HD-DVD / Blu-Ray films.

What?! Yes, you DO have an HD monitor!

[Were-Rabbit]

Once you go into 1,024 x 768 resolution or higher, you're running HD because you've gone beyond 720p scanning. (PC monitors are progressive, not interlacing.) The size of the screen itself is NOT synonymous with the number of pixels on the screen.

Re:why pay more for DVD drive?

[Menel]

You do not know what MTBF means. Google it.

Most modern harddrives have a MTBF of between 750,000 and 1,000,000 hours.

Re:Shot Themselves in the Foot

[plasmacutter]

and it's a complete ripoff when you look from that $1699 tv on one shelf to the $300 30" sdtv on the other.

most families have kids.. you know.. kiiiiiiiiddddsss. they suck up a lot of money you know, you have to plan for their college, for your own retirmenet, pay a mortgage.

within the budget? maybe in your dreams.

Re:Combo Drives? ... Actually, Yes!

[Pongidae]

Actually there are plans by manufacturers to create Combo drives.
Do the research before posting comments!

Google Search: http://www.google.com/search?q=hd-dvd+BlueRay+comb o+drive [google.com]
1st two hits:

• http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28855 [theinquirer.net]
  http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=7 0486 [nvnews.net]

Don't plan on seeing Dual drives

[weedenbc]

Sony has put clauses in the Blue Ray licensing agreement that prohibits a manufacturer from building a drive capable of playing both Blue-Ray and HD-DVD. If they do, Sony can yank their Blue-Ray license.