Broadcom's Treaty In the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD War

eldavojohn writes "For a while there, I didn't know what to buy. Blu-Ray or HD-DVD? Which would be the leader? Only a fool would buy discs of the technology that would be the next Betamax. Fortunately, my dilemma has been solved by Broadcom. From the article: 'Consumer and communications chip supplier Broadcom Corp. Thurs. (Nov. 9) introduced what the company labeled the first single-chip solution to support both Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD standards.' I guess I'll just wait until I can get a player that will play them both."

Pr0n

[eldavojohn]

For those of you who claimed that the porn industry would decide this war (as was speculated in the beta max/VHS war), they've decided to choose both [pcpro.co.uk] technologies [hdtvuk.tv]. So that is no longer really the deciding factor. Are we going to see movies and studios side with the separate technology and the consumer simply use both?

Waiting has always been the right answer.

[numbski]

The visual benefits are marginal right now.

I know, I know. 480p vs 720p vs 1080p...blah blah blah.

Listen, how much is it REALLY worth to go drop $1000+ on an HD player that only reads certain discs? I've intentionally been waiting for dual/triple format players to hit the market before buying.

Also, I've been quietly hoping inside someone would step up with a better format that isn't DRM encumbered. I'd likely suffocate holding my breath though. :P

Ricoh's has developed a laser...

[ajayrockrock]

Ricoh has developed a laser [google.com] that can read both formats too. I'm sure we'll see hybrid players sometime next year.

--Ajay

Buy neither?

[FloridaGamer]

For all of the "Buy neither, there is only a marginal difference over regular DVD"...I present the following: http://forum.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?t=483968 [teamxbox.com] For the record, it hurts my eyes to watch a regular DVD after watching an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray Disc.

Good luck

[Dion]

Good luck getting any of the customizable goodness that makes HTPCs such a great win.

Playback is going to be windows vista 64bit only, you can go screw yourself if you use anything else.

Personally I'll skip both those coaster technologies until there is a reliable Linux player.

If the Motion Picture Ass. of America reads this, then I will do what ever is easiest of the three options:
1) Play the HD movies from the legal optical medium, on my Linux box, with an opensource player.
2) Play the HD movies from harddisk, downloaded fron the Net, on my Linux box, with an opensource player.
3) Play the SD movies from the legal optical medium, on my Linux box, with an opensource player.

Notice I didn't mention Windows Vista or Standalone players as I consider both to be useles junk.