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Toshiba and Microsoft Remind Us What HD DVD Can Do

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Well today is a big day of learning for me personally…. I never realised there was really any difference in HD DVD compared to Blu-Ray apart from HD is apparently “cheaper” and Blu-Ray can hold more data….

Well it turns out that there is quite a bit more to it than that…

Things that apparently make HD DVD better than Blu-Ray

• Internet connection for online updates, and now, finally, Web-enabled content
• Dual decoding for real picture-in-picture playback
• “Persistent storage” memory on the deck for customization and downloading

As an example of all three major features… You are watching the movie 300 and are wondering about how they do all those special effects. You pull up a menu, tell it to download the behind the scenes extras, then happily watch the behind the scenes version side by side with the production version. You notice how the helmets look like plastic and that the boiling sea was nothing but a bunch of green cushions….

You now decide that has completely ruined the entire movie for you and stop watching…

Anyway you see the point, so there is quite a bit more to this war than I ever realised…. I am not so sure I want Blu-Ray to win anymore now…

Link to Field Notes: Toshiba and Microsoft Remind Us What HD DVD Can Do (and What Blu-Ray Can’t) – Gizmodo

Last Updated: July 2, 2007

5 Comments

  1. Ruslan

    July 2, 2007 at 19:28

    Still waiting for a frigging SA supplier to have the balls to sell this here. BR movies are quickly drying up in stores with no latest relases in 3 months. Ordering overseas seems like a good idea until you see the HD-DVD movies cost R50-R100 less than their BR counterparts. Dang!

    Reply

  2. TinFish

    July 3, 2007 at 08:36

    The PIP thig I understand, but downloading additional content? download it to where? you’d have to have and HDD or soemthingwhat happens when it get’s full? with a bigger disc, would’nt the additional content be there to begin with?

    Also what woudl then be the point of Special Edition sets if you have to pay extra to go online to download the Special content?

    IMHO DVD still has a long way to go….. with decent upscaling not many people will be able to tell the difference.

    Reply

  3. LazySAGamer

    July 3, 2007 at 09:20

    TinFish, from what I understand all HD-DVD players have to have a persistent memory option built in, Either a HDD or Flash drive or whatever…

    Maybe I used a bad example for additional content, what you could expect is extra subtitles to be available for download. So if you buy the movie from Italy and get home you can download the English subtitles…..

    However I am really with you on the DVD idea, I have long said that I don’t believe either side will be winning anything anytime soon, DVD is here to stay until a better format is released. The improvement of HD-DVD or BluRay over an upscaled DVD is just not good enough to warrant the risk and expenditure…

    Reply

  4. TinFish

    July 4, 2007 at 08:20

    I read the persistent memory bit on your article, but the problem with usb or flash is that you’d run out of space and need another one at some point then when you want to watch an old movie again you’ve had to switch drives or soemthing.

    The only way I can find this to be ok is if you buy movies and then sell your old ones? I personally collect movies, so I like keeping things together… I wonder if anyone will download content for a movie they rent?

    now, I’ve just read that bit about triple layer HD-DVD.. hmmm that sounds good…

    I love compertition like this, the consumer usually ends up winning 😉

    Reply

  5. LazySAGamer

    July 4, 2007 at 10:03

    I just wish the competition would end quicker….

    I see the problem that you raise with the Flash drive…. I actually don’t know the answer but I would guess for people like you who collect movies you would initially always buy the right movie and not require these extras (sub titles and so forth), secondly you would buy the top of the range systems with 120Gb HDD so you always have enough space, or possibly the HD-DVD’s will be writable?

    I’m not sure at all…. it is interesting though

    Reply

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