Blu-Ray or HD-DVD?

[Harrison]

Other things that are to be taken into account:

- Movies appear sooner on disc after the theater run ends
- Discs can be replayed as many times as one wants
- Can one pause a movie on television?
- Extras

I'm assuming HD-capable recorders aren't widely available and affordable just yet.

Sky HD has a built in Harddrive as standard using the Sky+ features. This means you can record HD programs to the HD to watch as often as you like, as well as pausing live TV if you needed to leave the room, and also if you have been watching the same channel for a while you can rewind whatever you are watching by up to 30 minutes which is great if you missed something.

It is however true that the discs do contain interactive extras that are not provided via the broadcasts, but how many of us actually watch the extras on most discs? Or maybe just once.

[Stephen Coates]

I don't use the extras that much. Interactive stuff was actually one of someones argument for why VHS is better than DVD on another website. VHS doesn't contain (m)any pointless extras.

I take it that if I want a high definition player, I should go for blu ray then?

Why are we having to think about recorders? It was only a few years since DVD recorders actually became affordable.

[Harrison]

I take it that if I want a high definition player, I should go for blu ray then?

Yes. And Blu-Ray recorders are the way forward for high def recording to disc too. I've not looked to see how much the standalone BR recorders are now, but the BR-RW PC drives are now under £200, so are dropping in price at about the same rate as DVD-RW drives did early on.

Why are we having to think about recorders? It was only a few years since DVD recorders actually became affordable.

That is because removable recordable media is inconvenient and costs the user money each time they want to record something new. Being able to record to a built in HD is much better when you are just recording stuff to watch later, and it doesn't cost anything extra. Removable media recorders are slowly moving to off-line recording devices, where you use them to move things from the HD recorder that you wish to keep.

HD recorders built into the viewing device (Sky+, Freeview recorders etc...) also have the advantage of adding additional transport controls for live TV. The ability to pause the TV channel and resume it (buffering the channel on the HD), being able to rewind live channels you are watching etc...

Sky+ also has other advantages over an external recorder such as VHS or DVD. When you record something onto the HD it also records it in 5.1 surround sound (if being broadcast for that program), as well as recording the subtitles and audio description tracks (if available). So when watching it back you can switch these on and off. It also records the details of the program as held in the programs information, so you can instantly call up the program synopsis and other details about it.

[Stephen Coates]

When I was saying about recorders, I was actually on about Blu ray recorders.

We now have a freeview hard disk recorder, and I have found the time shifting funcionality very convenient. And I know just how very inconveniant it is to use it to record something and not be able to take the media out and watch it elsewhere. If everyone had a hard disk recorder, and no one had DVD/tape recorders, then it would be very awkward to give a recording to someone else, or to watch it in another location, or to store it for viewing in the future. I have VHS tapes dating back to the mid 90s, which if they had been recorded onto an HD would have had to be deleted long ago to make room for new stuff, whereas with tapes and DVD etc you can just buy new ones.

I do still love the pause facility though. Therefore, the HD recorder on it's own will never be a complete replacement for the VHS/DVDR, but can quite easily complement it.

Yes. And Blu-Ray recorders are the way forward for high def recording to disc too. I've not looked to see how much the standalone BR recorders are now, but the BR-RW PC drives are now under £200, so are dropping in price at about the same rate as DVD-RW drives did early on.

Are blue ray players for computer likely to be better than ones for TV at the moment, like because of prices, and because of the high resolution of computer monitors?

[Harrison]

You would need a way to get the Hi Def signal into the PC, and software to record that to the HD or BR drive. So it might work out more expensive than using a standalone BR recorder. Also remember you also need to be able to pick up HD broadcasts, which at the moment is limited to SkyHD and Cable. Both having HD recording built in as standard.

[Stephen Coates]

And for playing high definition videos? which I think is something I would be much more interested in doing than recording them.

[toomanymikes]

I was on Hidef digest (http://forums.highdefdigest.com/showthread.php?t=33733) forums earlier to read what folk had to say about the Warner announcement. Basically the Blu ray supporters are saying 'this is the end of the format war' and the HD DVD supporters are calling this a bit underhand (despite the paramount deal last year). Anyhoos, its all a bit fanatical as these things can be but it really reminded me of the old ST / A500 arguments we used to have as kids. You should have a read if your looking to waste some time - quite funny.

[v85rawdeal]

This a very similar situation as to what happened with Betamax and VHS.

The truth was that Betamax was by far the better format, but was let down by the higher prices of the video recorders (that and the fact that VHS flows off the tongue so much easier than Betamax). Betamax went on to be the standard used by the television industry because of the quality of the system, and VHS went on to become the home system, because of the cheaper prices.

Be interesting to see if history repeats itself

[Buleste]

All i know is that no matter what format i get it will be the one that fails.

[Stephen Coates]

Maybe we should just wait a few years and stick with DVD for now. At least then we won't end up getting a failed format. Although it might be good in 20 years time if HDDVD did fail and you can say, 'I have an old HDDVD player'.