Some basic questions
Cemil Gandur -- Fri, 04/25/2008 - 15:10
Apologies for the pretty basic nature of these, but I've not been following this much.
1) Is the Blu-ray vs HD-DVD war definitely over? ie is Blu-ray the standard now?
2) If so, is the standard settled? or is it still changing with new specs etc.. still being implemented?
3) Are there decent players available? if so, which? or have the more specialised high quality manufacturers not yet entered this field waiting for the dust to settle?
4) I would presume Blu-ray would be regionally encoded a la DVD - is it right? If so, are there multi-region players out?
5) I would guess a Blu-ray player would also play normal DVDs. How about some of the audio formats: DVD-Audio? SACD?
Thanks for any info.
Unfortunately, I'm far from an expert on this, but my understanding is that the HD vs. Blu-ray war is over and Blu has "won." However, the demise of HD hasn't lifted Blu-ray player sales.
The ~$300 premium over standard players may be one reason, and/or people are waiting for new "Blu" players with internet connectivity to start shipping. (Also, the HD players are getting "flushed" by the channel at bargain basement prices).
ABI estimates that 85% of all Blu-ray players in use this year will be PS3s.
Blu-ray players play standard DVDs. They generally play SACD as well.
Discs are regional, though the regions have a new definition:
A = Americas, SE Asia (Pacific Rim)
B = Africa, Europe, Middle East
C = Asia
As for good players:
See Robert Harley's article in the new TAS (Issue 182)
Generally specialist manufacturers have not entered yet. For video, this may not matter, as the major Japanese brands have done a pretty good job on video (my view which others may contradict). You should consider that for music audio it is unclear that blu-ray per se will be an audio-only distribution format but at this time it appears unlikely.
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