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A Statistical Comparison of HD DVD & Blu-Ray Reviews

An anonymous reader writes "Gizmodo today posted a statistical comparison of over 300 HD DVD and Blu-ray reviews published at High-Def Digest since the start of the high-def format wars last Spring. Their findings? Overall video quality between the two formats is nearly identical, however Blu-ray titles were slightly, but definitely superior in audio playback, while HD DVD titles had far superior standard def features and moderately superior high-def features."

9 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. What about the players? by Jartan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The article is a total crock of @#$#. Just looking at the charts shows you that the audio "difference" is so incredibly tiny that the actual players probably have far more to do with it than the format.

    1. Re:What about the players? by schmiddy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, the article's a crock of shit for many reasons -- possible discrepancies between the players being one of them. I'd argue that reviewer bias would be much more troubling to anyone looking to take these stats seriously. Especially among audio/video-philes.. if you read online or wherever that Format A uses some slightly better technique for audio/video compression than Format B.. chances are, when you're doing a supposedly impartial review between the two formats, you'll prefer to select Format A as the winner.

      The only way you could have a non-biased study of this sort is if you selected random candidates, had them watch a movie on your hi-def setup without telling them what format it was (or even know yourself), and then ask them to rate the A/V quality (a crude double-blind study). If you're thinking about investing in one of these formats over the other, take this "study" with a very large grain of salt, especially when the differences are so small. The only thing I'm believing is that HD-DVD *probably* has a bit better extras, not that I care one whit for these junk formats.

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  2. Academic discussion to me by scuba_steve_1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Quality will not decide this format war - the PS3 will.

    Betamax was superior to VHS...and the MacOS was superior to Windows (at least for some time...let's avoid the flame war on the current state of affairs). They were both beaten by superior positioning of technically inferior competitors...and the PS3 has been a huge success for Sony in one regard - it got a lot of BluRay players in the hands of consumers...and the sales of BluRay titles are dwarfing those of HD DVD correspondingly.

    Will the trend continue? Who knows, but I'd rather have momentum than not have it...so I'm not betting against Sony yet. The posted article may be interesting for some, but I am disinterested in any discussion of quality or features until the market settles. I do not have the discretionary income to buy an expensive player that will be obsolete before it is useful...regardless of any perceived quality difference. Early adopters may disagree, but Joe Sixpack and I are sticking with our standard DVD players and HD over cable/satellite until we see who wins this war.

    Your mileage may vary.

    1. Re:Academic discussion to me by HappySqurriel · · Score: 4, Insightful

      By "My History" do you mean that I don't like Sony?

      I don't hide it ...
      After having my Sony Wega TV, Sony DVD player, Sony Reciever and 3 PS2 systems die in a given year I really started to dislike them ...
      When I had to fix my sister's computer (the only person I know who buys music) after Sony installed a rootkit on her system I started to hate them ...
      Then I watched them release exploding batteries, sell an overpriced gaming system and use questionable legal tactics to run a legal company out of buisness (lik-sang) ...

  3. Audio is better? by Blappo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What I got was that the audio in Blu-ray was "better" because of the availability of higher quality audio content, not performance of the particular technology. A little misleading I think, when HD-DVD can simply add higher quality audio content and be equal to Blu-ray in terms of audio performance.

    Or is there something else?

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  4. Re:Blue ray is gonna win by zakezuke · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No, HD-DVD will win because fewer people misspell it, so more people will be able to Google it properly.

    What's sad is the parent is rather insightful. Not so much that HD-DVD is easier to spell than Blu-Ray but looking on the package it's painfully clear to your average joe with a HDTV set that the HD-DVD is for HD-TVs. The Blu-Ray disc doesn't in it self say "i'm for your HDTV".

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  5. Re:Blue ray is gonna win by bort27 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Neither format will win. Who won the DVD-A vs. SACD war?

    bort.

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  6. Re:As I get older by Bastian · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Given the rather short time between the introduction of DVD and the introduction of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, I wouldn't be surprised if they do kindasorta fail in that they'll be replaced by a new format before either really gets a chance to take over the market.

    Most of the reason DVD caught on quickly was that it offered a bazillion advantages over VHS. All that the HD formats really have to offer is that a small percentage of the consumers can view movies at a higher resolution than they could with DVD. The rest have to buy a new TV or computer for there to be any advantage, which is going to retard the adoption of both formats.

  7. Re:Pixel Reviews ? by Lloyd_Bryant · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ah... I love watching pixels... I used to watch movies, but nowadays they are all crap, so I ended up watching pixels... So much easier on my brain... Old joke...

    Audiophile: Somebody who listens to the equipment rather than the music.

    Looks like this one is rapidly being translated into the video domain.

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