HD DVD player for $148 at Wal-mart...

[leeroyjenkins]

I've been trying both lately, and prefer Blu-Ray to HD-DVD. Got a cheap HD-DVD player and then a PS3. The load times seem a lot faster for the PS3 overall. I also know that Blu-Ray has been using a harder coating that is fingerprint resistant for the discs as a selling point. There seems to be something to this since I've been renting both from Netflix and it seems like the Blu-Rays load up just fine and aren't scratched up, but the HD-DVD discs all have at least some scratching, and I have to clean almost all of the discs to get the disc to play at all. The HD-DVD discs aren't as scratched and dirty as the DVDs (of course, the DVDs have been through the shipping process a lot more times in some cases), but even a small scratch in HD-DVD seems to be a problem for loading. Picture quality I would rate about the same (on a 1080p screen so I can't be the best judge) but the Blu-Ray sound is much better. The quality of the players may be a factor in some of this, but it seems a pretty drastic change if that's the only reason.

 

[leeroyjenkins]

forgot to add that from what I've seen, the discs are about the same price on amazon and in stores, so not sure what causes the "Blu-Ray is so much more expensive" complaint, other than the price of the player.

 

[zzzz]

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[kevwun]

From what I've read, the writing process for blu rays is more complicated than hd-dvd and thats why they cost more.