Actually, 1080p contains over 5 times more pixels than 480p so HD takes much more room. HD DVD has only less than 4 times more space than normal DVD, but they have much better compression methods. And HD version usually have better sound which takes also more room. So HD DVD can't contain much more HD material than DVD SD material.

So number of discs is usually about same with both versions unless extras are in SD. But even that wouldn't drop more than 1 disc from box.

Also most people don't really care much if show comes in 7 or 2 discs so making show as SD in HD DVD wouldn't be sensible. People generally buy HD DVD because of HD material not because it has less discs. I still agree that it would be more convenient to have less discs.

Although I do agree that prices are still way too high.

Hus said: Worth every penny. SD sucks ass!!! i love hd, thank god i got a year of hd channels free with my tv. Don't knock it till you compare sd vs hd on a good hdtv and a good sound system.

You know Hus, why not compare SD vs HD on an SDTV? Comparision would be similar. What you should do, is compare SD on SDTV vs HD on HDTV. @BenKenobi: That kind of people most are. They like to buy the latest stuff, just because it's something that has been called fancy and "better than anything before" and they don't even know for what and how to use it. Maybe scary, but that's how new tech can enter the market. @Topic: Note also, that HD disc formats have much smalle sales potential than DVD, so retail have bigger risks and it takes more time to get HD discs sold. So they need to compensate this with a bigger price. Of course the codecs etc. are more expensive than the ones in DVD, but most of the bigger price is propably just to compensate the low sales.

This is an awsome thread to show why Blu-ray is the best choice in this format war. Right know HD-DVD is basically at its max for storage, with 15GB more coming sometime down the road. So this little problem will never be solved with HD-DVD as the format of choice. The price would come down, that is a given. As more people by in to the format the chances for higher sales come which equals lower prices.

The nice thing about Blu-ray is it will one day have 150GB more room on each disc. That means that If Blu-ray becomes the format of choice not only will you see a price drop, but also a reduction of disc's throughout the life. George Lucas said that he would like to re-release all Six Star Wars films on 2 disc's by 2009. Some how I don't think this is possible unless it happens on Blu-Ray.Also Blu-Ray has a higher standared bit rate72Mbps compared to 48Mbps on HD-DVD. This gives it the ability to add more features over its lifetime than HD-DVD can. Basically Sony is trying to give consumers the same thing that is great about the Playstation in their optical disk format. They are makeing a product that will last a long time, and get better over the years. How can anyone not like a product that grows over time? I guess I will never know.

Their is one thing I am starting to fear in this format war though. With the current move by Paramount Isee a huge problem coming. With the strong stance Disney has in the Blu-ray market, and the inevitable success of the PS3 Blu-ray is here to stay. Now if this added support helps out HD-DVD enough HD-DVD will also be here to stay. I see a good posibility of jan 2009 having 30M blu-ray players and 20M HD-DVD players. At this point both formats will almost have to stay. This creates a few huge problems for the Movie industry, and leaves them with 3 options.

1. All studios support both formats, and you have the upper class people with the higher quality Bluray, and the lower class with HD-DVD.
2. They continue on the same path with to equaly priced formats, selling neck and neck, and noobs will get dual players, while current supporters will have to have 2 players.
3. They drop one of the formats and piss off a user base at least the size of the original Xbox.

In cases 1 & 2 movie prices will never be as low as they could be because everyone is not making a standard format, therefore, to little mass production. In case 3 on of the 2 sides is going to be pissed and many will stop buying movies, and worst case scenerio HD-DVD is the one that goes on.

bdbdbd said: Hus said: Worth every penny. SD sucks ass!!! i love hd, thank god i got a year of hd channels free with my tv. Don't knock it till you compare sd vs hd on a good hdtv and a good sound system.   You know Hus, why not compare SD vs HD on an SDTV? Comparision would be similar. What you should do, is compare SD on SDTV vs HD on HDTV.

lol yahh thats brilliant, why the hell would any one want HD movies if they have a crap sd tv ?  What you should do is get real. 

KBG29 said: This is an awsome thread to show why Blu-ray is the best choice in this format war. Right know HD-DVD is basically at its max for storage, with 15GB more coming sometime down the road. So this little problem will never be solved with HD-DVD as the format of choice. The price would come down, that is a given. As more people by in to the format the chances for higher sales come which equals lower prices. The nice thing about Blu-ray is it will one day have 150GB more room on each disc. That means that If Blu-ray becomes the format of choice not only will you see a price drop, but also a reduction of disc's throughout the life. George Lucas said that he would like to re-release all Six Star Wars films on 2 disc's by 2009. Some how I don't think this is possible unless it happens on Blu-Ray.Also Blu-Ray has a higher standared bit rate72Mbps compared to 48Mbps on HD-DVD. This gives it the ability to add more features over its lifetime than HD-DVD can. Basically Sony is trying to give consumers the same thing that is great about the Playstation in their optical disk format. They are makeing a product that will last a long time, and get better over the years. How can anyone not like a product that grows over time? I guess I will never know. Their is one thing I am starting to fear in this format war though. With the current move by Paramount Isee a huge problem coming. With the strong stance Disney has in the Blu-ray market, and the inevitable success of the PS3 Blu-ray is here to stay. Now if this added support helps out HD-DVD enough HD-DVD will also be here to stay. I see a good posibility of jan 2009 having 30M blu-ray players and 20M HD-DVD players. At this point both formats will almost have to stay. This creates a few huge problems for the Movie industry, and leaves them with 3 options. 1. All studios support both formats, and you have the upper class people with the higher quality Bluray, and the lower class with HD-DVD. 2. They continue on the same path with to equaly priced formats, selling neck and neck, and noobs will get dual players, while current supporters will have to have 2 players. 3. They drop one of the formats and piss off a user base at least the size of the original Xbox. In cases 1 & 2 movie prices will never be as low as they could be because everyone is not making a standard format, therefore, to little mass production. In case 3 on of the 2 sides is going to be pissed and many will stop buying movies, and worst case scenerio HD-DVD is the one that goes on.

 great post.. HD-DVD needs to die... and soon.

I really don't care which one wins, I just want two things: 1) one to go away, fuck if I care which one, and 2) I want a reasonable price. A $4o price difference and 5-6 unneeded discs is pretty infuriating.