1. It's exclusive for a while, but it's exclusivity nonetheless.

Posted at 2:45PM on May 21st 2007 by Liqwid

2. I'm considering going to the HDDVD camp..still unsure if I like it more than Blu-ray. I have a wishist for both formats of discs already out (Just saw Planet Earth is on BOTH formats now..) so I dunno.

I can get the 360 HD drive for about $170 so that's a big draw for me. Heard only 3 of the 5 Matrix HDDVD discs will in fact BE HD, so that's something to note.

Currently I have a 5-disc upconvert DVD player, and i'm doing well with it.

Posted at 2:53PM on May 21st 2007 by Toph

3. Upconverting DVD players are great...but please don't compare them to HD-DVD.

Even Discovery Planet Earth HD broadcast over satellite doesn't hold a candle in comparison to the show on HD-DVD format.

I was lucky enough to get the Matrix Trilogy late last night on Circuit City for $21 S&H included! Saw it on Slickdeals.net ...but now the price is $79.99!

I made out like a bandit.

Posted at 3:44PM on May 21st 2007 by Jon

4. HD-DVD looks a lot better than Blu-ray.

The reason for this is because HD-DVD uses a video compression codec called VC-1. VC-1 is the newest and best video compression codec, and it is used by all HD-DVD discs.

The Blu-ray format has only a very small number of discs that use VC-1 or MPEG-4. The only Blu-ray movies that use VC-1 are the movies released by companies when the discs come out on both HD-DVD and Blu-ray. For example, the new Superman movie uses VC-1 on both HD-DVD and Blu-ray. But the HD-DVD version is still better because it includes extra sound formats not found on the Blu-ray version because the HD-DVD version is a 30GB disc, while the Blu-ray version is only a 25GB disc.

There are very few dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray discs, because the defect ratio is so high for those discs, and it makes it so they have to cost $35 instead of $25 at the retail stores.

The overwhelming majority of Blu-ray discs use the outdated MPEG-2 video compression codec on 25GB discs, which is the same MPEG-2 video compression codec that regular DVD's use.

This is the reason why people don't notice much of a difference between a 1080p MPEG-2 Blu-ray movie and an MPEG-2 DVD that is upconverted to 1080p; they end up looking almost identical.

The MPEG-4 video compression codec looks similar in performance to VC-1; it looks much better than MPEG-2. However, MPEG-4 is very inefficient; it takes up a lot of space on a disc. MPEG-4 would require a dual-layer Blu-ray disc, which is why very few Blu-ray movies use MPEG-4 video compression. The overwhelming majority of Blu-ray discs are 25GB discs, whereas virtually all HD-DVD discs on the market are 30GB discs.

HD-DVD versions of the discs almost always include a lot more bonus features than Blu-ray, too. The reasons for this are because HD-DVD has extra space, because VC-1 is the best video compression available; it leaves the manufacturers with a lot of space to add bonus features.

VC-1 simply looks BETTER than MPEG-2 or MPEG-4. That is the bottom line. That is the reason why HD-DVD is better than Blu-ray or upconverted DVD movies.

People don't notice much of a difference between an upconverted DVD and a Blu-ray movie, but people notice a big difference in quality when they watch an HD-DVD. HD-DVD is the best format, because it has the highest standards in terms of both visual and audio quality. Both HD-DVD and Blu-ray had a chance to be selected as the Official Successor to the DVD format, but only HD-DVD won, because HD-DVD is the best format available.

By the way, I noticed that Best Buy has HD-DVD players on sale for only $299 this week, after a $100 rebate. And you get to select two free movies when you buy an HD-DVD player.

Posted at 5:14PM on May 21st 2007 by Joel Brown

5. Matrix Trilogy. No way in Heck am I paying for Matrix 2 and 3 to get Matrix 1. 2 and 3 didn't even exist to me. . they are DEAD!

Posted at 7:54PM on May 21st 2007 by chris the marketer

6. Don't forget HD DVD $299 right now after instant rebate..plus still 5 free movies

Posted at 1:42AM on May 22nd 2007 by Mike