Blu-ray versus HD DVD: First Head-to-Head Comparisons

With the release today of 'Training Day,' 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' and 'Rumor Has It...' on Blu-ray, Warner Home Video has become the the first studio to unleash the same movie titles on both formats, following their debut on HD DVD last month.

Finally, after months of apples-to-oranges comparisons between the two formats via different discs from differing studios, a direct head-to-head analysis can now be made using identical source material. As the first Warner Blu-ray titles hit stores, we at High Def Digest are proud to roll out the web's first in-depth comparisons of all three discs.

In each review, we take a comprehensive look at how each disc on both formats stacks up, in terms of video and audio quality, depth of supplemental content, and overall ease of use and menu navigation. In some cases, the results were surprising, and sure to generate continued debate.

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thanks for the news wraggster :)
for all three films, they said HD DVD was better. maybe Blu-ray films will get better in time.

Maybe they were one sided i dont know, But to my knowledge I have always thought it was a VHS, Betamax fight. Blue ray being Betamax and HD DVD being VHS. BR is "ment" to be superioir but with a higher cost. HD is "ment" to be cheaper. But I guess only time will tell. From what I have read Blue ray still has my vote

HD DVD has got my vote. Sinse im not buying the PS3 im not willing to pay 1k for a player especially after reading that review. I know its early in the game, but sony said this disc will be ultimately superior over HD DVD, and by the looks of it, their not doing too hot. And Blue ray will soon cost more than HD DVDs.And last alli need to do is buy the hd dvd add on for my 360. thats past strike 3 for me. sorry sony i think your losing it.

I think that most people that are really into HD will buy a Blu-Ray player. But for the other 80% of people, HD-DVD will be their choice. I don't think either will become widely used for a couple years, though.

Bluray Rocks! I have a hd-dvd player and a bluray player (for my ps3) and i just want 2 say bluray is way better than hd dvd. the way it plays in my ps3 is unbelievable. the reason why i thought this is because it still looks good on a non hdtv, but hd-dvd looks awful. and sincei know alot of people dont have a bug 56" tv like me, they would want the bluray for their non hdtv's. and the ps3 that i have runs them without flaw and speedy running time.Blury ROCKS!!!

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hmm if warner wasn't just developing for hd dvd.. then trying to convert it to bluray... without adding things, and only taking things away that wont work

then blu ray would of kicked its ass

Hey spitfire how do you have a ps3?

blue ray is gonna be the ultimate disk on high def.

If Sony doesn’t get their films to the higher quality they promised then there really is no point in paying the extra for Blue-Ray.

HD-DVD will win this just because Sony's Blue-Ray disks will be more expensive. Just Like betamax and UMD and Mini-disk.....You would think Sony would learn.

The Public will see 2 disks on the shelf 1 probably £5-£10 more expensive, both the same film in the same HD resolution. The cheaper will win and with the cost of production of the Blue-Ray disks the more expensive is going to be Blue-Ray.

In the long run BR may be better but HD is always going to be that bit cheaper. Be it the disks or the players.

Sonys only hope is that if people buy the PS3 then they will be swayed to buy BR disks. But that didn’t work for the PSP because of price and now all Film studios are pulling UMD production.

dont just blame sony. if a publisher doesnt but the effort in to produce quality releases then the format will fail..

too many people seem to jump straight to sony whenever omething doesnt work, its the same with the UMD as well

I agree, it is a shame these formats have failed as they are superior to what was/is around at the time, but the failure is due to the price involved for production and cheaper alternative being available.

I think the UMD just failed due to high prices and people not wanting to buy the same films twice, as you can’t watch them on a TV as well, something that Sony didn’t think of.

Sony are great at producing formats that are reliable and hardy but they are inevitable too expensive to produce and therefore to buy.
Everyone I knew who had a Mini-disk player only ever used blank MD and transferred CD’s to them, rather than buy a MD album.
If UMD could be burned like DVD’s then the UMD format might have had some future.

But with these digital formats HD and BR both are going to be visually very good. So any difference is going to be nitpicking. Therefore you start to look at sound and price and vale for money.