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Hardware HD DVD Promotional Group Wimpers at Netflix, Best Buy, Blu-ray Alliances
Brandon Hill (Blog) - February 12, 2008 1:40 PM

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90 comment(s) - last by whirabomber.. on Feb 15 at 1:37 PM

HD DVD Promotional Group offers little resistance to the latest Blu-ray victories

The HD DVD Promotional Group suffered two crippling blows yesterday. Early Monday morning, Netflix announced that it would become Blu-ray exclusive with regards to online high-definition movie rentals.

Monday afternoon, Best Buy announced that while it wouldn't drop HD DVD altogether, it would place more emphasis on Blu-ray and heavily promote that standard.

"Consumers have told us that they want us to help lead the way. We’ve listened to our customers, and we are responding. Best Buy will recommend Blu-ray as the preferred format," said Best Buy President and Chief Financial Officer Brian Dunn.

The HD DVD Promotional Group of course was not too happy to hear about the latest losses in the format war and offered up this rather tame response:

We have long held the belief that HD DVD is the best format for consumers based on quality and value, and with more than 1 million HD DVD players on the market, it's unfortunate to see Netflix make the decision to only stock Blu-ray titles going forward. While the Best Buy announcement says they will recommend Blu-ray, at least they will continue to carry HD DVD and offer consumers a choice at retail.

Perhaps the HD DVD Promotional Group doesn't have any fight left. Toshiba already went to great lengths to cut the prices on its third-generation DVD players, but that obviously wasn't enough to stop the shift to Blu-ray. Toshiba's HD DVD commercial during the Super Bowl also didn't help to win over any new supporters.

However, maybe consumers can take solace in the fact that things may be finally winding down in the HD DVD versus Blu-ray battle. Studio support is lining up fervently behind Blu-ray, so the days of finding a high definition movie on HD DVD, but not on Blu-ray, may soon be over.

Early adopters of the HD DVD standard though may just be left with their existing HD DVD library and an excellent upscaling DVD player.

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A choice?

By Chaser on 2/12/2008 1:53:25 PM , Rating: 5

quote:
...while the Best Buy announcement says they will recommend Blu-ray, at least they will continue to carry HD DVD and offer consumers a choice at retail.

Looks pretty grim for HD DVD. Even Toshiba is preparing to accept defeat.

RE: A choice?

By PAPutzback on 2/12/2008 1:57:33 PM , Rating: 1

I agree. I originally thought these two were going to coexist.

atleast I never bought into eather one yet so atleast now when the time coems and the players are affordable I won't have to make a decision.

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RE: A choice?

By VoodooChicken on 2/12/2008 2:10:05 PM , Rating: 2

That's a lot of body blows all at once to HD DVD. I used the XBox add-on for an HTPC, so that library got built up before I installed a Blu-ray burner. I've pretty much gone with HD DVD over Blu-Ray if offered the choice on a specific title, but that was before all these other Blu-Ray specs becoming standard. Even now, my HD DVD library runs about 2:1 over Blu-Ray, and the only "dud" I have is probably King Kong which came with the Xbox drive.
I do like special features, and HD DVD got their act together first, so that's probably why I went that route. As for Blu-Ray, I still have to trade in my Pirates of the Caribbean for the fixed disc, and Weeds' menu gives me fits as well. But everything else seems okay. Still not much on "next gen" special features so far though.

THAT'S the only difference I've seen between the formats.

I'm fortunate that I don't feel any buyer's remorse getting as vested into HD DVD as I did. I'll still pick up the Kite Runner on that format when it comes out also. But when/if HD DVD finally dies out, I'm not worried my movies will suddenly stop playing, nor will I replace titles with Blu-Ray if they develop.

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RE: A choice?

By Master Kenobi

(blog) on 2/12/08, Rating: 0

RE: A choice?

By Owls on 2/12/2008 3:19:45 PM , Rating: 2

Not only that but prices need to come down on the players too. Sadly, not having HD-DVD around to keep prices in check might actually be worse in the long run. I guess we'll have to see.

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RE: A choice?

By Denigrate on 2/12/2008 3:23:17 PM , Rating: 3

Yup, because having one standard on DVD's kept the price sky high.

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RE: A choice?

By Owls on 2/12/08, Rating: 0

RE: A choice?

By JustTom on 2/12/2008 4:06:59 PM , Rating: 5

For most consumers there is a competing format, standard DVD. At this point very few people care about any hi-def standard. If Blu-ray keeps prices on hardware and software high it will slow down its adoption rate significantly.

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RE: A choice?

By MaulBall789 on 2/12/2008 6:19:03 PM , Rating: 5

Talk about dense. Competing MANUFACTURERS are what brings down prices on a common format. The different companies that make bluray players compete against one another to drive down prices.

Competing formats only lead to consumer confusion (disillusion), slower adoption rates for each format, slower market penetration. The quicker you can achieve market saturation the faster the prices come down.

Hey, I wonder why both HD formats combined still only sell a mere tiny fraction of overall video content? Oh that's right. The masses didn't want to buy into either format til there was a winner.

I don't own either format yet. At least now the later adopters can justify leaning in one direction.

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RE: A choice?

By overzealot on 2/12/2008 9:02:07 PM , Rating: 2

Or maybe they still run SD TVs, think DVDs are good enough for them, find the price of Blu-Ray players exorbitant etc.

The fact that there are two formats doesn't really factor into most peoples minds, sales reps always say "Blu-Ray is going to win".

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RE: A choice?

By Targon on 2/13/2008 8:53:24 AM , Rating: 1

Sales reps are told to push a given product based on profit margin. Blu-Ray players are more expensive, and as such, provide a higher profit margin to stores. Best Buy is good about pushing products that are not necessarily the best for what the consumer wants/needs.

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RE: A choice?

By killerroach on 2/13/2008 8:42:24 AM , Rating: 2

And you also seem to forget some basic economics. Blu-Ray is a standard, not a product. With only one standard, it means more companies are competing in the Blu-Ray market, which will only serve to lower prices.

Then again, arguing economic principles on a tech forum is like trying to espouse the virtues of import beer on a college campus... nobody has the background, and nobody seems particularly interested :)

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RE: A choice?

By tjr508 on 2/12/2008 9:48:17 PM , Rating: 1

There was never one standard dvd... they just were slightly more similar than the two we have now.

All a BD victory will mean for consumers in the long run is slightly less expensive players than dual players (very slightly) and much more expensive media.

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RE: A choice?

By Gyres01 on 2/13/2008 12:08:43 PM , Rating: 2

I agree, there are dozens of choices for almost every product on the market....why are we forced with just one for HD movies?? If I have a choice between a regular dvd player that upscales for 60 bucks or a blu-ray for 400 bucks NO thanks.....call me when it hits 75..........

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RE: A choice?

By theflux on 2/12/2008 3:44:08 PM , Rating: 2

quote:

BR needs to hurry up with those damn BR2.0 players.<

You mean hurry up with *another* BR2.0 player. There is already a very capable one that I've owned for over a year.

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RE: A choice?

By TomZ on 2/12/2008 4:10:08 PM , Rating: 2

Profile 2.0 players are expected to ship end of 2008. So you must be talking about your plans to upgrade your PS3 when that upgrade becomes available.

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RE: A choice?

By SavagePotato on 2/12/2008 4:39:14 PM , Rating: 2

The Panasonic bd-50 is profile 2.0 and will handle every type of audio format including dts-ma.

It is supposed to be out this spring not by the end of 2008, It may even already be out in Europe.

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RE: A choice?

By theflux on 2/12/2008 5:14:37 PM , Rating: 2

I am talking about the PS3, and the update has been promised for this year, so I'm feeling really good about my investment. I'm puzzled by anyone who claims to be interested in Blu-ray, but says they are holding off for a 2.0 player. They could buy a PS3 today and start enjoying HDM today. More often then not the people who say they are waiting for a Profile 2.0 player don't have much interest at all, and are just trying to make a cheap shot at the profile issue (which was a stupid one, but has been well covered).

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RE: A choice?

By Master Kenobi

(blog) on 2/12/2008 5:43:28 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
I'm puzzled by anyone who claims to be interested in Blu-ray, but says they are holding off for a 2.0 player. They could buy a PS3 today and start enjoying HDM today.

Or they don't want to purchase a PS3? PS3 is a great option, if I wanted to play PS3 games as well. If I'm just watching Blu-Ray theres no need to buy a PS3 just for that, seems kind of a waste.

quote:
More often then not the people who say they are waiting for a Profile 2.0 player don't have much interest at all, and are just trying to make a cheap shot at the profile issue (which was a stupid one, but has been well covered).

Or I want the same capabilities I currently enjoy on my HD-DVD player?

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RE: A choice?

By Brandon Hill

(blog) on 2/12/2008 7:48:25 PM , Rating: 3

Well, isn't the PS3 one of the cheapest ways to get a 1080p Blu-ray player?

So why not? You get a Blu-ray player AND a gaming system.

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RE: A choice?

By EglsFly on 2/12/2008 8:56:44 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
PS3 is a great option, if I wanted to play PS3 games as well. If I'm just watching Blu-Ray theres no need to buy a PS3 just for that, seems kind of a waste.

Just because you do not have interest in playing games, doesn't make the PS3 a non option for a Blu-Ray player. In fact a lot of people over at the AVS forums would say that the PS3 is one of the best Blu-Ray players money can buy.
Purchase the remote and toss the game controller in the closet.

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RE: A choice?

By djc208 on 2/13/2008 4:32:22 PM , Rating: 3

One of the biggest issues with the PS3 as a BD player is integrating it into a cohesive home theater setup. IR control is basically non-existent, it's got a non-standard design and a large power brick to contend with.

It would be cheaper to get a combo drive for my HTPC and try to set that up but more cumbersome. All I want is a sub-$200 BD player (profile 2.0 capable, I may never use it but it's stupid to want an already obsolete player). Three simple connections, set up my universal remote, and watch a movie.

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RE: A choice?

By SavagePotato on 2/14/2008 9:31:36 AM , Rating: 1

I have to question what you know exactly about the ps3 if you are claiming there is "a large power brick to contend with"

Point of fact, no there isn't.

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RE: A choice?

By Spuke on 2/12/08, Rating: 0

RE: A choice?

By theflux on 2/12/2008 8:07:12 PM , Rating: 2

quote:

Or they don't want to purchase a PS3? PS3 is a great option, if I wanted to play PS3 games as well. If I'm just watching Blu-Ray theres no need to buy a PS3 just for that, seems kind of a waste.

Don't take this the wrong way, but if you don't want to play PS3 games, don't.

The PS3 will work perfectly fine for its entire life whilst never seeing a game disk.

What you are buying is the most powerful Blu-ray machine out today, and probably for the foreseeable future. Its also the most upgradeable, the most capable, and due to the massive numbers of them sold, also the most likely to be supported for its entire lifetime.

It isn't a waste of money in any way, other than maybe the game controller the system comes with that you'll never use. Don't forget the PS3 also functions in many ways that stand-alone BD players do not, such as streaming video from a WMP11 share, and playing DIVX/XVID files, among other things.

quote:

Or I want the same capabilities I currently enjoy on my HD-DVD player?

This is completely understandable, which is why the PS3 supports (or will shortly) everything your HD DVD player does, and more (see above).

HD DVD has some great hardware specs, and its too bad Blu-ray took so long to catch up, but the fact of the matter is that they have, in fact, caught up.

Remember that interactive features, PiP, network capabilities, HD picture, and HD audio will not be present on an upscaled DVD. If you are seriously interested in continuing to enjoy the majority of new and catalog releases in HD, you'll need a BD player (barring some huge unpredicted upset). If you need a BD player, why wait when the PS3 is the best there is today, and will most likely be the best for years to come?

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RE: A choice?

By timmiser on 2/12/2008 9:00:01 PM , Rating: 2

Plus you get Spiderman 3 and can ebay the controller for extra cash.

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RE: A choice?

By TomZ on 2/12/2008 6:16:25 PM , Rating: 2

I personally think the "profile issue" is kind of a problem because it shows a standard that is still in flux, because pre-2.0 lacks functionality, and because early adopters who purchased stand-alone (non-PS3) players essentially got burned by the process.

Sony et al. should have completed the specification and released 2.0 as the baseline spec. There's no question that, in hindsight, that was a mistake.

While I agree this is not a serious issue to most people, it for sure is at least a minor drawback to BD development.

And BTW, I personally wouldn't purchase a pre-2.0 BD player, and I also wouldn't ever purchase a PS3 as I have zero interest in gaming. I strongly prefer a "traditional" BD player component and/or a BD player integrated into a media center PC.

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RE: A choice?

By Belard on 2/12/2008 8:35:20 PM , Rating: 2

Do you even know the difference between Profile 1.1 & 2.0?

The big difference is the ability to Download content. So, it means that the customer can choose two types of players... not that 2.0 is better than 1.1. It's like buying Vista basic and vista Premo.

Even DVD players have upgraded their specs over the years. They added CD-R support, then DVD+R/-R support (not both at first), added DivX playback ability (wow, what is somewhat a pirate format becomes a standard feature) and of course up-scaling.

Keep in mind - feature sets beween Toshiba 1st gen and 2nd gen are also different. 3rd gen are cost-cutting units mostly.

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RE: A choice?

By TomZ on 2/12/2008 8:48:13 PM , Rating: 2

Yes, I agree that the main difference between 2.0 is the network connection - but that is a BIG feature. It's the difference between interactive content and non-interactive content.

Also, the network connection allows for convenient firmware updates, which is also a selling point.

As I said earlier, 2.0 should have been the baseline, in my opinion.

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RE: A choice?

By KamiXkaze on 2/12/2008 9:40:13 PM , Rating: 2

I agree that 2.0 should have been baseline and is taking way to long to come out of the gate but 1.1 will do just fine.

KxK

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RE: A choice?

By theflux on 2/12/2008 9:56:27 PM , Rating: 2

It is the baseline for 90% of the Blu-ray players on the market (or will be this year).

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RE: A choice?

By kusala on 2/12/08, Rating: 0

RE: A choice?

By theflux on 2/12/2008 10:38:43 PM , Rating: 2

Wrong. My PS3 decodes TrueHD all day long. DTS-MA is coming this year.

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RE: A choice?

By kusala on 2/13/2008 10:33:07 PM , Rating: 2

IT CANNOT DO DTS MA ITS IMPOSSIBLE. And it nly does true HD core not the masters.

quote:
Unless Sony put in a fully compliant HDMI 1.3 transmitter chip in the PS3 they will never bitstream the new codecs. This is the version that the PS3 currently uses http://www.siliconimage.com/products...ct.aspx?id=...

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RE: A choice?

By kusala on 2/13/2008 10:35:38 PM , Rating: 2

Need and edit button. This is the one the PS3 currently has. It cannot do the newest high def codecs.

http://www.siliconimage.com/products/product.aspx?...

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RE: A choice?

By winterspan on 2/14/2008 2:49:01 AM , Rating: 2

WHY is everyone obsessed with profile 2.0 players??
As far as I know, "profile 2.0" is just mandatory ethernet. So if you pickup a profile 1.1 player with ethernet/WiFi, don't you essentially have a "2.0" compatible player??

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RE: A choice?

By Blight AC on 2/12/2008 3:19:03 PM , Rating: 2

Yeah, kinda in the same boat but I haven't invested anything into Blu-Ray. I'm sad to hear Netflix will stop the HD-DVD's though, as that was my main source of HD movies. The other HD-DVD's I got were from the Amazon deal and HD-DVD promotional deal (8 "free" movies in total) and 1 as a gift. So I'm not really heavily invested either way, but it looks like I'll have to start all over again if I want to continue to build my HD library.

Course.. there's always downloadable content...

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My prediction

By diablofish on 2/12/2008 2:00:39 PM , Rating: 5

We'll get these types of posts in response to this article:

1 - Consumers are idiots for supporting Blu-Ray because it costs more and they don't know any better. HD-DVD is better because of blah blah blah and BD is better because of halb halb halb. Argument will continue until both parties are blue in the face.

2 - HD-DVD is dead and consumers are idiots if they think otherwise.

3 - Supporting either format is stupid since upscaling DVD's is "just fine" and consumers have largely ignored Hi-Def so you should too.

4 - The PS3 won it. W00t!

5 - No one buys the PS3 for playing movies.

6 - Dual format is the way to go!

7 - Blu-Ray is dead because downloadable content is coming!

There, I just saved everyone a whole bunch of time posting on these forums about the same topic for the zillionth time!

RE: My prediction

By Chaser on 2/12/2008 2:02:19 PM , Rating: 3

HA HA HA HA!

Thank you for reducing the FUD to a Reader's Digest version :)

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RE: My prediction

By JAB on 2/12/2008 2:27:40 PM , Rating: 2

FUD pretty much sums it up. Pretty sad people are so in love with it. The whole reason everyone but some of the early buyers want the war to just go away.

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RE: My prediction

By nemrod on 2/12/2008 2:09:13 PM , Rating: 3

We could still play with:
"No, HD-DVD will win. They have not said their last word. You will see"
"SONY has paid everybody"

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RE: My prediction

By Chaser on 2/12/2008 2:13:59 PM , Rating: 3

A minor change to #7:

BOTH will die because of downloadable content.

(That's the latest prediction from some of the unbiased DT HD DVD posters.)

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RE: My prediction

By bfellow on 2/12/08, Rating: -1

RE: My prediction

By omnicronx on 2/12/2008 3:05:28 PM , Rating: 5

If i wanted to watch a compressed 720p/compressed crappy audio version of a movie, i would simply use my existing cable on demand service. You are not going to see a high bandwidth 1080p service anytime soon, thus BD/HD-DVD will not be replaced by a downloading service like AppleTV anytime soon.

I would glady choose an upscalling DVD anytime over a streaming service of any kind.

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RE: My prediction

By JAB on 2/12/2008 3:58:58 PM , Rating: 2

Agreed but.....

Even upscaled DVD doesn't look all that good ones you get spoiled by the HD players if you have a good 1080P TV. If you think the infighting is bad with downloaded songs it will be even worse for movies since it take so much bandwidth to download and store them in decent quality.

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RE: My prediction

By DingieM on 2/13/2008 6:13:38 AM , Rating: 2

Disc based media is here to stay, but if downloadable movies in 720p will be mass marketed, it will push disc based media right to a small corner in the market.
Then there will be utterly cheap hard drives, flash cards and new flash based technologies (improvements actually).

It is all about mass market appeal.
Movies in 720p at around 6+ Gb is enough for most people. And the sound is good too.

Almost nobody has money for a good quality full HD and a good quality 7.1 surround set.
That is a fact and it will stay for a veeeeery long time.

So 1080p movies with the highest quality audio codec stream is only for people with large sums of cash AND for people who can actually value that few percents better video/audio quality than mainstream.

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RE: My prediction

By Oregonian2 on 2/12/2008 2:16:47 PM , Rating: 1

I think you left out

8 - People not really caring did'ly-squat who wins or that anybody does.

9 - What's Blu-Ray and HD-DVD? Kinds of fish?

10 - HD is cheap, comes with free movies, and even WB is still making them for a while. They're still probably being purchased!

Personally, I'm in the first half of #3 for at least a couple more iterations of Blu-Ray hardware, assuming the software versions are settled and bugs have been worked out for at least one generation before the one I get. I don't care what others do, so the second part of #3 isn't relevant to me. I used to stay on the bleeding edge when I was younger, I try to stay a little behind now -- yielding stuff that works better and costs less, but I don't get it for one or two years after others do. I get software of version x.y where 'y' does not equal zero. :-)

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RE: My prediction

By treehugger87 on 2/12/2008 2:51:18 PM , Rating: 1

angry mob- Ramble Ramble Ramble!

mayor- Do you honnestly think that yelling "ramble" will help the situation?

angry mob- Ramble Ramble Ramble!

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RE: My prediction

By Blight AC on 2/12/2008 3:22:47 PM , Rating: 3

It's rabble...
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rabble

rabble
1: a disorganized or confused collection of things
2 a: a disorganized or disorderly crowd of people : mob b: the lowest class of people

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RE: My prediction

By Iliketofrolic666 on 2/12/2008 8:37:57 PM , Rating: 2

Ramble Ramble

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RE: My prediction

By Owls on 2/12/2008 3:17:53 PM , Rating: 2

We just need Crystal Clear coming in to tell us how none of this matters because of the economy. I didn't know Alan Greenspan cared about HD formats.

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RE: My prediction

By SavagePotato on 2/12/2008 4:28:40 PM , Rating: 2

I'll make his post for him.

Is too shame you not understand the way economy works like I do. If you does you would know that the crocodile(what he calls the EU) is going to close it's jaws on all these exclusive deals.

It basic understanding of economics to know you must stop thinking about what is best and what customer afford, me not exclusive to any format but hd dvd is better for customer.

etc etc etc..... etc. Many references to crocodiles.

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RE: My prediction

By TomZ on 2/12/2008 6:08:51 PM , Rating: 2

Wow, making personal attacks against someone on a topic where he/she didn't even post - that's kind of a new low I think.

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RE: My prediction

By SavagePotato on 2/13/2008 3:21:32 PM , Rating: 1

It's an accurate representation is it not?

I could have nearly just copy and pasted that out of many of his posts.

I've seen lower lows in the various tomz vs justincase battle royale extravaganzas, thank you very much mr kettle.

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RE: My prediction

By crystal clear on 2/13/2008 8:57:03 PM , Rating: 2

I have refrained myself intentionally to obnserve YOUR HATE campaign against me.

You are a sick & a disgusting person-visit a doctor to get some treatment.

I do not know you & nor do I wish know your types.

I have NOT hurt you or insulted you in the past or made fun of you.

Even after this you continue your hate & mockery campaign against me.

I wish to remind you of this-

How do I get banned from DailyTech?
Occasionally we will completely ban a user or IP block from DailyTech. You can assure yourself a ban by:
* Harassing other users or employees
* Excessive use of derogatory language
* Excessive “neffing” or posting pointless, offtopic comments
* Spamming
* Registering dummy and puppet accounts

Harassing other users -thats what you are doing & have done.

In addition to the other items mentioned above also this-

Registering dummy and puppet accounts

I will not be surprised if this OWLS poster is in fact YOU !
Thats for Daily Tech to check & decide.

I do not wish to respond any further in the future- -You make a fool & mockery of yourself & I do not wish to have anything to do with you or respond to your comments.

BYE & get lost.

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RE: My prediction

By SavagePotato on 2/14/2008 9:35:51 AM , Rating: 1

Well if you want to consider one post poking fun at your obsession with the eu and crocodiles a hate campaign.

Seriously, overreact much? Compared to the assmonkeys I've had making derogatory posts about me that was little more than a cute impression of you.

Oh well back to my hate and mockery campaigns, I'm going after ze jews next.

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RE: My prediction

By shaw on 2/12/2008 3:21:47 PM , Rating: 2

Too funny. I busted out laughing at the job and people are looking at me weird.

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RE: My prediction

By Polynikes on 2/12/2008 3:49:13 PM , Rating: 2

Back to work, you terrible employee, you!

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RE: My prediction

By erikejw on 2/12/2008 6:53:56 PM , Rating: 2

Post of the year.

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Why I bought HD-DVD

By JonnyDough on 2/12/2008 3:37:48 PM , Rating: 2

I just bought an HD-DVD player (The Toshiba A20) on NewEgg for about $150. Why? Because I needed a new DVD player and I wanted one that would upscale to 1080P. A regular DVD player is $70 or so anyway, what's another $80 for high def? $80 isn't that much to me when I bought a huge tv for $2k. Now if only these idiotic companies that rent movies would quit hating Microsoft for a second and worry about the goshdarn consumer all would be swell. I can't believe mail movie companies like NetFlix won't offer both. This is just stupid.

RE: Why I bought HD-DVD

By JonnyDough on 2/12/2008 3:43:15 PM , Rating: 1

I might also add that the cheapest Blu-Ray player I could find was $399. HD-DVD discs are also cheaper, and have a thicker layer between the read and the surface (so you can repair them and they don't get un-readable so easily). HD-DVD is the obvious choice to me. I don't get why everyone pushes Blu-Ray just because of a bit more capacity. If I remember correctly, HD-DVD could fit just about as much due to compression or something. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

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RE: Why I bought HD-DVD

By theflux on 2/12/2008 3:48:44 PM , Rating: 5

The protective layer for HD DVD is thicker, but it is made of a much softer material. The force required to scratch a BD in a way that it is unplayable would similarly render an HD DVD unrepairable. HD DVDs are just as easy to scratch as DVDs, and since the data pits are smaller they are more easily affected by them. They can be resurfaced, but Blu-ray does not need to be resurfaced because it resists these types of superficial scratches. I rent heavily from Netflix and Blockbuster, and I have never seen a scratched BD. My Planet Earth came from Amazon with the disks "floating" which usually means scratch city on the disks. Instead, they were immaculate.

Secondly, Blu-ray and HD DVD have the same codec support, so for any technique HD DVD uses to fit more data, Blu-ray can use the same and still have greater capacity.

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RE: Why I bought HD-DVD

By JonnyDough on 2/12/2008 4:08:02 PM , Rating: 1

Thanks for the info. Do you have a source? It's not that I don't believe you, it's that I don't trust everything people say online. ;-)

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RE: Why I bought HD-DVD

By DigitalFreak on 2/12/2008 7:09:35 PM , Rating: 2

I think we need to make up a new number for you.

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RE: Why I bought HD-DVD

By grampaw on 2/12/2008 5:00:25 PM , Rating: 2

I bought my A20 a year ago to go along with my PS3 Blu-ray player. Although I paid more than $150, I've been using it for a whole year to play both upscaled to 1080p standard DVDs and HD-DVDs. Plan all along was to use the A20 to upscale, since the PS3 is a regular room heater compared to the A20.

And in fact, I just recently bought another PS3 for Blu-ray, and an A3 (less than $100) for both upscaling SD and playing HD-DVDs on the other big screen TV at the house.

This "Format War" has always been a non-issue to me. If the HD-DVD standard dies, it just means I use the HD-DVD player only for upscaling.

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A 'too bad' response

By ZoZo on 2/12/2008 3:21:44 PM , Rating: 3

So they're saying "too bad".
That kind of response from PR is akin to declaring defeat. Usually they defy that kind of news by reminding whatever is still going for them and praising how good their product is.

RE: A 'too bad' response

By JonnyDough on 2/12/08, Rating: -1

RE: A 'too bad' response

By TomZ on 2/12/2008 4:12:52 PM , Rating: 2

I disagree that DT coverage has, as a whole, been biased this way or that, with respect to the "format war."

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RE: A 'too bad' response

By JonnyDough on 2/12/08, Rating: 0

RE: A 'too bad' response

By omnicronx on 2/12/2008 4:40:39 PM , Rating: 2

You cant rate someone down once you have posted, and if you have it goes away. Someone else rated you down, unless Tomz has his secret account for down rating people.. just for spite....

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RE: A 'too bad' response

By JonnyDough on 2/12/08, Rating: 0

RE: A 'too bad' response

By JustTom on 2/12/2008 5:27:55 PM , Rating: 2

Once you post the rating goes away, try it and see.

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RE: A 'too bad' response

By TomZ on 2/12/2008 8:56:02 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
unless Tomz has his secret account for down rating people.. just for spite....

Nope, and never will, for two reasons:

1. A person having multiple accounts for this purpose lacks personal integrity.

2. It's not worth my time to set up additional account(s) for the purpose of downrating someone else. I mean, who cares that much?

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RE: A 'too bad' response

By TomZ on 2/12/2008 8:50:10 PM , Rating: 2

No, I didn't down-rate you. No, I don't work for TG (whomever that is) or DT. Own my own company.

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Money

By bigbusinessgreed on 2/12/08, Rating: 0

RE: Money

By Chaser on 2/12/2008 5:18:35 PM , Rating: 4

Wow, some people don't read all the posts I guess.

How about they are seeing overwhelming BR sales compared to HD DVD sales?

If hardly anyone is buying your product the best profits will never materialize.

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RE: Money

By sweetsauce on 2/12/2008 9:33:41 PM , Rating: 1

quote:
How about they are seeing overwhelming BR sales compared to HD DVD sales?

How about they release the movies on both format and see who the consumer chooses? Im sure it will be overwhelming in favor of HD-DVD. I personally haven't purchased an HD-DVD movie since i bought the damn thing last year since theres nothing worth buying. Consumers didn't choose which to support, they chose the one that was thrown at them.

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RE: Money

By Spuke on 2/12/2008 11:29:47 PM , Rating: 2

Last time I checked, the movie studios were privately owned. Meaning that WE didn't choose anything. The STUDIOS did. How do you guys equate a companies choice with your own choice? They chose, we didn't.

Walk up to someone on the street and ask them which format they chose. And NO your friends and family don't count.

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RE: Money

By Targon on 2/13/2008 9:04:54 AM , Rating: 2

This reminds me a lot of the current situation with the primaries(the Democratic and Republican primaries). With 0 percent of the vote in, we predict that such and such will win.

Right now, the vast majority of people don't have an HD capable screen yet due to $700 for the cheapest flat panel compared to a $200 CRT TV. Then you have the hype that Sony has put out there because the Playstation 3 comes with Blu-Ray built in, and these are a vast minority of people. Most people with a HD capable screen are using cable or going with a satellite for their HD programming. Or they use a conventional(not even an upscaling) DVD player, so they just don't know what to buy.

The exclusive garbage that studios are going with is the problem, and they really should not be taking sides just yet. As time goes on, more and more people will be getting a HD capable TV, but not until next year.

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All i want to know is...

By kattanna on 2/12/2008 3:50:49 PM , Rating: 2

when can i finally go and buy the extended editions of the LOTR movies?

cause i aint buying a player until then. Though i know it will be blue-ray, but still, when?

until then, i will make do with the TNT HD versions of the movies, which look DAMN GOOD, that i have DVR'd.

RE: All i want to know is...

By AlphaVirus on 2/12/2008 5:13:01 PM , Rating: 2

Once you get an actual HD player and an HD format, HDDVD or BluRay, you will think twice about saying TNT HD looks dang good. Everything else will become Standard Definition to you and our current standard def will become unbearable.

Its kind of like driving a Mustang or Camaro for a month then switching to a Camry or Malibu, everything just feels dull.

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Funny thing

By ShaiKhulud on 2/13/2008 8:31:07 AM , Rating: 2

And is some non-hi-tech countries Blu-ray already won because of PS3. (I know that, i`m from Russia)
So, conclusion in fact... Your format allied to some conosle - your format wins. Pretty simple, eh? =)

RE: Funny thing

By sweetsauce on 2/13/2008 11:22:59 AM , Rating: 2

Thats correct to a point. Had microsoft added an HD-DVD drive to the 360, it might have helped with the studio support, but it wouldn't change the fact that the ps3 will be much bigger than the 360 worldwide.

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Title typo

By Jason H on 2/12/2008 3:01:59 PM , Rating: 3

Should be "Whimpers".

I'm just glad...

By sjvlad on 2/12/2008 6:36:27 PM , Rating: 2

..that one spec really seems to be winning. I would have prefered HD-DVD personally, since I'm not a big Sony fan, but I'd much rather have a single format then this pointless division and endless bickering.

format war?

By highwaystar on 2/12/2008 10:54:29 PM , Rating: 2

1. Foreign companies cannot own US stations.
2. Buy Studio for its content. (The 3 Stooges)
3. Cannot win format war on merit? pay off studios(The selling of the USA)
4. Let's see, control content, distribution of content(disks), and hardware to play content.
5. = Control industry, no need to buy stations. Charge what you want for content other$ will follow lead. (see #3)
6. ?. How do I control independents? Oh yes, block content distribution on internet. Force them to use my disks. ( I will never forget loosing the VHS wars)

It bothers me to see a foreign name under the Lady who has been holding the torch for almost 100 years.

New Topic

By whickywhickyjim on 2/12/2008 10:55:00 PM , Rating: 2

Here's a point no one is talking about (that i've noticed, anyway). Anyone else think that it's bizarre that sony has outsourced part of the ps3 production to Toshiba? Toshiba being one of the main backers of hd dvd...and a co-producer of the cell chip with Sony and IBM. Strange.

By Howard on 2/12/2008 11:00:43 PM , Rating: 2

whimpers

Booo hoo hoo hoo

By Oroka on 2/12/2008 11:11:08 PM , Rating: 2

Who cares what HD-DVD cronies think. They should be putting out resumes rather than crying over loosing the race.

Issues with HD DVD

By whirabomber on 2/15/2008 1:37:59 PM , Rating: 2

The only issues I've had with HD DVD is the tendency for publishers to foist dual format disks on consumers for $8-10 more than what I can get the disk for in blu-ray. Just make a HD DVD only HD DVD and I'll be happy. I don't need the standard DVD format on the other side of the disk, honest.

I have both formats and don't see any huge difference in either. Add the fact that very few movies really would have any experience added by going up to HD, and you will find that there really isn't much to fight over.