The end for HD DVD?

Well ya can't say I didn't warn you HD DVD notjob fanatics.
http://www.dvdtown.com/messageboard/topic/5427/6/0

Now get on your knees and apologize for attacking me like a pack of wild dogs.

[Post edited by sumlikeitnot on Jan 4, 2008]

Wow... While the Blu-Ray format is just as good a quality as HD-DVD the flexability is not even close. If this war goes to Blu-Ray that means you can no longer buy one disc to enjoy through-out the house unless you strictly had HD TVs only. I don't believe this is the case for many people. What a ridiculous decision, when HD-DVD players are outselling Blu-Ray, not just because of price, but flexibility. You can have dual sided HD-DVDs that play in both standard DVD players and HD, however you cannot with Blu-Ray.....what sense does that make for anybody?? Sony has a good name, don't get me wrong, but they have fluffed the market to believe that they have a better quality and ignore the flexibility factor, so most people new to the formats don't understand that now it will cost you. Instead of just 25-30 dollars to be able to enjoy a movie in your house, you will now need to shell out 50-55 dollars in order to enjoy in your whole house because you will now need to buy two formats. Unless someone who is a Sony supporter can tell me something different that would counter that argument, this is a sad day for anyone who knows and understands what could have been.

Well . . . You know what this calls for?

Hey, since HD is still usually double the price, I can save that money for important things.

I really dont see this helping either format.

hmm....still no legitiment argument back??...hmmm

damn u warner!!! sony will stab u in the back once its done with yah.

Microsoft!!!! Please buy Warner Bros!!!

Why Warner? Why? This thing wasn't supposed to go this way...

BYE BYE HD.

Its the old saying it aint over til its over.....65-35 is number HD has been fighting since ps-3, and its still here. If some of these lower cost chinese dual players make their way into the market later this year as promised, it will still mean studios can release whatever they supposrt / is cheapest to make. Personally I (as most hd buyers did according to sales figures) waited for a long time before getting into it, getting a HD-DVD for a $100 bucks, add 2 movies for $45, not to mention the 7 freebees. Should blu-ray end being the sole survivor, Im not in deep $$, and as part of my original thinking Ill have a pretty decent upconverter for a few years yet. The few HD-dvds I do have play on conventional players as well, so Im not worried or upset. I never had and still have NO intention of getting blu-ray until I can get one for the same price (sub $150), and I could care less if thats years away. Its clear 95% of the general public feels that way as well based on the fact that all HD sales total are minimal. Upconverted DVD, even regular dvd really is so good that the hi-def stuff is going to have to get pretty cheap before joe public joins in full. Its true that the real obstacle to hi-def is DVD itself.

Well, if some HD-DVD owners start dumping their HD-DVD movies, I'll definitely be looking to pick up some at firesale prices!

Just as long as they are unopened (new and sealed).

I really doubt that HD-DVD players will disappear for a long time.

But for new releases, obviously Blu-ray is the way to go.

Next up from Warner this month: TWISTER

-Love Hendrix! (The Loverboy)
~ DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray/KURO Plasma owner ~

drewj,

Toshiba HD DVD players outsell the higher priced Blu-ray players because they are giving them away like dried cow turds at a country flea market.

I'm sure Toshiba will file chapter 11 before long.

If Blu-Ray wins the loser is the consumer. You can look forward to overpriced players playing overpriced disks with less features and flexibility. I went with HD for the dual format disks, the quality, the features and the reliability. If Blu-Ray wins my HD DVD player does such a great job upconverting regular DVDs that I'll switch back to DVDs. It's HD DVD or nothing for me.

The final headline for 2008 may well be:

"Blu-Ray wins the Battle, and Nobody Gives a Damn."

Nobody except for the minuscule percentage of consumers who bought either format, a number not even large enough to count either format as a niche product.

My fervent hope is that either Blu-Ray or HD "wins" and people finally stop talking about this nonsense.

An no matter what, SD is still the "winner" and no-holds-barred champeen for years to come.

somelikeitnot
Wow..that's a really good argument...hmmm..let me know when you have information that tells me why Blu-Ray is better, other than the fact that you just think Sony is cool. Let me know why a consumer should go with a disc that doesn't offer any flexibility, only a disc that let's Sony finally have their exclusive rights to the market...

Like I said in the other thread, "Money talks and bullshit runs the marathon" Ummm has anyone seen Billy Gates anywhere????? What a shame, what a shame.

this is awful news for movie fans.
fony have convinced warner to change there mind about not betting a format on a game console, and have obviously greased a few palms ala paramount.

i have lost a lot of respect for warner now following this decision, im not as immature as say your avegare blu ray fan boy who wont buy sd from them as i will be, but hell will freeze over first before i buy a blu ray disc or player.
they have chosen to ignore the ground that hd dvd has gained on bd, not to mention that standalone players have left bd players in the dust

This is so interesting ! Few months ago Paramount dropped its BD support. Now Warner supports BD and everyone rants about it. I don't blame people for this but it is a fair game. Like Jason said, the timing is very questionable and we will see more hate because of new HD-DVD adopters. Warner should have dropped HD-DVD support before thanksgiving giving consumers fair chance to pick sides.

There will be no legal ramifications for WB on this. WB decision was simple - support format that sold more copies and BD has been beating HD in software sales for quite some time now.

[Post edited by rpruthee on Jan 4, 2008]

Quote:
The final headline for 2008 may well be:

"Blu-Ray wins the Battle, and Nobody Gives a Damn."

Nobody except for the minuscule percentage of consumers who bought either format, a number not even large enough to count either format as a niche product.

My fervent hope is that either Blu-Ray or HD "wins" and people finally stop talking about this nonsense.

An no matter what, SD is still the "winner" and no-holds-barred champeen for years to come.

100% agree!

drewj,

I'll tell you why the Blu-ray Disc is better since you asked so politely.

1. Uncompressed audio
2. 50GB on a dual-layer disc space
3. Scratch Resistant Discs
4. Rewritable Discs
5. Faster Data transfer rate (video/audio)
6. Faster Bit rate


Hardware:
1. Wifi (PS3)
2. Bluetooth 2.0 (PS3)
3. Remote Start from any WiFi spot (PS3)
4. Upgradable Harddrive (PS3)
5. PIP (New)
6. Movie Web-Enabled Capability (Coming 2008)
7. DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW playback (HD DVD only plays back DVD-R, DVD-RW)
8. Seamless Branching

[Post edited by sumlikeitnot on Jan 5, 2008]

Once again those in the Blu Ray camp are telling lies to try to make an inferior product look like it's the better choice. My HD DVD player plays DVD+R no problem, it has played everything I have thrown in it with out a glitch. PIP already on HD DVD, Web Enabled is already on HD DVD, if a movie fits on a 15 gb disk why do you need 50? Plus HD DVD is working on 51 GB disk anyway. Faster transfer rates, than why does HD DVD win in picture quality? Also all the other features there bragging about are on the PS3 not on the stand alone players. I did not fall for the overpriced hype and waste money on a PS3 I bought a Wii. That's the problem with Sony they try to force you to buy what they want not what the consumer wants. Unlike in the gaming world were people have seen the light and Wii is kicking Sony's butt the movie buffs have fallen for the BS. It's a sad day if Blu Ray wins.

[Post edited by Kezia on Jan 5, 2008]

Well Drewj you would like a "legitiment argument". Well it looked like your biggest complaint was that you don't have both a standard def and a HD version on Blu-ray, And you said that HD DVD players are out selling Blu-ray players. On the second note, I don't know where you get your information but HD DVD players are not out selling Blu-ray. Most of the time you SAW those claims they had the little tag "stand alone players" added to their statement. Blu-ray is and has been selling more players for quite some time, the PS3 can't be ignored as a legitimate player in peoples homes. Plus Blu-ray discs are and have been out selling HD DVD around 2 to 1. As far as flexability, I hate to think what you said when DVD was replacing VHS. But to chear you up a little (hopefully) JVC has developed a three layer technology that allows putting both standard-definition DVD data and HD data on a BD/DVD combo. You have to look at the big picture, you said sony had made the market to believe that they have a better quality format. Well I won't argue with you, on that point you are correct, it is better. Though they both show a full HD picture the capacity between them and thus the potential of them is a big difference, currently we are talking about a difference between 30GB HD DVD and 50GB Blu-ray, oh wait you probably wanted to mention that HD DVD has 51GB disc in the making, well Blu-ray has up to 250GB disc capability. So don't be too sad when HD DVD goes under.

Yay! Now I can look forward to even more high priced disks with LESS than I get on the standard DVD version! Why please the consumer when you can do whatever you want with your format?

I'm new to this forum but have been reading with great interest since the WB announcement.
What's with all this bitterness about Warner's decision to go Blu exclusive ? Everyone who bought into HD (HD-DVD or Blu-Ray) this early knew that it was a risk picking one side over another. I picked Blu-Ray mainly because of studio support, primarily Disney's support. In the big scheme of things, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are pretty close in quality. Either side can end up with a better encode on one title over another.

I didn't see anyone complaining that there was only one DVD format being forced down our throat. Did you want competing formats on that front too ?

It makes no sense to have two competing formats. This only causes people to wait for a "winner". In the meantime, prices are high due to low demand and nobody wins.

Warner Brothers picked a side. So did Paramount. So did Disney. And so did Fox. Whether they got "paid off" or not is almost moot. It comes down to a business decision in the long run. Bribe money will only last so long if you ended up picking the "wrong" side. Either Paramount or Warner will be sorry. If you ask me, it'll be Paramount. I think the writing is on the wall for HD-DVD - like it or not.

[Post edited by PStahl on Jan 5, 2008]

Now, I have a unique vantage in that I have both. I covered my bases because I have a PS3, but I bought an HD-DVD player because the A-35 was so cheap for a plethora of features. The money wasn't a big issue, and besides I don't generally buy movies, I rent them through an online service. In fact, I don't really understand buying movies in any format, short of the very few that are either unavailable to rent or so well loved that you MUST have it on hand.

Now, eventually, if this is truly the end of this epic conflict, I'm going to want to but a stand alone BR player with good features for a decent price. Apparantly, right now, there are none. Every player I see with equivalent features to the A-35 is ridiculously priced. Can anyone reccomend one? Or is it a matter of wait and see?

Next, is it actually true that while BR discs can theoretically be formated to hold 50gb worth of data vs. HD-DVD's 30, most BR films are on the 25gb disc?

Is it true that the software that runs the BR discs somehow faulty? I keep hearing about Java...

Lastly, on the one or two movies that I have seen on both BR and HDDVD, it SEEMED to me that the HDDVD version was slightly sharper. Is there any basis for this impression?

Whoever basically said that all of us who took the plunge before a clear winner emerged, knew the risk and there really is no sense in getting so upset about it. I suppose those of us who waited until hd units were very reasonable priced don't really care too much either. I would bet had hd-dvd or blu-ray had dropped their prices to sub $200 a year ago this would have already been completely over in favor of the first to really offer low price. This thing was starting to lean toward hd as the cost became attractive. One little thing that I guess always bugged me tho'- I have seen how the blu-ray supporters always use the argument that the higher capacity disc as this great thing, but I'll let you in on a little secret. Nobody over 10 people really ever gaves a rats-butt about that. If I can see a movie in high-def why would I care about how much data the disc can hold. Hey, my computer can hold 500gs, hey mine can hold 100gs? Wowee!! I honestly haven't seen anyone out there burning anything with blank blu-ray or hd yet. By the time their affordable for people to care, something better will be along. I guess I must give Sony credit with putting blu into PS3. Had Microsoft done the same with all 360's when they first came out, nobody would even know what a blu-ray player was (most people still dont).

Quote:
why would I care about how much data the disc can hold

Two words" "Bit Rate".
The more space you have on a disc the higher the bit rate you can use.
The higher the bit rate, the lower the compression required which leads to prettier pictures.
More space = more gooder.

more space- prettier picture....

OK....Sounds good, when are they gonna start offering the prettier picture and I'll run out and re-mortgage the house to buy a blu-ray.
......problem is I honestly have yet to see a better picture than hd-dvd has offered.
I was unimpressed with a friends ps3 and anothers brd player (yes all the best cables, good hd tv, all the right settings), if thats what more space and higher bit rate can do, Ill stick to a up-converted over blu-ray. There ain't much diff (in my humble opinion). According to all the comments and posts Ive read, I don't think I'm alone in this opinion.