Re: Toshiba Deploys New HD DVD Marketing campaign

If Toshiba wants to win the war all it would have to do is have the largest Chinese electronics manufacturer produce its entry level HDDVD player (A2) and tie its retail price to Sonys upconverting DVD player. Game over.

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Sony and Blu-Ray winning "the war" is not good for the consumer, and anyone who thinks so is incredibly naive. Sony winning outright means higher prices, and less urgency in fixing all of their hardware and software issues, because, if you don't like it, so what? What are you going to do about it? What everyone's goal should be is for both formats to co-exist, much like X-box, PS, and Wii do now. If all or most studios were format-neutral, people could choose their format based on the company they trust, and maybe based on the gaming system they own. I am an HD DVD supporter, and would love to see a comeback, but in the end, I would just love to see everything available to everyone who wants it.

I totally agree with what is being said here. I also would love to see both formats continue, and all studios release all their movies on both formats. Competition is always a good thing. I wonder how the sales would go between blu ray and hd dvd if that were the case.

wkomar,

Competition is a good thing, but indecision can be costly ... and in the end, counterproductive. This confusion is what has held back Hi Def from reaching it's full potential. Warner Bros. realized this, and that's one of the reasons why they went Blu-ray exclusive.

Blu-ray having won this war is very good for the consumer. We are ending up with the superior format, in storage capacity, bit rate, and scratch resistance. As the remaining 2 studios go Blu-ray consumers will finally be able to get all of their titles on 1 format and then we'll all be able to enjoy the best movies (best being whatever is your favorite) on the best Hi Def format.

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Blu-ray having won this war is very good for the consumer. We are ending up with the superior format, in storage capacity, bit rate, and scratch resistance. As the remaining 2 studios go Blu-ray consumers will finally be able to get all of their titles on 1 format and then we'll all be able to enjoy the best movies (best being whatever is your favorite) on the best Hi Def format.

First of all bluray hasn't won jack.

Second, the only reason Warner Bros went bluray exclusive is because they got paid $500 million, it's hard for any studio to pass up that kind of offer.

Bluray is NOT the superior format as it's still far from complete. All you have to do is read about the mess with waiting for a bluray player that has profile 2.0 to match all these features already offered by HD DVD since day 1. Remember bluray players that are profile 1.0 (first generation) are not upgradeable to profile 1.1 or 2.0, and the current 1.1 players are not upgradeable to profile 2.0 with the exception of maybe the PS3.

Storage capacity is a joke because HD DVD has been able to fit 1080P/24 video with HD audio on every disk PLUS interactive features that work on EVERY player. The bit rate argument is mush since bluray is now matching the picture quality of HD DVD's since they started using better codecs.

Scratch resistance we all know bluray uses protective coating out of necessity because the laser runs much closer to the surface than HD DVD, thus HD DVD does not need the protective layer.

As far as Universal, Paramount, Dreamworks and other studios, they have all clearly stated that they will continue releasing on HD DVD.

funstuff = bluray fanboy extreme.

Falcon01,

You are simply telling lies at this point. It is well documented that no money was exchanged in order for Warner Bros. to go Blu. It just took some common sense. Google it if you need.

Still making the same old arguments are you? Blu-ray already has the feature set that most people care about, and the little misc. bits are just around the corner. Firmware upgrades make them a since.

The Blu-ray spec is simply superior to HD DVD. There have been countless documented cases on numerous boards about HD DVDs getting scratched easily - it's a fact, they have less protection. You can't win the size argument so you'll say it doesn't matter ... nice try.

As for the last remaining 2 studios ... LOL - umm didn't Warner say something similar before they dropped the BOMB on Toshiba. DOH!

If you can't read between the lines of Universal NOT renewing their exclusive deal with Toshiba then you don't understand what's going on here.

funstuff, you are so hard times.

It as actually well documented that Warner took $500 million. Google it yourself.

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Blu-ray already has the feature set that most people care about, and the little misc. bits are just around the corner.

Whats the feature most people care about? Backward incompatibility? Theres news of bluray players finally having web ability (profile 2.0), ummmm when are they coming out? Can you post some links as to exact release dates? We're talking about possibly summer 2008, 2 years after HD DVD had all those features included in it's spec. Talk about a little late to the party huh.

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You can't win the size argument

The DVD consortium just approved a 51 GB disk. Get over it.

Clearly you are still trying to mislead people the way the bluray camp has and it needs to stop.

Since Warner had a contract with HD DVD, they had the best of worlds... collecting money from both sides to form a contract to release on both formats. I wouldn't be surprised if BDA offered Warner a load of money, and I wouldn't be surprised if the HD DVD guys weren't doing the same. They should have grabbed both IMO. 1 Billion is way better than 500 million.

I really wanted HD DVD to win this format war. I think HD DVD is the better product. However, with the announcement by Warner Brothers, I hope that HD DVD will bow out of the race as soon as possible. When I was reading this new marketing campaign story, the only thing I could think about is........Sounds great but what good is all that if I can't get half the movies I want to watch on it? If Toshiba and HD DVD want to get me (an HD DVD supporter) off the fence and buy one of their players, than they need to first win the support of the movie studios. As much as I hate to say it, I hope Blu-ray/Sony can go in for the final kill so I can go out and get a Blu-ray player and finally start watching movies in HD!

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so I can go out and get a Blu-ray player and finally start watching movies in HD!

I'm curious. What's stopping you now?

I will admit that the blu ray technology has the potential to go further, BUT the fact that Sony are the ones driving it is where the real issue lies.

A wise man in a public urinal once told me, "Its not the size that counts, its how you use it."

Having said that the HD DVD technology can still go much further than what it is at today. So there's still plenty of room to grow before it hits it's potential limits and we are forced to utilise newer technologies.

Sony used to be great, I absolutely loved Sony hardware. But then they started going cheap nasty and making their crap as cheaply as possible to make as much profit as they could (I dunno why, was there a new Sony CEO in the last 10 years or so??). Sony no longer means quality, which is sad, but there it is. It will be the exact same for blu ray should Sony no longer have any competition.