Blu-Ray beats HD-DVD for second month

or..burn it for a nickle..

 

exactly. Or I can even buy legit ones when I go to china for $0.60

 

Once again Sony shows they are No.1 in the world at blowing smoke. Sure, Blu-Ray will beat HD-DVD and it make not take a long time. But what real incentive is there for all consumers to COMPLETELY replace current DVDs within 3 years? From the start, DVDs were compelling upgrades from video cassettes for obvious reasons. The DVD to Blu-Ray migration is a tougher sell. It's silly for Sony to make a statement like this and just shows you can't take most of what they say seriously.

 

I'm going to be writing a long e-mail to Bill Gates to figure out what the f*ck he is thinking cause I really don't know. I just wanna know what he plans to do when HD DVD croaks with all these HD DVD add-on drives for XBox 360 floating around? What's the story? I think we deserve an answer. I want another add-on kit to convert my HD DVD to Blu Ray...lol.

 

I prefer laserdisk.

 

ITA, A_3PO. The difference between a VHS tape and a DVD was dramatic: in quality of picture, quality of sound, ease-of-use, durability, and additional features (trailer, behind the scenes, subs, etc.), the move from VHS to DVD was an easy choice.

What do HD-DVD/Blu-Ray offer the average consumer? More durable? Not really. Better sound? Not really. Easier to use? Maybe only slightly. HD picture? In a world where the vast majority of people don't have HD TVs and aren't ready to shell out a grand to get one, that's not going to make people switch. More "special features"? That feature better be pretty special to make people even consider spending hundreds, if not thousands, to replace their gear and current movie library.

To me, the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray is this generation's Laserdisc: superior and yet (barring a MAJOR price drop in discs and equipment) destined to be a niche product.

 

I actually like that bit of fuzziness you see at the movie theater -- i'm not sure I really care about HD movies. Sports and some nature documentaries is a different story, but movies in general -- meh.

 

You may want to read that article again a little closer...

Spoiler

Frank Simonis is not associated with Sony; he's the European chairman for the BDA, and I believe he works (or worked) for Philips. It is pretty easy to be the #1 company at blowing smoke if you attribute every comment like this to them, disregarding the fact that the comment may be coming from another company.

I don't necessarily disagree with you though. I think it is very optimistic to think that Blu-ray would be able to replace DVD in 3 years. And this is despite the fact that I really want to check out some BR/HD DVD movies on a HD display after finally seeing some DVD movies on a HDTV.

If it helped to slow down Blu-ray/PS3 sales, it was worth it for them I suppose. That's probably what they were thinking.

If sales of HDTVs continue to grow, it will probably be bigger than just a niche product. This will take some time though. It seems like $300 BR players will hit the market by the end of the year (with HD DVD players around that price being released prior to that), so perhaps they can make these things more of an impulse buy in the next few years (why not give it a try for that price, especially if it will upscale all the DVD movies you have).

It will be nice if they add some extra incentives though. I know Sony was considering including MP4 versions of their movies on the BR disc so that you could play the movie on your iPod, PSP, or some other portable video player. Kind of part of the MMC stuff they talked about early on, but we've seen little about it since.

 

Casino Royale was definitely worth the extra cash to have in high def. What bugs me are the combo titles on HD-DVD that force you to pay 10 extra bucks for a DVD version that will never get played.

 

Completely agree. DVD's are great for picture quality until you start watching a lot of HD material. I want something better but I am hardly willing to deal with both formats and two separate players.

 

Dad? Is that you?

 

Then get a Blu-ray player(or a PS3). Only Universal is exclusive to HD-DVD right now. Ok, so is the Weinstein Co., but their library consists of maybe 15 titles at the moment(Clerks II being the most notable).