you sure about the upconvert being the best? i had compared it with my samsung bdp1200 (which uses the same chip as the toshibia hd-dvd player) and it wasnt as good as my sammy. the sammy also has a built-in RJ-45 connection so firmware upgrades are a total ease as well. i think the price has dropped down to 300-400 now for it. also microsoft did not put any money into getting HD-DVD paramount/DW exclusive that was all toshiba and its other investors. if up to microsoft they would prefer non-media format (download only) HD movies
I haven't seen exact numbers in a while, but PS3s probably make up over half of all HD player sales, not just Blu-ray. Don't know if the PS3 helped decide the format war (most of the industry supported Blu-ray), although it probably did help quicken things a bit. Doesn't hurt that, similar to the PS2, it will put these players inside people's homes. Blu-ray might have won the war regardless, but it may not have been a "successful" format (may not even be one with the PS3). Not really sure Sony would have gone backrupt in pushing Blu-ray regardless...unless it was just really bad. I kind of wonder how Toshiba will be affected by this war in the long run. I can understand where you're coming from, and I do feel sorry for people that were caught up in all this. That said, it is a format war. This stuff happens in a format war, and its probably why a large number of people haven't bothered with either format yet. I certainly wouldn't feel all that comfortable with investing in either format all that much, particularly HD DVD. I think it is a nice move on WB's part that they'll still be honoring the HD DVD titles they've announced through May. It did seem like HD DVD could have some momentum these last 3-4 months (release of $199-and-under players, major movies being released from Paramount/Dreamworks and other studios, etc.), so it made sense that Warner would wait and see how that turned out. Blu-ray had been winning the war, but the market is so small that these things could have drastically changed things. They said back then that they would possibly back one format after seeing the sales numbers from the 4th quarter, and that's exactly what they did. I'm grateful that they didn't just stay neutral for another 12-18 months, waiting for someone else to make a decision. I can get some numbers for you if you want them, but yeah, that's true. Movie sales in the US are over 2:1 in favor of Blu-ray, and I think they've "won" every week in 2007 or close to it (more Blu-ray movies were sold than HD DVD). For Warner specifically, I believe the Blu-ray versions of movies sell better than their HD DVD counterparts, which has been the case for practically all movies on both formats (even the Paramount/DW movies). Standalone player sales are closer, and I think even in favor of HD DVD in the US (although Blu-ray players are apparently selling better now). That ignores all PS3 sales though, which as I said earlier, is a large factor in the war. Those numbers are just for the US, where things are actually the closest AFAIK. In Europe (and maybe Australia too I think?), I think Blu-ray has like 75%-80% of the market, and it has something like 95% of the market in Japan. To be fair though, I don't think any of these markets really compare to the one in the US (unless maybe you combine them all). Why? I hate the format war, but I like what the formats bring to the table. I just want one of them on the market and not two. As chow_yun_fat said, Sony isn't the sole creator and "owner" of the Blu-ray format. I have no idea if they share the profits equally though. I think there are like 7-9 companies that were the "founders" of the format (and many more that are apart of the BDA), although I want to say that Sony, Matsush ita, and maybe Pioneer were investing in the format long before others (Sony was putting out unofficial Blu-ray devices years ago). IOW, those companies probably have more to do with the creation of the format, although I don't know if they end up receiving more money than the other companies. I suppose they could also negotiate to give "power" to companies that had little to do with the format, at least early on. For example, the BDA may give WB some IP rights to Blu-ray due to this move, even though they probably didn't do much for the format (think they actually had a lot of patents for HD DVD). WB is one of the bigger studios out there (own the rights to Matrix, Batman, Superman, 300, etc.), and they're probably having the most success with HD movies. They were the last (major) neutral studio supporting both formats. The popular opinion is that this move ends the format war. That probably isn't technically correct, although it is pretty unlikely that HD DVD will win (even more so than it was). It is possible that Toshiba and the rest of the HD DVD crew may read the writing on the wall and attempt to end things in the near future, although I suppose that if sales got out of hand, they may not have much of a choice. Retailers hate this format war, and if sales become even more lopsided towards Blu-ray, it wouldn't be surprising if they stop carrying HD DVD. Assuming Blu-ray is the format winner, I don't really see why the HD DVD studios would continue to support HD DVD. The market is still pretty small, and I'm not even sure they'd be profiting if they continued to support the format at that point. Despite what most people thought (including myself), it does seem as though MS had nothing directly to do with the Paramount/DW deal (although I'm still not 100% sold on that to be honest). Nevertheless, Microsoft's support of HD DVD has certainly helped slow adoption of Blu-ray and HD movies in general. Which is basically their goal, as you mentioned.
I was referring to HD movies on physical media (HD DVD, Blu-ray, or even that other format I can't remember at the moment). Although I suppose slowing adoption of HD movies could help digital distribution pick of steam (would be easier to focus on distributing non-HD movies with DD as opposed to HD movies, although probably still near-impossible to really go mainstream either way at this point).
it's "one of the best", not *THE* best...that was a poor choice of words by lalala the PS3 is most certainly above average when it comes to the full range and scope of all upconverting DVD players out there
true. and probably the worst gaming console who else feels that the ps3 was built more to push bluray than it was for actual gaming?
http://formatwarcentral.com/index.php/2008/01/04/warner-swayed-by-500-million-from-the-bda/ Warner Swayed By $500 Million From The BDA Posted on January 4, 2008 by Tyler Pruitt Filed Under Format War, HD DVD, Blu-ray, Studios | According to a trusted source that was close to the negotiations, Warner and FOX were working on a deal to go Exclusive to HD DVD as recent as last week. Our source tells us that Warner was only willing to go to HD DVD if FOX would go with them. Their thinking was if they just went to HD DVD by themselves, it would not end the format war. Early this week FOX was paid an undisclosed amount to remain exclusive to Blu-ray. With the FOX deal falling through, Warner had no choice but to accept the BDA’s $500 Million offer to go Blu-ray exclusive. We do wonder if FOX was just playing the HD DVD side, while having no intentions of ever switching.
Paramount/Dreamworks made a very, very smart and timely financial decision. That $150 million dollar deal is looking like 50's Vitamin Water deal. They get to cake off even more in about a year...Too easy. If only the Xbox would've been HD DVD-enabled out the box, this war would have been over a while ago...IMO.
I'd be pretty interested in those head to head numbers actually (where the format is actually supported on both systems) though even with the system sales becoming closer due to HD-DVD price drops, you gotta believe that the people buying a Blu-Ray/PS3 are more likely to buy the actual HD movies. This is because 1)People who are going HD because of a $100 player are less likely to be willing to spend $30 bucks on an HD movie compared with someone who was willing to spend $400 on a system. 2)The HD group that came in because of the low cost player are probably more content with up-converted DVDs. 3)People willing to shell out $60 for a video game are the type of people that'd be willing to shell out $30 on a HD movie. So from the start, the type of people that buy a HD-DVD due to the price drop are probably not the type of people that gonna help the software sales, even when the system sales becomes close.
The thing is MSFT never gave all that much of a **** about who won the format war. Think it would be that hard for them offer a BR player to attach to the 360? It's about downloadable/online content now. That's where the field is headed. If anything, MSFT delayed format adoption to the point where dloadable content is now a near-viable alternative to a media format.
look what i found .... the link above yours, ahahaha http://formatwarcentral.com/index.p...tsujihara-says-no-payoff-for-move-to-blu-ray/ bitter tears? seriously....give up. stop spinning stuff.
Before someone takes my post or posts out of context, which they usually are. I'm sick of the xbox/hd dvd fanboys spreading FUD. You have yet to see a ps3 owner spread FUD about their competition. Even if I was a xbox fanboy, I wouldn't take that $hit if ps3/blu ray owners were spreading FUD. As a member of clutchfans, I believe everyone should be informed with the facts, not biased, viral marketing or FUD from fanboys. ANything other than the facts, would be a disservice to my fellow clutch fans.
I don't know about this. that's certainly not my gut feeling as of now...if you're talking about true HD content? like Blu-Ray and HD-DVD level I don't think our broadband bandwidth is at the point where downloading 10-50 gigs per HD movie (which is the capacity that each Blu-Ray and HD-DVD disc holds) is that convenient or super fast yet. that still takes a long f'in time, not to even mention the *hard drive* space it takes up I'm coming at this from a videophile/audiophile and movie collector standpoint. I don't personally just like renting movies, I like to own ones that I really enjoy so I can re-watch at any time. and from the A/V aspect, streaming is certainly not an alternative whatsoever because of sh!tty quality
I'm with you on this. Downloadable content may be the future of media, but we aren't there yet and won't be in the near future either. People aren't going to want to download a movie for a day and then have it take up a large portion of their HD. Can you imagine how large of a HD you would need to have a library of high def movies?
ssssssssssssssssssure... no money was involved they just did it for free SIKKEEEEEE!!!! <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UTNMw2ngz-g&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UTNMw2ngz-g&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
yeah, that's exactly what I was trying to say it will be that way in the future sometime, but nowhere in the near future again though Rocket G, we're talking about true high-def quality movie content (blu-ray/HD-DVD level)...I dunno if you were talking about like standard DVD level. if you were, then I can somewhat agree that we can kinda do that now. but personally, I don't give a rat's ass about standard DVD =P
Bill Gates is a *****head. Bill has been wrong about a lot of things. He thinks like such a 100% techno nerd that he is...that he can't see past the technology and into what is best for the consumer and/or industry. He once called iPod a passing fad. So, when is it going to pass, *****head? He claims to have sided with the HD DVD camp for a few reasons which include protection schemes (i.e. "managed copy") and longering manufacturer times. He was spouting about how HD DVD had a requirement for managed copy while Blu Ray didn't. He put all his weight behind HD DVD because...at the time...it was the more mature format and he felt it was more PC-friendly. He had no problem with the Blu Ray physical media itself...so he claims. He also claims it had nothing to do with Sony being a competitor and it wasn't because of the close relationship to Toshiba. He even went on to make such broad claims that "this is the last physical format there ever will be" (wow...thanks God for letting us know that) so he wanted to get it right the first time. Oh...and I guess storage space on the media wasn't a major consideration in his mind. Well...that worked out well, Bill. Here in lies the problem with Bill Gates thinking. If he had no problem with the physical aspects of the Blu Ray format, then his thought patterns apparently absolutely provided no room for the future maturity of Blu Ray. Just because the Blu Ray Association isn't adopting to do one thing now doesn't mean they won't in the future. As the technology develops, then the format specs could and likely will change. There were no guarantees Blu Ray wouldn't provide managed copy mechanism in the future. They just didn't require it (at least at the time Bill was harping about it). Just because Bill is a Microsoft God, the man is human and, as successful as he's been, he does have flawed thinking just like the rest of us. Unfortunately, he likely thinks he's right most of the time and is stubborn in that way. In the end, it's still a business built around people like Jobs and Gates backing decisions which are in the interests of their company and which fits in their technological plans. I'm personally interested to see what Bill does and says going forward. Will he add a Blu Ray attachment to the 360 now that this format is taking off? I mean...it's becoming increasingly clear that Blu Ray is the winner. Is there enough going on in the industry to keep HD DVD afloat? Or, are we going to go for many more years with both formats? I want to see Bill in a new interview if he is still as stubborn about defending the HD DVD format. Does Bill really want 360 owners going out and buying PS3s to get an affordable Blu Ray player? Any nitwit could tell you that's not good for business.
Surfguy...umm, I can't tell if you are for Blu-Ray or HD-DVD why are you so mad? I don't get the point of your post really lol
