I just don't see how anyone who doesn't own a blu ray player could possibly root for them. Competition lowers prices, which in the end benefits all consumers. What incentive does blu ray have to lower its prices and offer 10 free movies when they are the only option. HD-dvd is inherently cheaper to produce and offers picture that is atleast as good as blu ray if not better in some cases. If blu ray wins I don't think I be able to afford to go into high definition for years considering the cheapest player is about 400 dollars and i don't see them dropping to current hd dvd prices for a while. And in relation to downloaded content, am i the only one that thinks the picture quality is garbage. Considering the full hd movie sizes on xbox live are 5 gb, while hd dvd discs hold 20+ gb, something tells me that download content is really compressed and doesn't compare to discs.
Well there'll still be competition. It's not like only one company is manufacturing Blu-ray players. If Panasonic wants to sell more units than Sony, Samsung, Pioneer, etc., they'll offer the most features for the most affordable price. And vice versa. Will we see these "Buy a player, get 10 movies free" promos become less frequent? Possibly. But the idea that Blu-ray discs and players are suddenly gonna become astronomically expensive is silly. If that happens, than neither format will win. They'll just become the next laserdisc.
Couldn't Bluray really put the nail in the coffin if they were to have a dramatic price drop to sway those of us still waiting? That's my dream scenario anyway.
Well, this is a big blow, and I do like how the HD-DVD discs have both HD and formal formats...But it won't be too long before this thing is over...Thank god...I'm glad I have a PS3...
If someone didn't own a player, why would they care about promotions or the sort? You have to own a hd-dvd or blu-ray player to be affected by anything. For those who do, you would care more about having access to the whole film library.
i root for blu ray and i dont own ps3 or bluray player...why? cuz its superior technology.sure its more expensive..the reason? cuz its better .. would i like it to be cheaper..umm duh..will i wait for it to be cheaper..ummm yea..if i were poor..i'd stick to dvd..the quality isnt that bad to demand the upgrade...plus if i was poor my tv size wouldnt even that big to begin with so it'd be harder to tell the difference in quality..the blu ray players will get cheaper and cheaper..so if u already got an hd dvd player.. just use that temporarily..i dont really see it as a total loss..yet.
Is "HARRY POTTER" (the newest one, I don't know the name) the only movie to ever be on both HDDVD and BLURAY? That's the only one I've seen so far.
Interview: Samsung Says There's Life After Hollywood for HD DVD We scored a sitdown with DongSoo Jun, Executive VP and General Manager of Samsung's Digital AV Division. Translation: He's Samsung's main man on Blu-ray and HD DVD. We asked him the big question: "Is HD DVD dead ?" His answer might surprise you. On the Hollywood front, he believes that the Warner announcement was a tipping point. In short, Blu-ray will win. But! HD DVD doesn't have to slink into a grave next to Betamax yet. It will become the chosen format for "private" (that is, personal) content because the format—ahem, Toshiba and Microsoft—has a stronghold in the PC drive market. He expects Toshiba to really concentrate on the PC HD DVD market since it's deader than disco if it loses there. The format war ends. The "divide" begins. And it'll be even bigger, in a sense. Upswing: Samsung's going to be keep pumping out dual-format players, so that people can easily watch the personal stuff and the Hollywood stuff on the same deck. "Most people...don't care about what format is most popular," says Jun. He also thinks: •: $299 is the magic price for Blu-ray players—watch around June/July • 1,000 titles is the magic content number (Blu-ray is around 500 now) • Digital distribution will kill standard-def physical media, not HD—people delete recorded SD content; they want to keep "high quality" content through Blu-ray http://gizmodo.com/341906/interview-samsung-says-theres-life-after-hollywood-for-hd-dvd
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/07/paramount-following-warner-out-the-hd-dvd-door/ The Financial Times is reporting that Paramount is preparing to use a get out clause in its HD DVD exclusivity deal, and go back to Blu-ray, about 4 months after ending its dual-format release schedule. The move would be a result of Warner's switch to Blu-ray, using a "get out" clause in Paramount's promotional agreement with the HD DVD camp. No details on what it might take to rip up the contract and make Michael Bay very, very happy, but if the rumor proves true this could make the slow death he predicted for HD DVD a very, very fast one.
Paramount is denying it at the moment. Hope they are just waiting to the right time. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aQMGgh2LV_bU&refer=japan
All that's left after that is Universal. I don't mind Paramount bailing on HD-DVD if it means they start releasing some of their catalog titles. With the exception of day-and-date releases, they're basically sitting on the sidelines at this point. Imagine the Indiana Jones quadrilogy on Blu-ray this fall/winter!
Good to see that the war is almost over. Now to gobble up the heavily discounted HD-DVD discs and a player.
The big winner in all of this: the PS3. All I've seen comment after comment online is a variation of the same theme: "Well, I guess I'll buy a PS3 now." I foresee a big spike in sales in PS3's future... A big loser in all of this: High-end Toshiba notebooks, especially the Qosmio (entertainment) line. Who the heck is going to pay all that money to buy an premium HD DVD-only laptop now? And with no mobile combo drives on the horizon, either, they're sort of screwed from a value proposition perspective. As an aside: I've seen some reports online that talk about the companies that were involved in development of HD DVD and Blu-Ray, and a few of them show HP as backing HD DVD. This is false. HP is part of the IP group that developed Blu-Ray. Just wanted to clear that up.
