Why I went HD DVD in the HD DVD vs Blu-ray war
By Sean P. Aune
This is one of those posts you always put off doing, but it’s time I confessed: I chose HD DVD in the format war.
As regular readers of BLORGE will realize, I’ve been covering the heck out of the HD DVD vs Blu-ray war, but I have been very careful to try not to convey my preference. And I know by finally telling everyone which one I chose it will garner me a lot of snickers, finger pointing, and mocking. If this bothered me, I wouldn’t be posting… or I’d tell you I still own a couple hundred Laser Discs.
So, why did someone who works in the tech field choose the format that is the potential loser? (I know it’s not official, but I’m also not expecting a miracle of any sort) It was a decision I had debated since the formats appeared, and I actually didn’t buy my player (a Toshiba HD-A35) until November 23rd. The final straw for me was when I started hearing about how Blu-ray profile 2 discs wouldn’t be fully compatible with players that were profile 1 and 1.1.
HD DVD, for its higher compression rates, was a finalized format, with Internet connectivity for updates, and was seemingly future-proof. As someone in his mid-30’s (36 as of this writing), I have been through too many technology advances to not to try to think forward a bit. As much as I would love to be made of money, I’m not, and so I prefer to keep an eye on the future, and make what I feel is the most informed buying decision I can. And I have made my share of mistakes over the years (I again point you to my Laser Discs), so it does make on cautious.
With all of that said, why did I still not see the writing on the wall? Why did I not heed all of the “Blu-ray will win!” declarations? To be quite honest, 99% of them came off as fan boy style ramblings, and not reasoned out thoughts. The HD DVD camp seemed more put together, more thought out, as evidenced by their future proofing, and less about hyperbole.
The final straw was content. With Warner Brothers supporting both, and Paramount and Universal exclusive to the format, they seemed to have more movies I was interested in. If, down the road a year or so, Blu-ray was still up and running, I’d pick up one of their players and be satisfied. We all know how this story has gone though.
There you have it, the story of why someone would go HD DVD. It wasn’t an off-the-cuff decision, I didn’t just randomly think, “I feel like making a poor choice today!”, there was some actual thought to it. Do I regret it? No, regrets are silly. I made the choice I thought was right, it wasn’t, you live and move on.
As to why I write this piece, as to why I finally reveal my choice? As I’ve done my work on the web around the web since the announcement of Warner Brothers leaving HD DVD, I have seen a lot of mocking and teasing by people who chose Blu-ray. We all enjoy a victory, and we all like to know we picked correctly, but don’t think it makes you inherently smarter than those of us who picked HD DVD. We did have actual reasons for it. Congrats, it seems your side won, and I’ll be joining you soon… when profile 2.0 comes out.
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January 12th, 2008
I Like hd dvd also. I think they are smarter and I also think Blu Ray is just a COOL thing to do not because its good. Blu Ray would be a great thing to have for Back up of computer info but to run a good movie in HD I think toshiba knows what there doing they are just not smart enough to advertise better.
January 12th, 2008
I have exactly the same views as you. I went hd dvd and i will continue with it until profile 2.0 finally comes out. Nice article :)
January 12th, 2008
And one could add this … the millions of us who waited for the hi-def disc outcome can now wait just a bit longer and get a Blu-Ray system that is all profile 2.0 compaible. All the more reason to have waited!
Honestly, the BD shortcomings are just a hardware and software update away from being right up to snuff.
Bill
VANCOUVER, CANADA
January 12th, 2008
Its all good, this blu ray fanboy will forgive you> can’t wait for Transforms, King Kong , and Tokoy Drift (just to name a few), to come out on blu ray. It feels like Christmas all over again.
January 12th, 2008
I too bought into HD-DVD with A30. If HD-DVD loses, ill just upconvert using my A30 instead of buying Blu-ray.
January 12th, 2008
I bought the A3 and like it. And I’m with Dan.
The upconverting on regular DVDs is just fine.
And the movies I have on HD-DVD is a bonus.
No Blu-ray for me in the foreseeable future.
January 12th, 2008
HD-DVD was/is the better format, complete with better menu integration, faster load-times, a unified format that hasn’t been changed other than software/firmware upgrades that every player could get, and even complete with many Combo-discs that included the HD-DVD on one side and a normal DVD on the other side to minimize the risk of investment and maximize compatibility with existing devices.
I was an HD-DVD enthusiast, and as a former supervisor of a Best Buy I can assure you I pushed many more HD-DVDs out the door than Blu-Rays, but now, as a supervisor over an Apple Store and a recent Blu-Ray convert (literally the DAY Warner Bros. switched I sold my HD-DVD player and all my discs), I can tell you why Blu-Ray won: branding.
In the retail market, particularly Home Theater, customers simply did not grasp what “HD-DVD” was. I’d always hear customers say, “Hey! We have an HDTV now, that means we can watch HD-DVDs!” No…”What? I have to have a separate player for those? But I bought an HDTV!” The next comment would be about the combo format, which was SUPPOSED to be a benefit to customers but became very confusing. “So if the HD-DVD has regular DVD on it too, is it really hi-def? Oh I get it, I can watch the HD-DVDs in a regular DVD player! I can’t? Oh, you mean it’s one of those upconverts. Huh? So I have to buy a separate player but I’m still gonna buy a disc that has a regular DVD on it?”
Then there’s Blu-Ray. “I have an HDTV. I need Blu-Ray now, right? That’s the Hi-def disc.” The branding was distinct enough that customers didn’t confuse the technology with regular DVDs. Customers were/are willing to pay a price for premium technology (read: iPhone, Mac, etc) when they can comfortably connect the dots on what the purchase means. HD-DVD just didn’t do enough to set itself apart from regular DVDs in the marketing scheme of things.
January 12th, 2008
HD-DUD HATER – I am sorry your mother didn’t love you as a child. Perhaps you should see therapy?
January 12th, 2008
I have the xbox 360 hd dvd add on. I love hd dvd but was really disapointed by Warner switching to bluray. now that they moved i am going to buy all the warner movies i can to see if they change their mind and stay neutral! it is worth a shot.
January 12th, 2008
HD-DVD lose, that’s alright, i’ll go ahead with Movie Downloads because Blu-Ray sucks.
January 13th, 2008
I am also an HD-DVD supporter. I bought into the technology for the same reasons Sean did. I was really hoping the manufacturing cost advantages would tip the battle in favor of HD-DVD. But it seems the consumers have finally been duped by Sony. It took Sony how many failures to finally shove their overpriced, incompatible junk down the consumers throat? Congratulations Sony!!! I bet you that a couple of years from now, all the blu-ray consumers will be saying, “what the heck am I supposed to do with my blu-ray junk now?!?!?” Sony loves to develop so-call revolutionary, proprietary technology that is way too expensive and will eventually die in a few years. It is an example of the kind of corporate “don’t give a shit about the consumer” mentality that exists at Sony.
Enjoy the victory blu-ray fanboys and fangirls (HD-DUD HATER), at least until Sony kills the blu-ray product or better yet, Sony replaces it with newer technology that you will haveto pay up the ass for…ONCE AGAIN!
January 13th, 2008
HD-DUD HATER – yes, yes, you’re so creative, we give you a gold star for your trolliness.
January 13th, 2008
Steve shut the fuck up bluray will be replaced in ten years just like dvd.
January 13th, 2008
Yes, I also bet on HD-DVD pretty recently. There’s one other advantage to HD-DVD which you didn’t list, and which might just be part of the reason for WBs decision: HD-DVD does not have the idiotic “region protection”. BD does. So an HD-DVD title can play on any player worldwide, immediately when it’s issued. Good for consumer, bad for MPAA.
BD has regions. Studios win, consumer loses.
January 13th, 2008
HD-DVD is the only official successor to DVD, and I hope Warner Bros. rescinds their support for the UMD, I mean, Blue-ray format that’s hard to program for and costs money for inferior quality. It has a yellow/green tint to most of their movies along with tons of grain and dot crawl. HD-DVD is solid and crisp and inexpensive — good for consumers and thus companies and studios as a result! Think about that.
January 13th, 2008
I am an HD DVD supporter too (I have the Xbox 360 add-on). The picture quality and features are amazing. I am also very disappointed in WB’s decision to support Blu-ray. I wish Toshiba and Microsoft would have marketed the technology more aggressively. Oh well, Microsoft knows that digital distribution is the future which will ultimately trump Blu-ray.
January 13th, 2008
Stop moaning. All of you.
January 13th, 2008
i mostly use my toshiba hde1 for upconverting my standard dvds as i think shelling out £20 for a film in hd is a bit steep,watching both hd and upscaled i really can not see that much difference especially on a 110″ dlp projector,
so i dont think i will be buying a blu ray ill stick with upconverting if hd dvd goes under,
another thging that really sucks is that there is no upconverting over component cables.
so my perfectly good component cables went out the window(another con)
does any one know if toshiba hd will get a firmware update for divx and regional coding for sd
January 13th, 2008
Ok – I’m an early adopter. I got a PSP the day it came out and a PS3 early last year – for the games, media streaming and connectivity (i know the games for the PS3 have been slow to come through but that’s another story….) I also had a Laser Disc player many years ago so i know what it’s like to back a loser…
Turns out I got a Blu-Ray player thrown in with the PS3 so I’ve been following the whole Blu-Ray/HD DVD thing quite closely.
1. Cal – you’re talking crap. The quality of BD is fine.
2. Doron – HD DVD has provision for region specific discs and players (check the spec). And if it were to become the standard format you can bet that it would be introduced – the studios would insist on it.
3. To everyone that says the downloads will replace discs – have you ever downloaded a feature length film in 1080p? Plus all the ‘extras’ that everyone wants? A single layer Blu-Ray disc will hold 25Gb (or about 4.5 hours of HD video) I’ve got a TB of storage under the desk so even if I did have the bandwidth to download this amount of data, storage would soon be an issue. Oh wait a minute Blu-Ray/HD DVD discs have a lost of storage – maybe I’ll burn my data to some of those. Do you now see why this format war is beig fought?
January 13th, 2008
I feel for all ya’ll. I too have a nice lil’ HDDVD collection but I must admit I have a nice lil bluray and hddownloadable collection as well. Either way this hd thing swings Iam safe but It is not that big of a deal. Bluray imho has the better movies just last week 3 big tittles released shoot em up, 3 10 to Yuma, and RE:E. The last great tittle HDDVD was sitting on was BR. But that was out for bluray too. But your right hd material is already downloade more via p2p and xbox live marketplace then bluray+HDVD sales combined.
Studios nedd to get smart and get the money they are missing out on via dd.
January 13th, 2008
i’m also an hd dvd supporter and will continue to do so as i refuse to buy into an incomplete technology that is having to play catch up to an already solid technology. blu-ray isn’t better, it’s different enough that it’s going to continue to cost the consumer more than regular dvds for quite some time. and the blu-ray fan boy bullshit is pathetic… give me some solid arguments about why blu-ray is better choice. not all this ‘GO BLU’ crap. we know the majority of the blu-ray camp are PS3 owners anyway… get off the message boards and go play WoW already.
January 13th, 2008
I had an xbox 360 add on and just upgraded to the HD-EP30. I’ve got 50 films on HD DVD now, and i am getting all i can to make the most of my player. I have no intention of buying a Blu Ray player, sony can go screw…
let’s see. Blu Rays success is due to the PS3 which is still being beaten out buy the PS2 in sales… i think they might just fail too… here’s hoping!
January 13th, 2008
The facts that make the choice of HD DVD for me are the fact that these disks can be made with existing standard DVD equipment with a $37,000 upgrade. Blu-ray disks require a whole new machine at a cost of $1.2 million(American). DVDs are a mature technology. Disks may not be around long enough to pay for these machines in great number. Blu-ray disks will consequently always be more expensive to manufacture.
Also, I read that it is expected that two thirds of high definition player sales will be dual format in two years. There is a new processor just available for this that can reduce the cost of a dual player to $25 over the price of a single format player. Since HD DVD disks will be less expensive to manufacture, people will choose HD DVD disks for their dual format players. I predict Warner will be back in the HD DVD business in a year or two.
Blu-ray strategy is to offer more movie title choices. HD DVD strategy is to manufacture a lot more machines. I understand MILLIONS of $100 HD DVD players will be put on the market in 2008. Besides being less expensive, these machines can be made smaller.
People may be dumping their HD DVD disks on the internet out of panic. I see this as an opportunity to build an HD DVD library at a bargain price. HD DVD is definitely not dead. HD DVD will be the future standard for the reasons I gave.
January 13th, 2008
I’m in the same boat — I didn’t accidentally adopt a format through a game system, but instead actually read articles and information about both systems with interest. From a purely technical perspective Blu-ray appealed to me from a more data-per-layer perspective, but from an analysis for the actual real purpose — playing movies — it was simply irrelevant.
So on the one hand there’s a solid format developed as the successor to DVD, coming out of the gate with *excellent* interactivity (check out Bourne Ultimatum — wonderful disk), network connectivity by default (meaning that it’s astronomically more likely that it’ll actually get used), and not least importantly the players and discs are less expensive.
What absolutely clinched it for HD-DVD, however, was the possibility and availability of combo discs. I have no plans on switching the car, my daughter’s PC, my laptop, etc, all to high definition formats at once, nor did I want to buy all media twice, so that HUGELY appealed to me, and it has been grossly undersold by the HD-DVD camp.
On the other side was an unfinished format that is yet another attempt by Sony to completely ignore all established conventions and technologies because they can’t help themselves from reinventing the wheel. I groaned about this yesterday as I was out buying a MemoryStick for my camera. No CompactFlash for Sony — not when they can again invent it themselves to try to control the market.
So I bought an HD-DVD player, realizing that it was fraught with peril (but accepting that, as it’s a great upscaling DVD player anyways, at barely any price premium).
And the only discs I have purchased, as stated above, have been combo discs. It should be noted that Warner didn’t seem to support combo discs, which is why I didn’t bother buying Harry Potter and other discs in high definition. They set themselves up for a predetermined conclusion.
Sidenote: Any conjecture that Warner wasn’t paid off comes from the land of the insanely, irrationally delusional. Not only did Warner try to time their announcement for ultimate devastation, and not only does their published rationale not pass even a modicum of critique, but *despite* all of the damage being done they’re still doing this asinine “We’ll release HD-DVD until May, but we’ll release it LATE! Ha!”. No elegance in that departure with such juvenile, asinine politics that would only ever come courtesy of a Sony-bought agreement. Interesting that while Warner’s CEO has no compunction about twisting the truth, even Sony’s CEO has boundaries, carefully selecting his words to avoid actually giving an answer about incentives.
January 13th, 2008
I also have a large collection of HD movies but they happen to be Blu Ray. There’s more people out there with Blu Ray movies.
That’s why Blu Ray has won.
January 13th, 2008
Let me start of saying that I am in my 30’s as well. 32 to be exact. About 1 year ago, I was in the process of converting my TV to a LCD. I started my research and ended up with a 32 Polariod LCD and it looked great (even for a low end TV). Then wanting something bigger, I decided to buy a 52 Sharp Aquos LCD and picked up a PS3 solely for Blu Ray Content since there is very limited Cable HD content in my area. While looking at HD DVD vs Blu Ray, I really saw no difference, and I personally could care less about getting extra content using the internet line from HD DVD. I just wanted to put in a movie, press play and watched. I just don’t care for director’s comments or special features. As of now, I have more Blu Ray movies then I have PS3 games, and Netflix is used Blu Ray rentals. I just never believed HD-DVD due to having less capacity, that was my reason to back Blu Ray.
January 13th, 2008
For me personally I chose Blu-Ray not through its technical superiority or greater storage capacity but solely because of the PS3.
The fact that any retailer in the UK selling HD films stocks 5 times as many HD DVD’s just proves who is winning the High Def war.
Shame Microshaft did not think of committing its eggsbox to the HD war a little earlier.
January 13th, 2008
I got a HD DVD add on drive for the xbox 360 and now got a EP30 HD DVD player and love it now got 15 films on HD and 5 on the way from toshiba
I dont trust Sony because most of the things fail
UMD
MINI DISC
MEMORY STICK PRO
PSP (ds is killing it)
Laptop battery (they blow up!)
BETA MAX
PS3 will be next (WII is killing it)
I had a PS1 and after a month i put it in the draw because it was sooo boring
IF blu ray win (if it wins) I wont bother with it
My mum got a sony handy cam and the first thing it did was EAT THE TAPE!
Can Realy trust Fony anymore?
January 13th, 2008
I was one of the people who got tricked into buying a HD-DVD player. I don’t think it’s fair that I was lied to. I spent $99 on a player and over $60 on my 2 movies. I spent my hard earned money on this stuff and now I won’t be able to buy movies in a few months.
I’m gonna eBay my player and movies for $50. Thanks alot Toshiba.
Bunch of nads!
January 13th, 2008
The bottom line is that HD-DVD lost. Blu-Ray is on the horizon after Warner Bros. decided to support it. Sure HD-DVD will be around just like all the Betamax tapes and Laserdisc’s collecting dust in the closet.
January 13th, 2008
$99 could not even buy you a decent upscaler
your toshiba does an amazing job for its money
12 months ago i brought a sony dav for £399
and my toshiba hd e1 beats the crap out of it even on standard play without upscaling
with upscaling standard discs are not that much different to hd and ive got mine on a 120″ projector
January 13th, 2008
As an aside — this HD-A3 is internet connected, and is capable of decoding multiple high bitrate video and audio streams simultaneous, has picture in picture, and a very capable interactive system.
Someone needs to hack a media center player for it. I have a media server elsewhere in my home, and if this HD-A3 would allow me to browse and play the media (it has all of the components to do so), it would absolutely kill.
January 13th, 2008
jethro, lighten up a little . you should be happy as heck that toshiba let that player go for $99. that player upscales regular dvds better than most on the market at that dollar value. why don’t you just keep it-playit- and enjoy.
January 13th, 2008
STOP BITCHING, GUYS. ALL WHO ARE BITCHING IS BECAUSE ALL OF YOU WHO BOUGHT THE WRONG FORMAT. IT DIDN’T TAKE A GENIUS TO FIGURE OUT WITCH FORMAT WOULD WIN. THIS WAR HAS BEEN GOING ON NOW ABOUT FOUR TO FIVE YEARS NOW. ALL THE STUIDOS WHO SUPPORT SONY’S BLU RAY HAVE NOT CHANGED SIDES, OLNY PARAMOUNT WAS DUMB ENOUGH TO CHANGE. DONT FOR GET OTHER BACKERS WHO STILL SUPPORT BLU RAY LIKE DELL, APPLE, AND MANY MORE. I DID ALOT OF RESERCH BEFORE I BOUGHT INTO THE WHOLE HIDEF FORMAT WAR THING, THOSE WHO ARE BITCHING SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS. NOW I WILL QUITE BITCHING. BUY A BLU RAY PLAYER OR A PS3 AND ITS ALL GOOD.
January 13th, 2008
Listen all of you when warner changed it really did not make a big diffrince.why because dell,apple,Sony,sharp,Phillips,hitachi,samsung are with blue-ray and fox,columbia,tristar,hbo,MGM and,lionsgate were already with blu and ps3 witch is doing great in japan,Australia,an,europe gave blu the advantage in those countries and in the us and i no hd-DVD had better interactivity and a cheaper price but it dident have 50gb and it wasn’t really the future the hole point is to move to new tecnology so hd-DVDwas just DVD with high def picture and interactivity as blu is a new tecnology
witch is why it needs a new factory and building process this stupid stupid little war is over becauese hd-dvd has only toshiba intel and microsoft and the only movie supporters are paromount dreamworks and universal that’s it so its truly over im sorry to say it but he-DVD is truly dead just like beatamx and VHS its over don’t be ignorent and give up and also downloads will always be on the side cause peaple like to have physical products
January 13th, 2008
While I was an hd-dvd supporter, I am glad the industry picked a side, and I hope the rest just go in together so we can move forward.
Fellow hd-dvd’ers, we never really had any choice. Let’s take our lumps and move on.
PS3 guys teasing HD-DVD guys: Please, if you want us to move to BD, at least help us, inform us, and not mock us. Hating on our choice of format only makes new BD converts harder. You want to get MORE people into BD, not scare them away from it. So please, no more (we beat HD-DVD every week, blah blah). Instead, point us to some good ps3 deals. Some good standalone players upgradeable to 1.1 or higher. Some good movies to recommend. How about a “new BD convert owners, what you need to know” info article or something.
peace!
January 13th, 2008
sorry about the spelling my iPhone is not the best typing device
January 13th, 2008
So Warner’s pro-Blu CEO (and a couple of others) went against the wishes of the rest of the WB board and declared for Blu-ray and took the hepa of cash on offer.
They were about to go to HD DVD up until that moment.
But Blu-ray have a serious problem, anyone buying a profile 1.0 or profile 1.1 player could well have serious problems when the final profile 2.0 spec discs appear.
It’s not just a matter of whether you want or don’t want those claimed ‘advanced extras’.
It’s about whether your BD player works properly with the new discs.
The BDA just said tough luck guys, you may well have severe problems but you knew what you were getting into.
You’ve got to be ignorant of the facts (or have money to burn) to go near Blu-ray as things now stand before profile 2.0 discs and players appear.
Of course for the fanboys day-dreaming that Blu-ray will become the new DVD it’s already too late.
Blu-ray will take too long to get to the final spec and stay too expensive for too long.
HD TV services offering HD on your HD TV all the time via DVRs with a nice big HDD will be prime this time around, with upscaled DVD & downloads rounding out the market.
HD DVD could have been the new DVD as it was the one that was able to get cheap enough fast enough.
Maybe after 6mths watching Blu-ray fall flat on it’s face & fail to escape the game console niche Warner will revise their view
(I hear no contracts were signed on the move)?
If they thought Hollywood was about to fall in behind the one format they are gravely mistaken as we can see with Universal & Paramount.
Universal & Paramount have some great releases due this year too and contrary to the fanboy dreams neither are dropping HD DVD exclusive support.
January 13th, 2008
I love all the ”LETS JOIN TOGETHER AND GIVE SONY THE FORMAT INDUSTRY!” Not smart…
January 13th, 2008
I hated the DVD transitions; if I press play just play the movie not zoom out and fly around the earth to show how fancy of a transition some idiot graphic artist could make, etc. HD-DVD made sure they are not there and had a very functional menu system; basic on some movies like 300 and beautiful on some movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; but very consistent. I bet with Java in the BluRay thing will become very annoying… (p.s. I have one of each.)
January 14th, 2008
There is no such thing as “Profile 2.0″
BDA does not use profile’s to describe capabilties it’s too confusing. What you will be waiting for is Bonus View.
January 14th, 2008
There is no such thing as “Profile 2.0″
BDA does not use profile’s to describe capabilities it’s too confusing. What you will be waiting for is Bonus View.
January 14th, 2008
HD-DVD’s being produced on DVD lines… The FACTS
80% of DVD’s in Western Europe, North America and Asia Pacific are produced by a SMALL handful of companies that have a lock on the market (e.g. Technicolor)…
All of those companies replace line equipment regularly. To say that HD-DVD has an advantage due to manufacturing costs is bunk. If line equipment is upgraded every few years at some point the higher BD manufacturing costs were going to come down. They are in fact quite close if you take into account equipment going into production this year and upgrades that occurred over the last year.
The biggest thing that has killed HD-DVD is the poor execution in retail as others have mentioned and the fact that some of the studios (e.g. Warner) needed this battle to end. DVD sales were hurting as consumers purchased neither HD-DVD, BluRay *OR* DVD in the premise that they would rather buy the title on the winning HD format.
Xbox 360 users and PC users don’t make a format win. If Xbox 360 included an HD-DVD drive from day one then we have had a different battle on our hands. Guys; the numbers spoke for themselves.. BD content sales were higher than HD-DVD, sure some key HD-DVD titles did really well but over a vast majority of content HD-DVD wasn’t a viable format for the long run if another studio was going to drop out.
Move on folks…
January 14th, 2008
Greg:
Yes, I appreciate the fact that there’s a provision for region encoding in the HD DVD spec as well. However, I completely disagree with your assertion that it would have been implemented at some point.
The critical point is the players; the fact that such a large number of players is already out there with no region protection, would have made it extremely hard and unlikely to introduce new ones that would be limited, IMO.
However, this all seems moot now…
January 14th, 2008
At the young age of 50, and being a tech freak for most of it, I decided to sit this particular war out. I had reel to reel, Betamax, 8 Track, laser disk, cd and the mini +-r war.
For DVD , I wisely waited for the formal standard to be ratified before plunking down $800 for a 2nd gen Toshiba. The next day, Circuit City announced it’s cursed Divx program. Even after waiting for the official standard, most of the major releases to DVD were immediately put on hold while this bastard plan of lawyers started a year + VHS-Betamax type fight. I still won’t shop at CC because of it. I swore I would wait for a clear winner, and then some, before I committed. I’m on my 3rd HDTV and had been getting itchy to pull the trigger over the last 6 months. Glad I waited. This summer should be a great time to be a late adopter for the first time.
January 14th, 2008
Why insinuate that laserdisc was a failing format? Laserdisc was a highly successful format that was just enough ahead of it’s time to keep the market in a niche. To be fair, there were a couple competing videodisc formats at first, but if laserdisc was the loser, we would still be dragging diamond needles in grooves to read video raster from discs. Laserdisc was very exciting to those who understood the significance of using pure light to write and read information. Remember, laserdisc predated audio CDs and CD-ROM, and at the time, even computers were still only using magnetic oxide tecnology to store data. Aside from being excited by a wholly new media storage paradigm, those who bought laserdiscs did so because they were paying for a huge leap in the home movie viewing experience. They knew they were following a very exciting technological path into the future of home entertainment, and there was no other possibility. Laserdisc had a finite life cycle because of inevitable and ANTICIPATED technical advances, but it was the complete and full life-cycle of a platform that had a quiet but remarkable birth, a full mature life, and an honorable and expected death. It was beautiful bridge to the laseroptic platforms that we use today. Thank heavens for the early laserdisc adopters and producers who had the vision to make this whole conversation possible.
January 15th, 2008
I went HD DVD for many of the same reasons as everyone else. I’m a CTS certified AV engineer. HD DVD was and is the better format for half the cost.
January 16th, 2008
@ Mr. CTS certified AV engineer – what proof do you have that HD DVDuh is/was a better quality? I’d love to see it.
@ CB – Blu-Ray players play DVD’s and upscale too!
You guy’s should really check your facts before posting…
January 16th, 2008
I stand corrected…I guess both camps have done a poor job at educating the public..well this is good to know..thanx Greg….ps..is this also true for the ps3? ..CB
January 17th, 2008
Yep the PS3 upscales – I watched the DVD of Jarhead the other day and it looked superb. The other cool thing about the PS3 is that it’s fully upgradable so profile 2.0 when it comes along will work just fine… There is also a full function bluetooth remote control that works from every room in my house! Ok it’s not a huge house but hey… :)
January 17th, 2008
Yep – the PS3 upscales too. I watched the DVD of Jarhead the other day and it looked superb. The other cool thing with the PS3 is that it’s upgradable so profile 2.0 will work fine – there is also a full function bluetooth remote control that works from every room in my house. Ok it’s not a huge house but hey! :)
January 17th, 2008
I chose HD-DVD because of the lower price point, their willingness to allow dual-format DVD/HD discs, ala WB combo (not sure if it’s technically possible with Blu-Ray or if this is just stupid Sony stubborness), and the fact that I’ve always had great luck with Toshiba products (Sony, not so much). People don’t realize how great it is to have the combo discs; case in point, I picked up StarDust last week, but decided on the DVD version simply because I knew my daughter would want to watch it in her room. There’s no way in heck that I’m going to buy multiple Blu-Ray players at $400 a pop, nor multiple HD-DVD players. At first, I cursed the more expensive version of SuperMan Returns combo disc, but after having a difficult time with choosing which StarDust to pick up (I really, really, wanted the HD-DVD version), I realized how important the combo disc will be to the mainstream consumer, not to mention, much cheaper prices for the players. I could give a poo about the extra space Blu-Ray offers, as long as I can see my movies in HD… (HD-DVD should’ve won from a mainstream consumers perspective)
January 18th, 2008
@ Greg – we all know that Blu-Ray upscales, but you can find a BR player for $99. Or even $200? I think that’s the point.
You said “You guy’s should really check your facts before posting…”
I’m saying: you should reall understand the context of other people’s posts before posting.
January 18th, 2008
Sorry, that first sentence was a typo. I mean to say “can you find a BR player for $99?”
I guess I need to proofread my own post before posting. LOL
January 18th, 2008
Typo in the first sentence…
What I meant to say was “..can you find a BR player for $99? Or even $200?”
I should really proofread before posting. lol
January 18th, 2008
@ Joe: It won’t be long before Blu-Ray players are just as cheep as DVD players are now. Remember how much DVD players were when they first came out? Sure it’s more expensive now and as early adopters that’s what we expect – I’m just happy that the technically superior format won…
May 2nd, 2009
u r all losers divx all the way who the fuck wants to spend cash on films wen u can download um b4 they even hit the cinema.pirate bay all the way