Blu-ray players, of course, are still well above $300. Amazon also has a bunch of HD DVD movies for $15. Interestingly, the site has a Blu-ray movie sale going on at the same time. But the difference between the two sales is a telling story:
The Blu-ray sale has a total of 51 movies on sale with only 8 as low as $15 (and most of them suck). The HD DVD sale, on the other hand, has 84 movies on sale with 63 (nearly 8 times as many) at the $15 price point. And there appear to be some decent movies in this mix. Check out the Blu-ray sale here and the HD DVD sale here and judge for yourself. For me, though, it seems like this could be phase 1 of HD DVD liquidation.
So the million dollar question is: how much is a high definition DVD player worth to you if it is the format that has lost the war?
To add to the irony of the less expensive, more consumer-friendly player dying, check out this news: Buyers Beware: Current Blu-ray Players Won’t Correctly Play Future Discs and Blu-ray: Early adopters knew what they were getting into. The titles alone are enough to get any Blu-ray owner frustrated.
The Playstation 3 (which has Blu-ray built-in) appears to be the exception, otherwise Blu-ray players on the market are designed without “future-compatibility capabilities.” This means that bonus features on titles released starting in October will not be playable on current Blu-ray players. Wow.
What makes it even more ironic is that Blu-ray is blaming HD DVD for its problems:
“When asked why current [Blu-ray] players were released to the market in such a primitive state, [Blu-ray] manufacturers blamed the release of HD DVD and said it forced them to come to market too soon. ‘We should have waited another year to introduce Blu-ray to the public, but the format war changed the situation.’”
*Update* The price for the HD DVD player mentioned above was originally $147 when I first started writing this but is now $129. Amazon tends to play games with pricing; be sure to take advantage of the company’s 30-day price guarantee.
*Update 2* Commenters pointing out some interesting facts: this $129 HD DVD player is 1080i. All Blu-ray players are 1080p (a slightly higher picture quality), though Amazon now has this 1080p HD DVD player on sale for $171, which is still about half the price of any comparable Blu-ray player. Also, Amazon has another Blu-ray movie sale with a much larger selection (229 movies) while putting all HD DVD movies (currently 523) on sale now.
*Update 3* Check out the latest Netflix news of unlimited online movies, which supports the theory that we may be moving toward digital content before a new format (like Blu-ray) can gain traction.
Note: This article is cross-posted at BobCaswell.com.
Since Blu-Ray has won the format war, you can watch hi-def movies on your television. Get your online shopping done for TVs today.
Saturday, 12. January 2008
Interesting side note…that “cheap” HD DVD player is 1080i, and only cheap ones are the 1080i players. The 1080p HD-DVD players are usually about the same price as the Blu-Ray players (which are natively 1080p).
Just wanted to point that out considering the comment that HD DVD was the consumer friendly
Saturday, 12. January 2008
J,
Your pointing this out helps prove my point that HD DVD is consumer friendly, actually. I’m generally for the standard that offers flexibility and options for consumers, not the one that forces you to overpay for equipment you can’t take advantage of.
I personally don’t have a TV that can support any better than 1080i (and I’m not alone), so why should I be forced to pay more than twice as much for equipment I don’t need?
HD DVD had exactly what I needed at the price I wanted, hence more consumer friendly…
And I’d gladly give up 1080p support for the more consumer friendly format (HD DVD) which has Internet connectivity and no region restrictions.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
The reason for the massive price drops and the slash in the movie prices for HD-DVD is because they will be extinct soon. I think its more of a “screw you” to keep selling a format that has most of the nails already in its coffin and is on the verge of complete abandonment by all the majors studios. Now unknowing consumers are going to buy these cheap HD-DVD players thinking its a great deal only to find they were the unfortunate ones who helped buy-off the remaining stock of discontinued players and movies. If the HD-DVD Consortium has any room in their heart to be “consumer friendly” they’d say, “It was a good fight, but we lost. We are now offering rebates for people to upgrade to the new Blu-Ray drives when they arrive.”
Sunday, 13. January 2008
I agree with Aaron. Amazon is just trying to get rid of their stock before it is to late. Be prepared for lots of drops in HD-DVD prices. It’s like a closeout sale, get it while it lasts.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
J the 1080P is in the 170 range.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Bluray is out to screw the consumer for every last cent they have. Think media prices will slide quickly like DVD prices did for bluray? False. We need a more consumer friendly format such as HD-DVD’s to update themselves to the newest firmware, and bring lower prices/better feature sets to the consumers home! http://www.tekbite.com/2008/01/5-reasons-why-you-want-bluray-to-fail.html
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Stop bashing Sony and Blu-ray. For $399 dollars you get a next gen console, a Blu-ray player, not to mention it plays media off your PC on its wi-fi. Stop crying and buy a Playstation 3.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Travis: Blu-Ray players can be updated to the newest firmware as well, especially the PS3. I’m just glad the better format won. More capacity means better quality for all ! Sorry to all the HD-DVD owners, you really should have seen it coming. There are simply more companies supporting BluRay than HD-DVD.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
I guess HD DVD is going to sell off their stock before its worth nothing.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Only the most hardcore can notice a big difference between Blu-ray, HD-DVD, and a plain old up-converting player. Sure, if video is your life and you’ve spend half your salary on you’re home theater, spring for the best of the best. Otherwise, why bother until whatever format of the week is standard.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Thats brilliant, lets lose even more money by refusing to sell the equipment thats already been manufactured and not attempt to cut our losses, and not only that but fronting costs for customers to upgrade to Blu-Ray drives. Why not just burn all their cash in oil barrels to warm the homeless.
It’s a good business practice to slash prices when something becomes obsolete. They’re cutting losses, and customers are getting the technology at a cheaper price with a decent selection of movies. They didn’t make a promise to the consumers to continue releasing movies in that format. They simply sell the product with the promise that it works with all movies that are currently out. Sony should not upgrade everyones last-generation Playstations for them because they no longer support the current PS3 release format.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
I think everyone keeps forgetting one of HD-DVDs most consumer friendly features, STILL BEING ABLE TO PLAY NORMAL DVDS. Not everyone will want to spend hundreds of dollars to update their movie library immediately….
Sunday, 13. January 2008
I just bought a Blu-Ray player and it rocks. They’ve got like 80% of the movie studios now. Who cares about the bargain prices on HD-DVD. I can get you a great deal on an 8-Track tape player too. The fight is over.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Stop spreading HD DVD lies already. Get over it. You lost. Consumers voted with their feet for more bandwidth and more capacity. Early adopters aren’t “screwed”. All Blu-ray players will play the movie and the audio. What about that mythical 51 GB HD DVD? Do you think early HD DVD machines would have played that? Of course not! And that would have meant not being able to play the movie!
Early DVD players didn’t support progressive scan, DTS, upconversion, etc. Were early DVD supporters “screwed”?
Stop lying!
Sunday, 13. January 2008
JE – Blu-Ray also does that… What’s your point?
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Will: Show a DVD and BluRay on a HDTV and only a blind person couldn’t tell the difference.
JE: BLURAY CAN PLAY NORMAL DVDS TOO !!
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Someone who bought the Blu-ray was really unhappy with their purchase:
This product is disappointing from Sony. It is a very low end product; the load times for movies are 2-4 minutes.
Options for screen control are limited. Even though I have a wide screen T.V. (50 inch plasma), it does not fill the screen with the picture. You get the picture with a couple of inches of blank spae below and above the picture.
I have worked with tech support and all options and no resolution to the problem.
BluRay should be great, this is just another piece of junk.
More reactions from buyers here:
http://www.buzzillions.com/prd-676175-sony-blu-ray-disc-player-with-free-spiderman-bluray-movie-reviews/
Sunday, 13. January 2008
EmailC
Consumers didn’t vote with their feet. Consumers did not pick Blu-Ray. Consumers didn’t pick ‘more bandwidth and capacity’. Most consumers wouldn’t know more bandwidth from their elbow. The studios picked Blu-ray for them. Sony’s large pockets picked Blu-ray for them. Consumers didn’t get a say in it.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Emma:
Ther reason that the image doesn’t fir your screen is because your screen isn’t the same shape as a cinema screen – the screen that the film was shot to fill. If the image filled your screen it would either be stretched (tall, thin people) or the sides would have to be cut off.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
whats wrong with having both and letting the market make its own mind up? ill just keep buying dvds.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
These articles always start flame wars. EVERYONE preaches the death of the other format. I personally don’t care which wins out, or they can both stick around and I will get a dual format player. My stance on these formats is this;
Blu-Ray: A Sony format and is thus BAD. Little they have come out with in the past has been beneficial to the consumer in the past (hello memorystick!). Then to boot, Sony is basically keeping its “partners” from releasing players at a lower competitive price just cause they don’t want the PS3 undercut. Guess what… the PS3 JUST HAPPENS to be the only Blu-Ray player that is basically future-proof due to its raw horsepower and firmware upgradeability. So my view is, as a format, its got a fair amount going for it that HD-DVD lacks (yet) but nothing that the average consumer will use(1080p is still rare). Sony backing it is a major negative (just in my opinion).
HD-DVD: It’s a more consumer “friendly” format in that it has features that most people will use and supports only what is commonplace. As an immediate format its merely ok, as it doesnt have the 1080p of Blu-Ray for longevity, BUT it does have a much lower price point AND the possibility for future improvements. It is region free for those international movie buffs.
My personal opinion of both is that neither are really needed as movie studios could use decent compression and fit a 1080p movie on a dvd and still maintain fantastic quality which WOULD appeal to 90% of the population as it would allow a much easier transition. I get a lot of TV shows online from HD sources and they look fantastic, but only take up 700mb per 45 min (one hour show minus commercials). That makes a feature movie less than 2.5gb. Put it on a current dvd! Double the data rate, lose 90% of the artifacting, and the average movie is still 5gb, and all but the elitists will be happy.
Here is the state of things tho. People who have already bought into either format defend it fiercely since either one at this point is still a moderate investment and no one wants to see that “squandered”. I have not bought either format yet for the reasons listed above and the fact that I will not take part in a “format war”. I AM however going out in the next 45 min to buy a new 42″ 1080p LCD TV, 6ms response time, and 6000:1 contrast for $950. Honestly. The cost is coming down people, and in the next 2-3 years ALL channels will be HD in some form. I dont tho, get all wet in the shorts over 1080p. I currently have a 37″ LCD that does 720p, but the mother in law has macular degeneration and a 20″ tv. so my old TV will be a gift and I will get the HD package on my satellite I guess. Why not?
Blu-Ray is a future orientated format, unready for today.
HD-DVD is the format for today, unsure of tomorrow.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Rikf – You’re a moron. How did they not vote with their feet? The option of a normal DVD is still there. Saying they were forced to is total crap. The fact that studios picked Blu-ray is because of better sales.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
I think someone, Bob Caswell, is just ticked off he bought the dying format early. The headline should read, “HD-DVD screws early adopters and new customers, Blu-Ray is the way to go”
Sunday, 13. January 2008
I’m glad the war is over and I will be buying a PS3 soon but I truly believe that if Microsoft would have sold the Xbox 360 with an integrated HD-DVD player, the battle would still be on.
I guess in a way, Microsoft helped kill HD-DVD. I wonder what they will do now with the 360 for HD movies. Downloads only?
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Binston: What about CD, DAT, 3.5inch floppy .. all hugely successful Sony formats.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
ya big babys.
pull your pants up and stop crying. HD-DVD lost, 1080i cheap players lost. Its over, move on.
Its a little too late to keep trying to push the “consumer friendly” talking point when more Consumers buy Bluray.
Period.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Wow, Bob. Couldn’t you make up your mind before writing this article? Are you trying to encourage consumers to invest in HD DVD since the “consumer-friendly” Microsoft and Toshiba are making it so easy for people to sink a few hundred bucks into a soon to be dead format? Or are you telling us to buy a PS3 since Blu-ray has won the format war? To me it sounds like you are just mad at yourself for spending $174 on a dead format when the signs were already pretty clear a month ago that HD DVD was going to lose.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
“My personal opinion of both is that neither are really needed as movie studios could use decent compression and fit a 1080p movie on a dvd and still maintain fantastic quality”
You must like your movies in Dolby Mono
Sunday, 13. January 2008
You guys are still on this HD DVD thing? HD DVD is dead. Get over it. It has hardly any support. The very little support it does have is slowly fading away.
When the average consumer is ready for HD Media, Blu-ray will be in the perfect position: Lots of manufacturers to choose from, the most studio support, the most industry support.
At this point, I question the intelligence levels of the HD DVD fan boys.
Believe me, once you sell your HD DVD player and movies on eBay and put that towards a Blu-ray player, you’ll wonder what the hell was wrong with you.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
thats the wrong link to the amazon bluray sale
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&plgroup=1&docId=1000186951&plpage=1
Sunday, 13. January 2008
J, linking to amazons bluray sale (which they have just about every other day!) is not very consumer friendly of you! lol
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Why do all the commenters in these Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD articles sound like their lives are in the balance over which side “wins”? Come on, pick your battles people. Why not get passionate about something that matters? These aren’t your friends, family, leaders, or saints. They’re media formats!
Sunday, 13. January 2008
It sounds like the story of Sony! Sony came out with the Beta video tape Player, and kept the “closed” technology to themselves. Then Hitachi came out with “open” technology and the world of video was really born!
Then there’s the story of memory cards such as Secure Digital (SD) as in cameras, and other hand held devices, vs Sony Memory sticks at twice the price.
And now they should jump in bed with Blue Ray (a-la Play Station 3!).
“I just don’t know”!
Sunday, 13. January 2008
I saw you updated the price of the HD DVD player you have referenced. How about updating your link to the Amazon Blu-Ray sale with 229 titles in it. You know, the one with the Spider-Man trilogy for $43, and the Close Encounters 30th Anniversary for $24. Thanks
Sunday, 13. January 2008
The funny thing is, none of this matters. Do people really belive that phisical media will matter in 3-5 years? If you have HD DVD or Blueray, just rip it to MP4/MKV or something and store it on a drive.
I will say this. I don’t know why people want the wars to end so quick. Competition is great. Could you imagine just Sony running the show? This war propably helped in a big way to drop prices so quickly on players and getting heaps of free movies when making a purchase.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
The AVERAGE consumer should not invest in either HD-DVD or BluRay video libraries as they’ll soon to be obsolete. For example, SDHC and Compact flash memory cards now come in 32GB and 46GB capacities. In a very few years they’ll be cheap enough (not yet by far) to replace DVD’s, due to mass production. Big round plastic discs are practically obsolete already and should be boycotted so we can all move to something better faster. The early adopters who want their hi-res right now should be willing to pay for it and not complain.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
What is not being said is that the Toshiba A-30 is spectacular
playing CD’s as well and all of the triligy of Borne moves is
in HD DVC.
Before U know it and the A-30 will be $100 and then I will buy one.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Has no on read the articles talking about how they already have prototype 200G BluRay discs (8 layers) and they are readable by all existing BluRay players with merely a firmware update? WTF are you talking about BluRay is not future capable? Where do you do your research? You are simply pissed off that you bought an HD DVD Player and not a PS3. Your format is going by the way side faster than BetaMax did. Porn has even finally arrived on Blu-Ray. Case Closed.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
@Nathan
CD is not Sony’s. It was a joint effort, and mostly developled from Philips current LaserDisc technology.
3.5″ is also nothing to be proud of
.
However, Sony Proprietary Crap:
BetaMax
Sony MemoryStick
MicroMV
Mini-CD
UMD PSP only – Movie Format
Now by crap, i don’t mean quality, i mean licensing and corporate greed.
Sure BetaMax was better techonologically speaking, but they were stingy and didnt share. Same with memry stick, Mini-CD UMD PSP. Thats why they failed.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Gotta love it. Blu ray blaming HD DVD for their problems. HD DVD comes out as a completed format too early? Geez, o’mighty!
Winning the war and still whining. Freddy
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Does anyone really care about either format? And if they do, why? The future is not disks at all. It is streaming. Comcast just figured that out. That is why they announced the maga-speed increase for this year. It’s all about the streaming for me. Full 1080p (or higher), on demand. That is where the future stands. These hd disk formats are just something to get people through the next 2 years. EVERYONE is wasting their money. There are NO WINNERS!
Sunday, 13. January 2008
I have both, but that said, they are going to have a short lifespan. Netflix just blew the cap off their streaming service, and while it’s not HD, it will evolve to HD. No it probably won’t be 1080p with TrueHD audio anytime soon, but could prove to be “good enough” that more studios will opt in.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Netflix and other companies do seem to be making progress on eliminating physical media all together.
One point I want to make clear:
I’m likely not spending any more on HD DVDs. In fact, I haven’t bought any other than the 10 that came as part of my original deal. I’m now enjoying HD content via my HD player solely through HD DVDs from Netflix.
When the point of reference is movie theater ticket prices, it’s hard to see how HD DVD (or Blu-ray) owners have “wasted” any money (regardless of which one dies now… or later).
Meaning, it doesn’t take watching that many HD movies (via Netflix or another means of getting HD content for your HD player at no additional cost) in a home theater HD setup before the cost justifies the savings of movie theater tickets.
Sunday, 13. January 2008
LMAO. BDA can’t get their shit together so they blame HD DVD for being ready too early. It took them 2 years to match HD DVD’s interactivity features, and none of the stand-alone players on the market can be upgraded to 2.0.
Meanwhile we have a format that is entirely dependent on a game console and it is a Sony lovefest of moronic fanboys. Grow a brain already, the BDA has done nothing but take you for a ride and you love every minute of it. You think they give a crap about the consumers ?
Sunday, 13. January 2008
Blu-Ray, SHmu-Ray… What we need is a “Better” laser beam.
Blue or red lasers will be a thing of the past. There’s new technology just around the corner. Just like a hard drive, the GB’s increase and get better each year. Buy what you want now…enjoy it….be excited about the next generation of dvd’s to come….
Sunday, 13. January 2008
I know that BR fanboys like to throw around ratios, but they all like to ignore the ratio of DVDs to high-def. Now, I can’t find the number right now, but iirc both HD DVD and Blu-Ray make up less than 3% of the market.
You’re telling me that ratios tell the story? The story I’m seeing is that both formats have failed, and that it’s only a matter of time before, just as with the SACD/DVD-A section of Best Buy, we go back to the inferior DVD format. That’s really my prediction, because I think Sony, in trying to force an admittedly superior format down our throats, just killed the high-def movie disc market as thoroughly as they killed the high-def audio market when they set out to kill DVD-A.
Not that I mind. My Toshiba HD DVD unit plays DVDs dern near as well as the cream of the crop in the upscaling DVD player market, and I have a little bit of HD content to show off to people. And if Blu-Ray takes off, I can wait until faster, cheaper, more reliable players come out. I don’t mind. I bet the studios who sought to “end the format war” will if many of us do, though. :->
Monday, 14. January 2008
Looks like some sour losers still trying to spread the same old stupid lies about how Blu-ray and Sony screws the consumers. HD DVD sour losers and Sony haters, you picked the wrong camp, the losing side. Now, just get over it. Like it or not, Sony won.
LOL. I just love it when this happens because those retarded Sony haters take all this so seriously. Guess what? You are a minority, retards. 99% of the population don’t freaking care about your love/hate of company X.
Monday, 14. January 2008
I thought Blu-Ray players could do firmware upgrades if you burn a CD/DVD on your PC?
Monday, 14. January 2008
Blu-Ray players can be updated with the newest firmware, so, in fact in October you will be able to play the newer versions of Blu-ray. I think there were only a very few low end models that did not have this capability, however most players have the ability to be updated through a firmware update so the new version can be played on the player.
Monday, 14. January 2008
Well I thouhgt about dropping my hd-dvd but I decided to stick with it. I do not care if they lose the format war. I do think HD downloads could kill both formats but I think there are too many unanswered questions right now for me to think they will. Portiblity is one of them. Look at all the people who have dvd players in there cars. They might not have a solution for those people. Plus you can not loan movies to your friends either.
I almost bought a PS3 right after the warner brother news but the price stopped me. I can not back a side that is just so much more expensive with competition.
I do not care that my hd-dvd player only plays in 1080i since my tv only plays in 1080i.
Monday, 14. January 2008
In response to
“Blu-ray players on the market are designed without “future-compatibility capabilities.” This means that bonus features on titles released starting in October will not be playable on current Blu-ray players. Wow.”
Do some more research. Most early blu-ray players “are” upgradeable. I own three different models which I upgrade about once every couple of months with new software updates.
Monday, 14. January 2008
Where are the 7 movies. Amazon talks about 2 movies included. Bourne and 300.
Monday, 14. January 2008
Ronaldo,
Right under price and shipping information on the product page it says the following:
“Free HD DVD Rebate offer: Get 5 Free HD DVDs after Mail-in rebate when you buy a qualifying Toshiba HD-DVD player.”
This is in addition to the 2 that come up with it, which makes a total of 7.
Monday, 14. January 2008
“Looks like some sour losers still trying to spread the same old stupid lies about how Blu-ray and Sony screws the consumers. HD DVD sour losers and Sony haters, you picked the wrong camp, the losing side. Now, just get over it. Like it or not, Sony won.”
Except they blame the fact that their format isn’t done on a format that was in the works BEFORE Blu-Ray. They’re being dishonest about why the early adopters are getting screwed.
“LOL. I just love it when this happens because those retarded Sony haters take all this so seriously. Guess what? You are a minority, retards. 99% of the population don’t freaking care about your love/hate of company X.”
Retarded for following the DVD standards committee, eh? Retarded for betting against a format created by a company with a strong track record of fail? I think we all just failed to realize how much cash Sony was willing to crap to force Blu-Ray to win.
So, yeah, the ultimately superior format will win, and eventually people like me will buy a player. However, only a fool would buy before the Christmas season since BD Live players won’t be available until at least October. Yeah, I know about the PS3; I’m not going to buy a game console to play movies. so for one more year, I’ll hold off on both HD movie purchases and will hold off on purchasing ANY movies as I don’t want to keep stocking up on SD movies.
My collection of SD DVDs looks awesome on my HD player though.
And yes, you can get 5 titles in the mail on top of the included two, which makes for seven. The selection is pretty limited but I’m sure some people will go nuts for movies like Pitch Black and Rattle & Hum.
Monday, 14. January 2008
“Do some more research. Most early blu-ray players “are” upgradeable. I own three different models which I upgrade about once every couple of months with new software updates.” Well Corey it looks like YOU need to do some research. The only player that can be upgraded via firmware to be made profile 1.1 or 2.0 is the PS3. The Panasonic BD30 is profile 1.1. No other existing players in the wild will be able to upgrade to profile 1.1 via firmware. This is a fact, do some reading. All of the other players out there don’t have the HARDWARE to provide the newer profiles. 1.1 profile machines have to have a secondary video decoder for PIP. 2.0 machines have to have at least 512 MB of internal memory and an ethernet port for BD live. So, in other words all of the other BD standalones out there ARE somewhat obsolete and will NOT play the new next generation features.
Monday, 14. January 2008
“As an immediate format its merely ok, as it doesnt have the 1080p of Blu-Ray for longevity” LIE.. HD DVD displays in 1080p, its the players that will/won’t show it.
A3 1080i (good for me cause my TV is 720p)
A30 1080p
A35 1080p
Yes Blu has a 50gig disk but hardly any of the new movies are released on them, so that is a moot point.
Sony took a bath of 2 billion on the first year sales of PS3. Its a gaming machine first a player second. If someone said I want to by a DVD player would you recommend them to buy a Xbox Elite???
IMO Sony has not allowed or given all the information to thier fellow Blu Ray makerss (ie SHarp,Samsung,Pionner, LG etc) is so that they keep releasing players that are not meeting the future goals. This will make ppl ask ” Whats the best Blu ray player to buy.. Well thats the PS3.. The gaming machine”
If you read alot of forums, you will see tha alot of the 1.0 players can’t play 3:10 to Uma,Sunshine,PoC:3. Sammy 1300 for example I think I do know the unit is a 1300. Oh sure it is being addressed and a patch is due next week but the thing is “Why must I wait for a patch to come out so I can watch my movie I just spent $30+ on?”
OH. but you know the Toshiba machines since the A2 line all came with 2.0 , pip and they don’t require updates to allow ppl to watch movies.
Consumers didn’t pick Blu they where forced to go blu. I will contiune to support HD till the last 3 companies change sides. Then I will go back to watching SD movies till the BDA groups can make a dependable player that can equal what Toshiba made.
OH D/L HD movies… won’t happen any time soon. I’m in Canada where we have laid miles of fiber optics so some places can get high speed d/l. But ya know my home town the fastest connection is still phone lines. You won’t be seeing ppl pulling down HD 1080p with 7.1 DTS surround sound over the phone lines that takes them 5-7hrs, then gotta find a way to hook thier PC to the TV. Tell me how many ppl in all of the US has access to High speed and then ask them if they want to wait 5-6 hrs to get that HD movie to d/l. OH sure MoD is coming but do you actually own the movie or just rent it? What if 2 yrs from now you want to rewatch the movie from MoD will it still be there? Will you have to pay for it again?
Sorry but d/l media won’t be happening for atleast 10yrs till they can get the delievery faster, then they have to get ppl to start hooking thier PC’s to the Tv’s..
Tuesday, 15. January 2008
Sorry guys, most people don’t care about either format. The studios care a lot more about these formats than the consumers do, because they see it as a way to juice more out of each movie sale. Most consumers simply don’t care that much about the extra pixels. Most actors could do without the extra definition… low definition is the poor-man’s airbrush post-processing.
But for the AV-obsessed of you who’ve dropped thousands on your setups, complete with “ultra-high quality” snake-oil cables, you can have your Blu-ray. Enjoy having your wallet in bed with Sony.
Digital distribution is the real future… disc-based movie distribution formats are going to go the way of the music CD sooner or later. It already has for most of the college students I know. The adults and movie studios will catch up at some point.
Tuesday, 15. January 2008
And, people will not have to hook traditional PCs to their TVs to get movies over the internet. Apple, Microsoft, Sony, and a bunch of other companies are racing to get their respective internet enabled consumer-electronic style PCs attached to peoples home theaters. The XBox is a tightly locked down PC, as is the PS3, and AppleTV.
Even the iPhone is a PC capable of streaming movies over the web.
And broadband penetration is increasing. As of ‘07, >80% of internet-going households in the US were on broadband, and the broadband companies are increasing the speed of their connections fairly frequently.
Tuesday, 15. January 2008
Who wants 1080i? That’s not cheap- that’s el cheapo. Besides, most “early adopters” are PS3 owners, but the HD DVD camp won’t have any of that- never mind the fact that disc sales don’t jive with their player sales data.
Tuesday, 15. January 2008
READ READ!!!
Toshiba is seriously thinking of not turning a short profit just to gain future dominance on the future of HD. Warner Bros & Paramount have left and Toshiba will regain them very soon(2 months). Millions of HD players will be sold leaving the movie studios NO CHOICE but to once more make HD DVD’s for the players. The only way that Blue Ray will get supremacy is if they have a player under $199 on the shelf by April 2008. NOT A CHANCE. Remember that one of the factors that allowed VHS to beat BETA was that they had the contract to adult film. This time around Toshiba has the contract to HD DVD. Toshiba will have 1080i players under $100 by the end of February and 1080p players for about $175 this is how they will prevail. (inside info.)
Tuesday, 15. January 2008
juan, I bought one of the HD-A3s (lightning took out my TV, some stereo equipment, and a combo DVD/VCR unit, so I was in the market) and I hope you’re right; however, the studios want their stronger drm and in all reality even though the format sucks the blu discs are higher capacity by design.
I think it’ll still go Blu, and if it does, I have a good DVD player until then thanks to the A3 I have something which plays DVDs exceedingly well on an HD set, and I can wait until this fall or winter when newer, fully-capable players come out, or even later if they’re too high-priced.
On the other hand, if your blue-sky scenario comes true, I already have a player.
Either way, I feel I’ve won. It’s good to be me.
Thursday, 17. January 2008
Check out the new Apple TV + movie rentals/purchases directly on your TV, even in HD. It’s the beginning of the end for disc formats.
Saturday, 19. January 2008
I’ll just stick with regular DVD, and spend my money on a new mountain bike. You wouldn’t believe the resolution, contast, sharpness and color of the outside real world.
Seriously though, DVD does everything I need and it’s going to be around for a while. Pair it with an upconverting player and a good HD LCD TV and bingo, good watchin’
Saturday, 19. January 2008
Johnny, I nominate your comment for the “best comment on the post” award. Priceless!
Sunday, 20. January 2008
Heh, Johnny, your comment is brilliant. Nice reminder to get outside once in a while.
Yeah; like I said above, I bought an HD DVD player, but at the price it was, it wasn’t really a loss, not really. I mean, cheaper than an Oppo and comparable quality…ok, I already went through all that so I won’t again, but right now the Blus aren’t ready (I know this’ll start a flame war, but it’s true, it’s still early, guys, chill…) and in two or three months I’ll start on a 6-month period where I’ll only watch TV for about 30 minutes a day, absolute tops. By the time I can watch TV again, BD-Live will be ready to go and will hopefully be at a decent price point.
So yeah…good call man. Stick with DVD, it’s pretty darn good.
Thursday, 24. January 2008
Looks like someone started an online petition to “save” HD-DVD. Here’s the link if anyone wants to sign it.
petitiononline.com/SAVEHDD
Saturday, 26. January 2008
Streaming in the end, I feel would be the best solution. I will NOT however take a bath like the average consumer buying a dumbed down box from Apple (apple tv!?! wtf?), Sony, etc. I have a PC in my house that serves that purpose and much more. That little box that fits neatly in your entertainment center is a lame PC. Dont get bent over the rail here people…how many of you have a PC lying around the house doing nothing these days? People will go and buy the Apple TV and leave their 3 year old mac in the closet. EVERYTHING the internet ready boxes do, my PC does better. Web, video, photos, anything else…Oh yeah and I can play Half Life 2 online at 1920 X 1080!! I will host a server and all of those people who own an Apple TV can join. Really tho, its not that I hate apple or those little boxes. I just hate that those boxes (ANY mfg model) are marketed as the best thing ever. Who they should be targeted at is people with no understanding of technology, or who are still using a Packard Bell PC/Apple IIe (an insanely old computer). Its just frustrating how people complain about the sloth like nature of tech adoption these days, yet love on consumer hating huge companies these days (sony IS the easy target) and just soak up all the mediocre crap thats spooned out these days.
HD content is here, to stay. Where it will live is really yet to be determined. I would like to see streaming win the “format war” as I have all the equipment I need now to handle it. A decent PC. No $400+ player with $25+ movie disks. That sounds like a much easier transfer to me. For full disclosure, I own a 42″ LCD 1080p TV and HD-DVD player. HD-DVD seems like the lesser of two evils to me, even tho it may die off in 1-2 years. I may end up “losing” that money, but I have spent only $170 on the A3 and got 9 movies. I dont like sony so no blu-ray for me. My past with sony is this:
Sony 50″+ rear projection TV with bad main board after 14 months ($980 part, repair declined, toss TV)
DSC-717 camera $1200 when they came out. Memory stick capacity a joke, dead CCD after 15 months. Toss camera.
Sony $400 DVD player when they first came out. Lens outta whack after 13 months. $275 repair, declined, toss player.
I LITERALLY have nothing in my home sony now cause it has all broken. I bought all that stuff around the same time and my opinion of Sony is that they mfg stuff to last just past the warranty period. The other thing is that once it is dead, it costs less to replace it than repair it due to tech prices dropping. Sony’s business model doesnt include customer support at all. The least they could do to maintain customers is sell parts at cost on older models to keep customers. Instead I get the impression they double part costs. Just MY experience and I am only ONE person. I am quite sure there are millions of people who have bought nothing but sony and had good luck. Thats fine, but sony has lost me as a customer. I have no real plans on buying a PS3 just to watch movies since its the only completely future-proof Blu-Ray player (future-proof only as long as blu-ray lasts). That seems like it was setup that way, and without the consumer in mind.
Neither format is “bad”. Just different, and those differences are disappering. Both do 1080p and have great sound. The only thing HD-DVD has really now is PiP en-mass, and Blu-Ray should be doing something about that soon enough.
To answer Crackinhedz, sure sure, as we all know, every DVD pressed from the studio comes in glorious Dolby mono, I can’t imagine anyone needing more. I believe that goes back to my statement about the “elitits”. “Well if it isn’t (Scottish!!) Dolby TruHD then its CRAP!” The average consumer doesnt have the equipment to run 7.1 TruHD. Dolby digital 5.1 or there abouts is the best 90% of the market has. But its the same as with ALL tech, the top 10% drive the market. Nvidia makes a new video card, sells it for $500+. They sell 100,000+ worldwide. Then the next year they introduce a watered down version of the same card for $250+, that sells millions worldwide. But those hardcore enthusists are what drives the market when they soak up those $500+ cards.
All I am saying is thanks for driving the market, but dont act like ur the majority.
To everyone in general:
What ur doing is inflicting your tastes forcefully on others when you start screaming “X FORMAT IS DEAD! MOVE ON PEOPLE!” Then you yell at someone else for saying the opposite. What ur doing is no better than ANY mfg forcing a format on us consumers, which you just yelled about. You can’t yell about having HD-DVD forced on you and then go be a “fanboy” for the other side. You are no better.
Bah, no one will stop what they are doing anywho. Thats why these format wars get passed over by me. Just don’t go screaming at any one person unless you know their situation or reasons for buying one format or the other. Another disk format is bad, so they both lose in that regards. If there was a decent HD movie download service that was good, fast, and NOT riddled with crappy DRM, i would drop all my disks today.
Sunday, 27. January 2008
I just bought the Toshiba A-3.. Why because It was only 125 dollars. so what if it’s a 1080i player. Unless you have a screen much larger than 50 inches then your eyes won’t even notice the difference. AND if your set is 1080p then it “upconverts” the signal anyway. The SD dvd upconversion is superior to my other SD dvd player and the quality is near HD. AND I am perfectly happy with it. Blu ray will have to come down significantly for me to buy one. Until then all other movies not offered in the HD DVD line will only be watched with the upconversion. Blu ray Disc prices still way to high. Blu-Ray should have had version upgrade ability on all players since day one. End of story.
Sunday, 27. January 2008
That’s what is going to make things really interesting. With players down to $125 (not just online either), that is going to drive a lot of demand for the players. When I was in Sam’s club, they had one HD-DVD player and one Blu-ray player (excluding the PS3 which doesn’t even have or accept a remote control). The HD-DVD player was $128, the Blu-ray player was $374. Keep in mind that HD-DVD still has Warner until May, and most regular people (i.e. not us…) can’t name which studios put out discs in what format.
If HD-DVD can really push the adoption some studios may have to switch back to at least being format neutral. With good name brand HDMI upscaling DVD players selling for ~$99, I think we’re going to see a lot of people spend $25-$30 more to get HD-DVD capabilities. Nevermind the fact that for $126 on Amazon.com you get the HD-DVD player PLUS SEVEN movies, that is just a really good deal.
Friday, 15. February 2008
Has anyone beside me heard that Toshiba signed with the LARGEST INDUSTRY IN THE WORLD, porn.It will blow sony out of the water