Is HD DVD Trying to Lose?

[BMXTRIX]

And Sony is better?

It's perhaps one of the worst arguements possible.

$ony vs. M$?

Are either really better or worse? Do you even (honestly now) care?

I've had issues with both companies, but no more or less than many other companies that I've dealt with in my life. All I really give a damn about is being able to buy every movie I want in HD. Towards that goal, the one which will give me more of what I want to see is Blu-ray. In fact, it will give me everything I want except for Universal titles.

It has nothing to do with Sony, and Microsoft is in it for VC-1 only as far as I can tell which will likely be a part of Blu-ray a bit more if it comes out on top.

Really, just one format is likely to come out on top. These aren't video game systems and while people may be happy to give up a game or two to buy a game system they prefer, they are less likely to be forgiving when they have to give up half a dozen or more great movies because a studio won't go format neutral.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

One thing is certain: I will not invest in either format until the matter has been decided once and for all, and neither will 90% of the buying public. Nobody wants to spend their hard-earned money on the next Beta or Laserdisc.

 

[jake5717]

I don't go to movie theaters. I watch them all at home. I appreciate good picture quality and a viewing experience that is as close to a theater as I can get at home. I'm just like you in that sense. My HD players play rented movies with exactly the same picture quality as owned discs. I got two today from Netfix - one Blu-Ray and one HD-DVD. My wife and I will enjoy one tonight and the other tomorrow night. I like watching movies and I do it often just like you do. I just rent them instead of buying them because it doesn't make economic sense to buy them when I can rent them so cheaply. And I don't have to store them. I just send them back. To get me to change my ways would require $5 and $6 DVD prices. I'm not sure I'm that atypical. Still sound confusing to you?

I’m the exact same way. I only own about 10 DVD's and I can’t say that I've watched any of them more then maybe three times. It makes more sense to subscribe to blockbuster (or netflix). I think even if the prices of DVD's came down to $5 or $6 I still wouldn’t by.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

I’m the exact same way. I only own about 10 DVD's and I can’t say that I've watched any of them more then maybe three times. It makes more sense to subscribe to blockbuster (or netflix). I think even if the prices of DVD's came down to $5 or $6 I still wouldn’t by.

I have lost track of how many DVDs I own. I am sure that it is well over 1,000.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I feel the same way and didnt think I would buy either for some time but since the PS3 is a nice game system I figured "what the heck" and got one anyway. It's funny; I have owned it for a week and a half and still havent watched a HD movie. It does a fine job playing CDs though.

One thing is certain: I will not invest in either format until the matter has been decided once and for all, and neither will 90% of the buying public. Nobody wants to spend their hard-earned money on the next Beta or Laserdisc.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I seldom watch a movie more than once and only own about 10 DVDs. Blockbuster online-all the way

I’m the exact same way. I only own about 10 DVD's and I can’t say that I've watched any of them more then maybe three times. It makes more sense to subscribe to blockbuster (or netflix). I think even if the prices of DVD's came down to $5 or $6 I still wouldn’t by.

 

[autoboy]

I don't think the porn arguement is that relevent here. With VHS it was such a new concept that you could take your porn home with you instead of going to theater to do your business that it was a major factor for lots of guys out there. And the guys are doing the buying of electronics. HD porn is not as big of a change (if you really want to see it on your projector in full 1080p, yuk) so it really doesn't make much difference. Besides, when was the last time you checked out porn in your living room? Unless you live alone I guess. Computers make much better porn vehicles than your home theater. HD porn is a non-issue here.

I would love to buy a bluray player and get my movies on HD but the prices are so high that I can't justify it. The HD player for my xbox was only $200, I liked the concept of flip disc, so I went for it. Now it seems like a bad move becasue there are no movies for it. It just pisses me off and I feel like I am getting screwed by the industry. Why the hell can't the content be on both formats and let the technology decide? If that was the case I would chose HD-DVD everytime for the same reason I can play my CDs in my DVD player. Backwards compatiblity is always better.

Also, I own 2 HD-DVD movies. Planet Earth and King Kong. I rent at netflix and rarely consider buying movies. 300 might be an exception and I'll get the flipdisk when it comes down in price. For now, the netflix HD-DVD will suit me just fine.

 

[jake5717]

I wonder what percentage of movies being sold are going to rental places? It would probably be smarter for rental places to buy one hybrid disc rather than one HD-DVD and one DVD disc and just let the customer play the appropriate side.

 

[Electone]

I took the plunge this week and purchased a Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player. My thoughts:

1. I believe there is better value in HD DVD at the moment.
2. I plan on being format neutral in the very near future, so I really could care less if the format war continues. I will buy movies in either format depending on price/value/disc features.
3. Universal, Paramount and Warner are massive studios and they support HD DVD. I don't like or watch Disney movies. I'll play my Fox and Sony films on my future BD player.
4. I'll keep my SD DVD's. Upscaled SD DVD looks pretty good - but it is NOT even close to HD.
5. The HD DVD Combo discs are great if you want to watch the movie in another room, portable DVD player, car DVD player, etc. But, I don't want to pay extra for them.
6. I really dislike Blu-ray's marketing tactics.
7. Some early BDs were pretty terrible looking. The fact that they are re-issuing replacement discs shows what a sloppy launch they had. How do we know they will ever get their act together (BD-Java)?

 

[jinjuku]

Just browsing through the comments and I am left with one distinct fact that isn't touched on much.

The AVERAGE consumer doesn't visit audioholics, doesn't put as much thought into their purchase as the average audioholic.

The consumer that see's the silver lining of a hybrid HD-DVD/DVD is 1 in a 1000. Hardly the market or numbers you need to come to your side of the table so you can win the format war.

 

[autoboy]

Just browsing through the comments and I am left with one distinct fact that isn't touched on much.

The AVERAGE consumer doesn't visit audioholics, doesn't put as much thought into their purchase as the average audioholic.

The consumer that see's the silver lining of a hybrid HD-DVD/DVD is 1 in a 1000. Hardly the market or numbers you need to come to your side of the table so you can win the format war.

Ok, so switch it up. The average consumer who buys a DVD gets the HD-DVD version free on the other side. Now you've got 50% of consumers thinking: hey, cool, I can play this on a HD player and get better picture. After a few months they buy HD-DVD player and HD-DVD wins.

The other 50% complain their discs don't play in their player

 

[Johnd]

The average consumer who buys a DVD gets the HD-DVD version free on the other side.

Free? Hardly. That was the whole point of Clint's article. Nothing (material) is free.

And most people don't think that way. As we are visually inclined, if a stnd. def. dvd looks good, most people will simply stick with it. Perhaps not us in the forum, but we are not mainstream as far as consumer electronics go...admit it. Thus, part of the problem...if the manufacturers cannot decide, that leaves it to us. And as long as the prices remain high, it will continue to take longer for us to decide.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Except standard def, as good as DVDs look, is not HD. People don't buy because it really is good, they buy because they are under the belief that it looks good. I don't know how many people are totally psyched about their 1080p 37 inch LCD, but the numbers are astronomical. Depsite it nearly being impossible to have any visual performance boost at normal viewing distances, people swear that they must own 1080p display and will actually pay more for those displays.

Likewise, HDTV is a buzzword that implies quality. The difference is that Blu-ray/HD DVD actually deliver upon that quality.

Yet, at the end of the day, someone who may be buying any discs, in either format right now may be painfully aware that there is a format war under way and that very likely will temper their purchasing. The mere existence of this war is hurting sales of players, adoption of the format, etc.

This isn't audio people. People aren't giving up 50"+ displays in favor of things they can stick in their pocket - they want both. But, the big 50" flat panel is what the Jones' have and you better believe, 50" isn't going to cut it for many. So, it is all about the big display, with the best source - and HD is it, whether it is HD cable, satellite, and/or HD optical discs.

DVD? Sure, that's a plus for some, but not all.

 

[skablaw]

I think the consumer would end up benefiting from the continued existence of both HD-DVD and Blu-ray if the two discs can survive until dual-format players reach reasonable price points.

From a free-market perspective, two formats playable on a single A/V component would be a consumer-focused development that really hasn't ever existed. Imagine every major studio release (except Sony-owned studios, of course) being available on two discs. The firms responsible for creating the discs or building the equipment to create the discs would have an incentive to stay afloat by driving manufacturing costs down, which, in turn, would be passed on to the consumer. If HD-DVD and Blu-ray cost as much to make as a CD-R, we'd all be throwing out our DVD collections.

 

[Tex-amp]

Following that thought, I'm of the mind that both formats will exist for quite a while. Toshiba and HP are starting to ship laptops with HD DVD drives. Lite On is going to start making the HD DVD drives for the X-box HD DVD add-on so I see them having HD DVD drives for computers next year. HD DVD drives could be become popular for computers. Blu-ray is in every PS3 and every previous PlayStation sold around 100 million consoles.

I think by the 08 holidays owning a stand alone for each format will be affordable. You can get a HD-DVD player now for $239 enjoy that now and add a blu-ray player when the price comes down. You can own an A2 and PS3 or Sony S300 for less that a dual format player right now. I don't think owning both Beta and VHS was ever affordable until after VHS came out on top.

Amazon started taking pre-orders today for the 3rd generation Toshiba players, shipping Oct.1, the A3($299), A30($399), and A35($499). I expect we will see A2 and A20 getting clearance prices soon.

 

[autoboy]

Free? Hardly. That was the whole point of Clint's article. Nothing (material) is free.

And most people don't think that way. As we are visually inclined, if a stnd. def. dvd looks good, most people will simply stick with it. Perhaps not us in the forum, but we are not mainstream as far as consumer electronics go...admit it. Thus, part of the problem...if the manufacturers cannot decide, that leaves it to us. And as long as the prices remain high, it will continue to take longer for us to decide.

Sorry, I should have explained my point a little better. Earlier in the thread I expressed that HD-DVD's secret weapon is the flip disk. All they need to do to beat BluRay is to ship all movies released with Flip Disc, sell them for the same price as DVDs, phase out DVD sales all together, and people will get the HD version for the price of the regular DVD as kinda a "free bonus." Yeah, I know it is a pipe dream but it would end this fight.

 

[Johnd]

Sorry, I should have explained my point a little better. Earlier in the thread I expressed that HD-DVD's secret weapon is the flip disk. All they need to do to beat BluRay is to ship all movies released with Flip Disc, sell them for the same price as DVDs, phase out DVD sales all together, and people will get the HD version for the price of the regular DVD as kinda a "free bonus." Yeah, I know it is a pipe dream but it would end this fight.

No need for apologies. And thanks for the explanation autoboy. I don't know if dvd's will be phased out that soon though. If only the pipe dream came true.

 

[Maxsunset]

Im not sure I would consider the Xbox 360 a very viable product for consumers in this day and age... Here is a company that instead of just releasing a console as an all for 1 unit right from the start, they first release the console without HDMI when every single product out there (even DVD players less then $100.00) already have HDMI hookups, not too mention they make the Hard Drive an upgrade, and then want you to add on another attachment for HD-DVD to this rediculus TURBINE JET ENGINE.... I could hear that stupid thing wining way off in my kitchen when my nephew brought his over....

Sorry to say, I will wait for something better to come out... XBOX-360 POS

Microsoft the $$ hungry whores they are....

Please. Save your energy for the gaming forums. The fact of the matter is, the Xbox 360 is a great system, and as of right now, has more good games on it than the Wii and PS3 have combined. This is primarily what it's designed for, not for movie playback. I think they made an excellent decision not to include a HD optical drive that gamers don't necessarily care about, nor want to pay for. If it's such a POS, then why are there more 360 units out there than there are PS3s and Wii's?

 

[Maxsunset]

Ahhh... It's good to be a gamer right now. Buying a 360 gave me a good excuse to get an HDTV, and once I had an HDTV, it was a good excuse to get the HD-DVD player, and once Sony cut the PS3 price to $500, that was a good enough excuse for me to get a PS3. BOOM! Both formats covered. If HD-DVD fails, I'm only out $200. If Blu-ray fails, I wont feel ripped off at all... all because of the games...

 

[avaserfi]

If it's such a POS, then why are there more 360 units out there than there are PS3s and Wii's?

Thats what happens when you get a years head start...

Lets check back in another year I can promise the 360 will not be number one, not with sales the way they are. The Wii will take this year and possibly part of next and after that it will be the ps3. If sale trends continue as they did with the last gen the ps3 is on a great pace...beating out the ps2 sales for the first year. Ps2 had about 6.5 million sold after one year and I think the ps3 is already around 4.5-5 million...