Toshiba announces HD DVD surrender: War is finally over!

[Alamar]

I sat on the fence while the fiasco raged, I'll wait till summer's end to see where prices are headed, if by Black Friday Blu-ray hasn't got their act together, they're going to be in a world of hurt.

How much of a move do you expect? How much of a move of players / movies / etc. would it take for you to pull the trigger?

 

[no. 5]

I'm just happy it's over.

Sure, I would have been a little bit happier if HD DVD had won, but that's only because the Blu-ray camp was so annoying at the start of this, the ability to buy Star Wars in HD trumps that.

 

[stratman]

How much of a move do you expect? How much of a move of players / movies / etc. would it take for you to pull the trigger?

Well analysts say that we should see sub $300 players by end of summer, but again who knows, in the next few weeks/months you'll start seeing 2nd and 3rd tier manufacturers start making annoucements regarding releases. Personally I'll pull the trigger on a $150.00 2.0 player, any higher and it's not worth it to me, patience does have it's virtues, as for software, it's coming down a lot, once Wal Mart jumps in guns ablazing, look out, everyone has to follow suit or stay behind. Worst thing to do right now is panic-buy, like some did when HD DVD started their own fire sales.

 

[Alamar]

Well analysts say that we should see sub $300 players by end of summer, but again who knows, in the next few weeks/months you'll start seeing 2nd and 3rd tier manufacturers start making annoucements regarding releases. Personally I'll pull the trigger on a $150.00 2.0 player, any higher and it's not worth it to me, patience does have it's virtues, as for software, it's coming down a lot, once Wal Mart jumps in guns ablazing, look out, everyone has to follow suit or stay behind. Worst thing to do right now is panic-buy, like some did when HD DVD started their own fire sales.

I'm not as sensitive to the price of the player [200$ is OK as long as it does everything that I want]. I'd love to see movie prices get chopped in half though ... right now 35$ off-sale is a stupid-high price. 15-17$ for a 1st rate new release is a lot closer to what I'd like to pay.

 

[Addy]

i don't understand why everybody's thinks that xbox will have blu-ray..its already one of the best selling systems and rather then buying into the format Microsoft is buying rights to gaming company's and making them exclusive to xbox...i have both systems, ps3 for blu-ray and xbox for gaming. ps3 sucks beyond belief for online gaming and has almost no games that i would buy exclusively for ps3...xbox already won...you know how much money they save not having blu-ray...alot.

 

[stratman]

i don't understand why everybody's thinks that xbox will have blu-ray..its already one of the best selling systems and rather then buying into the format Microsoft is buying rights to gaming company's and making them exclusive to xbox...i have both systems, ps3 for blu-ray and xbox for gaming. ps3 sucks beyond belief for online gaming and has almost no games that i would buy exclusively for ps3...xbox already won...you know how much money they save not having blu-ray...alot.

This balance changes if X Box starts to lose shares in the market as some would buy PS 3 for blu-ray alone (as some folks have done here), MS will not be happy that the competition is selling more units, no matter what the end use will be, movies or games. It will not be beyond MS to go BD in order to stave off any perceived or actual competition from PS 3.

 

[birdonthebeach]

All the fanboy talk aside, I do agree that it should be of concern when a content company like Sony controls a format. That can lead to all sorts of bad mojo.....

 

[stratman]

All the fanboy talk aside, I do agree that it should be of concern when a content company like Sony controls a format. That can lead to all sorts of bad mojo.....

No doubt. But, the good thing, as far as hardware, Sony is not the only guy on the block and that's good for us.

 

[mattburk]

I think toshiba is getting ready for flash drive hd.
That would be so much better than the old spinning disc.

 

[Wayde Robson]

as far as hardware, Sony is not the only guy on the block and that's good for us.

That's one interesting thing too, a lot of people had this format war pegged as another Beta vs VHS. But Sony held Beta hardware exclusively as far as I know, nobody else was allowed to make them.

Toshiba was the only ones making HD DVD players. I'm not exactly sure if that's by Toshiba's design or just because nobody else got around to it yet.

 

[stratman]

That's one interesting thing too, a lot of people had this format war pegged as another Beta vs VHS. But Sony held Beta hardware exclusively as far as I know, nobody else was allowed to make them.

Toshiba was the only ones making HD DVD players. I'm not exactly sure if that's by Toshiba's design or just because nobody else got around to it yet.

I would venture to say the only bright spot right now on BD's horizon is the fact that there are many manufacturers. As competition gears up for the Christmas holiday hopefully others will jump in the fray and start producing inexpensive 2.0 players. If Toshiba would have included more manufacturers, the turn out would have been different. In a way they acted like Sony did with Betamax.

 

[MUDSHARK]

I'm not as sensitive to the price of the player [200$ is OK as long as it does everything that I want]. I'd love to see movie prices get chopped in half though ... right now 35$ off-sale is a stupid-high price. 15-17$ for a 1st rate new release is a lot closer to what I'd like to pay.

My son said much the same to me today." When the Blu-ray movies cost the same as DVD then I would likely buy one but not before." This whole next generation player thing is a small niche important only to people that care enough to post on boards such as this. Few will give a hoot about True Dolby. I doubt if enough people will ever get on board to drive prices down now that the other format is gone. I hope I'm wrong so more movies will be produced to select from.

What will AH have to talk about now?

 

[skads_187]

My son said much the same to me today." When the Blu-ray movies cost the same as DVD then I would likely buy one but not before." This whole next generation player thing is a small niche important only to people that care enough to post on boards such as this. Few will give a hoot about True Dolby. I doubt if enough people will ever get on board to drive prices down now that the other format is gone. I hope I'm wrong so more movies will be produced to select from.

What will AH have to talk about now?

I dont know about that, I mean, everyone is purchasing hdtv's, spending good money on it. why not spend a bit more on a HD player? I cant see myself upscaling dvd's for the rest of my life on a 2-3000$ tv. Eventually bd players should go slightly down in price.
The Dolby trueHD thing, ok, I understand, even myself, I just bought a receiver, and I cant afford to buy another one to play TrueHD sound. However, I am satisfied enough with the PQ and regular dts/dd. I believe its the PQ that will make it a seller at first, I hope. The movies just look too spectacular. It's too bad I have a huge dvd collection. Im scared I might re-buy them in BD.
I wish they can make some system where you can return all your dvds and cash them in for BD at a slightly extra cost lol

 

[abefroeman]

So does anyone want to buy my Toshiba A2?

I listed it last night on ebay as a one day auction with a low buy it now.

 

[gliz]

Why does politics have to creep in these threads (jinjuku) this is not the time or place. I come here to get away from that stuff, not to be dised while taking about Blu ray! it is my option that the moderator should pull posts like that if you wanna talk politics go someplace else please.

 

[birdonthebeach]

Why does politics have to creep in these threads (jinjuku) this is not the time or place. I come here to get away from that stuff, not to be dised while taking about Blu ray! it is my option that the moderator should pull posts like that if you wanna talk politics go someplace else please.

Totally agreed!!! Take your venom elsewhere!

 

[b_panther_g]

blu-ray spec....

I’m also glad that 1 standard won – but…

Isn’t blu-ray an incomplete spec?

How can I know if the player I buy this weekend - will work 2 years from now?

Just something to think about,
Panther

 

[birdonthebeach]

For those that care, Amazon just went 50% off on HD-DVD titles....

 

[stratman]

Let the fire sales: begin!!!!

Man, I just saw the prices, for a dead format, those prices are way too high!

 

[birdonthebeach]

Man, I just saw the prices, for a dead format, those prices are way too high!

Agreed! I would imagine that in a few months, we'll begin to see the real deals...