Will HD-DVD make it to July?

[smurphy522]

An interesting poll came to me so I answered my opinion, yes. It took me to this poll result:

Your response has been recorded. Thank you for participating!

Question: In your opinion, do you think HD DVD has a chance of surviving?

No. 48%
I really don't give a crap! 26%
Yes. 16%
Maybe. 11%


Well, It seems the C-net readers are not too enthusiastic for HD-DVD.

To view the source link to here

 

[tn001d]

With over 500 HD-DVD's available, and more coming.. it most definitely will

 

[j_garcia]

I do think it will possibly still be around in July, but it will be gone by the end of year IMO.

More coming? LOL. It is dead, it just doesn't know it yet.

 

[allargon]

It's certainly limping. However, all last year it was in a similarly bad state with only Universal supporting it exclusively. Then, Paramount switched.

Barring another studio defection, HD DVD will be in a slow decline. What's deceptive is that people fail to mention that Universal and Paramount still don't release any current content on Blu-Ray. If you want all the high def movies, you still need Blu-Ray and HD DVD players.

 

[edmcanuck]

HD-DVD hasn't even managed to make it to February

Cover it with dirt... it's passed on!

 

[ParkerAudio]

HD DVD will make it till July, probably past the end of the year. I don't see Bill Gates and Toshiba going down without making another move.
There are A LOT of HD DVD players out there right now, especially with the big sales at the end of last year.
I still don't understand why studios pick a side, they are missing out on a lot of customers.

 

[stratman]

It might still be around, if Gates gets Yahoo, he'll loose interest and might pull out, Universal's president is waiting to see what the consumer's are doing, he's no fool, he's already said it, if the numbers don't change for HD DVD, Universal is packing up and moving camps. It's a smart business move. What are the odds that MS will get stuck with a dead turkey in their hand.

 

[j_garcia]

None of these companies is stupid. It will reach a point where it doesn't make financial sense to continue on with a product...regardless of what has been invested already. They know when to cut their losses - that's why they are big companies.

 

[BMXTRIX]

HD DVD will be around for a couple of years, but the concept that it actually ever stood a fighting chance is highly questionable. Historically, no company with a proprietary product has had much success in the CE market place. The talk of the iPod is great, but it really isn't locked out of the MP3 format, it's just one of many that are a part of the format - and it has real competition.

HD DVD is Toshiba. It isn't 'competition' the way that Blu-ray is. Some people claim that Blu-ray is Sony, and there is no doubt that Sony is the keystone to Blu-ray, but the fact that almost every major CE manufacturer is actively behind Blu-ray has always given it far more chance for success than HD DVD.

IMO - Neither format is close to proving itself to be survivable, and HD DVD was, and always has been, well behind Blu-ray. Only through studio support has HD DVD gotten this far along the line.

Yet, we will see the format for another couple of years.

The WB decision was, what I consider, the fatal wound. It's now just a long drawn out period of the format bleeding out. We likely will see Universal and Paramount go neutral prior to this holiday season - unless Paramount rides out their contract ($$$$!) or Universal got a new one. Yet, I think that what was inevitable 18 months ago is now finally being realized by all.

CE support + studio support = more retail support and more press support = more consumer support

HD DVD, for the fight it gave, only had a chance if WB went exclusive. Since that didn't happen, it seems that the market is calling for a quick end to this and a quick end means Universal and Paramount going neutral (not exclusive) because that gives Blu-ray 100% studio support.

Then, it will just be a matter of time before every studio goes exclusive and HD DVD disappears.

 

[Audioholics]

They lost the movie studios, they should pursue the record companies... Either way they are pretty dead tho.

 

[The Dukester]

They lost the movie studios, they should pursue the record companies... Either way they are pretty dead tho.

They could always buy some. That's what Sony did.

 

[edmcanuck]

HD DVD will be around for a couple of years

hehehe... or not

 

[Seth=L]

I am sure Toshiba knew HD DVD was the losing some time ago. To keep the retailers and studios happy they stuck with it. After the $98 HD-A2 blowout at Wal-Mart (which we can certainly call a fire sale without much question now) they needed to stick with it for a while. Wal-Mart won't accept returns passed 90 days on equipment such as the HD-A2 and Toshiba won't take it back unless there is something wrong with it. Now the customers are stuck with the players and the movies and Wal-Mart, Toshiba, and other retailers cut their losses to a minimum. Chances are, the big wigs of all the studios, manufacturers, and retailers knew about HD DVD's soon to come defection. They passed as many costs as possible on to the customers.

 

[stratman]

I am sure Toshiba knew HD DVD was the losing some time ago. To keep the retailers and studios happy they stuck with it. After the $98 HD-A2 blowout at Wal-Mart (which we can certainly call a fire sale without much question now) they needed to stick with it for a while. Wal-Mart won't accept returns passed 90 days on equipment such as the HD-A2 and Toshiba won't take it back unless there is something wrong with it. Now the customers are stuck with the players and the movies and Wal-Mart, Toshiba, and other retailers cut their losses to a minimum. Chances are, the big wigs of all the studios, manufacturers, and retailers knew about HD DVD's soon to come defection. They passed as many costs as possible on to the customers.

Insider info. the consumer always gets shafted. In this case the early adopter.

 

[BMXTRIX]

hehehe... or not

As I said, they never stood a chance... But I was really suprised at their decision. They must have been subsidizing the heck out of players to bring them to market.

As the new Betamax, they went out with far less of a fight and zero future potential compared to the 'failed' Beta format. I put 'failed' in quotes since Beta became the pro standard for a decade plus and made Sony a good bit of cash.