BluRay vs. HD-DVD

I was under the impression that both had deals through all/most of '09?

Also, I am curious to see what Toshiba's/MS's counter punch is.

Been following up on the Warner decision and it seems like it's a reactionary move to the threat of Microsoft. Apparently, Warner is scared that this format war is going to drag out until Microsoft can make digital delivery viable. I have no idea what MS' plans are there, but that was the reason given by three sources.

Also, the reason they went BR over HDDVD was international market penetration. HDDVD is on very good legs in the USA, but in Europe and Japan, BR still has enormous market share, and Warner's concern is their substantial international distribution.

HDDVD will probably take about 12-24 months to go away, and that assuming the alliance doesn't counter.

In any case, this isn't gonna stop me from buying the Bourne Trilogy. Fuckit. It's not like it won't still look good when I'm the only HDDVD user left in the world

 

were you a betamax guy?

 

MS already gave their counterpunch. They attempted to help buy Warner and hurt Blu, but Warner chose to side with Sony. That leaves just Universal and Paramount as the only major American studios making hd-dvd as of May (when Warner support will stop.)

There are plenty of great movies on HD-DVD that aren't out on Blu, I agree with that. But the future of the format is very bleak. Paramount is only making HD-DVDs because of a $150 mil deal that runs out at the end of 08.

 

this format is sill. just keep normal DVDs. we will be downloading all our movies soon anyway.

 

I disagree. While yes I will agree there will be some downloading, people like to have a hard copy of the movie to watch as well. Now if it means downloading a permanent file, that may be another story.

 

Downloading a lossless sound, full 1080p picture movie is pretty far off, if ever. There will be a market for these high end discs, they are even that much more impressive than live sports or nature shows. It's amazing how good 2001 looks, for instance. To think that movie was filmed in 1968, it's like looking back in time.

Movies on XBL are highly compressed versions of that. Do they look good? Yeah. But they don't look like that.

There will be a market for both. I suspect DVD will survive too, much like CD it is everywhere. It also offers very little copy protection (easily broken) allowing you to rip your movies and put them anywhere, your ipod, your PC, your PSP etc. Plus third world countries and people who don't have hdtvs will need dvds for the forseeable future.


In really cool geek tech news, you can soon rip some Blu Ray movies from your PS3 and download a scaled version directly to your PSP or memory stick for watching your collection on the go. This was just announced yesterday, and really gives you added value for your Blu Ray movies. I hope a lot of movies support this feature moving forward.

 

id rather buy a ps3 and an xbox360 with hddvd add on for about $100 more.

 

I bought the HDDVD add on for Xbox 360 about a year ago... I heard that porn companies sold HDDVD and that was the death nail for Blueray. I guess I'm wrong.

 

My plan is to grab a cheap 1080p player once HD-DVD dies for backup.

I hope that Toshiba will continue making combo players for some time, assuming eventually they have to make a Blu Ray player.

I'll also be filling out my HD-DVD collection with cheap fills as stores clear their inventory. I'm particularly excited about seeing what happens to that $180 Star Trek Season 1 set. 30 episodes, I'd probably buy that at $80-$100.