Not to be negative, but I've sat through a lot of demos of both formats, and have yet to be wowed by any of the content beyond what I've seen done by good DVD-players that upconvert 480p content, or a dedicated scaler component for that matter. If you get Planet Earth box set (either HD-DVD or Blu-ray)just remember to catch your jaw before it hits the floor....it is simply stunning! |
I just bought the Sony S300 it upconverts DVD's nicely and plays CD's too. I hear that $400 will be the price point at Xmas. IMHO, it is the lack of content/new realeases coming out on HD-DVD that will drive people to Blu-Ray. I already have most of the movie DVD's I want....so I wanted to ensure I get the most out of what is newly released (I do not plan to re-purchase my existing collection in HD or Blu Ray format). A salesperson told me Blu-ray players are outselling HD-DVD 6 to 1 but this was not what deecided me. Check this out Product Wars |
I am not sure if you are all aware but someone has already hacked the HD-DVD format over the Xmas holidays 2006. This could be another factor that is driving content providers and industry support towards Blu-Ray. In essence the lower technology hurdles and lower cost may seal the fate of HD-DVD....ironic though this might be. You might envision a future with Blu-Ray media only used for consumer players (protecting copyright) whilst PC's move towards HD-DVD burners for data etc. I can imagine those industry execs worrying about copy protection being thwarted so easily by PC users. Of course they will worry about the higher manufacturing costs of Blu-Ray too....but the greater hurdles and tighter control on copy protection may win the day. I recall how Sony went after the company that did Playstation 1 emulation - in the end they have proved themselves at defending a controlled proprietary game console format....and that must be what they pitch to Hollywood. Remember that game consoles are often sold at a loss with profit taken from content sales and peripherals. Think about it...which is the lesser of two evils? Sony makes big royalties but has the money and major incentive to protect the medium from piracy. Hollywood studios will want this even if distribution costs are higher (as they plan to pass these costs on to customers). Equipment player manufacturers would probably prefer the other way round....HD-DVD means no royalities to Sony...a lower cost product, higher sales growth and fatter margins (and who cares if there is piracy...as wide cheaply available media will just result in more player sales!) |
That's the BBC series you're talking about, Shadorne? Yes it is currently the best selling HD-DVD and Blu-ray title on Amazon. I agree with Johnny...some stuff is excellent and some is mediocre and barely much better than DVD. A lot depends on the individual production quality. I am watching on 1080p on a screen with full 1920 x 1080 pixels on the screen. Any HD TV with less than the exact and appropriate pixels (to match the source) will not quite give you the full monty. |
I went for the Toshiba D2 from Costco. At $249 and 5 free HD DVDs its hard to pass up. I will say that price points like that add a new factor to consumer's decision-making: The "why the heck not?" factor. For $249 you can throw caution to the wind and take the format for a ride Agreed, however, at $249 + 5 free movies, I assume the player is selling for about $150 (almost as cheap as the cheapest DVD players). This is disasterous for a new technology - it means the technology is essentially worthless - selling it at costco implies it is low tech too (cool image factor/pride of ownership is very low). People said the same about Apple iPod...when the iPod came out late to the market, the experts said "nobody would pay so much money for a portable music player that has copy protection!". And then "experts" realized that it was all about listening to music, ease of use (iTunes store) and a certain "cool" or exclusive factor rather than price. Blu-Ray owners have the pride of owning a slightly better and more expensive technology with more disc space and, more importantly, having access to far more of the latest hot movie releases from the studios (remember it is often about content and protecting content providers copyrights and NOT the widget itself - this is the same factor which drove the iPod and drives game console wars). I see no future in HD-DVD without major defections from studios supporting only Blu-Ray (something HD-DVD supporters must be desperately praying for and strategically pushing by flooding the market with cheap low cost players everywhere...the MP3 player makers tried the same thing to fight Apple). I may be completey wrong but this is my hunch. |
The accelerated race to zero for HD-DVD is troubling when you compare it to the more gradual price compression of DVD. When competitors fight brutally on price...the only winner is their customers. Even stores like Best Buy and Circuit City will logically prefer to sell a higher price Blu-ray over a Toshiba player...even if the markup (which is very small on electronics) is the same then the higher priced item will yield more to the bottom line. Currently they need to sell two HD-DVD players for each Blu-Ray player to make the same net....although a lot of profit comes from selling the "super duper" expensive cables and other accesories ( accesories were a big factor that drive iPod's also...just as replacement plastic cell phone belt clip holders cost $30 !!! ) |
Rysa-4, The lower production costs both for players and disks means HD_DVD will win this in the end, and the lack of any international support for Blu Ray to speak of seals the deal. Quite possibly. However my premise (which may indeed be wrong) is that easy low cost technology with less security will result in more piracy and more competion from small studios. Therefore what you say are all major advantages for pirates/small players but not something big American studios are likely to be happy about (as they can't enforce effective piracy protection in many overseas countries and the lower barriers to production allow small independent studios to compete, even if they ship low volumes). The no China licenses you mention for Blu-ray may be part of a strategy to protect the content provider...so cheap is not always desirable...just look at the markup on "cables" in Circuit City and other electronics category retailors... I mentioned that someone has ALREADY hacked HD-DVD about six months ago using a computer...given the China mass manufacuring of HD-DVD's how long will it be before PC owners everwhere can by an HD-DVD burner and burn their own pirated HD-DVD's... |
The battle lines are drawn. Hollywood bug studios team up with Sony, "the "Corporate" bad guys, and arm themselves with Ratatouille, POTC3 and Blade Runner Xmas Blu-ray releases. Meanwhile Jason Bourne with Sam and Walmart must find a way to fight back with their "Bourne Ultimatum" which also releases at Xmas. It will be interesting to see if Bourne can find a way to win the format battle, against all odds! |
Rysa4, As I stated much earlier in this thread, content will likely be the deciding factor. It appears that the HD-DVD camp agrees with me as they paid $150 Million in order to get two studios to go exclusive for 18 months with HD-DVD. The data indeed shows HD-DVD is no longer losing as badly as before eProduct Wars Cheap is not everything...why is Dell doing so badly if cheap is the way to go? Why did Apple iPod do so well - given it was far from cheapest on the market? I continue to think content will dominate consumers choices, after all this is why you buy a player.....to watch a movie! I agree with you that the content playing field is much more evenly matched then it was previously and it is starting to show in the sales. It may indeed give HD-DVD enough of an edge ( this last move certainly seemed like desperation on the part of the HD-DVD camp) but I also doubt this is the last move we have seen in this battle....if the data shows BD losing its lead then I expect they will respond to. |
