Is HD-DVD Really Dead?

Is it really dead? Or is just warming up for the fight? TotalGamerZone explains why it may just be getting started for the long haul.

[orange14]

Solid reasoning... but doesn't Blu-Ray have more support from movie makers?

[nomuken]

With crap quality. HD DVD's look better IMO

Edit: Yes ive compared them, Blu-ray suffers from screen judder and slow framrate sometimes, HD DVD runs very smooth but it can also suffer from framerate problems but that is very rare. I want quality not a bloody name brand... hmmm like Blu-ray

[Clinton514]

You've actually compared them? And I'm not talking about randomly walking into a Best Buy.

edit: How can someone disagree with a valid question? Ha! Oh I forgot that some of your pre-teen drama queens have multiple accounts for disagreeing with people. I'll be sure to notify the admins.

[tehcellownu]

Blue ray does have more support even though xbots dont want to admitted it..lol...sucks for people who owns hd dvd..

[Silver360]

But Microsoft makes the encoding that allows HD discs to store data. And it seems like the give the smoother performance options to HD-DVD.

[cooke15]

Right now BluRay has disney and HD has Universal, its pretty even, i like the selection of movies on HD more than BR right now. But that could change, though i dont care for Disney movies.

[Fighter]

Blu-ray also has FOX, MGM, Lionsgate and Sony pictures as exclusives

[beavis4play]

right now hd-dvd has universal and BR has EVERYBODY ELSE. better check your facts.

[Bloodmask]

is not dead. Both Blu ray and HDDVD make up 5% of total DVD sales. The war will take years.

Any rational person realizes that 5% is a very small percentage. And the majority of Blu ray players sold are PS3s. Many articles have stated that a very small percentage of people watch movies on console. Less than 13%.

Ultimately the format war will be decided when the players reach a $100 to $200 price range. HDDVD will most likely achieve this first. Until then most people will buy DVD-9. Which 95% of consumers are doing right now.

One thing is for sure with Toshiba placing HDDVD drives in all their laptops and selling around 9 million a year the install base will even out and PS3 won't be such a factor anymore.

[xfrgtr]

who's buying a laptop to watch hd movies?MOVIE SALES COUNT AND BLURAY IS CRUSHING HDDVD;even Spielberg will release his movies on BLURAY and NOT ON HDDVD,you are just a desperate HDDVD fanboy ,BLURAY IS OUSELLING HDDVD and HAS BIGGER SUPPORT FROM THE MOVIE STUDIO AND ELECTRONICS GIANTS,are you that stupid to not understand?you are a xbot fanatic

[Bloodmask]

Your argument is retarded. I can just as easily say how many people watch movies on a console?? And the answer is less than 13% by statistics.

It is people like you that live in a dilisional world that think 5% of movie sales for the industry are going to determine a format choice.

You are probably a Diehard Sony fanboy who thinks that Blu ray "must" win bc you bought PS3. And PS3 says what will be the industry standard. You are probably one of the same people that just goes around disagreeing with a rational statement just bc it is slanted toward Toshiba and not Sony.

And to answer your question lots of people that carry laptops watch movies on them. I flew to California recently and there were people watching movies on the plane on laptops.

[beavis4play]

i would agree with you except for one thing. i don't see how anyone can discount BR being in the ps3 out of the box. ms, trying to support hd-dvd with an add-on? i think that's a huge advantage for BR.

[Clinton514]

I couldn't careless about the fight. I'm simply NOT buying them.

[djt23]

dont know HD is very close to defeat
blu-ray have a lot of people back it up

you guy need to get HD VMD it is better than blu-ray and HD DVD
i am just playing around but you could check it out
and yes The VMD format is capable of HD resolutions up to 1080p which is comparable with Blu-ray and HD DVD.

format war bi...

[Says you]

What the other PR would say, saying that HD DVD has better quality a quality of what exactly you mean of being lame than yes it has that.

[xfrgtr]

HDDVD IS DEAD,SONY BPD S300 IS OUT OF STOCK ON AMAZON,BLURAY HAS DISNEY, FOX, Buena Vista,Sony Pictures,....all exclusives to bluray and retailers are dropping the toshiba players from their stores;so one of the few places where you can get one is amazon.
"Panasonic DMP-BD10 Retailers are reporting that, despite HD DVD's price advantage, Blu-ray stand alone players are selling better than HD DVD stand alone players, and could be selling much more if supply could keep up with demand. Abt Electronics and Ultimate Electronics have reported that sales of Blu-ray players have increased dramatically since the introduction of low cost 2nd-generation players, and that current supplies are very tight.“We were seeing a 50/50 split in unit sales,” Bjorn Dybdahl, president of Bjorn's said. “That was primarily all three Toshiba players versus Sony's $499 players. If the Blu-ray group wants to put a death knell on HD DVD, then they need to get it everywhere very quickly.”
http://www.blu-ray.com/news...

[cdzie1]

HD DVD and Blu-ray are doing just fine and growing the market. This holiday season will tell us a lot about what the public thinks.

Should be a fun battle!

[xfrgtr]

PS3:Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5 in Video Games
XBOX 360:Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9 in Video Games,HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!
The War is Almost Over???
From eProductWars Main Page: "Important notice about eProductWars: This web site - including all the code, data, domain names, etc., will soon be going on sale on eBay. Stay tuned for more information. For inquiries, contact us today." Blu-ray has outsold HD DVD for 7 months in a row now by a factor of 2:1. I guess this site is becomming more and more irrelevant as the handwriting appears on the wall.

[Meus Renaissance]

HD-DVD camp will not raise the white flag for pride's sake.

[cooke15]

Its far too early to be raising any flags. The fact that HP and Microsoft are using HD DVD says something.

[paracardium]

yes HD DVD is dead.. it has nothing good to offer at all.Blueray has everything to offer if some of these people actually keep up with the news they wouldn't be posting HD DVD is better the Blueray crap.

[cooke15]

I dont think you have read this article yet ;)

[beardtm]

For someone with a Blu-ray avatar, you still spell it "blue-ray"

What a gimp.

Besides this war hasn't even started yet, the mass public still havent embraced it yet.

I own both, and looking at whats avaliable and forthcoming in the near future, i'd say HD-DVD has the better lineup, at least for what im looking for.

As for the quality, it would be nice for Sony to set some standards that all studios must adhere to, much like toshiba did with HD-DVD.

PS. Why do all these arguments about Blu-Ray Vs HD-DVD end up about Sony and Microsoft. It's Sony Vs Toshiba people, stop being noob fanboys.

[stonedog]

The Blue Ray camp has declared victory so many times in the last several months that I have lost track. Clearly this is intended to convince the consumer that it is so.

I don't know who is going to win but price is the main factor if there were a full featured HD DVD player of either flavour the war would be over.

Blue Ray is far more important to Sony than HD is to M$. M$ is focussed on digital delivery. Price will ultimately decide this matter. as consumer will ususally take the most affordable option. This was why VHS succeeded and Beta failed

Who do I want to win this war? I want the consumer to win. Remember neither of these groups is acting altruistically. They are looking to control the format and make money off every DVD and player sold.

Ideally they want you to buy your movie collection all over again in their new format.

[cdzie1]

4 new models were announced this week (3 from Toshiba, 1 from ONKYO). 300 is on the verge of selling over 100,000 copies (does everything have to be compared to Blu-ray? If a studio knows they can sell an extra 100,000 copies by supporting HD DVD, isn't that worth it?) and details are starting to emerge about cheaper, Chinese made players. Toshiba has an amazing 61% of the standalone market share. Microsoft drives are still selling great after the price cut / promotion. ‘Heroes Season 1’, ‘Star Trek’, ‘Evan Almighty’, ‘Knocked Up’ & ‘Bourne Ultimatum’ are all coming as HD DVD exclusives.

Each format has good things going for them: Blu-ray has their own exclusives, HD DVD offers lower-priced players. I guess we’ll see who wins at the end of the year, but to say that any format is dead is to show your ignorance.

[cooke15]

dont forget hot fuzz ;)

[ShiftyLookingCow]

Hot Fuzz was funny, Bourne Ultimatum was really good. Damn format wars.

[cooke15]

Yeah it was funny :)

[beavis4play]

yea, but toshiba can release all the players they want but what happens if more and more retailers(target for one) decide to stop selling them and only sell BR? what about blockbuster making the decesion to only carry BR movies in 80% of their stores? these types of decesions seem to support a swing in retail and comsumer preferance to BR. lat gen it was a fact that the rise of dvds over tapes was due to ps2. so everyone discounting it(BR)being in the ps3 are foolishly ignoring the past.

[Meus Renaissance]

Personally, I don't care for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. But Blu-Ray came with my PS3 so I'll go out and buy them movies.

I think most of those 4-5million PS3 users feel the same way.

[Ashira]

Many seem to forget that HD-DVD is the favored format in Europe.
Don't count HD-DVD out yet, just because BD is having the lead right now. If I'm not mistaken, didn't HD-DVD lead just before the PS3 launched? Hmm?

[kingboy]

Where in Europe? cause i rarely see any out here

[EasilyTheBest]

None of these formats are winning..... If you ask me both Blu Ray and HDDVD will always be around, it was the same with DVD-R vs DVD+R..
There was plenty of articles about who was going to win that format war.. It was compared to Beta vs VHS. Who WON!. Both of them...
Give it till this time next year and there will be multi players only. Why not both formats play DVD and CD. Soon theyll be as cheap as a DVD recorder and theyll play everything. Its a given!!!

[MrWegman]

I could care less who wins, I was happy with my HD DVD addon for my 360 until my 360 died yesterday:( Now I need to wait 4-5 weeks until the 360 is repaired (this will be my 4th 360)

[Lord Anubis]

"Now we keep hearing reports about how Blu-Ray is dominating HD-DVD in sales but has anyone realized that it is only the PS3 that is driving the sales? Who buys the PS3? Gamers and tech gurus. Can a format win with just that audience alone? Sure it may have success early on but average folk are not going to buy a PS3 to watch movies on.
"

I get a giggle out of this articles because Blu-ray continues to outsell HD-DVD in movies sold. SO their argument falls and shatters.

[beavis4play]

the average folk are exactly who will buy a ps3. when they look at everything that's available, they'll decide on whats the best value. the ps3 can play hi-def BR movies, music cds, hi-def games and go online. it can store and display pictures......and you should get the point. bottom line- normal, average, everyday people are exactly who will get the ps3. when they compare the value of the package, why would they get a stand-alone HD-DVD player that does 1 thing?

[DJ]

has to manipulate sales figures in order to make it look like their Format is winning goes to show that they're becoming increasingly more desperate with each month. They count all HD-DVD hardware as a 'stand-alone' sale, but try their damnedest to convince the public that the 5 million Playstation 3s in the world don't count as Blu-ray players.

They state that the HD-DVD addon drive for the 360 is a Standalone Player, though last time I checked it still required a $400 Xbox 360 in order to function properly, and even then lacks a lot of important features. Blu-ray is winning in both true standalone player figures, as well as HD-DVD Association's version of standalone player figures. Software sales are the true indicator of who's winning, and right now it's almost 3:1, and PS3 is just barely starting to take off.

[MaximusPrime]

judging by the number of studios support, Blu ray wins.

[heroman711]

sony has alot more support. they got the major companys. We are all waiting to see if universal will say exclusive to hd dvd

[Jdoki]

This whole Hi-Def format war just seems to be a pissing contest for console fanboys.

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD account for such a tiny amount of the market it barely matters. PS3 owners can go on and on about Blu-Ray winning but how many of those people actually buy Blu-Ray movies and support the format?

Ask your average consumer what they would rather do...

Pay less than £20 ($40) for a basic DVD player, or upwards of £250 just to be able to play back movies... then add in the cost of a new HDTV to watch them on.

And pay more for a Hi-Def version of a film, or pay peanuts for the DVD version (especially on older re-releases).

Most consumers will take the cheaper option because the HD option costs more and doesn't provide a substantially different experience.

In effect no one is wining this format war... certainly not the consumers.

The ONLY thing Blu-Ray is good for is giving developers more storage space for games. In terms of movies, everyone loses as long as there is split support between the formats.

And so what if Blu-Ray does win... this isn't a loss for MS, as they just stop producing HD-DVD players - they've made money either way. If HD-DVD does win, then Blu-Ray will still be the format that PS3 games come on. Nothing changes from a console/gaming perspective.

[beavis4play]

this was the question when ps2 launched. "plays dvds,but who cares? everyone likes tapes, and they're cheaper." same thing was said then that you are saying now. but when ps2 launched, everything changed. it wouldn't be surprising to see this happen now.(especially if universal studios throws support at BR. then HD-DVD won't have any exclusive studios behind them.)

[Dragonopolis]

You young ones probably don't know much about the format war between VHS and Betamax. Betamax was superior by far not even close comparison. Yet it was not the superior format that one the war it was industry support than one the War and for now that would be Blu-ray.

The differences between Blu-ray and HD DVD are so small that it is really not that noticeable. I walked into Fry's Electronics just a little while ago and they had two new HDTV 52" Sharps (same TV) one had Blu-ray the other had HD DVD (however they did have different surround sound setup). There was no noticeable difference in quality.

People don't listen to the Hype on the net. Whether you go Blu-ray or HD DVD, the fact is, you won't be disappointed by your hardware purchase (I'm talking no issues here)

However, Movie Title wise....

That's another story.

If you got kids and they like Disney chances are your better off with Blu-ray.

If you like a movie/movies so much you just got to have see it in HD then go with the format that supports your liking.

I have kids that like Disney (o.k. I'll admit I like some of their movies as well) plus there is a bunch of movies from Sony and Fox that I like. I will probably not have to worry to much About Warner or Paramount going either way so

Blu-ray for me..... for the most Part.

I really like the Borne Series but I am a big Firefly/Serenity Fan. Since Universal owns the rights to both I pretty much stuck with upscaling or buying an HD DVD Player.....

But that won't happen until I can get a decent HDMI 1.3 HD DVD player for $100

But that's just me.

Actually we could all look at this in a positive light. A format war usually starts a price war eventually which is good for us consumers.

That's why Xbox 360 and PS3 owners actually should be more buddy rather than at each other throats. Keeps the market guessing so that Game industry has to support both and brings us closer to that eventual price war.

[mikeslemonade]

There's 5 million PS3s and 400,000 HD-DVDs. HD-DVDs have lost. Articles trying to spin HD-DVDs are not dead piss me off so much because the war is over next year.

[cuco33]

since this war is FAR from over.

i've said it before and i'll say it again. 5% of total movie sales are in HD. that's ONLY 5%. of that 5% there is a software market share of 60/40 split. 60/40! and since ALL ps3s are BR players, how come only 13% use it as a BR player? how come only a 60/40 split?
that means, based on your numbers, that 650k use their ps3s as a BR player while 400k stand alone hd dvd players use it for what it was designed for

think outside the bubble. this war is far from over. if anything, it'll end up in a stalemate

and if it were dead as you say it is, then why oh why would samsung, a proBR exclusive player maker is selling a universal hd dvd / br player? maybe they too see outside the bubble and see that this war is long from over and has the big chance of going the route of dvd-r / dvd+r war by ending in a stalemate?

preach on your sony love troll...

[power of Green]

Thats not what happend the support was with Beta-Max the consumers chose VHS thus the studio's followed the market.

#24 tTat logic's like saying theres 12 million 360's because all of them are able to have a HD-dvd add-on. Now i know the 360 has the add-on vs BR players built-in PS3 but i doubt the ratio's will be that much different with people that care about HD or can even use it. 30% 360 / 40% PS3 folks don't know or care about HD. Puts PS3 at less than 2 million owners that "might" buy Blu-ray movies thus the two formats still pretty even despite the BR camp's power over HD-DVD.

If this thing drags on and HD-DVD gets in the mass-market range the same thing will happen again.

[THC CELL]

Some how size matters now
Blu ray is Huge

Hd dvd is not dead

[JustInTlME]

if you read the article, i think it doesnt explain the facts very well. Heres the million dollar question. Yes Blu Ray is being help up by the PS3, but how many people who bought a PS3 bought it only for blu ray?? i bet the answer is quite a bit. i mean, why would you buy a blu ray player, if you could buy a $500 blu ray player that also plays video games, and can do all sorts of other things???

why is the HD-DVD player the top seller? well because it is cheaper then buying an Xbox 360 and an HD-DVD add on Drive. Plus the Xbox 360 HD Drive doesnt offer all the trimmings of a real HD-DVD player.

On the other hand, the PS3 offers everything that a normal blu ray player offers. Upconvert with HDMI, 1080p, TrueHD sound. WHY WOULD YOU BUY A BLU RAY PLAYER???? Buy a $500 PS3.

And im not biased, i have a PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 and have both HD-DVD and Blu Ray movies. I just want to point out the obvious. I bet a lot of people bought a PS3 to use as a blu ray player.

[power of Green]

BR is in trouble it should have already beat HD-DVD not be in a place where its barely keeping its lead.

[DJ]

is a minimal lead to you?

[Fighter]

Right now both formats don't have a lot of major blockbusters. This Holiday season you will see a lot more movies coming on both formats but Blu-ray will prevail in the end because more studio support means more variety of movies. I'm still waiting for FOX and Lucasfilm to bring out Star Wars on Blu-ray. I hope they do a good job with the transfer.

Price is important and HD-DVD, because of their head start, have earlier price cuts than Blu-ray. But the most important thing is that customers will want more movies and they don't want to buy an HD-DVD player and just let it sit there in the living room gathering dust. 300 is the only great HD-DVD movie and it sold better on Blu-ray even though HD-DVD had more features. That example is an early indication why Blu-ray will win the HD format war but it still has a long way to go.

Those stand-alone players need to sell more and be equal or greater than the PS3 Blu-ray players. When that happens then HD-DVD is dead for sure then studios will finally focus on Blu-ray and give the format the proper video codec.

[assasshin]

fans of HD-DVD = XBOTS, movie fans
fans of BLU-RAY= only PS3 fanboys

why would a normal movie fan support BLU-RAY? BLU-RAY is more expensive, has less features, and inferior picture quality (just search google for comparisons).

[Fighter]

You do know that Blu-ray has more studio support therefore movie fans will want more movies from more studios rather than get the cheap HD-DVD player with only a few studio support.

Cnet's 10 reasons why HD-DVD falls short http://reviews.cnet.com/452...

[braane]

blu-ray has a much higher bit rate meaning larger amount of data can be loaded in a shorter amount of time... meaning movie scenes can have more effects all at once instead of switching in between angles...

[s8anicslayer]

yes it is

[ZyKlOn]

http://www.engadgethd.com/2...

[ZyKlOn]

Sony Blu-ray Lasers

[ZyKlOn]

Pioneer: Why Blu-ray?