The faster BD can completely dominate the format wars, the lighter the losses will be for ill informed consumers who buys a soon obsolete HD-DVD player. Sony just needs Warner Bros to join its exclusive camp and that will basically seal it.
"be sure to check back the websites. Pretty soon he will start whining that disney movies, Fox movies like star wars not available in HD-DVD"
Not that anyone who supports bluray can really say that's a sign of HD DVD being dead. Every time I come to the tech section, I see Sony fanboys complaining about Paramount.
I say we complain about ALL of them! What gives Fox, Universal, Paramount, Sony, and Disney the right to tell me what format I should buy unless they give me the money for it?
I don't see why anyone would condone a company telling consumers what they want, and not letting the consumer choose what they want and let the loser just die.
You are a nusiance. Anything u say wont be hear or counted.
I dont want you to be a PS fan go buy a 360. You know hen u say 360 is awesome e.t.c Your not funny and at the same time at a later pouint u praise the PS3
You shouldn't pick sides, I are agree, but you should also stop ranting one day about X360 and the other day about PS3. You're very b!tchy and moody, do you have your andropause?
This guy doesn't support Sony buying out support for Blu-Ray, but makes absolutely no mention about the recent HD-DVD Paramount deal that played to the tune of $150 million.
I completely agree. Although I have not chosen sides on this issue, this writer's metality is very strange. First of all, Sony is not the only Blu-Ray supporter. Neither are the studios. There are many technology companies that are stake holders in the Blu-Ray camp. So for him to argue solely agaisnt Sony seems a bit strange. Also, He claims "as a relatively conscientious consumer of technology, I simply cannot get onboard with that philosophy on winning people over through force." That's a bit weird because he bought the add-on for the X360, which would imply that he, at the very least, supports Microsoft product? That should be a fair assumption. Isn't MS's whole strategy, which is highly successful, based on brute force? Odd. I own both an X360 and a PS3, and again, I haven't yet bought into a format, but this guy's logic is a bit skewed.
I think he is speaking of Sony's acquisition of MGM/Columbia/Tristar which effectively locks the studios into the blu-ray camp... Mind you, with the phrase 'conscientious consumer of technology' perhaps he is speaking of the trojan bundling of Blu-ray in the PS3.
Hey, all! Thanks for the approvals thus far, and the comments. I agree that I should have addressed the excusivity issue on both sides of this war by mentioning the Dreamworks/Paramount deal in my article. I suppose the reason I didn't is because, for better or worse, I felt it levelled the playing field more than anything, thus making the eventuality of studio neutrality a more distinct possibility. At any rate, I apologize for omitting that subject because it really did deserve mentionining.
Did you have problems with getting the 2 free discs also...and another question...if there wasnt this deal with beat buy...I would of not picked a format...what about you?
The writer says how Sony is evil for getting exclusive support but last time I checked the only studio that was paid for exclusive rights was Paramount which was bribed by HD-DVD backers. In the end, that's just some fanboy rant.
I didn't know I couldn't submit my own articles. Forgive me if I overstepped my bounds in doing so. As for the largely negative response I'm seeing in the comments, like all of you here, I've just expressed my opinion. Like all opinions, mine is flawed. In my experience opinion is what most of these articles come down to, be it one about the 360 versus the PS3, or the PSP versus the DS. There's no need to take personal offense to it, folks.
The reason you're getting a negative response is because you thought your opinion was newsworthy enough to submit.
No one wants to have to sift through a hundred blog posts featuring Joe Blow's opinion on anything gaming related just to find the one news story with something new to say.
Everyone has a blog, everyone has an opinion.
If that was all it took to make news, this site would be even more dilluted than it is now.
It's tough to get a concrete answer on that. The HD-DVD compendium likes to use stand-alone sales only, which isn't really fair.
And Blu-ray likes to include PS3's in the count, even though not everyone with a PS3 uses it for movies.
But the money's made on movie sales, and right now Blu-ray's winning that battle. We'll see if HD-DVD can gain this holiday season on the back of sub $200 players.
How come everyone fails to mention that the push for movie studios wasn't made by Sony but by a group called the Blu-Ray Disc Association.
Yes, Sony is a partner in the BRDA and of course that prominently landed the Sony Pictures movies straight to Blu-Ray, but nobody ever mentions the fact that top leading manufacturers were also responsible for gaining the attention of the big names in hollywood.
Matsushita, Pioneer, Philips, Thomson, LG Electronics, Hitachi, Sharp, Samsung and Sony all pitched the idea of the Blu-Ray format for HD films to the big studios and that is what got many of the studios to jump on board. It wasn't cash flow....it was actual product testing within many of the studios that got them on board.
Who else has jumped on board as a member of the BDRA? Well....Apple, TDK, Dell, Hewlett Packard, The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. and Universal Music Group.
The only actual company in the format wars to be "purchased" was the Paramount/Dreamworks deal and that was the HD-DVD forum that handled that. In fact, the Viacom employees who spoke on the deal had said that the money had been handled by Toshiba and their largest contributer (which is Microsoft) in the number of $150 million in incentives.
The point is that the BDA (BRDA) has tried to handle itself without buying off anyone. Just like the PS3 has tried to gain market share by being a better and more open ended platform instead of having the parent company funnel money down developers throats so that they can keep, steal, or lock in exclusive titles.
I had studied everything that had to do with the HD format wars this time around. In fact, it was the reason i bought a PS3. Sure, I love the games for it and im glad that it is beginning to finally gain ground in terms for software, but the Blu-Ray sold me and after spending way too many damn hours in Best Buy and Circuit City watching BR movies and Hd-DVD movie displays over and over I can honestly say that I went with the superior product.
M3RCUTIO I know that you have chosen your camp in the HD war and I wish you luck, but I guess i hope you'll take a look at that long list of contributors and founders of the BRA and see that this HD format was a joint effort to bring the public in to the HD area with a single and superior format. When it comes down to superiority I find that innovation also should play a part in the advancement of HD media. The HD-DVD does qualify as a HD format but it does not produce the higher quality audio and video that a BR-Disc can. Example: Transformers. Sure, it looks nice but you don't have any of the digital audio in place and your stuck with plain ole' DVD sound. Does that matter to many people? No, probably not, but to a tech buff like myself? It is unacceptable.
I may be wrong about everything that I have said, but day after day (despite PS3 sales) the Blu-Ray movie sales literally beat the snot out of HD-DVD sales in software. Sure, stand alone players are claimed to be sold more than BR players, but thats because the numbers do not count the PS3 or the Dell and Apple computers/laptops that are sold with BR-drives in them. Apparently because "media center" doesn't count as a stand alone they just omit that number completely.
In every aspect the BRA has continued to triumph over the HD-DVD forum and the Paramount/Dreamworks deal only delayed the inevitable.
I had made a similar post above. The reason why most people equate Sony with BR is the PS3. It is a video game solution and a BR solution for less than any other BR player. Also, Sony is single handedly driving BR sales. People often forget that PS3 games are also on BR format. Each game sold = a BR disk sold. That's a substantial amount of BR disks in the market. Sony has a double stake in this situation, and as a result are considered the frontrunner for the BR camp. If BR succeeds, Sony's PS3 is poised to make a substantial impact on both the film and video game industry. It's going to be interesting to see how this all unfolds.
people have been blinded by thinking that sony is the BDA group, and they think that Sony is resposible for everything....and that sony is going to take over the world if the BD wins the format war....
people might not care...but for people who know specs of what their going to buy(me) i would totally take blu-ray for the superior space and players...since all BD player in the market can read a BD up to 4 layers = 100Gb with a simple FW upgrade...
to me that is a superior product where the companies don't want to make profit of you buying another player so that you can watch a 100Gb disc
You seem like a nice guy, so I won't blast you for your decision. But, unfortunatley, you made the wrong decision. Even with the power-house transformers being HD-DVD exclusive, HD-DVD still trails. Spiderman 3 comes out next week, then POC, then ratatouille. Blu-ray really has the 1,2 punch when it comes to this hi-def war. Don't get me wrong, the bestbuy deal is really a great one and you definitley get your moneys worth.
There's a lot of things to consider in this format war than just single movies. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Dreamworks Shrek the Third gets close to outselling Spiderman 3 and Pirates. Ratatouille? Lol...
or is it... I.m not so sure just because it the cheapest makes it the best. You can always find stuff in the bargain bins, but its usually not the stuff people want. If Blue ray can maintain a higher price and still be winning the war then in my opinion its a superior product. Its the same with the Wii, they haven't done a price cut because they have no problem selling the units, HD-DVD is slashing prices to stay ahead of the curve, clearly a last ditch effort (similar to PS3 cutting their prices) I hope it works for one of them, PS3 ftw
HD-DVD was the shiety format that ALL the dumb people supported.
Blu-ray was DA BOMB format that ALL the smart people supported.
Blu-ray won.
The End!......SUCKAS!!!!!
How to build your transformer looking of a system(360).
*First lay down you shiety 360 surrounded by at least 13 fans pointing directly at it so it doesn't blow up the first week.
*Next stack your shiety cheap dead format add on on top of it.
*Now plug in the ugly hunchback looking HDD to the back of it.
*What's that, you don't want to run an internet wire? No problem, just GO OUT AND BUY the WiFi ADD ON sperate. Now glue it to the system any way you want. Cause here at M$, we like to give you the CHOICE.
*What's that you have a Bluetooth headset that you use with your phone and would like to use it with our system? TOO BAD!! go out and buy OURS you SUCKA!!
*Sorry our system does NOT output 1080p. It's all just SMOKE and MIRRORS, but we're not sorry, we just keep denying it. Just like Mr. Bush. AAAAHAHAHHAHAHAAHhAHAHA
No expense should be spared....cheap is never the way to go! You get what you pay for unless we are talking about PSN of course. These average consumers thats looking for that "sweet spot" of below $200 may have any affect on stand-alones sold but i doubt they will be buying the same number of movies that audiophilies <~~sp? tech junkies and movie buffs will buy and they will more than likely pick blu-ray. IMO. ~END!~
three HD TVs and 4 stereo systems tend to disagree (about the Blu-Ray at any rate). And the reason I said I would take the first system under $200 is because I knew that would be the system that ended up winning due to being in the price range most buyers would accept. Joe Six-Pack is not an audio/videophile spending thousands to watch the Super Bowl; neither is he a video gamer. What he is, however, is the "decider-in-chief" of which format gets bought and eventually wins out.
I guess with all that high end equipment you will not be purchasing the $200 player, but you will be purchasing the HD-DVD hardware.
We all want to be justified in the purchases we make, this is why we defend it so hard and become "fanboys". I have a ps3 and enjoy it for games as well as Movies on my 720p front projector. I have no where near the collection you have nor will i in the near future.
Anyway we look at it, the future holds some great tech. and the end user experience is only improving.
But why are we lisening to some one that already has an xbox 360... what if i will star buying HD DVD when i have a ps3, that does not make any sense. At this point MS will do anything(including give 150 million away)so HD DVD wins the format war... like paying people to came out w/ stupet reviews.
I think it's going to be close with the new hd dvd selling so low, 200 at every wal mart. people are just going to buy cheap. I think it can go either way, plus a new format is coming out' vmd I think, there going to release lord of the rings and some AAA movies. I think it's going to be long and dirty so put on your goggles
It's cheaper because it's simpler to build. Larger data tracks mean less expensive optics and simpler tracking servos, constant angular rotation means simpler and smaller drive motors and consistent data depth with DVD means mechanical transparency for backward compatibility.
The inherently simpler mechanical design philosophy for HD-DVD should also directly correspond with long term mechanical reliability. Simpler mechanicals should also result in a less costly warranty program also.
the way i see it, if you buy a ps3 and blu ray loses the format war you still have a unit that has some second hand value, buy a hd standalone player or the 360 add on and HD loses... well nobody is gunna want to take it off your hands. not trying to flame just seems to me from a financial point of view ps3 is a safer bet, its always got that resale value
i will be buying blu ray movies for a long time......so ill always be supporting it.....i got a ps3 so i wont abandon it, unless for good reasons, but none at the moment
When you can understand that, you can understand why no one even wants to get in on the format war.
The general population has no clue about HD and what they do know is almost totally made up of Sony and Toshiba propaganda, which means its unreliable at best.
HD DVD is a thing of the Past
Man thats dead and made consumers. Suffers. Lets not try to remember it
too bad he selected te losing contender
BluRay Disc FTW!
CLoud WIll kill LInk anyday by the way and thats a fact
just make dual format players, that's what all consumers should want.
This guy doesn't support Sony buying out support for Blu-Ray, but makes absolutely no mention about the recent HD-DVD Paramount deal that played to the tune of $150 million.