Blu-ray and HD DVD - Where are we now?

ITPro examines what is happening with the technologies of Blu-ray and HD DVD and if there is any end in sight for this protracted format war. This feature covers: the high stakes of the format war, points scored by either camp, sale numbers, Warner Bros' role, and the Microsoft effect.

[damnwrx]

HD-DVD is winning by uranus!

[highps3]

Who cares.

Ps3 has blu ray. Thats all that matters. Frankly in terms of movies I rather TIVO then use any type of storage.

Storage is a pain in the ass. Every other year you have to re buy your movies.

Atleast with digital you can have them upscaled, upsampled, converted, transfered, whatever you want.

Only people winning are corporations. I frankly say down with both formats.

Glad the Ps3 has it for gaming though because it will be useful sooner or later.

[cuco33]

The corporations aren't winning. In fact they are losing really bad right now. The average consumer ISN'T adopting to HDM, mainly due to price and studio split. Most don't want a game console as their movie player of choice (big screw up on the BDA's part) and most fear owning betamax regardless if it's red OR blu.

- BDA to win meaningless numbers (Nielson's) does BOGO sales which is giving away money.

- HD DVD drops their last gen entry level player to $100

- PS3 gets 2 price drops and takes a new direction as it's main focus is no longer a game console but rather a BD player

- disk sales are still tiny compared to SD

- market adaptation is going far slower than predicted

- studios cancel/postpone/rerelease films at lower cost targets then they want due to competition

Maybe things will change. I've followed this 'war' since it's started before both formats were even for sale and I myself am surprised at how it is right now. BD still has 10x the players but only leads software sales by 2:1, HD DVD still only has Toshiba as the main and sole hardware provider, and you got CEOs from companies who preached the competition is dead to now publicly state that HDM will end in a stalemate forcing the average consumer to embrace both if he wants to own all movies

[ancient112]

Seriously, Blueray vs. HD-DVD, until only recently, a small percentage of people actually cares.
That's because either formats are still expensive and with little choice compared to regular DVDs, which a lot of people still thinks has good enough quality.
But while technology is still catching up, blueray is slowly winning the war before it even begins. Why? Because people are adopting the blueray format without even knowing it when they buy the PS3 for different reasons. When the time comes, when DVD becomes unbearable to watch , PS3 owners will definitely prefer blueray format for their movies since they don't need to buy another player.
HD-DVD knows this, and so they play catch up with the recent cheaper players. Will it work? Time will tell.
Does the outcome of this war concern gamers? No. Eventually, the future of the PS3 will depend on it's library of games, not it's library of movies......

[Danja]

how about we stop posting these flamebait articles until a winner is chosen...

and where are now lets see hhmm.....HD-DVD is getting it's a$$ kicked by Blu Ray left ,right and center across the board....

RED IS DEAD.....BLU RAY FTW..!!!!

[speakthetruth]

Sounds like you have already chosen a winner, you contadict yourself.

your boy still hasn't decided, read:
http://www.highdefdigest.co...

I like the affordable players myself, and don't fall for bogo scams.
Maybe I'll bogo and take them to Wal-mart the next week and return for twice store credit. See Blu-Ray can make you money. That's weird.

[Covenant]

Caught in the middle. Consumers FTL.

[xplosneer]

Pretty much sucks.

[cuco33]

Same place as we were long time ago... Fanboys trolling about superiority and being spec whores without knowing the whole picture. In the end, the studios made a clusterf*ck of a situation for he consumers. We have to embrace both in order to enjoy ALL movies in high def.

red boys are bad.
blu boys are worse.
purple boys (like me) get lashed out by both but we are the ones who fully benefit.

;)

To be realistic, player prices are lower, disk prices have come down, all thanks to competition. See folks, competition IS good! Would any of you be buying a movie in high def it cost you $40+ each? I highly doubt it.

EDIT: to below
blue = blu-ray
red = hd dvd (see case color, not diode color)
purple = neutral as in mix red & blue and u get purple

[darthv72]

Not familiar with "red boy or purple boy" I would assume blue boy is a supporter of the bluray??? Yet both hd and bd use the same blue laser just at a slightly different pitch. I really think it will come down to the way the disc is used. If it is used in an "LP" mode (like vhs) it amounts to being used as an hddvd. Should the disc be needed to record longer "ELP" then it becomes a bluray disc. One disc for both depending on the recording format. Maybe that is what Warner has been working on for so long.

[cow moolester]

To be honest these discussions are getting nowhere.The Ps3 fanboys have their opinion and it will never change and the Microsoft fanboys have their opinion so it will never change.Both sides have their "sources" that will back up their side.
I watch these "discussions" everyday on this site and to be honest ...its just sad.People act like it actually matters in real life whether Blu-Ray or HD DVD will win or not when it won't...at all...If Blu-Ray wins it won't be the end of the world...if HD DVD wins it won't be the end of the world either...so why waste your energy solely supporting one format?

Here's another note for fanboys: If you don't have the console your criticising then anything you say means nothing.Take Danja or Nasim for example...why does it matter to you if a 360 dies? If your enjoying your Ps3 then why should it matter to you if someone's 360 breaks?
And to 360 fanboys: he Ps3 clearly does have games...It has quite a few nice exclusives just like the 360 does...

And for fanboys in general: It is so sad at the fact that some of you actually care about sales numbers...You are sticking up for a multi-national company which doesn't give a sh!t about you but rather what is in your pocket. How do you benefit if a console sells more in one region?
Neither console is perfect and both have a great selection of games so why try to belittle that?
Neither console is perfect but together they are quite a couple so while your there collecting your sales figures for your Ps3/360 and playing your exclusives trying to convince yourself that your console has all the best exclusives and is the best console ever, I will be enjoying some Warhawk while I download some Arcade games off Live or some HD Movies off the Xbox Live Video Marketplace.

Pswii60 all the way....

[darthv72]

I fully agree. bluray supporters should get an hddvd player and vice versa. There is just to much content on both that makes only supporting one side a waste. The same hold true for games. Get a ps3 and 360 and a wii as all of them have something different to offer.

Neutrality FTW!!!

[speakthetruth]

I would buy a blu-ray player if it was $99, like its HD DVD counterpart. I have an HD DVD player and am very pleased with the movie quality, however Blu-Ray does have many movies I want in High Def. I am just not willing to make that $399 jump to Blu-Ray.

If I had a PS3 and used it for Blu-Ray, I would absolutely pick up the HD DVD player if I could get it for $99. Transformers alone would sell it, for me.

It seems cheaper to jump neutral to the HD DVD side, but not Visaversa.

[IntelligentAj]

Nowhere. That's where we've moved with this topic.

[IntelligentAj]

Nowhere. That's where we've moved with this topic.

[IntelligentAj]

Nowhere. That's where we've moved with this topic.

[jaja1434]

Do I hear an echo in this room?

:)

[Cuthroat]

Nobody is winning this war. Both formats are loosing to DVD and it doesn't look to shift anytime soon. I am personally a fan of HD DVD, but if it doesn't hang on - oh well. I don't stand to make any money, benefit in anyway, or have anything to loose. The picture of both formats looks great, and if it ends up being a download of a movie, it will look great as well. I won't invest any more money or time into this stupid war - unlike fanboys some people have a regular life and don't pray to god everyday that their format will win.

[tonsoffun]

The same place we have been for months:

Subjected to endless HD DVD vs Bluray articles.

Come on guys, until someone wins. I don't want to hear about it.

[Skim-milk8504]

Agreed! this topic is pointless, its just the same old she said he said bull.