HD DVD vs Blu-ray war has a third combatant in the form of standard DVDs

It may be awhile yet before we know how the Christmas holiday season shaped the ongoing HD-DVD vs Blu-ray war for sure, but one thing is for certain in that standard definition DVDs still aren't going anywhere.

Reports from the groups behind the rival formats say that as of December 1st there were. 2.7 million Blu-ray devices (including PS3s) in the country, and 750,000 HD-DVD players. The more telling sign of trouble for HD-DVD may be the fact that Blu-ray discs are outselling them two-to-one currently.

[lynx1halo]

I personally say its going to be a good 2 or 3 more years until standard DVD's are phased out, and Blu-ray prices drop enough for the average consumer......CHEAPOS HOLDING BACK PROGRESS

[eagle21]

dvd will slowly be replaced by blu-ray.

[Led Zeppelin]

The thing is, is that Blu-Ray and HD DVD aren't the same giant technological leap from DVD as DVD was from VHS. DVD was revolutionary to VHS, but Blu-ray and HDDVD aren't the same in terms of a technological leap.

I doubt standard def is going anywhere anytime soon...

[ruiner4482]

@The Zep.

I don't personally have an HDTV but I went to my Mother's house on Thanksgiving, we watched Spider-Man 3 on BR. It was only a 1080i tv but the difference was very significant. It being a 50' tv does alter things more as well. We watched From Hell, and it didn't look great at all.

Yes you can get an upscaling DVD player. I'm not sure if the ps3 has that built in or not, I don't have an HDTV. So I haven't really looked into it. To me there was a very noticeable difference from SD discs to HD discs. Just my humble opinion though.

Me I'd go with a good upconverting player to keep current titles on dvd and get new titles on BR.

[THUNDERMARE]

PS3 can up scale DVD.

[vilmer]

Zepp, the difference from SD to HD is HUGE. It may not be as gigantic of a leap as VHS - DVD, but it's significant nonetheless.

[wallace1000]

Speculation, replaced by blu-ray, hd dvd, or both. You do not know forsure which format will be dominant.
Your hopes and dreams are a personal matter :-P

[Fighter]

There are some good movies on DVD as low as $5 and people buy them like hotcakes.

[Bubble Buddy]

i have all the movies i want for free. though i can't burn blu-rays yet...

[Bladestar]

Once thing is certain... DVD aren't going to go away and HD formats will not win the format war during this console war...

[Sulphur Man]

HD formats need to come near to price-matching SD to be make any significant progress. A decent upscaling DVD player can be had for £40 in the UK with thousands of cheap, quality films to watch on it.

Plus, no stuuuuupid distribution war on SD-DVD. Everything is available

[bootsielon]

DVD sales have been decreasing. Blu-ray sales can only grow from now on. DVD sales can hardly increase. Toshiba can only hope that DVD dies a slow dead. However, with so many deals on HDTVs, especially ones where BD players are being given away, DVD won't have a death as slow as Toshiba would like. Especially since everyone's talking about HD lately.

[Monchichi025]

they say it's a 2 to 1 lead, but that's including PS3's. and we all know that PS3's are used mainly for gaming not for viewing movies. If your talking about HD DVD players, HD-DVD's are kicking blu-rays arse.

[bootsielon]

1. You assume PS3s don't matter (they do)

2. PS3 users use it for both games and movies

3. The lead is way more than 2 to 1, more like almost 4 to 1 in the player side. On the movie side it's already been reported to reach 3 to 1. Where did you get that 2 to 1 from, your dreams?

4. HD DVD players? I remind you that PS3 is a blu-ray player. Assuming you meant *standalones*... well, PS3 can also act as a standalone! Regardless of that, it doesn't matter. HD DVD has stopped "Kicking butt" in the non-gaming HD market since BD prices fell bellow 300.

[RudeSole Devil]

But its ok for HD-DVD to count the HD-DVD add on for the Xbox 360 as a stand alone and count for almost a third of all HD-DVD stand alone sales, but you say the PS3 is only for gaming. The PS3 is more of a stand alone player than the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player. No matter what you say the PS3 was designed to play Blu-Ray dvds.

[Monchichi025]

I got my 2 to 1 number from the article itself you idiot!

But's it's common knowledge that HD-DVD's sell a lot more standalone players then Blu-Ray do. And no I am not including the 360 add on. It's the PS3 and the PS3 alone that puts Sony on top. History has always shown that product offering the better value always prevails time and time again. But this time Sony made a brilliant move on the movie side by throwing in a trojan horse that is the PS3. (Not brilliant on the gaming side though.)

As for sony doing a price cut in 08???? HIGHLY unlikely. If you understand anything about economics you can tell Sony is already highly strainig themselves after several pricecuts in the first year themselves. You really think a PS3 will retail for $250 in 08 after launching for $600 in 06???? LMAO! Keep dreaming!

[RudeSole Devil]

250,000.00 out of the 750,000.00 HD-DVD stand alone players where Xbox 360 HD-DVD add on. 52.177457 weeks out of this year Blu-Ray has won in sales. Eat a dic_k.

[desolationstorm]

I realize BR is selling a lot more systems and discs but 2:1 disc ratio compaired to a 3.6:1 player ratio seems very off. You expect to see more BR movies sold but thats not a hell of a lot more seeing as how many more BR players there are compared to HD-DVD. I realize that this is because a lot of ps3 users dont use it as a player but if say you sell a 100HDdvdplayers and movies then you have 360 BR players and 200 movies. Still a bigger number but you see a better attach ratio on HDdvd players.

Ill have both formats soon and if you wait for B1G1 deals you only pay $10-18 for an HD movie in either format so I dont mind picking up some. The format war isnt going to end as quickly as people might like it to.

[neogeo]

Its ironic how gaming will win the war for Sony, but it will.
2008 will be the year PS3 sees a big pick up in sales. The big games and another price cut along the way. That only means more Bluray on the market. LET ME CLEAR THIS UP! Gamers love tech, tech loves gamers.
Gamers are the ones buying hidef TV's. Gamers are the ones getting the first Bluray's. Gamers lead the way and famileys follow us to the bitter end of the format war...

And I'm spent!

[AceLuby]

Any new action movie is worth it to buy in your HD format of choice (ie 300 or Apocolypto). I just read that 50% of consumers are planning on purchasing an HDTV in the next 12 mos. If this is true as more HDTV's are in homes it will become a bigger and bigger deal to get true HD Movies. VHS's were around many years after the DVD was introduced despite the extra features and better quality. One of the things that pushed it faster: The PS2. The same will happen now and the PS3 is pushing blu. I will be very suprised if HD-DVD is still around during the holiday season of 2009 and I will expect most new movies to be released in some kind of HD format from here on out.

[WilliamRLBaker]

Not every one owns an HDTV, and not every one intends to spend upwards of 600-1500 or more dollars to replace their current TV with the equivilant sized HDTV.
Not every one owns an blu ray player or HDDVD player or ever intends on buying them, HELLL not every one owns an upscaling DVD player for that matter....

DVD will remain for the next 10 years and for 7 of that it will remain the top seller over both formats and thats a simple fact.
HD DVD and blu ray do not mark any revolutionary leap over DVD like DVD had over VHS, all they offer is supposedly better sound, and supposedly better picture.
Where as VHS to DVD offered instant play, instant rewind, instant fast foward, chapter skipping, menus, bonus chapters, and a digital experience...ect
HD DVD and blu ray offer nothing in terms of that just better resolution and better sound (supposedly).

HD resolutions are pimarily based upon size of tv and distance of viewing the larger the TV the higher the Resolution should be to keep viewing distance at an OK level, SD picture doesn't do good on 50 inch TVS unless you sit some 5-10 feet away if not more, HD resolutions cut that distance in half.

Sound? DVDs support Dolby digital 6.1 and DTS 6.1, Most users cannot and will never be capable of hearing the difference between these and 7.1, as well as Digital plus...ect Let alone uncompressed PCM.

DVD's will be around for a long time and thats just a simple fact, the players are cheap, the TV's needed to play them are cheap, and the media it self is cheap, DVD movies drop to 14.99 within a week or less, Blu ray/ HD DVD i've yet to see a movie drop to 14.99 on those they seem to hover at 19.99 at most places.

[AceLuby]

Whether or not it becomes mainstream before 7-10 years from now is anyones guess, and you are very presumptuous to know what the market will be like in 2014. Fact of the matter is that HDTV sales are rising NOW while SDTV sales are crumbling. W/ a new HDTV 'most' people want to utilize the new features for the new TV, ie actual HD content. You can do this via cable or via a HD player and HD movie. Fact is that most people are turning to blu ray for this. It doesn't matter that DVD's sell better because if HD-DVD can't turn a profit w/ its players and studios aren't making as much money as w/ blu there will be no support for the product and it will go the way of Beta. Toshiba and the 360 add on are the only players you can buy while there are a host of blu ray players. Companies are making their choice and the consensus is blu ray. If the rumors are right and WB goes exclusive there will be nothing but Paramount and HD-DVD is all but gone.

[LinuxGuru]

This article is the biggest restating of the obvious I have ever seen.

*rolls eyes*

[beoulve]

Great Bladestar's second account

[Jeba]

bladestar's 3rd account

his original account had 1 bubble

[LinuxGuru]

how many accounts do people HAVE on here, for god's sake?!?

o_O

[whoelse]

Blu-ray will replace DVD but it will just take longer than DVD over VHS took. Until the hardware and software gets cheaper ofcource and the format war disappears.

[Antiomo]

Geez eventually hd media will eat away at the dvd market.

Sorry but hd media is the future.... what else will actually use the full potential of flat panel tv's?

DVD's are fine for most for now but once when everyone starts investiting into big screen tv's... the general public will start seeing the flaws of dvd tech.

What makes me laugh is this generation of media is driven by both xbox and ps3 fans. The difference is xbox fans are much more confused than ps3 fans because of all the propaganda imposed by MS.

i.e. hd-dvd and downloadable content. These two "formats are failing" hence causing the xbox fans to think dvd and divx are good enuf....