The Wal-Mart $299 HD DVD player on the way
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Apr 20th 2007 6:52AM
posted Apr 20th 2007 6:52AM
Get ready to get your cheap HD on kids. Wal-Mart just threw down some serious green for a batch of Chinese-made HD DVD players. Just as they brought DVD players down to near-disposable status, their deal for 2 million HD DVD players produced by China's Great Wall corporation will ultimately do the same for hi-def optical. The guts are developed by Taiwan's Fuh Yuan with a touch of help from Japan's TDK. How much? A magical $299, that's how much -- $100 less than the cheapest available HD DVD rig (Toshiba's A2) and half of Sony's $600 BDP-S300 Blu-ray Disc player. It's not clear when we'll see the first units on Wal-Mart shelves, only that the final shipment from the order is expected before 2008 is over. Update: Pull back the reigns HD DVD fanboys, Akihabara now says that they've made a "huge mistake" with their translation: the original source called it "?? HD DVD and ?? means Blu-RAY." In other words, Blu-ray HD DVD. Huh? Word to the wise: since both formats use blue lasers, it's best to wait for an English press release before either camp celebrates.
[Via Akihabara News]
Walmarts pushing for HD DVD? Lawd... does that mean the format war is over? They're some kind of unstoppable juggernaut in the US, yeah?
Cheap HD DVD players at walmart?
The Wars is over!
HDDVD FTW!!
THE CHINESE MARKET is going to be what kills the HDDVD/ BLURAY format war.
I lived in ShangHai, China for 2 years.
Over there, anything that is purchased on a DVD plastic disk is sold for about 8Yuan - 10Yuan (about $1.25).
Playstation 3 games ($1.25)
Xbox360 games (1.25)
WII games ($1.25)
DVD's (1.25) and so forth and so on.
Microsoft Windows VISTA ($1.25)
OFFICE XP/ OFFICE 200x (1.25)
They do not respect international copyright laws at all.
The Chinese MAKE the players and they MAKE the video game consoles. I've seen them MOD CHIP video game consoles to accept the backup disks with no trouble at all (takes them 10 minutes).
[when you return a malfunctioning 360/PS3 - it is shipped to China where it is repaired]
Its going to be IMPOSSIBLE to force everyone to buy $20/$30 BluRay or HDDVD movies when some one is selling them out a gym bag for $5.
Talk about a kick in the nuts for BluRay..
Also, I'm sure that Walmart probably got a way better deal than $299 for 2M units.
I think $299 will be their introductory price, and before December it'll be $249, with the last 6 months coming in at under $199.
This news combined with Amazon's sale charts showing HD DVD ahead of Bluray once again is a severe blow for Sony and Pals.
Good for them, I hope they vanish with the dinosaurs for them being so arrogant and disdainful with customer rights and demands.
bye Bye Sony. Take the PS3 with you and shut the door on your way out!
I wonder how many corners the requirements for HD DVD players allow them to cut? i.e. Is it possible that the best this can output is 480p over component, with no HDMI support at all?
Great news, Walmart is very powerful. This could be bigger news than getting more studio support really.
there are way more bluray movies than hddvd so just because there are cheap players does not mean there will be good movies.
According to Wikpedia, there are 167 HD-DVD titles (as of March 2007) and 221 Blu-Ray titles (as of April 2007) available in North America. I wouldn't call that "way more", especially when you compare both figures to the absolutely huge DVD market.
You're correct that more players doesn't automatically mean more releases on the HD-DVD format, but more players == potentially more format support == more discs released.
Seriously, this is a huge win for HDDVD. Good luck Sony. Better get started on that price drop for the PS3, you know the one that does not exist.
If China can produce them in quantity, then they should be a whole lot cheaper than $299. I'm thinking $99 would be about right. I can wait another year...
Stay tuned for Blu-ray price drop after the break.
Back to you, Stan...
wake me when I can back up 2 (or more) miniDV tapes to robust rewritable optical disc for $5 - without concerning myself with Hollywood DRM-related crapola. That's my personal archive war won right there.
Well Well Well..........
IF this thing has all the features of the Original players it would be worth it..........
but something tells me that it won't because it will be SEVERELY STRIPPED DOWN...........
Just like the CHEAPEST DVD players are missing good features such as zoom, or 480P outputs.......
This thing might cap out @ 720P and not have internet capability or HDMI output........
Walmart IF they wanted could get Toshiba themselves to make it and still sell it for $299 but if they are selling it for that price then their cost per unit can't be no more than $149 which means IF they take off they will eventually drop the price to $99 within a year..........
that wont make the format war over tho..........
Quality not Quantity.....
HD DVD players have a minimum standard. These will have at least 1080i output and very likely tru hd decoders. Even if it doesnt, 720p is still much better than 480i dvd, and 1506kbs dts is better than 448 kbs dolby digital.
Like how the cheapest DVD players on the market have less "features"? This is just untrue. The Chinese manufacturers, not having the luxury of relying on just a "name brand", usually pack MORE features into their products, in order to compete with the big boys like Samsung. Think Apex and the ability to make the DVD player region free circa 2000.
Wal-Mart has the RCA The RCA HDV5000 player, but they don't push it that hard (I don't know the price). Actually, in mine they have it on a high shelf, out of sight, and none on display. They also have the old Toshiba HD-D1, which is a first-gen model and sells for $349.99 and is carried online only.
dude..........
I have purchased the $20 DVD player from Wal-Mart on Black Friday(Day After Thanksgiving) since 2004.........they ALWAYS have less features which is why I would give them as gifts and not even stick them in my kids room.........
except depending upon the quality of the machine it could crap out after 6 months and might give HD DVD a bad name for the consumers that actually thought buying a high def electronic device at walmart was a good idea.
Akihabara News says its 2 Million Blu-ray and there was some mistake in their initial translation. So is it Blu-Ray or HD-DVD ?
Nice I need to go pick one up when they are available.
Regardless of whether it has all the buttons on the remote, people will want to try HD movies at this price. Now that people have HDTVs they can consider HD movies. Plenty of people can convince themselves to spend another 150 or so if they were going to get a unconverting player anyway.
Walmart is backing this for a very good reason: you won't be able to download or pirate HD-DVD as easily as DVD for a while. Apple TV doesn't have HD yet. Amazon's Unbox doesn't have HD yet. So they need to push the next physical format as quickly as possible. HD-DVD's lower price is going to win, because Walmart can't wait while Amazon and Apple figure online HD out - they don't have time to wait for BluRay, even if their .
What are Viacom, Disney, etc. going to do if Walmart wants them to sell HD-DVDs? They are going to cave. They can't afford losing most favored status at Walmart. Only Sony's stubborness (having bet their company on BluRay) is going to keep them from joining in. So in about 5 years, HD-DVD will be doing fine. And then Sony will oust Sir Stringer and they'll announce big changes to playstation and start supporting HD-DVD.
As for the BluRay side, Sony already played their hand out. There's nothing left. They're already losing money on the $500 BluRay player and the $600 PS3. The Chinese aren't losing money on this. Walmart will lose money on this like all their blockbuster Black Friday sales, but they pocket profits from related sales of cables, movies, TVs and remotes.
I thought it was going to take another year for Walmart's Black Friday offensive. So I think they're spooked by Itunes, Amazon and the console online services.
About two months ago, our local Wal-Mart was actually clearancing the RCA HD-DVD model for $200.. I thought about picking one up, but I think, like for many others, that $100 is my "tipping point" for this technology, and even then I really dislike that they keep having two formats.. The $100 might even need to be a dual format one..
These players are going to have to handle 1080p or they won't take full advantage of what the discs offer and they won't be considered true HD players. And Walmart cuts corners this way, they won't see the kind of consumer interest they're looking for. People aren't stupid; they catch on quickly and will know what to expect from the retailers, and if they can't find it, will go elsewhere.
But I don't see any reason why these players wouldn't support 1080p. After all, this IS Walmart - buying power and sheer quantity means the price could certainly go south from where it currently is while offering a feature set similar to the mid-range Toshiba.
Huh? 1080p for true HD output? What are you smoking? HD is anything > 480p so if it outputs 1080i or even 720p it will be perfectly fine. Boo-hoo to the 1% of people who can afford a 1080p display, the rest of us will be just fine watching it at 720p.
Big deal. Pairing my new Xbox 360 Elite with the $199 attachment not only saves me $100 on the actual player but also saves me an HDMI port on my TV.
Until any next-gen optical drive hits the $150 mark, im really not interested cause the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive simply makes more sense (plus you can plug it in to ANY computer cause it uses USB 2.0!)
Bah..........
OOOOOOOOOOH I have a USB HD-DVD Player that I can hookup to my computer..........
No. You can get a nice picture with 720p or 1080i. But true HD is 1080p. And 1080p is what the discs offer. I want every bit of res I can get.
I'll wait for english.
Considering that BRD is only as *cheap* as 600 right now, I have a hard time thinking this could be BRD.
If it's HDDVD, the format war just added a couple more years.
If it's BRD, then I'm buying one because the war is over.
I'm betting that the original translation is correct, "blue laser, HDDVD".
Guys, here's a google translation of a different article:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ettoday.com%2F2007%2F04%2F16%2F320-2082635.htm&langpair=zh%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools
"Its advantages are easier to maintain compatibility with existing DVD discs, and can continue using existing DVD production equipment." They're definitely talking about HD-DVD.
Well, while I'm sure it would be cool to have them at a store to see on the shelves...
Amazon is already selling the Toshiba HD-A2 for $329.99 with the 5 free movie voucher. That's for name-brand Toshiba quality too. It's not their top-line player, but $329 with free shipping, sounds good to me.
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-HD-A2-HD-DVD-Player/dp/B000IJV4BC/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-0422323-9796716?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1177081037&sr=8-1
Can Someone Say "Betamax???" Thank you, Sony, I thought you could. Game/Set/Match.
Wal-mart drives the market. If they had way back backed Beta, things would be different today. I still remember the CHEAP Emerson VCR's WallyWorld sold back then, pushed the VHS format out there, and they are even bigger now than back then.
Blu-Ray is a stupid name for a format, anyway...people are just now beginning to understand what HD means. K.I.S.S.!!
Besides, I am blown away with an upconverted standard DVD on my 37" CRT HDTV...you only need so much clarity...well, at least I only need so much!
Call me when they are sold on Black Friday for $39.99 and we'll talk!
@Rob
Come on, Wal-Mart was barely a twinkle in Sam Waltons eye when Beta/VHS was playing out. And back then both VHS and Beta were hundreds of dollars.
This site lists the Beta/VHS war as starting in 1975 and running for a decade.
http://www.mediacollege.com/video/format/compare/betamax-vhs.html
I worked at a Wal-Mart from the early to mid 80's, which would seem to be the heart of that time (perhaps winding down.) I never saw a beta machine in Wal-Mart, and while big name VHS machines were going for $350-$400, Wal-Mart had a model at the $200 price point.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Wal-Mart
In 1970, Wal-Mart had 38 stores with 1,500 associates and sales of $44.2 million.
By 1979, with 276 stores and 21,000 associates, Wal-Mart reached $1.248 billion in sales.
Hardly a twinkle... ;o)
They were really saying Blu-ray instead of HD-DVD lol.
Cheap Blu-ray @ Wal-Mart = Death of HD-DVD
The war is over.
HD-DUD FTL!!!
It's possible that the translation should have more precisely read "Blu-ray, high definition digital video disc player". The silly thing is that both of these trademarked formats have normal-word translations that are equally applicable to each format. Both "Blu-Ray" and "HDDVD" are blue-rayed laser, high definition digital video disks- so a little skipup in translation would make a big difference. At this point, who knows. The outcome is pretty significant though- if it's HDDVD, it could signal a shift in the war causing studios to change their backing. If it's Blu-ray, HDDVD is pretty dead unless it can hit some rockbottom player prices very, very quickly. If it's both, the war is over, no one really cares either way, and Blu-ray kind of sort of wins, as studios will have no reason to switch.
Oh come on!
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ettoday.com%2F2007%2F04%2F16%2F320-2082635.htm&langpair=zh%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools
They're obviously talking about HD-DVD.
Depends...
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.udn.com%2F2007%2F4%2F16%2FNEWS%2FSTOCK%2FSTO5%2F3804769.shtml&langpair=zh%7Cen&hl=en&safe=off&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools
Seems a bit more like Bluray. Another important point in our speculation is that TDK only manufactures Blu-Ray, not HDDVD products. Breaking into HD-DVD players seems a little strange when you're manufacturing Blu-Ray discs, no Blu-Ray players, and no HD-DVD discs or players. Who knows at this point.
For some reason Google is dropping all the "HD-"s translating that one making it a bit confusing. Here's how Babelfish translates the last paragraph of that article:
"Deng Hungchi stressed that, blue light HD-DVD and the present market DVD disc compatibility is very high, also does not need the disc card chest, largely reduces the merchant from the existing DVD transition the cost which needs to HD-DVD, future market potential"
Again, they're talking about how HD-DVDs can be produced with the same equipment used to make DVDs, which was always one of HD-DVDs main selling points.
Since they are selling $300 BRD burners in China, a $300 BRD or HDDVD player is very possible. Wally world only cares about $$$ so it will probably carry both formats in time (they carry both discs). The translation web sites are not great and for sure untrustworthy for tech / brand jargon. And if previous posts are correct that TDK only makes BRD, then that should end the debate on this blog.
It should be noted that guāngxiàn( ray ) translates to light ( as in "ray of" ) on most web translation sites. You can try this one.
http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-chinese/
also if you translate
http://www.udn.com/2007/4/16/NEWS/STOCK/STO5/3804769.shtml
you see this
"Phillips each selling price takes 599 US dollars, the new strength and Toshiba also take 499 US dollars, lucky Yan so long as 299 US dollars, are the market competition advantage base are at"
as far as I can tell Philips doesn't manufacture HD-DVD players and definately not
a $599 one especially when you consider the context it's taken with which is the price these players will be competing with at sale time.
If you take these "observations" along with the TDK involvement, blu-ray is a strong possibility.
The comment about the manufacturing process being easily shifted from dvd is strong for hd-dvd.
either way I guess we have to wait for the english announcement
Ashley is correct Philips does not not make an HD-DVD unit. And after a little more research, the company that is manufacturing the player for Wally world has multiple players on the market. THey all say HDDVD but they are ALL SD units... http://www.globalsources.com/manufacturers/HD-Player.html
What the 藍光藍光?!?!?
When reading the translations, it is clearly talking about HD-DVD. I don't have a horse in this race, and I actually suspect Blu-Ray will win (if either format "wins"). However the article discusses cost effective conversion from DVD manufacturing. This can not be Blu-Ray.
I wonder how fast these will be hitting Wal-Mart shelves?
For the people that say this is Blu-Ray because it mentions TDK, TDK actually has developed (currently awaiting approval) the 51 gig TL disc for HD DVD. They support both formats...
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/83411
@Rob
Wow 276 stores. *Yawn* How many did K-Mart have, or Sears? Those were the stores that made VHS and broke Beta. Wal-Mart was nothing until the early 90s when it started importing junk from China.
I'm not a Wally World Fan Boy or anything, but $1.248 billion in annual sales is hardly nothing, and yes, they did import crap. I didn't say the $200 VCR's were any good. LOL
lol this is sad even if its for HDDVD it makes no difference there are players at this price for it already lol with free movies >_
I am confident it is HD DVD they are talking about. Blu-ray uses a new pressing technolodgy while HD DVD is an upgrade from DVD, so when the allude to an 'easy transition for DVD Manufactures' they must be talking about HD DVD.
Good News for me as I have several HD DVD Movies... I really think whoever Walmart choose will win the war, atleast in America. Unless of course they release both players or if they choose blu-ray and Toshiba or RCA really undercuts them in price.
"I am confident it is HD DVD they are talking about. Blu-ray uses a new pressing technolodgy while HD DVD is an upgrade from DVD, so when the allude to an 'easy transition for DVD Manufactures' they must be talking about HD DVD."
Screw you. Both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD use the same technology. Both of them rely on blue/violet lasers, which have a shorter wavelength than red lasers, to up the capacity on optical discs. HD DVD is a DVD 1.5 while Blu-ray is like a 2.0. They are based on the SAME technology.
I'm sorry, did you say, end of 2008? Man, that's an eternity away. Why even talk about this? There'll be plenty of sub-$200 HD & Blue-Ray players by then, if not sub-$100.
Snooze.
It says Final Shippment by end of 2008. So the contract is that all 2 million players must be delivered by end of 2008. I'm sure Walmart will competetivly price the players. If you have ever been to a Walmart then you will realize they undercut everyone, especially with in house brands.
I expect this to be a big 'Black Friday' event.
The order will be FINISHED in 2008. They'll get units this year (but not all 2 million at once obviously)
Nothing in the translation makes any real sense. I don't think this is an official player licensced by Toshiba. It makes no reference to that. Also working with TDK to make discs doesn't make sense with HD-DVD. Every search you try with TDK ends up with a BluRay player and BluRay discs.
The discs they seem to be talking about are HD-DVD but the player sounds like a Chinese rippoff of HD-DVD. Like a chinese blue laser DVD player using unlicensed chips. After the recent lawsuits filed agianst cheap unlicensed DVD players this sounds fishy.
Oh and by the way Wal-Mart has stores in China and this may be an order for China only and not the US. My bet is that this is a story about a Chinese blue laser player with a different disc standard. Its a high definition disc but not an official HD-DVD player or BluRay player.
It doesn't make sense for Wal-Mart to order 2 million HD-DVD players when there are still very few titles out and HD-DVD still lacks studio support. It doesn't make sense for them to order 2 million Bluray players either.
If it can handle all three formats: Blu-ray, HDDVD, and DVD, then I'll get one eventually.
Movies arent meant to be super HD quality anyways. I prefer a little grain here and there. 480 DVD is good enough for me.
Err, it is HD-DVD. The confusion for non native translators is that they do reverse translation. 藍光 literally means blue light, used as short form for Blue Laser. Blue-Ray is a trademark. Blue Laser is the technology. Why do you think $ony picked Blue-Ray? :)
It seems odd to me that the entire format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray will depend on whether the chinese characters above will be translated correctly or incorrectly. I honestly hope that this will be over soon, however selling them at Walmart for $200 apiece will most likely not solve the problem. It will create a larger problem over who translated it in which way, and in which way they are affiliated with which party...
I had a friend translate it for me. It says Blu-ray.
It appears that the death of HD DVD is upcoming at the speed of Walmart...
Maybe the correct translation is Blu-ray/HD-DVD and it's dual format. Wouldn't that be sweet?
Hooray! Go Wal-mart, bring on the hi def stuff! I'll buy one soon as wal-mart gets them. I hope it's hd-dvd.
It should be talking about blu-ray players as the original Chinese article is comparing its price to Philips and Sony blu-ray players.
It's HD-DVD as translated here http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10352952#post10352952
Folks, it's not a "Blue Ray" player. Both HD formated disks use a Blue Laser, Look it up on this website it explaines the only real difference between both is that the Blue Ray disk uses 0.1MM of plastic over the data layers, Making them more succeptable to damage. Also the laser is offset more so they can cram more info on the disk.
When using translation software it won't pick up the nuances of the language. Clearly any reference to Blue Ray is either a generic term for the laser both formats use or to compare HD DVD to the name brand Blue Ray.
It was already announced at CES that a Chinese manufacturer was releasing 300 U.S. dollar HD DVD player in America. This announcent falls in line with that.
Couple that with the rumors that some Blue Ray only studios are about to go format neutral. Also factor in that Sony and Phillips in thier arrogance has not bothered to get much support for Blue Ray in Europe and HD DVD has gone in and signed up all the european film companies and now this less expensive HD DVD player. This all equals a tough road ahead for Blue Ray. Oh yea, almost forgot HD DVD is the first between the 2 formats to sell 100,000 stand alone players in the US. Now Sony's PS3 sales are tanking everywhere, including Europe, all bad signs.
I've seen on a few sites that the problem is in the translation of the words before HD DVD. Apparently google drops the second word, and calls it, "Blue HD DVD." Other translators are calling it, "Blue Light HD DVD" The question at hand is this also a miss translation as well. According to some the translation of the second word could also mean "light ray" or "ray." Thus the delema is that none of the translation software is giving a 100% accurate translation. These could be either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.
Now it is true that cheep HD-DVD drives were anounced to be coming at CES, but as the laser set up for both HD-DVD and Blu-ray are relitivly the same. Blu-ray is just focused at a diferent point on the disc. Thus ultimately mean if one comes out with a inexpensive pick up system that the other will soon as well.
As for the company. I find it interesting they mention Philips and TDK, both Blu-ray supportes, and also Fuyuan is the manufacturer of Sony flopy disks and who is their major client. It wouldn't supprize me at this point if the translation of that second word was indeed Ray. Check this link http://cndatace.manufacturer.globalsources.com/si/6008802982432/Homepage.htm
Oh I should also mention that if you see the 5 HD DVD products listed on that page, they are just SD DVD players with HDMI outputs and upscaling. they are not True HD DVD players. Which is why the HD DVD mentioned in this article also confirms nothing. They use HD DVD for any DVD player that can hook up to an HDTV.
I'm a native chinese speaker and the original chinese article is indeed referring to blue laser HD-DVD. All chinese articles use BD as Blu-Ray and HD-DVD as...well...HD-DVD.
wow, HD-DVD player at $299, sweet. Sweeter if it's not from the finest line of product at walmart.
Seems several people think Blu-ray won't hit this price, and that this couldn't be Blu-ray, but as I previously stated Sony is one of Fuhyuan's biggest clients. Add to that this http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9693198-1.html and we see that indeed Sony is claiming a $299 Blu-ray player by years end. Coincidence???
You know the I hate Sony bandwagon is wearing a bit thin. Its moved beyond the point of absurdity. People really need to get thier heads examined and move out of the basement into the real world. Its actually insulting for anyone with half a brain to even read.
So far BluRay has been a very open format, far more than HD-DVD. Its also not just Sony that created the format. If it was MiniDisc or UMD there would only be Sony brand players. There are however multiple BluRay players, writers, and standalone drives made by a multitude of companies.
Toshiba is selling HD-DVD players for a loss and giving very low profit margins which gives very little incntive for a store to actually carry them. The HD-DVD format is closed with very few manufacturers. The dual format players feature crippled HD-DVD playback.
The only reason why Wal-Mart would carry a $299 HD-DVD player is if they have been paid a massive ammount of money to do so. The distributor of the player would have to sell the unit for a loss. Wal-Mart definatley won't sell something without profit. Risking $500 million in sales on a next gen drive that hasn't shown market dominance isn't a good business move. You can bet that Best Buy and Circuit City wouldn't be happy with Wal-Mart undercutting thier business and profit and would turn right to BluRay making sure HD-DVD becomes a Wal-Mart special.
Wal-Mart is in big trouble and thier investors are unhappy. Thats why they have started this new Green Campaign. Well we can't increase sales so lets make people feel good. We may pay people the lowest wage we can, deny them benefits, and put as many americans out of work outside Wal-Mart that we can, but hey we are trying to help the enviroment, Al Gore is our friend.
I'm having a real hard time believing that it could possibly be Blu-Ray.
For Wal-mart to have a 299 Blu-ray player, these things would need to happen:
1) Sony Grew Up
2) Sony got new management, when we werent looking
3) Sony hired smart people
4) Sony actually remembers betamax
5) Someone magically figured out how to produce cheap blu-ray players
"I'm having a real hard time believing that it could possibly be Blu-Ray.
For Wal-mart to have a 299 Blu-ray player, these things would need to happen:
1) Sony Grew Up
2) Sony got new management, when we werent looking
3) Sony hired smart people
4) Sony actually remembers betamax
5) Someone magically figured out how to produce cheap blu-ray players"
1. The only one who needs to grow up here is you.
2. Sony doesn't need new management to win this format war.
3. Sony has the best engineers in the world. You must have completely overlooked AIBO, QRIO, Trinitron, SXRD, lithium-ion, the transistor radio, Compact Disc, the Walkman, SDDS, MagicGate, LocationFree, et cetera. The only reason Sony would be screwed is because they're spending way too much money on R&D.
4. Blu-ray Disc is NOTHING like Betamax. Betamax was a proprietary format. Sony refused to let anyone else manufacture Betamax machines and cassettes. Blu-ray Disc is backed by Philips, Apple Inc., Dell, HP, Pioneer, TDK, et cetera. Basically, most of the big names in the home entertainment business.
5. As a matter of fact, there is a cheaper way to produce blue laser-based optical formats. You also seem to be forgetting that Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD both use the same basic technology. Both of them use blue/violet lasers to attain a higher storage capacity.
You people just can't face the reality can you? HD-DVD is absolutely more consumer friendly format, it is open, in fact so open and less restricted that porn also selected it over restrictions Blu-Ray posed. The manufacturing costs are smaller, the technology itself is cheaper, it has backwards compatibility via combo-disk feature DVD/HD-DVD, highly interactive capability with iHD, updates via built in ethernet, great visual and audio quality. The bottom line is, if everybody told you to jump off the cliff you would and that's what Blu-Ray supporters sound like?
It's stupid. Blu-Ray bigger storage, awesome. I'll need that for archiving and that's the only way I want Blu-Ray.
I can't understand people supporting Sony and Blu-Ray..the format came out COMPLETELY unprepared and with so many half-ass implementations they had no choice but to start playing dirty, paying off reputable web sites to blantly post things in favor of Blu-Ray when there's no real advantage, to announce that BD already won, to pay Best Buy and other chains to stick HD-DVD players on poor displays and show Blu-Ray stuff on superb premium displays and the list goes on, completely screwed over companies with BDA (Blu-Ray Association) with half-ass BD Java implementation where it renders some of the previuos player completely obsolete (how consumer friendly is that, I'm very interested to see how you will argue with someone who paid a $1000 for these obsolete BD players now) and the list goes on.
The PS3 itself is a joke, the system has so many flaws that it's ridiculous and yes I do have it unlike a crap load of kids who just say they have it to make their e-penis bigger. The PS3 is a complete farce, Blu-Ray is slow as crap, the system hangs so bad when you eject a disk that you need to almost physically turn off the console to restart(I still can't believe they haven't fixed this), they ripped off the PSP UI and provided nothing original for PS3 just to come out sooner with PS3, the joypads are with integrated batteries that you have to charge via USB ports and in case you leave your PS3 turned on the batteries juice out so you are stuck with empty controllers by morning as there's no stand-by mode on them (they turn off when you turn the PS3 off), the games are non-existant and so on and so on. A complete joke I tell you.
The only reason PS3 got the companies is because at the beginning they were "promising" bigger things. They promised PS3 will guarantee Blu-Ray victory, they promised huge revenues etc. Naturally people believed them over Toshiba as they saw PS3 as a real advantage. Fast forward to today and you will see, all studios except Fox, MGM and Sony (MGM is owned by Sony anyways) are BD exclusive, others are neutral (it wasn't like that in the beginning), some of the first backers of BD like Samsung are manufacturing HD-DVD capable players too and they are neutral now.
Prior to this announcement with Walmart, Fox issued information that they pulled all of their BD coming titles because of some DRM glitch with Blu-Ray and that they were waiting for BD+ Java implementation or something, but with this announcement it's pretty obvious what's going on. They found out about the deal before official release and are most likely considering going neutral now too. You have to understand this low cost HD-DVD is the end of Blu-Ray, have no doubt about that.
When Walmart does this, the forces of economy even greater then Sony won't allow HD-DVD to fail.
Blu-Ray supporters, don't be bitter. I always said you were unrealistic in your support to a format that uses brute force and shady tactics to win this war and it was obvious that brute force like in Betamax case too NEVER comes out a winner. This is something that Sony will never understand.
This problem seems to be spreading. The Phrase "Blu-Ray HD-DVD" is being used alot here in Denmark. People are referring to Blu-Ray but tag on the HD-DVD bit to say its a high Def "DVD". I was in a shop here trying to explain this problem when I saw a Blu-Ray player advertised as "Blu-Ray HD-DVD" I said it should read "Blu-Ray HD Player" as HD-DVD is an entirely different format. The sales guy just gave me a funny look like I was mad. Being English, i decided to give up as I couldn't tell if he just didn't understand me in more ways.
Some work colleagues have used the phrase as the format PS3 uses "Blu-Ray HD-DVD" it makes sense to the general public, but doesn't help the format war confusion becuase folks are totally unaware there are TWO DIFFERENT formats!! And the worst thing is they seem to be mixing them both together.
Erm...yea TDK is 100% Blu-Ray. Go check your self: http://www.tdk.com/consumer/bluray/index.html http://www.tdk.com/professional/bluray/index.html
Try and find anything HD-DVD in there. Anything that comes from TDK is a Blu-ray product.
Heres an extract from wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TDK
"Industry trends see the company moving into new forms of media; in 2004 TDK was the first media-manufacturer to join the companies developing BD post-DVD technology."
Lol dont be in denial and face facts. Why would anyone say "blue laser" before everytime they said "HD-DVD". In fact i might just go down to my local store and say "Hello there do you have any blue laser HD-DVD players?" Rofl. I love it when people get put up so high on a pedestal and then get knocked down, and i love it even more when they are in denial over it.
Blu-ray is a trademark, if they meant Blu-ray they would say Blu-Ray.
(http://www.ettoday.com/2006/11/02/91-2010704.htm)
By the time this format war is at its peak, holographic media will pop up and all this planar media will go into oblivion. So why fret over all this? Just get one of each player or get a combo player!
Looking at the presser, it seems to be Blu-ray. There are numerous references to Blue Lasers, and to HD-DVD, which are both basically meaningless - if you've ever seen the VCDs labeled as DVDs in Chinese markets (less common now as DVDs are so cheap to author and press) you'll know that labels on this stuff are usually meaningless.
But there are useful clues here. The references to $600 and $500 prices are indicative of the current BD player prices, though there are references to both Sony and Toshiba, and TDK as the main partner must be Blu-ray. They're on the Blu-ray Disc Association board of directors!
Imation bought out TDK. Imation is a hd-dvd supporter.
But in all fairness...be it hd-dvd or blu-ray, if walmart brings them in for $199.00 or less by Christmas/Black Friday, that will probably be the long term victor, whichever walmart is selling for $199.00.
IMO, i hope it's hd-dvd.
Sorry for the double-post.
"Imation bought out TDK. Imation is a hd-dvd supporter."
I find that highly unlikely. I have checked the corporate websites of both TDK and Imation, and there is no mention of each other on either of the sites. The most apparent problem with your claim is that TDK is far larger than Imation. They have more revenue and more employees. The chances of a small company buying a company as large as TDK is next to nothing. I think what you are thinking of is Imation's acquisition of Memorex in 2006. Also, Memorex is NOT TDK, nor is it affiliated with TDK. They are in the same industry, but nonetheless, they are not related corporately.
myscrnnm
You might want to have a look at this:
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyid=2007-04-19T100813Z_01_T33008_RTRUKOC_0_US-TDK-IMATION.xml
Imation buy's TDK Brand
@pellucidity
hahaha..dude why is it so impossible that TDK jumped ship. Others have gone neutral too man. All movie studios have gone neutral excluding Fox and MGM (MGM is owned by Sony) and Fox pulled all upcoming Blu-Ray titles as I'm pretty sure they had this news before everyone else here.
Samsung, LG and some others have gone neutral too. Samsung being the original backer behind Blu-Ray as well.
And here a piece of the press release that has been translated, let me know if any of this starts looking like Blu-Ray please :)
From press release:
Deng Hungchi also mentioned that Blue HD-DVD for high-volume, high-quality images, high resolution vision, machine Images can be more realistic, more beautiful images. Its advantage is more easily with existing DVD discs maintain compatibility, and may continue to use existing DVD production equipment CDs and facilitate the expansion of the distance between lens and do not need, such as CD-ROM cartridges, substantially reduced from the current transition to HD DVD, the cost for the DVD, makes disc manufacturers switch from DVD to HD DVD when the costs can be reduced to a minimum. Moreover, the HD DVD recording capacity is smaller, but the eye, decontamination capability, and without cartridges, dish Therefore the production process easier and less costly.
Deng Hungchi is general manager of Fuh Yuan.
So stop spreading FUD, it's HD DVD player as no blu-ray player falls into this explanation. So SHUT IT! :)
OCT, 2005: In the high-stakes battle with Sony over whose format will power the next-generation of DVD players, Toshiba has adopted a potentially perilous strategy: encouraging low-cost Chinese competitors to crank out machines using its standard known as HD-DVD.
The tactic of courting Chinese makers has been largely taboo in Japan, where manufacturers like Sony and Panasonic have long tried to delay their technology from turning into cheap commodities. But Toshiba's decision could have significant ramifications in the race for the billions of dollars that will very likely flow from the next generation of DVD technology that promises sharper pictures, enhanced audio and more disc storage.
Sony and the Blu-ray group are licensing their technology more selectively. Analysts call this an effort to prevent low-cost manufacturers, including those from China, from quickly driving down the price of Blu-ray machines when they reach stores next year. Many manufacturers are also wary of licensing their technology to the Chinese because of their record of not paying licensing and royalty fees.
The contrasting strategies underscore the increasingly uncomfortable choices that Japanese electronics makers must make as China's manufacturing might grows, whether it be in DVDs, televisions, cameras or other products.
JAN. 7 | LAS VEGAS Chinese manufacturers, known for low-cost consumer products, will begin making and shipping HD DVD players for the U.S. market by the end of 2007, HD DVD promotional group execs announced at an event here Sunday evening. Chinese manufacturers Alco, Shinco and Lite-On will join Toshiba in making players, as will Japanese company Onkyo, execs announced. Microsoft may also make players, officials said, but didn’t provide further details. Car system manufacturer Alpine is making a player for cars. The move is expected to add lower-priced players to the market, which could greatly expand household penetration for the format.
April 9, 2007 TOKYO, Japan (AP) Toshiba Corp. has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission and sued 17 companies, alleging infringement of its DVD patents, the Japanese electronics maker said Monday. The commission is an independent federal agency that checks on unfair trade practices and copyright infringements.
Toshiba filed a complaint Friday to the commission against the 17 companies, mostly Hong Kong and Chinese manufacturers and importers.
Also Friday, Toshiba filed a lawsuit demanding monetary damages to the same companies in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Toshiba spokeswoman Yuko Sugahara declined to comment on the damage amount.
Toshiba licenses DVD patents, but the companies, including Daewoo Electronics America Inc. of the U.S., Dongguan GVG Digital Technology of China and Star Light Electronics Co. of Hong Kong, don't have such licensing agreements, Toshiba said. Imported DVD products are sold without proper permission, the company said.
"The infringement of Toshiba's patents by these companies has damaged Toshiba's DVD-related business, and also caused damage to the legitimate and licensed DVD product manufacturing and distribution and business as a whole," Tokyo-based Toshiba said in a statement.
APRIL 20 | Wal-Mart apparently has ordered 2 million HD DVD players from China to sell at a target price of $299, according to a report out of Taiwan.
The introduction of low-priced Chinese-manufactured DVD players in Wal-Mart and other outlets in the U.S. helped spur the growth of the DVD format in its early years. A translation of the story was uploaded on the AVS Forum.
____________________________________________________________ ____
These news reports have been around for years now. So how is this any surprise to the BD supporters who keep threadcrapping here? It's obviously the HD-DVD format, and you will most likely hear additional companies such as Alco, Shinco and Lite-On (mentioned at CES) announcing lower-priced players for other major retailers as well (Target, Sears, K-Mart?). This was publicly announced at CES in January, so why the denial? Did BD folks think this was all simply BS?
Yea Imation bought TDK but you are getting the "Imation is a hd-dvd supporter" out of your arse. Imation are impartial. But nonetheless, its TDK who are making the players. TDK are still a business, and "TDK will continue R&D and manufacturing operations for recording media products including audio, video and data storage tape, and Blu-ray optical discs. TDK will supply Imation as well as its other OEM customers". Source: http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.aspx?NewsId=20243
In the articles about the players, it doesn't say anything about Imation. Only TDK.
Sounds like HD-DVD to me and I do find all the BR fanboys' panic rather amusing. ;) Irrespective of the actual format of the player, the consumer wins here - we should all be happy about this. If it's a Blu-Ray player (doubtful), it's probably fair to say BR will win the format war - cost was their biggest problem (followed by production problems, lack of BD-Java features, lack of audio standards, etc.) - if BR is going to win the format war - glad to hear there might be an affordable player in the works. If the players are in-fact HD-DVD (as I'd assume it to be), it will probably spell the end of Blu-Ray as thus far BR-exclusive studio support has been the only thing that's held HD-DVD back (BR certainly hasn't delivered on many of its promises & can't even compete with HD-DVD in terms of features, functions, etc., despite the considerably higher price point) and as several others have pointed out, short of Sony, I'm sure Fox and the others will drop their exclusivity if it means not missing out on lots of sales generated from this thing. If it's a dual format player, I suppose that's good, as well, but doesn't really do much to advance us toward a single format.
Anyway, not sure what all the BR fanboys are up in arms over - if they're truly convinced these are BR players, why not wait until the "true story" is manifest? Until then, every headline has reported the story as HD-DVD players and it's certainly supported by months and months of prior press releases and announcements, so BR fanboys - go back to your PS3s or your overpriced BR stand-alones and wait this one out. If your twist on the story is true, you'll have the last laugh. Otherwise...
(I'm an HD DVD proponent myself.)
Great!
So Wal-Mart is going to sell the new VHS (meh quality for an ignorant populace) with BetaMax (BluRay closed format with DRM up the wazoo) marketing for cheap.
(Read the whole story.)
Guess that means it's all over for HD DVD, huh?
Because nobody ever heard of a competitor doing the same thing, even cheaper.
It's not over, unfortunately. The Blu Ray DRM-Bot may win out, but we've got a long way to go before it's all settled.
It is statement like that (TRUE HD is 1080p) that is 100000% wrong!
720p is HD (PERIOD)
anything about that is gravy and kick BUTT, but 720 is "TRUE HD"
so stop your Sony: "1080P is TRUE HD" garbage!
Sorry for the triple-post, this is the last one.
"It is statement like that (TRUE HD is 1080p) that is 100000% wrong!
720p is HD (PERIOD)
anything about that is gravy and kick BUTT, but 720 is "TRUE HD"
so stop your Sony: "1080P is TRUE HD" garbage!"
That's slander. Sony doesn't say "TRUE HD". Sony refers to 1080p as "Full HD", which is true. Yes, by current definitions, 720p and 1080p both qualify as true HDTV. However, do you seriously believe that 720 lines of vertical resolution will always qualify as HD? Times change, and technology changes much faster. Fifty years from now, even 1,080 could seem like nothing. Now, I know we're not talking about the future here, we're talking about the here and now. 1080p is NOT garbage. I've compared 720p and 1080p sets a lot, and even when they're not side-by-side, there's a huge difference between the two. 1080p is in fact Full HD. It is the highest HD standard at the time.
And Sony doesn't own a patent on 1080P so stop sucking them off!!
Yes indeed.
myscrnnm
I'm afraid it is true that Imation did buy TDK, but they are still letting TDK run as a buiness with all the same buiness practices as before. Nothings changed apart from the ownership. Its bullcrap that Imation support HD-DVD though, they are impartial.
Type Imation and TDK in google and you will see. Or just go to my previous post.
Ok, going to Wal-Mart to buy your HD needs is low. This is coming from a biased opinion, I do support Blu-Ray 100%. Why would you go with that disc when you can get up to 50GB with the Blu-Ray? I'm just wondering... I don't see HD-DVD winning in this war. And this player coming fro Wal-Mart, it's going to be like Windows, it's going to take a few updates to actually be worthy of purchase. That's me.
Mike
LOL..these Blu-Ray fanboys are completely in denial. People, FACE IT..it's over..when these HD-DVD players hit the market and new orders from other Chinese manufacturers hit the market as well it's completely over.
You can quote, Sony's R&D, how they produce great products (which is complete garbage, they produce regular tech-equipment that is way overpriced), you can quote the size blah-blah-blah for Blu-Ray and be angry but the fact remains..IT"S OVER..and the CONSUMER FRIENDLY FORMAT WON. I'm glad that we won't see this Blu-Ray crap become a standard with propriatery crap, insane licensing rules, inferior interactive and backwards-compatibility capabilities etc etc.
A word of advice, start selling your Blu-Ray crap as soon as you can because in a few months you won't find a person in this world who would want to buy it.
I love when BD supporters start flamin' boards with how these players will be crap, how they can't believe that some companies are going neutral and starting to support HD-DVD and so on..it's really pathetic and EXTREMELY funny.
LOL!
Blu-Ray "fanboys" may be in denail, but HD-DVD fanboys like yourself (Nfinity) are delusional.
Wake me up when:
1: Wal-Mart actually starts selling this player, whatever is may be.
2: HD-DVD sales outpace Blu-Ray sales
3: The format war is actually "over" which it's far from being.
I doubt I'll be hearing from you any time soon.
Gotta love the pot calling the kettle black.
"And Sony doesn't own a patent on 1080P so stop sucking them off!!"
Excuse me, but I never said that Sony owns a patent to 1080p. But Sony has been the most influential company so far for 1080p because it is attempting to popularize the standard.
@Matthew
I don't know why you're so bent out of shape, but you should do yourself a favor and go get some sun and fresh air.
Go read Myscrnnm's post again. As he said, and as I've said as well, true HD/full HD (whatever you want to call it) is 1080p, whether you agree with it or not.
I have to add my two cents...
blu-ray & hd-dvd are basically the same, but blu-ray is a denser media due to the location of the data on the dis layer- and that doesn't really mean anything unless you are backing up data to a blu-ray from a PC. Most 1080P blu-ray movie rips are about 20-25GB (the same as HD-DVD)- the other space is for the useless 'extras' that occupy most current DVDs.
It appears that people become 'fan-boys' to justify their decision for the purchase of one type of hardware and to re-enforce that their choice was 'the best' to everyone else and that they should purchase the same (so, hopefully, their hardware will not become obsolete).
As for the two formats- I don't care who wins; they are both much better quality than standard DVD.
As for the manufacturers, I hope Sony pulls another BetaMax with their arrogance and superiority and ends up making HD-DVD players.
Let's review: BetaMax, Memory Stick, AIT, DAT, MiniDisc, ATRAC3, SACD, Blu-Ray: how many of these proprietary formats does Sony need to make before they decide to play nice with others?
Toshiba's current HD-DVD offerings include 1080p. Of the three models offered, two are 1080p at a lower price point than BluRay. The least expensive model is 1080i. See http://www.thelookandsoundofperfect.com/.
I myself have the first generation HD-DVD with 1080i, and it is difficult for me to tell the difference between i and p. The only folks that will really tell the difference are those who have screens over about 45 inches (mine is 52"). Plus, many TVs out there aren't 1080p capable, so 1080i is the best they can get anyway.
For the open-source folks, there is another reason to buy Toshiba's HD-DVD: it's got Linux under the hood. Yep, it's a Pentium 4 Linux computer with a gig or two of memory. It even has a space ready to install a big 'ole harddrive and turn it into a hi-def DVR machine.
In Chinese "藍光" literally means just blue light. So yes, it will be interesting to see what they really mean by all that.
On 5/7/07, while trying to buy an hd dvd to try on my new hd dvd player, a wal mart associate in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area told me that walmart is phasing out hd dvds because "blu ray won". In fact, there were only 2 hd dvd movies left on the shelf with a large selection of blu ray titles....For what it's worth.
JUST SO YOU GUYS KNOW IT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER WHO WINS BECAUSE THEY WILL ONLY REIGN FOR A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME IMAGINE FOR A SECOND YOU BUY YOUR TV WITH A HARD DRIVE AND USB PORTS FOR EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES AND VARIOUS OTHER POTENTIAL. YOU WILL BE CONNECTED TO ITUNES TO XBOX LIVE WITHOUT A 360 YOU WILL DOWNLOAD DIGITAL MEDIA NOT BUY DISCS ANYMORE NOT CDS OR DVDS OR HD DVDS YOU WON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT BUYING PLAYERS WITH OR WITHOUT COMPONENT PORTS OR HDMI PORTS YOU SIMPLY HAVE TO BUY A HDTV THAT SUPPORTS 720P OR 1080P AND YOUR GOOD TO GO THAT'S THE FUTURE DOWNLOADING MOVIES DOWNLOADING MUSIC DIRECTLY FROM THE INTERNET WITH YOUR TV ALL BECAUSE OF MICROSOFT.THEY ARE THE GIANTS IMAGINE HAVING A XBOX LIVE SUBSCRIPTION BUT FOR PC BECAUSE THAT IS THE PLAN ONE PERSON WILL BE PLAYIN PC XLIVE AND ONE PERSON WILL BE PLAYING AGAINST THEM ON THEIR 360 SO IMAGINE YOU HAVE YOUR HDTV COMPUTER THAT YOU CAN SIMPLY DOWNLOAD MOVIES IN HD OR NOT HD YOUR CHOICE, NOW IMAGINE FROM YOUR TV YOU LIKE GEARS OF WAR BUT YOU ARE THE TYPE OF GAMER THAT YOU LIKE THE KEYBOARD AND MOUSE TYPE OF GAMEPLAY SO YOU HAVE YOUR HDTV CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET AND X-BOX LIVE PC SUBSCRIPTION AND YOU HAVE GEARS OF WAR PC AND YOUR PLAYING WITH YOUR KEYBOARD AND MOUSE AGAINST SOMEONE PLAYING ON THEIR 480P CRT TV WITH THEIR 360 ON A CONTROLLER THE POTENTIAL IT SEEMS IS ENDLESS I'D RATHER BUY A TV THAT WOULD SUPPORT ANY FORM OF HD AND DOWNLOAD IT DIRECTLY FROM WHATEVER WEBSITE I THINK IS BEST THAT IS THE FUTURE AND THEIR ARE SO MANY SCENARIO'S I'M NOT EVEN MENTIONING SO THAT IS THE FUTURE NOT PLAYERS DIGITAL MEDIA DOWNLOADING AND MAKING YOUR HDTV A FULLY FUNCTIONING COMPUTER! I FOR ONE RATHER THIS OPTION
Content in HD, either on television or as movies is going to be very popular. Whether the HD movies either in HD DVD or in Blu Ray Format will become popular depends on a few major factors:
Technology: The technology is always changing. It’s a work in progress. In the old days, we had VHS played in VCR’s. Then the movies started coming as DVD’s and were played in DVD Players. And now it is the time for HD in either HD DVD or Blu-ray disc format. So, the main point that the technology is always evolving and it is not going to change meaning that we have to adapt. Majority of us do not prefer to use our VCR’s anymore and the same thing is going to happen to the DVD’s as well in the long run. How ,many movies are any more available in VHS format. If you somehow still have any reason to like VHS format, my friend you are out of luck and that is the harsh reality. The same thing is going to happen to DVD’s as well.
Internet: I still remember the days when I had hard time even browsing the html websites. It was when we could only get a very slow dial up internet using our computers modem. But look that the time has really changed. Nowadays, about 70% of the Internet users have broadband internet. It can be safely said that one day dial up will be totally gone for good. As both the download and upload speeds increase, more and more people are going to download movies in HD. An HD movie that takes days to download would just take a few hours just like the DVD rips today. As the fiber optics will be widely used in the near future, we should all observe a noticeable increase in both in download and upload speeds.
PC: Today, mostly all pc’s with somewhat decent hardware configuration can play HD movies. In the future, they are going to be even more powerful as the advances in different components of the pc will take place. So, rest assured you will be able to see HD content right on your pc and record it as well as store it on your hard drive. The CPU, graphics Cards, HD disc burners, HD creation/editing/burning software and the Hard Drives are going to play the most important parts in HD content creation as well as watching HD content on the pc. Just about a decade ago, pc’s with only 12GB hard drives were available. Nowadays, even the $500 computers come with a reasonable 120GB compared to the past. That’s a huge advancement and improvement in Hard Drives. In the future, Hard Drives are going to be even bigger. I would not be surprised, if in 6 years from now, the $500 computers start coming with 500GB Hard Drives as standard which is definitely going to be a good thing for storing huge HD files.
High Definition TV: Right now only about 10% Americans own a HD television set. That is only 30 million out of a population of 300 million. As the HD TV’s are becoming cost economical and the prices are dropping increasingly, more people are going to buy them. Once 100 million Americans will own an HD TV, only then are they going to be seriously interested in downloading HD content from file sharing networks. They will want to utilize the true potential of their HD TV’s once they will get used to watching HD broadcasting on their High Definition Television Set. The people are definitely going to prefer HD movies over DVD’s as they have far more detail. Also, the DVD will not be as popular in the coming days. Sooner or Later, the movie studios are going to announce that they will not put movies on DVD anymore and that is going to happen when most of the people will have HD TV’s and HD players in their homes many years after the HD format battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD will be over.
HD Burners: HD content is not going to become popular with pc users unless if they can burn HD movies right on their computer. For this to happen, HD burners should be very cost effective just like the DVD burners that are standard components even in the most inexpensive computers.
HD Blank Media: When the HD format battle will be over, the winning format’s blank media disc will also become more cost economical as the demand and production will increase. Right now, Blu-ray discs are very expensive even though they have massive storage. But they will become cheap if they end up winning the HD format battle with HD DVD.
HD players: Most of the HD players are very expensive, especially the Blu-ray DVD players all with a MSRP of above $700. Although a few HD DVD players are now as low as only $300. These HD players (both for PC and TV) are going to be very cheap in the future, under $100 just like the DVD players right now. But that is going to take some time. No one is going to download HD movies if they can’t watch it on their pc or HD TV’s and they cannot store it on HD discs and watch it later. Therefore, the price has to come down for the people to get interested in buying a HD player and eventually download it using P2P network such as torrents.
Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: There is no clear winner between Blu-ray disc format and HD DVD at this time. The battle between the two formats has actually been keeping a lot of people to buy HD Players as well and other home theatre equipment as well. So, as long as the two formats are going to stay, the HD movies are not really going to become very popular as people will hesitate to stick to either of them. At the same time, HD players that can play both the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats are coming out. Although, they are still above $700 and there are only a few of them available at this time, mainly from LG and Samsung. Also, one major studio has announced that it will release HD movies on discs that can play both the HD DVD and Blu-ray formats which is very promising but I am not sure if they will continue to do that forever. These dual format HD discs and dual format HD players are reducing the consumer’s risk that one of them is going to become obsolete but in this case they should be pretty safe. As far as I think, Blu-ray has the overall advantage due to its size and other technical specifications over HD DVD. HD DVD, on the other hand has a price advantage over Blu-ray when it comes to HD DVD players as they are about half the price of Blu-ray players. Most of the consumers will like to go with HD DVD players as it is lower in price. Although the price of the HD DVD’s and Blu-ray Discs are still the same at about $20 which is also the same for DVD’s as well. But it is not for me to make a decision that which format will win, the consumers will actually decide that who is going to eventually win. There are also a number of other factors such as the support of Hollywood movie studios and other big companies. Time will tell that who will win!
HD Software: HD software such for both creation and playing HD content is going to be very important. There are hardly any software based HD players available at this time which is going to change when free media players such as VLC and Windows Media Player will support HD content. There are also not a lot of software utilities available at this time to edit, create or burn the HD content on HD media with the HD burners and HD recorders. The HD content compression will also increase quality and decrease the size of the movies.
Xbox and PS3: The gaming consoles are also playing some role in bringing the HD movies to consumers. PS3, as we know came with the Blu-ray player as standard. XBOX 360, on the other hand does not come with HD player and therefore is an optional accessory which costs $200. The PS3 owners are obviously going to go with Blu-ray movies as their no out of the pocket cost for them. Whereas, the XBOX 360 owners can either go with HD DVD players as well as Blu-ray as they are going to be buy the HD player. Even though more expensive than XBOX, Sony’s PS3 definitely have an advantage to support its Blu-ray format when it comes to gaming consoles. But it is only for the consumers to decide!
I hope that you liked my little preview of the HD world!
For questions, answers and discussions, please e-mail me at (hasnainzia@sbcglobal.net)
Hasnain Zia
May 27, 2007
$1.25 per HD DISC, It's so lucky living in China, the middle class.