HD DVD camp issues sad little response to Netflix, Best Buy snubs
By Evan Blass 
posted February 12th 2008 10:52AM
posted February 12th 2008 10:52AM
"We have long held the belief that HD DVD is the best format for consumers based on quality and value, and with more than 1 million HD DVD players on the market, it's unfortunate to see Netflix make the decision to only stock Blu-ray titles going forward. While the Best Buy announcement says they will recommend Blu-ray, at least they will continue to carry HD DVD and offer consumers a choice at retail."
Doesn't sound like there's too much fight left there, does it? If the best you can do to support your dying format is to rehash the same canned argument and celebrate your remaining shelf space, well, there would seem to be a bigger problem than you're willing to admit. At this point, we're just curious to see how it will all end: after investing so much time, energy, money, and vitriol on this bitter format war, how does Toshiba move forward in a world almost completely dominated by its rival in blue?
[Via High-Def Digest]
Definitely a prime example of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
1 million HD DVD players on the market... ...offer consumers a choice at retail...
Hmm... Sounds like the Comments here are from all Blu-Ray fan boys, because one million players can't be wrong.
Sad, sad blu-ray. I'll stick with DVD. Or HD-DVD.
If studios, et al want to be a pr!ck because I prefer HD-DVD for all of the extra features that are not-yet-supported by Blu-Ray... so what?
I'll always play my Nintendo Wii and DS. Have your PS3 and PSP... see? Two different formats work fine.
The transition for those with movie collections will be easier, once bd ripping and 1tb drives become average. By time Blu-ray is heavilly adopted (aka there's enough content that it makes DVD go the way of VHS), that will probably already be the case.
Some people think "downloads" will be the solution. However, I agree that bandwidth, etc will prevent that for the most part ... but a larger transition to completely digital media will begin before that.
I forsee people archiving their soon to be antiquated DVD collection, onto their drives to be able to access all of their movies from a single location. Just the same way people began ripping their CDs for their MP3 players, and that eventually became common-place. It'll become common-place much faster, because people are already used to ripping their collections. Yeah downloads will exist, but the lack of bandwidth won't prevent the completely digital adoption ... even with HD content.
I think that optical (or physical) media will end at blu-ray. Movies will go completely digital, and the next transition might be from hard disks to SSD being the norm, or maybe a completely different optical media like crystals.
Regardless, I think that for me personally it's a better long-term investment of time and money to purchase 2tb external drives with built-in Raid 1 (or something similar like a tower), and make the transition to completely digital now ... rather that purchasing a slew of blu-ray discs. My bd drive will be solely for ripping.
So while everyone argues over the format war (rather that'll be over) ... while they are building their proud bd collection ... I'll be buying, ripping, and selling those discs back to them for cheaper than they would've paid for it.
When apple TV is able to support full HD capabilities, of course it'll be hackable, to be able to play said ripped content. It may prove to be the killer if there is wide adoption. Apple TV can catch up to the Blu-ray quality ... faster than Sony can produce a better format with wide adoption. If it's not apple, then it'll be someone else. Regardless, in my eyes it's inevitable. So I'm cutting to the chase, and starting to toss my DVDs and discs in general like frisbees.
Forward thinking.
I'm an HD-DVD supported. I had an HD-DVD player... but I don't any more.
I wish HD-DVD would just concede and die already. This is pathetic, now. It's the equivalent of a bully kicking an already-beaten nerd while he's laying in the fetal position after having his lunch money, books, AND homework stolen.
And the nerd keeps saying "But I'm smarter than you!" in between kicks... Just getting kicked harder the next time.
I respect the nerd. I can even empathize with the nerd. I cannot, however, trust the nerd with my money, homework, or books. He'll get them stolen, and I'll be without.
If the bully offers to protect me and my books, homework, and money, and all I have to do is promise to stop giving my books, lunch money, and homework to the nerd, I'll seriously consider it despite the fact that the bully is a complete ass who deserves to be beaten some day.
Today's not that day, and I need my stuff.
So sorry, nerd. You put up a valiant fight, and your integrity and intellect WILL win out in the end after some other battles, but this battle is lost, and I'm letting the bully walk home with me tonight. Sure, he may kick my ass when I'm not looking, or raise his rates, or just walk out on the bargain altogether, but for now he's the only game in town that has any credibility.
I'm really glad to see this fight coming to an end, and honestly it really never mattered to me who won. It's funny to watch all of you argue which format is better. The minimal difference isn't something that really effects the end user. And as far as the optical disk going away in general in favor of digital downloading...well explain to me how you are going to market that concept to an older person who can't even work a computer. The days of all digital downloading and storage is still a ways off in the future. Personally even once the infrastructure is in place I still don't think I'd prefer it. What happens when my hard drive breaks and I lose 100 or more movies I had stored there? Will I get to download them again for free? What if I want to take a movie to a friends house? And you know I don't think I really want to wire my whole house to pull files from a server to feed multiple TV's. That's a pain in the butt to set up and deal with. Most people in society aren't tech geeks like those of us who post here, and just want to be able to pop in their movie and watch it. I just don't see the all digital model replacing the ease and convenience of having a hard copy on a shelf, at least for a certain demographic. I think you will find some people will always want a hard copy, while others will embrace newer technologies.
Anyone who moves over to storage probably really should be thinking about redundancy as well (RAID 1).
@ movie to your friends house ... external drive, take your entire collection to your friend's house.
Wires? wtf. Stream wirelessly on an internal home network (use wires only at your friend's house who might not have your network).
Yes the setup is a bit difficult to the technologically handicapped ... and marketting it to people may prove to be difficult, but in the same vein marketting high-definition to people with poor sight may be moot also, but it's done. Some people don't even know how to hook up their DVD players ... but YET they still own a DVD player. Yes, the "some people still love vinyl" logic applies, however it's quite possible that Apple or another company could make it happen. Just like they made MP3z widely adopted. This isn't to say there aren't better players out there or that apple did it first ... no, they didn't ...
but apple can make it simple & market it like the others can't. Imagine this, a core apple TV connected to external drives ... and apple-rs (remote, smaller, and cheaper apple tvs consider them clients) which wirelessly connect to that hub, but all you have to do it plug it into your TV. It may be a few months or even years away from them coming up with something like that ... but they can do it.
Yeah the somebodys that still love vinyl will still exist, just like the people that still have their 8-trak ... but it doesn't mean that the standard will not change. If you believe that then your thinking is just narrow, and you just might be one of those vinyl people.
Yeah. Ease of use won't matter so much in sixty years when everyone who lived when computers weren't around is dead. But right now it is important to have tangible media that can be dropped into something for those who are so accustomed to such tech as the 8 track, VHS and cassette tapes.
-D
http://www.androidboards.com
To all you Blu-Ray bobble heads, stop cheering the locked down format and it's players, you're making your own coffin.
Next up, displays that activate decoder chips based on the type of hardware lock down signal received from the Blu-Ray player.
I'm not dead yet!
@EricH
Never underestimate the bandwidth of an SUV filled with Blu-Rays!
I'll buy a Blu player as soon as Toshiba comes out with one, not sooner. They make a better machine, including upconversion.
Nobody wants to be told that they made a bad decision or bet on the wrong pony. But if you're going to be in denial about the demise of a piece of technology, ranting and raving about it isn't gonna bring it back. This isn't a case of fanboys bringing back a tv show like "Jericho." So far, in the face of overwhelming rejection, all Toshiba is accomplishing is a protracted death rattle.
Note to Toshiba - the only thing with more nails in it than HD-DVD's coffin is "Pinhead" from Hellraiser. Stop your bitching, and die gracefully.
Having neither format (although I was lusting after both), I was evaluating HD-DVD and Blu-Ray on convenience of purchase, selection, and quality. It is possible that HD-DVD was a good format, but the point is moot now.
The thing I can't stand is that, from my experience, HD-DVD as consistently had better sound and picture than Blu-ray (not to mention more WEB 2.0 functionality) and HD-DVD is losing. Blu-ray players and discs are overpriced and I'm not buying a game consle to watch movies. Both XBOX 360 and PS3 have been rated pretty low as far as their ability to play movies, so I'd rather have a standalone player that does it better. The fact is, quantity of movies is not quality and I will continue to support HD-DVD even after it's forced out of the market. Besides, the players and discs won't just stop working if they declare Blu-ray the winner. I bet that things would be different if Microsoft decided to put an HD-DVD player in XBOX 360. As far as stores and online rentals go. This makes no sense financially. They don't spend any money on development of each format, so why cut out over a million potential customers? Sony has got to be throwing money at them to do this. As far as Sony goes, they have a poor reputation for over-charging for sub-par products and I hope their movie division chokes and dies once downloads take over.
Oh man beta!, you guys remember beta, don'tcha'
LOL, All you people ripping on HD DVD and talking about nails in the coffin are pretty funny. I cant wait until the nails start getting pounding into the Blu Ray coffin and that time is absolutely coming soon. You see most of the BD fanboys are under the delusion that Blu Ray sales are suddenly going to go from pathetic to amazing when HD DVD folds and the simple fact is that just isnt going to happen. Blu Ray has always been a video game machine format and it will always remain a video game machine format. It doesnt stand a chance in hell against SD DVD.
Most people dont give a rats behind about getting HD movies on disc. Between the HD DVD hold outs, SD DVD, AppleTV and other on demand services like Xbox live marketplace and the PS3, There is going to be very little left for poor old Blu Ray, soon to be the next coffin fatality.
I think this is the main reason Sony hasn't set up a video marketplace of their own the PS3. They know Blu-ray will fail when they do so. Who knows what studios might change their minds again after that. The stats read that HD-DVD players are outselling standalone Blu-ray players. Standalone HD-DVD players also have a higher attach rate per unit than Blu-ray players. I believe that Microsoft's lack of an HD-DVD XBOX 360 and Sony's lack of a video marletplace are keys to Blu-ray's success. It seems the studios are missing the point. They shouldn't be basing decisions on something that's primarily a game machine. Those who are buying standalone players are the ones who are going to drive the industry. Sony will be killing their format when they finally compete with Microsoft on their video marketplace and Netflix is looking to win either way.
Yeah they are really screwed no matter what they do. This war and the timing of the HD formats couldnt have been worse. The economy is in serious serious trouble and people everywhere are cutting back on thier purchases. Just look at the pitiful sales we had this holiday season. The last thing people are going to do right now is waste money upgrading to a new format especially when most people are 100% content with thier SD DVD's upconverted.
In the end when this is all said and done there will be a lot of key factors in the failing of HD on optical disc and yes even if Blu ray survives and remains a niche market, its still failed. With the amount of money Sony has invested into Blu ray plus the money they have lost on the PS3 because of Blu Ray, nothing short of taking over the home market would signify a success. Anyways as I was saying there will be a couple ket factors in HD failing and one of those factors is the simple fact that the studios simply underestimated SD DVD and overestimated the average citizen's interest in HD. They assumed because so many people were buying HDTV's that they would naturally want to upgrade to an HD movie player and that just hasnt been the case. Most of the people that are buying HDTV's are not buying them to get access to HD media or even HD broadcasts. Most people are buying HDTV's because they look cool, are a hell of a lot smaller than old school TV's and are this decades must have cool item. Most people cant even tell the difference between SD DVD upconversion and true HD and 16 months after these formats were on the market 50% of the public still had no clue that either of these formats even existed. The lack of education for the public with be another key reason for failure. If tey dont even know you have a product on the market how the hell are they going to buy it??
Its ok tho, let the Blu ray fanboys have thier fun bashing HD DVD and the owners of HD DVD. HD DVD screwed Blu ray in a big bad way after all Blu ray should have beaten HD DVD in the first 3 months. The fact that HD DVD was able to drag this out this long and remain as close as they were is nothing short of miraculaous especially when you consider the huge advantages Blu ray had all along. In the end HD DVD will be one of the reasons Blu ray fails so they have good reaso to be spiteful towards the format. Just remember what comes around goes around and all of the HD DVD fans will have thier day as well and you can be assured they will be on these sites rubbing it in something fierce.
As for me I am just waiting for HD DVD to go under before I buy one. Ill be looking to pick up an HD DVD player along with a huge collection of films on eBay for next to nothing. Or if they liquidate them out of stores for super cheap then ill just go that route and just buy the movies on eBay. With a library of over 1000 titles worldwide and more surely coming before all is said and done, I am going to get a killer deal on some great hi Def films. I dont care what the format is, just what movie I am watching.
FYI, these movies aren't 25GB in size...none of them Blu-Ray or HD DVD.
Sorry Hawkman but it is actually you that are wrong. Sindle layer blu ray discs are 25 gig, dual layer blu ray are 50 gig. Single layer HD DVD are 15 gig and dual layer are 30 gig. There have been alot f Blu Ray films released on single layer Blu ray discs thus there are alot of Blu ray films on the makret that are 25 gig.
So again it is you that is wrong as there are at least 100 Blu ray titles on the market right now that are only 25 gig.