HD DVD Is Dead...Long Live Blu Ray

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TheUsualSuspect's Avatar
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28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
02-17-08
While I don't own either of the two, it's finally nice to see at least one win, so the consumer isn't getting screwed over too bad.

Now this means multiple things.

Toshiba is going to lose billions of dollars.

It's going to be difficult for HD DVD users to convert

PS3 will selling more and more now.



I can only hope that prices drop down. I was never into this whole thing, it wasn't a big enough jump for me (VHS to DVD obviously was). To the basic consumer there is probably no difference. But here we are and in a few years everything will be going this way and we will have to pay even more money to get our entertainment.
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thebest's Avatar
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With great power. . .
02-17-08
Stupid PS3 . . . . . . . . . . stealing all Ninty's ideas . . . . . .but anyway the obligatory:

HD DVD: "I am HighDefinitious Digitus Versatilius Discidus.Father to a murdered brandname. Husband to a bankrupt corporation. And I will have my vengeance. In this stage of marketing or the next."
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what whit to whom did my life keep?
Last edited by thebest; 02-19-08 at 05:17 PM. Reason: Fracked up a pseudo quote



jrs's Avatar
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02-17-08
Originally Posted by Ash_Lee
Will HD-DVD discs still be produced for the XBOX 360?
You mean for a HD-DVD player? Yes. HD-DVDs will still be around until Paramount/Dreamworks, Universal, Image Entertainment, Eagle Rock Entertainment, BBC and Bandai Visual stop producing them.

Warner Brothers however will continue to release all new titles on HD- DVD until the end of May 2008.

Best Buy and Walmart have gone Blu-ray exclusive, as well as Netflix (which I just recently banned). More retailers will follow suit.

Expect Blu to be THE format by the year's end.



jrs's Avatar
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02-17-08
TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp is planning to stop production of equipment compatible with the HD DVD format for high-definition video, allowing the competing Blu-Ray camp a free run, public broadcaster NHK reported on Saturday.

Toshiba is expected to suffer losses amounting to tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars) to scrap production of HD DVD players and recorders and other steps to exit the business, Japan's NHK said on its website.

No one at Toshiba could be reached for comment.

The format war between the Toshiba-backed HD DVD and Sony Corp's Blu-Ray, often compared to the Betamax-VHS battle in the 1980s, has slowed the development of what is expected to be a multibillion dollar high-definition DVD industry.

Toshiba was dealt a blow on Friday when Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it would abandon the HD DVD format, becoming the latest in a series of top retailers and movie studios to rally behind Blu-ray technology for high definition DVDs.

Toshiba plans to continue selling HD DVD equipment at stores for the time being but will not put resources into developing new devices, NHK said.
Source: Reuters



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02-20-08
I'm glad I have a PS3! I wonder what those with HD-DVD players and X-Box 360s are going to do.
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02-20-08
Originally Posted by SizzlingPopcorn
I'm glad I have a PS3! I wonder what those with HD-DVD players and X-Box 360s are going to do.
People still own HD-DVDs and Paramount is the only remaining studio left after the recent news that Universal went Blu. Paramount has made an exclusive deal with Microsoft recently to have it's movies in High Def on X-Box Live Marketplace. There are millions of X-Box Live customers out there who would be satisfied to pay $4.99 to watch the picture in HD in their homes once or twice and don't care about the special features.

Paramount (despite being alone in the war) is set on HD-DVD. At least for quite a while.

Blu-ray is still far behind in some of its web enabled technology features, though it could catch up soon.



Naisy's Avatar
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02-21-08
Originally Posted by SizzlingPopcorn
I'm glad I have a PS3! I wonder what those with HD-DVD players
Same as what happened to all those people who had Beta did. Cut themselves?

and X-Box 360s are going to do.
Guess they'll have to pass the time with playing the games on the gaming console until they can afford Blu-Ray....or 3D holographic projectors.



Sexy Celebrity's Avatar
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02-22-08
This is really not surprising to me. I've been guessing that Blu-Ray would win for awhile now because of simple "sound psychology".

The word "Blu-Ray" is just more comfortable and easier to say. "HD-DVD" takes too long to say, compared to "Blu-Ray".

Blu-Ray (that's how it's pronounced - easy and kinda sweet, eh?)

H! D! D! V! D! (Now that's way too much for the tongue. Time consuming.)

Now, psychologically, you may have thought that Blu-Ray would lose because it starts with the letter B, just like BETA!

But wrong! The word BETA is too chunky-monkey for the vocal cords. V! H! S! is similiar to the H! D! D! V! D! but look, it was smaller, and happier, and gave off an excited cheerleader chant to it. V! H! S! Rah! Rah! H! D! D! V! D! Well, look at that long word. That's a freakin' train! Choo! Choo!

So, I really think that my "sound psychology" theory was right about this. It probably was considered by Wal-Mart, which has a lot of shoppers that speak, ya know, "git r done" style.

Blu-Ray is a shorter, happier sounding word. It makes me think of a bluebird of happiness. It's not surprising to me that Blu-Ray won the war.



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In the Beginning...
02-24-08
Originally Posted by TheUsualSuspect
I can only hope that prices drop down. I was never into this whole thing, it wasn't a big enough jump for me (VHS to DVD obviously was). To the basic consumer there is probably no difference. But here we are and in a few years everything will be going this way and we will have to pay even more money to get our entertainment.
If Blu-Ray makes regular DVD sales obsolete, I'll boycott. I'm all for higher quality picture and sound DVDs, but I watch regular DVDs on my X-Box (that's right, my clunky black X-Box), and I'm perfectly happy. I shouldn't have to pay more for DVDs just because the Sony marketing machine can push all other alternatives out to sea. Screw Sony.



Cygnus X-2112's Avatar
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02-24-08
Originally Posted by Sleezy
If Blu-Ray makes regular DVD sales obsolete, I'll boycott. I'm all for higher quality picture and sound DVDs, but I watch regular DVDs on my X-Box (that's right, my clunky black X-Box), and I'm perfectly happy. I shouldn't have to pay more for DVDs just because the Sony marketing machine can push all other alternatives out to sea. Screw Sony.
Yep. Only way i'll ever buy Blu Ray is if the prices drop down to the same as regular DVDs. I was in the store the other day...Superbad 2 disc unrated DVD was 26 bucks...same thing on blu ray was 44 bucks. **** that ****!



jrs's Avatar
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02-24-08
Originally Posted by Cygnus X-2112
Yep. Only way i'll ever buy Blu Ray is if the prices drop down to the same as regular DVDs. I was in the store the other day...Superbad 2 disc unrated DVD was 26 bucks...same thing on blu ray was 44 bucks. **** that ****!
Superbad 2 disc unrated on Amazon is only $28.99.



Sleezy's Avatar
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In the Beginning...
02-24-08
Originally Posted by jrs
Superbad 2 disc unrated on Amazon is only $28.99.
Yeah, but I think the issue is still that it retails for $43.99. Hell, that's the only version of Superbad available in Blu-Ray, and at Circuit City, Wal-Mart, and other places, it's approx. fifteen bucks more expensive than the standard single-disc version. So, if you want a Blu-Ray copy of the film, you have to buy the special edition. That's fifteen extra dollars. That's four or five gallons of gas where I live. Which is already outrageous.



Sleezy's Avatar
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In the Beginning...
02-24-08
Originally Posted by jrs
That's why they call it the suggested retail price. Nobody goes by that. Not even Amazon, Wal-Mart, Circuit City nor even Best Buy. And they all went exclusively Blu
That's exactly my point. If you look at the links, the Blu-Ray version of Superbad is consistently more expensive by about $15 than its regular counterpart, no matter the final price.



Sleezy's Avatar
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In the Beginning...
02-24-08
No, dude. The single disc unrated version. That's the one I would buy, but Sony doesn't even offer that version in Blu-Ray. If Blu-Ray ruled the universe, I would have to pay more just to own the movie. Why doesn't Sony release a stripped version on Blu-Ray? Probably because they're money-hungry leeches, and they know all their little PS3 drones who swear by Blu-Ray will purchase whatever Sony feeds them. Now anyone who wants to own an HD alternative will, too.

And Wal-Mart has these labeled incorrectly.

Single disc unrated (NOT 2-disc, as marked) versus 2-disc Blu-Ray.

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