HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray: I think we have a winner.

[Damien]

Then why are movies only being sold now as reg and Blu-ray? Watch commercials? Also, Dell is now buliding in (as an option) a Blu-ray burner.

[Chiquae07]

they are being sold as both, its just that target and blockbuster have must have been paid off or given a huge discount on blu-ray dvds, that they wont even bother shelving hd-dvd.

hd-dvd is indeed cheaper, and holds a bit less than blu-ray. yet, blu-ray technology is too 'new' and expensive to the comsumer market. i personally know more than 20 people that have bought the 360 for gaming, and added on the hd-dvd drive as a bonus. they love it. i have yet to shelf out the money for a hd-dvd drive.

but i only know a handful of people with ps3s and/or blu-ray players. blu-ray is being pushed too hard here, but noone is buying them. people are buying hd-dvd.

and it ius true. buy the 180 buck add-on for the 360, and you get 5 free hd-dvds by mail.

and its not like you can up the quality of 1080p to fill a whole hd-dvd disc at this point, of pure movie and audio. you would need to add in a bunch of bonus features for that.

sony has it made, blu-ray will be around forever, since they have used blu-ray exclusively for the ps3 which should last for about 5 years, console wise.hd-dvd isnt onto the 360 just yet, but im sure they are working on it.

[00accord44]

Originally Posted by Chiquae07

they are being sold as both, its just that target and blockbuster have must have been paid off or given a huge discount on blu-ray dvds, that they wont even bother shelving hd-dvd.

Blockbuster's parent company (I can't remember exactly who that is) has a relationship with (or possibly is) Paramount and they do as Paramount does so they can maintain their favorable supply contracts. I would imagine Target has a similar arrangement or they would sell both. At this point the HD DVD and Blu Ray camps are just corraling different vendors to exclusively sell only their product so they can receive it at a better price (and make a bigger profit after markup). Its in the store's best interest to be able to sell both but the exclusivity deals they're being offered are making it hard to not pick a side.

This is definitely the most interesting marketplace battle I have ever been alive to witness. I was around for VHS vs Betamax but that didn't turn out to be much of a contest. CD did tapes in without much of a fight. And Laserdisc was too large and cumbersome to grab a favorable consumer base over the dvd. This will be a nice fight opcorn:

[Damien]

Originally Posted by Chiquae07

they are being sold as both, its just that target and blockbuster have must have been paid off or given a huge discount on blu-ray dvds, that they wont even bother shelving hd-dvd.

hd-dvd is indeed cheaper, and holds a bit less than blu-ray. yet, blu-ray technology is too 'new' and expensive to the comsumer market. i personally know more than 20 people that have bought the 360 for gaming, and added on the hd-dvd drive as a bonus. they love it. i have yet to shelf out the money for a hd-dvd drive.

but i only know a handful of people with ps3s and/or blu-ray players. blu-ray is being pushed too hard here, but noone is buying them. people are buying hd-dvd.

and it ius true. buy the 180 buck add-on for the 360, and you get 5 free hd-dvds by mail.

and its not like you can up the quality of 1080p to fill a whole hd-dvd disc at this point, of pure movie and audio. you would need to add in a bunch of bonus features for that.

sony has it made, blu-ray will be around forever, since they have used blu-ray exclusively for the ps3 which should last for about 5 years, console wise.hd-dvd isnt onto the 360 just yet, but im sure they are working on it.

Um, that's not what I was talking about. Watch commercials lately? I havn't seen a movie advertised lately that says "Also on HD" but seen a lot of "Also on Blu-Ray"

And while for TVs (which I still dont get. HD is crap which BLU ray maybe as well, just haven't seen it compared to reg) for computers, I think I'll go for the 50GB disk.

[00accord44]

Just because you hear more reminders about Blu Ray on commercials doesn't necessarily mean its more popular, it could actually indicate the opposite. Marketing is more than just commercials and ads. HD DVD has positioned itself at a lower price point and, as stated by the op, has struck a deal with the largest retailer in the country to distribute their products. Remember Blu Ray pays to have their releases mentioned in commercials for new releases. If you go to Best Buy I'm sure you'll see some titles available on both but the ones that are only on one platform have done so because of the corporate joint ventures and alliances.

I'm not saying you're wrong or that either is more popular than the other right now, but commercial presence isn't necessarily indicative of current market share.

As far as TVs are concerned, both are meant for viewing on HD sets. The label "High Definition" shared between the TV sets and DVD players doesn't mean they are meant strictly for each other, its just a branding term for the enhanced presentation. If you don't have an HDTV then buying either HD DVD or Blu Ray is a complete waste of money.

[Damien]

^Oh I know. And I don't care about TV. It's fine the way it is, but even in wal-martm the HD-DVD section is pracatically non existant.

For comps, blu-ray rules. I'll buy the burner and disk, just to back up everything. And then a seperate disk for photos.

[imtheoneandonlyD]

Originally Posted by Damien

^Oh I know. And I don't care about TV. It's fine the way it is, but even in wal-martm the HD-DVD section is pracatically non existant.

For comps, blu-ray rules. I'll buy the burner and disk, just to back up everything. And then a seperate disk for photos.

Non existant? At my local walmart over half of their tvs are "hd capable", Even though none are 1080p, thats besides the point.

Edit: I might have read wrong. If you mean their selection on HD-dvds then i agree. The only "hd" dvd i saw last time i was there was wild hogs(on blu-ray) or something along those lines. I saw no HD-dvds at all.

You cant even begin to see a clear winner in the format wars. Paramount just left blu ray, what does that say? Not much. The format wars have just started and its not going to be over quickly.

I did buy the 360 add on hd dvd player and im very pleased with the purchase. I got 7 free HD-DVDs out of it so that in it self has justified the purchase. Honestly if they wouldn't have had the deal i dont see myself making the buy.

I honestly doubt that either format will "win"

[00accord44]

^True there may not be a clear winner in the end but it will be very hard for both of these formats to survive separately. Remember how XM and Sirius were both available? They couldn't grab a big enough piece of the pie as two separate entities and now they are going to become one. Both offered similar service so consumers could pick between which offered a preferred selection of channels and dismissed the other provider.

The scenario is even harder for the video formats since consumers don't buy movies along corporate lines. If I wanna see Wild Hogs ( NEVAH) but I own a Blu Ray or whatever then I'm gonna be pissed. They can't pigeonhole consumers into buying only half the movies they want because the other half isn't on their chosen format. Both companies know this is true so their goal is to snatch the market out from under the other to force all studios to comply and provide titles on their format if they want to maintain sales.

I don't see how both can survive with sides being taken by studios like this. If the alliances continue like this then the war will end with the demise of one of the formats as well as the demise of whatever studios were foolish enough to go down with the ship. Mutiny will prevail.

[Damien]

That's why I use **** so it doesn't matter. w00t!

[imtheoneandonlyD]

This is why the format war will never end. It wont be about the actual movies, just wait until they release a player that supports both formats. Then format wars wont even matter.

[sickcallawayc12]

Originally Posted by imtheoneandonlyD

just wait until they release a player that supports both formats. Then format wars wont even matter.

Wonder how much that player's gonna cost.

[Chiquae07]

^^^ LG has already released a dual player. it costs about 1200 though.

article here:

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-ente...ng-231149.php]

[imtheoneandonlyD]

Originally Posted by Chiquae07

^^^ LG has already released a dual player. it costs about 1200 though.

article here:

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-ente...ng-231149.php]

True the player right now is going to be expensive. But in time the price will come down once there is more competition.

[sickcallawayc12]

Wow, that player doesn't seem to be all that great for the price. And its an LG! I hope a more respectable home audio company like Denon or Onkyo will make a more sophisticated player in the next year or so. I doubt it will be any cheaper, but having home audio experience with both brands I know both those companies can make a player that is worth a $1200 price tag. Then maybe Toshiba or Panasonic will make a more inexpensive version later on.

[imtheoneandonlyD]

Originally Posted by sickcallawayc12

Wow, that player doesn't seem to be all that great for the price. And its an LG! I hope a more respectable home audio company like Denon or Onkyo will make a more sophisticated player in the next year or so. I doubt it will be any cheaper, but having home audio experience with both brands I know both those companies can make a player that is worth a $1200 price tag. Then maybe Toshiba or Panasonic will make a more inexpensive version later on.

As soon as more companies start to make the dual players the price will go down. Hell right now Vizio or RCA could make a player with a 1200 price tag.