Comments on Hi-Def DVD Empire: RIP HD DVD

I just have to point this out, even though it does...

2008-09-16T14:37:00.000-07:00

I just have to point this out, even though it doesn't matter because most of the people posting (or that posted) are sore because of buying into HD DVD.

Sony didn't buy anyone off. There is absolutely no proof of that at all. But why are people acting like that's such a bad thing? What did Toshiba and Microsoft do? They paid off Paramount/DreamWorks $150mil. I didn't see any of you whining back then when Paramount admitted they were paid off. So why would that one be ok but what you THINK Sony did not be?

Sony did not win because it was better than HD DVD...

2008-07-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

Sony did not win because it was better than HD DVD but because it refused to license releases in the latter format and persuaded other studios to follow suit by paying them off. The consumer was royally ripped off. The image, being digital, was by definition the same, HD DVDs and machines were inherently cheaper (higher wavelength) and HD DVDs were not region protected. I shall not buy Blu Ray until disk prices fall to a more reasonable level, which will take a while since Sony is always greedy and they now have a quasi-monopoly. Meanwhile my Oppo upconverting DVD player gets a lot of use.

Media Wars! Beta vs. VHS. Sony lost though Beta wa...

2008-07-17T18:04:00.000-07:00

Media Wars! Beta vs. VHS. Sony lost though Beta was better not cheaper. This time BluRay's technology with 50 Gigs a disk offered more space. HD DVD and BluRay over all are the same with HD DVDs being cheaper though having less format space. Sony's marketing tapped into the computer market where as Toshiba, Paramount and other investors in the format did not.

I own both formats with high end equipment. I will miss the opportunity to shop for movies at the best price point in either format now that HD DVD format is RIP. Too bad for all us consumers.

Based on the number of HD DVD machines sold I think all studios should offer a percentage of titles to thoses patrons who supported their endeavor.

CGP
Queens, NY

The war might be over for HD-DVD, but high def RED...

2008-07-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

The war might be over for HD-DVD, but high def RED laser is coming back into the picture. Have you noticed price INCREASES in blu-ray players since toshiba dropped out? And the price of blu-rays haven't dropped either. For me I'm picking up HD-DVD's at bargain basement prices while they last, and only buying the blu-rays I consider must haves, (at 3x the price). Competition keeps prices down, now that they're the only game in town...........need I say more?

$40 per disc? Have you looked at this site for Bl...

2008-03-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

$40 per disc? Have you looked at this site for Blu-Rays? If you look at the suggested retail price of each disc, they're generally the same for titles released on both formats except for the combo titles which have a suggested price of $5-$10 more for the HD DVD, not the Blu-Ray. And the exclusive titles follow the same pricing as non exclusive ones with the exception of Fox titles. Though now they're even dropping their catalog title prices. Which is odd considering you're saying the prices wont be coming down now that the war is over.

What studios did Sony bribe? WB has denied it repeatedly and there's absolutely no evidence that they took a bribe. They even called Paramount out on how Toshiba paid them $150 mil for their support along with DreamWorks.

So Fox? The reason they're with Blu-Ray is due to copy protection. HD DVD's is cracked and there's not a thing they can do about it where as Blu-Ray has BD+ which still hasn't been cracked. And Blu-Ray also has regional encoding which Fox chooses to use.

New Line also uses the regional encoding due to the fact that when they release a Blu-Ray here in the states, a movie may not have even opened up in another country yet and they don't want to hurt the box office. That's why titles like Shoot 'Em Up, Hairspray and Rush Hour 3 ended up never seeing their HD DVD releases.

What leaves a bad taste about this debacle is that...

2008-03-08T08:40:00.000-08:00

What leaves a bad taste about this debacle is that Blu Ray won because Sony bribed the studios to limit releases to its format. HD DVD players were cheaper, as were disks, and they were not region limited but with most content limited to Blu Ray the writing was on the wall. Don't expect Blu Ray disks to drop in price either. Now they have a monopoly there will be no pressure to drop prices. At close to $40 per disk I shall stick to upconverted standard DVDs for the present.

Blu-Ray, the better format, gets the green light. ...

2008-02-25T14:32:00.000-08:00

Blu-Ray, the better format, gets the green light. YEA! If you're thinking something is going to come along and knock Blu-Ray out of the Hi-Def video areana soon, don't be fooled. The bit rate for a Blu-Ray movie varies between 30 and 40 Mega bits per second with some video content requiring a bandwidth as high as 50 Mbps. This makes downloading (streaming) a movie impossible for anyone with less than a fiber optic high speed internet connection (100 Mbps). Most cable modems (pretty much the fastest available) are around 8 Mbps. This means a movie would take around 10 hours to download. NOT very convenient. Sure, they could compress it more - but that would defeat the whole purpose of Hi-Def movie watching. Long live Blu-Ray.

Thank God this happened early. I supported both fo...

2008-02-24T16:19:00.000-08:00

Thank God this happened early. I supported both formats and I only Had about 15 HD DVDs, and the A2 does in fact make a nice upconverting DVD player that just so happens to play HD DVDs as well, Surprisingly enough I want more HD DVDs though! There should be a firesale on HD DVD moies at this point. When are the movie prices dropping?

Looks like Universal has officially joined into th...

2008-02-19T10:56:00.000-08:00

Looks like Universal has officially joined into the Blu camp. I would imagine a Paramount announcement for Blu should be forthcoming as well, so we can finally move forward with unified support.

Glad to see it is all over and that the format wit...

2008-02-19T09:08:00.000-08:00

Glad to see it is all over and that the format with the higher bit-rate came out ahead.

Hopefully prices will come down on media so that the real war can begin - the war against regular DVD : )

This is THE news that will end this war officially...

2008-02-18T23:29:00.000-08:00

This is THE news that will end this war officially. Finally, the war will be over in a few hours. I'm glad that I chose the BD side as I knew all along that BD IS the successor to DVD. I don't want to hear HD VOD or Apple TV, they are NOT as close to the actual video and audio quality of hidef media. Not to mention the special features, etc. that you can have.

Great work BLU! Well deserved.

And not a moment to soon. I really hope that thes...

2008-02-18T21:51:00.000-08:00

And not a moment to soon. I really hope that these studios (WB, Paramount/DreamWorks, Universal) offer some sort of trade in program if they end up supporting Blu-Ray. The HD DVD players do make nice upconverting players though, aside from some of them not displaying all shades of black of HDMI. But maybe now we can all just get back to enjoying movies!

I just heard today that Bestbuy &Wal mart are now ...

2008-02-18T21:07:00.000-08:00

I just heard today that Bestbuy &Wal mart are now ditching HD DVD for total support for Blu Ray. This is great news for Sony but as an employee of Bestbuy (here in WA state) that works in their Home Theater dept this has already brought in some negative feedback and comments from previous customers. Even though I personally advised my customers that I would hold out from buying one of the two rival formats it still didn't stop a few of them. Both formats have there pros and cons but I'm glad it looks like the war is finally over. The best is yet to come.