same story several links

[Link: deadlinehollywooddaily.com]

[Link: cnbc.com]

[Link: businesswire.com]

[Link: reuters.com]

PS just saw the official WB announcement
[Link: timewarner.com]

Verrrrry interesting.

Still impossible for me to justify buying one without the other. How long before one or the other dies?

Too long.

my best guess at this time, that for all intense and purposes, less then 6 months for HD DVD how can they be attractive to new owners with less then 25% of the movie market, especially when you consider that they have the support of the two worst HDM studios there is. Not to mention that CES has not even started yet, my guess is that there will be some more announcements

here i am breaking my own rule and getting sucked back into the vortex but i found this quote interesting...

"Their decision creates overwhelming momentum for Blu-ray as the only format that could possibly win in this battle. HD DVD is as good now as it will ever be. Blu-ray will continue to grow and evolve."

i think the above is quite true... BUT even if BD does win this battle (which i would have to say IMO is the better format based on PQ and AQ which is really all that matters as i dont ever bother with any extras or PIP features) and HD-DVD is just discontinued, it doesnt mean early adopters of HD-DVD were foolish, as it seemed to be the better format in the beginning with less bugs (not looking to debate this - just going by what i've read), fully featured, and much cheaper, especially with the 360 add-on.

nor IMO are early adopters just SOL, as most likely there will be many HD-DVD movies and players for sale at discounted prices. so really you could stash away a couple new players and still enjoy your HD-DVD's for many years to come. i've personally only invested in a $200 player and 25 (or so) movies, so its not a big deal to just replace them if i had to once my HD-DVD player dies and i was unable to get my hands on another cheap one ( even though BD may have more to offer, it isnt enough to justify replacing a large HD collection with BD's if you dont have to).

That's what I'm trying to avoid. Having a player and movies that fall along the lines of Betamax in a few years.

Until I can determine that there is a clear cut winner I won't buy either. Although I've been debating buying both. If it's still this unclear at the same time next year that's what I'll probably end up doing.

Warner's shift to Blu-ray is surprising... if only because they've had a history of short-changing their BD releases in the past (ie. not releasing all HD-DVD titles on BD, releasing BDs with HD-DVD video encodes instead of using higher bitrates, releasing BDs with *worse* audio than the HD-DVD, etc.)

But this is a major announcement.

not really if someone was paying attention. it has been pretty obvious since around CEDIA when Warner only attended the BD conference and said that this war can't go on for ever and it is starting to hurt HDOM adoption (or something like that). The only thing that was not obvious at that time was the timing. But then when, at the BD conference held by Disney Dan Silverberg (VP of HDM) said that WBs will be changing their strategy, it was obvious the news would be coming early 2008 (my personal guess was CES, but this was much better). Then when Steve Nickerson (Ex Toshiba employee and HD DVD shill that was forcing WB's stance of screwing the BDs to help HD DVD -like you mentioned) got the boot and Jeffrey Bewkes (the guy at TW that made WB go neutral in the first place) became President and CEO of TW. It was beyond obvious that it was coming and coming real soon.


Talking about obvious, New Line has announced they are abandoning the sinking ship known as HD DVD as well.


New Line has also

fair enough, but at the same time NO format is forever. VHS has now pretty much desolved but with the improved quality of DVD no one really cares. and to think dudes were paying around $100 PER movie cassette 20 yrs ago. i'm sure 20yrs from now physical discs will be a thing of the past too. so you could stash away a few HD-DVD players and enjoy your massive HD-DVD collection (for those who have one) until the next technology comes around to completely trump HD quality.

i suppose it all comes down to what your personal enjoyment is worth to you. if i get genuine enjoyment from something for even just a couple years then i dont feel at a loss. what is the life of a 30k sports car? 5yrs? 10yrs? at that rate your enjoyment is worth 3-6k/yr. i guess my point is all toys cost $$$ and none of them last forever.

well that has happened


my estimate is that at this point in time and the info that is available BD has an 80% chance of becoming main stream.

PS so at this point in time I would think it a safe bet, not to mention that once you do get a BD player you will kick yourself for not doing it earlier.

heres another interesting quote "(And yet director Michael Bay, whose Transformers was a big lure in HD-DVD, still is flip-flopping by publicly questioning the wisdom of choosing that format over Blu-ray.)"

i post this as i watched Transformers again last night (this is probably the best reference disc for HD-DVD i've seen) and was really disappointed. the PQ is awesome for the most part but inconsistent and grainy in a few scenes. and the AQ is TERRIBLE in comparison to Spiderman 3 (which is the best reference disc for BD that i've seen). i was previously quite taken by the good quality of this flic when i 1st saw it upon it release on disc. but i think now i've just been spoiled by the lossless audio and solid 24 frames/sec of BD (this could be an issue ? of the toshiba max res being 1080i vs the ps3's 1080p 24/s, which even though my tv's native res is 720p it has the ability to process 1080p 24/s).

My opinion is BD has an 80% chance of becoming a niche format. And a 20% chance of failing as well. They might of won the battle, but not the war. The war is now with DVD.
Unless HD DVD pulls a rabbit out of their hat (seems unlikely) they will go by the wayside.

While a DVD release will sell millions the same in Blu-Ray (or HD DVD) will sell 10,000. The exception is some blockbuster titles. Obviously they sell more than 10,000. But still not anywhere near the SD version. Let's face it, both sides have been losing money.

When the VHS Betamax war was going on the consumers chose VHS, mostly due to lower costs.
The HD DVD vs. Blu-Ray war was decided by big business, not the consumers.
And that is a shame.

When the VHS/Betamax war was going on the consumers chose VHS, mostly due to lower costs.

Actually consumers were choosing Beta first, VHS inevitably won because of the Porn industry choice of VHS as their preferred format.

i really dont think porn will have ANY play in the current war. VHS was the 1st viable opportunity for pervs to get porn and "rough up the suspect" in the privacy of there own homes.... with the internet its now almost impossible to keep it out of your home.

not too mention i came across an adult movie playing on an HD movie channel one night, and i can tell you, some things are probably better left in lower resolutions.
;-)

...

you also thought that Warner was going to go HD DVD exclusive. What you believe and the truth always seem to be the opposite.


well except for missing a 0 for the BD side. how was DVD doing compared to VHS when DVD was 1.5year old?