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Blu-ray versus HD-DVD (old)

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Originally posted by: Chris
LegendKiller is talking about Amazon, the reason the HD-A2 is a best seller, which he fails to mention, is there is a special offer where you get eight discs with any HD-DVD player. You can also get a PS3 and eight discs for $480 at Amazon

PS3 is currently the #1 seller in the video game category at Amazon.

Or a bunch of other HDM deals.
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looks like amazon was giving out an extra free movie in error but they are honoring all of the orders from yesterday...I already received a email confirming shipment of my add-on plus 4 movies now (KK should be in the box) and I will get it tomorrow. Paid $179 shipped and will getting 5 more movies via mail in rebate...hopefully I will get them before christmas 🙂
 
Pre-orders for the Toshiba HD-A3 (3rd gen player) are up - $250
HD-30 is $350
HD-35 is $450

Originally posted by: spacejamz
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: cubby1223
Another studio is turning dual format:
http://www.dvdrama.com/news.php?21769

Don't know what this movie is, looks very strange to say the least. But Studio Canal was the big HD DVD international exclusive studio.
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Same website claimed this before, turned out to be nothing. I do not think Studio Canal ever announced exclusivity.
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Studio Canal was an HD DVD exclusive studio that appears to be going neutral...I don't think anyone ever said they are going to be blu ray exclusive...
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Actually, they were never officially HD DVD exclusive. They were effectively HD DVD exclusive, but officially were always neutral AFAIK.
 
Originally posted by: Eug
Pre-orders for the Toshiba HD-A3 (3rd gen player) are up - $250
HD-30 is $350
HD-35 is $450
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Good deal. Should bring the price of the second gen players down even further. Any word on the official specs of the 3rd gen players?

 
Originally posted by: Shawn
Originally posted by: Eug
Pre-orders for the Toshiba HD-A3 (3rd gen player) are up - $250
HD-30 is $350
HD-35 is $450
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Good deal. Should bring the price of the second gen players down even further. Any word on the official specs of the 3rd gen players?
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HD-A3 is 1080i
HD-A30 is 1080p, with CE-Link
HD-A35 is 1080p, with CE-Link, Deep Colour, and High Bit Rate 7.1 Audio.
 
Originally posted by: Genx87
Originally posted by: cubby1223
Originally posted by: Genx87
Please you 1 player and 20 movies is multiplied by millions when it comes to the market. The idea we the consumer have no sway in how the market will go is silly. Right now we have two sides actively trying to win this war. That means there will be options for consumers and the consumers will ultimately deal the last hand for either format.
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If we are truly voting with our purchases, then 51% of the disc sales would have made Paramount switch to Blu-ray exclusive. I've always supported an end to the format war, but the Paramount move made it clear that there are forces in the industry that I have no control over. Then it made me ask the question, what is my purpose in buying hi def movies? Am I more interested in content, or am I more interested in who receives the royalty check? I don't think it's a surprise that I chose content. I am a consumer, I can buy anything that is out there, I can choose not to buy anything that is out there. I will be choosing to support hi def movies as a whole, above supporting who's name is printed on the disc.
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The paramount move could be attributed to anything. But I have read they attributed it to the upcomming low cost HD-DVD players they expect to flood the market this holiday season. Their job is to forcast where they think the market is heading. They apparently believe with low cost standalone players the market is moving in HD-DVDs favor.

It isnt like there isnt Blu Ray studios out there. So, yes, the hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who purchase a HiDef player and movies this holiday season will sway the market.
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I can barely attribute the low cost HD-DVD players to be the cause of this move. Even if they ship 200k of units during this time its still going to mean nothing compared to regular DVD. They would of been much better dual releasing if they wanted to sell the most discs. This format war is going to take a very long time because of two factors. 1. Most of America doesn't have a HDTV 2. Till a player hits sub $100 I don't see much of a impact. The biggest thing Blu-Ray has is the PS3 you guys can try and discredit this as much as you want but thats been the smartest thing in this whole format war. I remember when DVD players were starting to get big, you could buy a DVD palyer for $100-150 or a PS2 which would play DVD's for $200 and get a gaming console. Which was the smart thing to do? Get a gaming console and a dvd player in the same package. Its pretty much at the same point now its a little more expensive to get the gaming console now, but thats really just the general increase of cost of gaming consoles. I could really careless which format wins, but I rather see Blu-Ray just because of the extra storage space on a single layer disc, don't talk about multi layers cause you all seen how well dual layer dvd burners worked out the media is just too expensive. I could really careless about how long it takes for a player to get cheaper cause eventually both of them will most likely be able to be purchased at Wal-Mart for $20 just like DVD players now.
 
actually no because even when dvd was trying to catch on the ps2 really made no impact. it was the cheap players themselves that people bought. almost no non gamer bought a ps2 to play dvds. 50 dollars more for a game machine? people just don't care ... if they want to play video they buy a video player. hell it doesn't matter if its the same price even. most non gamers just rather have a simple player.

as for storage, of course you should care how long it takes to get cheap.
as for "storage" we are in the era of cheap 500+gb drives and flash drives and stuff. by the time cheap bluray burners are out i don't think you will care as much as you think about the miniscule extra storage of bluray. how much memory did your flash drive have 5 years ago? your harddrive? now imagine 5 years in the future. you cant..its just going to make bluray look pretty pointless.
 
The PS2 made {some} impact. It just wasn't as much impact as some think it made. By the time the PS2 came out, DVD was already firmly entrenched, and most non-gamers didn't want a game console anyway.

The better argument is that putting DVD in the PS2 helped the PS2. ie. DVD helped the PS2 way more than the PS2 helped DVD.

Originally posted by: Shawn
So what's the difference between the HD-A2 and HD-A3? Just load time?
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At least that. Don't know about anything else.
 
Originally posted by: spacejamz

I have no problem admitting that I went neutral...when I woke up yesterday, I had no intentions of going neutral, but after seeing the deal for the add-on w/ 9 movies (4 instant and 5 via mail in rebate) for $179 shipped, I pulled the trigger...

However, I still favor blu ray over HD DVD and will always buy the blu version if there is a choice...
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UPS just delivered my add-on to me (had it delivered to work)...thanks Amazon prime!!!!
 
Originally posted by: spacejamz
Originally posted by: spacejamz

I have no problem admitting that I went neutral...when I woke up yesterday, I had no intentions of going neutral, but after seeing the deal for the add-on w/ 9 movies (4 instant and 5 via mail in rebate) for $179 shipped, I pulled the trigger...

However, I still favor blu ray over HD DVD and will always buy the blu version if there is a choice...
Click to expand...

UPS just delivered my add-on to me (had it delivered to work)...thanks Amazon prime!!!!
Click to expand...

Nice. Are you hooking it up to a 360 or a computer?

I just got my Heroes pre-order today from amazon and the box looks pretty sweet (lots of artwork and stuff). Can't wait to watch it.
 
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
as for storage, of course you should care how long it takes to get cheap.
as for "storage" we are in the era of cheap 500+gb drives and flash drives and stuff. by the time cheap bluray burners are out i don't think you will care as much as you think about the miniscule extra storage of bluray. how much memory did your flash drive have 5 years ago? your harddrive? now imagine 5 years in the future. you cant..its just going to make bluray look pretty pointless.
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Not really...What if I want to burn some photo's or videos for a friend? Am I going to go out and buy a flash drive to give to them for $1 that will hold all this information. Picture/Video storage size just keeps going up as well. Burners will still have a use even in 5 years I believe....Flash drives do keep getting bigger though so you may have a point I don't know if they will cheap enough to be able to throw 50 gigers around though. Like you can a 4 gig dvd now.
 
Originally posted by: Shawn
Originally posted by: spacejamz
Originally posted by: spacejamz

I have no problem admitting that I went neutral...when I woke up yesterday, I had no intentions of going neutral, but after seeing the deal for the add-on w/ 9 movies (4 instant and 5 via mail in rebate) for $179 shipped, I pulled the trigger...

However, I still favor blu ray over HD DVD and will always buy the blu version if there is a choice...
Click to expand...

UPS just delivered my add-on to me (had it delivered to work)...thanks Amazon prime!!!!
Click to expand...

Nice. Are you hooking it up to a 360 or a computer?

I just got my Heroes pre-order today from amazon and the box looks pretty sweet (lots of artwork and stuff). Can't wait to watch it.
Click to expand...

to an elite 360 via HDMI into toshiba 62" 1080p DLP set...about to hook it up in a few minutes... 🙂
 
Originally posted by: cubby1223
Sony announced it's new Blu-ray player for this fall, BDP-S500, a profile 1.0 player releasing on October 31.
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Is that the real release date? Seriously?

OMG. If so, that means they're releasing a player that becomes obsolete the very next day, since Profile 1.1 becomes mandatory in November. AFAIK, the BDP-S500 likely cannot be firmware updated to 1.1 because the hardware probably doesn't even exist in the machine.
 
Originally posted by: Eug
Originally posted by: cubby1223
Sony announced it's new Blu-ray player for this fall, BDP-S500, a profile 1.0 player releasing on October 31.
Click to expand...
Is that the real release date? Seriously?

OMG. If so, that means they're releasing a player that becomes obsolete the very next day, since Profile 1.1 becomes mandatory in November. AFAIK, the BDP-S500 likely cannot be firmware updated to 1.1 because the hardware probably doesn't even exist in the machine.
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Gotta love it.
 
That surprised me as well when I saw the 1.0 compatibility. They have to be able to upgrade the thing right? Sony cant be that stupid to supply a lame duck player with their name on it when they are pushing that standard?
 
Originally posted by: Genx87
That surprised me as well when I saw the 1.0 compatibility. They have to be able to upgrade the thing right? Sony cant be that stupid to supply a lame duck player with their name on it when they are pushing that standard?
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I don't think so. Otherwise it would have been 1.1 from the start. The are probably releasing a new crippled player because they are trying to lower production costs in order to try and compete with the cheap HD DVD players.
 
Originally posted by: Perry404
Has anyone considered that both formats might just survive?
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Yes, but as I have stated before if that were to happen and people started buying dual format players in large numbers, eventually all studios would release on HD DVD to cut costs ($100k vs $4 million in startup cost) and to meet the demand of mass adoption. Blu-ray discs would probably still be produced at existing plants for a long time but at a much lower rate. All studios would eventually be either neutral or HD DVD only. However, expect Sony to hold out as long as possible.
 
Originally posted by: Shawn
Originally posted by: spacejamz
Cheap Chinese HD DVD Players won't be sold at Wal-mart this Christmas...
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link doesn't work
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Link fixed...😱

Text

Hitting a new HD DVD hardware pricing low could be what tips on-the-fence consumers to embrace the high-def format. But many retailers, including Wal-Mart, Ultimate Electronics and Bjorn?s, say they are not committed to carrying the Venturer player, preferring instead to underscore products from bigger brand companies.

?We have no plans to have Venturer in our stores this holiday,? Wal-Mart merchandise spokeswoman Melissa O?Brien said. ?We will continue to offer the best values on popular HD DVD and Blu-ray products from leading consumer brands like Sony, Samsung, Philips, Toshiba and RCA.?

 
I find it hard to believe that Walmart wouldn't stock the player. I have no doubt that it'll be there on the shelves this holiday season.
 
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