HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray

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cubby1223

Lifer
May 24, 2004
13,518
42
86
It's times like this I wish I hadn't bought any movies until now...

Amazon's buy 1 get 1 free also extends to Disney Blu-ray releases (excluding the latest Pixar releases).

Originally posted by: Shawn
Are there going to be these blu-ray deals everytime a big HD DVD exclusive is released?
As long as Toshiba keeps giving away players every time a big Blu-ray exclusive is released.

Personally I believe they are nothing more than strategic coincidences. ;)
 

cubby1223

Lifer
May 24, 2004
13,518
42
86
zinfamous: now's your chance to buy Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest, then you get Curse of the Black Pearl for free. That way you don't have to pay a cent for such a travesty of a transfer, and get the chance to personally see what all the hubbub is about. ;)
 

TheVrolok

Lifer
Dec 11, 2000
24,254
4,092
136
Well, when BB did the A3 for 199.99 on 11/2 I threw my hat in with HD-DVD. I had wanted to for quite some time since I find Song, and BR, to be essentially anti-consumer. Got my 10 free movies, and purchased another 5-10. I'm loving movies in HD, they're just wonderful. Slysoft breaking BD+ (at least for now) is wonderful news that only reinforces my decision to go with HD-DVD. I'm hoping that some of the studios that thought they were getting a better hand in things going with the copy protection of BD+ are now realizing it was completely pointless and will switch over to HD-DVD with it's new market penetration (like my living room :) ).
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,994
31,557
146
Originally posted by: cubby1223
zinfamous: now's your chance to buy Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest, then you get Curse of the Black Pearl for free. That way you don't have to pay a cent for such a travesty of a transfer, and get the chance to personally see what all the hubbub is about. ;)

I had already picked up PoTC 2 with the BB carbon-copy promotion a few weeks ago with Apocalypto. ...it was a blind buy, and after watching dead man's chest...I vow never to make another blind buy :( anyhoo, I'm not particularly fond of the Pirates series, so I'll wait till it shows up as a prize in my Happy Meal.

one thing about these deals though, it has spoiled me into never paying more than ~$15 for any HD movie. seems to be a deal somewhere every week now...
 

dainthomas

Lifer
Dec 7, 2004
14,966
3,954
136
Originally posted by: zinfamous
one thing about these deals though, it has spoiled me into never paying more than ~$15 for any HD movie. seems to be a deal somewhere every week now...

I paid $25 for Serenity on HD-DVD at Target. I had to have it and couldn't wait for a deal. So now my HD-DVD library has ballooned to a grand total of 2 (along with 300). At least until I get my 5 free. I've also asked for the Bourne trilogy for Christmas.

Just found out they have Firefly on DVD for $15. Gonna have to go grab that too.

 

Ricochet

Diamond Member
Oct 31, 1999
6,390
19
81
This is why competition is good for the consumers. Now if only there were cheap Blu-Ray players, I would be all over those B1G1 deals. For now I'll wait for the Xmas deals.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,994
31,557
146
Originally posted by: ricochet
This is why competition is good for the consumers. Now if only there were cheap Blu-Ray players, I would be all over those B1G1 deals. For now I'll wait for the Xmas deals.

CC's $399 PS3 + 5 BD movies + controller looks pretty nice :)
 

Ricochet

Diamond Member
Oct 31, 1999
6,390
19
81
Originally posted by: zinfamous
Originally posted by: ricochet
This is why competition is good for the consumers. Now if only there were cheap Blu-Ray players, I would be all over those B1G1 deals. For now I'll wait for the Xmas deals.

CC's $399 PS3 + 5 BD movies + controller looks pretty nice :)

I may eventually get a PS3, but it's still a little too highly priced for my taste. It's hard to justify when I already have a 360. When they make more desirable games, I will look for a used one.
 

Reckoner

Lifer
Jun 11, 2004
10,851
1
81
Originally posted by: ricochet
Originally posted by: zinfamous
Originally posted by: ricochet
This is why competition is good for the consumers. Now if only there were cheap Blu-Ray players, I would be all over those B1G1 deals. For now I'll wait for the Xmas deals.

CC's $399 PS3 + 5 BD movies + controller looks pretty nice :)

I may eventually get a PS3, but it's still a little too highly priced for my taste. It's hard to justify when I already have a 360. When they make more desirable games, I will look for a used one.

People have been having success getting a 40GB PS3 for $320 at Kmart with the 20% off coupon floating around
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Originally posted by: PaulNEPats
Originally posted by: ricochet
Originally posted by: zinfamous
Originally posted by: ricochet
This is why competition is good for the consumers. Now if only there were cheap Blu-Ray players, I would be all over those B1G1 deals. For now I'll wait for the Xmas deals.

CC's $399 PS3 + 5 BD movies + controller looks pretty nice :)

I may eventually get a PS3, but it's still a little too highly priced for my taste. It's hard to justify when I already have a 360. When they make more desirable games, I will look for a used one.

People have been having success getting a 40GB PS3 for $320 at Kmart with the 20% off coupon floating around

And are getting the one with no PS2 compatability?

Anyway for just a player it's cheap, but if you think maybe you want to game on it there isn't much to be excited about.

I'm also waiting for The Jason Bourne Collection as well as the Harry Potter years 1-5 box set. Although I dunno which format I'll be buying the Potter set on. It comes on both...maybe flip a coin.

Oh and on Dec 18...Blade Runner on Blu-Ray :)
 

cubby1223

Lifer
May 24, 2004
13,518
42
86
Originally posted by: SlickSnake
SONY CEO WANTS TIME MACHINE TO FIGHT HD VERSUS BLUERAY FORMAT WARS!

And NO, I'm not kidding, LOL!

:D:beer:
I just had to check this again, the digital bits has up the straight dialog from the interview:

Stringer: I should point out that that is not part of the software battle. I mean, that's actually in some ways sort of anachronistic. We're fighting over a packaged goods hardware that will not go on forever, from a classic sense. We have a more expensive version, as Sony tends to, and Toshiba has a cheaper version, which seems to keep getting cheaper. I believe it has slowed down the progress of high definition packaged goods. Oddly, the studios kind of liked it for a while. They were able to leverage one of us against each other. But in the end, it's counterproductive. We have a sort of stalemate at the moment. As you know, they had fewer studios, but then they paid a lot of money for Paramount. So we have four studios and they have two or three studios. It's a difficult... it's a difficult fight. There was a chance to integrate it before I became CEO. This is something I inherited. And I don't know what broke down. I wish I could go back there, because I heard it was all about saving face and losing face, and all the rest of it. But it's not a battle about the digital future. That's what's so strange about it. If it doesn't work out, that doesn't say very much about where we're all going. It's just... it's a scorecard: one-nothing or something. But it doesn't mean as much as all that. PlayStation 3 will still go on playing games. It would have to have a different disk drive. And that's about it really.

But truth is not nearly as fun as Dailytech sensationalizing. :p So there you have it.
 

secretanchitman

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2001
9,353
23
91
btw...has anyone got their 5 free blu-ray movies yet? i sent mine out in august and havent gotten anything back yet..
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
Originally posted by: cubby1223
Originally posted by: SlickSnake
SONY CEO WANTS TIME MACHINE TO FIGHT HD VERSUS BLUERAY FORMAT WARS!

And NO, I'm not kidding, LOL!

:D:beer:
I just had to check this again, the digital bits has up the straight dialog from the interview:

Stringer: I should point out that that is not part of the software battle. I mean, that's actually in some ways sort of anachronistic. We're fighting over a packaged goods hardware that will not go on forever, from a classic sense. We have a more expensive version, as Sony tends to, and Toshiba has a cheaper version, which seems to keep getting cheaper. I believe it has slowed down the progress of high definition packaged goods. Oddly, the studios kind of liked it for a while. They were able to leverage one of us against each other. But in the end, it's counterproductive. We have a sort of stalemate at the moment. As you know, they had fewer studios, but then they paid a lot of money for Paramount. So we have four studios and they have two or three studios. It's a difficult... it's a difficult fight. There was a chance to integrate it before I became CEO. This is something I inherited. And I don't know what broke down. I wish I could go back there, because I heard it was all about saving face and losing face, and all the rest of it. But it's not a battle about the digital future. That's what's so strange about it. If it doesn't work out, that doesn't say very much about where we're all going. It's just... it's a scorecard: one-nothing or something. But it doesn't mean as much as all that. PlayStation 3 will still go on playing games. It would have to have a different disk drive. And that's about it really.

But truth is not nearly as fun as Dailytech sensationalizing. :p So there you have it.

Stringer is a very smart man, and some of the things he has done in the past couple of years has shook Sony's foundation, but only in attempts at finding the root of Sony's troubles so he can make that foundation stronger. Stringer inherited a LOT of problems, but he seems to be keen on getting Sony turned around and back to being a respected corporation.
 

JC86

Senior member
Jan 18, 2007
694
0
0
If you break it down, what Stringer said is really true. Toshiba and Sony could have easily gotten together and pushed one HD format and there would be no war. But they all got greedy and wanted to whole pie for themselves and now one of the two is gonna pay dearly for it. Stringer is right and the bottom line is simple, even if BD loses, which is still a big if, its not as if the Playstation franchise is gonna go down with it.
 

Shawn

Lifer
Apr 20, 2003
32,236
53
91
Originally posted by: JC86
If you break it down, what Stringer said is really true. Toshiba and Sony could have easily gotten together and pushed one HD format and there would be no war. But they all got greedy and wanted to whole pie for themselves and now one of the two is gonna pay dearly for it. Stringer is right and the bottom line is simple, even if BD loses, which is still a big if, its not as if the Playstation franchise is gonna go down with it.

The only company that was being greedy was Sony. Toshiba went through the proper channels and got their format approved by the DVD Forum, hence the name "HD DVD'.
 

cubby1223

Lifer
May 24, 2004
13,518
42
86
Originally posted by: Shawn
Originally posted by: JC86
If you break it down, what Stringer said is really true. Toshiba and Sony could have easily gotten together and pushed one HD format and there would be no war. But they all got greedy and wanted to whole pie for themselves and now one of the two is gonna pay dearly for it. Stringer is right and the bottom line is simple, even if BD loses, which is still a big if, its not as if the Playstation franchise is gonna go down with it.

The only company that was being greedy was Sony. Toshiba went through the proper channels and got their format approved by the DVD Forum, hence the name "HD DVD'.
My main reasoning for quoting the actual text was to show how sensationalist (and biased) a lot of people are around the web, even DailyTech. Anyone who takes that paragraph and recaps it as "Sony CEO wants to travel through time to end format war" is pushing a personal agenda.

Blu-ray was already a product available to consumers *before* the DVD Forum "chose" HD DVD. Who's greedier? The BDA who already had Blu-ray products in consumers' hands, or the DVD Forum & Toshiba wanting to protect their royalties? What makes the DVD Forum the "proper channel", other than they picked the format you wish would "win" the format war?

The DVD Forum made the decisions for the DVD format. As easily as one can claim they are the "proper channel" to decide the "successor", another person can claim there is a conflict of interests and better if another group handled the competing product. Because, news flash, HD DVD competes *against* DVD.
 

Shawn

Lifer
Apr 20, 2003
32,236
53
91
How was Blu-ray already available when the players and movies came out after HD DVD?
 

JJChicken

Diamond Member
Apr 9, 2007
6,165
16
81
Originally posted by: Shawn
How was Blu-ray already available when the players and movies came out after HD DVD?

Maybe mean that blu-ray specs were designed/finalised/patented/etc before HD DVD??
 

LegendKiller

Lifer
Mar 5, 2001
18,256
68
86
Originally posted by: Allen Iverson
Originally posted by: Shawn
How was Blu-ray already available when the players and movies came out after HD DVD?

Maybe mean that blu-ray specs were designed/finalised/patented/etc before HD DVD??

Reminds me of Rambus being on JEDEC, copying a lot of the specs, making a "better" ram (hah!, time showed them) saying that DDR was not as good, and then also saying they came out with things first.

IMagine that, somebody copies a product's best features before that product is finalized by *all* parties in the interest group.
 

Queasy

Moderator<br>Console Gaming
Aug 24, 2001
31,796
2
0
Originally posted by: Allen Iverson
Originally posted by: Shawn
How was Blu-ray already available when the players and movies came out after HD DVD?

Maybe mean that blu-ray specs were designed/finalised/patented/etc before HD DVD??

Blu-Ray was released with unfinalized specs. See how Blu-Ray just obsoleted a whole slew of players with Profile 1.1.
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
Originally posted by: Queasy
Originally posted by: Allen Iverson
Originally posted by: Shawn
How was Blu-ray already available when the players and movies came out after HD DVD?

Maybe mean that blu-ray specs were designed/finalised/patented/etc before HD DVD??

Blu-Ray was released with unfinalized specs. See how Blu-Ray just obsoleted a whole slew of players with Profile 1.1.

as a technology, blu-ray was available for storage applications long before HD DVD came onto the scene. Blu-ray was also not chiefly designed as a movie medium at first, and further specs developed it into that role.
 

cubby1223

Lifer
May 24, 2004
13,518
42
86
Originally posted by: Shawn
How was Blu-ray already available when the players and movies came out after HD DVD?
Unlike HD DVD which is *only* movies at the moment, Sony had Blu-ray set top box recorders available in Japan in early 2003 to record HD broadcasts. The DVD Forum made their decision in late 2003. Look it up yourself, the first Blu-ray product was the Sony BDZ-S77.

But you haven't answered my question - why do you believe the group that stands to lose the most from declining dvd sales, be considered the official proper channel for a competing product? Yes it's a loaded question, but the point should be clear, there is nothing that says the DVD Forum is the proper channel, and the BDA is some unauthorized channel.
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
Originally posted by: cubby1223
Originally posted by: Shawn
How was Blu-ray already available when the players and movies came out after HD DVD?
Unlike HD DVD which is *only* movies at the moment, Sony had Blu-ray set top box recorders available in Japan in early 2003 to record HD broadcasts. The DVD Forum made their decision in late 2003. Look it up yourself, the first Blu-ray product was the Sony BDZ-S77.

But you haven't answered my question - why do you believe the group that stands to lose the most from declining dvd sales, be considered the official proper channel for a competing product? Yes it's a loaded question, but the point should be clear, there is nothing that says the DVD Forum is the proper channel, and the BDA is some unauthorized channel.

agreed. The DVD Forum only has had 1 format so far, how has it proven it should be the definitive and only group to decide on future formats? It never existed prior to DVDs, and VHS seemed to do fine without the DVD Forum. The DVD Forum is an unnecessary middle-man.
 

Onita

Golden Member
Feb 24, 2004
1,158
0
71
Originally posted by: secretanchitman
btw...has anyone got their 5 free blu-ray movies yet? i sent mine out in august and havent gotten anything back yet..

No, I haven't gotten mine yet. But you can check your status here
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Originally posted by: cubby1223
Originally posted by: Shawn
How was Blu-ray already available when the players and movies came out after HD DVD?
Unlike HD DVD which is *only* movies at the moment, Sony had Blu-ray set top box recorders available in Japan in early 2003 to record HD broadcasts. The DVD Forum made their decision in late 2003. Look it up yourself, the first Blu-ray product was the Sony BDZ-S77.

But you haven't answered my question - why do you believe the group that stands to lose the most from declining dvd sales, be considered the official proper channel for a competing product? Yes it's a loaded question, but the point should be clear, there is nothing that says the DVD Forum is the proper channel, and the BDA is some unauthorized channel.

Do the smart thing and buy into both. Then you can have whichever movies you want without praying that it comes to your format of choice.