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I have not heard about this in awhile, last I heard neither side wanted a war. Any word on this?
I put this in this forum since I think it falls under tech, hence, computers.

Since there's only one HD-DVD player out and no Blu-Ray players, we're currently at about five minutes before kick off.

Well, it has not really hit the big time yet, let alone concluded. HD-DVD seems to have more backing and support, and Sony has done some characteristic dropping of the ball. Other than that? Time will tell.

Equinox2003 wrote:I have not heard about this in awhile, last I heard neither side wanted a war. Any word on this?

No word yet because Blu-Ray players were only just released like a couple weeks ago. Format wars don't end after just a week, they can take as long as a year or two.

I say it'll be at least something like six months to see any determinable results. So far the general verdict for both is more or less "meh," so both might end up crashing.

No clue at all who's winning, but I know this: We the customer always lose.

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:No clue at all who's winning, but I know this: We the customer always lose.

Except for the fact that nobody really cares about either format.

Spanky is pretty much correct, customers don't give a fuck and we've yet to see a Blu Ray player.

This is the question you ask a year from the arrival of both, not in the pre season warm ups.

DVD. I'm not spending $1000 on a player that plays in resolutions my TV can't handle. DVD's already look pretty good, and until the price on 1080P capable TV's and the price on the player itself come down, I'm sticking with my good old fashion DVD player. BUT, Microsoft is released an HD-DVD player later this year that is only $200, and it connects via USB to the Xbox 360. For those of us who already have a 360, it's an amazing deal.

Its especially stupid seeing as most people are just now riding the high on the DVD band-wagon. Do these groups seriously expect people to go out and buy all their fucking movie again so they can watch them in what will most often be an imperceptibly better version? No.

weemadando wrote:Its especially stupid seeing as most people are just now riding the high on the DVD band-wagon. Do these groups seriously expect people to go out and buy all their fucking movie again so they can watch them in what will most often be an imperceptibly better version? No.

Actually, yes they do expect us. We won't, but the dumbasses who watch far too much TV for their own good will.

Count Dooku wrote:DVD. I'm not spending $1000 on a player that plays in resolutions my TV can't handle. DVD's already look pretty good, and until the price on 1080P capable TV's and the price on the player itself come down, I'm sticking with my good old fashion DVD player. BUT, Microsoft is released an HD-DVD player later this year that is only $200, and it connects via USB to the Xbox 360. For those of us who already have a 360, it's an amazing deal.

Not really that amazing, since the $499 PS3 is basicly a $399 XBox 360 package + Blu-ray for only $100 more.

Yes, I know that it's currently cool to beat up on Sony, but for the HD crowd, the PS3 is an amazing deal for a Blu-ray player. For those with SDTV's of course it's overpriced crap.

I haven't even upgraded to one of those CRT TVs with the flat glass instead of curved. It's going to be a long time before I need either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD.

What's the supposed advantage of flat glass? I never got that.

And HD is useless to me- you hear? USELESS! because i just don't care.

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:

weemadando wrote:Its especially stupid seeing as most people are just now riding the high on the DVD band-wagon. Do these groups seriously expect people to go out and buy all their fucking movie again so they can watch them in what will most often be an imperceptibly better version? No.

Actually, yes they do expect us.

Um, again, not really. The groups and companies behind HD-DVD and Blu-Ray don't expect immediate wide adoption among the broad consumer market (for one thing, that's why the players for both formats also play regular DVDs).

Basically, they expect them to compete in the higher-end niche market of early adopters and cinephiles, similar to how Laserdisk performed during the VHS era, although they hope with a greater deal of success, partially due to the larger numbers of home theatres in existance these days.

LaserRifleofDoom wrote:What's the supposed advantage of flat glass? I never got that.

It's not a supposed advantage, but a genuine one.

Flat screens don't have picture distortion, unlike curved CRTs: a curved tube projects a curved picture. That's why modern computer monitors are flat CRTs.

Praxis wrote:Not really that amazing, since the $499 PS3 is basicly a $399 XBox 360 package + Blu-ray for only $100 more.

Yes, I know that it's currently cool to beat up on Sony, but for the HD crowd, the PS3 is an amazing deal for a Blu-ray player. For those with SDTV's of course it's overpriced crap.

That's a fair comparison for someone who has neither a 360 or a PS3, but he was talking about someone that already had a 360. In that case, it's just $200 for an HD-DVD player, which is still quite a lot for a media player. Most people didn't buy a VCR or DVD player until they were a lot less than that. $500 is a ridiculous amount of money, and comparing it to the $1,000 for a stand-alone player isn't valid because people won't pay that either.

Don't know about you, but once cost ratios come down and burning speeds get faster, 15 or 25 GB on a disk sounds pretty useful. Of course, if that never happens, it's not great loss either - something else will do.

I can tell you this: the superior, but more proprietary format will lose. Which means that we'll probably be buying HD-DVD disks 5 years down the road instead of Blue-Ray.

To quote Stephen Colbert: "Which one will win? Whichever one you don't buy."

Braedley wrote:I can tell you this: the superior, but more proprietary format will lose. Which means that we'll probably be buying HD-DVD disks 5 years down the road instead of Blue-Ray.

Exactly. As several tech commentary sites have already pointed out, Sony's proprietary formats virtually always lose (see, e.g., beta, minidisc, etc.).

Braedley wrote:I can tell you this: the superior, but more proprietary format will lose. Which means that we'll probably be buying HD-DVD disks 5 years down the road instead of Blue-Ray.

Holo-disks are far superior to both, but they aren't due to hit the market until 2008. I don't know how 1.4+ TB of information will be used, though. I don't really know much about the technology - just what I read on Tom'sHardware a few months ago.

Count Dooku wrote:
Holo-disks are far superior to both, but they aren't due to hit the market until 2008. I don't know how 1.4+ TB of information will be used, though.

Porn.

Loner wrote:Porn.

Hi-def.

Count Dooku wrote:

Braedley wrote:I can tell you this: the superior, but more proprietary format will lose. Which means that we'll probably be buying HD-DVD disks 5 years down the road instead of Blue-Ray.

Holo-disks are far superior to both, but they aren't due to hit the market until 2008. I don't know how 1.4+ TB of information will be used, though. I don't really know much about the technology - just what I read on Tom'sHardware a few months ago.

As I heard it, those discs aren't intended for use in the entertainment medium, but soley for data storage, so they aren't going to be a competition or replacement for DVD, nor either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD.

I can't see either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray succeeding as movie formats in the near future. Not at those prices, not with those restrictions, not when most people don't have the proper equipment or a trained eye to see the difference, and not when most have recently upgraded to DVD. People have predicted that they will be adopted as data storage formats, but not if holographic discs follow right on their heels and blow them out of the water. This could leave both formats as multi-billion dollar flashes in the pan.