Game over, HD-DVD...

[mpiper]

What a load of crap about blue fu**ing ray winning(they said all this shit some time last year).
Do you realize by buying into this blue shit you are giving your hard earned cash away to people that have the right (and they will)
to stop you doing what you want to with this media.DO YOU REALY WANT TO LET fony/sony have total control.Because we all know where that leads.
I personally like HD DVD.Because its alot cheaper.For the same picture qaulty.
As for sales in my local Tesco`s at xmas all the HDDVD players had sold out.Plus nearly all HDDVDS sold out.But poor old blu ray loads of stuff left on the shelves.Went into Tesco`s yesterday all that blue ray is still there.

But any way why carnt they both just get along just like DVD - R and dvd+r did and make a player thats under £100.So the HD REVOLUTION can get started.

Here! Here!Well said!

[mpojeep]

Looks like Porn on Blue Ray

http://www.cepro.com/article/leading_porn_studio_announces_8_blu_ray_titles/

[BJ_M]

microsoft they will go blu-ray (as option) also because of customer demand -- as stated by bill gates

[MOVIEGEEK]

microsoft they will go blu-ray (as option) also because of customer demand -- as stated by bill gates

According to this interview it sounds like MS will stay neutral and push for downloaded content:
http://blogs.reuters.com/mediafile/2008/01/07/bill-gates-unplugged/

Gates leaves MS in July to work full-time with his foundation,how much influence he will have in the future with MS is unknown.

[DereX888]

FUNNY posts in this thread
Reading it I came to conclusions, that some of our members:
- prefer to pay MORE for the same quality audio and video
- when someone spit in their face they say it is raining (BR update rendering just 1 year old players unable to play some features of the newest discs - if thats not a spat on a consumer, I dont know what else is?)
- still believe in Santa Claus (or exactly that that Sony, being one of the largest movie and music corporations, wouldn't take advantage of its key role in in its own proprietary format - now a sole format left on the market - for its own advantage... perhaps they believe that the MONOPOLISTs ever lower prices too?!)
- and few more (but I dont want to insult anyone so I'll keep'em to myself )

What a naive crowd we have on videohelp, who'd knew

[lordsmurf]

As somebody who's been around electronics since the 1980s (meaning I had 1970s electronics to start with), I know what Sony is. They are a greedy predatory company that resents their own customers.

Derex, it's not that we have a naive crowd on this site, but we have people who are unaware of negative economics. The negative economics of Blu-Ray is that prices won't come down. Sony would love nothing more than to monopolize video. They already tried that with Betamax, going so far as to sue in courts. They lost the case, and they lose the format. They desire to control how consumers can watch or listen to media.

Studios want the so-called "unbreakable" copy protection. They wanted HD-DVD, but they're suckered by the BD+ for now. That can change at any time.

The best thing a consumer can do -- and they're already doing it -- is to not buy any of this crap. Buy the DVD instead. Unless your screen is 55-60" minimum, you won't even see a difference (it's all in your head when sitting at a normal distance from the screen).

[Rich86]

As somebody who's been around electronics since the 1980s (meaning I had 1970s electronics to start with), I know what Sony is. They are a greedy predatory company that resents their own customers.

Derex, it's not that we have a naive crowd on this site, but we have people who are unaware of negative economics. The negative economics of Blu-Ray is that prices won't come down. Sony would love nothing more than to monopolize video. They already tried that with Betamax, going so far as to sue in courts. They lost the case, and they lose the format. They desire to control how consumers can watch or listen to media.

Studios want the so-called "unbreakable" copy protection. They wanted HD-DVD, but they're suckered by the BD+ for now. That can change at any time.

The best thing a consumer can do -- and they're already doing it -- is to not buy any of this crap. Buy the DVD instead. Unless your screen is 55-60" minimum, you won't even see a difference (it's all in your head when sitting at a normal distance from the screen).

I agree with most of this. Except not seeing any difference. I run a 46" 1080P lcd (Sharp) and there most definitely is a difference between standard definition dvd's and HD-DVD. And that is comparing upconverted standard def dvd to HD-DVD. Is it as dramatic as going from VHS to DVD? No, it isn't.
Think of it as a progression. I'm dating myself - but think of the improvements in recorded media:
vhs tape > s-vhs tape and laser discs > dvd > upconverted dvd's > high definition dvd's

The issue here is that upconverted standard definition dvd's look really good on a 1080P TV. High definition dvd's look better. Certainly enough to warrant a $200 HD-DVD 1080p/24fps and a bunch of your favorite $15 to $25 movies. But the demise of HD-DVD will change the pricing landscape and support in a hurry, once Sony has full control of optical media based high definition licensing. And Sony's complete lack of respect for or support of their customers is legendary. Time will tell.