HD-DVD (only) Owners: What do you do when it's over?

[bradb007]

I bought my HD-DVD A3 for $100 knowing it was likely to lose the format war, but I didn't not have a DVD upconverting player so it was a simple method for me to get some free HD-DVDs (7) and an upconverting DVD player.

 

[akodoreign]

I bought my HD-DVD A3 for $100 knowing it was likely to lose the format war, but I didn't not have a DVD upconverting player so it was a simple method for me to get some free HD-DVDs (7) and an upconverting DVD player.

paid 89.95 at Sams Club for my HD-DVD drive and got 5 movies for free so until I can get a similar deal on BD I will wait, he he.

 

[dkellumw]

When a full feature Blu-ray player is available for the price/Value inlcuding movies as I paid for the HD DVD Player I will consider the purchase.

I agree. For me $150 with some movies or $99 without (like my A-2).

Till then. DOWN WITH BLU

How about,
Till then. THE FUTURE'S NOT BLU

 

[JoeSp]

What I see here is a poll by a BluRay supporter who has some agenda. I can't figure out what would be your reason for this.

(1) Why would you post this in the War Zone rather than in the HDDVD forum?

(2) Why would you give choices containing wonderful options like "I hate Sony...", "I'm mad they lost..." and "once the sting wears off...".

You try to legitimize your poll by saying "I'm especially interested..." but that's an obviously shallow statement. Are you attempting to pat yourself on the back for choosing BluRay or something? "I'm especially interested..." in your motivations/agenda. Why don't you add an option to your poll: "After BluRay won, its supporters are acting so immature that I don't want to be drug into that - guilty by association, you know."

For the record, I bought an HDDVD player because it was cheap and I was already in the market for a simple upconverter that cost more than the HDDVD player. It is the better choice from the consumers point of view. Who in their right mind wants to pay more for something that does the same thing? BluRay did not win because consumers chose it. It won because movie studios and manufacturers chose it. And they did that because they expect more profit from BluRay than HDDVD. That's a simple fact of business. This profit will be funded by consumers.

I will possibly buy a BluRay player once the price of players and movies drops to a sane level and it can compete with DVD. HDDVD wasn't at that Utopian point either when it died, but it was closer than BluRay. I will now wait for the final outcome of HD discs in general.

I wasn't going to post here but your comments bring up a very good point. Toshiba was giving away the player but not enough consumers bought. They gave away the movies but not enough consumers bought. They decided to drop profit on the players into the TENS of dollars and the retailers stayed with them -- but the consumers still did not buy enough. I kept reading that everyone was waiting for the next price drop before they purchased and soon Toshiba did just that and the consumer still did not buy enough. And to top it all off, most of the posts I read here was how folks were renting from Netflix and NOT buying the movies.

If HD-DVD is on its way out it was not the BDA, their prices, their player profiles nor their movies that really did in HD-DVD -- it was their customers. Once Toshiba noticed that their players were not selling at $599 they panic and started dropping prices and offering free discs -- just to get the consumer to buy. They just could not get the consumer to spend big money on HD-DVD. In the end it was really Toshiba's HD-DVD customers that did not buy to support their format.

As for the price of BD standalones -- wait they will come down - it might take another year or more to get to a price you might like (like $199) but don't expect to see BD players for $99 anytime soon. You can not buy a 26" LCD for $100 and they have been on the market for three years why in the world would you think you should be able to buy a BD player for $100 right now? Is it because Toshiba has been fire-sale'ng those HD-DVD standalones for the last year. Because if that is the case maybe you forgot how long it took DVD to get under $200. It sure did not happen the first year, nor the second. I am not even sure it happend in the third year -- maybe someone with a better memory then mine can chime in and tell us what year in the life of DVD were you able to buy a player for under $200. Anyone?

New technology is not cheap nor is anyone in there right mind going to give it away. If you want a BD player with 2.0 playablility and full audio decoding for $100 then you are going to be waiting a long time. And just to set the record straight, NO upconverted DVD can even come close to a HD 1080p movie. If you think that then you definately need glases!! It is not possible - not even remotely possible -- there is not enough information in the Picture to even get close. Here are two sources to read on comparisons of upconverted DVD and true HD on a disc:

» HD DVD/Blu-ray vs. Upconverted DVDs, HD DVD=safe buy, TV Antennas and 2009 Digital TV Transition

Upconverted DVDs are not HD - BigScreen Journal: The BigScreen Cinema Guide

 

[dfergie]

I was the first one to vote No/ other this morning( and I think HD DVD has some life yet)... I have Direct and Dish HD along with my HD DVD player... I won't get BD because of one word... Respect.

 

[haertig]

And just to set the record straight, NO upconverted DVD can even come close to a HD 1080p movie. If you think that then you definately need glases!!

You're right - I definitely need glasses. About 5 diopter of them unfortunately!

I think you misunderstood my comment on "paying more for something that does the same thing". I can see how you could, given my imprecise wording. I was talking about an HDDVD player for $98 doing the same thing as the upconvertor I was considering paying $150 for. NOT the upconvertor doing the same thing as an HDDVD player.

In the end it was really Toshiba's HD-DVD customers that did not buy to support their format.

I do not buy things to "support a format". I buy for me. I couldn't care less if Toshiba or Sony make a profit or take a loss. That's their problem, not mine.

If HD-DVD is on its way out it was not the BDA, their prices, their player profiles nor their movies that really did in HD-DVD -- it was their customers.

It was not the customers that did in HDDVD, it was the lack of them. BluRay is facing the exact same thing. They need lots of customers to win out over standard DVD. I hope they get them in the required quantity so that HD discs don't become a thing of the past. HDDVD thought they could get those customers by charging lower prices for the players (but paradoxically, not the media). This didn't work for HDDVD. BluRay thinks they can get the customers by charging higher prices for the players and presenting them as superior devices. BluRay media costs are a wash with HDDVD media costs, so there's no difference in the strategies there.

Personally I don't see how consumers will flock to a higher priced BluRay device in sufficient quantities to ensure it's success, when they didn't flock to a lower priced HDDVD device. For all practical purposes, the two different hardwares provide near identical viewing performance. Maybe once consumers realize that BluRay is the only game in town for HD, they'll flock to it despite the higher price. Or maybe the customers will wait until the prices fall. But if the customers wait, maybe the prices will never fall because HD can't survive without the customers and those folks are still waiting. This is the exact same struggle that HDDVD would have had if it had won out over BluRay.

It is now a battle between HD and DVD. While BluRay used to be able to say they were outselling HDDVD by a 2-to-1 margin (or whatever it was - doesn't matter now), now they're in the position of facing the fact that DVD is outselling them by 100-to-1 (or whatever the real ratio is - I just made that one up). HDDVD would have had the same battle to win. I almost seems impossible for HD to win this bigger battle, but I hope not.

 

[Ronnie-]

I will possibly buy a BluRay player once the price of players and movies drops to a sane level and it can compete with DVD. HDDVD wasn't at that Utopian point either when it died, but it was closer than BluRay. I will now wait for the final outcome of HD discs in general.

Thats all you really had to say....

 

[ONUOsFan]

What I see here is a poll by a BluRay supporter who has some agenda. I can't figure out what would be your reason for this.

My main reason (as I think I stated) was to find out what people who have been staunch supporters of HD-DVD were going to do now that (it seems) the war is coming closer to an end. I also said that I was curious to find out why people were so set on HD-DVD as a format that they would "stick with upconversion" from now on. As someone who loves HD (and I assume most people here do), I couldn't wrap my mind around that.

For the record, I have supported Blu-Ray, but I own both and it wouldn't have bothered me if HD-DVD had won out. I have stated this before. My PS3 would have gone back to being mostly a game machine (something it's gotten pretty good at lately, by the way) and I would have gone on with life.

(1) Why would you post this in the War Zone rather than in the HDDVD forum?

Because I figured I'd get some spouting off and some Sony hating, so I figured it was safer here where we could have an open dialogue. If it was in the HD-DVD forum, people would have had to be more careful with what they said, and I wanted honest opinions.

(2) Why would you give choices containing wonderful options like "I hate Sony...", "I'm mad they lost..." and "once the sting wears off...".

"I hate Sony" actually appears to be quite a popular option, as I figured it would be. I admit, though, the "I'm mad they lost" probably was a bit over the top and could have been left out.

You try to legitimize your poll by saying "I'm especially interested..." but that's an obviously shallow statement. Are you attempting to pat yourself on the back for choosing BluRay or something? "I'm especially interested..." in your motivations/agenda. Why don't you add an option to your poll: "After BluRay won, its supporters are acting so immature that I don't want to be drug into that - guilty by association, you know."

I said that because it was true. I was (and still am) interested in other people's opinions - in this case, the opinions of those who either refuse to buy Blu-Ray or are waiting for one reason or another.

(By the way, I think we've all been guilty of being immature at one point or another in this forum, but calling people out for it is a little silly. It just comes across sounding like something a 17-year-old would say to their 14-year-old sibling. Wait - did I just accuse you of being immature? Hmmm... )

For the record, I bought an HDDVD player because it was cheap and I was already in the market for a simple upconverter that cost more than the HDDVD player. It is the better choice from the consumers point of view. Who in their right mind wants to pay more for something that does the same thing? BluRay did not win because consumers chose it. It won because movie studios and manufacturers chose it. And they did that because they expect more profit from BluRay than HDDVD. That's a simple fact of business. This profit will be funded by consumers.

I will possibly buy a BluRay player once the price of players and movies drops to a sane level and it can compete with DVD. HDDVD wasn't at that Utopian point either when it died, but it was closer than BluRay. I will now wait for the final outcome of HD discs in general.

This is what I was looking for and, as msmith said, "all you really had to say."

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I do not hate Sony (even if they do kill kittens, as Vurbano used to tell us ), I have a SONY TV, a SONY DVD player, a SONY Receiver, a SONY Camcorder.

I just like my HD DVD; partially because it was the under-dog, and I like rooting for the underdog, partially because its price-point is reasonable.

If movies stop getting produced in HD DVD, I will eventually look for a combo-player, so my collection can continue on.

Yet, am not done buying HD DVD; indeed, I just picked up a HD DVD XBox add-on from one of our members, plus two Harry Potter films... I don't even have an XBox -- I wanted the drive for my PC. I see this as lasting for quite some time; even if I have to purchase titles from Amazon.uk. Fine with me.

If I can get a combo player for $250, I'll consider BD, but not until then. I'm happy being a Red.

 

[ONUOsFan]

By the way, it's starting to look like a conclusion is getting easier to make out here... while there are a few people who just hate Sony and won't buy anything that is even remotely related to that company, most people are just waiting on better pricing and/or final spec hardware before making the plunge.

I wanted to be able to sort through the rhetoric and see what people were really thinking, and I think we're starting to do that...

 

[SpaethCo]

As for the price of BD standalones -- wait they will come down - it might take another year or more to get to a price you might like (like $199) but don't expect to see BD players for $99 anytime soon. You can not buy a 26" LCD for $100 and they have been on the market for three years why in the world would you think you should be able to buy a BD player for $100 right now? Is it because Toshiba has been fire-sale'ng those HD-DVD standalones for the last year. Because if that is the case maybe you forgot how long it took DVD to get under $200.

The reason I expect players to be under $200 is because this is simply an incremental improvement in the technology. Take a light source, focus it on a disc using a lens, turn the resulting reflect/non-reflect into 1's and 0's, run that data stream through DSPs, puke out video and audio. Sure, some more DSP resources are going to be required to deal with 1080p vs 480p content, but that should be a minor change in the grand scheme of things. If I can get an upconverting player that has all of the processing to do HD output for $100, why the heck should a different laser pickup and slightly different decoding firmware be 4x that cost?

Blu-ray could have been a lot further on the "making players cheaper" path if they could have managed to finalize the damn standard instead of jerking people around with profile 1.0, 1.1, and now 2.0.

New technology is not cheap nor is anyone in there right mind going to give it away. If you want a BD player with 2.0 playablility and full audio decoding for $100 then you are going to be waiting a long time. And just to set the record straight, NO upconverted DVD can even come close to a HD 1080p movie. If you think that then you definately need glases!! It is not possible - not even remotely possible -- there is not enough information in the Picture to even get close.

The quality of the source really limits how much the next gen formats can shine. While I agree that there is a definite visible difference between standard DVD and HD-DVD/Blu-ray, I don't think the difference is really worth $400 for a player and double the price of each movie. The other thing BD has going against it is limited use of the media. At $400 a pop people aren't going to be able to afford multiple BD players, so buying a BD title means locking in to only viewing that content in one location. So much for other DVD players in the house, the laptop, the car, etc.

The loss of HD-DVD as a competitor doesn't necessarily mean a decisive win for Blu-ray. I'd argue that this will actually end up extending standard DVD's reign as the format of choice.

 

[hancox]

I'll hold out for a cheap BD player, or an xbox 360 add-on.

 

[akodoreign]

I'll hold out for a cheap BD player, or an xbox 360 add-on.

this is the boat I am in.

Of course all bets are off when FFXIII comes out. Mainly because I am an RPG whore.

 

[bmuthagoose]

I'm a no, for now at least.

We're not the biggest movie watchers, one a week at most if we have time. I bought the HD add on for the 360 on a good deal. Now I will just download HD movies from the 360 marketplace if it justifies a HD version. Otherwise I am fine with a good copy of standard DVD for now.

This might all change when they start releasing some good HD concerts. I have not seen anything shot or released on either format that I want. That might be because I am getting older and the bands I like don't do as much anymore.

 

[EvilEuro]

I just got an XA2 specifically to use as my standard def DVD player due to it having the Reon processor for upconverting.

I also got it so I can finally rent HD-DVD's via either Netflix (as long as they rent them) or Blockbuster (when Netflix stops renting HD-DVD).

I already have a BD player (Panasonic DB30), so I'm covered either way. But until Paramount and Universal finally make their move, there will still be a need for HD-DVD and even then it will be ages before the movies that are already out on HD-DVD are moved over to the BD catalogue.

 

[69Mustang]

Voted yes, when BD players become cheaper BUT I still hate Sony. Just too Darth Vader like...."HD DVD, I am your father" Lol.

 

[akodoreign]

Voted yes, when BD players become cheaper BUT I still hate Sony. Just too Darth Vader like...."HD DVD, I am your father" Lol.

More like Darth Helmet. "I knew it we are surrounded by @$$holes, Keep Firing @$$holes."

 

[69Mustang]

More like Darth Helmet. "I knew it we are surrounded by @$$holes, Keep Firing @$$holes."

Haha, good one.

 

[olliec420]

I knew Blu would win from the get go. It flat out better, more disc capacity etc. A client of mine (I do IT work) gave me a toshiba D3 for payment on a job and its sweet but nothing like the bdp-s500 by sony. HD is dead, Blu won. Go out and get a player and let move on with this. Yall know after Netflix dropped Best Buy dropped HD. The only thing going to be produced on HDDVD from now on is porn since sony wont allow it on Blu. That worth keeping around my free HDDVD player!!

 

[navychop]

Sony does not prevent porn on Blu-ray. They may not do it in their own plants, but there are plenty of other plants that do it. I have "Debbie...Again" in Blu-ray. It's sealed in it's original wrapping and with the receipt. I thought it would be an investment- first US porn on Blu-ray. Bad investment. I now doubt it'll ever be worth anything. <sigh> At least my Echostar stock paid off.

Anyway, Disney has certain rules that pretty much prevent the replicator from producing porn in any plant where they produce Disney titles. Something about some kids getting an unintended early education some years ago when some tapes got mislabeled or reused.