Re: Blu Confessions [was: DVD Empire reports SURGE in HD-DVD sales, etc.]

Derek Janssen <ejanss@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:euednRu8i4nCS23YnZ2dnUVZ_g-dnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx:


Oh, I wholeheartedly agree. I was originally going to be format-
neutral, buying into both while I waited to see which format won
out...

For me, the studio-war was only over Warner releasing "Robin Hood",
"Excalibur" and "Forbidden Planet" in HD--But now that those're going
dual-format with the rest of Warner, I can let Disney/Pixar movies
sway my judgment also...
And Universal's Microsoft-tied HD support seems to be isolating itself
in the industry, so Apple will probably stand their ground with
"their" BR codec. And anything Apple does is Always Right. :)

There's just too much industry support for BRD (be it official or de
facto) to see Bluray die overnight, IMO. HD-DVD has Universal, but
Universal hasn't released many movies that interest me lately, and
they're not in a hurry to release their crown jewels. I also have a
gut feeling that Microsoft is only in this game to try out their video
codecs, and will bow out as soon as they have whatever results they
need.


it doesn't
make financial sense for me to buy both players or LG's combo at this
point in time.

I'm going on the assumption that LG's Big Mistake scared most other
companies out of trying to make licensed dual-players, as if such a
thing could be negotiated with two jealous factions--
Besides, just about every major company is committed to one side of
the battle or the other, and without LG there's almost nobody left who
*could* try to go double-agent, unless HP makes a stab at it.

I'm astonished that other companies aren't scrambling to announce dual-
format players. Thus, I've come to the same conclusion... LG ruined it
for everyone. Of course, based on the above, the only reason to
worry about HD-DVD is Universal.

I'm doing the same thing-- investing in BluRay simply because it's
providing a better overall package. In a year, I'll revisit that
decision and see if there's a compelling reason to buy a second
player for a second HD format.

If I make my second format-war mistake in my life (I'd won a Sega
machine in college), and HD pulls ahead, it should be at least a year
before we see it pull far enough ahead to affect sales--
That's more than enough time to save up to correct mistakes.

I'm not sure which Sega you won, but most every system except for the
Saturn had a pretty good run.

I was hoping to get some specific theater-tech arguments about HDI
being so much more manageable for disk content, etc., but that does
emphasize one of the points:

I did mention to him before that Bluray-Java wasn't all it was cracked
up to be for a format that's primarily meant for movie playback.

HD has the support of the theater-techies who watch the movies on
respectable home-theater equipment in their living rooms...But apart
from studio support, the most "advantage" that Blu has going for it
right now is Rabid Fanboy Loyalty by PS3 gamers, who want to
"woof!woof!woof!" that "they're winning" because they didn't have to
buy the add-on and can watch it for free. And who, well, end up
sounding like Blu-Boy.

It reminds me a lot of when the PS2 was released, and suddenly a whole
bunch of people got introduced to DVD in a hurry.

Which IS doing more public harm to their arguments than good, and, as
the videogame groups complained, reducing the format war to yet
another Gamerz Shoutdown. Joy.

The best thing to do to kill a video game advocacy discussion is to ask
for logic and reason. Discussions tend to die quickly when you mention
that "dis iz tha shizzle, yo" isn't a strong argument.

But, it'll probably end up being whichever player was going down to
$599 by fall...Did I mention, I bought my first DVD player when I
thought I could get a reconditioned-DiVX on the cheap?

You can already get closeout Sony and Samsung units at that price.

--

Aaron J. Bossig

http://www.GodsLabRat.com
http://www.dvdverdict.com

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: HD-DVD, Second interview w/Max Everett
    ... If Universal goes over to blu ray disk, obviously, the format war ... Toshiba will still replace or repair those players, ... Why not just keep your hd dvd player, maybe even buy a spare when they ...
    (alt.video.dvd)
  • Re: Winner breaks vs. alternating breaks
    ... I prefer to both play and watch long winner-breaks matches. ... In an alternating breaks match, this means that you have made some ... If both players are making mistakes, ... would have fared even better in a loser-breaks tournament format ...
    (rec.sport.billiard)
  • Re: Rapid Thought Revised
    ... 3-player tables *only*, minimum 9 players ... the 60 card minimum rule. ... unless there's a reason to change it. ... their current decks to the format with a bare minimum of tweaking. ...
    (rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad)
  • Re: WMP 11 on XP
    ... Hell, even the 20 or so in WMP do that, so you can imagine the fun. ... free player likely is that they hope you will buy some audio or video ... There is a big format war going on, and everyone wants part of the ... One thing that confuses people is that many so-called players include ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsmedia.player)
  • Re: Blu-Ray player for $349
    ... you'll have a much clearer idea of where the format war is heading ... as I believe studio support will have swung decidedly into Blu-ray's ... by over six times as many companies making standalone players, ... HQV testing and so does the PS3 and BD-P1400. ...
    (alt.tv.tech.hdtv)