Re: OT: Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD, Will the madness never end?!?!

In article <avGdnSj-gIlg8qHeRVn-qg@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Carl" <cengman7@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> My understanding is that Sony was going to clamp down and prevent
> copying from DVD to hard disk but HD-DVD isn't. Also, HD-DVD
> will read older format DVDs and CDs, BluRay will not, and it's more
> expensive to convert to and manufacture BluRay disks and drives.

imho, hd-dvd is going to die. or at least be relegated to the obscurity
of laserdisc. and if not for the Ps3, blu-ray would too. why? cause
they're bringing this out too soon. a LOT of people "just got" their dvd
players, they just spent hundreds getting all of their movies. they(and
by they, i mean the average consumer, NOT the videophiles that hang out
here) will take a look at it, go "oooo, look at that picture, oh...look
at that price...so what do i have to do to get this picture? just plug
this into my hdtv and i'm good to go?" answer: "well, no, you then have
to re-purchase all your movies in HD as well" "oh, well screw that then"
they may go out and buy a cheaper hd-upconverting dvd player, but that's
about it. when dvd's came out, people didn't have huge library's of
movies, most of them had their home-made tapes off tv, and some major
movies. they also saw their tapes wearing out. now, a huge amount of
people have lots of movies, and they are not wearing out. vcr's were
also out for 20 years before dvd's came out. dvd's were cheaper, both
for the media and the player, neither of these will be true of the
transition from dvd to hd dvd(either flavor). the effect of the PS3
though may keep blu-ray alive long enough for it to catch on. assuming
the PS3 does well, it will provide an outlet for blu-ray movies where
people can have the blu-ray player for a real purpose(new upgraded
gaming experience) and then get the movies as they see fit, in a "well,
since i already have it" attitude. that seepage may be enough to get the
blu-ray to last long enough to survive. as for compatibility, it's
possible for blu-ray dvd players to play dvd and cd, but, iirc, it needs
a secondary laser. (i may be mis-remembering the mechanics of that, but,
again to use the PS3 as example, it plays all common dvd and cd
formats).

if the companies are smart(ha) they'll do one of 2 things, either keep
the hd formats out of standard consumer channels until there's a large
wish for them among people other than videophiles, or, offer some sort
of trade-in value for their standard dvd movies(yeah, right).

of course, these are just the opinions of someone who deals with what
people want to buy everyday, not an expert in marketing who never spent
a day trying to sell something to a real person ;-)

....Chris

.

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