# I just have to smile...



## conchyjoe7 (Aug 28, 2007)

Now that Sony has won the "war" for HD discs, I can't help but smile. They announced last week that version 1.1 discs will be out and that will allow access to the net with the 1.1 discs. Problem? Why yes as a matter of fact: None of the current BD players have the 1.1 firmware and therefore cannot take advantage of this new "feature" on the new BD discs. In addition, as soon as someone does that, Sony is encouraging further interactivity with BD discs and has a version 2.0 in the works...

Now, as to what makes me smile...all of this "new Sony BD feature" was and is already available on HD-DVDs and (mostly) playable on even the least exepnsive HD-DVD player CURRENTLY (and sadly it looks like EVER) available. So, once again we the public have clearly made the wrong choice. Sony's Beta was better than VHS, but we chose VHS. Now, Sony's BD is NOT better (or, IMHO anywhere near as good) as Toshiba's HD-DVD, but again we chose wrong and took BD over HD-DVD. Oh well, in general we certainly are a lot of bunglers who deserve exactly what we get. Oh, and BTW...anyone notice the immediate increase in BD hardware and software across the board already?...hehehe: SURPRISE!!! :spend::spend::spend:


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## superchad (Mar 7, 2008)

AMEN! HDDVD was a fully developed format that lost to a format still going through growing pains, marketing wins once again and we all loose.


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Think where we might be right now if neither Toshiba nor Sony had been so determined to have it all their way and we had one format from the start. The competition to get the best players to the market and the software support for one format would likely have resulted in greater market penetration AND more well developed product by now. What a distraction the whole mess has been. It has kept a lot of us from choosing either format and now hesitant to accept Blu Ray.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

conchyjoe7 said:


> anyone notice the immediate increase in BD hardware and software across the board already?...hehehe: SURPRISE!!!


I have noticed that the BluRay players prices have gone up or at the very least not moved. I still have not seen the Samsung BDP 1400 go for the price I got it for on Boxing day. $299 in Canada, its still at $399 or more in all the stores.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

lcaillo said:


> Think where we might be right now if neither Toshiba nor Sony had been so determined to have it all their way and we had one format from the start. The competition to get the best players to the market and the software support for one format would likely have resulted in greater market penetration AND more well developed product by now. What a distraction the whole mess has been. It has kept a lot of us from choosing either format and now hesitant to accept Blu Ray.


I think we would be nowhere as close as we are now. I think the competition helped get Sony moving a tad faster. Obviously is still was not fast enough, but I don't think we would be seeing BD players near as low as they are now if HD-DVD had never been around. BD technology would be lagging even further behind. 

I am not sure Blu-ray would have ever taken off on its own and still may lose the war to SD-DVD. :huh:


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## wbassett (Feb 8, 2007)

conchyjoe7 said:


> ...So, once again we the public have clearly made the wrong choice. Sony's Beta was better than VHS, but we chose VHS. Now, Sony's BD is NOT better (or, IMHO anywhere near as good) as Toshiba's HD-DVD, but again we chose wrong and took BD over HD-DVD. Oh well, in general we certainly are a lot of bunglers who deserve exactly what we get. Oh, and BTW...anyone notice the immediate increase in BD hardware and software across the board already?...hehehe: SURPRISE!!! :spend::spend::spend:


Thing is (in my opinion) the public didn't decide this. If Sony and Bluray hadn't offered a financial deal to Warner, the 'war' would still be going on. There were some vibes that Warner may have been thinking about going HD DVD exclusive prior to that deal, and if that happened, we might be sitting in the reverse situation today. (Or it would have been over by this summer)

I still buy HD DVDs if I catch a good deal, but I have also noticed that movie prices in my area immediately went up some for Bluray content. I haven't been watching BD player prices closely since I've had my player for a year now, but I've heard some say they've gone up slightly, but if anything, they certainly aren't coming down in price. Toshiba had the mind set to get player prices down to where anyone would buy a player, even on an impulse buy. Bluray has a long way to go before they hit that mark, and that could mean the format never gains full adoption before the next format that will ultimately replace both SDVD and BD arrives.

I have 300 on HD DVD and rented it on BD to see if there was a difference. As far as the movies go, they both looked stellar. The HD DVD though had more content and even a Civilization style 'game'. Granted the game is crude, but it was interesting.

I think most consumers were leaning BD because of marketing hype, but 2007 was a great year for HD DVD and the last quarter was a huge change in tides. I know what they were saying as far as numbers, but I always wondered if that last quarter of 2007 was being taken into account. HD DVD was at the point that back in December (PW, Pre Warner) I honestly would have put my money on HD DVD being the winner before 2008 was over. Come January and with one announcement, it was over.

I have both players and have been format neutral for some time, but I was hoping HD DVD would win. I think the players were more mature and fully meeting their specs, and the video codecs were an improvement over mpeg2 that BD commonly uses.

I'm hoping for some Bluray disc sales, but haven't been seeing too many of them now that the 'war' is over. I don't think Sony won as much as I think we lost.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

wbassett said:


> I don't think Sony won as much as I think we lost.


That really sums it up. This just makes it more difficult for the average consumer to buy into Blu as the price is just to high. Up here in Canada most BluRay DVDs are $35 or more where you can get a new release SD dvd for less than $25


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## SteveB (Oct 20, 2006)

I agree that we, the consumer, lost this battle. I was in Fry's today and looked to see if there were any deals on HD dvds. Some were as low as $9.99 but nothing I need. The BD dvds were right across the aisle and I glanced to see what was there. The average price was $29.99, a lot of them at $39.99 for single discs, where most of the HD were at $19.99 with the exception of some new releases. 
I didn't look real hard at the BD since I don't have a player but I didn't see a lot of titles that I would have to have.


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## superchad (Mar 7, 2008)

Any word on the Oppo Blu Ray unit launch date? I was thinking awhile back of going HDDVD because of the friends I have and demo's I thought HDDVD was as I have said before a more market ready unit but never bit the bullet even when I had a chance to add a decoder driver to my XBOX, I didnt go there becaue of fan noise. Oh well I am probably going to go with Oppo when it comes out.


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## conchyjoe7 (Aug 28, 2007)

Tonyvdb...That is roughly the same price there in Canada as the BD discs are here in Atlanta, and we have a SERIOUSLY competitive market here. In looking at some of the comments posted, I do agree with most. I don't think Sony won as much as they think they won...I won't be buying a BD player anytime soon or this year for that matter, and I have a LOT of friends who feel the same way. SD discs are so cheap now, it's unreal. I can pick up excellent titles to fill in my collection of ~800 for $3.99 - $9.99 with really good titles that are relatively new for around $6.99 in the weekly Sunday paper ads. A good new SD disc played back on my Toshiba HD-DVD player looks outstanding (FYI, I'm buying another HD-DVD player for it's astounding upscaling, and they're now cheaper than dirt)...certainly outstanding enough that getting a disc for $6.99 is a no brainer problem when compared to the BD at ~$30.00. I think before Sony sees enough market penetration to make a profit, it will all be over for BD as well. Sandisk is now out with 30gig SD (secure digital NOT standard definition) cards with 50gig around the corner...can you say bye bye BD!


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## conchyjoe7 (Aug 28, 2007)

In keeping with what I was saying about SD (standard def) prices being so good...I was in the old WalMart picking up dog food yesterday and just on a whim...they had a huge amount, but I didn't have time to really look, but; I bought "T2 Extreme Edition". Yeah yeah, I'm well aware it's far from new, but I had so many versions of T2 I said I'd never buy it again, but who can turn down $5.00? To tell you the truth; played back on my Toshiba HD-DVD player, you'd be hard pressed not to think it's fully HD...love it!
Cheers,
Konky.


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## bobgpsr (Apr 20, 2006)

*Confessions of a Microsofty*

From Andy Pennell's blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/andypennell/archive/2008/03/07/what-did-you-do-in-the-format-war-daddy.aspx


Andy Pennell's blog said:


> *What did you do in the Format War, Daddy?*
> My kids are 2 and 4 yrs old so have little concept of what Daddy does, though they do know the words DVD, Xbox, and Lightsaber. However in a decade or so they might be able to understand what Daddy did in the format war, so here’s how I plan on explaining the last three years of my work:
> 
> In early 2005 Daddy joined what was then called the Professional Content Group at Microsoft, who were working on the replacement for DVD. At the time the team was mostly program managers who were working on the advanced interactivity aspects of the formats, then called iHD. There were two competing formats, one mostly from Sony called Blu-ray, and another mostly from Toshiba called HD DVD. Blu-ray was originally a very primitive high definition recordable format, while HD DVD was created by the same forum as DVD as a high definition replacement for it.
> ...


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## conchyjoe7 (Aug 28, 2007)

*Re: Confessions of a Microsofty*

Bobgpsr: What an excellent article cut from that blog. I now have 4 HD-DVD players, having bought 2 more as backups for the eventual replacement of the ones in use now failing someday in the distant future hopefully. In addition, for the price I paid for the additional 2 players, I could not have come close to getting the performance in regards to upscaling alone from a regular dvd player. I would imagine to a lot of people that makes me look rather naive, or even worse; just plain stupid. Please allow me to explain my errant thoughts and ways...Yes, I am aware that I'm crying over spilled milk.

I think everyone (now that they don't have HD-DVD to ponder or slam) is starting to find out the sad truth about Sony and their BD. Most of the BD players currently on the market as described above are still profile 1.0, with a few being 1.1 and to my knowledge a grand total of 1 being profile 2.0. despite their elite pricing. None, except the aforementioned 1 profile 2.0 player can compete in terms of features with even the least expensive HD-DVD players. Every time I watch one of my HD-DVDs on one of my players (last night it was "The Hulk") it brings tears to my eyes it is so beautiful..."The Hulk" is a rather mediocre film made visually incredible by the stellar output of HD-DVD. Friends; keep all of your HD-DVDs (and if you want to sell them cheap, please contact me first), as HD-DVD despite overwhelming odds may not be the first or last "phoenix" to arise from the ashes. The differences between HD-DVD and BD is so unbelieveably pronounced and technically superior in favor of HD-DVD, I still shake my head in wonder at the shell game being played on us all right now (although let's face it; to a certain extent the decision was made for us in smoke filled rooms of rich fat cats that care of nothing but cash). Sony purchases? You can keep all your versions of your root kitted merchandise: NEVER EVER AGAIN!!! (and I once spent a LOT of money with Sony).

As I have written before. I do so hope that SanDisk puts their Secure Digital prowess into the game and smokes Sony with HD movies on a chip the size of a fingernail; and then bye bye BD (and good riddance!)
Cheers,
Konky.


HD-DVD...tell me it aint so! :sad:


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## conchyjoe7 (Aug 28, 2007)

*Re: Confessions of a Microsofty*

Oh, forgot to mention...anyone wanting to sell their HD-DVD discs, please contact me through a PM here. I'm looking and I'm buying!
Cheers,
Konky.


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