Blu-Ray Seems to have Won.

[Aero]

Well, I'm quite sad. After all these "format wars" it seems that Sony's Blu-Ray is going to win. With the recent announcement that all major studios are buying into the Blu-ray format, there is nolonger any reason to have HD-DVD. This means that Sony won. Which, IMO, blows. Blu-Ray players cost 3 time as much for the same image quality as HD-DVD, and with the competing format going away, I see no reason for that to change anytime soon. I'm just all around sad. I've had my HD-DVD player for about 6 months now and love the thing, plus its amazing as an upscaling DVD player.

*sigh*, looks like the big guys win again.

NOTE: I just got this email from Netflix which spurred my little rant:


Dear @#%$@!,

You're receiving this email because you have asked to receive high-definition movies in the HD DVD format. As you may have heard, most of the major movie studios have recently decided to release their high-definition movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format. In order to provide the best selection of high-definition titles for our members, we have decided to go exclusively with Blu-ray as well.

While we will continue to make our current selection of HD DVD titles available to you for the next several months, we will not be adding additional HD DVD titles or reordering replacements.

Toward the end of February, HD DVDs in your Saved Queue will automatically be changed to standard definition DVDs. Then toward the end of this year, all HD DVDs in your Queue will be changed to standard definition DVDs. Don't worry, we will contact you before this happens.

You can click here to change your format preferences.

We're sorry for any inconvenience. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call us at 1 (888) 638-3549.

-The Netflix Team

[noopypoop]

They actually said your name was #%*#! ? Or did you just blank out your name?:?

[Zephik]

Bleh, Format wars are just stupid. You either have to buy HD or Blu, and that goes all the way around too. If you have Blu, you can't play HD discs and vise versa. Uhm. Dumb?

But wait, you CAN get a player that plays both formats. ...for a crap ton more money than if you were to actually buy both players. Uhm. Dumb?

Two companies go in, one will lose, everyone knows this. So why not figure something out so both companies win, because it would be guaranteed. But they didn't do this. Uhm. Dumb?

So why did they not do that? Because Sony knows that they are the bigger company and they know they have the better name, because Blu-Ray is sexier sounding, easier to say and it sounds completely new since it doesn't have DVD in its name anywhere. Sony, being the bigger company, also has a boat load of cash, decent or possibly even better marketing know how and a good user base because of all the old people. (You know what I'm talking about, almost all of us have parents) So, instead of playing fair ball and seeing who the people would choose if the people felt and knew it didn't really matter who they picked, because there would be no negatives and only positives from buying from either company, they decided that "nah, we can win, and when we do, all the more money to us because the other company will be no-more." Uhm. Du... You know what? No. Thats just ****ing mean. Jerks.

Format wars are stupid. All it does is make one company the monopoly of the new format while screwing over a bunch of people because they bought the losing product, and eventually they will have to buy the winning product because they can't get what they want with theirs. Apparently, especially if you love Netflix, which don't you lie to me, because I know you all do. Netflix is awesome! ...except right now. Right now they're just lame.

Unless of course, production companies keep making movies for both players (which, they already don't do, just usually for the high sales titles) and we all know that thats not going to happen. If a company picks one type, the type that seems to be currently winning with the public, then all the other companies will join in, and that will be the death of one side. But why would they do that in the first place? Well, they can cut their costs in half, a good thing by any company doing anything, by choosing one over the other. All they have to do is wait for the right timing, which there will definitely be, there always is, eventually.

Luckily, I couldn't give less of a ****. I'm still using a 720p Plasma thats hooked up to my Dish DVR. Hell, I don't even own a REGULAR dvd player aside from the one in my computer, which I only rarely use for install discs and whatnots. Anyways, I may not get true HD, but I still get pretty damn good if you ask me. Most definitely acceptable by any standards. Sure, I don't own any hard copies and I can't create backups of them if I even wanted to, unless I hacked up my DVR, but meh, they're just movies. They were on once, they will be on again. And if they aren't on again to re-record, then I can just go buy it online for a couple bucks, or borrow it from a friend if its unfairly priced. And I can do that every time. Or, I could just buy a backup drive and be done with it, which I already have done. So yay for me. ^_^

If you guys don't like the format wars, just do what I'm doing and wait it out. If not, meh, your choice.

[Aero]

They actually said your name was #%*#! ? Or did you just blank out your name?:?

I blanked it.

Zephik, I agree totally. Personally I would love to not have to worry about formats. I bought my HD-DVD player as a floor model for about $150, which was amazing 6 months ago. Technology wise, Bluray is better, more storage and what not. But practically HD is better, cause you can have both versions of the movie (HD and regular DVD) on the same disk, which Sony will never do, because they don't need to. They just figure you will buy both version and give them more money.

Sony has gone down the tubes in the past decade. I used to love sony, but now they seem over priced, they had that whole anti-piracy thing a few year back in their music depot that just f'ed their image up more. But now it seems like they "won" because they had the money to spend. Heck, retail store don't even try to sell HD-DVD players at all, and its been that way for a long time. Bestbuy stocks both formats, but because the Bluray cost more (also more profit for them), they just push them on everyone and don't even offer the cheap option. I just think they should have relaeased a player that was a good price that could play both formats, that way it wouldn't have mattered.

Ugh, it just pisses me off to see the big company win. HD-DVD made more sense IMO, cheaper, same quality, more for your money type thing.


PLUS I hate that there are rumours that newer Blu-ray players won't support user burned media. They seem to be going to extreme lengths to keep pirating at bay, but its also comes across as just being dicks who don't care about consumer wants. Which is kinda the opposite of capitolism...


damn commies:P

[crenn]

Except Blu-ray has flaws. It was pushed out because of HD-DVD.

I think both formats should exist, but for different purposes.

[Crimson Sky]

Yeesh. Relax. Blu-Ray burners are going to be $35 in less than two years, and the media will be $.025 a piece.

The end of any "format war" means the proliferation of that technology (and license of the patent to any company) to all corners of the globe--and that means cheaper prices for you, the consumer.

Don't knock capitalism until you understand it! CD's and DVD's will be in 25 years what punch cards are today--relics of inefficiency, and whimsical as an 8-track tape.

[b4i7]

Yeesh. Relax. Blu-Ray burners are going to be $35 in less than two years, and the media will be $.025 a piece.

The end of any "format war" means the proliferation of that technology (and license of the patent to any company) to all corners of the globe--and that means cheaper prices for you, the consumer.

Don't knock capitalism until you understand it! CD's and DVD's will be in 25 years what punch cards are today--relics of inefficiency, and whimsical as an 8-track tape.

quote for truth

it was just the same when dvd was becoming the new media....dvd burners were super expensive and same for the discs... it was just a matter of either HD or blu to take the lead and now you will see the prices start to drop

[NightrainSrt4]

I didn't pay attention to any of the format wars crap. Ill buy when there is just one format. I hardly buy dvd's anyway. I just don't watch a lot of movies. Just what is on tv, or the occasional at the theater.

I kind of figured Sony would win out this time. Not because of the bigger company whatnot that was mentioned above(as im honestly not sure which is bigger Microsoft/Toshiba or Sony/Sun), but simple because I don't think they could deal with another format war loss. (Betamax anyone).

I just figured if they were going to go in this time, they were going to go BIG.

[Quakken]

I was with blu ray from the beginning, more storage capacity and a bigger company backing it. Personally, I am a sony type of guy. Sure, they're a big evil company with anti-piracy fhqwhgads, but their tech is currently the most powerful. If only people would make games for a ps3... but I digress.

I can't wait to have a blu ray burner for HD movies and being able to back up an entire hard drive on just a few disks. This wouldn't really be any different if HD DVD had one, but hey- someone had to lose, we can't have two companies battling each other with incompatible formats, that would be like a presidential election going on until the next term (technology) comes around.

[Ichbin]

Im still crying over beta tapes :P

[crenn]

I think that Blu-ray is sort of a 'premium' HD content while HD-DVD is your 'average joe' content... if that makes sense.

[Eclecticos]

Its just like the console wars. . You have Playstation 3 with the Blu-Ray and Xbox360 with HD-DVD.
Just because Netflix decided no to carry HD-DVD's anymore dosen't more the format will disappear any time soon.

[Elenril]

Two companies go in, one will lose, everyone knows this. So why not figure something out so both companies win, because it would be guaranteed. But they didn't do this. Uhm. Dumb?

So why did they not do that? Because Sony knows that they are the bigger company and they know they have the better name, because Blu-Ray is sexier sounding, easier to say and it sounds completely new since it doesn't have DVD in its name anywhere. Sony, being the bigger company, also has a boat load of cash, decent or possibly even better marketing know how and a good user base because of all the old people. (You know what I'm talking about, almost all of us have parents) So, instead of playing fair ball and seeing who the people would choose if the people felt and knew it didn't really matter who they picked, because there would be no negatives and only positives from buying from either company, they decided that "nah, we can win, and when we do, all the more money to us because the other company will be no-more." Uhm. Du... You know what? No. Thats just ****ing mean. Jerks.

Sorry to quote a massive paragraph there.

No. It's not dumb. It's not mean. It's retail. Retail and production of this sort of technology is all about MAKING MONEY. There is nothing more to it. None of this 'letting the other company win' or 'keep our competitors alive so we earn less money'. The two companies fought it out to eliminate eachother - while the other one exists, the less profit they will earn. If one company has the upper hand, or has more money, is more popular, or has better marketing, then of course they're going to use that to their advantage. They're not going to be 'nice' and let a competitor detract from their profits.

All retail is like this. Well, mostly anyway (Don't knock me, I know you're all going to start naming companies that actually care, but seriously - they don't. They just want you to keep coming back to buy from them). They will use ANY dirty underhand tricks to succeed, and as long as what they're selling is vaguely presentable, and people buy their products, then they're going to keep pushing to make as much money as possible.

Smaller companies will take care of their customers, so they have a reliable customer base so they can survive. Larger companies like Sony, quite frankly, do not give a flying ****, as long as they are making a massive profit.

[Zephik]

I know all of that. :)

Meh, I just like to complain about something from time to time, it makes me feel better. ^_-

[Luke122]

VHS vs Beta.. beta was better quality, VHS was cheaper/more widely adopted.

*shrug*

I agree that Blu-ray was more widely accepted because of the name.

[NightrainSrt4]

I agree that Blu-ray was more widely accepted because of the name.

Ya. I know a lot of older people that were completely confused by HD-DVD. Why would I need a new dvd player for something that is just a bit better picture? If its just better picture on the "same" disk, why do they cost more, id just stay with dvd instead of hd-dvd, i wont notice the difference. And then they'd say, well Blu-ray is new. Completely new tech. Its understandable that I would need a new player for it.

Family members and older friends of the family. I heard those same concerns from multiple different ones.

HD-DVD should have had a name that didn't have dvd in it. People question the worth to upgrade. Even there original, albeit quite bland name, Advanced Optical Disc would have been better off than HD-DVD I think.

[xRyokenx]

The logic of most people blows my mind away constantly...

Blu-ray... makes me think of a blue colored laser or something, not an optical disk, lol. But yeah... it's all looks and names when it comes to most people choosing a product though. Hmm...

[Aero]

The logic of most people blows my mind away constantly...

Blu-ray... makes me think of a blue colored laser or something, not an optical disk, lol. But yeah... it's all looks and names when it comes to most people choosing a product though. Hmm...

Actually both use a 405 nm laser, or "blue" color to fit more data per disk:P. Strangely enough, at the end of last year HD-DVD had a majority of the market. But with recent events, such as Warner deciding to release its movies on the Blu-ray format, and now Netflix's plan to also leave HD-DVD, I'm sure that will change. Toshiba claims they still stand behind their technology and they will not stop selling it. But with the movie studios favoring Blu-ray, I'm not sure what good that will do.

[crenn]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/16/toshiba-pulling-the-plug-on-hd-dvd-already/

[chaksq]

I hate these stupid tech wars. I don't buy into any new tech right away because of this BS. I thought HD-DVD was doing better than BluRay but I guess I'm wrong.

[crenn]

Oh well... I just hope blu-ray will fall in price.

[Drum Thumper]

Funny you should mention that crenn. Prices @ Newegg for blu ray burners have dropped ~$70 since the beginning of the month.

Like Crimson said, give it a couple of years and they'll be dirt cheap.

[crenn]

In Australia, Blu-ray prices have yet to drop. The Pioneer burner (can you tell I'm a fan of pioneer) is still around AUD$450.

I know the prices will drop, but currently the prices are half outrageous.

[xmastree]

VHS vs Beta.. beta was better quality, VHS was cheaper/more widely adopted.But beta tapes didn't last as long due to the tortuous path the tape was twisted through.

Anyway, I'm not really following the battle but I saw this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7252172.stm
and thought I'd drop it in.

"Toshiba has said it will stop making its high definition DVDs, ending a battle with rival format Blu-ray over which would be the industry standard."

"We made a quick decision, judging that there is no way of winning the competition"

"In the UK, DSGI, which owns the Currys chain, said it would stop selling HD DVD players after Toshiba's announcement."

[Aero]

well, maybe my HD-DVD player will be a piece of tech history. Although my 3 year extended warranty is a waste of money now.

Well, I'm gonna go out and buy all the HD-DVD's I can, they should be dirt cheap.