"Blu-ray Disc" vs. "HD DVD": Neither Is Winning

[Brian Ellis]

DVDs for ever!

[Hulk]

and ever and ever!

[Jerry Jones]

Amazing:

http://tinyurl.com/2x22j4

Netflix' movie streaming is fine if you're OK with watching movies on your computer, but LG's planning on integrating hardware into their TVs to allow you to watch those same films in your living room. The NYT says LG and Netflix have reached a deal to be announced at CES to allow integration via its HD DVD/Blu-ray combo players as well as a TV line with Wi-Fi that will stream stuff straight from the internet.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

Check out the ports on the back of this new ArchosTV+ device:

http://gizmodo.com/photogallery/archostv+/1000405924

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Hulk]

I guess we're still "doing" this one. Okay.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10192

According to ABI Research the high definition market in computers will be worth $2 billion USD by 2012. ABI says that the vast majority of that market, a full two-thirds to be exact, will consist of universal high definition drives capable of reading both HD DVD and Blu-ray formats.

[Jerry Jones]

Brand new New York Times article:

http://tinyurl.com/2vkwqk

In the DVD War Over High Definition, Most Buyers Are Sitting It Out
By ERIC A. TAUB
Published: December 31, 2007
What if nobody wins the high-definition DVD format wars? That increasingly looks to be the situation for the next-generation DVD technology, which is available to consumers in two incompatible formats.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[paulw]

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-01-04-warner-brothers-blu-ray_N.htm

This doesn't look good for the HD DVD camp.. WB going Blu-ray

[Hulk]

More bad news for HD-DVD fans.

Looks like the writing is on the wall.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10234

[paulw]

If BD does win then I'm out of the Hidef DVD scene until region free players at $500 or less hit the market here. I spent $750 on my first DVD player but I waited until they were region free off the shelf. In the US region coding means nothing as you can buy movies at the same price as they are now but outside the US we pay a premium at present for Hidef stuff and Amazon is about half price of the local product. I bet the BoGoF will dry up very quickly now at the likes of Amazon..

[Hulk]

Paul,

That is interesting I never knew why people were always concerned about region free. I think HD-DVD will hang around for quite a while since they are cheaper to press and quite a few movies are already on that format. Plus with dual format players the format is becoming a mute point.

You could always use AnyDVD HD to play HD discs from any region right?

[Jerry Jones]

You, me and millions of other consumers have already decided to take ourselves out of the high definition DVD "scene" for various reasons.

For me, the reason is that I seek an advanced technology experience.

Optical discs -- even high definition optical discs -- are a legacy technology.

The new paradigm is hard disks, flash disks, and wireless streaming.

Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD have both lost.

They're both as dead as DISC-o.

(They just don't know it, yet.)



Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

If BD does win then I'm out of the Hidef DVD scene until region free players at $500 or less hit the market here. I spent $750 on my first DVD player but I waited until they were region free off the shelf. In the US region coding means nothing as you can buy movies at the same price as they are now but outside the US we pay a premium at present for Hidef stuff and Amazon is about half price of the local product. I bet the BoGoF will dry up very quickly now at the likes of Amazon..

[Hulk]

Jerry,

Is that why Walmart cancelled it's download service?

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSN2726104120071228?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

[Jerry Jones]

That's easy.

Wal-Mart retreated from downloads because Wal-Mart wasn't doing it correctly.

Apple is doing it correctly.

Watch for news on the Apple iTunes front in the days ahead.



Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[paulw]

Paul,

That is interesting I never knew why people were always concerned about region free. I think HD-DVD will hang around for quite a while since they are cheaper to press and quite a few movies are already on that format. Plus with dual format players the format is becoming a mute point.

You could always use AnyDVD HD to play HD discs from any region right?

Most likley but that would involve buying a PC Blu-ray drive which at present cost more here that a BD DVD player.. But then who wants to watch movies on a PC??

[Mehen]

The end is near. Maybe that will mean an end to this thread too

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/08/hd-dvd-declared-dead

Another nail hangs over HD-DVD's coffin
Paramount poised to jump ship

By Dean Pullen: Tuesday, 08 January 2008, 9:24 AM


A REPORT in the Financial Times declares that Paramount has a clause in its HD-DVD exclusivity contract allowing the company to bail from HD-DVD if Warner defected to Blu-ray, and that Paramount is 'poised' to do so.
...