Topic: Is the war over ?

[Touti]

You guys might want to read that before buying a HD-DVD Player.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/content/view/2235/206/

If Paramount announces a move to support Blue-Ray, Universal will be the only studio left on the side of HD-DVD which would probably mean the end of the format.  Why would you want to buy a player for which movies may never come out.

I think DigitalHome's advice of waiting at least several months is a good one.

[m.cellophane]

Why would you want to buy a player for which movies may never come out.

I already have about 50 HD DVDs, and I'm using the Xbox add-on player to watch them. So if I could upgrade cheaply to a stand-alone player before they go away, I would. That would give me more options for playing my HD DVD coasters. 

I also still have a functioning laserdisc player. 

[Achim]

Now that the war is almost over, but the dust still needs still to settle, I'll be putting myself in the market for a Blu Ray player (*sigh*, I somehow wanted HD DVD to win). It seems all is coming together nicely though, as the Profile 2.0 has just been announced and by May, when I may purchase something, players should be available.

As of Sunday I am in the market for a LCD TV. Size somewhere around 50", budget somewhere around $100,000 (New Taiwan Dollars, of course, I am not entirely crazy). Sadly I haven't followed all the discussions close enough, so I have some reading to do. Then again, I guess there's nothing wrong with going to a shop and look at what's there...

[Halo2]

ya-shin,

We just got a Toshiba Regza 42LX177 for the family room. Cost was just over $1,800(US) after tax, but we got a 5 year extended warranty for free. My wife was tired of the 27" CRT and wanted to leap-frog past the 30" LCD I have. Next she wants me to get a 19" or 20" with built in DVD for her office. When she does that, my 30" NEC will be the oldest TV in the house.

http://www.regzalcdtv.com/ Here's a link to their site if you want to look at the specs on the models.

[Achim]

Thanks! Toshiba is certainly one of the brands I'll be looking into. ninehours previously presented his new TV here and I liked what I saw. Another one I'll be looking at will be Sharp. those kind of brands are more expensive, but I also think you get what you pay for...

Another thing I'll have to look out for a little bit is that the remote as well as the onscreen menus are in English not Chinese (the latter should be the smaller problem, actually).

[lovemunkey187]

Interesting - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7187179.stm

Ya_shin: I've got a 50" Panasonic Viera Plasma  . Couldn't be happier.

 :yahoo:It's fudging fantastic .

[lyonsden5]

Why would you want to buy a player for which movies may never come out.

I already have about 50 HD DVDs, and I'm using the Xbox add-on player to watch them. So if I could upgrade cheaply to a stand-alone player before they go away, I would. That would give me more options for playing my HD DVD coasters. 

I don't have 50 but I have quite a few and will probably get a few more HD exclusive titles at the soon to be fire sales. It would beniceto have something besides my 360 add-on to play them on.


@ Achim - good luck and have fun! I always enjoy shopping for new toys. I've been shopping for my new TV for over a year now 

[Achim]

Interesting - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7187179.stm

thanks! I am more or less aware of this and will therefore wait a little while with the purchase of a player. The first players with the Profile 2, or BD Live as it's called now, are being announced these days and should be available towards the middle of the year.

Ya_shin: I've got a 50" Panasonic Viera Plasma  . Couldn't be happier.

While I personally tend towards LCD (technology has caught up quite a bit), you have a fine looking TV there! I would really like to go for "as large as I can", so I was looking for that chart James had posted once or twice, which helped determining the right size of the TV in relation to the viewing distance. Couldn't find it I don't really think a TV can be "way too big", but in my current appartment I will be sitting approx. 7-8 feet from the screen and am wondering if a 50" screen will be maybe slightly oversized...

@ Achim - good luck and have fun! I always enjoy shopping for new toys. I've been shopping for my new TV for over a year now 

I don't plan to take that long, really. Although deciding too quick is not too good, a friend of mine suggested to get it within the next three weeks, so I can enjoy it during the week of Chinese New Year, when I will spend several days at home... We'll see. It's a lot of money and I don't want to spend it too hasty, but the prospect of a week of big screen entertainment sound cool (no hi def yet, though).

[Touti]

The problem i see with this "profile" thing is that every time they come out with a new version the price of the player will be high because it's gonna be sold as new technology.

[Achim]

Yeah, that is probably right... (but isn't it always the same, not just for Blu Ray?) But I'd hope that the Profile 2 is pretty much the last step for the time being, I mean the last step to making them all fully functional at least.

[Touti]

It's never over until it's over !

Apparently Paramount published a news release last week denying that they were  gonna and move to the Blu-Ray format.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/betaville/news/1701860/

[Touti]

Another brick in HD-DVD's pond.  NetFlix, USA's largest online dvd rentals announced that they will withdraw HD-DVD from their catalog and only offer Blu-Ray.

At the same time, Best Buy announced that they plan on giving Blu Ray a better exposure in their stores and recommend it to their customers over HD-DVD.

[Najemikon]

It looks like the HD camp are putting a brave face on it, but surely there is no way back from this?

[Touti]

I think the Warner's announcement a few weeks ago pretty much sealed the coffin.  I'm actually surprised that Paramount didn't use the clause in their contract to follow.

The thing is that when it comes to Studios it's all a matter of who's sleeping with who and what secret deals one can get from either the BR or HDDVD camp.  Since it was obvious that no studio would keep supporting both formats everybody could see a day coming where they would announce their side.

For a DVD Rental business however it's a completely different thing because if they no longer offer HD-DVD there are movies that their clients will not be able to rent and that surely is enough for many to switch provider and go with a competing rental service.  Surely the people at Netflix aren't all stupid and they are aware of this so I would guess that if they made such a decision it's because they feel it's best for them to loose a few customer than keep buying large quantities of movies in a format that will generate little amount of rentals.

That in my opinion is a clear sign that HD-DVD is dead, when somebody decides that you're product is not worth selling (renting in this case) anymore you are pretty much out of the market.

[Najemikon]

Yes, I think HD-DVD has already had a sneaky little look around the retirement home and picked his spot near where Betamax and VHS meet up to chat about the old days. How silly their past differences seem now! LaserDisc keeps trying to escape, insisting people still want him. And VideoCD is just as bonkers, trying to get the old karaoke machine to work so he can show everyone what he was really good at...