Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Warner Bro's Goes Blu-ray Exclusive

If the HD DVD combo disc cost $3 more than the SD DVD would have cost, you consider that getting screwed? You paying $3 more for an HD capable disc, sounds like a good deal to me. And you're future proofed.

Exactly, only HD DVD has the lower hand, so they can't pull the same crap.

It's not future proofing if the format dies. Forcing a failing format on people isn't going to endear you, no matter if it's only $3 more. If HD DVD goes this route, they have to make the price exactly the same as DVD and put out a HUGE informational marketing push so people aren't confused. I really don't know if they have the energy left for such a rally.

I'm not really on either side, but why would you think they forced it on people? Didn't HD DVD try just as hard to woo studios? Basically, the market decided. It's all happened before: Betamax,
Harvard Graphics, Improv, MCIMail, Compuserve, Geos operating system, Ventura publisher, OS/2, Lotus 123, WordPerfect, Dbase, Borland, on and on and on went the way of the dodo bird.

In some cases, marketing won, in others, superior technology won.

I think for the most part, the market decided. And if Warner declared its allegiance to Bluray before Christmas, people would have hounded them for trying to tank HD DVD during the busiest shopping season.

I do find it interesting that people have such strong feelings about Bluray vs HD DVD. I remember when AVS shut down the forums because people were going nuts (from what I read). For me, either would have been fine. HD DVD was more ready now, but Bluray probably have more future potential. Whether that comes to fruition or not, is a different debate.

I bought the XA2, their flagship player. But I don't think it's money wasted. It upscales nicely, and I can enjoy my HD DVDs from netflix - for now. Ironically, my five free HD DVD's came today. My free Bluray movies came about two months earlier. (bought both at the same time).

Hansang, this is meant to answer your question and just continue the discussion. Take nothing personal from anything below. It just seems like so many people have fallen into the marketing monster of Sony and blindly believe everything like another 4-letter word I know..... BOSE. More Money Through Better Marketing....

Sony put the Blu-Ray in the PS3 even though most gamers that wanted the latest PlayStation didn't care for a Blu-Ray drive and according to market reports would have rather had a less expensive machine. (This has actually bit Sony in the butt with them in a distant 3rd place in the current console gaming system race. XBox 360 didn't wait for HD-DVD, and they got to market 1 year before Sony because Sony waited for the Blu-Ray drive, and now there are 3 times as many XBox 360 owners as PS3 owners. Put the Wii in there, and the PS3 is in 3rd place. A HUGE blow to Sony since the PS2 was the "king" before.)

Then Sony had the marketing lies about "more capacity", "better video and sound resolution than other HD formats", and with their "deals" with movie studios to lock out HD-DVD, it DOES force their technology. Sure, if Blu-Ray was the better of the two formats, it would be great, but it has been argued for years by people that aren't easily wowed by the better sounding "name" of Blu-Ray over boring sounding HD-DVD, that Blu-Ray was the inferior format for a long time, still isn't finalized (lack of compatibility for newer titles and older machines, Blu-Ray costs more to make both in the hardware and the discs, and so on...

If the "market" had decided, and if the "market" had the facts, then the "market" would not have picked Blu-Ray, but what choice did Sony give the "market"? (wow, that's a lot of quotes)

* Disclaimer, I know that there is more than just Sony at play here, but Sony was the one brokering the deals for the most part, and footing the cash, as well as the ones directly doing the marketing lies. If their format truly was superior, then why didn't they let the facts be what they are and truly LET the "market" decide?

I must be getting cranky in my old age... I think that I am 35 going on 65 sometimes. Maybe I need a new hobby... Naw... I just need it to get warm enough outside to play more paintball with my team and really get some aggression out.

I always felt HD-DVD should have been called HDVD or E-DVD(Extended DVD) it easier to say. It's that one extra letter that has always bugged me. After all what is high def now won't be in a few years.

No, it will still be high-definition. It just won't be ultra high-definition.

Personally, I'm waiting for this.

Hey, nice PSA. Thanks!

RED Sarge - "This year Blu-Ray is gonna be Red-Ray..."

GOLD Sarge - "What about HD-DVD?"

RED Sarge - "Bad marketing. Not enough repeated letters in the name to be catchy. So it's being replaced with HHD-DVVDD-BVD."


Great stuff!