So, who is winning the HD war ?
I'm not that interested in the HD format war because I do not have a television that is HD Ready and do not plan to buy one in the near future. Maybe that is one of the reasons why I feel a little bit lost about the success or failure of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players and movies. It is however not only a choice of choosing or owning the right tv, it is also important to know the differences of the formats as well.
I thought that I'm going to discuss it with you. What are your thoughts about both formats? Do you think that Blu-Ray is in the lead, maybe because of the boost after the release of the Playstation 3 by Sony? Or is it the HD-DVD format that you think will win this war.
A possible third scenario would be that both formats will get their share of the market or that hybrid players will take over once their availability rises and prices drop. I personally can't see that one or the other format is currently leading by a large margin and this is probably one of the reasons why many consumers refrain from buying such a player at the moment.
I feel confused that some movie studios for instance only support one of the players which should be a major point of consideration for everyone who buys such a player these days. So, who is winning the HD war?
Update: While the format war is over, with Blu-Ray the winner, it is not really something that helped Sony a lot in recent time. The rise of digital downloads and streaming services seems to have put a dent into the business model. While it is still doing ok, it is not doing as well as DVD before it.
Quite the contrary, DVD is still a popular format which comes down to several factors including price and availability, and the fact that many still do not have TVs supporting HD.
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In all honesty I think digital downloads are going to kill the disc substrate within a few years.
Sales are one factor of course but others could weight in heavily. Did you read the recent news that at least two new Blue-Ray DVDs would not play on all Blue-Ray players unless the firmware would be updated ?
Besides that not all firmwares could be updated it is ridiculous to think that the majority of users will be able to (and want to) do this.
If what Remy K says is true (Blue-ray outseeling HD-DVD 3 to 1) then Blue-ray is currently the winner; the scoreboard is based on demand.
HD-DVD has to win. People know what HD is and they know what DVD\’s are, put them together and you have HD DVD\’s. Blu-ray wtf is that? Also as in VHS vs Beta, Sony said no to porn, which they also did for Blu-ray. Porn is the king of all media, that is going to do Sony in again. You know they are going to have HD next gen porn, and it\’s not going to be on Blu-ray, so HD DVD will be around. Also the price point of $199 for a Toshiba HD DVD with 5 movies you pick out of 15 vs $599 for a Panasonic Blu-ray with 5 movies that come prepackaged, what looks more appealing. Everyone is saying Blu-ray is winning as of the month of December, well yeah that\’s because it just came out, give it some time. also when Wal-mart gets their act together and buys 20 million HD players from Japan to sell for dirt cheap, that will also turn the tide. I think it\’s just a matter of time before HD DVD comes out on top. I have seen Toshiba\’s a20 on an XBR2 vs Sony\’s player on the XBR2, and the HD DVD player was more consistent and everyone at Best Buy agreed it looked better. So better looks, better price, porn, and oh did I mention half of the movies have a combo format on them?
I’m sure, that user’s will lost first ;]
There will be lot of people who will buy “wrong” player. Existance of two standards would be very hard I think. It’s not the same diffrence like between DVD+R and DVD-R. Good think is, there will be a big competition.
From what I heard from the AfterDawn.com, Blu-ray currently holds a stranglehold on the HD movie market, outselling HD-DVD by more than 3 to 1. So, if you wanna base it on that, then blu-ray is the current winner.
However, for my money? I’ll start caring about HD when the players become affordable, that and when a universal format is released / one of the competitors bows out. I really do think this will end up like the betamax/VHS formats, with one just dying out and the other one becoming THE format.
I mean, currently, there isn’t a single Blu-ray player that meets the “Mandatory” performance profile. And HD-DVD sales are just in a major slump.
I don’t know, I think they expect consumers to stick with a brand because of a name, but I’m going to stay with the content developers. The day that DVD players can’t be easily bought, and all that’s left are affordable HD players, maybe I’ll buy one. Not just me, but everyone else who just wants to watch movies, and doesn’t care about the format.
I think the DVD will outlive both HD-DVD and Blueray and will wait for the next HD format.
I personally am doing my bit to advance the format of HD-DVD by Toshiba. Not that it’s superior to Blueray or any similar concerns. But because I am totally P.O.’d by Sony’s underhanded rootkit infestation on their music CD’s. And I definitely cannot trust Sony not to do something similar on their Blueray crap. This is why I had purchased an HD-DVD player and an HD-DVD drive. Of course, this bit of personal evangelism is made easier by the fact that both HD-DVD and Blueray costs about the same right now :)