• AnyStream is having some DRM issues currently, Netflix is not available in HD for the time being.
    Situations like this will always happen with AnyStream: streaming providers are continuously improving their countermeasures while we try to catch up, it's an ongoing cat-and-mouse game. Please be patient and don't flood our support or forum with requests, we are working on it 24/7 to get it resolved. Thank you.

Yo Slysoft Guys...read THIS

SamuriHL:

Have you thought about the numbers behind the numbers?

BD: 1.7mln players (PS3 included) ~ 170,000 discs sold.

HD DVD: 485,000 players ~ 85, 000 discs sold.

Yes, BD outsells HD DVD 2:1.

But considering the players in existence, BD sells 1 disc to 10 players. HD DVD sells 1 disc to 5. So who is outselling whom?

DVD is outselling both of them combined and then some. :) The sad fact is that neither have come up with any kind of real market penetration. As someone in another forum put it, currently we're watching DVD-Audio vs SACD at this point. There is no REAL market for HD video yet. Contrary to what Sony may believe, not EVERYONE who buys a PS3 is going to care about Blu-Ray video. I didn't base my decision on sales numbers, however. I based my decision to get a PS3 on studio support. I couldn't care less how many people are buying what movie on what format. As long as I can get the movie in HD, that's all I care about. But I'm not a typical consumer. :) Paramount is betting that cheap HD DVD players coming out this Xmas season will entice Joe Six Pack to buy into HD DVD. They could be right. However, they could have easily enjoyed that success while still supporting Blu-Ray. So, I'm guessing the 150 million payoff theory is probably correct. Which means we're in this war for the long haul. Get your hybrid players fired up. That's my only advice...make sure you can play both and then let the studios worry about their war. Xmas 08 will be the hybrid player's time to shine.
 
Personally I work PC based and have one Plextor Blu ray and a Microsoft XBOX 360 HD DVD player, so I can play both formats on my pc. I think Blu ray has the technical benefits, but also some annoyances (region coding) extra - even if it also has some extra (albeit often useless) features due to BD-J. It seems to me Blu ray has the advantage on the marketing side too. HD DVD 's only benefit really seems to be that the players are cheaper and that it does not feature region coding + has less protection schemes. Now, these can change and for the latter part: not so interesting for the consumer, but much more interesting for the industry. In the end, if the prices of the Blu ray players go down. I think this is why Blu Ray will win. "Evil" Sony consortium or not... Anyway, my guess is time will tell..

For me the biggest annoyance lies in HDCP restrictions (even if they are illogical: no support for higher than HD resolution screens and multiple screens on a PC: I mean, how many people do not have more than one monitor attached? I guess the Asians didn't think that through very well when they designed it...) and region coding.

I'm all for dual format players by the way, there would be no sane reason for hardware makers not to make all round players available ...
 
I dislike Sony because of the rootkit scandal, which is more reason I want HD-DVD to win.
 
Interesting. Thanks for posting that. This really will lead to more consumer confusion. As much as "some people" (cough James cough :)) hates Blu-Ray, it was nice to have what we thought was an emerging winner in this idiotic war. Now we've only prolonged the inevitable. Consumers are very likely to "tune out" as this makes picking a format very difficult.
 
Interesting. Thanks for posting that. This really will lead to more consumer confusion. As much as "some people" (cough James cough :)) hates Blu-Ray, it was nice to have what we thought was an emerging winner in this idiotic war. Now we've only prolonged the inevitable. Consumers are very likely to "tune out" as this makes picking a format very difficult.

Yes I agree but I am glad this article got out before the holiday sales too as then the end consumer would be outraged if that particular format died out. I am hoping for HD-DVD to win but really to be honest if the BD+ has the extras like the HD-DVD Discs do then I think that will most likely dominate the market. JMHO
 
both will win

Both formats will survive and smart buyers will buy "combo players" that companies like LG make. The reason both will survive is in order to get every movie available you'll need a combo player as some will be released on blue ray and some hd dvd.
 
Combo, or hybrid, players are definitely going to be the way to go for consumers, but, at a grand right now they are *WAY* out of the price range of most people. Once the hybrid players are below 300 bucks and have both the finalized BD spec and the HDi spec, then you're good to go. Screw the war. The consumer should not suffer as a result.
 
The consumer should not suffer as a result.

The consumer always suffers and then is told that all the pain inflicted is because Big Brother is giving them something better and something that everyone simply must have.

It's time for the consumers to shove everything right back up Big Brother's ***...

I understand people getting an XBox & a PS3 for watching both formats and not necessarily supporting either standard. But, indirectly, you are part of the war. You are giving the industry money and they are laughing at you, IMHO.

I say F them. I won't buy either format until I feel the cost is justified and they have their act together. I will not be forced into a decision or screwed later because I decided to adopt early.

Do I want to own a player and see HD or BR content? Heck yeah! I feel left out but I'm not going to let my desire override my brain or my wallet. I don't feel the PS3 is a reasonably priced system to begin with and I also couldn't just buy an XBox HD-DVD drive because I do not own an XBox 360 and my system specs would simply make using the drive not worth the cost even if it is cheap.

No offense meant toward early adopters, btw. I just feel that the format camps need to prove why they are deserving of my money. Right now I'm not really seeing it and with a prolonged war, changing battle lines, different content on different formats, etc that I, as a consumer, am nothing more than a pawn and they just are out to screw me out of my money. I say let them starve.

PS: Yeah, I'm in an opinionated mood today ;)
 
Last edited:
And that is why I believe that everyone suffers until a *CHEAP* hybrid player hits the market. That is the ONLY way the consumer wins now. Once they have that player it no longer matters who supports what format. Stick the disc in the player and you're watching HD movies. That's what the consumer wants and will eventually get no matter what the studios say.
 
just to add my two cents and more of a fun comment.

Name 1 sony devised standard we are using.
I be interested if we are. I can think of lots of things they tried to get us to buy so they can charge more but id like to know if someone can think of something.

;)

Come on HD DVD i say....
 
just to add my two cents and more of a fun comment.

Name 1 sony devised standard we are using.
I be interested if we are.

DAT as in Digital Audio Tape. It's losing ground to newer methods but the last I knew it was still used in the the music, TV, and film industries to some extent.

Sony has a pretty sad track record in trying to create standards. Frankly, minus DAT which I do actually have some experience with all the Sony attempts at standards totally suck, IMHO.
 
And that is why I believe that everyone suffers until a *CHEAP* hybrid player hits the market. That is the ONLY way the consumer wins now. Once they have that player it no longer matters who supports what format. Stick the disc in the player and you're watching HD movies. That's what the consumer wants and will eventually get no matter what the studios say.

My concern is how long that will take. If it takes too long for an affordable hybrid player then the war might be over before it even has a chance to penetrate the market.
 
My concern is how long that will take. If it takes too long for an affordable hybrid player then the war might be over before it even has a chance to penetrate the market.
They won't become affordable until Blu-Ray is really affordable. It's gonna be a while.
 
My concern is how long that will take. If it takes too long for an affordable hybrid player then the war might be over before it even has a chance to penetrate the market.

I've predicted Xmas 08 for hybrids to take off. Reason? In the US Feb 09 it's mandated that we all switch to digital tv. Note, a LOT of people take that to mean HDTV which is *NOT* true. Nonetheless, since that's the prevailing attitude, a lot of people will opt for a new TV next holiday season in preparation. You release a sub 300 dollar hybrid player in fall 08 and that is when we'll start to see both formats take off like a rocket. Until late next year, however, don't expect to see hybrid's below 500 bucks. It's VERY unlikely to happen.
 
They won't become affordable until Blu-Ray is really affordable. It's gonna be a while.

Actually, I've heard rumors of Blu-Ray players dropping significantly to counter the sub 200 dollar HD DVD players from China this Xmas. I could easily see a low end 300 dollar Blu-Ray player being released in November.
 
Actually, I've heard rumors of Blu-Ray players dropping significantly to counter the sub 200 dollar HD DVD players from China this Xmas. I could easily see a low end 300 dollar Blu-Ray player being released in November.
Even $300 doesn't seem really affordable to me. The hybrid would still be $500 atleast though.
 
Even $300 doesn't seem really affordable to me. The hybrid would still be $500 atleast though.

I agree. Until both formats hit the under 200 mark, Average Joe Consumer is not going to care about either format. HD DVD is going to get there first. It's POSSIBLE the Blu-Ray hardware guys will take a hit and drop prices faster to catch up and reduce the perceived cost benefit of HD DVD. With this latest Paramount/Dreamworks announcement, that seems rather likely. Imagine a 300 dollar Blu-Ray player with a 100 dollar rebate for this fall. I could very easily see it happening. Still expensive, but, getting closer.
 
I agree. Until both formats hit the under 200 mark, Average Joe Consumer is not going to care about either format. HD DVD is going to get there first. It's POSSIBLE the Blu-Ray hardware guys will take a hit and drop prices faster to catch up and reduce the perceived cost benefit of HD DVD. With this latest Paramount/Dreamworks announcement, that seems rather likely. Imagine a 300 dollar Blu-Ray player with a 100 dollar rebate for this fall. I could very easily see it happening. Still expensive, but, getting closer.
I wish I could remember when DVD first came out in like 1996 or 1997 like HD-DVD and Blu-Ray but I am too young to remember. Was DVD really pricey too? Anyways, I think the $200 HD-DVD players later in the year will help a lot of people get into the new generation.
 
I wish I could remember when DVD first came out in like 1996 or 1997 like HD-DVD and Blu-Ray but I am too young to remember. Was DVD really pricey too? Anyways, I think the $200 HD-DVD players later in the year will help a lot of people get into the new generation.

Really pricey? YEAAAAAA, that's an understatement. When the PS2 came out for 299 in 2000 people were freaking cause they thought it'd KILL the DVD player stand alone market. At that point stand alone players were still around 500 bucks or so. That's 3 years after the release of DVD!! After the PS2 came out, cheap players started flooding the market and a year or two later the chinese brands like Apex came out with really cheap players. The same kind of thing is happening now, only at a super accelerated pace. Instead of 3 years to get to a 200-300 dollar price point, we're looking at a year and a half to 2 years. That's insane. So, rest assured, prices will continue to drop like a rock. Give it time.
 
Back
Top