Well Bill Gates came the other day to Japan to do some business and he had a meeting with Toshiba President and agreed that he will support HD-DVD.Not sure about Blue-Ray.And Maybe X-Box 360 Next Gen will have a HD-DVD player capabilities

It's sad, isn't it? When DVD was introduced to the market a big fear of many, many buyers was 'DVD rot', and the public was assured that the media can last for decades......yet less than 10 years after it's introduction the industry is chomping at the bit to make those old DVDs obsolete, regardless of how long they can last.

I'm sitting this one out until I can buy a player in the $250 range and pick up disc titles at prices comparable to what we pay today. Like Brian, I'm sitting in my home theater enjoying what I have until then. I have no faith in the industry making the most of the technology for years to come anyway. Oh, there will be some incredible releases in the coming days, if for no other reason than to capture the consumer's desire to make the switch....but I bet many titles won't look much better than their DVD counterparts. We see striking instances of this today, constant upgrades of this and that title for better PQ, proper aspect ratio. To be honest I don't think DVD has reached it's full potential and if there were no advent of HD, standard DVD could improve in the years to come. Take titles like Concert For George, Blade II, The Incredibles, Lowry digital releases and pop them into a player in a home theater setup......just how much better does a release need to be than that? Those titles didn't need an HD release to look and sound terrific at a low price, nor do many others when given the proper care. HD will have incredible potential, but I'm betting we'll see rereleases of many of the first titles down the road improving on their original HD releases.

Thing is, though, it's not like our present DVDs will be obsolete. Most players will have the ability to upconvert for HDTV. Really, the only difference is the space on discs, which could be used for more extras. I don't think the consumer is getting screwed here.

I already have an XBox, if they would have included HD-DVD in the 360 box, then I would have bought it.

So, I am going to buy the PS3, this way I can play games for both boxes and I will have blue ray HD - good deal.

We all get screwed when marketing convinces people to upgrade, even when there is no valid reason to. It segments the market, divides consumers, retailers and manufacturers. The average person cannot keep the terminology and the technology straight today, imagine adding another two formats.

I'm happy with what I have and I forsee that I will still be happy five years from now.

Yes it is sad, especially when marketing and hype convince people to buy something they don't need or even understand.

Wait the average person finds out that they need a new dvd player that may or may not connect to their TV and that their current DVD's aren't HD (yes I know people that believe that now) and you are going to see a huge mess.

Not to mention the fact that studios and retailers will be stealing shelf space from themselves to market a marginally better product (to the average person).

Sure there is reason to upgrade. If you want HD quality picture and sound then that's more than enough reason to upgrade. The problem with this whole mess is the competing formats. That's what'll kill this push forward.

For the average person?

What's average anymore? It used to be only high end audio/videophiles could afford good quality HT gear. Now, anyone can get a decent RPTV for about a grand, and even an LCD/DLP for about 2 grand. Even those prices are expected to come down by the end of the year about 25% or so. So, the "average" consumer may not adopt early (as was the case w/ DVD), but it will happen slowly and then pick up steam.

Then we will have to agree to disagree.

The early adopters will be mad about the buggy first generation players and lack of titles. The average consumer will be confused about what is wrong with their existing equipment and why they are being to to upgrade and the "joe-six-packs" will continue to sit on the sidelines and buy the $5.50 dvd's from WalMart because they will be too confused to care.

Imagine walking into a local big box store and asking the nearest "salesperson" to explain the difference between these dvd's here and those over there (the HD ones).

Good luck!

HD-DVD Members: http://www.hddvdprg.com/about/member.html

Blu-Ray Members: http://www.blu-raydisc.com/Section-13469/Index.html

You will notice that Microsoft appears on NEITHER page. This is because they have not offically pledged support for either. Both are using a Microsoft codec.

For the average person, DVD looks great, it's cheap to rent discs, cheap to buy players upon which to play them, and they can use their present television sets to do so. To me that's the kicker here for Joe Consumer. He's not only going to have to get a new player but also a new TV just to enjoy HD-DVD. Joe Consumer has kids to feed, house payments to make and a spouse who may be more than happy with the DVDs they already have. Lots of us won't have that problem but most will for some time to come.
I hope HD-DVD becomes the main media we buy our movies on, but they sure are going about the process in an insane way even before their introduction. Competing formats, pushing back deadlines, talking about $1000 initial players. If they want HD to catch on quick- and I think they will- they'll need to do some inspired marketing.

The Playstation 3 will tip the war towards Blu Ray

It may, but the big deal will be the price on them. If the price is pushed way up to include the Blu-Ray, it may have a tougher chance. And if the PS3 comes out considerably later than HD-DVD players, it may not have much influence.

My biggest concern on the PS3 is that it is currently slated to have a 1x BR drive. Forgetting movies, this will not work well for massive environment games like GTA because the disc won't keep up with the game. I have to assume that the problem will be worked out before release, however.

Also, the current DVD to HD-DVD or BR is not a huge leap to most people. The definition they had on VHS was worse than what they got from regular TV, and the DVD was better. The HD will be better as well, but only with the right equipment, etc. It will take some time to catch on.

Not true.

http://gear.ign.com/articles/638/638671p1.html

The last sentence of that article:

"Sony still has yet to announce an official read speed for its drive, but we'll keep you posted as soon as more info is available."

My thoughts on the issues brought up.

1. I agree with those saying that the HD DVD formats will have a tough time catching on. The average person isn't going to buy an HDTV any time soon, much less want to buy a new DVD player and a new type of DVDs. This format war will slow things even further. My current predictions is that these will not get past laserdisc niche market status.

2. I agree the PS3 will tip the scales in favor of Blu-ray. It will be out either next spring or fall and likely cost no more than $400 (can't see them pricing it higher than the X-box 360).

3. Read speed won't matter as I think we'll see few (if any) games on blu-ray discs. There are still PS2 games coming out on CDs and to my knowledge there are no games on it or the X-box that have even used the second layer of a DVD. They just don't need more space, especially since full motion video cutscenes have all but died in favor of cutscenes using the in game graphics engine.

1. couldn't agree more. If they don't get their act together, we will be on to the holographic format before the majority of people bother with HD.

2. I hope you are right about price. I agree, but sometimes when Sony says things like, "this is an entertainment centerpiece" etc., I get worried that they are using code for "get out the payment plan." I know your feelings regarding console costs, but I would rather pay more and have a system without compromise. I worry Sony will go without a hard drive, etc. etc. to control costs to the detriment of the system. But it is way too early to worry about that.

3. Excellent point. If Microsoft wants to hurt Sony they need to make sure their games are priced in accordance with old technology compared to BR games, etc. They won't, but that is what they should do. I think the BR is major overkill for game discs, but it is a smart move to include it assuming the format survives.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2005/09...neer_BRD-101A/

The first Pioneer BD drive at 2X. Possible 4X by the time PS3 comes out?

Toshiba thinking about delaying US launch of HD-DVD til next year:

http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/09/01/dhdvd/index.php

A scaleback of the launch was already announced in the WSJ 3 weeks ago. This is not surprising news.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=26057

Not sure what the point of spending money on a disc which can only hold 2GB more than current discs, but looks like Microsoft may have choosen their corner.

That's 5 HD disc formats so far. I think. Not including sub-formats like single vs dual layer versions of them. This won't be confusing, though.

The slow death of HD-DVD before it even got started. Oh well. Toshiba et all better get their act together, or some other company will bring out an even better DVD version at only $15 a DVD. Technology is swift and non-forgiving.

Intel and Microsoft have sided with HD-DVD. Interesting move, but these companies don't make the drives or the software being played on the drives. Not sure what their weight will do for HD-DVD.

http://www.macobserver.com/article/2005/09/27.5.shtml