I hear they are vastly, vastly superior to DVDs.

But at what point will they come into the market place?

Will we need to buy a new player or will our old one work? If not will the new player allow us to play our old DVDs.

Will the studios really risk consumer backlash by making a new format when the DVDs are so ridiculously successful for them?

your quess is as good as anyone's, I think no availability or such has been confirmed either of hd-dvd (aod) or the crappy blu-ray

What many people expect and believe is that players might be available late this year (at huge prices) with 2005 being when players and even some movies might start getting available. However I'd be suprised to see hd-dvd being mainstream earlier than 2007, in the meantime I guess they will position them in the niche market for about double/tripple the price of an ordinary dvd

the new player will be able to play our current dvds just fine, hd-dvd has this in the spec and recently this backward functionality has been added to blu-ray as well I think

what is the 1st hd-dvd movie on hd-dvd player is going to OOP?

Don't know who you heard from, but HD-DVDs aren't even finalized in terms of specs yet and haven't been produced yet, so no one has seen or heard them yet. The initial buzz on them is that they'll be nice for audiophiles/videphiles and for extras. But... HD-DVDs could easily go the way of Laserdisc (a niche market). Check the many threads for more discussions on them.

Danol?

All Your Base...

I seriously doubt if HD-DVD will catch on, unless the players come within the next year, are cheap and backward compatible. It's more likely that a whole new format will come out before HD-DVD has a chance to be successful. I mean, how many people buy DVHS?

I think it makes more sense backwards:

"?POO ot gniog si reyalp dvd-dh no eivom dvd-dh ts1 eht si tahw"

...now its just total nonsense and we don't have to try to make any sense of it. Not to mention that it says POO at the beginning.

Nice... you said POO

Shannon, I believe you will be mistaken. HDTV's are primarily used for DVD viewing. That in and of itself allows for easy transition to the new format. DVD players with DVI outputs are doing really well.

Without a doubt, HD-DVD will be backwards compatible with DVD. They will not cost much more than standard DVDs. If the players initially arrive in the $300 range, I would not be surprised.

Problem with tape is that it's much more expensive to manufacture and duplicate than disc. People don't want the tape format anymore- that's primarily why DVHS will never be anything more than a niche format.

Once enough people have HDTV, they'll be clamoring for pre-recorded HD media. I believe we will see the first HD-DVD movies within 3-5yrs.

it may catch on but i doubt all the old movies or even some old tv shows will be converted to hd-dvd and sold again

Not sure if you are referring to hardware or software, but Blu-ray recorders (technically not HD "DVD") have been available for sale in Japan since late last year. No software yet, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some Sony/Columbia titles available in Japan sometime this year. The US market is another story though.

At any rate, when HD DVDs finally do come out, they will most likely be a niche market (just like laserdiscs were) for quite some time (and probably more expensive than DVDs). For the average person, DVDs look "good enough", and this will remain the case until HDTVs have a much larger market penetration.

Laserdisc hardware was expensive to begin with, and didn't become affordable for years; the discs were expensive too, and it remained a niche format.

DVD hardware prices were reasonable a few months after the introduction, and software prices reasonable...and the market for them took off. Somebody had foresight.

Hopefully HD-DVD will be run on the same principle.

even when it's here...SELECTED TITLES ONLY. anyone thinking that they will have to replace ALL of their titles/dvds...is wasting time stressing over nothing. many..MANY films will never see the light on HD-DVD....and for good reason. I think I'll have around 2,000 dvds and 1 or 200 special HD-DVDS...if that many. now I think I'll put away the crystal ball and just enjoy what I have now. because it's what I'll have then, too.

I'm going to quote this back to you in five years.

That's what people said about DVD five years ago - just replace "DVDs" in your post above with "VHS tapes" or "laserdiscs."

Yes, there will be some titles that never see the light of day - there are some titles that haven't seen DVD yet - but it seems likely that HD-DVD will eventually be the norm and DVD will go away for new releases.

I don't plan on replacing my entire DVD collection - but I'm sure once I start regularly buying HD-DVDs that my new purchases of low-def DVDs will cease. And yes, I'll triple-dip on some titles, like Pulp Fiction and Top Gun.

Anyway, I don't get how anyone could call Blu-Ray "crappy" - have you seen it yet? It looks phenomenal.

Blu-Ray will likely beat HD-DVD to the non-recordable software market, and then the format war will be in full swing.

It's too early to tell which format will win out.

are belonging to us...

Yes. His name is Warren Lieberfarb.

They don't call him the "Father of DVD" for nothing.

just wanted to make it clear that I did not say that.

I think people who believe that the market will do yet another rotation to yet another format are dreaming. Look how long it took to get away from VHS tape for the masses!! Do you really think J6P will make the transition again in a 5 year period when he wasn't willing to part with his VCR for almost 20 years? We love our films and our hardware and wistfully hope for many wonderful possibilities to take effect, but Mr. Six Pack is still the guy who's calling the shots for a mass market because he outnumbers us 20 to 1, conservatively guessing. He won't stand for it and likely can't afford it either, so I'm one of those who looks at HD-DVD as being a great niche market. Not everything does catch on in the US regardless of how relentless the manufacturers are in pushing it.....the mini disc still isn't what was expected, and the digital tape field didn't break through in the US. I think the discs I'm watching now will be the viable media 5 years from now as well, with some probable tweaks and improvements.

for those that think HD-DVD will not take off are DREAMING. The studios want this more than I want a threesome with Christina Aguliera and Leah Rimini, The new copy protection embedded will protect there movies forever( not true but this is how the studios think), they are sinking more money into Hd-DVD than any other product to get them off the ground, those that think, every dvd out now will not come out on HD-dvd are mistaken as well

But one note: as who even knows what they will be called but I know this time next year I will be watching "a movie" on a optical disc in hgih definition, dreaming about Chrisitina and Leah.

If HD-DVD is reasonably priced, along with falling HD-capable set prices and an increased number of popular sporting events in HD, I expect an explosion in the number of HD sets sold. Each segment of the market will feed the others.

I watched "Training Day" as my first movie on HD-HBO. When it was over, I popped in my DVD to do a comparison. I was sooooo unbelievably disappointed with my previously high praised demo DVD that I have not viewed "Training Day" on DVD since then.

HD-DVD will be huge, and all the people in these very forums who swear they will not bother replacing any movies in their collection with HD-DVD will change their minds once they've seen it.

Yeah, about 4 1/2 years. That's not a very long time at all.