That's a great idea, I might add.

I'm not so much waiting for media software as the displays. There are so few that actually have 2 million pixels.

That's what I meant by hybrid discs - standard DVD layer + HD layer on the same disc, as opposed to one HD-DVD formatted layer and one Blu-ray on the same disc. I expect that will soon become their major marketing strategy. A lot of SACD's do that now.

Are HD-DVD, and Blue Ray just different formats of DVD? And are they going to be discs? and a seperate player for each? If so, is everyone gonna start a new collection of Blue Ray, or HD-DVD's? I'm gonna stick with DVD. I see a lot of people with 500+++ DVD's on this site, what are you guys going to do? and especially, with people having 1000+ dvds?

anyone?

HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are different next-generation formats which will replace DVD. Hardware that plays either one will be backwards-compatible with your existing DVD discs.

Yes, they will both be discs.

Yes, each will require its own player, as they use different technology owned by different companies.

Yes, everyone is going to start collecting Blu-Rays or HD-DVDs, but most people are going to wait until the format war has ended and prices drop down, just as people did when DVD first came out.

You won't stick with DVD forever, just as most people didn't stick with VHS.

People with 500+++ DVDs will continue to enjoy their DVDs on their current players and, when the time comes, on their new Blu-Ray or HD-DVD players. They will buy new releases on the new format and, when the price is right, begin to upgrade some of the titles in their library to the new format. The same goes for people with more DVDs.

thanks, I appreciate the input :)

o0O0O0o0O0oO, one more question, when are HD-DVD and Blu-Ray and coming out?

Not sure on exact dates but the last I read for target dates were late 2005/early 2006.

Keep in mind that hardware will be very expensive, $1000+, on launch with drops along the way. By Christmas 2006 the cheapest will likely be $500+ with summer/late 2007 being around the time when all but die hards will start to consider it with prices approaching $250+.

Late 2007/early 2008 will probably be the period when it starts to catch on.

Everyone in the industry has claimed that a format war will yield a greater potential for the death of both formats, yet each camp is going in on this like they will win a real quick victory.

I think it would be better if Toshiba and Sony just pulled the stong points of both formats and released one format, splitting the royalties that both companies are after so badly. These two companies work with each other all the time to come up with stuff anyway. It may be better for the format as well because if they push it back a year or so they will have more HDTVs sold which means a larger consumer base to market to.

I wonder how long before region free players hit the market after these are finally introduced?

Toshiba just announced that they have developed hybrid HD-DVD disks- HD-DVD on one side, standard DVD on the other.

So, if they offer these at no extra cost over current DVDs, Blu-Ray is in trouble.

Do you have a link on that? I'd like to read more about it.

Thanks

It depends upon the technical details of this "hybrid" disc. I remember how this forum went all ga-ga over DVD-18 "technology".... gee, supergluing 2 DVD-9's back-to-back.... THAT's hi-tech. -rolleyes- :lol:

I wouldn't bet on that this time, despite it being the traditional way such products are launched. Rumor has it that Blu-ray will be featured in the Playstation 3 which will in all likelihood cost $299 at launch in that same time frame. There's nothing terribly advanced in these things that would require such a high initial cost. They're more of an evolutionary product than revolutionary.

Hmm that's an interesting question...how's the format war shaping up overseas? That might end up being a deciding factor for me if I choose to switch to one of the formats in 2-3 years.

In response to the poster who asked what people with big dvd collections will do, I have close to 1000 and I don't feel too worried...the money I spend on dvds each week will shift over to the new format, and I'll slowly build that collection while continuing to watch my dvds... It's not like I'm going to be forced to throw them away, or have to replace every single one at once. Like laserdisc I'm sure some titles won't make it over to the new format, and I'll still be glad to have a high quality version of them.

DVD/HD-DVD Hybrid

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/do...1207/hddvd.jpg

http://www.cdrlabs.com
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/do...1207/hddvd.htm

Some news:

Toshiba spurns Sony

Also:

Dreamworks commits to Blu-Ray.

Thomson, one of the original members of the Blu-Ray group, has committed to building a line of HD-DVD players. However, Technicolor will be prepped to make both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray DVDs.

Yes, quite expensive at first. The prices on Blu-Ray recorders in Japan are already dropping but still expensive. Most of the ones I recently saw were around $2000-3000.00 (but were closer to 5 grand last December). Software is still expensive too. The cheapest blank Blue-Ray discs I saw were the equivalent of over $30.00 each.