I'd say that $500 is my maximum price point. Given that: a bulky HDDVD player or a Blu-Ray PS3?

Where's the PS3 pre-order sign-up sheet? :)

That would be BD since apple is in the BD camp.

The one that can't have the firmware remotely messed up by a large corporation.

it all depends on how much the players is...

There's no answer for me in your poll. :)

I'm definitely not a "Screw HD" person -- I'm very excited to get HD films in my home. But there's no way I'm sinking $$$$ without a unfied format. I'll sit it out (while prices drop, selection increases, and quality improves) and see who's left standing in a year or two.

I wanted to wait the war out....I really did. But the closer it's getting...the more excited and daring I'm feeling. I feel like a kid just before Christmas. I've decided to break my own rules and test this shit out for myself. I'll still be buying dvds, afterall, I won't wait years and years for the films I want for the library. My dvd library is still the main focus. I will buy an HD deck sometime in March along with a few titles like maybe Batman Begins, Twister(don't have on dvd) and Unforgiven. I'll be very selective about what titles I get. There won't be that many I feel I'll need but I'm doing this so I can be a part of the mini-frenzy. It will be fun standing next to maybe 2 people in BB who are also grabbin' HD stuff.:lol:

Then when BR arrives...I might jump into that fire too. I've started my HD fund and should have around $1000 to blow come March.

Yup...I need to help fight the war, not just watch from the food tent in back.:p

I know what you mean Gutwrencher. I too had planned to wait it out, but now that it is right around the corner, i am just too excited not to try HD-DVD out. And since the HD-DVD players are coming out for at least half of what the Blu Ray ones are going to cost, i can't fight the urge to jump onboard the HD-DVD bandwagon.

what I need to know is this - is there a cheap way I can split my DVI input into atleast 2 so I can get an HDMI to DVI cable and feed one of these players into my DVI plug on my tv? I have my Oppo player hooked up to my DVI and I really don't want to move that to the component ins.

actually, will these new HD/BD players even work with an HDMI to DVI cable?

As long as your DVI input is HDCP compliant, my understanding is that yes, it will.

You might want to consider getting a switchbox.

I'm more than excited that HD-DVD's and Blu-Ray is almost here finally. I, unfortunately, will not be buying either format for some time. I first purchased a DVD player when a standard basic one cost about 300 dollars. I would love to wait until I can get one at around 300-350 again. But another factor is that I don't want to plunk that much money down on something that may not last. I need to see which format is going to win the 'war' before I'll invest in anything pricey. It is a shame that there needs to be this 'war'. If there was just one new HD format coming out, it would catch on rather quickly I would think, as soon as the prices start to go down a bit. But unfortunately, we have to deal with that AND this stupid format war. Who knows when I'll finally decide to invest in one....

For now I'm going to hold off. Ideally they will release a player that will play both formats.

I'm leapfrogging this format. I'm waiting for HVD.

Yeah, if it's true that you have to be connected to the internat all the time that you are using a Blu-Ray Player/watching a Blu-Ray DVD so that "they" can monitor whether the DVD you are watching is "legal" and all that, then I MOST DEFINITELY will not be purchasing a Blu-Ray Player! I don't buy or watch pirated DVDs and I don't copy them myself, but I just absolutely do not like the idea of somebody being able to monitor my DVD viewing habits. If they do this, then how much more junk mail and spam can I expect to receive.

So, can anybody tell me (us) - is it still part of the plan to make us be connected to the internet while we are watching a Blu-Ray DVD?

Yes. For both formats. You can choose to not connect you Internet to the box, but you won't be able to experience iHD or Java, AFAIK.

Also, I'm sure there will be an option to prevent them from monitoring your actions and still have piracy checks. This isn't Big Brother, its movie studios preventing piracy.

No answer in the poll for me either. I need to wait a bit to see how things shake out. I'd also like to hear from you early adopters before taking the plunge. If there wasn't this format war, I very well could have been one of the first buyers.

I will be holding off for awhile. I will end up buying a computer one rather than stand alone model, so the price should end up cheaper.

I will buy the Toshiba player and either Sony's PS3 or stand alone player.

according to the specs my set is HDCP compliant.

thanks for the link. this may just work for me for a bit unless I actually get both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray(PS3 or whatever) and then I'll be stuck again. I really want to upgrade my tv but I still have around 2.5yrs. left on my warrantee. if it turned out that I definately had to upgrade my tv to play the new stuff that would put a big damper on me purchasing HD/BD at this point.

Like others Im waiting it out, but it is tempting to pick up the HD-DVD just to check it out. Its right at a good price point for me, but I know its pretty stupid to blow $500.00 for something just to check it out. Which ever one eventually wins will be with what I go with.

I didn't think this deserved its own thread, but here is the opinion of some DVD reviewer who was at CES:

http://www.dvdreview.com/html/new_format_war.html

Very heavily in support of Blu-Ray, but he makes some interesting points about current problems with VC-1 and MPEG-4. Might be why Sony is pushing MPEG-2 so much?

I think this is in reference to CES 2005... the linked article is over 6 months old. Warner hadn't even announced Blu-ray support when it was written.

Good catch. You're probably right. Reading his front page, it doesn't sound like his opinion has changed. Hopefully, we'll find a new comparison article soon.

Well I agree with everything that was said in the article regardless.

I think it might as well have been written yesterday. It is exactly how I feel after reading all the information I can find here and elsewhere.

I especially like the comparison videos on this thread:

Pics of iHD / Managed Copy

I think the Java based Blu-Ray platform will be superior to iHD/HD-DVD. And the videos reinforce that for me (read my comments in the Pics of iHD / Managed Copy thread). I've felt all along that HD-DVD doesn't have enough storage capacity. Blu-Ray is way ahead there. There are a lot of possibilities that we can't even imagine yet with all that storage and the BD/Java combination. Check out the video of it in the link and see what you think.

I think I'm going to adopt Blu-Ray at this point because I want to make a vote with my money. I don't want to sit on the sidelines and let everyone else make that decision because I think Blu-Ray will be that much better.

I say "Screw HD"...until we have a clear winner in the format war (or a quality universal player).

HD-DVD is in serious trouble the more I look at everything. Toshiba just isn't getting it done, in any product. They peaked a couple years ago when their CRT RPTVs were excellent and inexpensive and their DVD players offered acceptable capability. But both TVs and DVD players have gone downhill in quality since, while other companies are going up. I see HD-DVD just simply fading out. It could crap out by the end of 2006, just like the first DIVX just stopped one day.

The only thing they have going for them right now is the price. And PS3 may utterly destroy that.