I'm not part of any witchhunt. Just saying that a strong Blu-ray preference is the definite impression I was left with after reading some of his comments and the interviews on the site in the months leading up to launch (as in, before the HD DVD was available either).

I don't get what you mean by "prevalent rah-rah attitude". It seems like the Blu-ray-or-die contingent is much more widespread and vocal than the HD DVD-equivalent.

I've always had the same impression.

Even though Bill Hunt says he has no particular preference for one format over the other, he does say that prior to seeing either format that BR seemed to have the clear edge:

I used to feel the same way. So obviously his writing would reflect that-- he did have a preference for BR because it is supposed to be better. We'll see if he still has this opinion when the BR decks street:

The people with a real BR bias will be raving about the superior BR PQ. Also, they'll gloss over or rationalize the 100-260% price difference.

Methinks the BR people are getting pissy because they still won't have a product for over a month.

Hell, I got "screamed" at for calling it BR instead of BD. Fuck that. It's Blu-Ray. Not Blu-Day.

It's Blu-ray Disc. BD.

Sure it is.

That's not what you said.

You said: "I don't think there's any need to use the future tense there", referring to the sentence "I have a feeling The Digital Bits will be a Sony backer." Hence, you were saying that The Digital Bits are now a Sony backer. You added that "They've never veiled their preference."

Both allegations are, in my opinion, false. And the first one accuses the site of having an agenda or vested interest. Imagine if something like that was leveled at dvdtalk.

Oh really? Is there anybody here who supports BD except me? I'm serious.

There were tons of them until PS3's pricing was announced. Then they vanished.

Blu-Ray, on paper - is the better technology. Even today I'll say that.

Between delays, feature stripped PS3s and outlandish stand alone player pricing, Sony is killing it's own baby before it has a chance to walk.

It would seem they've learned nothing from the VHS vs Beta war.

Exactly.

Enh. If it had HD-DVD's specs, yes. Technologically, the only thing better about it is capacity. And if they can't figure out how to make the damn dual-layer discs right, then it doesn't even have that.

Again, the ONLY thing BR has is support= studio/manufacturer. And they got that support through unfulfilled promises.

I used the word "preference" in my first post. Is being a backer the same thing as expressing a preference? (Baseless though it may be, I was reading a very strong preference towards Blu-ray earlier in the year.) Maybe not, but they're close enough that I genuinely don't understand why you're reacting the way you are.

It really doesn't. You're reading more into my fairly innocuous statements than is there.

I thought you meant "prevalent" in a more general sense. That's certainly the case on other forums I read.

I would buy Blu-ray on day if (1) it were the announced $1K price and I knew it's something I'd want to hold onto for a while or (2) if it had a limited feature set but a considerably lower price. A really killer selection of movies might sway me, though. I plan on buying into Blu-ray, and I was planning on picking one up at launch, but the current plans have killed my enthusiasm. I'll still get one, but it'll be when the more capable players arrive.

Yep, that's what I was referring to.


Agree 100%

As the studios watch sales slip by, I think they may be changing their tunes sooner rather than later.


Bluray is like communism. A great idea in principle, works good on paper... but very difficult to make happen successfully in real life.

Why? Because I hate people attacking the person instead of the arguments. And I've seen more of that recently than I care to remember.


Backing is giving support, thereby taking an active stand. It is not nearly as innocuous are you describe it.

I am a regular here, at avs, at avforums (Brit forum) and Home Theater Forum. With the exception of the last one, the HD DVD 'side' is in the majority everywhere.

Where does that leave BD then?

I'm not attacking anyone or anything, though. There is no malice, anger, vitriol, etc., etc., etc. in anything I'm writing here.

I really don't care enough about The Digital Bits (or any other one site, for that matter) to argue whether or not there is a bias, to what extent there is a bias, etc. If other people want to dig up examples or quotes, feel free, but I'll step away from this argument.

The tides may have shifted a bit since HD DVD's launch, which probably owes more to the fact that people have shiny new players than anything else, but that certainly wasn't the case in...say, March.

Think US army in Aug-Dec 1990.

(of course I'm not equating HD DVD to Saddam...)

Fair enough. I won't pursue that further.

I'm not sure I'm getting your point? So what? That means that your reaction is bound to be more extreme because you're in the minority? I honestly don't know WHO is in the minority any more. I'm just trying to look at things logically. I don't have thousands of $$$ to spend on this stuff so I try to make wise decisions. There's not a damn thing about Blu-ray that has convinced me that a) it's the better product and b) the public will go for it over HD-DVD. If my feelings weren't strongly with HD, I never would have bought into it. I still fail to see a compelling unchangeable argument about BR being "worth it." Support does not equal product. If the support is the only thing that's better then why are you supporting a product that you know is clearly inferior? Whether by design, implementation or price (amongst many, many other reasons)?

There are virtually ZERO product drawbacks for HD-DVD that I can see right now. It's got the newest video encoding, MUCH higher sound quality than SD-DVD, a working dual-layer format, the known name "DVD," and good-very good prices. BR software itself is having problems with a lot of these. To be fair, it's not out yet but from what we know, it is true.

The glitches thus far have been more with the hardware which has been scrutinized due to the amount of pressure and publicity this format-war is getting. Plus, since it's first to the finish line, people are ridiculously critical. I, myself, have no problems at all with mine. Others obviously have. The glitches will be ironed out and things will progress ahead. Oh...and there's the little issue of this completely packaged, stand-alone, non-video game system having player is half the price of the competitor.

I'm not even going to go into the other issues that have been drudged up. I was a HUGE BR backer a month or two ago. Once I did some research, started listening to Sony, saw how Toshiba and the HD-DVD camp was handling everything, etc etc, I saw a different side of things. If BR had brought to the table everything that Toshiba and HD-DVD had and got rid of the attitude, I'd be singing a very different song. As it stands and from the reports coming out, BR is a very flawed and expensive product. Thus, in my mind, there's no contest.

I just simply don't understand why anyone is still supporting them. I don't say that to belittle anyone. I'm just sincerely struggling to understand.

ok, this sounds a bit harsh but, does every thread have to turn into the same Blu-Ray rules!!! HD-DVD sucks!!! or whatever thread? I mean come on, do we have to rehash the same argument over and over? if you support HD-DVD then support it and if you support Blu-Ray than support that. but stop pushing each on the other camps. they(diehard opposing format supporters) will not budge. its just a pointless waste of time.

now that I have said that, I for one am looking forward to the day that both formats are on the shelves and that I will be able to buy whatever movie I want and watch it. like I have said before, if we can have 3 different competing video game consoles I see no reason why we can't have 2 competing dvd formats. I would think that the main argument here would be about the content presented on the discs instead of what discs the content is presented on.

How the hell can I support something that doesn't exist yet as a retail product? I'm serious too.

I'm not in any "camp". At this early stage, with one format only out for a few weeks with a dozen films, and another a month away, staring at buggy first-gen machines with price points that won't reflect reality in 12 months... how can anyone really get excited about one vs. the other?

I'm reading these threads (on this board and others), and I honestly don't understand how people can get so personally invested in this format war at this point.

I don't see how that analogy makes any sense, but...

... still, if the majority of the posters on those sites are HD-DVD supporters, then doesn't that hurt BD a bit? Those would represent the 'early adopter' types who we've been hearing will buy the best product regardless of price. If the majority of those people are now supporting HD-DVD where does that leave BD?

Anyone other than those people are surely going to be more price conscious and BD doesn't seem to have a chance there. Price has to be a big factor in the Amazon shopper activity noted by the OP.

Surely, there must be studios on the verge of flip flopping any day now... I keep hearing rumors of a big one...

I won't get drawn into this argument.

I merely said that a remark by Adam Tyner about the digital bits was uncalled for.

That's all.

He said it seemed like he had chosen a side. He didn't say that anyone was the devil's spawn or even anything bad about Bill.

Remember, you're the one that started this.

Again: he said Bill Hunt was a Sony backer.

Yeah, by not tolerating false claims, whoever makes them.

huh. i thought you, of all people, wouldn't think that being a "sony backer" would be a bad thing. You act like he said he sided with Hitler.

Can someone help with this scenario?

Let's say Best Buy has the $500 Toshiba HD player and the $1000 Sony BD player hooked up displaying identical hd content, side by side. And let's say a customer comes in and wants to buy a high definition player to watch HD movies. What reasons could the salesman give that would convince the customer to spend an additional $500 on the BD player for HD content as opposed to saving $500 and getting the Toshiba?

I ask this because pretty soon, stores will have both to sell. Will each store choose a format to really push?