Knowing exactly nothing about HD/BR authoring, I would tend to agree with you. The only exception might be finding someone well versed in both BD-J and iHD to make the extras be similar on both releases.

What you say is true, unless these studios continue to cling to the silly notion that BD's "improved" copy protection is the only thing will prevent rampant piracy, and that sticking with BD will suddenly add billions of dollars to their coffers from all of the people who so desperately want their titles, but will now be unable to obtain them illegally.

As ridiculous as that sounds, I know that at least Disney really believes it on some level.

Actually...Disney was into BD for the storage space. HD DVD specifically created TL HD DVD to show them it could be done and for some reason, they still passed.

Fox was the one "in it" for the copy protection.

I expect both of these to go away eventually. As someone pointed out in another thread, it took Fox over a year to jump into DVD. I'm fine with waiting for now.

Oh and this is interesting. The almighty savior for BD, the PS3, apparently still hasn't been manufactured. The following story was published...and then also amended to include the typical sony spin.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3153007

Makes me wonder if the stand-alone player is even being produced yet.

Wow. I'll go on record here and say PS3 won't be out in November as planned. At this rate, you won't see one in stock in stores until Xmas 07.

Xbox 360 wasn't manufactured until September, and Sony is a hardware/CE manufacturer. The PS3 not being around doesn't mean it's delayed a year. That's a very silly notion. Still, we should see it in production soon.

And there's this too:

The 360 also wasn't launched worldwide.

If the PS3 truly hasn't started mass production yet, its going to be a very lucrative eBay season for some lucky electronic store employees. Maybe I need to get myself a job at the local Gamestop...

You're almost right there. Disney went for BD because they wanted the deeper interactive layer first and foremost. This was why, even when HD DVD offered TL discs, Disney still went with BD. They have some interesting ideas on how to use BD-J. I think it could probably be done with HD DVD, too, but it may be easier to implement on BD due to the deeper interactive layer.

Then again, it seems like nothing is easier on BD these days.

The Bus,

People are ripping apart that article on AVS. That moron doesn't know what he's talking about.

Has there been an article yet abut HD DVD or Blu-ray that was even close to reality? I can't think of one.

OK, If you take a second and R E A D what I wrote, I never said that it would be delayed a year. I said it will be over a year before they can manufature these things in quantaties where they are readily available.

If you think that PS3 is coming in Nov and they haven't started making them, then you are nuts. If they do manage to deliver any hardware on time, then the lion's share will pour directly into the Japanese market. USA may see some, but this is not going to be easy to find.

The "rebuttal" by Sony, to me, is meant to keep fence sitters sitting. They are banking on that "Madden" customer to make this a success, and Madden will be out for XBox before PS3 is released and Sony needs to keep a next-gen presence in the news, even if they are lying about it. Nintendo started manufacturing on the Wii over a month ago, and there are predictions about them having difficulty meeting their goals. This is with hardware that is not radically different than the NGC, nor as complex as the PS3.

I think that by year's end, if this news about PS3 pans out to be true (and it has to be since they quoted Sony's president in the story) and the PS3 is a no show this year, Sony will lose it's "more studios" edge right quick.

EDIT TO ADD:

How does PS3 tie back to HD-DVD V. BD? PS3 was the Trojan Horse that promised to deliver a huge number of installed BD units in homes, and it is looking more and more like it ain't gonna happen. Sony has not been and is not being honest with their studio partners and consumers.

As far as that article...

Come on. There are a ton of people here and AVS that have players. I wouldn't say they've topped 100,000 units, but I bet they are closer to that than 10,000.

What reviewers say that? Almost unilaterally, except those on Sony's payroll are saying HD-DVD>BD. I'm losing confidence in this dope with each word I read...

Really? So in Sony's Pocketbookland, 25<15. No wonder they can fleece their stockholders. Totally wrong.

Thouroughly researched statement. If thhis dipwad had done any research, he'd have read that most are not projecting PS3 to come out on top this generation. Besides that, they are not "voting" BD with PS3, buyers have no choice. This guy has -0- credibility.

Tweeter=Sony partner, just so you know. They advertise BD on their radio ads. And as always, of course the "war" doesn't start till next year. Or the year after. Oh hell, it doesn't start until BD is actually in the battle.

Give me a break. This article should say "Special Advertising Section" at the top.

Total agreement.

So your estimate, based on nothing more than anecdotal evidence of literally dozens of forum members, is somehow supposed to be more credible than that of someone who works at an actual tech research firm?

It's you who got it totally wrong. BD is either 25GB or 50GB, while HD-DVD is either 15GB or 30GB. Given the numbers you used, Sony would claim 25>15, not the opposite. What I think the article was trying to say though is that 50>30, which is true on a theoretical level. However, practically speaking, BD has only been mass produced in 25GB, and 30>25.

PS3 doesn't have to "come out on top" of the video game war to ship several million units capable of playing BD movies. Sony does have to manufacture them though.

The full article actually rates HD-DVD as the better format at the moment. The article also cites several people in the industry, and was probably fairly decently researched. If it seems to give BD the benefit of the doubt, it's probably because Sony has been better at disseminating it's side of the issue better than HD-DVD has.

Fixed.

And for more information on why this article sucks, see here.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=713942

I agree. Toshiba's bullshitting hasn't really caught on.

Well, they really haven't. They're a bit more respectable than the other side.

You're the one who said they had, not me.

Considering that the author of the report the article cites as a source has said that those numbers are outdated and inaccurate, sure.

I can't believe all you guys keep believing that the media will be any of the following: truthful, capable, unbiased, timely, informed. Pretty much the same thing goes for AVS forum, at least the first 3. Seriously, stop bothering to read and get upset over things that are useless. Mylanta must do great business in your neighborhoods.

I still think it's more credible that Qui Gon Jim's estimate, which can be summarized as, "wow, all these people in two heavily HD-focused forums own an HD player. Therefore, they must've sold tons of them." Even an extremely flawed estimate is more credible than that.

I know you're speaking in a more general sense, but still, there have been much larger and more credible numbers floating around for a good long while now, and that's why I'd imagine so many of us immediately dismissed the ridiculous 5K figure cited by USA Today.

I'd venture a guess that over 90% of HD-DVD owners are on AVS. Thats why it seems like there so many of these players out there, but ive heard less then 20k are sold, and i would agree with that figure. Maybe by end of the year there will be 75-100k sold? Couldnt say. I can speak of Blu-Ray players sold by jan 1st tho =)

Several people have already verified that the newest firmware upgrade for the Toshiba (and I assume RCA) HD DVD players enables TrueHD 5.1.

It's nice to have a company that consistently delivers product instead of just promises.

You'd agree with that figure based on what evidence or research?

How many Sony PSPs were shipped on launch? About 1,000,000 units. It was also the fastest selling game console of all time in the UK. How did UMD do?