I'm really liking both my players, but I have to admit today I am feeling a lot better about shelling out the $$$ for my Sony player.

Still, I have plenty of HD-DVD's, and I really don't want to see that format fail either. Dammit why couldn't they have been unified form the beginning?!?!?!

IF 300 hundred spartans and 700 thesians turned around when 27,000 Persians came hard on them now , PErsia would have destroyed greece , but the 300 spartans and 700 thesians stood their ground and died ...Greece united and destroyed all of persia ..... We may be the underdogs , but So was Rocky and so was Bill Clinton and so was Ceaser and so was the United states of america, if history has shown us anything the under dog is always victorias.

If there had just been one format, things almost certainly would be much worse off than they have been. Worse movies, worse encodes, worse hardware. The competition has its downsides, but at least it's forced everyone involved to work harder than they probably would have otherwise.

I think I'm going to go for the Samsung BD-P1200. That HQV processor sounds promising. With a list price of $799, this should sell cheaper. I mean, the HD-A2 lists for $699, but sells for $499. So I'm hoping for $599 for the Sammy.

Exactly...And I think its the competition from HD that has spurred this showing from the BD group. They had no choice. They had to come strong here and right now, it appears to be paying off for them.

*slaps head*

It's like watching a train wreck. ;)

Will it be able to play BD-J?

Amen to that! Sony certainly has taken note of HD DVD and stepped up their game. I have my doubts they would have improved so quickly had HD DVD not existed.

I think the new Sammy will be quite nice. The current one is quite good post firmware upgrade and very reliable. No playback problems at all on the one I had.

Nah, it sounds to me like they're going to start that two-tiered release scheme BS they have with DVD so they can charge extra for the titles with extras.

However, it could just be a line of titles with non-disc extras packed in, like they did with Forbidden Planet. Please let it be that.

Rocky lost, the optimism of the Clinton years was completely ravaged by the following Bush years, and Caesar was murdered by his own best friends. Perhaps not the best of analogies. :(

CES is nothing but a big cheerleading rally. Yes, it does seem like Blu-ray is holding a better cheerleading rally than HD DVD, but the better cheerleaders don't determine who wins the real game. The quality of the team and how hard they fight does.

Time to get a BD player now. I got fucked over by HD DVD. :(

I wouldnt say that...Sure they dont have a strong shwoing here, but this thing is all far from over. I would have liked to have seen more, but its not time to drop anchor and run yet.

It's really sad, but I think HD DVD has done the best it can. They didn't go to CES saying lets screw up. I mean they can't force studios to jump to there side, what are they going to do pay them off ? Sony is holding almost all the cards now expect for Universal. Universal does have most of Spielbergs best movies, but they seem to be quite at the moment.

Yes. But cheerleading rallies are supposed to give you something to cheer about. I've never seen one that didn't. :sad:

the BDA has always had the better, louder, most proficent cheerleaders.
What got them thru an absolutely abysmal and inept launch? What bouyed them thru months of "wtf" headscratching ? The Bd side has always issued the more 'impressive' press releases and the HD DVD side has always been incompetent when it comes to marketing. A truck and trailer tour? Was that really the best way to maximize marketing resources?
Yet, HD DVD as a product has performed where its counted the most.

Hey, I wasn't expecting much more than fluff out of the big event on Sunday, and even with my diminished expectations I was left disappointed.
And I fully expected the BDA to puff its chest out and trumpet all the great titles that could get released this year...if they don't get cancelled or pushed back out of the blue. That's what they do- Talk. and they are great at it.
Now all they have to do is deliver a player that looks like a strong value, and get their software prices in line with what a featureless disc should be, and they might have something more compelling.

Buena Vista Unveils Unparalleled Blu-ray Disc™ Release Slate
 

Did someone already post Buena Vista's? Here is is from AVS:


BUENA VISTA WORLDWIDE HOME ENTERTAINMENT UNVEILS UNPARALLELED BLU-RAY DISC™ RELEASE SLATE FOR
NORTH AMERICA, EUROPE AND ASIA

Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Con Air, King Arthur Director’s Cut, Chicken Little, The Rock, Cinderella Man, Face/Off, Crimson Tide, Air Force One, Finding Neverland, G.I. Jane, The Recruit, Open Range, Remember The Titans and Scary Movie 4 among the exciting titles
to be released on Blu-ray Disc

BURBANK, CA, (01/08/07) – Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment (BVWHE) today announced the company’s most extensive Blu-ray Disc slate yet, with action-packed and family titles due for release throughout 2007 in North America, Europe and Asia. Showing its continued commitment to the next-generation, high-definition format, the company has selected a wide range of titles, many 50GB, to showcase the new Blu-ray Disc format, from blockbusters and Academy Award®-winning masterpieces, to popular animated movies for the entire family.

In North America, BVWHE will release titles beginning March ’07 to include Chicken Little, King Arthur Director’s Cut, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Cars, Con Air, Crimson Tide, The Rock, Finding Neverland, G.I. Jane, The Recruit, Open Range and Remember The Titans.

In Europe, titles to be released beginning March ’07 will include Eight Below, Chicken Little, Enemy of the State, Flightplan, Gone in Sixty Seconds, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Pearl Harbor, Scary Movie 4, Sky High, The Wild, Dinosaur, King Arthur Director’s Cut, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Bruce Almighty, Con Air, Crimson Tide, The Rock, Cars, Air Force One and Finding Neverland.

In Asia, titles to be released beginning March ’07 will include Chicken Little, Face/Off, King Arthur Director’s Cut, The Wild, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Scary Movie 4, Cars, Con Air, Crimson Tide, The Rock and Air Force One. See paragraphs below for complete date listings.

Commenting on the announcement, BVWHE President Bob Chapek stated, “Blu-ray is quickly becoming the high-definition standard on the market today and we are very pleased to add this amazing slate of Blu-ray releases that will appeal to our core demographic. With the dual-layer, 50GB discs, the possibilities for exciting new interactive features and additional bonus content are endless.”

The company has already had tremendous success with the first generation of Blu-ray Disc titles such as Eight Below and Dinosaur, and is releasing most new titles on the new dual-layer Blu-ray Discs that features a massive storage capacity of 50GB, enabling the highest caliber encodes, expanded bonus material and exciting new interactive features.

As part of its worldwide release strategy BVWHE will release Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest in all territories May ’07 and Con Air, Crimson Tide and The Rock in all territories beginning June ’07. Cars will also see a worldwide rollout schedule in 2007.

In North America, BVWHE will release Chicken Little and Finding Neverland on March 20; King Arthur Director’s Cut and G.I. Jane on April 3; Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest in May; Con Air, Crimson Tide and The Rock on June 8; and Cars, The Recruit and Open Range in Summer ‘07.

Europe will see its first Blu-ray Disc titles from BVWHE beginning in March with the release of Eight Below, Chicken Little, Enemy of the State, Flightplan, Gone in Sixty Seconds, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Pearl Harbor, Scary Movie 4, Sky High, Finding Neverland and The Wild. Next up are Dinosaur and King Arthur Director’s Cut in April; Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest in May; Bruce Almighty, Con Air, Crimson Tide and The Rock in June; and Cars, Air Force One and Reign of Fire in Summer ‘07.

In Asia, BVWHE will release Face Off in March; Chicken Little and The Wild in April; Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Scary Movie 4 in May; and Cars, Con Air, Crimson Tide, The Rock, King Arthur Director’s Cut, Air Force One and Starship Troopers in Summer ‘07.

Blu-ray Disc is the next-generation optical disc format for high-definition video and high-capacity software applications. A single-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25GB of data, and a double-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50GB of data. Blu-ray Disc is supported by the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer and gaming companies, and, with seven of eight Hollywood studios releasing their high-definition content on Blu-ray Disc, Blu-ray will deliver the widest variety of high-definition, home entertainment content.

About Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment
Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment, a recognized leader in the home entertainment industry, is the marketing, sales and distribution company for Walt Disney, Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax and Buena Vista DVD, Blu-ray Disc and electronic distribution product. Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment is a division of Disney Enterprises, Inc.

It seems to have been lost in the shuffle, but in this post, by Gizmo, Battlestar Galactica is mentioned as coming out this year on HD DVD: I have held off buying the DVD sets because I figured that show was a cinch to be on HD DVD in the near future. I just hope the price for the sets isn't too high...

Well, it's great for them to mention Battlestar, but what are we getting and WHEN. Is it just Season 1 or Season 1 & 2 together, seperately...are they waiting until S3 is done it's run and bringing that out first...what's the deal and how about retail price, or at least what quarter to expect it etc. I was hoping Universal wouldn't leave us in the dark but so far they aren't willing to shed any light.

I'm just glad I own & support both formats... if things keep going like this though, I believe I will start buying the non-exclusive titles in BD instead of HD-DVD.

The whole Battlestar Galactica thing pisses me off to no end. They already announced that it was coming out a long fucking time ago, so they announce it again but yet STILL don't tell us WHEN it is coming out. Like mdc3000 alluded to: we are still left with all the same questions as we had when they announced it the first time. Just like the stupid Harry Potter/Matrix bs.

I would have bought into BR also by now if I didn't hate Sony and their dirty tactics so damn much. That bullshit press release about them having now won the war being the perfect example of how they just make shit up and put it out there.

Even then Harry Potter and Matrix' are NOT exclusive. Why am I rooting for HD-DVD again?

For me right now, it's for the Universal titles and import Studio Canal titles... oh and Weinstein (sp?), I'll probably get Clerks 2. That's not very much.

I really want to make the jump over to Blu-ray, but it's just too damn expensive. I was going to pull the trigger and get a PS3 a few weeks ago, but while scanning the Blu-ray titles in amazon most of the titles I wanted were around $27. With all of these announcements, it just makes me want to get a Blu-ray player even more. But, I think I'm just going to hold off for now, and wait for the prices to go down. My HD DVD spending may be going down a whole bunch now though.

A bright side for HD DVD is that Lionsgate is going to be releasing Xbox Marketplace content. Doesn't make them so much of a Blu-ray exclusive anymore, especially if these movies are released in HD. Might just be a matter of time before Lionsgate goes neutral.