As Josh responded about this previously, he's gotten another gig writing columns and is just a reviewer for High Def Digest these days.

He rated a couple of Blu-ray studios very highly on his year-end report card -- his last column for HDD -- and was critical of a couple of HD DVD studios. An out and out zealot wouldn't do that. This is just my reaction, FWIW, but to my eyes, it's not that he adores HD DVD and despises Blu-ray so much as he's quick to come to HD DVD's defense when he thinks it's being unjustly attacked.

WTF is wrong with this place. This post is pure garbage

I would be much more inclined to believe in purported neutrality if I saw the same people who are quick to jump to the defense of the "unjust attacks" on HD DVD do the same for the many unjust attacks on Blu-ray. Sadly, that doesn't happen.

Wow. That has a lot to do with HD DVD. Thanks.

Agreed. The firefighters come quick if there is a fire on HD-DVDs property.

Anybody know of any retailers that are actually reducing prices on HD-DVD players and software and not clearing out? I think it would be worth jumping in on the low prices, but not if there is no longer going to be any support by Christmas. So far I've only run into places that are simply not carrying the format once the inventory is gone.

What's real strange IMO is the almost all of the HDM has been removed from Costco. And that goes for both formats, but all HD-DVDs were gone and only the new Harry Potter BD remained. A few weeks ago there was a decent mix of both.

It's like that on both sides, though. It's just exaggerated right now because there really isn't much good news for HD DVD these days.

Well, I think there's a lot of gray area between neutrality and zealotry. While Josh is certainly more vocal about HD DVD in his message board posts, he's been critical of HD DVD in his columns and reviews while also speaking well of Blu-ray, and I don't think someone who's a blind zealot would do that.

I'm not saying he -- or anyone else, including myself -- is beyond criticism, but I don't think it's fair to call him a zealot. And really, those sorts of accusations aren't going to improve the quality of the discussions here. Those who don't care for his posts should add him to their ignore lists, same as anyone else.

I think there'd almost have to be a push on that front by the studios/manufacturers for the retailers to make a movie like that. Otherwise, the stores would just be cutting into their margins, and there's no reason to do that long-term.

In your opinoin, mine is much different. As a relative new comer to the HD area I have certianly noticed the difference between the support of those claiming HD-DVD is being bashed and anything BD related.

The "side" that's having the rougher time is usually the loudest. When Blu-ray first launched, the situation you're seeing now was pretty much reversed. It's gone back and forth a couple of times.

I'll have to take your word for it since I was not here, but it sure is bad now and very one sided IMO.

What kind of push would that be? I have, for example, finally heard my first HD-DVD commercials recently going into how cheap it is to pick up players. I have to believe those are from Toshiba. But that still leaves the question of if the retailers are planning beyond current stock or just clearing out. If nobody is planning in future inventory, just what is Toshiba thinking with that commercial?

i think local Costco's vary considerably. at least that's what i've seen at mine. for the longest time last year they had no HD DVD players at all and a Blu-ray player endcap, while having 10-15 HD DVD titles available and 2-3 Blu-ray titles. then they got in a bunch of HD-D3 players, but had almost no HD DVD titles available anymore. lately, the software pickings for both formats have been slim there. last week i think i only saw the "best of" 4-packs on both formats and one new-release blu-ray title. it's pretty much a crapshoot.

It was much worse when Blu-ray first launched. No one expected the format to survive because of all the bad transfers and Samsung's first player was glitchy. Only a few people defended Blu-ray, but they did it with such blind allegiance that it just got people more agitated. What we have now is a paradise compared to the way it used to be. However, it would be even better if people didn't go around trying to tear apart every single comment made to decide whether or not the poster is an HD "zealot" or a Blu-ray "fanboy" or whatever other annoying words you guys like to use.

Two of the reasons why the losing side is usually louder is because (1) the winning side is usually more obnoxious and (2) the winning side tends to instigate most of the fights. These result in the losing side becoming really defensive and often very loud. This has been true for pretty much the entire time we've had this HD Talk Forum.

And usually, if we suspend/ban someone because of a bad post made during a fight, then the instigator will usually get the same punishment.

namja
Moderator, DVD Talk Forums

Sounds like those few had a point. Calling it "blind allegiance" is no different IMO than terms like "zealot" or "fanboy" IMO.

With huge studios like Sony and Disney behind it I have no idea why people thought BD would just go away, but I guess they did. When reading onlynews articles on the web, at worst I thought the situation would turn out to be both formats continuing to exist with exclusives on both sides. The situation of having to own two players is what kept me out of this mess until I was given a PS3 as a gift.

I can see another reason why the losing side is louder. Rather than just the BDA saying "we won, HD DVD is dead" as they did several times last year, the media is now echoing the same thing. Since the media has nothing to gain, it's a little more damning to hear them say these things.

Nobody here comes close to the level of willingness to swallow anything Sony said as we had back in July of '06. So I don't think it's unfair of me to refer to those people in that way. To be fair, we had a few HD DVD people that were the same way, and all of those people are now gone. Some are banned from ever posting at DVD Talk again.

Again, we're talking about when Blu-ray first launched. The initial wave of titles was so awful that a lot of people really thought that HD DVD would emerge victorious by January 07. Then Disney helped swing the pendulum and Sony realized that they have to actually release high quality discs, which they've been doing fairly consistently for a while now.

some of the most abrasive and childish posters have been removed from this forum, thank god, as has the atmosphere of carnage that at times engulfed this place. it's difficult to dispute, though, that this has always been a red-leaning forum and in part continues to be one. remembering back to the posts of some of the moderators during the more chaotic days it's not difficult to imagine why certain posters now get away with posting continuous negativity to the blu-ray thread, regardless of the news reported.

regarding hd dvd, i suspect toshiba will be watching the effect of the super bowl ad on their sales with some interest. as, most likely, will the retailers.

Burnt Thru, that's not entirely unfair. However, do you still see contiunous negativity in the Blu-ray threads? The latest General BD News thread seems pretty well behaved, at least a lot better behaved than this thread (meaning HD DVD fans making attacks there are a lot less than BD fans making attacks here). If the negativity continues there and nothing is done about them, then most likely it is because you're not reporting them. We, the moderators, do not and cannot read every post. Most moderator actions are done as reactions to reports. If you'd like something cleaned up, then let us know.

namja
Moderator, DVD Talk Forums

There have been a couple borderline things today, but we'll see how it goes. Splitting off VOD helped a lot with getting rid of the scorched earth-type posts.

I guess I would have to see an exmaple because the terms you are using even now is far from the kind of language I would expect from somebody wanting the tone to change for the better. In fact, it's people posting things like "HD-DVD supporters are willing to swallow anything" and "their blind allegiance continues to..." that causes the continued problems here. JMHO.

I'm talking about members who were banned because of their posting habits regarding these formats, not current members posting here.

Amazon needs to place an add of B1G1 on ALL HD DVDs during the Super Bowl.

I'd be in for some more buys if this were to happen.

http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news...le.php/3724696

I e-mailed Billy Hunt about this so he can correct his misinformation he chose to spread a few days ago. Think he will?