And of course there is Wal-Mart which has test marketed both formats. Some areas only had HD-DVD, some only Blu-Ray, and others had both. I've only heard of Wal-Mart having clearance sales on the Blu-Ray players.

And given Wal-Marts history, they always try to sell the cheapest version of everything.

CEDIA should settle all of these rumors. And that's what they all are. Rumors.

And for you Geoff

One argument I don't understand is the fact that Microsoft is paying off Paramount in order to kill both so their HD downloads will win out. That makes no sense whatsoever.

According to this site http://www.clickz.com/3626351 only 47% of homes have broadband internet. Then consider many rural markets with broadband are only offering 1MB downloads, there just doesn't seem to be enough market to justify that motive.

If Microsoft has any goals at all it would be to hurt the PS3, and Exclusive support for HD-DVD would hurt Sony on two fronts.

I wouldn't count Xbox Live as much of a clue-in to anything. Xbox Live has had LGF and Disney films and we've seen how quickly they switched over to HD DVD. :Lol:

And simultaneously have the biggest gross losses.

You're trying to spin your way out of this. Look at it this way:

Company A spends $100 and makes back $40.
Company B spends $50 and makes back $20.

Yes, Company A has twice the "gross revenue" of Company B, but it also lost twice as much money. And no, that doesn't make them "even" in the end. Company A has a net loss of $60 overall, but Company B only lost $30. They're both losers, Company B much less so. So which one do you think is the smarter risk?

As far as HD optical is concerned you are correct. All of these film companies going to MS to provide DL'd services for their films is a real failure on Sony's part. Remember Sony was pushing to drive this market when they planned the PS3 and it's role as a central media player. This market is falling to MS quickly.

As for the WB rumors, I feel the ultimate proof of which way they would lead would come down to DVD Forum v.s. BDA. I don't see Warner walking from the DVD Forum.

HD-DVD's site does show Warner taking the red pill...

:lol:

Interesting development...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...e5e2abfedf8b53

Man this week has just been out of this world for this war. AVS, Hi-defdigest, and bluray.com are imploding with the news that Nickerson stepped down and a huge announcement being made tommorow.

Paidgeek had this to say before he signed off. "Here's to all the BD supporting companies sharpening their swords over the weekend."

A huge announcement from who tonymontana313?

The huge announcement part is something that beatboy said 2 days ago and is now being repeated as fact. Chances are tomorrow will pass without incident (except for the fact that Monster-Mania con in NJ starts tomorrow! Whoo! ;))

It's either going to be a Red Friday or Blu Friday tommorow. Beats me as to what the announcement is.

I'll be checking AVS on my iPhone all day...Can't wait!

I just can't be bothered to get all worked up about these supposed announcements...been burned so many times...

edit: Yikes! Post 1000.

Nero picked red...

I do have a question because I'm not sure...Warner has never produced a combo disc for Blu-Ray have they? If not, why?

Because such an animal currently doesn't exist. It stands to reason that the same process they'd use for HD DVD/Blu-ray TotalHD discs could work the same way for DVD/Blu-ray combos, if that were ever to pass, though. Warner's Steve Nickerson said back in January that flipper-style combos are possible on Blu-ray but that no one's set up to manufacture them.

There were some single-sided discs that were successfully produced in the lab -- 2 DVD layers and 1 BD layer -- but it wasn't something that could be produced in mass quantities.

There will never (at least as much as one can say "never") be a BD combo disc due to BD not being a part of the "DVD forum", so they cannot be a part of anything DVD related. (see http://www.dvdforum.org/forum.shtml for details on the DVD forum)

I also read at avs this

All new movie titles from Universal and soon Warner will be combination (or twin-format) discs - HD DVD on one side and standard DVD on the other

That was from betanews.com on the 20th.

So if that was a fact, and those studios, depending on how you read it, may phase out sd dvd's and only sell the combos, wouldn't they pretty much win the "war" ?

Just speculation on my part

If Warner announces tomorrow it's going HD-DVD exclusive then maybe the following things are going to happen at CEDIA, and maybe both Paramount and Warner knew

Announcement of sub $200 HD-DVD player stocked at Wal-Mart

Announcement of new XBOX 360 with integrated HD-DVD drive with a bundled package for the holidays with a HD-DVD movie and a game + 5 free movies rebate.

I know a lot of people say that Microsoft would be screwing over people with an HD-DVD drive add on, but they could at least say people can buy the add on drive for those that have a 360, and new owners can buy the integrated one or barebones...and get the drive later. Either way it's a win win for Microsoft.

Penton-man confirms Grindhouse coming to Blu-ray.

1. Isn't Grindhouse going to be on both formats? I could have sworn Weinstein went neutral.

2. Microsoft has said time and again that it won't have an integrated HD DVD drive in the 360 because the read times are significantly slower than the DVD read times, which would stretch out the game load times to unbearable lengths. Sony got around the lower read times on their integrated Blu-ray drive by making their HDD standard, which allows games to load files onto the hard drive to compensate for the slow read times of the drive. The 360 does not have a standard HDD, which means that developers cannot take advantage of it. HD DVD drives would have to increase their read time significantly before Microsoft will consider putting one in the 360.

I plan on purchasing a PS3 this weekend so I'm looking forward to these announcements that may sway me to buy or not to buy.

I thought the 360 add-on hard drive was a standard in a proprietary case. I could have sworn I saw a replacement drive on a hack forum somewhere.

Besides there's been a lot of internet chatter about the Ultimate system with a 320G HD. With HDMI now on the 360, bigger hard drive, cooler running chips on the Ultimate, what is to stop an integrated HD-DVD drive?