Great. The agenda of this site has been about movies, not one format winnnig over another. For that reason alone his posts mean absolutely zero to me and have no place on this forum IMHO.

The logic jumps required to justify "Loves Movies Therefore Must Have One Format Win In Order to Enjoy Movies" are way too high and moreover, the ends don't always justify the means. If someone truly loved movies, they would buy a HD DVD player because well some films aren't on Blu Ray....and vice versa. I have a HD DVD player and will get a Blu Ray player when the prices come down and the specs are finalized. Unfortunately, Blu Ray players prices aren't in my league yet (or at least what i want to spend)

I won't miss the constant cheerleading.

Yawn....

I guess I'll have to look elsewhere for my Icelandic Blu-ray news.

I don't understand the problems that certain people on this board had with Pro B. So what if he likes to share news from around the world, including Iceland, about his preferred format. Does it bother you that it may not be the format of your choice? So what that he is pro Blu-Ray in Blu-Ray threads. Does that bother you? It seems like there were people on here that: a) wanted him to either fall in love with HD-DVD or at least become format neutral and then b) upon realizing that he was firmly entrenched with his choice in formats nitpick every little thing he had to say.

Nope, you won't. There are plenty of others.

I know I just wanted an explanation of why he chose BD, it's fine to choose whatever but I dunno, the stubbornness of it I guess. That said, I've kind of washed my hands of this entire "war", I'll continue taking the deals but screw the competitive non-sense with other enthusiasts.

Svet is a good guy! His tastes in film may differ from mine but I always respected his opinions.

Does this deserve its own thread? I don't know. It is his business. BOL.

Pro-B, I honestly hope you reconsider as I did enjoy your reading your posts and I'm quite dissapointed with most of the reaction in this thread considering everything pro-b has done since he started here. Most of you guys really need to look at his entire history since 2000 rather than the portions you don't agree with within the past year.
Either way, best of luck and will visit the international forums more often to chat with you.

Well said. Much more polite than the post that was formulating in my head.

Hey Pro-B, this is True_Story's fiancee. I know that you were one of the best on here and I am very sad to hear that you won't be around anymore! Even though I am not really terribly interested in the whole B and H wars. I have always thoroughly enjoyed hearing about you from Charles. If you happen to have another forum in mind that you plan to enter, or already post at. Would you not mind emailing Charles and letting him know? Your leaving is indeed a Great loss to this board. Not only for your well thought out opinions but also for your example of chivalry. The best of luck to you wherever you go!

for the record, i don't have a personal problem with pro-b and never really did. as someone with an interest in all HDM including Blu-ray, i grew tired of his frequent faux-news postings and speculative information passed off as confirmed fact, but i did my best to address the information directly when appropriate. i do think the mistreatment he has received from some members is entirely unwarranted, especially if he is receiving e-mails baselessly demanding that he reveal that he is secretly on some sort of corporate payroll. that's a prime example of the ridiculousness that this format war has brought out in people and there is no place for it.

that said, he is not free from some responsibility in all of this, as his farewell post seems to be desperately trying to suggest.

He is not free from some responsibility, but neither is he obligated to explain why he chose to go with Blu-Ray as some have vehemently requested. Do I ask people in Tulsa, Oklahoma why they are Boston Red Sox fans and demand an answer that satisfies my need to know? At one time I was more for Blu-Ray, and I still lean that way, but I have just decided to forgo this war and participate on both sides. Maybe it is in his best interest, as he believes, to stay on one side of the fence. I'm happy for him and I would love to see more of the Blu-Ray information that he once brought to our thread.

Excellent points. I wish all the annoying pro-format people would go away. Unless you are being paid by Toshiba or Sony, I do not understand how any consumer could get SO WRAPPED UP in a "format war." It's not a war, folks, it's just two different media devices. If you like one more than the other, vote with your wallet and enjoy getting half the films in high definition.

I personally enjoy watching great films that I love in HD - who gives a shit what color the box is that they come in. It's the same reason I came here in 1999 - I just want to watch great movies in the best quality possible.

If two billion dollar multinational companies want to have a pissing match, so be it. There's nothing an average consumer can do about it, and behaving like a petulant child on internet message boards isn't going to change the fact that there are currently two formats. Do you really think the CEOs of these companies give a rat's ass what anyone on this message board thinks? No, they only care about the bottom line.

BTW, I have avoided all the idiotic "news" threads in this subforum and stick to topics that actually matter - discussion of specific discs, release dates, and bargains. I have usually found Pro-B to be a valuable addition to DVDTalk's community, especially when commenting on Criterions and other international releases over in the main forum. So, I cannot comment on his behavior in this particular subforum, and my comments are not directed at him, just the fanboys in general.

There are annoying posters here that are pro-BD, pro-HD-DVD, and format neutral. Pro-B, however, is the only one that started a separate thread about how he/she is not posting in this forum anymore. Anyone that does that is opening themselves up to criticism and sarcastic comments.

I personally don't care what his/her preference is when it comes to HD movies. I do care that nearly every time he/she posts, it becomes a big deal and distraction. See post #5 for why that happens.

I've tried to stay away from posting in the frequent "wars" threads, and while Pro-B has gone out of his way to put the best BD foot forward, I do appreciate that he has put thought behind his posts and I never saw any name-calling or juvenile rantings that some of his enemies posted about him.

But I think this quote illustrates my complete confusion regarding this "format war." How can anyone on either side be so emotionally tied to a stupid little thing as a home theater format to actually require time to heal a disappointment from some disagreeing posters on a message board?

I couldn't care less if tomorrow either HD or BD announced they had full 100% studio support and the other format was being nuked. I own 2 HD-DVD players and 2 PS3s, and honestly I might own a third HD-DVD player before the holidays end. I've probably invested about $950 (maybe a little bit more, a lot of it in gifts and some in trades for the PS3, etc...) for all of those players in the course of over 18 months and have far exceeded the price tag with how much I have enjoyed the players and movies. They're my adult toys of preference, but nothing more. I'll never, ever, understand how anyone can be emotionally invested in something as trivial as this, without working for the companies that financially benefit (not accusing anyone of this at all).

And with that, I vote the thread gets closed.

Any wounds that need healing will likely be cured with a trip to blu-ray.com. let's move on.

Well put. This post as well as your earlier post in this thread.


mod note: As is the custom of these good-bye threads, we'll let this run for a bit (say 24 hours?). And as is the custom in the HD Talk Forums, we'll entertain comments from people on both sides. If you find this thread useless, then you can move on to more relevant threads. -namja

I've noticed the same posting "style" from Harry Lime, BD and PS3 - or rather, negative news posts about the 360, but that could just be me... it's all I ever really noticed from him.



Pro-B leaving the HD section is a mixed bag, but I wonder how active the Blu-ray news & discussion thread will be now.

I think the forum will move back to the discussion of the most important things, the movies. I think we'll see more talk about actual films and less about BD selling 100 more copies than HD DVD of a specific title in Europe.

Your killing me here, Smalls!

You shouldnt leave the HDM forum because people disagree with you. We've talked about this before in private and openly. The whole point of having a place where people get together and conversate is to discuss differences in opinions.

Dont take it so seriously, Its only the internet!



I really enjoyed your enthusiasm in the support of your format. I can tell from the conversations that we've had you take great pride in what you've discussed. At times you were overtly passionate about BD - But there is nothing wrong with that.



My question is, if he has been harassed by someone... anyone on this site. Are there steps in place to take care of this?

Pro-Bassoonist will be missed. It's a shame that a person that brings so much interesting information to this board feels like they can't post comfortably here. But I understand the decision given the rampant groupthink that can occur in forums like this. Sometimes discretion truly is the better part of valor...

So does that also mean we'll see less of the almost rabid belief by some here that HD-DVD will win this war due "evidence" that is misquoted from old articles or spin by various HD-DVD fans found on other sites and brought here?

Point out an example of this.

Look at the HD DVD Discussion thread, and you will find (I think) a pretty balanced discussion. The BD thread is basically a joke; a place for a few members to thumb their nose at their "opponents." It is annoying. I am not saying that Pro-B totally fits this mold, but he certainly added plenty of fuel to this fire. Besides that, you act like the stuff you describe never comes from a BD supporter. This holier-than-thou bullshit is maddening.

I think for the most part, the forum is comfortable with the idea of two formats. There are a select few on each side that still feel their every breath is to evangelize their format of choice.

However, if Pro-B says he's not on the take, then I believe him. It is really crappy that people were harassing him privately.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

I won't miss the sarcasm, nor the condescending attitude.

I will miss the avatar, though.

How do I do the banana dancing smilie?