BravesMG

Ummm... standard def TV too?

The Bus

Microsoft giving a check to Paramount to spite Sony is OK. But Sony giving a check directly to one of their competitors?

I wonder how much news this is to Toshiba executives.

PixyJunket

Oh shit.

Gizmo

IMO poor decision. Stop today. Force people to blu.

king3style

Of...........Course.

I' own both, but I plan on keeping my XA2 for upconverting purposes and will continue to watch the HD-DVDs I currently own.

However, after an "Into the Wild" HD-DVD purchase, Ill probably be buying Blu Ray only.

Hammer99

Agreed. Unlike Paramount.

The Bus

It's funny. The PS3, as a gaming machine, has been close to a disastrous failure. It did more to help Sony's CE and movie arms than its gaming arm.

The Bus

"Forcing" consumers has never been a good decision.

mazzystar

Well, glad im neutral. Too bad for HD-DVD though. Hopefully they can withstand this major blow.

ScottsDvds

Even with this news, I still don't think people sitting on the sidelines are going to rush out and buy players.

The Bus

Not right after Christmas, at least.

wewantflair

To do this 2 weeks after Christmas, just after releasing expensive Harry Potter and Blade Runner sets to entice new adopters, is a pretty ugly move. The time for this was October or November. It would have killed HD DVD going into the holidays.

chanster

Jeesuz Christ, stop me from jumping!

Ah just kidding, gives me an excuse to buy some type of Blu-Ray player down the road. I'm in no hurry to buy one, I've come to the conclusion that regular DVDs are good enough for me...so I will move my A-2 into the bedroom and eventually buy a Blu-Ray player.not a biggie.

JayDerek

i agree with this....

DVD Josh

Reminds of Toshiba dropping the price and adding free movies mere weeks after the release of the A2.

Just goes to show you all folks - this is about MONEY more than ANYTHING else.

Richard Malloy

Sorry, buddy, but you don't get any sympathy.

You are an early adopter of a niche technology in the middle of a format war. If you didn't recognize the very real possibility of one or both of these formats failing, then you weren't paying attention.

Some of us take such chances. I did with SACD, which hasn't exactly panned out as many of us hoped. But I knew this was a possibility going in, and rending garments and cursing the fates seems a bit silly when a very real eventuality actually comes to pass. You roll the dice, and you take your chances. Or you keep your wad in your pocket. When it's over, you move on.

cinten

I am done with HD media, I just bought all 5 harry potters with the BB buy 3 get 2 free sale, luckily I haven't opens them and will return them. I am not going to buy the blu ray versions, the SD versions will be good enough.

steelpotato

this is bullshit. region coding and higher costs =

Steve Phillips

I'm purple, so this doesn't bother me one way or the other, even though I tended to prefer HD DVD, at least early on when the Blu-ray discs weren't so hot. Thankfully, the newer discs seem to be far better. You can't really blame Warner, and at least this may help bring the stupid war to an end.

However, quit worrying about HD DVDs being coasters. It's not gonna happen. Dual format players are the way the market's going; and why would Toshiba *remove* HD DVD playback from their players? If they eventually make a Blu-ray unit, it's gonna have HD DVD legacy playback too. I mean, this is not like a VHS/Beta situtation where combo players were not a real possibility; it's already happening. I wouldn't recommend anyone run out and buy an HD DVD only player now, but then again I wouldn't recommend anyone run out and get a non 1.1 Blu-ray player either.

Me, I'm happy with my two seperate units for now, but the next one I buy will be a combo unit. I'm not concerned at all about being able to find machines to play back the HD DVDs I own.

ScottsDvds

Very true and how many of those people who just bought their players are going to rush out and invest in another player.

Ocelot

You know what's the best part of this? Now the mods no need to lock up heated threads, well, there will be less of those...

i certainly don't understand the XXX paid YYY such and such arguments. Who cares! All corporations play dirty, doesn't matter the payment made in public or private. They are all evil, they are all after our money. I don't like Sony, i don't like MS either. i hate the fact that mods locked the other thread b/c of the "heated" discussion (i guess money is the root of all evil).

Lord Rick

I'm actually pleased by this news. I started with HD-DVD early this year (cheap refurb XA1) and stuck with HD-DVD until I picked up an open box BDP1000 2 weeks ago.

I've been thoroughly enjoying the BD-only discs like POTC, etc.

Lots of people complain about the BDP1000, but other than being slow to load Java BD discs, has been great. And it actually plays Blockbuster rental discs, unlike my XA1.

The BB rental thing alone was starting to make me wish Blu-ray would win. That's a 180 degree switch from my opinion 1 month ago. All because I could get a cheap BD player.

The only thing I hate about this news is that it probably means the end of BOGOs. Looks like it'll be BB or Netflix for me from here on out.

kvrdave

I don't know why that would be. My original DVD player (a Toshiba) is still the main dvd player in my house. I expect that my HD-DVD player will last a very long time as well. So I don't know why I would even think about returning the HP discs I have.

Steve

having waited for the war to end before getting in HD, all I can say is "thank you WB." For those who have HD DVD players, they are still great upscaling SD players, and the cost of HD discs will plummet over the next 6 months so you will be able to get movies cheaply. And of course you can enjoy the ones you have already bought. So it is not like a total loss.

But it had to end and at least, I, am grateful.

stingermck

So if you only back HD-DVD, what are your options now?

1. Nothing had changed, keep buying HD disc. Maybe more to help the format.
2. Buy a Blu or combo player.
3. Cash out and go Blu

Hmm.....