I upgraded a lot of my SD DVDs with their HD DVD combo counterparts, thinking I would never use the standard side of the disc, but it would be there just in case. Warner Bros just made the value of these combos increase in my eyes. I will not (cannot afford to) upgrade these titles a third time, so combos are protecting a great portion of my HD DVD library.

Did your HD DVD player explode upon hearing the WB news?

Sort of ironic.

I really hate combos, but I've been buying Uni combos because I have no other choice if I want those films in HD.

Now, as I consider what titles I don't really need to hang on to, I will say most Uni combos will stay in my collection until their is a Blu-Ray release.

The recent Kingdom and Eastern Promises releases are great examples. I would have bought these on DVD if they weren't on HDM, so there's no point in getting rid of them.

I don't get it...why are people acting like just because HD-DVD will lose the war that their already owned HD-DVDs are no longer good or worth owning? It is not like it is being supplanted by a better technology, its the same video quality. Its not like you need to now re-buy your hd-dvds in blu-ray format.

My Hd players are still working just fine...Although I didn't mind combos (when priced appropriately) for extra flexibility, the HD sides didn't self destruct.

I agree.

Mostly I just hate combos, and welcome any opportunity to replace them.

I'll still be hanging onto a bunch of Uni catalog titles and WB titles that aren't on BD yet.

No kidding. Standard DVD looks just as bad compared to HD as it did before this announcement. I'm not going back to it just because BD won.

Actually, one of the best things about this announcement is that we can't get combos on Blu-ray.

I agree. No need for HD-DVD owners to get rid of their discs. Use them and when the player dies, get the BDs then.

Combo discs looks the same as they did before. I'm still planning to keep them. HD-DVD isn't over yet, even if Blu Ray has won this part of the war (if not the whole thing).

Or a combo player. I'm betting Toshiba goes into the combo business.

I'm not getting rid of my HD DVDs, but Warner's decision does (more than likely) signal the end of them in the future. I hope this isn't the case, but I'm being a realist. The only reason I bought into this format was because I could get a $100 player, which is within the average person's price range, and it stings to think that my software could be rendered a dead media if my HD DVD player dies. My original post simply meant that with a combo disc, a portion of my movies can still be watched no matter what the outcome is, and for that, I'm thankful.

I've said it many times before, so I'll say it again:

FUCK COMBOS.

They suck. They're problematic. They get screwy easily and, even if you can get it working, there's no guarantee it's going to keep working. You lose disc art. The price is jacked up. I've wasted money on 3 combo discs, 2 of which had problems, and I can promise you I'll never buy another one again. I don't care WHAT they release on it, if it's a combo I ain't buyin' it.

Yep. I pre-ordered Assassination of Jesse James on blu-ray just so I wouldn't get a combo.

I don't really get the idea of Combo discs at all. If the maker of the disc wanted to also give the buyer the title on standard DVD, why not just include a 2nd disc in the box that's just the DVD version? (And given the manufacturing difficulties of making these double-sided Combo discs, I bet it would even be cheaper in manufacturing costs to instead simply have the 2nd DVD disc.)

OR... Why not release both a combo and non-combo version so consumers really have the option to choose?

Because with sales on most titles not exactly burning up the charts, the last thing studios want is an additional SKU.

Combos suck. You are implying you would watch the SD side which is ridiculous.

I still had a DVD player that is a few years old (5+) that's still going strong (I've since donated it), and my experience with Toshiba has been good so I think their HD-DVD players will last quite a long time (knock on wood).

By the end, HD DVD players will become so cheap that you could buy a pair of them for next to nothing and store them in case your main one breaks down.

The Xbox 360 addon can also be used with computers, which is another option.

They could replace all of the upconvert players on the market with HD-Dvd players. With 40+ HD-Dvds in my library it probably wouldn't hurt to have a second player.

The real silliness is not that his HDDVD player exploded, but that his DVD player did not.

Many people, myself included, are still using 10-20 year old laserdisc players that work just fine. I certainly wouldn't worry about not having something to play HD DVDs on for a long time.

Sell now = decent return on investment.
Sell when HD DVD player dies = you're lucky to get a few bucks for your HD discs.