Originally Posted by Pizza

Okay, so HD DVD is probably as good as dead. But, I'm beginning to think the ship is sinking on Blu-ray, too. I think it's also tainted by this war of HDs. It was certainly a mistake to have two systems pop out ala SACD and DVD-A. Yet, the whole red and blue thing became an interesting novelty, even down to the colored cases. People started to proclaim themselves red, blue and even purple. There was a certain spirit to the competition (and a little name calling) that made it interesting.

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Dunno if you guys have seen this....

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x..._dvd_war_2.jpg

Its been reported on different sites that the HDDVD booth is all but empty...

Originally Posted by Chrisedge

Comparing even a $40 upscaling unit to either a PS3 or a HD DVD player is like saying a Scion and a Porsche both can do 55 mph, so there is no reason to buy the Porsche.

Originally Posted by darkside

Comparing a $40 DVD player to even a low end Denon is the same thing. Sticking with DVD is one thing, but at least try to get something out of them.

Originally Posted by QuePaso

I do not see the big issue with the profiles. There is no more Profile 1.0 other then the 1st gen players which will be soon gone and never show up again. There is a VERY small amount of them in the first place, most will end up in bedrooms in a year or 2, so they really do not matter in the long run, right now they get the job done however for watching movies.

Profile 1.1 is the FINAL format for blu-ray. I believe everyone knows by now that 1.1 is the only type of blu-ray player that can come out anyway, and 2.0 is completely optional. The only difference from 1.1 and 2.0 is Network connection and storage room to store the network files. So a person walks into the store and is looking at the various blu-ray players. She asks the guy in the blue shirt what is the difference from these 2 panasonic blu-ray players, why is one 100 dollars more. He lets her know that the more expensive one has a ethernet port in case she wanted to try the online features on certain discs. Then she can decide if she wants it or not, and if she doesnt, she can buy the cheaper one and not be forced into buying something she does not need.

Honestly, its either: 1.1 Minimum or a 2.0 player from here on out. There is nothing confusing about it. IMO, of course.

Originally Posted by kvrdave

If they want to make it "clear", they will leave the numbers off the end and call it "Blu Ray" and "Blu Ray Online" and never speak of versions again.

edit: And obviously never change it again.

Originally Posted by MrDs10e

To most Americans, this question is irrelevant since they can't afford a Porsche no matter what. And I know a lot of people who drive Scions, or Toyotas or Fords who can afford a Porsche but DON'T CARE about all that extra performance. The Scion meets their needs and they are happy. But truly, it isn't a valid comparison anyway. The analogy fails for a variety of other reasons. The fact is, you may be goldenEye, but to the average person, there just isn't THAT much visual difference between the two. Not saying it is NO difference, but it just isn't a big deal to most people. I know that is hard for techies like us to swallow but its true.



LOL that statement is so out of touch with reality. Pull ten guys off the street, and they can't tell the difference between your $1000 Denon player and a $40 player from Wal-Mart ON THE TV THEY OWN. Now, I'm guessing if you own that kind of expensive DVD player, you probably have like a $10,000 TV, and yeah, there is probably a difference. But to the average person watching their 26-47 inch screen, it's no big deal. I watch DVDs on my cheap Vizio TV with my cheap Philips DVD player, and they look great to me, and most everyone who has watched movies on them. You are in an extremely small minority thinking that the picture generated by a sub-$100 DVD player is not good enough, same folks who think any steak that doesn't come from Ruth's Chris or Morton's is positively inedible tripe.

Originally Posted by Sdallnct

But not the quality of the A3. I have just bought an A3 that I could return, but to what end? The A3 cost me $125 out the door. Should I return it for an Oppo at $200 and still need a BD player down the road? Or should I send it back and get a $50 crappy up converting player?

Originally Posted by MarcinL

This quote is so hilarious

"We have received word from Paramount/DreamWorks that although they continue to support HD DVD, they will not be making any new high-def title announcements at CES 2008."

We will continue to support HD-DVD! How? You are not making any new announcements or movies? Where is the support????

Honestly though. I'm format neutral and I could care less who wins. I have a DVD -/+ drive in my PC. I use both blank media - and +. I record on both and use both. No reason that I should settle for not having a movie just because of different format. I have both Toshiba A30 and Panasonic BD30. I own about 790 DVD's, 67 Blu-Rays and 42 HD-DVD's. Heck I just bought 5 from best buy a week ago.

Now that everyone is saying HD-DVD is dead. Fine with me. I'll stop by every week at Disc Replay to see what used HD-DVD discs I can buy. They are selling them for about $9-$12 a pop. Maybe even cheaper now that HD-DVD will die. I don't mind. I can still buy a Laserdisc player and a Betamax. If my Toshiba ever breaks and I have 200 HD-DVD's, I'm sure I will find an HD-DVD player out there.

Heck - Anyone remember the CD-I or VCD players that Sears used to sell? I seen one with patriot games the other day on ebay. I also seen movies on 8mm tapes.

I'm not worried, and I definitely won't be repurchasing movies in Blu-Ray.

Originally Posted by Suprmallet

$300 players have already been announced at CES. I'm willing to bet by the end of the year we'll see one or two $199/$200 players.

Originally Posted by kvrdave

If they want to make it "clear", they will leave the numbers off the end and call it "Blu Ray" and "Blu Ray Online" and never speak of versions again.

edit: And obviously never change it again.

Originally Posted by kvrdave

After reading the differences for the BD 1.1 and 2.0, I think we may be screwed for HD ever becoming THE format that everyone uses. I remember people talking about how having BD and HD-DVD was "confusing" for consumers and how they wouldn't buy in. That may be true, but I think it is overplayed. But suppose it is true....now they will go into Best Buy or some other place and see a cheap player that they finally might buy to get into High Def, but they find out that it won't do everything because it is 1.1. But if they want to fork over more money (which they didn't want to do to begin with), they can get into 2.0. But what if they come out with a new spec? You can tell them that they won't, but they already have before.

So the idea that people were waiting for one format is now complicated by people waiting for the BD specs to quit changing.

That was my biggest problem with Sony from the begining. They came out before BD was ready (though they had to so that they didn't get too far behind), and now have a history of upgrades. While those upgrades won't make your old player quit working, consumers will be reluctant to jump in, imo.

Originally Posted by Drexl

Well, they're kind of doing that by requiring all players to be 1.1. The numbers are just there for legacy purposes to denote which players fit the required profile and which don't. Then they have "BD Live" for the 2.0 players.

Originally Posted by dsa_shea

The grapes have once again soured in this thread. People are now justifying that they don't have a desire for HD anymore or these "ridiculous" prices they are being asked to pay for Blu-Ray equipment. If you don't want to continue to enjoy HD then fine but please stop trying to persuade the rest of us who are ok with what has happened to go along with your plan. I still contend that only the cheapest, first generation HD-Dvd players enjoyed a substantial advantage over the price of the Blu-Ray players on the market. I paid 350 plus tax for my A-30 at the very end of September and that was with a 10% off purchase coupon. Please stop with the sadness already. Wait a few months to see what the Blu-Ray camp does before you totally write them off unless you just "hate Sony".

Originally Posted by flix1

If it is purely between Profile 1.1 and Profile 2.0, someone else mentioned that most B&M store employees will probably only know that the price is the primary difference. I doubt this will be a signficant drawback.

If you look at DVD from J6P's view, DVD is damn confusing too:
- Dolby Digital and DTS support (DVD players for the first how many years did not support DTS, though not an issue anymore)
- Progressive scan vs Interlaced
- Upconverting
- Composite, S-Video, Component and HDMI on the same machine!(Component/HDMI are needed for anamorphic widescreen, and forget about the fact that upconverting to 1080p typically only works on HDMI)
- Coaxial vs Optical audio outputs

Originally Posted by flix1

If it is purely between Profile 1.1 and Profile 2.0, someone else mentioned that most B&M store employees will probably only know that the price is the primary difference. I doubt this will be a signficant drawback.

If you look at DVD from J6P's view, DVD is damn confusing too:
- Dolby Digital and DTS support (DVD players for the first how many years did not support DTS, though not an issue anymore)
- Progressive scan vs Interlaced
- Upconverting
- Composite, S-Video, Component and HDMI on the same machine! (Component/HDMI are needed for anamorphic widescreen, and forget about the fact that upconverting to 1080p typically only works on HDMI)
- Coaxial vs Optical audio outputs

Originally Posted by Jon2

Like VCRs?

Originally Posted by Qui Gon Jim

Why don't you just take a break from it then? You think BD is the bee's knees. Others think it is overpriced. Are either of you right? It is a matter of OPINION. YOU can't seem to handle ANY opinion outside your own beliefs. You say "sour grapes" when anyone disagrees with your OPINION on the way things are and will be.

You derail this thread with the best of them, pal.

Originally Posted by dsa_shea

Thanks! BTW This thread is about Warner's decision to move forward with Blu-Ray and not about upconverting players and downselling HD. If people don't want to continue to support HD because of the recent turn of events then they really shouldn't be posting in this forum.

Originally Posted by dsa_shea

If people don't want to continue to support HD because of the recent turn of events then they really shouldn't be posting in this forum.