That is how I feel. The sooner one format wins, the sooner we should start to see more catalog titles. Give me A L I E N!

One thing this may accomplish is to help them consider some kind of discount program on BD versions of titles if you trade in your HD DVD versions. Yes, they don't HAVE to do it, but it would be a nice gesture.

The problem is that some people feel that it is an entitlement that they deserve.

If Toshiba has plan for producing an XA2-ish product which was also Blu-ray, I'd be buying Blu-ray movies. The problem for me, outstanding other issues of course, is the hardware quality. I don't really want to buy a Samsung, Pioneer, or Sony product. I'd rather buy from Toshiba.

Is that statement as of now, due to the current hardware issues with some Blu players, and can change in the next year once the kinks are worked out?

Lets be real here.
Its been 1.5 years since Blu-ray launched and they should not be having these types of issues still.

Why should a play release last month not be able to play new movies?
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/12...ng-to-deliver/
I understand players having some issues...it happens. But there is no reason why Samsung, Pioneer, Panasonic, Sharp should not be able to play all movies when they come out. Why should anyone have to wait days, weeks, months for a firmware update? Why should it take 20 seconds for Sunshine to boot up on a PS3 but 4-5 minutes on a $600 Samsung unit?

So what. Don't buy one now. Within a year the kinks will be worked out. DVD had the same problems for more that a year and a half.

Personally. I wouldn't buy any blu player other than a PS3 at this point until 2.0 is out.

I sent them an email and told that I'm disappointed in their decision.

Its been 18 months, how much longer should anyone wait to buy into the supposed "winning" format?

DVD has no wear near the issues that Blu-ray is having. The usual Pro-Blu people will say "they didn't have DTS or progressive scan" as usual. What we are seeing today is studios releasing movies that do not work on stand alone players.

How many SA players have been released...15 total between all the different models? How hard would it be to test a movie in each play and say "Hey, Samsung, Sunshine does not work in the 1200. You should work on an update before the movie hit shelves in 2-4 weeks". But they don't. Now, the usual response will be "why should they? Its up to the CE's to make sure they can play all the movies, not the studio". Well, at this point, both the CEs and Studios need to play nice if they want to catch on to the next DVD-type format and make money. If they continue to have issues people will bail.

The PS3 should NOT be the only option to Blu-ray. You should not have to be forced into buying a video game console if you want to play all the movies the day of release and not wait for a firmware update or endure 4-5 minutes of loading/java crashing menus.

Don't call me a blu supporter. I am neutral and you have never seen me post in one of these whinefests until now.
The point of the matter is that a firmware update does fix the problem. Once 2.0 is out, everything should be cleared up.

There is TOO much shortsightedness in people today in general. Give me instant gratification. NOW! New tech has problems, it will be fixed.

Again my whole point has been that the people saying they will NEVER buy Blu are ridiculous, not that Blu is the best.

Once 2.0 is out? You do know its not a "firmware" update that gives 2.0 to all the Samsung, Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic, Sharp, LG players out there...right? They will always be 1.0/1.1 players.

No one should have to wait years for a format to be "finished".

Not all DVD players had DTS encoding on their first DVD players at first either. I had numerous problems with some dvds that wouldn't play on one or more of my players because of layer changes, etc. And the last I knew 1.0 and 1.1 players still play the movies. You saying there are some that won't play the movie is false. All 1.0 and 1.1 profile players play all the movies on BD. They may not play some of the extras such as PIP, but they still play the movie.

...and there we go.

Again, be able to decode a certain audio format that 1/20 people might actually do is one thing, but not playing a movie that 20/20 people will do is another.

As for not playing certain movies? Are you serious? Do you just turn a blind eye to the numerous thread on DVDTalk where people are having issues?

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=522042

Thats just one thread I happened to find on this forum on the front page. A simple stroll over to AVS would produce dozens of threads and hundreds of responses of people that have players that simply won't play the movies. Will this ever be resolved? I don't know. Why not ask the people that still can't play Live Free Die Hard 2 months later?

Yes, I know that. I agree that for early adopters it sucks. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel for Blu, and it will be fixed. As an early adopter, you had to know there would be issues.

We had to wait years for the DVD format to be finished.

Gotta go for the evening.

Uh, no thank you. I stay away from AVS as much as possible. As far as problems with particular players, that is what returning machines is all about. Has happened with DVDs, SACD, CD, LD, etc. If a particular player is a problem, the manufacturer deals with those issues. And I highly doubt ALL people are having problems with the same movie on the same player. If they are, they go to the manufacturer. If within warranty, they can have the problem resolved. If it requires a download upgrade, then it will happen.

Honestly, if you ask everyone if they had the same problem with the same movie on the same player, I highly doubt you'll get the answer you obviously espouse.

It might be fixed, not guaranteed yet. Blu-ray is trying to replace DVD, if it wants to, it can't take years to be finished. People will not wait years. They will simply go the VOD route and bypass HDM altogether which is happening right now as we speak.

People are having issues with discs playing. That is not acceptable and DVD never had issues this bad and never had the major changes BD discs have gone through. BD was rushed to market and over a year later they still don't have the final version ready.

DVD was pretty much finished when released. Not everyone supported DTS year one, but that is a minor issue compared to discs that just don't play and players that have no ability to be upgraded despite the fact the CE companies knew this was happening.

You can't return a unit bought 6 months ago at Best Buy. They won't take it back unless you bought that service warranty, and even then its a pain to get it replaces vs. being fixed. Firmware updates are not guaranteed, as proven by Samsung and LG in the past few months. I hope those owners have no intentions of buying any other Fox movies in the next few months. Its always fun to see what movies will and won't play every Tuesday.

Only among those who have absolutely refused to support HD because of their hatred toward BD.

So you are saying all people have the same problem with the same movie with the same machine. I am sure there are people who aren't having the same problems. Has happened with all machines.

Which is why I mention the possibility Blu-ray being an extinct format if a cheaper HD format comes along (I await the rolleyes smilies on this one).

It very well could be that BOTH HD DVD and Blu-ray are extinct in 5 years or less due to a new technology, manufacturing process, coming down the tech pipeline. Movie studios will go with what makes better economic sense. And Sony won't have the cash to fondle and cuddle every studio at that point.

In any case, DO CONTACT Warner Brothers. It won't hurt. Just be respectful when you do.

So if you don't own a Blu-ray player right now its because of your hatred for Sony and/or BDA? Not because DVD is "good enough"?

Gizmo,

I hope you're not suggesting that HD DVD players have all been flawless regarding playback. I've seen plenty of playback issue threads in the HD DVD section on AVS. Those are the only ones you hear about. Most people won't create a thread telling us their movie played fine.

My Panasonic has played every movie. It seems that the majority of issues are with Samsung. So maybe that means they just make shitty players, as opposed to the problem being with the BD format.

Oh, Ive never said HD DVD was flawless for playback. But for the most part, it has been issues with Combo i.e. the glue used on them, and not the hardware. A firmware update was released to help the players read a bit better through the glue though (I'm sure someone else can explain that better). However I have not heard of an issues where BLANK movie wont play on my BLANK and there is still no firmware update! For most you could simply return it to the store for another copy and be fine. For the Blu-ray issues you could try 100 different copies of Resident Evil Extinction and still have the same exact issue (not playing). You would be at the mercy of your players CE for a firmware update that may never happen (see LG and Samsung)

Just buy a friggin BluRay player. I've had both players for well over a year now and personally I didn't care if the war ended, or never ended. Who cares? Your HD's will still play on your HD player, and when/if you get a BR player, the only trouble you'll have is deciding which movie to get...just like it was with DVD. Maybe it's just me, but I HAD to have both players because I don't want to be denied the opportunity to play or watch anything. I have all 3 game systems for the same reason. For those of you that say "I refuse to buy BluRay", why? Isn't watching the movie in stunning HD the point here? Isn't that what you will still be doing if you watch it on BR? Who cares who makes the movie or what you play it on, if it looks good, watch it.

Reading through this thread makes it sound like HD discs have been shitcanned all together, not just HD-DVD. Turn that frown upside down and come to the blue side...it won't kill ya!!

...again, I have supported BOTH formats apathetically, I'm not a BR fanboy.

The issues is what player to buy as all of them will not be able to handle all the special features in 6+ months. PS3 is the best bet, and not everyone wants to buy a video game console.

Exactly. IMO Samsung and Toshiba are both 2nd-rate CE's, and you are taking a risk anytime you buy any of their crap. At least with Blu (after the roll-out), there were options of buying a player from a 1st-rate CE.

Ok, I'll shoot. Whats a 1st-rate CE?

These are honest questions, as I don't follow all of the hardware talk...

Wouldn't you have the same problems if HD-DVD won the war?
What's so horrible if you buy a PS3? It updates, plays games, etc...

To say that you are "underwhelmed" by Blu-Ray but at the same time wanting to continue to support HD-Dvd is kind of silly. I could understand if you were a bit frustrated in the specs or maybe the choice of movies but in the end both are essentially the same with a few minor differences. This is like saying that I don't really care for MP3 files but WMA files are nice.

I have spent quite a bit of hard earned money on HD-Dvd in just the last few months, HD-A30 player and 35+ movies and Heroes, but I am happy as hell that this is coming to an end. I'm looking at the big picture and not my small, for now, investment that I have made in this particular format.

To me, a 1st-rate CE is one that has consistently given me quality product & has made me a satisfied customer. Right now, I would say Panasonic is at the top of my list, with Sony 2nd.

No. HD DVD is a finished spec. If you bought a player in April 2006 it could play a movie and all its special features in January 2008 and beyond.

If you bought a Blu-ray player on October 2007 you won't be able to play all the special features of a movie released 2 weeks ago. (Resident Evil). Those Blu-ray players are still being sold today to unknowing individuals. Those same players may or may not be able to play movies as well as we can see with all 4 different Samsung players and various other ones as well.

Once Saw IV comes out, only PS3 will be able to take advantage of the network features as well. Not everyone wants to buy a PS3 as its not capable of playing all the audio formats, does not allow for Harmony remote control options, and its a video game console which not everyone wants.

I don't own anything made by Panasonic (to my knowledge), and Sony + PS2 DRE issues make me want to never own any piece of equipment by them in my life. Once there is a suitable replacement for the PS3, I will be glad that I own nothing electronical made by Sony.

Well, I bought a new player, A-30, at the very end of September of 2007 and it wouldn't play Shrek The Third on the day of release without an update. So I guess the "finished" specs don't really determine if a movie will play or not straight out of the case does it?

That's news to me. Shrek 3 played fine on my XA1 and my A3 (stupid Donkey Dance crap girlfriend wanted to see) without the need of an update. Anyone else have this issue or just you?

A search on AVS shows not a single person having to update their A3x or any machine to play Shrek 3. Now, maybe your player you bought new had the original launch firmware still on it, but as far as I can tell, it never required one from launch day to work. Hell Shrek 3 worked fine on my 2.2 (or 2.3 cant remember now) XA1 firmware unit when I bought it used.

Nope. My copy of Shrek 3 played fine on the A2 and A3. Only issues I've had have been with the combo discs.

I don't know if anyone else had a problem or not. But this goes to show that there will always be problems with individual players and certain titles no matter what format we are talking about. That is why you should love technology but not as much as you love your girlfriend. :) I understand that HD-Dvd has finished specs but it didn't make the systme immune from problems. As a matter of fact I have had far more playback problems like skipping, freezing and error codes, on HD-Dvd than Blu-Ray and I own close to double the number of titles on Blu-Ray.