Well,

1) HD DVD discs are still available a-plenty, and will be selling for very cheap in the near future...so, if you are already an HD DVD user, by all means, buy more and as many until your house bursts at the seams.

2) WWE fans aren't necesarily on top of the latest technology. So, maybe this is why sports would be a target.

3) Herds of sweaty, smelly men, playing with each other = sport (professional or not)

Sounds like gay porn to me. No thanks!!!

HD DVD: The Look and Sound of Gay Porn.

I doubt sports sales would spur any increase in sales for the format.

So I imagined those stacks and stacks of sports DVDs in the 5.00 bin at Wal-Mart and really sports on DVD is setting the world ablaze? Or perhaps could sports actually be a secret weapon for nobody, cause most people like watching sports while they're being broadcast live on TV and not on home video at all?

Why? This is the WWE we're talking about.

Maybe. But they would also have some rules on their side of the contract. No doubt some exclusivity that would hamper a potential switch to BD.

But they aren't playing. Just because herds of sweaty, smelly men like something doesn't make it a sport. It is something else. That doesn't diminish the WWE, I'm not sure why people argue this. Probably because the majority of "sports fans", and certainly WWE fans, are incapable of reason. IME.

I heard an idiotic argument about "is chess a sport" the other day. Competition, activity, entertainment, etc. are all perfectly fine words that refer to things. "Sport" is not the end-all-be-all of words. Let's try using an established definition for once.

Actually, "competition" doesn't really cover the WWE, either. More like....A dangerous soap opera for men. Perhaps: Precursor to reality TV.

I would love for the NFL to start releasing some things in HD. Preferably the Patriots upcoming Superbowl DVD.

Absolutely. Remember that WWE now has 2 hours of HD footage in their coffers, and decades of tape footage. There is definitely a number that either side could offer that would be more than they could possibly make just by selling discs, even dual-format.

Even as a loyal Blu-Ray supporter I am willing to say that if HD-DVD was able to convince the NFL, NBA, etc... to release full classic seasons of my favorite teams on their format alone I would buy a HD-DVD player.

So I guess your "save our format" idea is pretty good, except for that whole actually having to convince the NFL, NBA, etc...to do so. Considering that there are really only a few partial seasons for a limited number of teams even available on regular DVD.

You have to think worldwide about this. The Blu Ray market is huge both in the US and abroad. The WWE would be wise to go with Blu Ray instead of HD DVD. However, given their past (WWE) in making bad decisions, I wouldn't be surprised if they went to the HD DVD format.

Me too! Besides past SB and playoff games, I'd like to see their highly acclaimed series "America's Game" in HDM.

Count me in as another who feels the WWE, and all those like it, shouldn't be discussed in the same thread as sports.

And wouldn't the target demographic of wrestling DVD's be the same people looking for FF discs for every title? They likely wouldn't even want a WS version of the matches. I also think the majority of the sales are people looking to see the matches they missed because they're unwilling to pay big bucks for PPV.

As for real sports, I personally don't have a lot of interest in watching full games on DVD once I know the outcome. The best plays are enough. I would rather have more behind the scenes and interviews with those involved. The current Super Bowl sets fit what I'm looking for very well. Of course now that the NFL is HD it would be nice of the game footage was HD, but that's obviously only possible with recent games.

Wow...I love how people are stereotyping all wrestling fans. So let me ask, how does a bunch of guys piling into the TV room at a dorm in the mid-90s to watch Raw followed by the late replay of WCW (Nitro?) fit into that stereotype? I think it kind of shatters it to pieces since one needs to have a pretty solid HS education and a hunger for learning to get into a Big 10 school. While I will admit that the demographics of wrestling are skewed towards the GED/only HS degree side, there is a very significant minority that have college degrees and make good money. If you head over to the wrestling thread you'll see that people have significant collections that I highly doubt would be possible with the pay from a McJob. And anyone who builds a collection such as those is sure to know the shortcomings of FF vs. WS.

As far as the points mentioned here I'd like to throw one wrench into a lot of the "vast library" points. In order to create the HDM, catalog movies have the luxury of the original theater prints. From what I've seen and heard about the WWF (and esspecially the territory) media is that it is mostly on video. Those of us from that educated demographic are likely the same people who buy the bulk of the vintage releases such as the retrospectives on the old territories (AWA/WCCW) as well as those on the wrestlers who were responsible for the explosion of wrestling in the 80s. Aside from the documenteries, I don't see how they could release any of that old material in HD since it would be coming from video and not film. They would have to cut it down to fit the WS aspect ratio or have the annoying bars on either side of the picture. Of course we are talking about Vince so I wouldn't be surprised to see them do it with the bars.

What I do see happening with them making the move to HD on everything is a HD release of PPVs whether that be BR or HD-DVD. With the capacity of the discs, I could see them releasing half season sets 5-10 years down the road. However, I don't think we'll see the retrospective style releases until this courrent crop of main eventers cycle out and the majority of footage of the 2010 and on main eventers is in HD. (For those that don't know what I'm talking about...it took Steve Austin/HHH/Edge/etc. almost a half decade to rise to their current positions.)

As far as mainstream sports, I'll quash the HD-DVD talk for many. The NFL and I believe NBA is distributed by Warner so that decision has already been made. Due to the timing, I wouldn't be surprised to see a BR put out in August with pre-game, game, and postgame of this year's Super Bowl. Having two teams from what I would guess is the largest install base of BR (the NE) playing in it would make for a good test of it's economic viability in the future.

Guys, please drop the "sport - not a sport" arguments. They aren't contributing anything to the actual topic.

Thanks.

Even if most of footage is on standard definition, you know how awesome it would be to be able to get all the Wrestlemanias on 4 or 5 HDM discs. I think that in itself will persuade me to double dip my PPV dvds.

I'm an HD-DVD guy, but this won't do much. In a perfect world it will stay alive long enough for most companies to decide, "What the hell, let's release a few for no good reason." But that's about it.

I admit that I do watch sports after I know the outcome. Highlights don't always match up to, say, the last five minutes of some crazy game.

That said, I think we're talking too small a slice of the pie to make a difference.

Is it just me or are all big-screen TVs now coming with free HD-DVD players? It's like they're pretending blu-ray doesn't exist.

Eh? Every ad this week lists a free Sharp BD player with the purchase of an Aquos TV.

The only way sports could help HD-DVD is if games were released before they actually happened.

You mean the ones in the same bin with all the big (and small) Hollywood movies?

You know, this would be an iteresting strategy for Toshiba, giving away HD players with all there TV sales. Heck, give em away with SD DVD players too.

I bought the 46" Aquos with BD player last week....freakin sweet.

at this point the only thing that could save hd-dvd is if they announced a partnership with nintendo as an add on for the Wii or if it were to be incorporated in next generation wii...

I doubt even that would save it.

Additionally, and I know you were spitballing, Nintendo's success with Wii is by offering something different, while not adding in features that may not be used and will drive the MSRP up. Agree or not, it has been a successful strategy.

By the time the Wii2 or whatever rolls around, if BD (or by some miracle, HD DVD) is necessary to present the games, then Wii2 will have it. Otherwise don't expect it.