HD DVD & Blu-ray

[wyokie]

I have a regular DVD player. Will I still be able to get DVDs or what?

Got the player for Xmas from my parents 2 years ago.

[Waryor]

I have a regular DVD player. Will I still be able to get DVDs or what?

yup. standard dvd will be around for awhile. i would guess at least 2 years (probably longer)

however. the hd format war is coming to an end. walmart just announced they are supporting blu-ray and phasing out hd-dvd. together with the warner bros, best buy and netflix announcements... toshiba conceded (privately) defeat.

in a few weeks, toshiba will publicly announce defeat (so goes the rumors)

i believe the rumors to be true. hd-dvd is dead!

the good news though, is with a single format (blu-ray) more people will jump on board and more studios will begin releasing movies on high def. the price of blu-ray player will continue to drop.

so i give it two years before standard dvd is dead as well.

i wouldn't spend too much money on standard dvds (although, they still will play on a blu-ray player)

[808]

Is the tug of war over high-def DVD format over?

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2 ... m?csp=tech

[Kailuaboy]

The sad thing about this HD DVD / Blu-ray situation is that this all could've been avoided had both camps come to an agreement several years ago. Now, it's the consumer that's the big loser in this high-def DVD mess.

[Kailuaboy]

It's official: Toshiba announces HD DVD surrender

Feb 19 2008
David Katzmaier


The two-year war between HD DVD and Blu-ray officially ended early Tuesday morning as Toshiba waved the white flag and declared it would stop producing HD DVD products.

The company, which began sales of HD DVD in March 2006 with the HD-A1 player, "decided it was not right for us to keep going with such a small presence," according to chief executive Atsutoshi Nishida. The Blu-ray format is now the definitive winner in the war and stands unopposed as the optical media replacement for DVD.

Toshiba's press release goes into a bit more detail: "Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements. The company will continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand."

Three movie studios currently support HD DVD--Universal, Paramount, and DreamWorks Animation--but we expect them to follow suit and announce support of Blu-ray sooner rather than later.

With Blu-ray support announced by industry heavyweights Netflix, Wal-mart and Best Buy, speculation ran rampant before the weekend that Toshiba would end the war, and the company deserves credit for pulling out as soon as it did. The two incompatible formats have led to plenty of confusion among prospective buyers of next-gen hardware and software, although some have opined that the war was a good thing -- at least it led to price drops.

We've been advising readers against the purchase of HD DVD players since the announcement by Warner Brothers in January that it would exclusively support Blu-ray. That doesn't mean we're telling everyone to rush out and buy a Blu-ray player now; we still believe that most home theater fans would be better served to wait for prices on players to fall. Of course, with the exit of Blu-ray's major competition, those prices may fall later rather than sooner.

[wyokie]

Probably a really dumb question but what's so special about blu-ray?

[krazychinaman]

Probably a really dumb question but what's so special about blu-ray?

to be honest there isnt really much diff between hd-dvd and BD(Blueray Disc)when it come to picture....there both run at the max of 1080p...and both can be use with 7.1 sound system....one of the biggest thing that BD have over hd-dvd is that BD can hold 50gb and HD Dvd hold 30...

i myself was going to plan to buy the lg duel hd-dvd BD combo player...but that darn thing cost over 1k...

o yea i was reading on engadget today the xbox 360 team are planning to come out with a BD player for the xbox 360 and soon to plan to have a BD player build in the system...i guess Microsoft is giving up too...

[Kailuaboy]

Blu-ray beats HD DVD... Now get ready for the next format war

Feb 20 2008
Peter Glaskowsky


I have to hand it to fellow analyst Rob Enderle. Way back in August of 2005, he called the high-def format war in a piece titled "Blu-ray Wins or Nothing Does."

Then again, he also said in that article that "the more likely outcome is that the market will bypass both products and move to something else," so perhaps he wasn't perfectly prescient.

And come to think of it, a year later (in December 2006) he changed his mind entirely in columns titled "Optical HD Battle May Be Over: HD DVD Wins," "HD DVD Wins," and "Sony Kills Blu-ray."

And in August and even November of 2007, Enderle still believed HD DVD would win.

Well, if Rob Enderle couldn't predict the result, who could? Even just before the Consumer Electronics Show this year, when Warner Bros. Entertainment announced it would stop supporting HD DVD and join the Blu-ray camp, I was still hedging my bets: "Blu-ray wins, HD DVD loses. Probably.")

But when Wal-Mart--the Brünnhilde of modern retailing--took the stage last week to throw its weight behind Blu-ray, everyone knew it was over. And this week, Toshiba--leader of the DVD Forum, which developed HD DVD--officially conceded defeat. The company aims to end production on HD DVD hardware for home theaters as well as PCs by the end of March.

So we can all relax. Right?

Well, for a while, sure. But remember, DVD and Blu-ray were separated by only five or six years, so presumably we're due for yet another format three or four years from now. And a new format means the potential for a new format war.

The basic parameters are easy to predict. As I described last August in "After HD, what's next?" the heir apparent to HDTV is what's called "4K"-- that is, a display resolution with about 4,096 horizontal pixels and 2,160 scan lines. Sony already makes projectors that support this resolution. Red Digital Cinema makes 4K cameras. Director Peter Jackson has made a short film in 4K, and the "Final Cut" of Blade Runner was remastered in 4K.

So 4K is coming, and it isn't far away.

But why should there be a format war?

Well, there's always a format war. There was even a DVD format war, although we're all fortunate that it was resolved well before discs or players hit the market.

Sony will want to lead the transition to 4K, but the DVD Forum will still be around in five years. That's a recipe for a format war right there.

Will it happen? I sure hope not. Our best hope for a lasting peace is that Sony, Toshiba, and the rest of the DVD Forum members settle their differences and start working on the next generation immediately. If you have any influence within these companies, now's the time to start cooperating on technology development. The future won't wait.

[Kailuaboy]

Blu-ray will not be the success other formats have been

Feb 21 2008
Don Reisinger


As the high-def format war finally runs out of steam and Blu-ray has been named the winner, some are wondering what the future of the format will look like.

Will it be the unbridled success DVD was? Will it go the way of the Laser Disc and become more a bridge format than anything else? Or will it be long forgotten as just another attempt to force people into buying the same movies all over again as they wait in anxious anticipation of whatever comes next?

If you ask me, Blu-ray will never be the success DVD was and chances are, it'll be one of the forgotten formats that people scoffed at as they continued to download their favorite films online.

The way I see it, there are three main reasons why Blu-ray will never take off the way DVD did and most people won't even consider making the jump to the new format.

1. The quality jump is not that great

Where Blu-ray excels is in its ability to store data. Instead of the old 4.7GB on DVD, Blu-ray is capable of storing 25GB on a single-layer and 50GB on a dual-layer disc. But when it comes to what the average person will use it for -- film viewing -- the differences between the two formats are not that great.

When you run a regular DVD through a 1080p upconverting DVD player, the picture may not be as crisp as Blu-ray, but even the trained eye will be hard-pressed to find so many differences that a change in format would be necessary.

Do you remember the jump in quality that was experienced between VHS and DVD? If so, you'll probably recall just how beautiful DVDs looked and how disgusting those old VHS tapes were; the jump was huge. It was so huge in fact, that most people realized the value in buying DVDs and players, which effectively ended the VHS' reign as the top media in the land.

But the same can't be said for Blu-ray. Is it high-def? Sure. Does it look nice? Yep. But is the jump so big that you would consider throwing your DVD player out the window and move on to the next big thing because your old media looks ugly? Not a chance.

2. Old entertainment sales will be slow

If nothing else, the DVD generation has been marked by a huge upswing of sales on television shows and old movies. In fact, it's that segment -- specialty entertainment -- that really helped the format grow at such a rapid rate.

Realizing they could have just about any of their favorite shows, people flocked to the stores looking for each new season. But if they own each and every season of Law and Order, why would they want to buy it again on Blu-ray? Beyond that, how many people would be willing to repurchase their entire library just to get it in HD?

And although some say that's not even an issue and they'll gladly watch DVDs on their Blu-ray player, it goes far beyond individuals. If Blu-ray movies or television shows aren't selling because people already own a DVD copy, a significant portion of that market is eliminated.

Simply put, it's as if Blu-ray has lost the first 100 hundred years of movies and television and they'll never come back. What will that do to sales? I think it could be damning to say the least.

3. The wild card -- movie downloads

So far, movie downloads have yet to take the world by storm. But as they continue to surge in popularity, aren't the days of a set-top box and Blu-ray numbered? After all, if we're finally able to enjoy faster broadband speeds and split-second downloads of films, why would we need another player under the TV? Wouldn't it just be easier to download it directly to a set-top box that can be viewed on the TV?

Of course, this is already being done to some extent with the help of cable companies currently offering HD movie downloads on their boxes. But as the brick-and-mortar movie rental business continues to decline, and people find that they want movies directly in the home, the chances of Blu-ray dominating the industry are slim.

Simply put, Blu-ray looks more like a bridge to something bigger and better to me and nothing like DVD, which will always be known as one of the most groundbreaking formats of the last half-century.

So yes, Blu-ray may have won the battle with HD DVD, but in my mind, it's simply impossible for the company to win the war with consumers.

[Poopsnorkeler]

My prediction: #3. The wild card -- movie downloads

It's just too easy. Already we have devices such as Apple TV, Xbox 360, and media center PCs which can do this. And of course, they're not restricted to just movies but TV shows, music, and pictures as well. All from the comfort of your sofa without having to get up and change the media. Yeah, I know this promotes even greater laziness but at the same time pretty damn cool!

I still remember the days we didn't even have TV remotes. Oh wait, >> I << was my dad's TV remote!

[Kailuaboy]

Blu-ray players: Mighty pricey

Mar 13 2008
Jonathan Skillings

The demise of the HD DVD format has been bad news for both bargain hunters and at least one big-time technology company.

In the three short weeks since Toshiba announced that it was pulling the plug on the high-definition technology, prices for standalone players using the rival Blu-ray format have been headed north. In fact, as noted by PriceGrabber.com, Blu-ray prices are at their high point for the year, at an average of about $400 apiece for the devices. The Sony BDP-S300, for instance, was just a small mocha latte above that level, at $403 as of Wednesday.

Prices for Blu-ray players had been dipping down to around $300. Just last week, Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow said that the company would be "at a $300 rate" through this year--and would even hit the $299 mark in 2008. Apparently, though, retail outlets haven't gotten that message just yet. (Glasgow also allowed that the price might reach $200--next year.)

If you're a penny-pincher who's of a mind to buy technology on the endangered species list, you could of course go out and buy a $99 HD DVD player.

You might also do well to heed the advice of TGDaily, which in musing about the Blu-ray price increases is also looking ahead to later this year when Blu-ray players gain some advanced features and the ability to connect to the Internet: "Many of the current Blu-ray manufacturers have announced new players that will support BD Profile 2.0, so my advice would be to buy a PS3 or wait for the next-gen players." (The PlayStation 3 game console offers Blu-ray and Internet connection already. But don't go looking for Blu-ray on the Xbox 360.)

But if you're still buying Blu-ray today and ruing having to shell out a few extra bucks, imagine how Toshiba feels. The consumer electronics giant, a leading backer of HD DVD, could see a whopping $986 million loss in its high-def DVD business for its current fiscal year, according to Japan's Nikkei business daily.

Correction: This sentence initially had a "b" instead of an "m" in the dollar value of the loss. The expected loss is $986 million.

[Kailuaboy]

HD DVD blowout

Mar 26 2008
Erica Ogg


Get your HD DVDs while you can.

The largest big-box electronics retailer in the U.S. looks to be clearing its HD DVD disc inventory. TG Daily reports that a Best Buy in Dublin, Calif., has all of its HD DVD movies on sale for $9.99, and all HD DVD TV shows for 70 percent off.

TG Daily also checked Best Buy stores in Chicago, and in one case, HD DVD movies were nowhere to be found. Upon further questioning of employees, it was discovered that HD DVDs could be bought from the inventory in the back for 30 percent off. But not for long, as that particular store said it plans to send all of its inventory back to the manufacturers.


A Best Buy in Dublin, Calif., blows out its HD DVD stock at $9.99 each.
(Credit: TG Daily)

Toshiba was the leading producer of HD DVD players, but said in February it planned to cease production of them. That was just after all of the major Hollywood studios went Blu-ray only. So, this news isn't surprising as much as it is fortunate for HD DVD owners still licking their wounds from the recently concluded format war.

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9903995-1.html

[Kailuaboy]

Can Sony get 50% market share for Blu-ray this year?

Apr 7 2008
David Carnoy


Maybe that price cut in Blu-ray players is coming sooner than we think because Digitimes is reporting that Sony has set some very ambitious goals for Blu-ray in 2008. And by ambitious I'm talking a 50-50 split with DVD.



The short article, which carries the headline, "Sony looks to 50% global market share for its Blu-ray products in 2008," says that "Sony will offer Blu-ray Disc (BD) devices in a wide range of product lines and prices and aims to increase the global market share of its BD products from 20 percent currently to 50 percent by the end of 2008."

It also summarizes some remarks that Sony president and electronics CEO Ryoji Chubachi made recently at a press conference in Taipei.

DVD and BD currently account for about 80 percent and 20 percent, respectively, of global demand for movie discs, Chubachi indicated. The new BD devices to be offered by Sony include models integrating an HD LCD TV with BD recording functionality, Chubachi pointed out.

The reporter then adds:

"Sony has relied mainly on the PlayStation 3 (PS3) to promote BD, and sales of the game console will increase along with the offering by top Hollywood studios of new BD movies, Chubachi noted. However, Sony will extend its BD promotion from the current focus on the PS3 and BD players/recorders to IT devices, Chubachi pointed out."

Perhaps something was lost in the translation, but 50 percent seems ridiculous at this point, especially with most Blu-ray players still costing north of $400. Even the 80-20 figure doesn't seem right, but maybe I'm too North American focused. What do you guys think? Am I incorrect, is Mr. Chubachi, or is the Digtimes reporter just not telling the story correctly?

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9912874-1.html

[Poopsnorkeler]

What is Sony smoking? They always come out with these outlandish claims. When will they learn that today's consumer is a bit more informed than they obviously give credit for? 50-50 split with regular DVD? I highly doubt that our households with HD-capable sets even approach 30% of all households total so why on earth would someone buy a BD player to watch movies on their SD sets? This isn't going to happen anytime soon. Maybe 5 to 10 years at the earliest... if something else doesn't come up first to challenge Blu-ray.

There is no way in hell they'll even come close to 50% market share with Blu-ray if you're including standard DVDs in the mix. If it's just between HD and Blu-ray, then obviously yes.

[Kailuaboy]

PS3 to get DTS-HD Master Audio decoding, new PlayStation store

Apr 10 2008
Matthew Moskovciak


Sony has announced the details on the next PS3 firmware update--version 2.30, coming mid-April--and the big news for home theater fans is that the PS3 is getting onboard DTS-HD High Resolution and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding for Blu-ray movies. Home theater fans have long lamented that the PS3 could not decode the new DTS soundtracks at their highest resolution, especially since movie studios like Fox have opted for DTS-HD Master Audio on many Blu-ray releases. Without getting too technical, DTS-HD Master Audio offers 7-channels of lossless audio at 96K sampling frequency and 24-bit depths--which means that the sound sent to your receiver should be identical to the studio master.


(Credit: CNET)

While some sticklers will point out that the PS3 can't output Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio in bitstream format, it's definitely a non-issue. Decoding the audio at the source is actually better than having the ability to bitstream high-resolution soundtracks, since it means even people with older HDMI-capable receivers can enjoy the high quality audio. Sure, your receiver won't light up the pretty DTS-HD Master Audio logo, but who cares--you still get the same great sound.

We have ranked the PS3 as the best Blu-ray player for quite some time, and this only sweetens the deal. Almost all of our major complaints have been addressed, except for the fact that it still doesn't work nicely with a universal remote. Some diehard home theater fans will cringe at the idea of using a game console as their main disc player, but they should get over their hang-up as the PS3 is currently the best Blu-ray has to offer and it also happens to be the cheapest. And you can play high-def games and stream music, movies and photos.

The new firmware will also include a much-needed overhaul to the PlayStation Store. The official PlayStation Blog posted a walkthrough of the new store, and we have to admit it looks pretty good. Check it below.

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-991600 ... ag=nl.e775