Blu-ray and HD DVD Camps: Like Little Kids
After listening to Sony and Toshiba representatives at their press conferences tonight at the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) trade show here in Denver, Colorado, I wanted to tell both of them to go to their rooms and come out when they decided to grow up.
Both companies' reps refused to say the name of the competing format, despite the fact that everyone in the room knew what they were talking about. They kept referring to "the other high-definition disc format," as if they were talking about Voldemort from the Harry Potter series and they'd be struck dead--or worse, give their competitor a leg up--if they uttered the words "Blu-ray" or "HD DVD."
Sony showed a graph of weekly sales of Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD sales; the lines varied so dramatically, I couldn't tell who was the consistent winner. (Or perhaps it was that I felt skeptical about Sony's data.) The rep added some old news about how BJ's Wholesale Club has decided to stock only Blu-ray. That ought to put 'em over the top.
Toshiba wanted to focus on the prices of its players--its new boxes are certainly much cheaper than Sony's. The rep went on about how recently its low-priced unit was number one in technology product sales on Amazon.com--and that the nearest Blu-ray drive was 431st or so. But do you want to commit even $400 when the technology may be dead in the water in a year?
Toshiba also trotted out the fact that it was the first to sell 100,000th set-top players. Great--but it announced that back in April. Either it's sold zip since then, or it was trying to drown us with stats.
Just think how many players the camps could sell if they'd agree to agree (and drop the price on the discs while they're at it).
PC World's Marketplace
PC World's Free Whitepapers
tech news tech blogs community & forums laptop prices software reviews downloads
This winter we will see the first sub 100 dollar HD-DVD players for the holiday market. At that point when the technology is considered cheap price point, thats when you'll see mass adoption of HD-DVD. Its going to be history repeating itself when VHS finally started to kill Betamax. Blue-Ray stock will fall this holiday season now that Sony has run out of $499 Playstation 3's. Several of the video game magazines websites are reporting that Sony is out of the 60 GB model. Folks will pass on the $599 80 GB model and Blue Ray will begin its death cycle. The cheaper format always has won the format wars. Sony should have realized this and came up with a compatable format with HD-DVD. Just wait and see.
This winter we will see the fall of blue ray. The under $100 HD-DVD players will come out and people will buy it cause its cheap. Why spend $499 on a standalone or $599 on the Playstation 3 when its most likely $99.99 for an HD-DVD player this holiday season. Now Toshiba needs to get those disk down under 20 bucks and you'll see how fast Blue-Ray fades to black. Besides Blue Ray has to be coded in Java, which cost people who know how to write in Java. Not something that major studio like Paramount wants to pony up. History is going to repeat itself just like when VHS beat Betamax. Sony will be 0 for 2 in formats and will continue to lose a nice chunk of change on their Playstatiion 3's. When this happens, I'll jump on the HD-DVD bandwagon and insure the Blue-Ray's demise.
Ah, I see these comments echo the juvenile antics of the big companies. Accordingly, let me jump in with tongue firmly planted in cheek...
This fall will see the demise of HD players, as Blu-Ray player prices plummet in time for the Christmas season. Already, my local Target has reduced the shelf-space for HD-DVD by half and increased the Blu-Ray space by as much. What good is a cheap player if there aren't any titles to play on it?
Microsoft will take a bath as they come out with a new incompatible XBox that will play HD-DVD movies natively, but won't support games on it so as to remain compatible with the installed base. Or they'll create a new genre of games on marginally bigger HD disks, leaving their legacy customers P.O.'d at them.
Yeah, that was fun making fun of the HD fanboys. Now, can we get some real news please?
This is a HD fanboy that wonders about Sony. They hype was up when they put the PsP out then those stupid UMD movies wouldnt sell, Bluray players costing $500 and movies $30 a pop and now they have a over price PS3 that has a Bluray player which hopes if they dont win this battle you have a player you might not be able to use only with movies that were available during its time. Not a big fan of M$ but they made a smart move making the HD player a standalone just in case Blu Ray wins, gamers dont care about blu ray games, its about the games not the player. I think Sony left their customers a long time ago coming out with a PS3 for $500 to $600 then had the nerve to lower the price because they wanted to get rid of a ($499) 60g to a 80g after jumped the price back to ($599) what because they added a extra 20g's that makes sense.
When it comes to price VMD beats them both. When it was Betamax and VHS, Betamax had the quality and VHS had the price. Now Blu-Ray has the quality and volume edge and HD-DVD has the price. But HD-VMD beats HD-DVD on quality and beats everyone else on price. Plus with VMD you get to use the same plaver for HD-VMD and regular DVD.
So long Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.
First of all, who ever wrote this article was definatly the wrong reviewer cause he is not being neutral, but rather showing his support for a lower format.
Who in their right mind would buy an HD-DVD player when no MAJOR electronics company stands behind it but Toshiba, while Blu-ray enjoys the support of Sony, Samsung, Pioneer, Sharp, Panasonic, and I can go on and on. Even major PC companies stand behind Blu as the next format, such as Apple, Sony (ofcourse), Acer, HP, Alienware, Voodoo, and a whole lot more.
When it comes to movies, only Paramount and Universal like HD-DVD, everyone supports Blu (while WB is neutral, for now). The availability of Blu is greater at your local retail store (and if you notice, the inventory is actually moving, not collecting dust).
True, HD-DVD players are cheap, but those cheap players are an embarrassment only capable of 1080i (the cheaper Blu player does 1080p). Blu can also enjoy better sound and graphics cause of capacity.