JHawkNH said: Tell you what, when a BluRay play drops below $200 I won't care which format wins. But if HD DVD was to die today, you wouldn't see a sub $200 BluRay player for at least two years. The compatition between the two formats has brought down prices to mass market appeal.

 i saw a $220 sony player on amazon. so you are wrong there

I suppose anyone that has invested in HD-DVD will try to fight for it in some way like on a forum for instance. In the big scheme of things though the gap should keep growing. The impact won't be too noticeable until mid year when Warner stops production of hd-dvd completely. And by Christmas 08 the latest it should be more or less over.

ssj12 said: Becasue they dont understand that CE companies will still have competition between themselves to get the price low enough. Really I think Phillips is release a $350 Blu-ray player and Sony is releasing a sub $200 PC drive yet HD-DVD fans will say that there is no way the prices are that low when these prices are REAL.

 yea i hate how people just keep saying the same thig over and over again. like how they bluray player are $1000 when they have droppd a lot

yea but if it were over now there would be more bluray player which in return means more blurays on the shelf at the store. which make its so producers willw ant to bring even more of the old films that have been remastered.

redisrad said: both dvd +/- r hold the same space and the disc were simular but bluray and hdvd are a little more different. bluray hold more room and has more support. most of these people do not want to buy an hd dvd player so they can watch all movie. and a dual player will take a lot longer to drop inprice, this mean we would have to wait longer.

CDs also hold less space than DVDs and my drive can read both. The physical structure between CDs, CD-R(W)s, DVDs, DVD+-R(W)s, DVD-RAMs are all different enough, and my drive can still read them all. An HD-DVD drive reads all of the above, two different physical structures of HD-DVD discs, maybe even recordables. A Bluray one definitely reads its recordables, besides the above bunch. Dual format players are definitely feasible (they exist), and the thing that makes them currently half-assed is software. They're expensive because it wasn't in most manufacturers best interest to manufacture them. But I'm betting in the near future it will be (e.g., for Toshiba: if you can't beat them, join them).

And, really. Bluray just basically "won" the format war. Bluray fans don't get to bitch that "most of these people do not want to buy an hd dvd player so they can watch all movie". No, HD DVD early adopters that got screwed are the ones that get to say they don't want to buy yet another player just to watch any movies at all, and on top of that, be forced to repurchase all their current movies if they want to watch them in the near future, after HD DVD just rolls over and dies like some of you seem to want.

Only in the mind of a fanboy would dual format players be detrimental to the market. After these companies screwed up getting together and making one format, after they both pushed for getting millions of players in the hands of consumers, packaging dozens of movies with those deals, dual format is the best answer to a lot of people. And, in particular, HD DVD dropping from the face of the earth isn't the answer to any of those people.

Not to me though. I own neither, so I could care less really. With every move since the war started the players that really interest me (those brandless ones that play every damn thing you throw at them, including data in every format known to man, in every storage medium they can possibly read) look further and further. But I'll just buy an upscaling DVD one, and be done with it.

LordTheNightKnight said: It would not lead to all our movies being on it. It took mainstream success for that to happen to DVD, not getting rid of the DIVX format (which is not the same as the DivX codec).

DIVX? Ha ha ha. I had forgotten about that one! DVD didn't get rid of DIVX, it wasn't a competing format, it was just a ridiculous failed attempt at providing an alternative to video rental. A bad idea from the start.

@madskillz

The interactivity features of Java are actually a lot better than HDi. The reason you don't see them in early Blu-Ray is that they were not included as standard in the BD 1.0 profile.

I wouldn't worry to much about the region coding issue either. DVD is region encoded, but I sure don't know anyone with a player that's not region free.

Personally, I won't be getting on the HD format train for a while as I only have an SD TV, but it was pretty obvious from the get-go that BD was the superior format, and market dominance was assured by Sony crowbarring it into the market via PS3.

Played_Out said: LordTheNightKnight said: It would not lead to all our movies being on it. It took mainstream success for that to happen to DVD, not getting rid of the DIVX format (which is not the same as the DivX codec). DIVX? Ha ha ha. I had forgotten about that one! DVD didn't get rid of DIVX, it wasn't a competing format, it was just a ridiculous failed attempt at providing an alternative to video rental. A bad idea from the start. @madskillz The interactivity features of Java are actually a lot better than HDi. The reason you don't see them in early Blu-Ray is that they were not included as standard in the BD 1.0 profile. I wouldn't worry to much about the region coding issue either. DVD is region encoded, but I sure don't know anyone with a player that's not region free. Personally, I won't be getting on the HD format train for a while as I only have an SD TV, but it was pretty obvious from the get-go that BD was the superior format, and market dominance was assured by Sony crowbarring it into the market via PS3.

That's not my point. The point is that DVD didn't hit mainstream due to DIVX going away, so it is not a given this will happen to blu-ray, if HD-DVD goes away. 

Played_Out said: LordTheNightKnight said: It would not lead to all our movies being on it. It took mainstream success for that to happen to DVD, not getting rid of the DIVX format (which is not the same as the DivX codec). DIVX? Ha ha ha. I had forgotten about that one! DVD didn't get rid of DIVX, it wasn't a competing format, it was just a ridiculous failed attempt at providing an alternative to video rental. A bad idea from the start. @madskillz The interactivity features of Java are actually a lot better than HDi. The reason you don't see them in early Blu-Ray is that they were not included as standard in the BD 1.0 profile. I wouldn't worry to much about the region coding issue either. DVD is region encoded, but I sure don't know anyone with a player that's not region free. Personally, I won't be getting on the HD format train for a while as I only have an SD TV, but it was pretty obvious from the get-go that BD was the superior format, and market dominance was assured by Sony crowbarring it into the market via PS3.

Interesting post. I hope you are correct about region coding - I hate being limited with my options ...

I have well over 200 DVDs and just 10 HD DVDs (plus 5 that I still need to pick) and I got in because it was a great deal, even if the format died. I was giving the PS3 and 15 BR movies from Wally World serious thought too.

As far as the TVs go, I have a 480i SD TV and a 22" LCD, plus a 1080i projector and all of the HD DVD movies look sweet. When the HD DVD format goes belly up, I will just stick to watching HD on my DiSH HD DVR. I will admit, I have the Star Wars Trilogy on my DVR in HD ... it's really sweet. 

Better question. instead of why don't we want HD DVD to go away, why do you want it to go away so bad? I have a HD DVD player, big surprise i wont want it to go away since i invested in one. How does HD DVD going away positively affect anyone except sony stock holders? Truth is you wouldn't have those 5 free blu ray movies if it weren't for HD DVD

KruzeS said: redisrad said: both dvd +/- r hold the same space and the disc were simular but bluray and hdvd are a little more different. bluray hold more room and has more support. most of these people do not want to buy an hd dvd player so they can watch all movie. and a dual player will take a lot longer to drop inprice, this mean we would have to wait longer. CDs also hold less space than DVDs and my drive can read both. The physical structure between CDs, CD-R(W)s, DVDs, DVD+-R(W)s, DVD-RAMs are all different enough, and my drive can still read them all. An HD-DVD drive reads all of the above, two different physical structures of HD-DVD discs, maybe even recordables. A Bluray one definitely reads its recordables, besides the above bunch. Dual format players are definitely feasible (they exist), and the thing that makes them currently half-assed is software. They're expensive because it wasn't in most manufacturers best interest to manufacture them. But I'm betting in the near future it will be (e.g., for Toshiba: if you can't beat them, join them). And, really. Bluray just basically "won" the format war. Bluray fans don't get to bitch that "most of these people do not want to buy an hd dvd player so they can watch all movie". No, HD DVD early adopters that got screwed are the ones that get to say they don't want to buy yet another player just to watch any movies at all, and on top of that, be forced to repurchase all their current movies if they want to watch them in the near future, after HD DVD just rolls over and dies like some of you seem to want. Only in the mind of a fanboy would dual format players be detrimental to the market. After these companies screwed up getting together and making one format, after they both pushed for getting millions of players in the hands of consumers, packaging dozens of movies with those deals, dual format is the best answer to a lot of people. And, in particular, HD DVD dropping from the face of the earth isn't the answer to any of those people. Not to me though. I own neither, so I could care less really. With every move since the war started the players that really interest me (those brandless ones that play every damn thing you throw at them, including data in every format known to man, in every storage medium they can possibly read) look further and further. But I'll just buy an upscaling DVD one, and be done with it.

YOU MAKE A GOOD POINT. but lets say the dual player become the standard. well that means both sides of the formate war will have to buy a new player to play all the movies. also they will cost more then both hd player standalones. also there would be less shelf space because both formates would have to share. so it would just make more since to go blu because bluray has like 10 time more players out there. and would make more since to make the 10% of hd dvd owner mad, 90% of bluray owners mad or 100% of them mad because dual is the standard.