I bought the 360 HD-DVD add-on because I got like 8 free movies, including Season 1 of Heroes.

I don't regret it at all, especially if I get insane discounts from stores desperate to unload a dying format.

Maybe it'll be useless to me in 5 years but I think it was worth it.

And by the way I did this while predicting Blu-ray to win for sure.

I did the same thing with the 360 add on, which is a poor HDM solution compared to the PS3. But the money paid for the drive was more or less reimbursed by the 9 titles that came attached, including Transformers and Heroes. I'll probably pick up a bunch of titles when the fire sales start although all those Paramount and Universal movies will inevitably end up on BR-D. Since I still prefer using the PS3 as a media player, it becomes an issue of which releases I'm willing to wait for, and which I'll just buy for a dead end format today (at inventory dumping prices).

DVD is still going to be around for a quite a few more years. BR-D will not be replacing it immediately even now that it is foreseen to be the only HDM format. HD sets don't have majority market share yet and probably won't for years. The point to note is that DVD, both media and hardware have seen continual diminishing returns as prices continue to drop. HD players are more profitable, as are the movies themselves (to a lesser extent since many of them are being given away as promotional items as BOGOs, etc. and are being discounted by certain outlets more than they should be considering volume of sales).

Toshiba undoubtedly lost a lot of money by pushing HD DVD as the cheaper format. The sales did little to add to the format's market percentage while creating losses on every hardware unit sold. Even though they were being dumped for $99 over the holidays, they still cost considerably more than DVD players to manufacture. Only the upscale units were profitable and they represented a small percentage of overall set top boxes sold since the typical buyer chose the discounted HD DVD because presumably represented a better value than the pricier BR-D players (for those who don't care about playing video games).

@username2324:
yes, I'm a fool.
kick me when I'm down.

hopefully, i'm not much of a fool when it comes to more important things in life, but with HD players, I'm a fool.

I'll forever keep my HD DVD player to remind myself not to make a foolish mistake again. I'll read and study more next time. I will soon jump into the BR bandwagon.

I wasn't a fool for the movies though, only bought "transformers" and rented the rest.
I'll wait until Wal-Mart puts all the HDDVD movies in those boxes (3 for $1.99).

I hope Beowulf will be only $9.99 when it comes out.

Sony and their fans have had one hell of a rough couple of years, I guess they deserve some good news. I still doubt I'll be buying a PS3 soon (waiting on full BC to return, slim model, price drop), but the fact that Blu ray will likely become the next major format does make it a bit more appealing.

whoops double post :/

HD DVD still has a future:

1:HD DVD camp subsidies HD/Blu Players and gets a stalemate

2 Sells the format to XBOX2 or Wii2 and is like a large UMD for consoles/ PCs.

I thinks its movie days are numbered but who knows.

Blu-Ray wins...
That will boost PS3 sales :)

The only savour for HD-DVD now, is coupling with an existing console. All 360s coming with HD-DVD drive, or Ninty announcing a HD-DVD compatible Wii (that would stir people).

But its very unlikely. It all comes down to money now for Toshiba, and who *really* supports them.

I wonder if the Sony camp will be so happy when MS announce the BluRay drive add-on for the 360? The primary selling point of the PS3 vanishes overnight.

Fingers crossed, no more confusion would be excellent for the high definition consumer market.

@ shams

How so, you'd still have to pay extra for the drive?