This came right after my post all about how that market WILL exist by february 2009.

VHS won because it was cheaper? Seemed to me it won because betamax started with only a one-hour capacity. VHS's 2 hours made it work better for studio releases, and the 4hour LP and 6hour EP made it better for home recording. 

I still remember those beta sections in the video stores where practically every rental was a 2-volume set.

Blu-ray has the space advantage in this instance, and like I mentioned in the last post, once that market is there for content-filled releases, studios will prefer blu-ray for that reason.

LTNK surely some will get a converter and some will get a digital SD but there will undoubtedly be millions more HDTV's in use over a short time period. Also you can't dismiss my knowledge that 1080p is visibly better than 1080i, even to non-videophiles, just because I only have 1080i. All the defects I see from interlacing wouldn't be there in progressive scan.

My employer has about 30 Dell LCD's with 1024 horizontal, ran it about $150 each. I see cheap 1024-horizontal monitors advertised all the time. I know HDCP jacks up the price some for lcd TVs, but still more for 1080p than 1080i. Are they that much more in demand? Could be, they are much better.

http://www.dvdtown.com/news/disney-approves-51gb-hd-dvd/4936

Disney approves 51GB HD DVD

Disney and other members of the DVD Forum has approved a 51GB version of the HD DVD disc format.

The reason this even makes news is because of the ongoing format war. As you know, in war, every little change in each camp is interesting because it might indicate a change in stance.

Normally Blu-ray supporters (That are not neutral) do not cast a vote when the DVD Forum approves or suggest new specifications to its HD DVD format. The interesting part is that Disney (a strong Blu-ray supporter) voted for the twin and 51GB triple layer HD DVD discs at a comity meeting in September.

Many speculates that this change of interest from Disney may indicate that the studio is starting to show feelings for HD DVD. Perhaps, just in case, if Blu-ray doesn't make it to the finish line.

In the end it may be of no importance and it probably isn't but as said in a war you never know.

Lastly, we are currently talking with the DVD Forum to get more details on the new formats so stay tuned for that one.

Source: DVD Forum report from the meeting.

========================================================

Okay, what the f'ing hell? I know Disney co-developed the interactive layer for HD-DVD, but I didn't think they'd have any interest by now.

Again, this is about the weirdness of this news, not whether it's good news for HD-DVD (that depends on whether current players can read the third layer, which has not been answered yet).

Okay, it's getting intereting. HD-DVD is selling alot better both in the player sales and discs. Blu-ray isn't selling that well with the standalone players, but are generally still selling 2:1 on the software sales (in the US) anyway.

Toshiba have had their ridiculously priced A2 player at $98 on the market and they are sold out and are now selling the A3 for around $199, so they most certainly are coming down in price. Actually they are way down from the original $499 pricetag last year....so a generous $300 drop. But can Toshiba maintain the low costing of the players? They are obviously making a loss at the moment just to get their players on the market. Now Blu-ray are fighting back. Not only has the subsidised PS3 been reduced to $399 a huge $200 from it's release price only 12 months ago, but the standalone players are now coming down, dropping from around $1000 only last year to $399 and at the moment you can pick up a Samsung player for $299 (if you can find it in stock).

IMHO, HD-DVD has caught up a bit and their cheap A2 and now A3 players are shifting units and will undoubtably push more disc sales as well. But I reckon Toshiba has placed all their eggs in the one basket. I reckon that they could very well cheapen their brand name on the market place. It seems that Samsung has changed places with Toshiba with the reasoning that Samsung used to be one of the cheapest makes on the market, their product wasn't particularly brilliant, it was good and it was cheap, now Samsung products are better built, aesthetically look better and are now higher priced, but not above the Panasonics, Pioneers and Sony's. Toshiba costs on the highstreet have come down all around the board. They are now beginning to appear in every shop and can be found at a much cheaper level than Sony, Panasonic and Pioneer and tend to beeven cheaper than Samsung. They need to watch out or they will be relegated to bargain basement product bin rather than being a desirable make.

Blu-ray on the other hand, need to get a grip and utilise the advantage that they have. They need to bring prices down considerably across the board. Personally, I reckon an entry level player at $199 is reasonable with better players coming in at $299 right up to $499 say. They need to push the studios they have backing them to release more titles and big titles. Tell Disney to get Toy Story and a few classic Disney films out early 2008. Push New Line is possible to release Lord of the Rings onto the new 100Gb BR discs with all the trimmings. Have a chat with Lucas and Spielberg and try and prove their backing with releases of Star Wars, Indiana Jones and ET. But more importantly, have discussions with Warner...and even if it costs BR or Sony or whoever, they need to get Warner to push more BR or become exclusive. The longer this battle goes on, the harder it will be for BR.

The article explicitly states that non-neutral members of the forum, including Disney, stay out of HD-DVD votes, so this is an unusual move for them. 

 (text has been plugged into the translator linked, but if you want to go ahead and verify   )

http://www.areadvd.de/news/2007/200711/16112007001_GfK_BD__HD_DVD.shtml

http://world.altavista.com/tr

Anyway, this article cites a lot of evidence, but the one thing that surprises me is he last sentece, that  so far approximately 46000 hd DVDs and 70000 Blu-ray discs have been purchased in Germany.  Ordinarily, anybody would have said that it looks like Blu-ray is winning, but when you factor in the notion that HD-DVD has had about a year and a half of being out before Blu-ray ever came out, it looks like BD is racing ever ahead.  In other words, a fair number of these 46K discs bought were purchased when BD wasn't even around. 

The second thing noticed is that BD players were bought at the rate of 1/3 of every HD-DVD player.  Not that I'm worrie about this or anything, but it just points out that the PS3 really is being used as a Blu-ray movie player and that it is Blu-ray's biggest advantage.

In other words, this 70,000:46,000 ratio , about 1.5 to 1, is probably a bit better than it looks, mabey even a 2:1

ProfDallas said: (text has been plugged into the translator linked, but if you want to go ahead and verify ) One year after introduction of the first playing devices for Blu ray Disc and hp DVDs could not themselves spread both formats so far yet strongly. Wolfgang Adlwarth, Managing Director of GRP panel services Germany, presented recently in the context of the specialized trade meeting "DVD Entertainment 2007" current sales figures. Therefore by September this yearly in Germany altogether approximately 1700 Blu ray and approximately 6000 hp DVD Player were sold to Disc Player. The so far only combination Player for both formats of LG is located at present straight once in scarcely 130 German households. These numbers consider first of all only the pure Standalone Player and result in a clear projection/lead of the hp DVD. Even if one adds the Playstation 3 equipped with one Blu ray Disc drive assembly, the numbers look however already again differently. The Playstation 3 was approximately 120,000 times sold in Germany until Septembers. For the Xbox 360 approximately 10,000 user bought the external hp DVD drive assembly. The question, which format is prominent in Germany, does not depend thus last on the fact whether one counts only the devices primarily thought for the film-Wiedergabe or also considers the Playstation 3. Regardless of of it however the total numbers have influence on the sales of the films in both formats. Some days ago a report had dispatched the hp DVD graduation Group, in which them appointed themselves to current GRP numbers and came to the result that hp DVD buyers on average would buy substantially more films than the owners one Blu ray to Disc Players. Thus in Germany hp approximately 2,9 films would have bought DVD user on average, while owners would have bought one Blu ray to Disc Players straight once 0,6 films on average. This computation was accomplished on basis of sales by Standalone Playern and consoles. If one applies this cut to the concrete numbers of the sold playing devices for both formats, then so far approximately 70,000 Blu ray Discs and approximately 46000 hp DVDs might have gone over the counters into Germany. http://www.areadvd.de/news/2007/200711/16112007001_GfK_BD__HD_DVD.shtml http://world.altavista.com/tr Anyway, this article cites a lot of evidence, but the one thing that surprises me is he last sentece, that so far approximately 46000 hd DVDs and 70000 Blu-ray discs have been purchased in Germany. Ordinarily, anybody would have said that it looks like Blu-ray is winning, but when you factor in the notion that HD-DVD has had about a year and a half of being out before Blu-ray ever came out, it looks like BD is racing ever ahead. In other words, a fair number of these 46K discs bought were purchased when BD wasn't even around. The second thing noticed is that BD players were bought at the rate of 1/3 of every HD-DVD player. Not that I'm worrie about this or anything, but it just points out that the PS3 really is being used as a Blu-ray movie player and that it is Blu-ray's biggest advantage.

This surprised you? This has been the case in the US, as well as other regions. So not only is this just a typical situation, it also means it's not negative for HD-DVD, as this happening elsewhere hasn't killed it. 

Well you caught me using the wrong word. Put "interesting" where I said "surprising" but other than that my comment stands knight.