Posted on 06/17/2007 10:29:06 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
In another blow to HD DVD, the giant Blockbuster video rental chain has thrown its weight behind Blu-ray in the fight to see which format is the high definition successor to the humble DVD.
After renting Blu-ray and HD DVD titles in 250 stores since late last year, Blockbuster has decide to stock only Blu-ray in its other 1250 US stores. Customers were choosing Blu-ray titles more than 70 percent of the time, reports Associated Press via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
The release of Sony's Blu-ray-enabled PlayStation 3 games console was also a factor in the decision, said Blockbuster senior vice president of merchandising Matthew Smith. Smith's comments comes after Microsoft conceded that the Xbox 360 games console may eventually support Blu-ray.
While Blockbuster is following market trends, its backing of Blu-ray as the format winner is possible a self-fulfilling prophesy - with other retailers likely to follow Blockbuster's lead. Blu-ray also has some heavy-hitting backers in Australia, with entertainment retail chain JB Hi-Fi declaring it will only stock Blu-ray.
It's true that Blu-ray players are more expensive than their HD DVD counterparts, but at this point I don't think price is a factor. Early adopters aren't too concerned about price tags. In 12 months time when prices fall and the tag becomes important, it will probably already be too late for HD DVD.
Things are staring to look grim for HD DVD, but the format war could drag on due to the release of dual format Blu-ray/HD DVD players from the likes of Samsung and LG. While this is might seem to be a good thing, it's just going to delay mass adoption of one format and thus stop hardware and movie prices falling. Blu-ray v HD DVD is a battle to the death, and the sooner one dies the better off consumers will be.
“I upgraded to a 20” color model for less than half I paid in 1981.
I am protesting the 2009 transition to HiDef broadcast through my local Congressman. I won’t qualify for one of the free converter box certificates after they shut off the standard definition stations, and that’s just unfair.”
1. The switch is to digital, not high-def only.
2. If you bought a TV this year it probably has a digital tuner in it and you don’t need any converter box.
3. None of the above has anything to do with Blu-Ray or HD-DVD :)
That is incorrect. Every single Blu-ray and hddvd player ever released, at least in the USA, play DVD’s. Now for stuff that might’ve been released in Japan, I dunno.
I think that's overstated. We already have DVD-R and DVD+R, not to mention dual-layer. As long as popular and affordable devices can write and read multiple formats, most consumers won't give a flip which is which. In a similar vein, most folks don't waste a lot of mental energy over NTSC vs. PAL -- in the US, NTSC is all you'll find, and in most of the rest of the world, dual-standard VCRs and DVD players are the norm. And DVD regions? Please.
Give it a year or two, and someone will sell me a $100 player that will play both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, and I'll join the masses in not giving a flip which has some minor technical advantage over the other. If it shakes out so there's a clear winner, I'm cool whichever one it is. Whatever happens, my toes are still tappin'.
This isn't VHS vs. Beta , which were two different physical formats with different transfer and analog encoding mechanisms. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are both 5.25" optical discs, so there are no mechanical and few electronic obstacles to machines that can read both. It's no more burdensome than being able to view GIF, JPEG and PNG, or AVI, QT and MPG on the same device, and I don't know about y'all, but I do that pretty much every day.
Thing is, the dual players won’t be nearly the same price for a long time. Probably until after hddvd is already dead.
Also, would DVD-R and DVD+R both be around is one held 33% less space than the other and was slower in general?
I forgot to mention in my last post that if you want to compare HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray to Beta vs. VHS, there has been one very important change in the last 30 years.
Sony is now a movie studio.
Sony has a long history of creating its own standards -- not always proprietary, but always its own. I have never seen a company -- and I include Apple, which is supposedly infamous for this -- more phobic about any NIH (Not Invented Here) technology.
Everyone else goes CD, Sony goes Minidisc. Everyone else goes MP3, Sony goes ATRAC. Everyone else goes SD/MMC, Sony goes Memory Stick. So you get a Peloppenesian situation -- When Athens (Sony) gets too powerful, everyone else rallies around Sparta.
I like to flatter myself that I'm the first person to drag Thucydides into the video format wars, but that's probably not true. Nature abhors a vacuum, but human nature isn't too kindly disposed toward a hegemon.
In the broadcast world, Sony still makes the best pro gear, and everyone I know has a love/hate relationship with them. They make good machines, but they do not play well with others.
I got HD-DVD for the same reason. It’s been a really nice addition to my little setup. I buy mostly classic movies and non-blockbusters. For someone whose taste in movies is a little more mature there really is more selection right now in HD-DVD. It makes my present DVD collection look good to great. Most of those I will not be buying again.
Possibly not. And until the price of either gets into the worth-it-to-me price range, it takes an electron microscope to find my give-a-damn. It'll shake out how it shakes out.
Also, would DVD-R and DVD+R both be around is one held 33% less space than the other and was slower in general?
Depends. How much cheaper is the slower, smaller one? Betamax had better picture quality than VHS, but it held less per tape and cost more. The market is made by consumers, not techies, and the race is not always won by the swiftest.
The media costs virtually the same. Obviously dual player hardware wouldn’t matter.
Computer applications always want the most capacity and speed. Digital media in general does as well, even if it costs a bit more in the short term.
For every 500 new movies, two are seeing and maybe one is worth keeping.
In the world of digital media, "a long time" could be next Tuesday. It took maybe two years for DVD to go from being an extravagance to ubiquitous -- enough so that Circuit City, Best Buy and Blockbuster started dropping tape altogether.
I’ll wait for the recorders. The whole point of the device is the ability to turn something into hard storage. Renting movies is a dead duck. There’s no reason to go to the store to get a movie.
Within a couple of years I will be using an entertainment center PC with a burner of some sort for permanent archiving. The rest will reside on hard disk until I’m sick of it.
LOL!
That’s how I feel. There are very few movies made from original material and the scripts of most are seriously dumbed down. I doubt I would’ve liked most of the current Hollywood product even if I were a teenager.
According to this Yahoo article, yes.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070618/blockbuster_blu_ray.html?.v=11
It says standard DVDs can be viewed with either a Blu-ray or HD DVD player.
Around here and other places I’m hearing, the hddvd space is shrinking while the Blu-ray is increasing.
Hopefully the Blu-ray will generally take over. I really can’t stand watching standard def DVD now. On a bigger HDTV screen, it’s just fuzzy no matter how well it’s upscaled.
There are quite a number of technical differences....particularly in the actual CD sized disc.....be sure to do some reading before you drop any money....
Hollywood makes crap and recycles everything.
Agreed.....I am awaiting for low-low prices...you are typing to a guy that waited until 1986 to purchase a microwave...GRIN....no kidding.
“I have a large DVD collection. I’m assuming (hoping?) that Blu-Ray players will be able to play them?”
Yes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.