It drives me crazy the amount of people who think that HD and BD should be the same price as SD already. Folks, this is a new format and is so much better that I hate watching SD anymore. Im 95% Hi Def. So do you guys really think its good when you can find stores selling HDs for 12.99 and 15.88 already? The format hasnt been out a year and you people are whining that players arent under 100 dollars and HDs arent 9.44 or less at Walmart. Do you think Disney and Fox and Sony really want to go neutral to a side that is already marking there products that low? Dont people realize that Studios want and need to make money and Standard DVD just isnt cutting it anymore?
People get so mad when they have to spend more than 15 bucks for a movie when many of you used to pay 50 dollars or more for Laser Discs that looked 10 times worse than High Def and had to be flipped every hour. These are new formats and have to go through the price growing pains as such. If you think that studios and stores are gonna be happy about marketing a new format that costs them more money to make and produce and charge people the same amount as SD already then in my opinion you are mistaken. If all you want is cheap, cheap, and cheaper then maybe early adoption of a great new format isnt where you should be.

don't really see the objection unless you're the one gaining the reward ie: profits.

if all hd were the same price as sd and had cheap players as well, then wide-scale mass adoption would spread like wildfire, boosting hdtv sales as well i would imagine.

why would anyone argue for something to cost more? :rolleyes:

Is Cheap Really a Good Thing?
Yes.

[/thread]

Well I hope youre not expecting neutrality from any of the other major studios any time soon. Im sure cheap isnt a good thing for them. It just seems odd for a new format to just have the prices dropping so fast so soon. Its like there trying to force feed it and give it away. Thats just my opinon.

Are you serious with this thread?

Are you serious with this thread?

Yes I am. I know we all want the most we can get for the least amount of money but every thread has people whining about prices. This is a new format. These Discs are 10 times better than SD and many people feel like they should just be given these upgrades at no charge. Then they think all studios should just give in and say ok. SD isnt making them nearly as much money as it used to and the studios all know that so it doesnt make sense that certain studios are dramastically reducing prices so early in the game.

By continuously describing the criticisms as "whining", I think you are diminishing the importance of economics in this battle, as well as demeaning those people who argue that the economics are important.

Well, I remember the great alarm among studios, and electronics manufacturers about how quickly DVD disks and player-prices dropped. So much so, that now when a small outfit like Criterion invests a great deal into bringing a real low-margin title to the market, everyones whines about them gouging.

The problem HD is going to have is convincing people some pretty nice-looking, cheap DVDs need replacement. Some they may not even have watched yet. The new formats will never stay afloat on solely new releases.

I suppose I also remember when $29 to $39 was a good price for an LD.

People don't realize that catalog titles are first and foremost dusted off for syndication packages, and that the DVD release would never happen on half this stuff if the producers of the disk didn't also hold the rights and have other interests in the property.

But people always complain, you could give it away and they still would.

Hi Im Joe Public, Can I please have a new High Def player for 10$ and a bunch of 1$ discs to go with it?

I'm the only technophile in all my friends and family:

best friend and wife: were given my previous dvd player about 9 months ago, didn't have one before

best friend and wife #2: were given a dvd player for their new house about 18 months ago, didn't have one before

parents: waited until dvd+vhs combo was available at Walmart for $159, about 18 months ago, didn't have one before

uncle & aunt: just got DVD recorder/player for Christmas, didn't have one before

best friend and wife #3: got a $29.95 mini-dvd player about 18 months ago, didn't have one before

I could go on and on. Hence, it will be a while for "Joe Public" to adopt hi-def, unless the prices come way down and soon. Yes, cheap is very good.

I'm the only technophile in all my friends and family:

best friend and wife: were given my previous dvd player about 9 months ago, didn't have one before

best friend and wife #2: were given a dvd player for their new house about 18 months ago, didn't have one before

parents: waited until dvd+vhs combo was available at Walmart for $159, about 18 months ago, didn't have one before

uncle & aunt: just got DVD recorder/player for Christmas, didn't have one before

best friend and wife #3: got a $29.95 mini-dvd player about 18 months ago, didn't have one before

I could go on and on. Hence, it will be a while for "Joe Public" to adopt hi-def, unless the prices come way down and soon. Yes, cheap is very good.

Well maybe the prices of Mercedes and BMWs should be lowered so we could have one and could all just give them away to our friends too.

P.S. You are also one example.I dont know a single person who doesnt have a DVD player and my youngest brother who is 16 has a collection of about 400. So there are plenty of people who have DVD and plenty of people who will appreciate the upgrade to High Def.

Well maybe the prices of Mercedes and BMWs should be lowered so we could have one and could all just give them away to our friends too.


That's a pretty elitist statement, not to mention inaccurate. If you're going to equate HD disc hardware to automobiles, a BMW would be a Meridian player, while a Honda would be a Panasonic player. Do you think Honda should increase their prices because people who can't afford BMW's don't deserve to drive?

I got my first DVD player in 2000 because that's when I could afford a decent, sub $300 player. Conclusion of format war (whether it be winner or stalemate) and player cost will be the deciding factors for when I buy in. I suspect many other people, for whom money doesn't grow on trees, feel the same way. I just got my HD-capable TV last fall and can't wait for my family to be able to enjoy HD movies at home.

I don't think either side is pushing the cost of software much lower than the other, and if they are, it is a studio decision that has nothing to do with the format. Warner is apparently happy to sell their titles at about $20-25 (on either format) while say Fox is more comfortable at a higher price. The other studios seem to fall somewhere in between. As far as the OP's question to other consumers, the answer is almost always simply "cheaper is better". However, I do agree with him/her that the expectations of some folks are unrealistic at this stage of the game.

It drives me crazy the amount of people who think that HD and BD should be the same price as SD already. Folks, this is a new format and is so much better that I hate watching SD anymore.

Are you doing this for the studios ?

IAWTP, to some extent, at least. We the consumers tend to forget that, for any format to succeed, the manufacturers and retailers need to make money off of it. It may not be our big priority, but it is important. Higher initial prices do mean better margins for them, which means better selection of HD titles/players, which means more market penetration, which THEN means lower prices.

Hey, I'm not the richest guy on this board, and I admit that one of the reasons I'm holding off is money. But, that doesn't mean prices are too high, it just means I'm too poor. I think the prices are very fair given how young these formats are.

Agree with OP's in regards to folks wanting for everthing to be cheap when the bugs in the software and HW are still present across both platforms. You can do a search and there is not a single HD player that does not have this issue or that issue at this point in time. Besides the assumption of folks thinking that bringing the price down on both the software and HW will some how light a fire under the average Joe's ass is unrealistic. The majority of members on these forums are willing to take the risk on a new format and are willing to plop down some cash on a format that still has no clear leader. The fact is that there is several components that have to be updated for you to enjoy the full offering of this new format. You need a HDTV, receiver, speakers, amps, cables etc.. etc.. This is not cheap. The additional costs that go along are HD services from providers. Let's not forget the black bar thing that average consumer still can't understand... So hey I'm not happy of having to pay 500-1200 for first and second gen products that are chok full of bugs but hey I like new toys. Please lets also stop with the argument that a cheap player is going to be the mesiah and everyone shall fall in line and HD it up. Get me a player that is as stable as what present DVD players are and I'd be more than happy to pay the current prices at least until mass penetration drives the price down and not the whining and fanboyisms.....

You know this "war" is getting ridiculous when people need to argue that more expensive is a good thing for their side. Unbelieveable.

The phrase "you get what you paid for" is certainly true in most cases but when the lower priced product is cheaper AND has great features not available in players costing twice as much then certainly cheaper is better.

For mass adoption cheaper is paramount to success. Cheap is a VERY good thing.

mrmota

you are speaking from a videophile's perspective. i have friends who aren't into home theater at all but they do realize that pq is much better. they are middle income but most of them have families and are interested in many things but pq for hometheater isn't on the top of the list.

when asked when they would likely upgrade to hd the answer was always somewhere in the 100-200 dollar range for a player.

Sorry guys, the OP is largely correct. Even if HD players were as cheap as SD DVD players, it doesn't mean adoption would spread like wildfire. If what we want is truly to have a widely-adopted format with most movies ever made availabe in HD, then we don't want the prices pushed down too low at this point.

Don't get me wrong, I love getting the best bargain possible, but be realistic; we need these companies to invest in the winning format for 10-15 more years. Instead, we are seeing non-traditional CE companies artificially lower prices so as to drive the more future-proof format out of business and ensure there is no longer term adoption of HD optical media. With low margins emerging prior to high sales volume, we risk having studios and CE manufacturers losing interest in either format (regardlesss of "winner") within the next 5 years.

This has nothing to do with elitism, it's how corporate pricing strategies are set up to recoup initial R&D from early adopters, and how their pricing structure changes with market saturation. Screwing up the curve of pricing to market penetration is bad for the viability of a format, and hence bad for us. Aside from better security, why do you think there is (was?) such a strong interest in a next gen format (from the CE companies and studios, I mean)? It's because they volume growth of DVDs had flattened out and there is only limited (if any) revenue growth left in the format.

It's not that I'm pro-corporation (my friends would laugh if they heard someone say that), it's just a reality of the economics that currently brings the toys we want to market.

mrmota

you are speaking from a videophile's perspective. i have friends who aren't into home theater at all but they do realize that pq is much better. they are middle income but most of them have families and are interested in many things but pq for hometheater isn't on the top of the list.

when asked when they would likely upgrade to hd the answer was always somewhere in the 100-200 dollar range for a player.

Yes sir you are correct. And for the 100-200 players to happen we are still looking at a good 18months to 2yrs.... And these 100-200 players better be rock solid because the average Joe doesn't like mucking with error codes, sync issues, lock ups etc... Hell I just saw a 20 dollar chinese dvd player hmmm. 20 or 100 the average Joe would do what do you think???? :cool:

People who think these things should be cheap now don't have any comprehension of what running a company is like. In order to get to this point, the companies involved had to spend an enormous amount of $$$. They also need to ramp up production as demand grows. You don't start out right away with the capability of producing disks at the high volume levels of DVD. That would be asinine. If the format tanks, you've just tossed big bucks down the toilet. When your product has a low volume, then you might as well charge higher prices since they will all be sold anyway. To behave in any other way would be irresponsible towards the shareholders of the company.

The lure of making a profit is what gets these companies interested and participating in the first place.

I'm the only technophile in all my friends and family:

best friend and wife: were given my previous dvd player about 9 months ago, didn't have one before

best friend and wife #2: were given a dvd player for their new house about 18 months ago, didn't have one before

parents: waited until dvd+vhs combo was available at Walmart for $159, about 18 months ago, didn't have one before

uncle & aunt: just got DVD recorder/player for Christmas, didn't have one before

best friend and wife #3: got a $29.95 mini-dvd player about 18 months ago, didn't have one before

I could go on and on. Hence, it will be a while for "Joe Public" to adopt hi-def, unless the prices come way down and soon. Yes, cheap is very good.

Are you still on wife #4 or did your best friend get her too?

...best friend and wife #3...
I could go on and on. ...Geez, how many wives did you have? :)
Hence, it will be a while for "Joe Public" to adopt hi-def...... and ceratainly so many wives.

Diogen.

People who think these things should be cheap now don't have any comprehension of what running a company is like.

And how many companies do you run ? :p

Im glad to see there are a few intelligent people left on this forum. Im not rich buy any means but I understand how business works and I want this format to survive. If High Def DVDs died tomorrow I would be very upset as this is my favorite hobby. I cant go back to SD. Ive been selling them left and right as I hear an announced date for them on BD. So I want those studios and companies to put out a great product at a reasonable price and being an early adopter I know that price will continue to get lower and lower as time goes on.

Sooo, the BDA strategy of attempting to leverage BD into millions of homes on the back of an established gaming brand with world-wide market dominance, utilizing the console business model of subsidizing each unit....in this case to the tune of three hundred bucks a pop, is a good thing, but HD-DVD attempting to leverage Chinese manufacturing efficiencies to the same end..........with the aim of meeting a price-point lower than Sony's per-unit subsidy, is a terrible idea?........... The irony of this thread is just titanic.

I think the problem is that this isn't a huge leap in the eyes of most people. DVD's give great picture and sound, and while HD-DVD and Bluray is a significant picture improvement, many people don't see the increase as worth the higher price.

That's the issue. Studios aren't going to make money on these new formats, not because they're reducing the price too much, but because most people could care less about them. HD-DVD and Bluray is a niche product so far, much like Laserdiscs. Did studios make a killing on expensive laserdiscs? Do you think laserdisc would have failed if the discs were inexpensive enough for people to want them?

For most people, they just want to watch a movie with comparable picture and sound to a movie theater, without the hassle and high price. Judging by almost all of the movie theaters I've been to in San Diego, which lack any sort of video calibration and sometimes have blown speakers (and these are the nicer "stadium" theaters), I already get a superior experience with SD-DVD's.

Neither format will win with high prices. It's just that simple. DVD will continue to be the norm until these new formats reach that price. HD-DVD and Bluray aren't supposed to be a premium product that is supposed to be more expensive than DVD's...they're meant to REPLACE DVD's. Much like DVD's replaced VHS and ended up being the same price ($20 per movie).

Until HD-DVD's and Bluray discs truly replace DVD's with pricing, people won't buy it. DVD really didn't take off until it got to that lower price point, and the same thing will happen here. DVD was superior to VHS in every way, but until price of the players and media got to $200 and $20 respectively, DVD continued to merely crawl into existance.

That's another reason why it is difficult to predict a format winner. Yeah, bluray has content advantage, but it will be a long time before their players and media reach that "DVD" price range that will get people to buy them. HD-DVD with its less content has the potential to reach that magical price range much quicker. I don't care if HD-DVD standalones are outselling bluray standalones 5:1, or if bluray discs are outselling HD-DVD discs 2:1, because all of those numbers are pretty small right now on both sides, and don't amount to a hill of beans for either side to be starting their victory dance (like the BDA did at CES).

Im glad to see there are a few intelligent people left on this forum. Im not rich buy any means but I understand how business works and I want this format to survive.

So you're calling everyone who doesn't agree with you unintelligent?

What people are forgetting with HD DVD is that's not a radical new technology akin to going from VHS to DVD. None of us has any clue as to the R&D costs associated with the new formats but I have no doubt Toshiba is making a profit on the G2 models. If they can sell at that price and make a profit then I see no reason to gouge the early adopters on price. To assume that only those who are charging a premium for their players are doing smart business is absurd.

I assume you must then scorn Sony and their heavily subsidized PS3 for their bad business practice of offering a game machine that also plays BD movies at a much lower price than the standalones?

DVD was superior to VHS in every way, but until price of the players and media got to $200 and $20 respectively, DVD continued to merely crawl into existance.
(emphasis added)

The qualitative/convenience vector was much wider between VHS and DVD, than it is between DVD, and HD optical media, and HDTV penetration remains at a relatively low percentage of total sets.

When DVD was introduced, every consumer display could immediately illustrate the benefits of that technology, but this certainly isn't the case with either of the new formats. Surely these were factors which effected Sony's decision to include a BD drive in all PS3s. Does anyone believe that every PS3 sold-through unit is currently connected to an HD capable display?

So you're calling everyone who doesn't agree with you unintelligent?

What people are forgetting with HD DVD is that's not a radical new technology akin to going from VHS to DVD. None of us has any clue as to the R&D costs associated with the new formats but I have no doubt Toshiba is making a profit on the G2 models. If they can sell at that price and make a profit then I see no reason to gouge the early adopters on price. To assume that only those who are charging a premium for their players are doing smart business is absurd.

I assume you must then scorn Sony and their heavily subsidized PS3 for their bad business practice of offering a game machine that also plays BD movies at a much lower price than the standalones?

No im not calling everyone who disagrees with me unintelligent. Im calling people who respond with no facts and without thinking unintelligent. Like I said in the original post its more than just the players. Multiple threads have pointed out stores that have HDs for 12.99 and 14.99 already. The next step is the 9.44 and 7.50 racks at walmart and it just seems like Studios arent going to push there products and release and expand like we all want if theyre gonna be sold that cheap this fast.

Did I just read that wrong or did you just say you think Jackass is a better movie than Casablanca??
No, he actually said he prefered Jackass 1 and 2 over all of these films.......
Spartacus, The Sting, Casablanca, The Deer Hunter, Forbidden Planet, Adventures Of Robin Hood, The Searchers, Grand Prix, The Dirty Dozen, Mutiny On the Bounty, Psycho coming this year and other Hitchcock classics.........combined

http://www.disposablewisdom.com/nucleus/media/1/meterpeggged.jpg

(emphasis added)

When DVD was introduced, every consumer display could immediately illustrate the benefits of that technology, but this certainly isn't the case with either of the new formats.

Not to mention it's relative convenience and novelty. They looked better on screen, stored more efficiently, and no rewinding. Most people I know never bought recordable stand-alone players either, they just kept a VCR until the TVO took it's place.

The only thing I think they did wrong was the packaging, those big ugly, clunky boxes; which I'm sure had more to do with being able to sit on a VHS shelf than anything else.

I do think HD/BD is going to be a tough sell by comparison.

Stores also do a terrible job presenting it. I've see a lot of really garish, contrasty, J-peg looking HD-TVs in Best Buys an Circuit Citys. If I didn't know I could get better results at home, there is no way the displays I commonly see would sell me.

Sooo, the BDA strategy of attempting to leverage BD into millions of homes on the back of an established gaming brand with world-wide market dominance, utilizing the console business model of subsidizing each unit....in this case to the tune of three hundred bucks a pop, is a good thing, but HD-DVD attempting to leverage Chinese manufacturing efficiencies to the same end..........with the aim of meeting a price-point lower than Sony's per-unit subsidy, is a terrible idea?...........

Good point there! Combining a $1000 Blu-ray player with a $300 gaming console and selling it for $500 seems to me to be a much worse case of underpricing the market than anything HD DVD has done so far. Perhaps everyone should sign a petition to raise the price of the PS3 at least to $900 so that they don't deprive themselves of the profits and incentive to make Blu-ray successful. :rolleyes:

Cheap is good from an initial marketing standpoint, just look at Toshiba's early advantage with a $499 player vs. $999 months ago. Realistic REPLACEMENT of SD players can occur at $149-199 player, $14.99 movie prices, mark my words.

There's no money to made in manufacturing anymore. The Chinese get all of that. Everyone else makes their money off IP.

Cheap is good, as cheap as possible is even better. But don't worry, you can ask for discs to be free, but the studios are going to price HD in the way that is most economically advantageous to them anyway at the current market conditions. They aren't going to make it el cheapo just cause we ask for it, they will always try to find the right equilibrium between price pressures, margins, and other conditions. When was the last time you saw a big corporation sacrifice a significant portion of their bottom line for complaining consumers?

I agree cheap can be great but reasonably priced is good too. I dont think George Lucas is gonna rush to put the 6 star wars out on a format if your gonna be able to buy all 6 for 60 or 70 bucks. Its just not feasable for him at this point and the same goes for Indianna Jones, Jurassic Park, LOTR, ect. Money has to be made in order for studios to release the cream of the crop that many people on here are crying about.

As an average "Joe" I've already somehow earned the disdain of elite videophiles... I encourage ALL early adopters to continue supporting one or both sides as they see fit, as this will no doubt speed up product development and at least get the players into later beta stages or even get them ready for prime time... You're having fun, as you yourselves admit and it makes it easier to see the average person enjoying a mature technology for less than $200/player and $20/disc in the future.

Until then, I'll stick to DVDs. Product development costs, IP issues, technical or practical superiority of one format to the other don't matter. First, either format has to beat DVD. Second, they have to be correctly priced or people will simply stick to DVD.

All this just this Joe-6-pack's opinion.

As an average "Joe" I've already somehow earned the disdain of elite videophiles... I encourage ALL early adopters to continue supporting one or both sides as they see fit, as this will no doubt speed up product development and at least get the players into later beta stages or even get them ready for prime time... You're having fun, as you yourselves admit and it makes it easier to see the average person enjoying a mature technology for less than $200/player and $20/disc in the future.

Until then, I'll stick to DVDs. Product development costs, IP issues, technical or practical superiority of one format to the other don't matter. First, either format has to beat DVD. Second, they have to be correctly priced or people will simply stick to DVD.

All this just this Joe-6-pack's opinion.

I agree with you Joe-6-Pack! :D

Is Cheap Really a Good Thing?

Yes.

Well maybe the prices of Mercedes and BMWs should be lowered so we could have one and could all just give them away to our friends too.

Mercedes & BMW = brands

the product itself = car

just in case you can't tell the difference between product (HD DVD/BD) vs brands (Sony, Toshiba, Meridian, Pioneer)

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

your post's logic = whining

I think the problem is that this isn't a huge leap in the eyes of most people. DVD's give great picture and sound, and while HD-DVD and Bluray is a significant picture improvement, many people don't see the increase as worth the higher price.

That's the issue. Studios aren't going to make money on these new formats, not because they're reducing the price too much, but because most people could care less about them. HD-DVD and Bluray is a niche product so far, much like Laserdiscs. Did studios make a killing on expensive laserdiscs? Do you think laserdisc would have failed if the discs were inexpensive enough for people to want them?

For most people, they just want to watch a movie with comparable picture and sound to a movie theater, without the hassle and high price. Judging by almost all of the movie theaters I've been to in San Diego, which lack any sort of video calibration and sometimes have blown speakers (and these are the nicer "stadium" theaters), I already get a superior experience with SD-DVD's.

Neither format will win with high prices. It's just that simple. DVD will continue to be the norm until these new formats reach that price. HD-DVD and Bluray aren't supposed to be a premium product that is supposed to be more expensive than DVD's...they're meant to REPLACE DVD's. Much like DVD's replaced VHS and ended up being the same price ($20 per movie).

Until HD-DVD's and Bluray discs truly replace DVD's with pricing, people won't buy it. DVD really didn't take off until it got to that lower price point, and the same thing will happen here. DVD was superior to VHS in every way, but until price of the players and media got to $200 and $20 respectively, DVD continued to merely crawl into existance.

That's another reason why it is difficult to predict a format winner. Yeah, bluray has content advantage, but it will be a long time before their players and media reach that "DVD" price range that will get people to buy them. HD-DVD with its less content has the potential to reach that magical price range much quicker. I don't care if HD-DVD standalones are outselling bluray standalones 5:1, or if bluray discs are outselling HD-DVD discs 2:1, because all of those numbers are pretty small right now on both sides, and don't amount to a hill of beans for either side to be starting their victory dance (like the BDA did at CES).
Great post. The people who really love movies want to own a lot of movies. I can't justify a 2.5x premium for HD as is the case today with many catalog titles.

I don't know why the OP is taking a sale here or there as "the format" lowering its prices. Somehow I doubt he'd see the recent Best Buy buy-one-get-one-free sale on select BDs as the BDA lowering its prices or being desperate. There have been sales on both formats, and when you factor in combo premiums, both formats' MSRPs and street prices are about the same on average.

I completely understand that these discs are going to be priced higher than DVDs. I don't see how people can complain about high pricing on catalog titles without taking the multiple price drops and sheer volume of DVDs into account. Those titles that are now available for $10 or less didn't start out that way. It's like expecting this year's 360/PS3 version of the Madden videogame to sell for $20 or less because last year's Xbox/PS2 version is that cheap.

Heck, I don't know if I even want one or both of these formats to go mainstream. Then, when buying a disc, I'd have to make sure I pick up the OAR version instead of the 16x9 "fullscreen" version, if they even make an OAR version.

I can't criticize the studios for initially charging a high price. I'm just saying that I will not buy at a 2.5x premium over SD. I'll just wait for the price to drop.

You're definitely not an economist. ;)
The wide variation in prices is because the free market (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market) is still trying to determine the equilibrium price (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equilibrium_price) which is difficult with a highly elastic price (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_elasticity_of_demand).

More importantly, the difference in price between SD and HD is a premium that most consumers won't pay. For either format to survive, either HD/BD needs to cost less or SD-DVDs need to cost more. Since the latter will never happen, the prices need to come down. I mean, c'mon, $40 for Superman Returns? Give me a break.

I hate to say it but this is coming from a "vocal" blu ray supporter. It sounds very much like he's trying to justify why spending more is better. AKA why Blu Ray is better. "It costs more so It's better. HD DVD is cheaper and won't make any money for the studios now switch to Blu Ray".

Just my 2 Cents.

LOL

Blu-ray fans have resorted to claiming the higher price is an advantage.

Priceless.

maybe I should eBay my HD-A1 at $2,000... and claim it to be better than BD because it's more expensive :D

LOL

Blu-ray fans have resorted to claiming the higher price is an advantage.

Priceless.

Well see how long it takes for your lone exclusive company to release the big guns,i.e. Jurassic Park, Jaws, etc and will see if you ever get the BD exclusive companies to switch if there isnt much money to be made.

oh please .. attention to all the giant corp of the world. Please raise the price of your goods. Its good for consumers. when they are at it, get the governments of the world to increase the price of petrol, sugar, flour !! its good for the consumers too.

There's no money to made in manufacturing anymore. The Chinese get all of that. Everyone else makes their money off IP.

Actually the money is made using brand names and marketing.

Well see how long it takes for your lone exclusive company to release the big guns,i.e. Jurassic Park, Jaws, etc and will see if you ever get the BD exclusive companies to switch if there isnt much money to be made.

I can wait a long time. I can get the BD exclusives I want on SD DVD in the meantime for around $7 each from Columbia House (or rent them). Not the ideal solution, but I won't buy into two formats. I'm sticking with HD DVD and if/when it is completely dead I'll get into Blu-ray if/when it is cheap enough.

maybe I should eBay my HD-A1 at $2,000... and claim it to be better than BD because it's more expensive :D

To make it a sure thing, be sure to disable its ability to play CDs, decode advanced audio codecs, upconvert DVDs, and support interactive features. That way it will appear even more "exclusive" and valuable to the niche consumer.

To make it a sure thing, be sure to disable its ability to play CDs, decode advanced audio codecs, upconvert DVDs, and support interactive features. That way it will appear even more "exclusive" and valuable to the niche consumer.

By that logic HD DVD should be viewed as the more exclusive format due to the lesser studio support! :p BD fanbois just can't win! :D

I can wait a long time. I can get the BD exclusives I want on SD DVD in the meantime for around $7 each from Columbia House (or rent them). Not the ideal solution, but I won't buy into two formats. I'm sticking with HD DVD and if/when it is completely dead I'll get into Blu-ray if/when it is cheap enough.


Apparently HDDVD fans will not have to wait for BD exclusive studios to switch, even sony is producing discs for HDDVD overseas.


http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=63931

Apparently HDDVD fans will not have to wait for BD exclusive studios to switch, even sony is producing discs for HDDVD overseas.


http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=63931

Interesting news. Is this the first Sony title we've seen on HD DVD? The potential ramifications of this put the whole 'Universal in Japan' arguement on a level playing field I think. I wonder what the European market is like that Sony would go this way.

Interesting news. Is this the first Sony title we've seen on HD DVD? The potential ramifications of this put the whole 'Universal in Japan' arguement on a level playing field I think. I wonder what the European market is like that Sony would go this way.

Sony is not releasing this.

Sony is not releasing this.

I stand corrected- Filmax Home Video appears to be the distributor. Still, they're region free.

Yes.

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I can wait a long time. I can get the BD exclusives I want on SD DVD in the meantime for around $7 each from Columbia House (or rent them). Not the ideal solution, but I won't buy into two formats. I'm sticking with HD DVD and if/when it is completely dead I'll get into Blu-ray if/when it is cheap enough.
I'm with you, buddy! :cool:

I can wait a long time. I can get the BD exclusives I want on SD DVD in the meantime for around $7 each from Columbia House (or rent them). Not the ideal solution, but I won't buy into two formats. I'm sticking with HD DVD and if/when it is completely dead I'll get into Blu-ray if/when it is cheap enough.

I heard that! That's my strategy as well. Unless a universal player comes along that plays ALL the features of BOTH formats.