I honestly think the Paramount press release will result in most consumers making the decision to just stay with SD DVD now. So much for a Christmas boost for either format.

How many people do you think will just pick up Ratatouille on SD DVD now? (Or Spiderman 3 or Transformers for that matter.)

I personaly think 90% of the public has no clue that studios ever release any press statements and has no idea of this at all. I would say most could care less whomakes which movie and will only buy SD anyways.

Actually, I'd be surprised if the network news shows don't hit this a bit tonight.

The media will love being able to play up "the HD format war continues" angle, with I'm sure any number of "analysts" bringing up Beta vs. VHS for the ten thousandth time, especially if the announcement makes Blockbuster or Target rethink their pro-BD stance.

Consumers currently have been staying DVD....mass HD movie adoption isnt even near. How you could say this doesnt boost HD-DVD though is beyond me.

I honestly think the Paramount press release will result in most consumers making the decision to just stay with SD DVD now. So much for a Christmas boost for either format.

How many people do you think will just pick up Ratatouille on SD DVD now? (Or Spiderman 3 or Transformers for that matter.)

I have to agree. I was set to buy Ratatouille in HD but now this whole thing is not worth this hassle or extra expenses for the discs and the players.

Stay SD? Pass.

Just give me 720p dvd - I'm going to stop caring.

I said this in another thread...I am totally out of the HD game now. I'm going to sell my Panny 10A and wait this out.

I said this in another thread...I am totally out of the HD game now. I'm going to sell my Panny 10A and wait this out.


OK, see ya! Buh-bye!

I honestly think the Paramount press release will result in most consumers making the decision to just stay with SD DVD now. So much for a Christmas boost for either format.

How many people do you think will just pick up Ratatouille on SD DVD now? (Or Spiderman 3 or Transformers for that matter.)


I will be getting ratatouille on BR. Why would paramount going hd change the fact that there are a ton of awesome movies coming out on blu ray? I will continue to enjoy it. Stop being crybabies and enjoy the format of your choice. Neither format is going anywhere for a while now and its still too early in the game to cry chicken little.

I hear you guys....just rent the paramount movies on DVD...and let your PS3 or upscalling BD player upscale them to 1080p.

I hear you guys....just rent the paramount movies on DVD...and let your PS3 or upscalling BD player upscale them to 1080p.

That is what I will be doing, Zodiac is first (since I no longer need to wonder when it will be released).

It sucks because I was hoping to get all content on my existing player, will be a couple of years before I can justify a new one.

sure i will go out buy an expensive blu ray player which will have alot of movies missing no matter how people spin it, then buy the SD dvds , or gee how about i buy a cheap upscaling DVD player, yep i will be doing that and so will millions more people, screw this format war

I honestly think the Paramount press release will result in most consumers making the decision to just stay with SD DVD now. So much for a Christmas boost for either format.

How many people do you think will just pick up Ratatouille on SD DVD now? (Or Spiderman 3 or Transformers for that matter.)

And those of us who are Blu can just not buy SD either. Blu-ray's victory is inevitable, so I just don't buy Universal titles, since I'm not going to re-buy in HD down the road. Now I can add Paramount and Dreamworks to that teeny club.

But I'll need the money for Fox titles. The Paramount announcement nixed my hopes for 2 announced titles I cared about, but there are 10on Fox's schedule I want.

To think, Blu-ray's been kicking ass without them.

sure i will go out buy an expensive blu ray player which will have alot of movies missing no matter how people spin it, then buy the SD dvds , or gee how about i buy a cheap upscaling DVD player, yep i will be doing that and so will millions more people, screw this format war
Well, I'd need a new TV to take advantage of upscaling a DVD, which is pretty pointless anyway, so I'd rather just buy Blu-ray, watch it over component, Netflix a DVD if it's something I missed in the theater. But I tend to see most movies I care about in theaters anyway.

Plenty happy with SD and can be for several years until this mess is settled...assuming it ever is.

Oh and yes the general public doesn't give a rip about the two formats or all the back and forth crap going on between studios etc...

It's a shame how these two formats have made what once was a fun forum into a forum full of bickering, hatred, finger pointing, name calling etc....same can be said of 95% of all A/V related forums it seems.

Sad days we are living in.

I am also done with both HD formats now... I am not paying $20 a pop for these movies in competing formats. When and if they ever finish this crap, I will reconsider. For now, I'm no longer buying any movies even in SD. I'll simply rent and copy the movies I want.

Not buying anything else. With DL DVD's at a good price now, there simply isn't a need anymore. And upscaling looks pretty darn good on its own.

My coworkers are all very happy that they didn't invest in HD DVD or Blu-ray after I told them about this. Most of them have HDTV's, but plan on staying with DVD.

hey OP how much you selling your player for?

I might be interested. what titles you got?

Stay SD? Great way to support Blu-Ray! :confused:

I honestly think the Paramount press release will result in most consumers making the decision to just stay with SD DVD now...


Yeah, and I'm not buying another car until we get those flying cars we've all been promised. ;)

Go ahead, stick with SD if that's your choice. It's not mine. :D

As good a picture i get on my oppo dvd player, i guess i can wait out this war another year or two.

SD....lol. I don't think so.

I personaly think 90% of the public has no clue that studios ever release any press statements and has no idea of this at all. I would say most could care less whomakes which movie and will only buy SD anyways.

Pragmatism FTW. I really doubt all the alpha moms are going to boycott Blu-ray and Ratatouille because Paramount is going back to exclusively supporting HD DVD.

I haven't watch a dvd in 3 years, and won't start now.. i'am sorry but DVD just doesn't cut it.. not at 107 inch...

Count me in for staying with SD DVD's. I fold, I'm out...... Wake me when it's over....

HD optical is officially dead. By the time they sort things out (2009?) downloads will swoop in to kill both. I'll rent Blu-ray and DVD until downloads kill both Blu-ray and HD DVD. Already anxiously awaiting the death of both formats now... why put effort into a stopgap. 3 years of half-assed support is not going to be worth me investing a single cent into either format.

:confused:

Downloads, umm not gonna happen vast majority of people don't have pc's capable of running HD Video off the hard drive...let alone a broadband connection with good enough QoS and monthly bandwidth to utilize it. Sorry optical Disc HD/BD is gonna be around a while. Personally I think what hurt Paramount is BD adopters didn't want 10 year old Dolby Digital audio with a tremendous picture. Therefore most people buy Paramount on HD-DVD, which ok by me cause they seem to have their crap together in that dept. This by no means indicate either format is dead nor another competing studio will follow suit.

~Bobby

:confused:

Downloads, umm not gonna happen vast majority of people don't have pc's capable of running HD Video off the hard drive...let alone a broadband connection with good enough QoS and monthly bandwidth to utilize it. Sorry optical Disc HD/BD is gonna be around a while. Personally I think what hurt Paramount is BD adopters didn't want 10 year old Dolby Digital audio with a tremendous picture. Therefore most people buy Paramount on HD-DVD, which ok by me cause they seem to have their crap together in that dept. This by no means indicate either format is dead nor another competing studio will follow suit.

~Bobby

"2009". The crux of my argument was exactly your point: HDM works for now because the tech is holding back downloads. But barely. In the next few years I think Microsoft and Apple will have definitely anted up on their offerings and 720p downloads will be *very* doable. And let's face it: only the people buying HDM in the first place care about "1080p" vs 720. And a few years beyond will make 1080p easily doable.

Why does it increasingly seem like the HDM enthusiasts aren't looking beyond the next few months. HDM has a VERY limited time to entrench. As I write this Microsoft's HD downloads are gently chipping away at the fragile HDM formats.

so many of these chicken little posts are way too similar. Makes me wonder.


How can you own BR and then even consider going back to SD? This line of thought is making my brain bleed. If this was an actual war - who would be the french?

If you believed buying into this was a sure thing you were mistaken. This thing has just now begun. Not ended for crying out lout. The gloves are just now starting to come off. It will be one excitn holiday season. If you support BR - look for the remaining exclusive studios to work even harder to make you happy. This will be more titles, sooner and cheaper players. This is what we want. This was always a format war - now fight for your format of choice, own both or watch crappy SD. SD is for suckers with no testicular fortitude.

SD looks fine to me...WAY WAY better than the days when I had to watch everything in washed out looking VHS tapes....sure hi-def is pretty and all...but it's not THAT great...certainly not that great to entice me to pay several hundred dollars for TWO machines and countless dollars to replace my current dvd collection...thanks but no thanks...SD looks just fine for my needs.

When ONE form of hi-def DVD becomes the norm, THEN I will switch.

SD looks fine to me...WAY WAY better than the days when I had to watch everything in washed out looking VHS tapes....sure hi-def is pretty and all...but it's not THAT great...certainly not that great to entice me to pay several hundred dollars for TWO machines and countless dollars to replace my current dvd collection...thanks but no thanks...SD looks just fine for my needs.

When ONE form of hi-def DVD becomes the norm, THEN I will switch.

well don't le t the door hit ya I guess. I for one see a huge difference and it's well worth the price right now for enjoyment I get.
SD hurts my brain now.

No SD for me!!!

The video sucks... the audio sucks. When you taste HD in all its A/V glory... you are spoiled for life!

Consumers currently have been staying DVD....mass HD movie adoption isnt even near. How you could say this doesnt boost HD-DVD though is beyond me.

So far, IMO, this is the smartest thing said in this thread.;)
100% agree.

Personally I still buy SD DVDs, but only movies that I would not bother with in High Definition.
The Rat movie i would get SD, Transformers I would get in HD (or BD:))

For those that think SD is going anywhere soon (LOL, you must be kidding).
For those that think to only get HD or BD (LOL, you must be kidding, why would you get and pay for a crap movie, that you can buy at Best Buy new for 3.00)
(heck even good movies like Matrix, Animal House, Clash of the Titans, etc.. are new for 4.99)
(just wait for sales)

I have so many movies that are in my collection, if I were to replace them all with HD or BD the cost would be crazy.
Last count of my SD movies was 1700+ movies times 20.00 (low cost for a HD movie) each = $34,000.00
Not going to happen, so I will still buy the el-cheapo SD movies and get a few hundred high definition movies (currently ony have a few BDs and over a dozen HDs)

How come all these people get these expensive HDTVs but bitch about the format war? Buy both players or the duals. The HDDVD is less than 300 and you can get a Blu Ray player for not much more. But oh no, its just too much. Nevermind you just spent 2 grand or more on your new Plasma.

And then they try to convince themselves that SD looks just fine. Its makes them feel better. :D
But they will still come back here anyways...

Guys, why do I keep seeing posts that conclude if Blu-ray loses a step, then it's bad news for HDM? We've seen no real evidence that this format war has done anything, but help the consumers' bottom line. Even if Blu-ray actually lost this format war, you'd still have HD-DVD...or is that not "HD" enough for you? Then there's the "HD-Lite Downloads" FUD...stop it already, the bandwidth isn't there for most americans for that to be anything but a "niche" itself for a long time. Please stop acting like supporting Blu-ray is some sort of altruistic exercise on behalf of consumers everywhere, it's insulting. Paramount is still releasing some of your favorite movies in HD, you just need a new gadget/gizmo to watch it, like always.

I'm a consumer, not a "supporter", so this doesn't bother me in the least. Yay! I have a 360 add-on so I can watch Paramount's HD-DVD's, but guess what? I want those Fox titles too, and the PS3 is only $499!!!! Going to get one of those as soon as it's in my budget to do so!

To summarize: bad news for Blu-ray, is only bad news for BLU-RAY!!!! Bad news for HD-DVD, is only bad news for HD-DVD!!!! Prolonged format war, equals more competitive pricing and features!!!!

To summarize: bad news for Blu-ray, is only bad news for BLU-RAY!!!! Bad news for HD-DVD, is only bad news for HD-DVD!!!! Prolonged format war, equals more competitive pricing and features!!!!
Sorry, but the average consumer isn't likely to buy into a new, expensive format if they can only watch half of the movies they like on it. And if those people don't buy in, eventually interest will just fade off. From the Studios perspective and from the consumers perspective. This is good news for HD DVD exclusive consumers. It's bad for High-Def Movie consumers in general. One day ago you could see the finish line, now the slate is pretty much wiped clean. It's only going to confuse potential buyers more.

And yes, I own both a Blu-Ray player and an HD DVD player.

I said this in another thread...I am totally out of the HD game now. I'm going to sell my Panny 10A and wait this out.

So will I, all my HD movies are for sale online. I will give this war a couple of years to settle down and then reinvest in the mainstream format that will emerge! :cool:

No SD for me!!!

The video sucks... the audio sucks. When you taste HD in all its A/V glory... you are spoiled for life!

Exactly. Even with my Denon's Reon video processor, SD DVD looks like crap when compared to Blu-Ray and HD DVD projected onto a screen in 1080p. In other words, SD DVD doesn't come close to capturing the theatrical experience.

There's no way I would settle at this point by reverting to SD DVD only. The only SD DVDs I buy now are Criterion releases, and some obscure movies that will probably never be available on HD optical.

This to me is absolutely the worst thing that could happen to either format, why slow the adoption process. People who read this site on a regular basis are still asking about True-HD over toslink, do you think a minimum wage BB employee is going to be able to explain the HD confusion to your average Joe.

Now you have two players that do the exact same thing, but you need to figure out what studio's produce films you like before you can buy. I believe that they are shooting themselves in the foot. DVD's, HD-DVD's, and BD-DVD are all going to be obsolete in the very near future, it would be in both of their best interests to get as many people as possible to buy either player. All of the optical disk formats will disappear just like the CD's when it is more practical to download and store video content, remember what napster did to the music industry.

The two formats attacking each other seems like good business sense, but having an individual buy either drive is good for both. With the studios choosing sides it really is going to make people not want to buy either. I believe by the time the format war is all sorted out it won't matter, the people who would have embraced the technology will have moved on to HTPC/DVR with several terabytes of storage and 50mps DL speed into their living room with no need for the antiquated optical format.

Exactly. Even with my Denon's Reon video processor, SD DVD looks like crap when compared to Blu-Ray and HD DVD .

I am curious what BD or HD player you have, not talking about the upscaling Denon AVR.:confused:

Because, although not as good as HD (or BD), my standard DVDs looks great in the BD-P1200 (top scorer for SD playback) as well as the Toshiba XA1 on a 96" and 120" screen.
(as well a 42" 1080P LCD TV)

Heck even the HD transfers in some areas of the movies look SD (and I am not the only one who says this, look at any Pro review site for the movies)
(examples - http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/fullmetaljacket.html
and - http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/talladeganights.html
That is only 2 examples (1 on each format) and although they are still better than SD (just barely), I guess you are saying the HD transfer on any movie is worth it????

By chance, no I do not have those 2 particular movies, but I do have (or have seen) enough of both formats to give a correct opinion.

Both those movies are noted for having exceptionally poor transfers. However, I think the HD transfers always are better than SD transfers as long as they aren't full of dirt like American Psycho.

Both those movies are noted for having exceptionally poor transfers. However, I think the HD transfers always are better than SD transfers as long as they aren't full of dirt like American Psycho.
Yes I know, that. (geeze) and did I not say, "HD transfers in some areas of the movies look SD"
Keyword being some.
As well, I said, "although they are still better than SD (just barely)"

Do you want another dozen examples from both formats????