Well, I bought the Panasonic BD player yesterday as there was no reason to hold off at this juncture, so now I can feign neutrality even though I still maintain HD DVD was the real Macoy, and the one poised to release HD DVD to a broader market.

The first few BD titles I got looked just as good as my HD DVDs, that was never really a worry of mine at this point.

What I'll miss now that HD DVD will probably succumb

1 Region free playback, and the potential of a "global" format
2 More attractive, smoother functioning menus
3 The $500 I had to dump on mid-level BD player
4 The potential of Twin disks creating a more versatile medium

Sound a little bitter? Maybe a little, but yammering about this crap for the last year here should give me the right to have a little disdain about what I feel HDM will be loosing.

I must go back to my biggest worry with BD, Hardcoat (and hey I hope it's for not) Yah, any disk format can become obsolete, but squirreling players away cures that, however the media itself has to be sound. So now that blu-ray is the disk of HD, I'll have a concern not present in HD DVD, the test of time on the physical medium. Lets hope under normal usage, hardcoat stays clean, clear, and adhered. Granted I have my doubts about HD DVD "flippers" over time, but BD can't stop using hardcoat.

are the loadtimes of the Panny as bad as the Tosh HD-DVD? All indications are yes.

I ask because my next HDM player needs to operate, load, eject disc as fast as a a five old $49 dvd player>

1 Region free playback, and the potential of a "global" format

Will no longer be a concern once Universal and Paramount change. Seriously, this was a marginal advantage for HD DVD but borne out of the exigencies of limited studio support.

are the loadtimes of the Panny as bad as the Tosh HD-DVD? All indications are yes.

The BD30 loads as fast as the PS3. It's the fastest loading BD standalone out there.

I won't buy Warner BDs until they do the same thing my Warner HD DVDs did with a player of the same price.

are the loadtimes of the Panny as bad as the Tosh HD-DVD? All indications are yes.

I ask because my next HDM player needs to operate, load, eject disc as fast as a a five old $49 dvd player>

It's about 3-4 seconds faster than my XA2.

Will no longer be a concern once Universal and Paramount change. Seriously, this was a marginal advantage for HD DVD but borne out of the exigencies of limited studio support.

Says you, I have a boatload of import DVDs that can be had in the US with full studio participation.

The BD30 loads as fast as the PS3. It's the fastest loading BD standalone out there.

really. i've read here the PS3 >>fastest>> all others?

not to beat a dead horse but approx how long from ...

power on to open tray (no disc in player)
power on and see title screen (player in disc)

many thanks i can deal with a 1.1 player & the limits if load/operation is fast, fast, fast.

Says you, I have a boatload of import DVDs that can be had in the US with full studio participation.

I see what you mean. Fair enough.

Congrats on your purchase Tim. And who knows you make come to love Blu-ray when it's all said and done. :)

Well, I bought the Panasonic BD player yesterday as there was no reason to hold off at this juncture, so now I can feign neutrality even though I still maintain HD DVD was the real Macoy, and the one poised to release HD DVD to a broader market.

The first few BD titles I got looked just as good as my HD DVDs, that was never really a worry of mine at this point.

What I'll miss now that HD DVD will probably succumb

1 Region free playback, and the potential of a "global" format
2 More attractive, smoother functioning menus
3 The $500 I had to dump on mid-level BD player
4 The potential of Twin disks creating a more versatile medium

Sound a little bitter? Maybe a little, but yammering about this crap for the last year here should give me the right to have a little disdain about what I feel HDM will be loosing.

I feel the same way, I almost bought a BD player yesterday, figured with the Warner announcement and the 10-free offer from Best Buy it was as good a time as any. I spent probably two days researching every BD player I could find, trying to figure out which one to buy.

You know what burns me a little, there's not a single one worth buying, yup, near as I can tell, not a single BD player does everything, no matter how much you can spend. Now my 360 doesn't do everything either, but at $200 for a format a year old (when I bought the add on) that's justifiable. But with BD, there's nothing, not even the $1500 Pioneer Elite. I was about set to buy the BD30, it appears to get good reviews, profile 1.1 (I only care about profiles because of the horror stories of load times with some of the 1.0 players on java discs). But then the killer that the BD30 doesn't decode any of the new formats. OK, so look some more, the Sharp looks pretty good, it decodes everything but DTS-HD MA, but it's not profile 1.1.

I'm sorry, but I'm not replacing my perfectly good Anthem AVM-20 with somthing inferior just because some studios insist on using codecs no player will decode, and because CEs have decided it's better to remove decoding in new models. Nor am I going to spend as much as my AVM-20 on a BD player.

Wake me up when somebody releases a BD player that decodes all the new formats for some sort of reasonable price (<$500).

Congrats, and props to you Tim. Seriously, while I'd have gotten behind HD DVD if things had gone the other way, I don't think I would have dove in this fast. You have my admiration.

Congrats, and props to you Tim. Seriously, while I'd have gotten behind HD DVD if things had gone the other way, I don't think I would have dove in this fast. You have my admiration.

LOL!!! He didn't waste any time!

Congratulations on your new purchase, Tim.

Enjoy!

4 The potential of Twin disks creating a more versatile medium


Good move. No reason to decrease your own enjoyment of a hobby. If MS gave up then why should a consumer keep fighting? :)

Loss of hybrid potential is a loss for consumers but one that they'll never know they missed IMO. :cool:

Just have to hope that BD can make major inroads against standard dvd and other hd alternatives which is very much an open question. If not we'll probably be looking at a strong niche format at the very least, with solid if not spectacular (like dvd) content support.

Wake me up when somebody releases a BD player that decodes all the new formats for some sort of reasonable price (<$500).No HD DVD player does this, either.

No HD DVD player does this, either.

The A35 does, OK, except DTS-MA but DTS-MA is basically non-existant on HD DVD so it's not an issue there (there are quite a number of DTS-MA titles on BD though). Even if I ignore DTS-MA, that still leaves DD+ and TrueHD, and the best BD player out there, the Pany BD30 does neither, the Sharp does, but it's not Profile 1.1.

Panasonic has a BD-Live player at CES.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/live-coverage-from-panasonics-press-conference/

11:22AM PT - Now Kitajima is showing off the Viera link, demonstrating the oh so easy-to-use integrated SD card slot. Now he's playing back SD-based AVCHD video content as well.

11:26AM PT - Expect to see this feature in all 2008 Blu-ray players as well! Including the BD-Live player they're showing of this year at the booth.


I'll give that one a hard look.

The A35 does, OK, except DTS-MA but DTS-MA is basically non-existant on HD DVD so it's not an issue there (there are quite a number of DTS-MA titles on BD though). Even if I ignore DTS-MA, that still leaves DD+ and TrueHD, and the best BD player out there, the Pany BD30 does neither, the Sharp does, but it's not Profile 1.1.

I use DTS-MA all the time bitstreaming from my XA2.

It's often the only track on German and French import HD DVD's.

Most of the region locked BDs are new releases.

Almost all catalog titles have been region free.

FWIW

I feel the same way, I almost bought a BD player yesterday, figured with the Warner announcement and the 10-free offer from Best Buy it was as good a time as any. I spent probably two days researching every BD player I could find, trying to figure out which one to buy.

You know what burns me a little, there's not a single one worth buying, yup, near as I can tell, not a single BD player does everything, no matter how much you can spend. Now my 360 doesn't do everything either, but at $200 for a format a year old (when I bought the add on) that's justifiable. But with BD, there's nothing, not even the $1500 Pioneer Elite. I was about set to buy the BD30, it appears to get good reviews, profile 1.1 (I only care about profiles because of the horror stories of load times with some of the 1.0 players on java discs). But then the killer that the BD30 doesn't decode any of the new formats. OK, so look some more, the Sharp looks pretty good, it decodes everything but DTS-HD MA, but it's not profile 1.1.

I'm sorry, but I'm not replacing my perfectly good Anthem AVM-20 with somthing inferior just because some studios insist on using codecs no player will decode, and because CEs have decided it's better to remove decoding in new models. Nor am I going to spend as much as my AVM-20 on a BD player.

Wake me up when somebody releases a BD player that decodes all the new formats for some sort of reasonable price (<$500).

I went through the same thing that you and Tim went through and decided on the PS3. It's not perfect (no native IR support, looks ugly, etc) but it's the closest thing to "perfect" in a BD player right now.

It's $100 cheaper than BD30, starts up and loads faster and is the only player that has a chance at getting DTS-MAHD support through a FW upgrade. It's also probably going to be the only BD Live player for 2008 (my guess).

As Tim says, I still "prefer" the HD DVD concept. Fast, next gen menus, great PQ, and discs that played in my other DVD players. Sadly was not meant to be. I still have an HDA1 for playing my HD-DVDs and will keep it until it dies. By then I expect HD DVD support to be available on many mid to high level players as Toshiba's only option at this point is to make licensing of HD DVD extremely cheap so that it can be added as a "feature" in BD Live spec players.

It's also probably going to be the only BD Live player for 2008 (my guess).

Wrong before you even wrote it: http://www.formatwarcentral.com/

There will be plenty of others in 2008.

Wrong before you even wrote it: http://www.formatwarcentral.com/

There will be plenty of others in 2008.

Glad to see that it's still about proving people wrong for you ottscay.

Lots of stuff was announced at CES2007 that also never saw the light of day or suffered continual delays.

I'd much rather take my chances with the $399 BD player that I can buy today that will support most BD features (if not eventually all of them) rather than wait for months on new players that may or may not show up, may or may not work well and may or may not be available at $399.

Panasonic has a BD-Live player at CES.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/live-coverage-from-panasonics-press-conference/

11:22AM PT - Now Kitajima is showing off the Viera link, demonstrating the oh so easy-to-use integrated SD card slot. Now he's playing back SD-based AVCHD video content as well.

11:26AM PT - Expect to see this feature in all 2008 Blu-ray players as well! Including the BD-Live player they're showing of this year at the booth.


I'll give that one a hard look.

Yup, I just saw the DMP-BD50 on engadget. I'll be keeping an eye on it. No MSRP unfortunately.

Yup, I just saw the DMP-BD50 on engadget. I'll be keeping an eye on it. No MSRP unfortunately.


I'm guessing $499-$599.

Lets hope, that's reasonable for a fully-featured player.

Panasonic has a BD-Live player at CES.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/live-coverage-from-panasonics-press-conference/

11:22AM PT - Now Kitajima is showing off the Viera link, demonstrating the oh so easy-to-use integrated SD card slot. Now he's playing back SD-based AVCHD video content as well.

11:26AM PT - Expect to see this feature in all 2008 Blu-ray players as well! Including the BD-Live player they're showing of this year at the booth.


I'll give that one a hard look.

Ever since I got my panasonic HDC-SD5 (a 1920x1080 SDHC AVCHD camcorder), I've been doing this. Mind you, I filled up 8GB SDHCs very quickly, and have to archive with a HDD, but the SDHC plugs into a PS3 and the video plays. The PQ is also very flattering as long as there is enough lighting.

Lets hope, that's reasonable for a fully-featured player.


It might be reasonable to you, me, or other hard core AV enthusiasts. It certainly won't be "reasonable" to middle class America faced with a soft economy.

Hopefully 2008 sees some fairly fully featured BD players for $249. We should all be hoping for this kind of price point so that the format can go more mainstream.

Cograts!, take advantage of the BOGO's at amazon!

Now if we could get George King to join team hydra. I also think he'd make a great member of the blu-ray braintrust as he seems quite knowledgable of their workings.

Cograts!, take advantage of the BOGO's at amazon!

Now if we could get George King to join team hydra. I also think he'd make a great member of the blu-ray braintrust as he seems quite knowledgable of their workings.

The only titles I saw worth a damn were the HP movies and I have those already on HD DVD.

I hope that we still see some bargains on BD, because I see myself renting them mostly as one of the local Blockbusters near me has finally picked them up.

I have no problem paying $20 or $25 for a new release, but $35-$40? That's a bit over the top.

The only titles I saw worth a damn were the HP movies and I have those already on HD DVD.

I hope that we still see some bargains on BD, because I see myself renting them mostly as one of the local Blockbusters near me has finally picked them up.

I have no problem paying $20 or $25 for a new release, but $35-$40? That's a bit over the top.

I've never paid over $30 for any movie on blu-ray or hd dvd as I shop at Fry's, I don't even think they offer any above that aside box sets.

I just rented Replacement Killer's last night from BB, $5.40 after taxes. I should have just bought it as one of the bogos :o

It might be reasonable to you, me, or other hard core AV enthusiasts. It certainly won't be "reasonable" to middle class America faced with a soft economy.

Yeah, but most people don't know or care about Dolby TrueHD or DTS-MA.

The BD-50 looks worth waiting for. Phillips ... hum don't know. Samsung and a ten foot pole is still not in reach for me after reading about them this past year. Funai? does not sound "full featured".

The BD-50 can't get here soon enough.

I feel the same way. Picked up a PS3 today with a hand full of movies. There aren't a ton of movies on BD that really interest me. I am officially Purple and man am I not happy about it. Oh well, the world will continue to turn

I feel the same way, I almost bought a BD player yesterday, figured with the Warner announcement and the 10-free offer from Best Buy it was as good a time as any. I spent probably two days researching every BD player I could find, trying to figure out which one to buy.

You know what burns me a little, there's not a single one worth buying, yup, near as I can tell, not a single BD player does everything, no matter how much you can spend. Now my 360 doesn't do everything either, but at $200 for a format a year old (when I bought the add on) that's justifiable. But with BD, there's nothing, not even the $1500 Pioneer Elite. I was about set to buy the BD30, it appears to get good reviews, profile 1.1 (I only care about profiles because of the horror stories of load times with some of the 1.0 players on java discs). But then the killer that the BD30 doesn't decode any of the new formats. OK, so look some more, the Sharp looks pretty good, it decodes everything but DTS-HD MA, but it's not profile 1.1.

I'm sorry, but I'm not replacing my perfectly good Anthem AVM-20 with somthing inferior just because some studios insist on using codecs no player will decode, and because CEs have decided it's better to remove decoding in new models. Nor am I going to spend as much as my AVM-20 on a BD player.

Wake me up when somebody releases a BD player that decodes all the new formats for some sort of reasonable price (<$500).

First, there is no $1500 pio elite player it is $1000.

Second there is no HD DVD player that internally decodes DTS HDMA.

I must go back to my biggest worry with BD, Hardcoat (and hey I hope it's for not) Yah, any disk format can become obsolete, but squirreling players away cures that, however the media itself has to be sound. So now that blu-ray is the disk of HD, I'll have a concern not present in HD DVD, the test of time on the physical medium. Lets hope under normal usage, hardcoat stays clean, clear, and adhered. Granted I have my doubts about HD DVD "flippers" over time, but BD can't stop using hardcoat.

Seems a bit odd to me that Hardcoat would be your biggest worry with BD.

If it is, I think you have very, very little to worry about indeed.

The A35 does, OK, except DTS-MA but DTS-MA is basically non-existant on HD DVD so it's not an issue there (there are quite a number of DTS-MA titles on BD though). Even if I ignore DTS-MA, that still leaves DD+ and TrueHD, and the best BD player out there, the Pany BD30 does neither, the Sharp does, but it's not Profile 1.1.

Pan's Labyrinth.

This movie makes a player with lossless decoding for MA necessary, in my opinion. Not to mention New Line is using DTS HD:MA on all their releases so had HD-DVD survived, you still would have need a player for a growing number of releases... likely even LOTR (which is a New Line film) for example.

On the other hand, DD+ is non-existent on Blu-ray. Nobody uses it and I don't think anyone ever has. It's all straight DD at 640k as far as lossy Dolby goes.

TrueHD is on all new profile 1.1 players as far as I can tell so far (BD50 sees to decode internally, the BD-P1400 did so it's logic the 1500 wil, etc).

The Philips may not (at least it's not mentioned), but for $349 MSRP I'd assume probably not.

I had a PS3 and went Purple to watch more HD movies.

The PS3 loads fast and is a dream.

My Toshiba HDDVD player takes FOREVER to boot up, and load a disc, and about 50% of the time a HDDVD movie freezes up at some point, requiring me to shut it down and restart it again. wait, wait, wait, wait...

I have never had a single freeze with my PS3.

I'm sort of regretting buying the HDDVD player now.

Glad to see that it's still about proving people wrong for you ottscay.

Only if they are wrong Jm.

Lots of stuff was announced at CES2007 that also never saw the light of day or suffered continual delays.

Yup; the onkyo and mysterious Chinese HD DVD players. I don't think the Samsung player was anounced until last fall, so that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

As Tim says, I still "prefer" the HD DVD concept. Fast, next gen menus, great PQ, and discs that played in my other DVD players. Sadly was not meant to be.

Whoa...what do you mean about the menus?

I'm an HD-DVD owner and will obviously have to buy a blu ray player at some point. Are you saying that Blu Ray does not have a spiffy new menu system like HD-DVD? I've become spoiled with HD DVD by the ability to open menus while the film is running - I love the menu system. Is this not possible with Blu Ray?

The only titles I saw worth a damn were the HP movies and I have those already on HD DVD.

I hope that we still see some bargains on BD, because I see myself renting them mostly as one of the local Blockbusters near me has finally picked them up.

I have no problem paying $20 or $25 for a new release, but $35-$40? That's a bit over the top.

I have never payed 35 to 40 for a new BD release. Typically Fry's, and Walmart have there movies between 18.99 and 29.99. And really to get the best deal there is always Amazon.

Seems a bit odd to me that Hardcoat would be your biggest worry with BD.

If it is, I think you have very, very little to worry about indeed.

We will see, non-porous coatings on no-porous coatings of different densities worries me.

I would say thanks for all the congrats on buying BD, but though few may have believed me when the war was in full vigor, I would have done so by at least fall anyway. It doesn't help that HD DVD was sooo dam close to being "the one," anyone who gloated about BD's inevitable win should find plenty of cause to be humble, when dissecting the last days of this war. I think it's safe to say the 2:1 talking-point was in fact not the mover and shaker of formats, just a factor, and now Blu-ray has some serious marketing to save it's own fat from the fire.

I will now be even harsher toward BD than before as a BD owner, because now it has to win, or there is no HDM, and I want HDM!

Whoa...what do you mean about the menus?

I'm an HD-DVD owner and will obviously have to buy a blu ray player at some point. Are you saying that Blu Ray does not have a spiffy new menu system like HD-DVD? I've become spoiled with HD DVD by the ability to open menus while the film is running - I love the menu system. Is this not possible with Blu Ray?


He's talking about the sometimes odd designs of menus on the Title Screen of some discs (Disney Pixar titles for example).

You can still bring up the menu while the movie plays on BD or HD DVD. On HD DVD, they swoosh up usually. On BD, they appear instantly more often than not. This is most evident when comparing WB BD to HD DVD.

He's talking about the sometimes odd designs of menus on the Title Screen of some discs (Disney Pixar titles for example).

You can still bring up the menu while the movie plays on BD or HD DVD. On HD DVD, they swoosh up usually. On BD, they appear instantly more often than not. This is most evident when comparing WB BD to HD DVD.

The swoosh was is way slicker, they are also semi-translucent. I notice some of my BDs even have SD DVD style menus. I hope BD keeps a working on this.

Glad to see you purchased a Blu Ray player. Do you have a processor that can decode DTS HD MA? I am running the DMP 30 to an Integra 9.8 and it is pretty incredible.

He's talking about the sometimes odd designs of menus on the Title Screen of some discs (Disney Pixar titles for example).

You can still bring up the menu while the movie plays on BD or HD DVD. On HD DVD, they swoosh up usually. On BD, they appear instantly more often than not. This is most evident when comparing WB BD to HD DVD.

Ah... So is the menu the same deal with Blade Runner?

I bought it on Blu-ray and noticed the menu just appeared with no animation. I admit that I was a little disappointed that it didn't raise from the bottom like all my Warner titles on HD-DVD. But, I figured it was simply how the Blade Runner menu was on both formats.

I do prefer the animated ones.

Picked up a sammy 1400 and my 5 free discs the day it happened haven't had the time to watch more then pirates 3 (the wife insisted on watching that one). Looked good booted up fairly quickly. Image quality was good can't wait to see pans labyrinth on it. My biggest issue right now is that I am running out of inputs with 2 players video games cable etc...

I will now be even harsher toward BD than before as a BD owner, because now it has to win, or there is no HDM, and I want HDM!

Tim, could you please, PLEASE get this idea across to many of the HD DVD supporters who appear to be taking the opposite approach by saying that they will simply rely on HD VOD or upconverting SD DVD instead of ever buying into BD?!

That may have more of an impact on having HDM be successful than being "harsher towards BD than before"...

Tim, could you please, PLEASE get this idea across to many of the HD DVD supporters who appear to be taking the opposite approach by saying that they will simply rely on HD VOD or upconverting SD DVD instead of ever buying into BD?!

That may have more of an impact on having HDM be successful than being "harsher towards BD than before"...

Rob, you have to realize that the way many HD DVD fans have been treated here and at other AV sites following the Warner announcement is one of the reasons for the sour grapes.

Hopefully more BD fans will take your tact and the tact of other Blu-Ray fans who are trying to lend a hand to HD DVD owners, rather than the rather large number of BD fans who are too busy flipping HD DVD fans the finger.

People just need to let bygones be bygones. I suspect that those HD fans who really love HDM will come over to the Blu side as they see player prices come down and new features/capabilities make their way to Blu this year.

Ah... So is the menu the same deal with Blade Runner?

I bought it on Blu-ray and noticed the menu just appeared with no animation. I admit that I was a little disappointed that it didn't raise from the bottom like all my Warner titles on HD-DVD. But, I figured it was simply how the Blade Runner menu was on both formats.

I do prefer the animated ones.

Yes, BD has the capability for the animated menu overlays, etc, but it seems that profile 1.1 will be required for some of that and profile 2.0 (BD Live) will be required for some of the other features that HD DVD fans enjoyed, such as the Internet connection and "HUD" on the Transformers disc.

The advance word from CES appears to be "full steam ahead with BD Live" so it appears that now we will really start to see some Blu product come out that has those types of innovative features.

The major things I'm worried about with Blu now are fair use and managed copy. I would like the ability to make an SD DVD of my BDs at some point or back them up for use on my iPod or Media Center PC.

Well Tim,
First I would like to say that all of us who went purple did so at gunpoint. If I could have gotten all of the movies I wanted by only buying into one format, trust me, I would have.

Secondly (and this is the OCD part of me), I've actually begun to appreciate more and more some of the things that some BDs and the Panasonic give me that my HD-DVDs never did. At least in the case of Warner Brothers, since their titles don't yet use Java (and hopefully won't unless absolutely needed) they load in about half the time as on any of my HD-DVD players. It generally takes just 20 seconds for a disc to fire up. Most of the newer Warners will also allow you to chapter skip the FBI and Studio Logo screens to go straight the film. And third... Once started, you can actually stop and resume Warner titles on the Panny, even if you shut the player off. These don't seem like big deals (and maybe to some they aren't), but once I started getting used to the extended functionality, I wanted it. It was certainly more useful to me than whether or not a menu screen animated up from the bottom of the screen. I spent most of December replacing a lot of my Warner HDs with BDs thanks to the Amazon BOGOs (during the buy two, get one free I picked up all three volumes of the Warner sets- 12 movies for almost $100 exactly- at only about $8 each, I was able to swap formats and sell the HD versions for almost even money).

I predict that with 30 days, you'll start to appreciate your purchase a bit more- and this is coming from someone who was very HD-DVD happy since its birth.

Yes, BD has the capability for the animated menu overlays, etc, but it seems that profile 1.1 will be required for some of that and profile 2.0 (BD Live) will be required for some of the other features that HD DVD fans enjoyed, such as the Internet connection and "HUD" on the Transformers disc.

Actually, menu animations are possible without 1.1. In fact, they don't even need Java. Paramount's Blu-rays always mirrored the HD-DVD menus. This included rising menu animations and other bits of motion. Warner could do it to, but it takes more work because that has to be designed at the menu stage while with HD-DVD it is done in authoring with HDi. I suspect Warner uses the simpler menus for BD just out of laziness/simplicity.

Rob, you have to realize that the way many HD DVD fans have been treated here and at other AV sites following the Warner announcement is one of the reasons for the sour grapes.

Possible. But frankly, I think that any HD DVD fan who lets some BD fans get under their skin to the point of refusing to buy into the format are being a bit immature themselves.

Kind of like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Perhaps a "cooling off period" will have a positive impact on how these HD DVD supporters feel.

Hopefully more BD fans will take your tact and the tact of other Blu-Ray fans who are trying to lend a hand to HD DVD owners, rather than the rather large number of BD fans who are too busy flipping HD DVD fans the finger.

People just need to let bygones be bygones. I suspect that those HD fans who really love HDM will come over to the Blu side as they see player prices come down and new features/capabilities make their way to Blu this year.

I certainly hope so, and this seems more likely. I definitely, and enthusiastically agree that we all need to let bygones be bygones. We can all push for the CE manufacturers and studios to make their products the best they can be.

Tim, could you please, PLEASE get this idea across to many of the HD DVD supporters who appear to be taking the opposite approach by saying that they will simply rely on HD VOD or upconverting SD DVD instead of ever buying into BD?!

That may have more of an impact on having HDM be successful than being "harsher towards BD than before"...

I think most will eventually, that is if they care at all about HD on disk, when the lights are down and the movie is rolling, HD is HD. If Warner chose HD DVD as they had originally planned, I'd have stayed put with HD DVD, however had fall rolled around with two-formats duking it out and Warner nuetral, I was going to go purple anyway, I never took the hard-line of HD DVD or nothing, I wanted HD DVD to win, but now that it's no longer possible I set my sights on HDM in general. It's the only rational choice if you want physical media, and I very-much do.

When I say "harsher" on Blu-ray, I mean merely that it shape up and start acting like format than wants broad appeal so that were not all holding the bag again 3-5 years. It takes more than cutting the right deals to land in a lot of living rooms across the country. I think if BD can get player/software-costs down, specs up, and not piss people off by claiming they will crush SD DVD under foot, they have have a shot. It's time for BD to look positive and not mercenary, because you can't scare and badger people into upgrading.

Glad to see you purchased a Blu Ray player. Do you have a processor that can decode DTS HD MA? I am running the DMP 30 to an Integra 9.8 and it is pretty incredible.

Fortunately yes, since the PANASONIC won't do it for you (a reason it usually gets docked a star). So far I'm happy enough with it's performance.

Saturday I watched TRANSFORMERS (HD DVD) and PANS LABYRINTH (BD), and I gotta say technically I still think either format easily delivers the goods to the max of what's appreciable. Though IMHO outside of the robots TRANSFORMERS is almost embarrassing to have on.

I think you are setting a good example for other HD DVD supporters with your post Tim. I agree with you that most will eventually go BD if they really care about HD on disc.

Congratulations Tim. I think many HD DVD only owners may pick up a BD player as well as BD meets their needs. I plan to as well as soon as there's a final profile with ethernet I can get at around $200-250 or a PS3 without PS2 backwards compatibility for around $300-350. Which ever comes first.

I am glad to see people being mature about this though, even if they were being pushed by the studios.

I was shopping blu before Warner too. Now I read about profile 2.0 coming soon with the DMP-BD50 player so that's the one I will buy. Next time I see a blu disc sale I will start with a few.

I started off pro-HD DVD, and eventually went purple. I now prefer BD movies on my PS3 to HD DVD movies on my A2. My PS3 has yet to even stutter once, and I own over 80 movies. My HD DVD playback experience has not been as reliable. I did not expect the PS3 to be my longterm BD playback device, but I have no reason or want to upgrade at this moment. But I think the OP was smart in getting the Panasonic player. Those appear to be the most reliable on the BD side.

My HD-A30, after the 1.3 firmware update, goes from power on to tray open in about 28 seconds.

But I think the OP was smart in getting the Panasonic player. Those appear to be the most reliable on the BD side.

That was all about 1.1, fitting my configuration physically, and reviews. It was also about getting five-free disks at Best Buy, and some more from the mail-in.

I know dam well no matter what format you settle with, multiple hardware choices are in the cards. I've had no less than 10 SD DVD players.

Well Tim,
First I would like to say that all of us who went purple did so at gunpoint. If I could have gotten all of the movies I wanted by only buying into one format, trust me, I would have.

Secondly (and this is the OCD part of me), I've actually begun to appreciate more and more some of the things that some BDs and the Panasonic give me that my HD-DVDs never did. At least in the case of Warner Brothers, since their titles don't yet use Java (and hopefully won't unless absolutely needed) they load in about half the time as on any of my HD-DVD players. It generally takes just 20 seconds for a disc to fire up. Most of the newer Warners will also allow you to chapter skip the FBI and Studio Logo screens to go straight the film. And third... Once started, you can actually stop and resume Warner titles on the Panny, even if you shut the player off. These don't seem like big deals (and maybe to some they aren't), but once I started getting used to the extended functionality, I wanted it. It was certainly more useful to me than whether or not a menu screen animated up from the bottom of the screen. I spent most of December replacing a lot of my Warner HDs with BDs thanks to the Amazon BOGOs (during the buy two, get one free I picked up all three volumes of the Warner sets- 12 movies for almost $100 exactly- at only about $8 each, I was able to swap formats and sell the HD versions for almost even money).

I predict that with 30 days, you'll start to appreciate your purchase a bit more- and this is coming from someone who was very HD-DVD happy since its birth.

As an avid HD DVD leaning neutral, I won't lie myself, Im very happy with my Xmas 40g PS3. Its super fast loading discs (start up, too), its actually a slick interface (although I prefer the 360s over all integration of menus and live kills the PSN) and its whisper quiet (and I wont have to worry about the RROD).

Sure, it stings that Ill likely replace my WB HD DVDS now, but oh well. Things could be worse.