When the Toshiba HD-DVD player hit the streets I purchased one and was very impressed. Shortly after, I saw a demo of the Sony blu ray player and was not impressed. However, when the Samsung went on sale, I looked very closely at it and purchased one on the mere thought that I could then get myself any title and not have to worry about which format it was recorded on.
That said, many weeks of reading discussions and arguments here on which format would eventually win ensued. Having both players I have contended that neither looks any better than the other on my Sony rear projection LCD and that most of the argument in favor of HD-DVD looking better came from either those who did not own a Samsung, or those who just did not do a fair comparison, to those who just had an agenda in favor of the Toshiba.
At this point, on October 22, I would like to go out on a limb and make the prediction that within about 2 or 3 years, HD-DVD will be merely a trivia question. Fact is, blu ray has far more support in the hardware world, it is starting to come into its own with many players about to hit the stores, with 50GB disks finally making the grade, with blu ray disk recorders already appearing in both desktop and notebook computers, with Samsung firmware upgrades coming along making a difference in the performance of the player, with the ability now to be able to record HD camcorder footage onto a blu ray recorder in a Sony computer and then play that disk back in the Samsung player, and finally with the Samsung player price now appearing at well under the $900 mark. The final nail in the coffin for HD-DVD just might be when and if some adult titles start appearing on blu ray! That and the fact that in a few months, you will be able to walk into a video store and look at maybe 8 HD players, and at least 6 of them will be blu ray players!
Sorry to all you HD-DVD backers and supporters, but it is becoming clear to me that that format has basically little or no future. This time Toshiba is producing the Betamax, not Sony!
That said, many weeks of reading discussions and arguments here on which format would eventually win ensued. Having both players I have contended that neither looks any better than the other on my Sony rear projection LCD and that most of the argument in favor of HD-DVD looking better came from either those who did not own a Samsung, or those who just did not do a fair comparison, to those who just had an agenda in favor of the Toshiba.
At this point, on October 22, I would like to go out on a limb and make the prediction that within about 2 or 3 years, HD-DVD will be merely a trivia question. Fact is, blu ray has far more support in the hardware world, it is starting to come into its own with many players about to hit the stores, with 50GB disks finally making the grade, with blu ray disk recorders already appearing in both desktop and notebook computers, with Samsung firmware upgrades coming along making a difference in the performance of the player, with the ability now to be able to record HD camcorder footage onto a blu ray recorder in a Sony computer and then play that disk back in the Samsung player, and finally with the Samsung player price now appearing at well under the $900 mark. The final nail in the coffin for HD-DVD just might be when and if some adult titles start appearing on blu ray! That and the fact that in a few months, you will be able to walk into a video store and look at maybe 8 HD players, and at least 6 of them will be blu ray players!
Sorry to all you HD-DVD backers and supporters, but it is becoming clear to me that that format has basically little or no future. This time Toshiba is producing the Betamax, not Sony!
