Is confusion over HD-DVD and DVD upconvert to HD hurting HD-DVD?

I have no data to go by, but I wouldn't think so. I think the 'Average' person sees HD in the name and thinks HD. Just like Upconverting players. The Average person sees "Upconverts to near HD quality". They see "HD" and now they tell everyone they have an HD player. So, I think for the "Average" person, the HD-DVD is easier for them to understand. They went from VHS to DVDs. So, they know DVD. Blu-ray is the one that the "Average" person may not get. They know they just learned how to operate their "DVD" player, so what's this Blu-ray stuff, and will it burn my cat.

It goes goth ways, so in the end it's a wash.....

In short the name hurts them as much as it helps them.

I think the name HD-DVD is a huge plus also. Blu-Ray sounds foreign and confusing. Nobody cares what color laser is reading their discs. HD-DVD is more understandable--it is a taking a DVD and making it high def.

I just had a flashback of Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer saying that.

My point is the general populaion will be split on this about evenly.

Some will see HD-DVD as familure and the next step from DVD, others will for sure think their scaling player is an HD-DVD player.

Some will think Blu-ray is new and be able to easily percieve a total difference from DVD, Others will be like Blu-what? Blu-who? Blu-what the heck would I need blu anything for?

Hence the red cases with a big ass HDDVD logo on them.

Content packaging helps differenciate the player market.

I am an HD DVD supporter (with an A20) but I believe that Blu-Ray did the name thing better than HD DVD. The reason Blu-Ray is better is that its name is different than the current Generation (DVD).

Lets take VHS and DVD for example. If it was decided instead to name DVHS instead of DVD, I think the mass population would have a harder time distinguishing it from VHS. They would ask questions like "Is DVHS that much better than VHS?"

Instead, the name DVD was introduced, and with that new name, came a new product. The whole HD-DVD debatical and Blu-Ray is the same way. Blu-Ray is distinguishing itself from DVD, saying that its "the next new technology for video". And it doesn't need to explain the difference between Blu-Ray and DVD. HD-DVD is confusing for the average consumer because of the sheer fact that there are upconverting players claiming "Upconvert to HD resolution"...

So, I know my example wasn't the greatest, but hopefully it comes across. I think Blu-Ray did the naming scheme better than HD-DVD...but it still won't help them win this war when HD-DVD will take the cake!

No, consumers see the price tag and then they know something is different.

And I have the opposite view--that "HD-DVD" is exactly right; everyone nowadays knows what a DVD is, and most people are finally catching-on as to what "HD" means insofar as TV sets and PQ are concerned, so "HD-DVD" is the natural, understandable extension.

What the heck is a "blu-ray"? Doesn't mean anything, doesn't follow from anything that people understand today. But it is typical of Sony, isn't it, that they should invent a special name that no one has ever used before to describe their "take" on things (other examples DRC and Cinemotion and TwinView instead of Deinterlacing and IVTC/Pulldown and PIP).

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You may be right.

As I see it, It is not the just the name. The reason for the initial success of some of the past technology introductions are the demonstrable BENEFITS from the prior format. Example:

8-Track - Benefit: Oh my, I can play my own selection of music and have 4 instant track sides and can also play it in my car ;-)

Cassette - Benefit: Smaller than 8-T, cuter, and much easier to record your own tunes. Walman/

VHS/Beta - Benefit: Oh my god!, I can record "The flying Nun" and "Mod Squad"! (who said Porn?)

CD - Benefit: Instant track acces, ability to jump to any track, Domonstrably better sound.

DVD - Benefit: Abiility to get VIDEO from a "CD", would play on 95% of the TV, and the new player will still play all of my existing library of CDs (This last one almost didn't happen, but Philips & Sony insisted that ALL DVD players MUST be able to play CDs. They saw this as key for success (the royalties on CDs didn't hurt Philips/Sony, of course)

HD-DVD & Blu-Ray - Benefit: Higher Video and Sound, but you need to play it on HD TVs, that a large % of the population do not yet have. Backwards compatible with DVD (some brands fought against this - For patent/royalty reasons).

Most consumers do not care if the new HD formats can hold 30 or 60 Gigs) They just want to be able to play any movie from a single disc, without having to flip it over (remember LD?)

Many consumers do not YET see the benefits that HD brings to them over what they already have (DVD). Perhaps because they have an SD TV, or perhaps they are not willing to pay a 30% to 50% higher price for an HD movie.

Just my 2 cents

I alway find that when they say "Now available on DVD and HD DVD" in the adverts that they say is so fast that it sounds like an alphabet soup. ...D V D H D D V D

I think they should say "Now available on DVD and hi-def HD DVD"


The name Blu-ray stands out more but it does leave the "What the 'H-E double-hockey-sticks' does Blu-ray mean"

I think they should also always include a picture of the HD-DVD at the end of the "Now available on DVD and HD-DVD" ads. Sometimes they dont even show the HD-DVD.

I disagree. Blu-Ray sounds exotic and "exotic" always perks someone's interest. It also connotes something superior. And I've overheard conversations at store that confirm this belief.

I think "HD DVD upconversion" is confusing everybody. A buddy of mine was just asking if he watch my Blu-ray and HD DVD movies if he got an HD upscaling player.

Upscalers are hurting both formats.

If hd dvd player prices keeping coming down, the confusion between upscale hd and hd dvd will probably help. The name is good. Think Kleenex.

If all goes well with the HD format, we will not see Upconverting Players in a few years as it will all be HD-DVD or Blu-ray. At that time, the average consumer will understand the name "HD DVD" much better than "Blu-ray". I still think HD DVD will be better for the average consumer as "Blu-ray" sounds foreign as another poster put it. Look at the guy who posted on here last month about his Oppo HD DVD player because of the HD in the model number. For Average consumers, I think it's ALL confusing for them right now. The industry has made it complex for the average folks that don't care to spend hours each day reading AVS like we do. Lack of Sales training and understanding from Big Box Store doesn't help the situation.

To answer the OP's original question, we don't know. Everybody here is way to current to read the minds of the ignorant masses. HD DVD is a bunch of alphabet soup that is all too easy to confuse with an upscaling DVD player, and Blu-Ray sounds like something mounted on a converted 747 that just shot down a rocket at the border between Iran and Irac.

Most of these people are still watching Ugly Betty on an analog TV set. Most of them are not going to adopt this technology until it is totally effortless. This is not true at this time. The best hope for the format is to reach the borderline cases, and doing that is going to require some very savvy marketing. The names are already set. The question now is what to do next.