[Blacklightning]

Does anyone else wish that HD-DVD won the battle so that we could have:
DVD
HD-DVD &
UHD-DVD

So simple it's beautiful!

 

[tomtastic]

Yeah, it's like we're in an alternate timeline.

HD DVD should have won, but didn't. The only explainable reason could be someone knew the precise chain of events to sabotage HD DVD.

Toshiba should have lowered the prices of players more and quicker also Microsoft should have included HD DVD drive inside 360 instead of a 200.00 add on. After that, the PS3 VS cheaper 360 point was mute.

It's really crazy how much launch players cost then. Are UHD players anywhere near those prices? Looks like you can already get sub 500.00 UHD players. If you bought a 500 PS3 you also had a BD player, can't do that now, since they didn't add UHD drive to PS4.

We likely would have had 3 layer HD DVD's by 2009 or 2010 so the size difference would not be that big a deal as Blu ray never increased studio discs beyond 50gb till UHD.

But in the end, streaming is winning out and the optical disc is dying. People like us aren't the normal viewing market.

 

[skyless_xx]

I remember when BD players launched here in the UK. They were around £700 back then.

 

[TuenMuner]

Beautiful? No, not really.

The biggest HD DVD supporter back in the days - Microsoft is adding a UHD BD drive to their next XBox One console for only $299.(will be even less later in its life cycle) And you know Sony will follow suit in PS4K. Blu-ray will probably live for another 20 years like it or not.

 

[barrelbelly]

Yeah, it's like we're in an alternate timeline.

HD DVD should have won, but didn't. The only explainable reason could be someone knew the precise chain of events to sabotage HD DVD.

Toshiba should have lowered the prices of players more and quicker also Microsoft should have included HD DVD drive inside 360 instead of a 200.00 add on. After that, the PS3 VS cheaper 360 point was mute.

It's really crazy how much launch players cost then. Are UHD players anywhere near those prices? Looks like you can already get sub 500.00 UHD players. If you bought a 500 PS3 you also had a BD player, can't do that now, since they didn't add UHD drive to PS4.

We likely would have had 3 layer HD DVD's by 2009 or 2010 so the size difference would not be that big a deal as Blu ray never increased studio discs beyond 50gb till UHD.

But in the end, streaming is winning out and the optical disc is dying. People like us aren't the normal viewing market.

You make a good point. IMO Microsoft was 100% the reason why HD-DVD lost. Microsoft had even created the perfect Internet bridge with HD-I, to exploit on line movie and gaming features. But they washed it all away by refusing to include a HD-DVD drive in Xbox 360. I'm sure...in hindsight, they realize they blew it. And should have launched 2 models of the XB 360 simultaneously. One with a built in HD-DVD drive. And the other a cheaper/scaled down Digital Download version with an upgradable port HDMI interface for their HD-DVD addon. Which they still could have sold for $200. I say that because that is almost exactly what Microsoft is now doing with Xbox One and Blu-Ray. They are releasing a scaled down UHD drive version (XB1-S) in August with HDR & improved DD specs. In 2017 they are releasing a super powerful, Backward compatible XB1 (code named Scorpio) that runs UHD Blu Ray, HDR and Virtual Reality (Oculus Rift).

I lost all passion for the HD optical disk fight after the HD-DVD cave-in. And now I am very happy with the way UHD Blu-Ray and HD streaming are progressing. HD-DVD served a useful purpose and lost. What's amazing to me is how DVD still hangs in as a premium budget option. And it still looks good at 480P. IMO...if the Chinese (who now own the HD-DVD rights from Toshiba) wanted to really gobble up cheap market share in the biggest market. They should make an inexpensive Player that decodes & plays all HD-DVD and scales up & formats to full screen all DVD to 1080p. Use Super Resolution Technology & the improved HD-DVD 51 (50 GB Storage) standard. And just call the whole thing DVD Extreme . The definitive DVD player for you entire DVD-HD-DVD collection. And concede UHD to Blu-Ray.

 

[RonAlam]

keep in mind the capacity of a HD DVD disc versus a BD disc back then, 25Gb vs 50GB. Gaming platforms would benefit from higher capacity storage.

 

[Bladerunner1959]

That was a "funny and predictable" format war where I sat on the sidelines deliberately for about 18 months until the smoke cleared. I bought the Samsung "open box" bluray palyer for $ 200.00 (bdp-1200 ? ) ...and the day after the war ended I bought two unopened Tosh units at 50 bucks per each. The Toshiba HDdvd players play back dvd beautifully.

I was a super early dvd adopter; that was a humongous jump from VHS and I grabbed the Tosh flagship early on. I was the only one renting DVD's at the Blockbuster for a few months.

I'm totally fine with Bluray winning. The only thing that ever irritates me is inferior transfers of new releases, requiring a re-issue that I have to buy. LOL

I'll wait another 18 months to upgrade to UHD panel and player. By that time the bugs of OLED will have been worked out, pricing will have dropped ALOT, and the UHD libray will be decent.

Right now I have a sweet Samsung Bluray player, Toshiba HD player and my Panny s97 dvd player all hooked up. Sometimes certain dvd's just look better on the Panny.