Popular Home Theater Forum’s HD DVD and Blu-ray Sections Shutdown as Debates Overheat

[deacongreg]

I spent a good amount of time with AVS for reasons I will not go into. However, I agree with kennyt, I never liked the color scheme either, too bright, colors all over the place. Plus, I found the membership to be very snug and unfriendly. They did have some interesting topics, but I was always glad to come back home.

That home being right here at AVREVFORUM.COM. Signing up here and meeting Jerry, has been an excellent experience. To fight over formats is a bit extreme. But, I just mentioned in another thread, we should embrace what Toshiba is doing. Not continue to go back and forth on these formats.

And Andrew is right, this is about fun. Where else can you go to talk about freely your love of high end equipment, and possibly help a brother out!! That is what its all about.

[tvine2000]

i belong to the avs and it can be a rough place to go sometime.
in fairness any forum these days can be a nightmare when it comes to this format war.
i know another forum that bears the name blu......
go there and say anything againist blu-ray and you could be banned.
my point is its not just the avs..its everywhere.
the avs is taking the right steps..a cooling off time.
i fear this wont stop until this war is settled

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by Robinson_A

I can understand a certain level of frustration surrounding the format war but at the end of the day we're all in this hobby for our own reasons and for our own enjoyment. When you loose sight of that I feel you have lost sight of what's great about HT and Forums such as this. We're all friends just trying to help one another get the most out of their experiences with HT and to hell with how you go about it just so long as you enjoy yourself. Death threats over HD anything is just unneccessary.

I'm glad everyone here at the AVRevforum have their own unique views but I'm even more happy to know that we can all keep it cool and enjoyable in the process. Continue to enjoy everyone.

I was once asked to post there. So I went and read the threads and was horribly shocked by the place. The term "FUD," is popular there and it's spread out over so many posts on either side of ANY issue. The moderators do little to nothing to help the people they request as Insiders to post there.

Some quick and early heavy handed moderating would have helped that place. It wouldn't have ever come down to this.

It's just silly. People fight over facts like their lives are being endangered by them. It is silly. It has also hurt other online forums by making it seem like being aggressive is ok.

I also found the place to be very Pro-Advertisers. If you advertise there and your product is crap it seems to still get treated like it's actually not crap.

Plus I also came to the conclusion the over 80% of the users who claimed to have "seen," or "heard," a product were just flat out lying or blind or deaf, or possibly all three. It appeared as if owners of Product X would post there and debate over all other products as inferior without ever having seen/heard Product Y.

I came to a quick conclusion that Forums are not where you go for reliable opinion on any product.

That's why I read AVRev and have since it was Audio Revolution. I get opinions from AVREV that I respect. I also respect that they don't rate their products with exception of software. I wish their software reviews were full of the same downsides and conclusions as their equipment reviews, but I accept it.

[Robinson_A]

Sadly, the sort of backlash and blind distaste for something new, in this instance HD DVD or Blu-ray is nothing new to the consumer electronics industry. In a weird way (which I can not understand) I think it has somehow become a given. Ignoring HD for a moment, heated words have come up over audiophile vs. HT for years. Hell, even audiophiles can't see eye to eye or at least agree to disagree about tubes vs. solid state. I don't know what it is about the CE industry that makes everyone an instant expert on everything thus making their view correct and all others wrong.

I am thrilled when I get letters from readers saying they enjoyed a review or took me up on a recommendation for a product and don't regret it. It's really why I do what I do, because when I was starting out I didn't really have anyone around me that was into "gear" the way I was. Toss in the fact that all of the magazines at the time would only talk about gear I could never afford. That's why I strive to strike a balance between the products people want and actually use and those we all wish we had. That being said, while I consider AVRev.com writers to be in a class all their own one must not loose sight of the fact that a review is merely a single person's opinion. Nothing more. For all the letters I get praising what we do I get the same amount of hate mail too. Folks that buy something based on a review only to get it home and conclude that it isn't for them or worse that I or one of my writers is full of s#!t and lied to them. CE is all relative. This format war is no different.

I honestly hate the term war. Right off the bat I think it puts people in an aggravated state, almost provoking them to a fight before they even know what they're fighting over. Honestly, what's there to fight over? So you have two choices. Big deal. Variety is the spice of life. We don't all have to drive Fords. Why do we have to have one format? If you like HD DVD no one is saying you have to have Blu-ray and vice versa. That's what I don't understand. People are trying to pick a winner and or bring an end to this so called "war" when everywhere else in the CE world you have several competing technologies in the same areas all doing quite well and no one is complaining. Why is there no fight over Plasma vs. LCD? Why can we allow for two competing technologies there but not with our players? DVD is the standard we all adopted over time, but there were a number of products that challenged it. Remember DVHS? Over time I believe the same will hold true for HD DVD and Blu-ray, but come on, the formats are still very new when you think about it. And when you consider how affordable they've gotten in such a short period of time you have to ask yourself, isn't the consumer winning already? It took years for HDTVs and flat screens to become affordable, yet in roughly a year players that were once $1000 are now $99. War is over, we win.

If you're one who is holding out then more power to you. If you're an early adopter, welcome to the club. Just enjoy yourself. And for Pete's sake let's not forget what we're all "fighting" about...the big kid equivalent of a Tickle Me Elmo doll.

Take care everyone, and thanks for reading.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by Robinson_A

Sadly, the sort of backlash and blind distaste for something new, in this instance HD DVD or Blu-ray is nothing new to the consumer electronics industry. In a weird way (which I can not understand) I think it has somehow become a given. Ignoring HD for a moment, heated words have come up over audiophile vs. HT for years. Hell, even audiophiles can't see eye to eye or at least agree to disagree about tubes vs. solid state. I don't know what it is about the CE industry that makes everyone an instant expert on everything thus making their view correct and all others wrong.

I am thrilled when I get letters from readers saying they enjoyed a review or took me up on a recommendation for a product and don't regret it. It's really why I do what I do, because when I was starting out I didn't really have anyone around me that was into "gear" the way I was. Toss in the fact that all of the magazines at the time would only talk about gear I could never afford. That's why I strive to strike a balance between the products people want and actually use and those we all wish we had. That being said, while I consider AVRev.com writers to be in a class all their own one must not loose sight of the fact that a review is merely a single person's opinion. Nothing more. For all the letters I get praising what we do I get the same amount of hate mail too. Folks that buy something based on a review only to get it home and conclude that it isn't for them or worse that I or one of my writers is full of s#!t and lied to them. CE is all relative. This format war is no different.

I honestly hate the term war. Right off the bat I think it puts people in an aggravated state, almost provoking them to a fight before they even know what they're fighting over. Honestly, what's there to fight over? So you have two choices. Big deal. Variety is the spice of life. We don't all have to drive Fords. Why do we have to have one format? If you like HD DVD no one is saying you have to have Blu-ray and vice versa. That's what I don't understand. People are trying to pick a winner and or bring an end to this so called "war" when everywhere else in the CE world you have several competing technologies in the same areas all doing quite well and no one is complaining. Why is there no fight over Plasma vs. LCD? Why can we allow for two competing technologies there but not with our players? DVD is the standard we all adopted over time, but there were a number of products that challenged it. Remember DVHS? Over time I believe the same will hold true for HD DVD and Blu-ray, but come on, the formats are still very new when you think about it. And when you consider how affordable they've gotten in such a short period of time you have to ask yourself, isn't the consumer winning already? It took years for HDTVs and flat screens to become affordable, yet in roughly a year players that were once $1000 are now $99. War is over, we win.

If you're one who is holding out then more power to you. If you're an early adopter, welcome to the club. Just enjoy yourself. And for Pete's sake let's not forget what we're all "fighting" about...the big kid equivalent of a Tickle Me Elmo doll.

Take care everyone, and thanks for reading.

I'll repeat the one thing I love best about AVREV: No ratings on equipment. You can't look at a rating of say 9.5 for one amp and an 8 for another and have something to bicker over. You guys give out opinions without labeling any one unit with a rating (well your top 100 at years end, but ...)

What the people on the BD side don't realize is that BD isn't going anywhere. They've established a big enough foothold to be around in 7 years when whispers of a new format are on the horizon.

HD DVD picking up steam and getting in more houses and establishing it's own foothold is a GOOD THING. Certainly there will be some things that will be hard to deal with. Like losing Paramount & Dreamworks, and possibly in the future Warner Brothers as well. However all this is doing is guaranteeing a future for HD DVD.

I see this timeline as a GOOD thing:

2007: Ends with HD DVD getting 1M units in homes.
Early 2008: Warners goes HD DVD only. Lions Gate goes "neutral."
Mid 2008: HD DVD gets 3M units in homes.
Late 2008: DISNEY goes "neutral."
Early 2009: HD DVD gets 6M units in homes.
Mid 2009: FOX & MGM go "neutral." Paramount & Dreamworks go "neutral."
Late 2009: The remaining parties all go "neutral," as both have established themselves as strong markets.

BD isn't going anywhere they've already won a "future." HD DVD is fighting for its future and I for one think if BD fans have to go 18 months without some studios for a future with 2 formats competing... then great.

As you said, LCD vs PLASMA is no big deal. There shouldn't be a big deal with HD DVD vs BD, and the ONLY reason there is:

STUDIOS.

They should all be neutral and let the consumers decide. Why isn't Jerry posting an editorial of that nature?

[MoosePond]

The voice of reason (Andrew) has spoken and there is great truth in his words. Thank you.