HD Disc Format War Not Over By a Long Shot

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by 1more4HDDVD

I received the Apple TV yesterday, but the software update to rent high-def movies is not yet available. It’s pretty cool otherwise. I'll post a mini review of the movie quality when it becomes available. In fact, I'll rent a movie which I already own on HD DVD and flip back & forth to compare.

I bought a few Blu-ray movies after the Warner announcement, but I’m back to being HD DVD only and I figure I’ll use the Apple TV to rent the titles that are only available on Blu-ray. Should HD DVD fail, I’m going to hold out and look into one of those “super up-converting” DVD players Toshiba was showing off at CES.

What do you think about the 24 hour limit once you start watching the movie?
I usually watch a movie from start to finish but I've heard a lot of complaints about this time limit.

I'll be interested to hear the difference in audio & video quality between the download & HDM versions.

[1more4HDDVD]

Originally Posted by TheMoose

What do you think about the 24 hour limit once you start watching the movie?
I usually watch a movie from start to finish but I've heard a lot of complaints about this time limit.

I'll be interested to hear the difference in audio & video quality between the download & HDM versions.

I don’t like the time limit, but it shouldn’t be that big of deal. I may buy a movie and let it sit on the shelf for a long time until I watch it. But with Apple TV, I simply don’t pay until I’m ready to watch it. On the couch, popcorn ready, mini-fridge full of beer.. then hit the OK button to rent.

I have a 1080p TV, so I too am interested to see the quality. If it’s poor, I’ll have to reevaluate my plan.

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by 1more4HDDVD

I don’t like the time limit, but it shouldn’t be that big of deal. I may buy a movie and let it sit on the shelf for a long time until I watch it. But with Apple TV, I simply don’t pay until I’m ready to watch it. On the couch, popcorn ready, mini-fridge full of beer.. then hit the OK button to rent.

I have a 1080p TV, so I too am interested to see the quality. If it’s poor, I’ll have to reevaluate my plan.

You should start a new thread about the comparisons so they don't get lost in this one.

I'm thinking the quality won't be "poor" but it'll look like 720p movies on the networks with DD instead of 1080p with lossless audio.

[Vinyl Rules!]

Originally Posted by Robinson_A

OKAY! PAUSE IT EVERYONE!

Daddy's angry. Do you know how freaking insane it is when I have to consult an urban dictionary to decipher the lingo being thrown around on this forum. Years ago a 'fanboy' was a guy hanging outside my local comic shop. Now, I don't know what the difference is between fanboy and fanboi other than to say ARE YOU KIDDING ME! Is this what this topic has come down to? I thought we were past all this. dobyblue is gone people. As for the word bigot, NO, absolutely not. I don't care what the context or 'other' meaning is, to 99% of the rest of the universe the word bigot is inflammatory and unacceptable. Now, since I'm not down with the latest internet lingo I believe that there was not direct ill intent, that being said it appeared that way. I appreciate the somewhat clarifying remarks but come on, this is a slippery slope at best and one I don't EVER want to see traversed on this forum again. Both guilty parties are, in fact, guilty. You know who you are and this is your WARNING. Cross me again and you'll both be looking for other forums to post on.

Seriously guys. It's a disc, that goes in a player and produces a friggin picture. Calm it down a notch.

This entire meaningless debate about two formats that are doomed to failure in the video software market, IMHO, remind me of Henry Kissinger's tenure at Harvard.

Irregardless of what you think of his politics, Mr. Kissinger was one of the world's most influential Secretary of States our country ever had. He was a way out-of-the-box thinker and possessed an incredibly sharp mind.

After he left government service, he was asked to join Harvard's faculty: An honour most academicians would kill for, and Henry joined.

And he quit in disgust several years later. His reason? He simply could not stomach the "politics" and academic in-fighting that is endemic in the world of academia.

He was quoted as saying something to the effect he had never seen people (professors and administrators) fight so bitterly and be so vindictive about things that were so insignificant and mattered so little in the greater scheme of things.

IMO, this whole "war" thing between Blue-Ray and HD-DVD is no different.

There has been lots of talk, heated discussion, and even some name-calling in this very long thread about a technology that will become the next Elcassete or Betamax within 2 years or less with MOVIES. I'm not a gamer, but if there is a "winner," I believe it will be in the realm of gaming software, NOT movie video software as the majority of consumers who will be viewing movies at home will have moved beyond physical media and will be watching downloaded media, either on a VOD basis or on their video server.

I think the movie content providers could care less about how their software is delivered: All they care about is keeping people viewing it and making as much $$$ as possible off customer viewing and purchasing behaviour. So why would they even care about Blue-Ray or HD-DVD? Their overt agenda is to get more people buying their content software, and to again repeat myself, it's a hell of lot less expensive to send out electrons to someone's home than to send out manufactured hi-rez plastic and aluminum DVD's. YMMV, of course.

Steven Jobs has trumped everyone and identified the real market: The people who actually go out and buy things in large quantities, not the geeks and tweaks like us who like I said before, don't even spend enough collectively to pay Howard Stringer's salary.

[DaViD Boulet]

I think a lot of people have a hard time understand what a FORMAT WAR is.

A FORMAT WAR is when two rival formats battle it out.

It's not when multiple formats with equal support battle it out.

FORMAT WAR: Beta vs VHS. VHS had more studio (and porn) support. In the end they won.

Not a Format WAR: Cable vs Satelite. These two different formats have for the most part equal support from networks.

FORMAT WAR: DVD-A vs SACD. Neither format caught on and neither format got any real music studio backing. The best selling disc on either format was Pink Floyds Dark Side of the Moon on SACD. Despite that no other Floyd albums ever made it to SACD.

Not a Format WAR: LCD vs Plasma.

FORMAT WAR: HD-DVD vs BD.

If HD-DVD and BD had equal and universal Studio Support it would just be a CE market share battle and consumers would care less and just buy what was best for them.

Interesting viewpoints.

I personally feel that the "format war" categorization is legitimized by one thing and one thing only: consumer perception.

If consumers worry about "getting stuck with the wrong format", then there's a format war.

If they don't worry then there's no format war.


Consumers worried about "getting stuck with the wrong format" with SACD/DVD-A, Beta/VHS, and now HD DVD/BD. Those are format wars.

The didn't worry about getting stuck with the "wrong format" between CD or Cassette, Laserdisc or VHS, Cable or Satellite TV. Those are not format wars and those formats coexist (probably because they satisfy different market needs).

Of course, the background market reasons that would affect consumer fears may be the context that you're detailing in your comments. And that may be right. But the final litmus test for me is simple: are consumers worried about getting stuck with the wrong format? Yes=Format War. No=No war.

[TheMoose]

This weeks software numbers are 83% Blu-Ray & 17% HD-DVD with the top 10 all Blu-Ray, it doesn't look like the lower prices on players helped.