Could Warner Bros. Abandon HD DVD in 2008?

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by Lotus

However Comcast will have 1080p movies on demand that will allow you to buy the title outright (free to watch whenever you want).

MS, Sony, and Apple all have their own downloadable content plans. Can they beat the OnDemand services?

Hard to say.

What about storage of those downloaded 1080p movies?
100 terabytes should be a good start & that will be costly!

I'll stick with my discs thank you!

[prerich]

Originally Posted by TheMoose

What about storage of those downloaded 1080p movies?
100 terabytes should be a good start & that will be costly!

I'll stick with my discs thank you!

With Comcast - the movies will be loaded and delivered to the box to watch at anytime. You won't have to worry about storage - the VUDU box knows what you have purchased and Comcast will have that infomation linked to the box. In the case of PC downloads...ok, Nothing have 2 TB of space in your PC if your an avid PC user that does music and video. That's roughly 300 to 400 dollars. If you buy 15 movies at 20 dollars each that's $300.00. How many movies could you store on 2000 GB of Harddrive space - HD movies without the unwanted extras (or you could have them if you wanted)? And hard drive space is coming down all the time - along with new hdd technology. I have seen the future - and it is conveinient and good. We must get through all this other "war" stuff first. The true superior format - if you want to call it a format - is making itself known.

[prerich]

Originally Posted by Lotus

Today it doesn't look like there is a winner.

That could change in 6 months. They're all betting on it.

However Comcast will have 1080p movies on demand that will allow you to buy the title outright (free to watch whenever you want).

This is for Comcast cable users not internet users. That is a big difference. Even TimeWarner (who is planning on announcing their own service shortly) can have that tiered internet service and it won't affect their On Demand service or price.

So it does absolutely nothing to me theory.

MS, Sony, and Apple all have their own downloadable content plans. Can they beat the OnDemand services?

Hard to say.

On demand is where its at! I don't rent many movies now and if I do - its on demand (hd stuff from Netflix but that's soon to change too). If I can get it on demand - that's it.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by TheMoose

What about storage of those downloaded 1080p movies?
100 terabytes should be a good start & that will be costly!

I'll stick with my discs thank you!

Comcast's On Demand plan is simple: Rent or Buy. If you buy it can be downloaded to your DVR at anytime. Meaning you don't have to keep it on your HD. Also because its on demand you just hit play and it starts right there no waiting 20 hours for a download.

X-Box Live has an update in the works that will offer the same thing pretty much. More people have XBOX Live than HD-DVD and BD players combined (counting the PS3).

If I can get 1080P without waiting... that's for me.

[Robinson_A]

I for one am all for direct movie downloads. Ever since I switched my SD material to a hard drive only server system my enjoyment of said content as only improved with the added convenience. While I put up with HD discs for now I can't wait for the day when I don't have to find space to house them as well as search through hundreds of titles deciding which one to watch.

As for hard drive space I think stating a need for 100 terabytes is a bit over the top. To date I have 500 DVD's in full DVD resolution stored on a couple of terabyte hard drives. Hell my entire music collection fits nicely on a single terabyte drive. If 1080p downloads are to be the norm I'll happily purchase more hard drive space for it's a multi-use item that benefits me in other ways which more than justifies the costs. Plus they're cheaper then most of today's HD disc spinners. Digital HD downloads are the future. The only problem is, when they finally do arrive what are all the HD DVD vs Blu-ray folks going to have to argue about?

Who am I kidding, there will always be something for someone to complain about.

[PRO-630HD]

Originally Posted by Lotus

Today it doesn't look like there is a winner.

That could change in 6 months. They're all betting on it.

Who are "they" that are betting on the change.