Could Warner Bros. Abandon HD DVD in 2008?

[JerryDelColliano]

TVINE_2000 - nice to see you on the forum!

You'll note - my prediction is Warner will stick with both formats. I think that is a safe bet.

[JerryDelColliano]

To Bob Walters and all of the guys who are sitting on the fence - seriously guys - you are going to sit on the sidelines when 1080p video awaits you for only a few $100.

You could ebay some CRAP out of your garage and raise the money to buy a player. As KennyT says - its not like the players are ALL $1399.

And as I have warned before - go ahead and sit on the sidelines and watch the studios do what the record labels did. They will sell for ease of use (think low resolution downloads from say Apple) instead of 1080p video on cutting edge disc formats.

I feel we all have a duty to support one if not both formats. Without the early adopter - there is no hope for high end new formats and where would that leave the AV industry?

[deacongreg]

tvine2000, You are right, time will certainly tell this story. Just when and how long is the issue. Toshiba is making it very easy now to get in the game. And, if you ask me, for playing movies in the Blu-ray camp with hardly any firmware updates, Sony`s own PS3 is surely the one to choose.

And, I guess, even if you are like me, and not a gamer, maybe your grandkids come over, or maybe you just break down for yourself, and get Madden, and have a great time.

But, I doubt very much that Warner will leave HD DVD. My two cents.

[Lotus]

The A3 is for sale at Best Buy right now for $199 (Bourne Identity, 300 come with it) plus 2 in store movies of your choice, plus 5 from Toshiba.

As for TheMoose and his claim that SONY approached Toshiba, that is untrue. It was Toshibe who approached Sony and tried to "combine," the best of both worlds. Sony was the company that wasn't willing to do what was best for consumers:

HD-DVD discs, HD-DVD lasers, BD cp, BD bandwidth, and push "triple layer," HD-DVD development.

SONY wanted to hold onto their patents and bet the house on the PS3 deciding the war.

HD-DVD is STILL less expensive to manufacture in both discs and hardware. There will be $149 Magnavox HD-DVD players at Wal-Mart soon. The least expensive BD player is $399.

Warner and New Line will be thinking about going strictly towards one camp. *IF* they do pick, it won't be BD. With the 51GB HD-DVD discs coming, and the attachment rates of HD-DVD players, Warners is hoping that the less expensive players FINALLY sell in larger numbers. If 1M HD-DVD players are available to sell to in January, they will go HD-DVD only, but I don't see that number being reached.

Which is a shame, because if Warners went HD-DVD only, this war would end sooner, and cost consumers less money.

[Revko1]

Originally Posted by JerryDelColliano

To Bob Walters and all of the guys who are sitting on the fence - seriously guys - you are going to sit on the sidelines when 1080p video awaits you for only a few $100.

You could ebay some CRAP out of your garage and raise the money to buy a player. As KennyT says - its not like the players are ALL $1399.

And as I have warned before - go ahead and sit on the sidelines and watch the studios do what the record labels did. They will sell for ease of use (think low resolution downloads from say Apple) instead of 1080p video on cutting edge disc formats.

I feel we all have a duty to support one if not both formats. Without the early adopter - there is no hope for high end new formats and where would that leave the AV industry?

That's what I am saying!


Revko1

[Bob Walters]

deacongreg et als,
Well, I tried.......the players by us {White Plains,old Sears bldg} were sold out by lunchtime!!!! I'll keep watching...I'm dying to see the difference!!!!!!!