Will Meridian make an HD DVD player?

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by kennyt

I'd be surprised to see it go for any less than $6K, hell the G98 costs that!

I am wondering if it will have DVD-A and CD??

Who cares, if they make one, I'll hand my CC over and buy it knowing me!

I expect there is a DVD-A version of the prototype. I would be surprised if there wasn't.

[kennyt]

Lotus,

FWIW, Meridian has been dropping DVD-A, first with the F80, the new G95 also doesn't support it, and the new G98 won't either. Only the 800 will continue to support DVD-A so I'd be surprised if any HD disc formats supported it as well.

I would rather see everyone go straight to the new high def formats for audio as well.....

[faberryman]

Actually, I think the price increase has everything to do with the weakness of the dollar. Both the British Pound Sterling and the Euro are at all time highs vis a vis the US dollar.

[ncpl]

Originally Posted by kennyt

Lotus,

FWIW, Meridian has been dropping DVD-A, first with the F80, the new G95 also doesn't support it, and the new G98 won't either. Only the 800 will continue to support DVD-A so I'd be surprised if any HD disc formats supported it as well.

I would rather see everyone go straight to the new high def formats for audio as well.....

This is true (albeit I haven't seen anything on a 'new G98') and it's a curious move for one of the founding fathers of DVD-A that it is dropped from the latest units.

My concern is I don't really want to use >1 player if I ever moved to HD disc spinners

not the kind of money a significant number of buyers are willing to bet on one format or the other

You bet. Once bitten twice shy for me and who's going to bet their house that either format will be still thriving in 5 years.....

[DaViD Boulet]

You sure like to troll around with that email.

Lotus,

I posted my response from Bob Stuart in the relevent threads before I got your response linking that PDF.

While your PDF certainly reveals Meridian's expressed interest in HD DVD in the past, given its age (a year ago) it may or may not reflect the company's current trends. I would think that an email statement directly from Bob Stuart just two days ago would bear some weight. Though I'm not discounting the possibility that the press release might still reflect the company's ultimate goal given that Bob certainly could have been telling me what he did in an effort to keep the company's plans under wraps.

Though it does seem strange that Mr. Stuart would state so clearly that his company had not announced plans when, in fact, that press release had been released a year prior.

I emailed him back and mentioned that press release (providing the link to it that you gave) but I haven't received a subsequent response. That would imply that the company probably is continuing along a path of high-def support but prefers to keep it undiscussed, for the moment. Maybe waiting until CES?

In any case, my desire to have a credible discussion with relevant information (ie, a current email from Bob himself) should NOT be met with such glib remarks from you as calling me a "troll". I've resisted sending such labels your way, despite your demonstrated style time and time again.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

Lotus,

I posted my response from Bob Stuart in the relevent threads before I got your response linking that PDF.

While your PDF certainly reveals Meridian's expressed interest in HD DVD in the past, given its age (a year ago) it may or may not reflect the company's current trends. I would think that an email statement directly from Bob Stuart just two days ago would bear some weight. Though I'm not discounting the possibility that the press release might still reflect the company's ultimate goal given that Bob certainly could have been telling me what he did in an effort to keep the company's plans under wraps.

Though it does seem strange that Mr. Stuart would state so clearly that his company had not announced plans when, in fact, that press release had been released a year prior.

I emailed him back and mentioned that press release (providing the link to it that you gave) but I haven't received a subsequent response. That would imply that the company probably is continuing along a path of high-def support but prefers to keep it undiscussed, for the moment. Maybe waiting until CES?

In any case, my desire to have a credible discussion with relevant information (ie, a current email from Bob himself) should NOT be met with such glib remarks from you as calling me a "troll". I've resisted sending such labels your way, despite your demonstrated style time and time again.

Bob didn't contradict that PR in your email. They've never announced a player. They've only stated they're working on players and are a ways off from any discovery from their R&D. They're also members of the BD group so they've very much not picked a side and as they said are working on players. Notice the plural.

You posted it in multiple threads as if it was this amazing news. Working on a player and announcing a player are two different things. However we know they have an HD DVD player of some kind in development, they've admitted it (grudgingly).

If I jumped in multiple threads pointing to the links from research groups that are for the first time predicting a HD DVD victory that would look like I had an agenda.

The difference between us seems to be that if I heard that BD was getting say WB exclusively or a $200 player out I'd jump in joy to post about it. I want this war over, and I don't care who wins, but I want ONE to win. We need a winner so we can get more titles out. The current war is leaving plenty of titles on hold and its not fair to my collection damnit. To me I'm happy one finally has real momentum and want it to build off that momentum because until that 90,000 weekend neither had any momentum of any kind.