Will Meridian make an HD DVD player?

[DaViD Boulet]

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.

That is the funniest thing you've written yet.

Do you really think the appearance of your pro-HD DVD agenda is negated by dropping these occasional "format nuetral" comments?

There's nothing wrong with being pro-HD DVD. Nothing at all. But these strange attempts to feign neutrality seem bizarre given the brazenly pro-HD DVD tenor of the rest of your discussions.


p.s. we're not so different. I'd jump for joy if we heard of a $200 BD player too. I suppose Sony isn't as willing to evaporate the meager profit margins for CE manufacturers just yet, given that most companies like to make rather than lose money on hardware sales. Of course, if it's determined that a $200 BD player is what is needed to levy the final ax-blow to end this war, Sony will do it, when its time.

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.

Agreed Agreed Agreed. I do have an agenda that I don't need to pretend I don't have: I want that winning format to offer the best possible picture and sound quality heading into our coming decade. For me, that means giving studios a format they can author using 50GB discs with 1.5 the bandwidth of a competing format (I don't think it's coincidence that every exlusive BD studio provides lossless audio on EVERY title, while HD DVD-supporting studios only offer lossless audio sporadically).

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

That is the funniest thing you've written yet.

Do you really think the appearance of your pro-HD DVD agenda is negated by dropping these occasional "format nuetral" comments?

There's nothing wrong with being pro-HD DVD. Nothing at all. But these strange attempts to feign neutrality seem bizarre given the brazenly pro-HD DVD tenor of the rest of your discussions.

Well that is the funny thing because I'm 100% neutral. I think we started off on a bad foot with me getting in a "match," with DobyBlu whom I've since found has been banned from other sites and is a notorious baiter. From a neutral sight, it's easy to see the Pros and Cons of both for a Studio or Manufacturer. The biggest plus is obviously that it is less expensive to get discs replicated and less expensive to manufacture a player. While replication costs have improved dramatically in the last 4 months it still costs about 40% more to go through the whole process of having a disc ready for distribution. While the otherside has better copyprotection (but still crackable), bigger space (for awhile), and better bandwidth. There was also the fear factor of the PS3 destroying the other side, but that factor just hasn't played out.

Funny thing is that WB has said that profit is about even between both with BD having a slight edge. This is because 1.85:1 sales leads don't counter the 40% cost adjustment plus advertising, etc.

For consumers it isn't tough to see that one is available for half the cost.

Having to defend my common sense outlook repeatedly to people makes it look Pro-HD DVD. I'm just pro facts. Facts are that right now HD DVD is looking brighter.

p.s. we're not so different. I'd jump for joy if we heard of a $200 BD player too. I suppose Sony isn't as willing to evaporate the meager profit margins for CE manufacturers just yet, given that most companies like to make rather than lose money on hardware sales. Of course, if it's determined that a $200 BD player is what is needed to levy the final ax-blow to end this war, Sony will do it, when its time.

They don't cost the same to manufacture and manufacturing costs on the 1080i Toshiba unit are down "near," upscaling DVD players for them. Toshiba isn't losing money on the A3 right now at all even with the $200 sales point. In fact the store my family runs is matching the $200 price point (and they're flying off shelves about 4 to 1 compared to BD) and we still make a profit of around $40. That isn't much at all, but a $200 DVD player would likely make us around $70. So it's not really that much of a difference. So if Toshiba does drop the MSRP to $199 our cost will likely drop to around that $70 markup. Toshiba will still be making money. The 1080p 24/fps units are another story entirely.

If Sony made a 1080i unit I think they could reach a $349 MSRP price point... the thing is they seem unwilling to try this.

Agreed Agreed Agreed. I do have an agenda that I don't need to pretend I don't have: I want that winning format to offer the best possible picture and sound quality heading into our coming decade. For me, that means giving studios a format they can author using 50GB discs with 1.5 the bandwidth of a competing format (I don't think it's coincidence that every exlusive BD studio provides lossless audio on EVERY title, while HD DVD-supporting studios only offer lossless audio sporadically).

This I entirely agree upon. I want a format that can provide PQ and AQ. Currently 30GB doesn't appear to be enough for PQ and lossless audio with extras. I've heard that the 34GB Dual Layer discs could actually help in that regard. The extra 4GB would allow Dolby True HD on many more titles (Kong comes to mind). However the 51GB vaporware disc would obviously be the answer.

The bandwidth issue isn't really that important to me. I've seen satisfactory proof (Batman Begins) that great PQ and lossless audio can exist on HD DVD. Therefor the bandwidth isn't the issue some make it out to be. The space limitations are a much bigger issue. Compression techniques are just really good right now.

If at CES the 51GB disc shows up and works fine on current players and has no real replication issues.... then I'm not going to have much trouble with HD DVD winning. I'd need to see some title that actually proves to me that bandwidth is an issue. So far I haven't seen it. I have seen space contstaint issues.

In fact I'm actually kind of happy that many titles haven't made it to HD DVD yet because the triple layer discs weren't ready yet. If they are capable, I'm hoping most great titles take advantage of it.