Do you think the "War" would've lasted longer if there was no internet?

[Nerdkiller likes BD]

I mean think about it, most of the info we got about the format was from the internet, and if that was taken away, we would've waited about a month for any magazines that talked about the war. Remember Beta vs VHS? That war lasted 12 years and yet the BD vs HD DVD war lasted almost 2. What do you think?

[Kuraudo]

I think you pretty much summed up your own question

On the Format war, people nowadays were able to get feeds on articles several times a day, and also post questions & arguments.

Without the internet one would wait for a newspaper or magazine to come out to read up on it and obviously thats a lot slower than reading it off a blog like engadget.

The internet speeds up everything, not just a format war.
I talk to people online all far away. Snail mail would develop our relationships much slower. MSN/Yahoo/AIM killed the penpal.

[Blu-Jawa]

It's kinda strange to think there was no net. (for me 1985 Before Photos and Audio took over the internet) it was pretty dull unless you liked Text and Pages of Links to more Text. (WWW born around May 17th 1991 and Video showing up at about the time High Speed was Starting up).

but yea I agree. back in the Beta vs. VHS days it was slow going unless you had "CB Radio Friends to chat about Video Stuff with"

[Marcusarilius]

AS the net is a form of communication and real time info sharing, I think it absolutely helped to end the war faster.

[cajmoyper]

I don't like these kind of questions. It's a moot point.

[WickyWoo]

I don't think there would have been a war, since the majority of HD DVD's advertising was manipulating the internet

[whippersnapper]

Originally Posted by cajmoyper

I don't like these kind of questions. It's a moot point.

I don't think that it's a moot point. The existence of the internet and its free flow of information helped settle things quicker than would have otherwise been possible. I also firmly believe that the absence of the internet would have allowed the technically inferior format to prevail. Only God knows why, but many of the mainstream magazines, newspapers and video sources were certainly favoring HD-DVD and clearly slanting their coverage that way.

With the internet, these mainstream sources of information were no longer monopolies on information. The internet allowed us to exchange information, identify and discredit FUD, and put out the truth about Blu-ray; both the good and the (not yet) good of the format. It also has helped the consumer by spreading the word and rewarding those retailers who were competing on price.

So, LONG LIVE THE INTERNET AND FREEDOM!!

[BillCable]

Originally Posted by Blu-Jawa

It's kinda strange to think there was no net.

I want to know how anybody knew what movies actors were in prior to IMDB. I use that site like 10 times a day.

One thing's for certain, shitty movies do much worse now as a result of RottenTomatoes.com. It used to be studios could fool you with trailers. Cut a good trailer, don't have any review showings, and you'll get good business the first weekend. But now everyone can find out what movies are terrible long before going to the theater. Hopefully this will eventually lead to better quality films, but I haven't seen any evidence of that yet.

[Blu Titan]

Good question, I know this much the FUD assciated with this format war was incredible. I believe the war would have ended quicker without the influence of the Internet, and there would not be as much ill will. I have learned to move on from the HD DVd conflict, but others prefer to dwell on the past.

[blu-rayfan101]

Originally Posted by BlueNeon

Good question, I know this much the FUD assciated with this format war was incredible. I believe the war would have ended quicker without the influence of the Internet, and there would not be as much ill will. I have learned to move on from the HD DVd conflict, but others prefer to dwell on the past.

Ohh why did beta have to lose?

[Marquoz]

I think the internet might have clouded the issue. For every single piece of truthful reporting, you get 5 pieces of just garbage. It's been that way since day one of the internet, you have somebody wanting to impose their reality on any conversation. I had an interesting proof of this shown to me on wikipedia, a year or so ago my friend posted something absolutely false on wikipedia, but it sounded vaguely truthful. It's since stayed, and has been used by other news articles using wikipedia as a source.

The internet is not exactly the best source of information unless you can double check and verify for factuality.

[jw]

internet just prolonged it and allowed "our" opinions to be heard

[danay82]

But......but......BUT without the internet you couldn't get those cool Web Features of HD-DVD had to offer.


So really the format wouldn't of been what it was today.

[unreal1080p]

Originally Posted by Nerdkiller likes BD

I mean think about it, most of the info we got about the format was from the internet, and if that was taken away, we would've waited about a month for any magazines that talked about the war. Remember Beta vs VHS? That war lasted 12 years and yet the BD vs HD DVD war lasted almost 2. What do you think?

Since the MAJORITY of forums and Blogs were heavily DUD lopsided and Jackasses like Rob Enderle and Ken Graffeo incessantly flapped their corrupt shill gums in favor of the DUD... I actually think the war would've been over sooner without the Internet. The Bricks & Mortars were always strongly lopsided towards Blu-Ray and it's higher cost and margins (more money in their pocket) and they KNEW the format that the PS3 and Disney supported would end up winning the war. Without the internet, the B&M's would have ended this either sooner or at the exact same time (January 2008 CES).

The bottom line is that the PS3 needed to be in the field for at least a full year in order for the DUD to die so January 2007 CES was out of the question... leaving the next logical date to be the January 2008 CES.

The sheer amount of HD DUD FUD that was proliferated by the Internet, IMHO, was vastly responsible for 90% of HD DUD's sales volume (think pimply Crapbox360 fanboys ).

[richieb1971]

Bricks and mortar AV stores are losing out with Blu ray. They don't make anything on PS3's and they don't sell game software.

HD-DVD did a few things right. They got their spec down on day 1, they went region free and they took what studios they could. To me thats all pluses.

However, they under estimated the power of the average gamer.

[saprano]

Yes indeed they did.

[MarekM]

Originally Posted by richieb1971

Bricks and mortar AV stores are losing out with Blu ray. They don't make anything on PS3's and they don't sell game software.

HD-DVD did a few things right. They got their spec down on day 1, they went region free and they took what studios they could. To me thats all pluses.

However, they under estimated the power of the average gamer.

Brick and mortat AV stores loosing heh ? like in december when without PS3, HW sale were 65:35 in favor of blu-ray with much bigger margins on HW compare to HD DVD ?

so they (HD DVD) had few small pluses but more big minuses...

M.

[Neo65]

I was wondering about the very different mode of support between hd dvd and bd.

It appears to me that there were more of high profile hd dvd supporters saying, "BUY HD DVD".

The high profile BD supporters by and large were more conservative saying "WAIT IT OUT".

That's likely the best signal that something's not right in the type of supporters each side was gathering, even on the supposedly 'open' internet.

[Terjyn]

Originally Posted by richieb1971

They don't make anything on PS3's and they don't sell game software.

These stores weren't making squat on HD DVD either. Fun that you neglect to mention that.

[Brian Cash]

i dont think we would have hd technology if we had no internet