Sad stuff (why the PE HD DVD is doing so well on Amazon)

[stockstar1138]

By Tewfik Benredjeb "Tewfik" (Minneapolis) - See all my reviews
I had to return the HD DVD because i don't have a HD DVD Player.I reordered Planet earth's DVD with no problem.I received my credit.The service was fast and good.Thank you.This was my 1st order thru Amazon.com and it would'nt be the last.

By Justin M. Griffin - See all my reviews
I am mainly writing this out of disgust for the stupidity of some people. This is an excellent program with some of the best HD visuals you will see currently on the market. For those of you stupid enough to not understand that you must have an HD player to play an HD DVD...well... go back to your caves and get a clue! It has noting to do with the show so why would you give an excellent program a bad review because you are to stupid to buy the right format...hey I got a bunch of VHS tapes if you wanna try those on your DVD player...

By Elaine E. Paasch - See all my reviews
Real rating is a minus 30! I was unable to access the DVD on ANY player! I took it to Best Buy, and they said it will not work in any player they have in stock and are unable to program any player to play the DVD. It was a total waste of money and a horrible experience with Amazon because they will not help in any way to correct the problem.

By Charles A. Jacques "Tony" (S.C.) - See all my reviews
I Purchased the HD DVD to finf out that it would not work in my DVD Player. I could not return It because it was opened but not used. How are you supose to know it a thing works if you don't open it. So your return is not worth a dime! I ored the regular DVD and Found that all one needs is DVD one. The outher four DVD Has the same things as on the first DVD.

By Dwight F. Entwistle (satellite beach, florida United States) - See all my reviews
I ORDERED THIS ITEM WITH GREAT ENTHUSIASM. MUCH TO MY SURPRISE, MY DVD PLAYER COULD NOT PLAY AND IT AND I WAS ADVISED TO CONTACT THE MANUFACTURER FOR "FIRMWARE OR SOFTWARE" UPDATES. THE MANUFACTURER WAS OF NO HELP AT ALL BECAUSE, AS IT TURNED OUT, THEY DO NOT MAKE THE NECESSARY HARDWARE. SO FAR, I HAVE HAD TO BUY A NEW "BLUE LASER" DVD PLAYER AT A COST OF $500 (AND AT THAT I AM BETTING ON HD DVD AS OPPOSED TO BLU RAY) PLUS A $138 REMOTE TO PLAY THE HD DVD WITH MY EXIXTING HD TV AND MY CURRENT $600 AV RECEIVER SO I WON'T HAVE TO SPENT $800 OR MORE FOR A MORE ADVANCED AV RECEIVER. OF COURSE I COULD HAVE RETURNED THE PLANET EARTH DVD SET AND GOTTEN A REGULAR RED LASER SET FOR POSTAGE COST, BUT I WAS CURIOUS ABOUT THE "NEWEST" TECHNOLOGY. WHAT'S NEXT? ALL THIS IS JUST VENTING! THANKS FOR LISTENING. POINT: I DO FEEL YOU SHOULD HAVE INCLUDED A CAVEAT SOMETHING LIKE "THIS HD DVD SET WILL NOT PLAY ON YOUR CURRENT DVD PLAYER. PERIOD!!" YOU WOULD BE CORRECT 99.9+% OF THE TIME.

By T. Shelton - See all my reviews
I thought since I have a high def TV that this would work but apparently you have to have a high def DVD player to play this dvd. I couldn't use or play this so I had to return it. I will be buying the regular dvd though.

By Francesca Matterhorn "skeptic" (WA) - See all my reviews
Thanks to Amazon's pathetic scheme, I now own an HD DVD format piece of plastic. It was very deceiving of them to have the HD formatted DVD as the first choice in a search on this series. So I'm out almost $80 because I took the plastic off... I now know that an HD DVD is not only a different format, but is being compared to laserdiscs, so don't bother buying this version of Planet Earth or an HD DVD player for that matter.

By Jeffery C. Ottesen "Jeff" (Juneau, AK) - See all my reviews
I've given the Planet Earth DVD 5 stars because the cable broadcast of the work is so compelling. I can only wait to actually see it in High Definition. Alas, that is the rest of this story.

Owning a shiny new HD TV (Sony Bravia) and a tenured DVD player I opted to purchase the HD version of the Planet Earth series. Here is where I made my mistake (and Amazon too!)

I did not understand that only HD DVD players can play a HD DVD. Your ordinary DVD player simply can't read the new technology on the HD DVD. Period.

OK, it does say so, in the very fine print on the back of the DVD case. Why with 10X reading glasses I might have even noticed. But no where on the ordering process on teh Amazon web site is this requirement brought to my attention.

Sure, snicker, you video-philes who are early adopters and know this implicitly. But trust me, I have talked to at least a dozen people who like me didn't have a clue. And not one person I have discussed this with was aware of the DVD shortcoming with HD DVD format.