In order to sleep well at night, this is what I tell myself

[Mulder]

Hey, I just wanted to share with you guys how I cope with this whole format war and Paramount going HD-DVD news in order to sleep well at night.

First off, I want everyone to know that I am a serious Blu-Ray supporter and have never regretted getting a PS3 and Blu-Ray movies. I'm in South Africa and no one knows about Blu-Ray, (Mind you, they know even less about HD-DVD), so I'm the one who is telling everyone about it. I actually convinced a friend of mine to buy a Blu-Ray player and he bought a PS3 even though he isn't into games but it was the cheapest Blu-Ray player. He is so happy with it that he is now also spreading the word.

But for people like me to read all of the stress and worries people have about the format war isn't very encouraging. A weaker person might even start wondering why he decided to get into HD in the first place, but I am not that person. However, I too have my fears, and I wanted to share with you all how I cope with them:

Best case scenario: Blu-Ray wins the format war sometime next year, (or the year after) and we are all happy! Every movie and TV show in existence is released on Blu-Ray and there are no worries.

Worst case scenario: HD-DVD wins. Not cool, but at least I still have some Blu-Rays that I can watch on my PS3 and then I'll just have to get a seperate HD-DVD player for the other films I want. (Maybe Sony even makes a HD-DVD add on for the PS3?)

Even worse case scenario: This format war causes both formats to die and HD media just falls away. At least I still have some movies on Blu-ray which I can continue to watch on my PS3 and any new movies I want I'll just have to buy on DVD and watch upscaled. IF in the future, Blu-Ray players aren't being made anymore, including the PS3, then I guess I'll just have to switch back to DVD and rebuy all the films I had on Blu-Ray. But I'm hoping that the PS3 will always be manufactured with a Blu-Ray player!

So this is my game plan. Depending on the outcome of this war, I will be choosing one of these options. I will then stick with that option until the day I die. I will only change to a new future format once I am absolutely sure it is the new standard.

This is just my personal take on things and as I say: It takes away some of the anxiety this format war is causing and helps me to sleep better at night!

[gand41f]

Originally Posted by Mulder

Hey, I just wanted to share with you guys how I cope with this whole format war and Paramount going HD-DVD news in order to sleep well at night.

First off, I want everyone to know that I am a serious Blu-Ray supporter and have never regretted getting a PS3 and Blu-Ray movies. I'm in South Africa and no one knows about Blu-Ray, (Mind you, they know even less about HD-DVD), so I'm the one who is telling everyone about it. I actually convinced a friend of mine to buy a Blu-Ray player and he bought a PS3 even though he isn't into games but it was the cheapest Blu-Ray player. He is so happy with it that he is now also spreading the word.

But for people like me to read all of the stress and worries people have about the format war isn't very encouraging. A weaker person might even start wondering why he decided to get into HD in the first place, but I am not that person. However, I too have my fears, and I wanted to share with you all how I cope with them:

Best case scenario: Blu-Ray wins the format war sometime next year, (or the year after) and we are all happy! Every movie and TV show in existence is released on Blu-Ray and there are no worries.

Worst case scenario: HD-DVD wins. Not cool, but at least I still have some Blu-Rays that I can watch on my PS3 and then I'll just have to get a seperate HD-DVD player for the other films I want. (Maybe Sony even makes a HD-DVD add on for the PS3?)

Even worse case scenario: This format war causes both formats to die and HD media just falls away. At least I still have some movies on Blu-ray which I can continue to watch on my PS3 and any new movies I want I'll just have to buy on DVD and watch upscaled. IF in the future, Blu-Ray players aren't being made anymore, including the PS3, then I guess I'll just have to switch back to DVD and rebuy all the films I had on Blu-Ray. But I'm hoping that the PS3 will always be manufactured with a Blu-Ray player!

So this is my game plan. Depending on the outcome of this war, I will be choosing one of these options. I will then stick with that option until the day I die. I will only change to a new future format once I am absolutely sure it is the new standard.

This is just my personal take on things and as I say: It takes away some of the anxiety this format war is causing and helps me to sleep better at night!

That's the right attitude dude. In 10 years we'll all be into something new and shinier anyway. (3D anyone?) We'll all look back and laugh how we all got tied up in knots because some top execs at Para***** decided to take M$'s monopoly money.

I'm happy to know that Sony will at least support Blu-ray through PS3 even if everything else fails, since games are on BD as well, they can't take it out. (Not the same for DUD, as M$ has no obligation to continue supporting the add-on -- their games are on DVD. But I digress.)

By the way, how old are you? Unless you're 70 or somethin', I'm sure you'll find a better way to watch movies before you die.

enjoy
gandalf

[Mulder]

Originally Posted by gand41f

By the way, how old are you? Unless you're 70 or somethin', I'm sure you'll find a better way to watch movies before you die.

Hehe. Actually I'm only 23 but I doubt I'll have enough money to keep buying into every new format that comes along. That's why I say I'll just stick with one.

[gand41f]

Originally Posted by Mulder

Hehe. Actually I'm only 23 but I doubt I'll have enough money to keep buying into every new format that comes along. That's why I say I'll just stick with one.

Aah, that explains it. You're too young to remember LPs vs. CDs, aren't you?

My point is, you won't get a choice. Even if BD wins today and becomes the dominant standard overnight, in 10 to 15 years the distribution of movies will be totally different and you won't be able to find BDs for new movies anymore. You don't necessarily have to re-buy everything, you'll just need a new player to play the new movies in. Hopefully it will still be backward compatible with your CDs.

I'm not that old but I am about to quadruple-dip on Zep's The Song Remains The Same so you get the idea.

enjoy
gandalf

[zombieking]

I have a 6 week old in the house. That's how I lose sleep !

[Mr.Neutral]

I don't see why anyone should need to tell themselves anything to sleep at night.

I own both now, but even before I got my blu-ray player, I didn't really care much. about the whole war I would have preferred not to get another player to enjoy some additional movies, but I certainly haven't lost any sleep over it (well.. maybe some since I stay up late some nights watching movies).

I guess you might lose sleep if you think of yourself as being a soldier in this war, but I certainly don't. Neither Toshiba nor Sony send me a paycheck last time I checked..

[cawgijoe]

There is no need to lose sleep because Blu-Ray is going to win over HD-DUD anyway.

Keep buying those Blu-Rays!

[CAB]

Originally Posted by zombieking

I have a 6 week old in the house. That's how I lose sleep !

You better figure out what causes that before she tricks you again.

-CB

[tron3]

How about this prayer before bedtime:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord blu-ray to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord HD-DVD to take


The original 18th century prayer:

http://www.worldprayers.org/frameit...._to_sleep.html

[tron3]

Originally Posted by gand41f

That's the right attitude dude. In 10 years we'll all be into something new and shinier anyway. (3D anyone?) ....

3D has always created a buzz but has yet to take a strong foothold. They revive the idea every 10 to 20 years.

In my opinion, that new Terabit disc due out next year will be the next generation blu-ray. Proably used on the new Ultra HD-TV's. 2160p resolution anyone? <drools>

We are already in the age of memories being large enough, yet compact enough, to see SD 16:9 movies on Sony Memory Stick ROM-type devices. Portable players would litterally be a screen, some buttons, and slots for the movies. Talk about lightweight and portable.

A SD DVD is 4.7 GB of storage, and dual layers discs are 8.5 GB. USB drives of this size are fairly common now. If they get the prices down, all movies could be recorded on 8GB sticks. Or 16GB sticks at "Superbit" resolutions. New DVD players would play both formats.

As densities increase and costs come down, we could see movies at 1080 resolutions on these ROM-memory sticks. Probably have better copy protection as well.

I swear, I'm working in the wrong industry.