Why I'm Still Resisting Neutrality

[Croweyes1121]

As ludricous as the $98 Wal-Mart pricing is on the HD-A2, I have decided to stay strong and wait this thing out. Let's be honest. It's tempting at that price point...I don't care how true Blu you are. The thing is, I absolutely hate the idea of being a war perpetuator. You have to take these three points into account, too.

1. If Blu-ray Disc wins in the end, then an HD DVD player - however cheap it may be - will just be money wasted in the long run, as will any money I spend on software for it.

2. If HD DVD ends up winning instead, then I certainly won't have any trouble finding a dirt-cheap HD DVD player at a later date, especially at the rate Toshiba's going.

3. At a $98 price point, I think the format war is likely to be resolved sooner rather than later. Just my opinion. I mean, I see it this way:

Possibility 1: HD DVD is going to reassert itself as a viable format and handily overtake Blu-ray Disc in sales in Q4 due to these insanely low prices. After lagging behind consistently for over nine months, a comeback like that would be nothing short of a revelatory and decisive victory for HD DVD that would probably sway things in a big way, and could possibly even influence studio support in Q1 2008.

Possibility 2: Blu-ray either wins or loses but comes very close to winning Q4 because of its (much) stronger title lineup for the holidays. If this happens despite the country's largest retailer selling the HD-A2 at $98 a pop, I think everyone is going to know that this thing is all over whether they like it or not.

In short...I think Q4 is going to decide this one way or the other, and I've been patient this long, so why not just wait a few more months? I think it's going to be a lot clearer at that point exactly where things stand (and if not, it's not like there won't be comparable or even cheaper deals post-Christmas).