You know what annoys me? (HDDVD related)

[Lurker87]

What annoys me is that I always knew Blu-ray was going to win, and constantly used Blu-rays on my PS3. However, one of my favorite movies came out only for HDDVD - Transformers. It was announced only for HDDVD and because of that, I went out and bought an HDDVD add-on for my 360. On the bright side, I pretty much only spent about 80 dollars on the HDDVD add-on, and it gave me an extra USB slot for peripherals on my 360 (the add-on took up 1 usb port but had 2 in the back). I saved the extra amount because I went the buy a blu-ray/hddvd player and get 5 free blu-ray/hddvd movies, then return them at walmart for in-store credit route, netting me about $90 in credit.

But I digress.

I now find out that Transformers is coming to Blu-ray, which makes sense so that they have an HD outlet somewhere since HDDVD is dead. But still, I spent $100+ for Transformers, with a small reasoning that I'd be able to get any HDDVD exclusives even though I was a Blu-ray supporter. I probably could have gone that extra time without the HDDVD version if I'd known how quickly HDDVD was going to go down. And no, I don't have a receipt, and I don't think I have the box even, to return the add-on to Walmart. That means, I'll just have to stick with my $80 extra usb port. Kinda saddens me

[Beta Man]

Hmm I bought an HD DVD player, but managed to find 25-30 movies for it that I like..... (none involving large robots)

[nitteo]

I am still buying HD-DVD. To me HD-DVD is equivalent to Blu ray, whatever I can buy in HD-DVD for 50% less, is more $ for upcoming BD Titles I want to have.

[Layd Dly]

Originally Posted by nitteo

I am still buying HD-DVD. To me HD-DVD is equivalent to Blu ray, whatever I can buy in HD-DVD for 50% less, is more $ for upcoming BD Titles I want to have.

+1 except i paid $200 for my HD add-on sincei bought it before a PS3, and i only had about 20 HD movies when they went under now i have 60 all for the price of about 10-15 BR's and mostly Uni. Movies that wont be out for quite a while.

[bhampton]

Quote "I spent $100+ for Transformers..."

Write to Paramount and explain it. You have money invested they should understand. Maybe you can get them to reconsider putting out Transformers on Blu Ray. It's worth a shot.

Good Luck,

-Brian

p.s. How is it you didn't save the box and receipt? The chances of a Microsoft product mal-functioning are about 100% so you need to keep the box and receipt unless they are lost due to the fire caused by said MS product. Walmart gave everyone that they con-ed into buying HD DUD $50,.. maybe you can have them look up your transaction and get the money? What about Kong? Didn't that come with the add on and can't you still bask in the glory of it's DUD exclusivity?

[Lurker87]

Originally Posted by Mxr5150

You could always Ebay that stuff to put some money back in your pocket.

Well, until Transformers comes out on Blu-ray, I need to keep the stuff with me. If I sell the HDDVDs, I'll get a reduced resell price, and then end up losing more rebuying them as Blu-ray. And it just sort of annoys me that I am going to lose money in the long run between me selling my HDDVD add-on and how much I had bought it for. I don't see me being able to get back enough to come out anywhere near even, especially with the news of HDDVD going down.

Originally Posted by Blaumann

Well, you did get to enjoy Transformers earlier. And since it is one of your favorite movies, it's money well spent, isn't it?

See, now that's the problem. Like I said before, I could have dealt with waiting for it to come out on Blu-ray, instead of buying it on HDDVD. That's because I only watched it once on my PS3, and have seen it many other times usually at a friend's house in standard def (blasphemy, I know). Also, related...

Originally Posted by bhampton

Write to Paramount and explain it. You have money invested they should understand. Maybe you can get them to reconsider putting out Transformers on Blu Ray. It's worth a shot.

Maybe it wasn't obvious in the first post, but what originally set me off was when I finally saw that Transformer's was coming out for Blu-ray. They are accepting pre-orders for it and everything. Therefore, this is mostly a money-related issue, while posting on the forum was a cry out for closure, if not just cognitive dissonance.

Originally Posted by bhampton

How is it you didn't save the box and receipt? The chances of a Microsoft product mal-functioning are about 100% so you need to keep the box and receipt unless they are lost due to the fire caused by said MS product. Walmart gave everyone that they con-ed into buying HD DUD $50,.. maybe you can have them look up your transaction and get the money? What about Kong? Didn't that come with the add on and can't you still bask in the glory of it's DUD exclusivity?

First of all, I only keep my receipts around for about 2 months or so after I buy an electronics product, unless there is a warranty that requires the receipt and is longer than only 2 months. I did not hear of any such warranty for HDDVD, and I ended up losing the receipt, as well as throwing out the box since it was an eye-sore (nowhere to put it). Anyways, I didn't think HDDVD would go under as quickly as it did, though I knew it was going to happen. I figured by the time it happened, I'd have plenty of HDDVDs in my library to justify keeping it anyways. However, I only have 4 movies: Tomb Raider, Transformers, Terminator 3, Unleashed. All of which had not yet come out on Blu-ray, or weren't even announced for Blu-ray (except Tomb Raider, which I got for free for getting an HDDVD). I returned King Kong with the other HDDVDs to Walmart for the in-store credit, as I stated in my first post.

[TwYsTeD]

Originally Posted by nitteo

I am still buying HD-DVD. To me HD-DVD is equivalent to Blu ray, whatever I can buy in HD-DVD for 50% less, is more $ for upcoming BD Titles I want to have.

+1 i have a stand alone Hd player as well as my 360 add on

[AliceT]

well how about this


I spent tons of money on an NES and now its obsolete
I spent tons of money on an SNES and now its obsolete
I spent tons of money on a Sega Genesis and now its obsolete
I spent tons of money buying VHS tapes and now thye are obsolete
I spent tons of money buying DVD's and now they are almost obsolete

Do you get the point? Everything you buy will one day be "worthless" as you say and you will be "out that money", including BD one day. The risk you take as a consumer. Get over it.

[Lurker87]

Originally Posted by AliceT

well how about this


I spent tons of money on an NES and now its obsolete
I spent tons of money on an SNES and now its obsolete
I spent tons of money on a Sega Genesis and now its obsolete
I spent tons of money buying VHS tapes and now thye are obsolete
I spent tons of money buying DVD's and now they are almost obsolete

Do you get the point? Everything you buy will one day be "worthless" as you say and you will be "out that money", including BD one day. The risk you take as a consumer. Get over it.

The difference though, is that almost all of those had huge libraries, and you can continue to enjoy them over and over. I have all those, and I still use them all. Now, the HDDVD also had a huge library (around 400), but watching a movie will almost never take longer than playing a game, as well as the fact that it is all passive enjoyment, whereas video game playing is interactive.

Though you may disagree, I think comparing video game console with movies isn't really relevant as far as my main point was concerned. Also, video games often didn't go multi-platform back then, and still often don't. Once a video game console gives up, usually none of its exclusive titles then go to the competitor's system. However, movies are more diverse, and usually will come out on the competitor's system once the original one goes under. However, many older movies may have a smaller chance of finding their way on some following generation formats, especially if those movies are decades old.

Anyways, your point wasn't my point. In fact, you just made my point. That is not to say my point can't be debated. It is just that the examples you gave all confirmed it. My point was that I was only getting my HDDVD add-on so that I could watch one particular hddvd, as well as a couple others I was waiting for when they came out. Then I'd be capable of watching other exclusives as they came out. Each of those systems/platforms you mentioned survived much longer than HDDVD.

I believe that if you were trying to refute my point then you should have brought up systems that failed, such as the Atari Jaguar or the 3DO. The problem now, is that each of those offered constantly changing experiences (which is what can be obtained via video games), as well as interaction with the story-telling. The biggest problem with this argument, then, might be with 3DO, which had a $700 US price tag when it was first released, which would coincide with those who would be disappointed with such an investment. However, it lasted 3 years.

HDDVD launched in March of 06, and the final HDDVDs will be released in June of 08, giving it a shorter life span than the 3DO. However, the Jaguar would have been closer in its lifespan, with it coming out in late 93, then it died in late 95. The rest of those systems you mentioned all had 7+ years lifespans.

NES 10
SNES 9
Genesis 8
etc

I think the easiest, and most relevant, comparison that you could make against me would be something like Betamax vs VHS, with Betamax = HDDVD, and VHS = Blu-ray. The problem once again is life span. Though Betamax lost, it lasted for about 10 years (but it was not dominant). Technically, it lasted until 1988 (13 years after it was introduced), when Sony, the maker, gave up and started making VHS itself.

As I said before, the whole point of me coming on here was looking for some closure, and perhaps for venting. Now, I also need to say that video game collections, including systems, are often more valued than just technological advances. This might add more value if they were apart of a collection, or if they were to be sold unopened.

To sum everything up, it is a gamble for a consumer to buy into a new technology, and it is even a bigger gamble when it is competing against another company that has a similar technology. I believe that is a good summation of your point, correct? However, my biggest point was its lifespan, as I am sure all Blu-ray owners already knew was short. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of brushing aside the technology war often shared belief, but not quite cliche, "don't buy a system for one game" or "one game does not make a system". I took my chance since I expected the war to continue longer. It just turned out to be a bad decision.

Note: Yes, I had to look up a good bit of that data, since I only knew estimates of their releases and demises. I preferred more precise data instead.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by AliceT

well how about this


I spent tons of money on an NES and now its obsolete
I spent tons of money on an SNES and now its obsolete
I spent tons of money on a Sega Genesis and now its obsolete
I spent tons of money buying VHS tapes and now thye are obsolete
I spent tons of money buying DVD's and now they are almost obsolete

Do you get the point? Everything you buy will one day be "worthless" as you say and you will be "out that money", including BD one day. The risk you take as a consumer. Get over it.

I love it. Hmm, let me rub some salt into my own wounds here a moment.

Things I bought and are now obsolete:
* Atari 2600 (Sold)
* TI-99/4A home computer (Still have.)
* Timex Sinclair 1000 (Couldn't sell it fast enough. Ugh.)
* Atari 800XL (Sold)
* Sega Master System (Sold)
* Sega Genesis (Sold)
* Sega Jaguar (Sold)
* 486DX33 (Don't EVEN ask.)
* Various Pentium computers.
* Portable TV's, soon to be worthless.
* 13" TV, still works but obsolete.
* At least two VHS players (Broke)
* Two DVD / VCR combo's (sold)

The only people who really got their money worth were those who bought record players! That technology, though improved upon, lasted decades!

In short, I know blu-ray will also suffer the fate of HD DVD one day. But the staying power is incredible. Even IF flashRAM movies are the future, I see them getting integrated with BD players before they become stand alones.

[Mxr5150]

Originally Posted by Lurker87

What annoys me is that I always knew Blu-ray was going to win, and constantly used Blu-rays on my PS3. However, one of my favorite movies came out only for HDDVD - Transformers. It was announced only for HDDVD and because of that, I went out and bought an HDDVD add-on for my 360. On the bright side, I pretty much only spent about 80 dollars on the HDDVD add-on, and it gave me an extra USB slot for peripherals on my 360 (the add-on took up 1 usb port but had 2 in the back). I saved the extra amount because I went the buy a blu-ray/hddvd player and get 5 free blu-ray/hddvd movies, then return them at walmart for in-store credit route, netting me about $90 in credit.

But I digress.

I now find out that Transformers is coming to Blu-ray, which makes sense so that they have an HD outlet somewhere since HDDVD is dead. But still, I spent $100+ for Transformers, with a small reasoning that I'd be able to get any HDDVD exclusives even though I was a Blu-ray supporter. I probably could have gone that extra time without the HDDVD version if I'd known how quickly HDDVD was going to go down. And no, I don't have a receipt, and I don't think I have the box even, to return the add-on to Walmart. That means, I'll just have to stick with my $80 extra usb port. Kinda saddens me

You could always Ebay that stuff to put some money back in your pocket.

[Blaumann]

Originally Posted by Lurker87

What annoys me is that I always knew Blu-ray was going to win, and constantly used Blu-rays on my PS3. However, one of my favorite movies came out only for HDDVD - Transformers. It was announced only for HDDVD and because of that, I went out and bought an HDDVD add-on for my 360. On the bright side, I pretty much only spent about 80 dollars on the HDDVD add-on, and it gave me an extra USB slot for peripherals on my 360 (the add-on took up 1 usb port but had 2 in the back). I saved the extra amount because I went the buy a blu-ray/hddvd player and get 5 free blu-ray/hddvd movies, then return them at walmart for in-store credit route, netting me about $90 in credit.

But I digress.

I now find out that Transformers is coming to Blu-ray, which makes sense so that they have an HD outlet somewhere since HDDVD is dead. But still, I spent $100+ for Transformers, with a small reasoning that I'd be able to get any HDDVD exclusives even though I was a Blu-ray supporter. I probably could have gone that extra time without the HDDVD version if I'd known how quickly HDDVD was going to go down. And no, I don't have a receipt, and I don't think I have the box even, to return the add-on to Walmart. That means, I'll just have to stick with my $80 extra usb port. Kinda saddens me

Well, you did get to enjoy Transformers earlier. And since it is one of your favorite movies, it's money well spent, isn't it?

[walk on the blu side]

I am still buying HD DVDs, they are extremely cheap, and I have been taking a break from purchasing Blu-rays for a while.

[AliceT]

Eh, I did pick up like 15 movies back when it first died for cheap, but now I cant bring myself to buy an HDDVD even for $5. Id rather just own it on BD eventually.

[Lurker87]

Originally Posted by AliceT

Eh, I did pick up like 15 movies back when it first died for cheap, but now I cant bring myself to buy an HDDVD even for $5. Id rather just own it on BD eventually.

Also, it adds an extra USB port to my 360, so I'll end up keeping it around for that reason.

[AliceT]

Originally Posted by Lurker87

Also, it adds an extra USB port to my 360, so I'll end up keeping it around for that reason.

Yeah, I only bought the HD DVD player thinking that the "war" would go on for a few years. If I had known it was going to end about a year after I bought my player, I wouldnt have bought it lol.

[atomik kinder]

I spent $500 on my 1080i HD DVD player. I only bought 3 HD DVDs. Really there aren't any HD DVD exclusives that I HAD to have and I am not going to buy any HD DVDs because they are super cheap right now because they aren't movies that I want to buy.

[jw]

This belongs here
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=45067