Hypothetical Situation

[Firestreak]

He's my thoughts on the matter. The PS3 is so much of the high def market, that technically, there are more PS3s out in the wild than all the other players combined. The PS3 is going to be around for years as a gaming machine, regardless of what happens in the format war.

So how would HD DVD ever become mainstream? Even when standalone players start to become cheaper and surpass the PS3, it'll still be a huge factor. Even if all the HD DVD fanboy's insane dreams came true, the PS3 is still there, keeping Blu-ray alive. I mean, what are their dreams?

TL51 being backwards compatable with all players, Disney going neutral. Fox for some random reason deciding to go neutral as well, I guess billion dollar Ms payoff? Warner going HD DVD exclusive. Cheap $200 HD DVD 1080P players from China? All this could happen, and the PS3 would still exist, and it would still have a big enough share of the market to never allow HD DVD to become mainstream.

[mystiksuicide]

There are so many great points and the PS3 is just one of those great points. Oh wait thats not true PS3 owners are not even aware that there is a blu-ray player inside they're strictly gaming machine

[jurassic_pork]

Hey the PS3 is the entire reason why I joined the format war and went with Blu-Ray so I totally agree with you. It's a gigantic item of the Sony masterplan. Just think about it playing devil's advocate only imagine how the HD-DUD side would be doing if every XBOX sold out there had a built in HD-DUD player? They might still be lagging behind blu-ray but I really think they would have a much larger presence. Basically the same effect the PS3 has had on blu-ray.

[181]

if those things happen, you are right, the PS3 would still exist. Maybe then the Blu-ray format becomes the medium of choice for storage and HD DVD becomes the medium of choice for video. but that leaves you wondering why studios would go with an inferior format when a better format exists. if you took away bribes, i think 2008 will see a massive surge in Blu-ray.

[mystiksuicide]

Originally Posted by 181

if those things happen, you are right, the PS3 would still exist. Maybe then the Blu-ray format becomes the medium of choice for storage and HD DVD becomes the medium of choice for video. but that leaves you wondering why studios would go with an inferior format when a better format exists. if you took away bribes, i think 2008 will see a massive surge in Blu-ray.

They surge has already begun. I can't wait to see how sales of Blu-Stand alone players did during the holidays. The final 2 weeks saw 187 Blu-Ray players sold versus 11 hd dvd's. I am aware the store is very blu in they're preference but still those numbers are huge.

[krispyjala]

Originally Posted by Firestreak

He's my thoughts on the matter. The PS3 is so much of the high def market, that technically, there are more PS3s out in the wild than all the other players combined. The PS3 is going to be around for years as a gaming machine, regardless of what happens in the format war.

So how would HD DVD ever become mainstream? Even when standalone players start to become cheaper and surpass the PS3, it'll still be a huge factor. Even if all the HD DVD fanboy's insane dreams came true, the PS3 is still there, keeping Blu-ray alive. I mean, what are their dreams?

TL51 being backwards compatable with all players, Disney going neutral. Fox for some random reason deciding to go neutral as well, I guess billion dollar Ms payoff? Warner going HD DVD exclusive. Cheap $200 HD DVD 1080P players from China? All this could happen, and the PS3 would still exist, and it would still have a big enough share of the market to never allow HD DVD to become mainstream.

I totally agree with you. I think Sony putting the blu ray player inside the PS3 was an ingenious plan to boost the format viability. 8 million PS3's worldwide, and the red ants think people will just let dust collect? Sooner or later, a PS3 owner will realize (if not from the onset) that their console can play blu ray. And then of course they will buy blu ray movies to go with it. Simple logic. So let's just see what happens this year, but like you said, somehow I doubt blu will go away any time soon

[Oblivion]

You make some good pointers Firestreak;

Originally Posted by Firestreak

So how would HD DVD ever become mainstream? Even when standalone players start to become cheaper and surpass the PS3, it'll still be a huge factor. Even if all the HD DVD fanboy's insane dreams came true, the PS3 is still there, keeping Blu-ray alive. I mean, what are their dreams?

I am a big Blu supporter, always have been always will. I think it has the best specs. But I no longer subscribe to the opinion that it will win the format war. We've had a year of war now and Blu has been unable to stamp out the HD factor, indeed they're stronger now. So how do I think things will go?

1) Majority of Blu-ray CE companies will go dual. Already seen Samsung and LG do it plus Acer and HP.

2) Seeing 1 will persaude DVD producers that they can go down the cheaper conversion of their plants to HD DVD thus making it alot cheaper for studios to use HD DVD.

3) BD+ continues to be hacked making the extra DRM of Blu worthless

Net effect then HD DVD becomes mainstream within a dual environment. Thankfully, as you say Firestreak, Blu will survive thanks to the PS3. But I fear it will become the PS3s UMD in that it will be used and supported, but never as the dominant DVD replacement we all want.

Let hope I'm wrong!