Do you think the "War" would've lasted longer if there was no internet?

[Nerdkiller likes BD]

I mean think about it, most of the info we got about the format was from the internet, and if that was taken away, we would've waited about a month for any magazines that talked about the war. Remember Beta vs VHS? That war lasted 12 years and yet the BD vs HD DVD war lasted almost 2. What do you think?

[Kuraudo]

I think you pretty much summed up your own question

On the Format war, people nowadays were able to get feeds on articles several times a day, and also post questions & arguments.

Without the internet one would wait for a newspaper or magazine to come out to read up on it and obviously thats a lot slower than reading it off a blog like engadget.

The internet speeds up everything, not just a format war.
I talk to people online all far away. Snail mail would develop our relationships much slower. MSN/Yahoo/AIM killed the penpal.

[Blu-Jawa]

It's kinda strange to think there was no net. (for me 1985 Before Photos and Audio took over the internet) it was pretty dull unless you liked Text and Pages of Links to more Text. (WWW born around May 17th 1991 and Video showing up at about the time High Speed was Starting up).

but yea I agree. back in the Beta vs. VHS days it was slow going unless you had "CB Radio Friends to chat about Video Stuff with"

[Marcusarilius]

AS the net is a form of communication and real time info sharing, I think it absolutely helped to end the war faster.

[cajmoyper]

I don't like these kind of questions. It's a moot point.

[WickyWoo]

I don't think there would have been a war, since the majority of HD DVD's advertising was manipulating the internet

[whippersnapper]

Originally Posted by cajmoyper

I don't like these kind of questions. It's a moot point.

I don't think that it's a moot point. The existence of the internet and its free flow of information helped settle things quicker than would have otherwise been possible. I also firmly believe that the absence of the internet would have allowed the technically inferior format to prevail. Only God knows why, but many of the mainstream magazines, newspapers and video sources were certainly favoring HD-DVD and clearly slanting their coverage that way.

With the internet, these mainstream sources of information were no longer monopolies on information. The internet allowed us to exchange information, identify and discredit FUD, and put out the truth about Blu-ray; both the good and the (not yet) good of the format. It also has helped the consumer by spreading the word and rewarding those retailers who were competing on price.

So, LONG LIVE THE INTERNET AND FREEDOM!!

[BillCable]

Originally Posted by Blu-Jawa

It's kinda strange to think there was no net.

I want to know how anybody knew what movies actors were in prior to IMDB. I use that site like 10 times a day.

One thing's for certain, shitty movies do much worse now as a result of RottenTomatoes.com. It used to be studios could fool you with trailers. Cut a good trailer, don't have any review showings, and you'll get good business the first weekend. But now everyone can find out what movies are terrible long before going to the theater. Hopefully this will eventually lead to better quality films, but I haven't seen any evidence of that yet.

[Blu Titan]

Good question, I know this much the FUD assciated with this format war was incredible. I believe the war would have ended quicker without the influence of the Internet, and there would not be as much ill will. I have learned to move on from the HD DVd conflict, but others prefer to dwell on the past.

[blu-rayfan101]

Originally Posted by BlueNeon

Good question, I know this much the FUD assciated with this format war was incredible. I believe the war would have ended quicker without the influence of the Internet, and there would not be as much ill will. I have learned to move on from the HD DVd conflict, but others prefer to dwell on the past.

Ohh why did beta have to lose?

[Marquoz]

I think the internet might have clouded the issue. For every single piece of truthful reporting, you get 5 pieces of just garbage. It's been that way since day one of the internet, you have somebody wanting to impose their reality on any conversation. I had an interesting proof of this shown to me on wikipedia, a year or so ago my friend posted something absolutely false on wikipedia, but it sounded vaguely truthful. It's since stayed, and has been used by other news articles using wikipedia as a source.

The internet is not exactly the best source of information unless you can double check and verify for factuality.

[jw]

internet just prolonged it and allowed "our" opinions to be heard

[danay82]

But......but......BUT without the internet you couldn't get those cool Web Features of HD-DVD had to offer.


So really the format wouldn't of been what it was today.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

I don't think there would have been a war, since the majority of HD DVD's advertising was manipulating the internet

I agree.

HD DVD used a gorilla war on the Internet. This is why they looked stronger then they really were.

The BDA was ill-prepared to deal with the flood of deception that was peddled against Blu-ray by "analysts" (paid spin doctors), "journalists" (paid bloggers) and an obsessive posting executive VP of the corporation with the biggest vested interest against Blu-ray succeeding.

You notice the BDA never lowered themselves to the HD DVD tactics. They allowed a insiders to come on places like this and give the true word.

Let's count the HD DVD insiders:

Chip makers: ~1 (Whatever happened to Tom?)
Hardware makers: 0
Studios: 0
Others (outside Microsoft): 0

HD DVD were never interested in providing the truth. That was distinctly what they could not allowed to be discussed.

Gary

[BillCable]

If HD DVD didn't have the Internet, they would have exploited other media, where there wouldn't have been an immediate response. Their lies couldn't be debunked for days or weeks. By the time the truth did get out, many people would already have acted upon the bad info. It would have been much more drawn out and messy.

[Canada]

Definatly most of the info I got on the format war was writing on the internet.

[Whytewash]

I think the war would have been longer. Plain and simple. Internet has allowed us to gather information faster than ever and if the internet wasnt there to speed the process along, I think that the war would have taken a much longer time to become resolved

[Simplayer]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

gorilla war

Weh?

Sorry to be the spelling Nazi, but it's guerrilla.

[danay82]

Originally Posted by Simplayer

Weh?

Sorry to be the spelling Nazi, but it's guerrilla.

Now if you wanna see Nazi....then check out this video for it was nicely made

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywWfmRdOmJ0

[Deciazulado]

I think the real question would be for how long the "war" would still be going on if this site hadn't been around