CNET vs HD-DVD cheerleaders

[Petra]

LOL, this is funny....

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-...ml?tag=bubbl_1

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column making seven tech predictions for 2007 and, as predicted, a couple of the more "controversial" picks elicited some strong emotions from readers. Most notably, my prediction that "HD DVD would surrender by September" really got the flamethrowers out in force, and even set off a nice discussion over on AVS Forum , which appears to be home to many an HD DVD cheerleader. Among the hurled insults, I was accused of being a moron, a Sony shill, a Sony lover, and of harboring a bias against Toshiba and HD DVD. A few folks even accused the whole of CNET of being biased toward Blu-ray.

Well, for starters, let me say thanks for taking the time to read and respond to the drivel I write. Now if you don't mind, I thought I'd give a little space to responding to some of the allegations and to flesh out my argument that HD DVD will indeed be forced to bow out before too long.

1. David Carnoy is a moron.
This one's hard to defend. Either you think I'm a moron or you don't. But I will say that I have better hygiene than most tech journalists, so--at worst--I'm a clean moron.

2. David Carnoy is a shill for Sony, as well as a Sony fanboy.
If you've read this column long enough, you should know that I'm an equal-opportunity critic. I've written 10 Things I hate about the Xbox 360, 10 Things I hate About the PSP, 10 Ways HD DVD falls short, the more-cerebral HD DVD's Xbox 360 strategy, and a column pretty much eviscerating the Sony Mylo.

It's also important to note that in predicting that HD DVD would have to surrender, I didn't go waxing poetic about how Blu-ray technology is so much better than HD DVD, because it's more of a wash. I talked mainly about how there would simply be more Blu-ray players on the market due to the fact that Sony will sell five times the number of PS3s that Toshiba (and its partners) will sell of HD DVD players--and that includes the rumored $200 Chinese-made HD DVD players that may or may not make it to market sometime this year.

Some of you have suggested that folks aren't buying the PS3 to use as a Blu-ray player. I must humbly disagree. The fact is, right now, with the dearth of good PS3 gaming titles, there's not a whole lot else to use the PS3 for. The PS3, as others mentioned, is a Trojan horse. If you get one, you're going to buy--or certainly rent--a few Blu-ray movies. And once you see a movie from an HD disc--Blu-ray or HD DVD--on a big-screen HDTV, you're going to want to see more. That's especially true of the really stellar-looking movies, the ones that the folks over on AVS Forum call "Tier Zero" discs. And another thing: A lot of home-theater buffs consider HD DVD the superior format from a picture-quality standpoint, but if you've seen Crank on Blu-ray, that argument becomes a lot harder to buy.

3. David Carnoy has a bias against Toshiba.
OK, here's where things get a little more interesting. I'm not biased against Toshiba. But you should know that the company makes it as hard as possible for CNET to review its products. Most major manufacturers send CNET review samples--products on loan for a couple of weeks--so we can do our reviews. Most manufacturers, that is, except Toshiba. Toshiba refuses to send us review samples of any electronics products because some of the merchants listed on CNET are "unauthorized" resellers of Toshiba products. Toshiba executives in Japan don't like this and told the PR folks in the U.S. to not send us anything. (Interestingly, Toshiba does send CNET review samples from its computer division because, well, it's a completely separate division with a much more enlightened view of unauthorized resellers--and online retailing.) However, the Toshiba PR folks in the U.S., realizing CNET has a slight bit of sway in the electronics buying-advice arena, are cordial enough to send us some press information and invite us to various press events.

As a result, the few Toshiba products we do review here at CNET have to be purchased--a contingency for which we have no real budget. For instance, I personally bought the Toshiba HD-A1 at Best Buy and then returned it within 30 days. We'd like to do the same with the follow-up HD-A2, HD-XA2, or HD-A20 models as well. Until we do, you'll notice the older Toshiba still rates higher than first-gen Blu-ray models from Philips, Panasonic, and Samsung. If we're biased against Toshiba, giving their product a higher rating is a pretty funny way to show it.

4. CNET as a whole is biased toward Blu-ray.
Editorially speaking, we've been very clear in our recommendation to readers: we don't think you should rush out and buy either format. Yeah, you say, what about those Blu-ray ads we see all over the site? Come on, bub, your ad sales folks are telling you to shill for Sony, aren't they?

Well, you may not have noticed, but Toshiba has also had its HD DVD campaign running on CNET. (Why a company would want to run ads on our network but not want to have its products reviewed is a bit of mystery, but so are a lot of other things in life.) The long and short of it is that ad sales teams all over the publishing world just love a good format war and would like to see this one go on indefinitely.

TalkBack
Is Blu-ray surging ahead of HD DVD? Or is Carnoy a biased hack?
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5. David Carnoy is making up the numbers when it comes to Blu-ray and HD DVD.
Look, I read the Internet just like everyone else. I pick up some numbers. Do I just pluck numbers to fit my argument? No, I usually start with the numbers and then try to build an argument around it. Am I perfect? No, not by a long shot.

That said, here are couple of sites that give you an idea of how Blu-ray and HD DVD software sales are tracking: DVD Empire and HDGamedb. I got them from a post on AVS Forum. For the record, the post was probably made by a Blu-ray supporter, but the sites themselves purport to back neither format.

More recently, Nielsen VideoScan has released figures that show the scales are tipping to Blu-ray's side as well. Whether or not this bears out to a full-blown trend remains to be seen. But in the meantime, it's more third-party confirmation of my argument.

6. David Carnoy bought a PS3 and just wants to protect his investment.
I actually own a PlayStation 3, as well an Xbox 360--with the HD DVD drive, by the way. I'd buy a Wii if I could get my hands on one.

7. David Carnoy hates Microsoft, the other major supporter of HD DVD.
Last I checked, I didn't have any reason to hate Microsoft--or Apple, for that matter. I own two Macs and three Windows PCs, and they're all in good working order. Generally, I don't get all warm and fuzzy about large, multinational electronics corporations. They do some smart stuff, some stupid stuff, and sometimes pull off a real bonehead maneuver. The latter is especially good for traffic.

8. David Carnoy is a James Bond fan and thereby a Blu-ray fan by default.
Yeah, sure, I like Bond. So do a lot of other people--it's the most successful film series of all time. But here's the more important fact. When Casino Royale comes out on March 13, it's coming out only on Blu-ray, and it's instantly going to be the No. 1 next-gen DVD out there, by a long shot. Sony, because it owns its own studios, also has a lot of movies--including the rest of the Bond collection) that will never come out on HD DVD. True, HD DVD has Universal, but the sum total of potential Blu-ray exclusive titles is substantially greater.

In closing, watch the sales of The Departed, which comes out on February 13 on both HD DVD and Blu-ray. Both versions should do pretty well, but just how well each does should be a good indicator as to which format is headed to victory.