Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[Blu-Light]

Originally Posted by xtop

i love how everyone thinks they shouldn't be worried. 250k of those players available. even if half of those players sold, sold 1 hd dvd thats 125k...on top of the thousands they're already going to sell without the sale.

sorry blu fans..this may be a temporary spike here, but if warner sees this and goes hd exclusive, game over.

There is no game over if WB goes DUD exclusive. It only means that the war will drag on for longer. DUD will never have Disney, Fox and Sony. DUD is a loss leader and many companies want nothing to do with them now.

[Deciazulado]

As one of our genius secret agent insiders wisely put:

Originally Posted by jorg

a bomb for hd dvd if they go blu if they go red then they just split hollywood in half

[bazie]

I guess this needs an update with the 55:45 week we just had where transformers and heroes (think player sales!!!!) took away our happy 2:1 lead.

[welwynnick]

Notice a worrying trend, though, that HDDVD has turned the "since inception" share.

It's only 61 to 60%, but Blu-ray's share is now going down!

Nick

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by welwynnick

Notice a worrying trend, though, that HDDVD has turned the "since inception" share.

It's only 61 to 60%, but Blu-ray's share is now going down!

Nick

I wouldn't worry too much. There were a few weeks in the 50's and with Transformers it was bound to happen. Look back to those weeks, there weren't many major day and date releases on Blu-Ray and they still took the weeks. Now look ahead through the first of the year. If I were an HD DVD owner I might be concerned. The only way they can generate interest in their format is to give players away at flea market prices.

HD had their price war and no one joined up, now they are in the fire sale phase. Next comes the "We need to find a parking lot to bury these things under" phase.

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by welwynnick

Notice a worrying trend, though, that HDDVD has turned the "since inception" share.

It's only 61 to 60%, but Blu-ray's share is now going down!

Nick

With Spiderman last week, followed up with the Pixar stuff this week...the since inception number will at least go right back to where they were before Transformers was released.

I think I underestimated how well Ratatouille is going to sell...

[sahoward]

In a moment of weakness, I was at Best Buy with an A3 in my cart and Children of Men, Batman Begins and Hot Fuzz picked out for my 3 free movies. But then I realized, wait a minute: I'm not buying this for the few HD DVD exclusives I can't have on Blu, these are the ONLY HD DVD exclusives I want that I can't have on Blu!

I've been wavering ever since the Paramount exclusivity deal, not because of Transformers and Shrek but because of Zodiac. I was so excited about the world of HD, that a fantastic movie was shot in HD and would be transferred directly to an HD disc. But honestly, I would be buying an entirely new player for literally 5 movies and that seems silly at this point.

I still may cave if this isn't decided by January or February, and even then I'll only be buying the handful of Universal and Paramount titles that I give a damn about, but at this point I'm still firmly in the Blu only camp.

[ottscay]

Way to stay strong. As someone who has an A1 (from long ago) and about a dozen movies (all from 2006) I can say it's really not worth the money, let alone any prolongment of the war.

[clyon]

Originally Posted by sahoward

.
I still may cave if this isn't decided by January or February, and even then I'll only be buying the handful of Universal and Paramount titles that I give a damn about, but at this point I'm still firmly in the Blu only camp.

Jan, Feb 2008? Try Jan. 2009 is more when we are really going know if this will be a short war or a long drawn out war (3-4years).

[radagast]

Originally Posted by sahoward

In a moment of weakness, I was at Best Buy with an A3 in my cart and Children of Men, Batman Begins and Hot Fuzz picked out for my 3 free movies. But then I realized, wait a minute: I'm not buying this for the few HD DVD exclusives I can't have on Blu, these are the ONLY HD DVD exclusives I want that I can't have on Blu!

I've been wavering ever since the Paramount exclusivity deal, not because of Transformers and Shrek but because of Zodiac. I was so excited about the world of HD, that a fantastic movie was shot in HD and would be transferred directly to an HD disc. But honestly, I would be buying an entirely new player for literally 5 movies and that seems silly at this point.

I still may cave if this isn't decided by January or February, and even then I'll only be buying the handful of Universal and Paramount titles that I give a damn about, but at this point I'm still firmly in the Blu only camp.

I would have thought that if anyone was going to be tempted, it would have been for the A2 that was under $100.00. I can't imagine being tempted to buy a more expensive dud player.

[HDTV1080P]

So far I am only 100% BLU-RAY and own no HD-DVD players or movies. In fact I have no plans to purchase any dedicated HD-DVD player. One day I will either upgrade all my DVD players with either BLU-RAY players or dual format combo players. The only reason I would upgrade all my DVD players with combo players is if Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures decides to remain exclusive to HD-DVD. So far I have been good and have not upgraded all my DVD players yet with combos. In fact if combos were not an option I might have already upgraded all my DVD players with BLU-RAY players.
There is no way I and the average consumer is going to purchase both a BLU-RAY and HD-DVD player for every room in the house. The only real solution is for everyone to purchase only one HD player for every DVD player they replace.

I wish the format war would end with BLU-RAY winning instead of the lower quality HD-DVD format coexisting.

Also purchasing two separate 1080P players costs around $700. I would rather own one machine that played both formats for $800-$900.

[Gio]

Originally Posted by sahoward

In a moment of weakness, I was at Best Buy with an A3 in my cart and Children of Men, Batman Begins and Hot Fuzz picked out for my 3 free movies. But then I realized, wait a minute: I'm not buying this for the few HD DVD exclusives I can't have on Blu, these are the ONLY HD DVD exclusives I want that I can't have on Blu!

I've been wavering ever since the Paramount exclusivity deal, not because of Transformers and Shrek but because of Zodiac. I was so excited about the world of HD, that a fantastic movie was shot in HD and would be transferred directly to an HD disc. But honestly, I would be buying an entirely new player for literally 5 movies and that seems silly at this point.

I still may cave if this isn't decided by January or February, and even then I'll only be buying the handful of Universal and Paramount titles that I give a damn about, but at this point I'm still firmly in the Blu only camp.

hold out theres a handful of titles i want too, the waner exclusives are starting to get released on blu ray like T3, im sure the rest will be coming too, as for the paramount, ive been importing and it seems to be working fine so far. try out http://bluray.liesinc.net/

[sahoward]

Originally Posted by clyon

Jan, Feb 2008? Try Jan. 2009 is more when we are really going know if this will be a short war or a long drawn out war (3-4years).

Let me rephrase: if Blu is still pulling 65-70% of sales in January and February, the war will be decided in my mind.

[atomik kinder]

I bought my HD DVD player in November last year. I have exactly two movies. (the free ones that I got through the mail, I sold on ebay, since they were crap anyway) I got my BD player in December and have nearly 50. Thinking back, I don't think I would have spent the $500 on something that I feel I don't need at this point. Maybe something will show up that I will buy on HD DVD eventually, there just isn't anything I want. Even if The Matrix was on BD, I wouldn't buy it. Don't really care for Batman Begins. Shrek the 3rd sucked. I know people are mad about the Bourne movies, but I never liked them. Sorry, but HD DVD doesn't have much to offer me that I really want to see.

[atomik kinder]

Originally Posted by radagast

I would have thought that if anyone was going to be tempted, it would have been for the A2 that was under $100.00. I can't imagine being tempted to buy a more expensive dud player.

I think those are all gone.

[SavagePotato]

Transformers upconverts very well, Watched the regular DVD version and it was completely satisfactory. Certainly plenty satisfactory over spending even $100 on a blow out cheap poor quality player. It isn't what I consider a must buy movie though anyway. That may be a different story for others. A rental was good enough for me.

Probably the only thing I realy would lament about not having on blu ray is maybe pitch black, oh and dazed and confused would be nice too. But then I Think both of those are universal.

Dazed and confused is the big disapointment for me, cause the dvd is 16x9 cropped letterbox with a very very poor picture, unwatchably so. Again though not enough of a disapointment to support HD-DVD.

[sahoward]

Originally Posted by Gio

hold out theres a handful of titles i want too, the waner exclusives are starting to get released on blu ray like T3, im sure the rest will be coming too, as for the paramount, ive been importing and it seems to be working fine so far. try out http://bluray.liesinc.net/

I don't think Zodiac's coming out on Blu anywhere though. It was supposed to come out in Denmark but it was cancelled, and even then I doubt it'll be the director's cut, which is what the HD DVD will be.

Importing though was one of the reasons I was going to buy the player though. An import of Children of Men would run me like $40, and by the time you figure in the 10 free movies that come with the A3 you've got a free player.

[talbers23]

Originally Posted by ottscay

Way to stay strong. As someone who has an A1 (from long ago) and about a dozen movies (all from 2006) I can say it's really not worth the money, let alone any prolongment of the war.

i had the a1 and sold if for 80 which doesn't seem to cheep now but it was before the a2 came out. i hated it. there was 2 movies that looked good while i had it, v for vendetta and batman begins. both warner films so ill be glad to pick them up on blu when wb puts them out. anyway, nice job not getting the a3. wait to see what warner does because if they go blu exclusive this war will end within a year.

[sahoward]

Originally Posted by SavagePotato

Transformers upconverts very well, Watched the regular DVD version and it was completely satisfactory. Certainly plenty satisfactory over spending even $100 on a blow out cheap poor quality player. It isn't what I consider a must buy movie though anyway. That may be a different story for others. A rental was good enough for me.

Probably the only thing I realy would lament about not having on blu ray is maybe pitch black, oh and dazed and confused would be nice too. But then I Think both of those are universal.

Dazed and confused is the big disapointment for me, cause the dvd is 16x9 cropped letterbox with a very very poor picture, unwatchably so. Again though not enough of a disapointment to support HD-DVD.

I wouldn't buy any HD DVDs that have a Criterion DVD counterpart on the market. The Criterion Dazed and Confused is fantastic, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas too.

[sahoward]

Originally Posted by talbers23

wait to see what warner does because if they go blu exclusive this war will end within a year.

That's one of the main reasons I decided against the A3. If Warner goes HD I'll resign myself to neutrality but if they go Blu the war is over.