Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[SavagePotato]

Originally Posted by sahoward

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.

Criterion dazed and confused you say, where can I find this now? The canadian release of dazed and confused that I have is terrible.

Ah seems I've found it, Criterion is news to me, but it looks like we get hosed in Canada as usual, the amazon.com version is $27 us, the amazon.ca version, $47 cad.

[mdm1699]

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 echo those sentiments 100%, from first word to last.

[HD DX]

I own both formats and I dont miss any HD movies.

Brand loyalty can kiss my HD ass. I am a movie fan.

[mdm1699]

Originally Posted by HD DX

I own both formats and I dont miss any HD movies.

Brand loyalty can kiss my HD ass. I am a movie fan.

Go tell that to the HD-DVDers over at AVS.

[akadkins]

So HD-DVD is going to be selling $98 players at Wal-Mart come Black Friday. While it will improve stand-alone player sells (as will $198 players), it won't help the desired endstate of winning the format war.

People who buy cheap players are Wal-Mart are NOT your desired audience for buying next-gen products. They are NOT going to spend $30 a movie when they can either rent or buy a cheaper DVD.

I propose that people that can affort better Hi-Def players (Blu-Ray or PS3), are the type that will buy more movies. This is why Blu-Ray has, and will, continue to out-sell the competition.

Now, if HD-DVD dropped movie prices to match DVD's, then you have a real war. Lower prices for movies are what helped spur DVDs to where they are today. Eventually the product pricing will get there for both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray - its just a matter of which one decides to move first.

We see this every time there is a huge Blu-Ray sell price - that's why they sell more copies than a new Transformers HD-DVD.

[HD DX]

Originally Posted by mdm1699

Go tell that to the HD-DVDers over at AVS.

I do.

[EricJ]

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!

Same here, except that loyalty was only even imaginably swayed by "Willy Wonka", "Excalibur" and "Robin Hood", and duh...they're all Warner!

....Patience will out.

[HDTV1080P]

Theoretically what could happen with the HD-DVD player prices this Christmas


If the HD-DVD camp were to get desperate enough then they could offer a free Toshiba HD-DVD player or free Microsoft X-Box add on system with the purchase of 5 HD-DVD movies.
Most the people purchasing the current under $100 HD-DVD players are just going to use the players with standard DVD’s. Now if you offer the players for free with the purchase of 5 HD-DVD movies then you increase the amount of total movies sold.

[Bluray_ne1]

Originally Posted by akadkins

So HD-DVD is going to be selling $98 players at Wal-Mart come Black Friday. While it will improve stand-alone player sells (as will $198 players), it won't help the desired endstate of winning the format war.

People who buy cheap players are Wal-Mart are NOT your desired audience for buying next-gen products. They are NOT going to spend $30 a movie when they can either rent or buy a cheaper DVD.

I propose that people that can affort better Hi-Def players (Blu-Ray or PS3), are the type that will buy more movies. This is why Blu-Ray has, and will, continue to out-sell the competition.

Now, if HD-DVD dropped movie prices to match DVD's, then you have a real war. Lower prices for movies are what helped spur DVDs to where they are today. Eventually the product pricing will get there for both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray - its just a matter of which one decides to move first.

We see this every time there is a huge Blu-Ray sell price - that's why they sell more copies than a new Transformers HD-DVD.

Well put. I agree. I suspect if the price slash of the players proves insufficient to propell them forward, the slash of disc prices will be the last ditch effort to stay afloat. They couldn't give away the shop all at one time.

[0tim0]

Originally Posted by akadkins

People who buy cheap players are Wal-Mart are NOT your desired audience for buying next-gen products. They are NOT going to spend $30 a movie when they can either rent or buy a cheaper DVD.

What about people that have a Hi-Def TV and already own a Blu-Ray player -- like me? I prefer Blu-Ray -- it can hold more "bits". But some titles are only available on HD-DVD. For $100, why not grab an HD-DVD player so I can get those titles too?

--t

[Grisle]

I don't agree that people who buy this player won't buy $30 movies. First of all not all of their movies are $30 just like all of our movies are not $30. You can get them anywhere from $15 on up and sometimes there are good sales. New release DVDs are expensive sometimes too...look at Transformers. The 2 disc Special Edition DVD was $22.99 while the HD-DVD was $27.99 at CC. Everyone keeps writing off the people who will purchase this player kind of like how everyone used to write off PS3 owners. There is no telling how much software this latest hardware price reduction will move, but a lot of people who were on the fence just hopped in for $100. I just don't think we can generalize "People who buy cheap players" there are too many variables.

[BTBuck1]

with whats happened lately, i suppose anything can happen.

who woulda thought:

1) Paramount would go HDDVD

2) HDDVD would go to $198

3) HDDVD would go to $98

and all the madness of up to 9 free movies. Free $100 box sets etc.

[blu2]

Originally Posted by Grisle

I just don't think we can generalize "People who buy cheap players" there are too many variables.

Exactly. The news of these sales were all over the various HD sites and deal sites. People shop will shop at whatever store has a perceived bargain.

[JTK]

It's literally the last step they can follow on this obvious process: Give it all away and just be done with it.

[SamInNorthCakalakey]

As far as I know Toshiba cannot control actual Disc prices. The studios control that and since most that produce HD DUD's also produce Blu's, they likely won't just lower HD DUD without lowering Blu's as well. Why should they? They don't get anything more if they sell more DUD's than Blu-rays. So if both get lowered then nothing changes.

[gand41f]

Originally Posted by JTK

It's literally the last step they can follow on this obvious process: Give it all away and just be done with it.

That's the last step? I can think of one more, how about they pay me to take them.

enjoy
gandalf

[jorg]

Originally Posted by 0tim0

What about people that have a Hi-Def TV and already own a Blu-Ray player -- like me? I prefer Blu-Ray -- it can hold more "bits". But some titles are only available on HD-DVD. For $100, why not grab an HD-DVD player so I can get those titles too?

--t

but how many of u are there? the point of the sale is to get new pople into hd and keep them in the hd dvd side not to get pople to go dule format(what mircosoft wants)

[slickkeng]

Man, it seems like every 5 minutes theres a new thread about the HD-DVD players. Its not meant to do much guys, its out of print and most likely those that picked it up are enthusiast whether blu or HD-DVD and not J6P. It basically sold out instantly and guess why that is? Its the people that visit bargain forums which guess what are enthusiast. Most likely they are the ones that already own and HD-DVD player but want a second one as a gift or for a second room or whatever. Or they are blu owners that have a itch for Transformers (which will be released on blu anyway if they had the patience). Then there are the shoppers that have not gone hi-def yet and found these deals to be irresistable. Anyway, my whole point here is that it will have very little impact in the end. PS3 sales this holiday season can easily offset the number of cheap HD-DVD players being sold. At its worst, we'll still that 2:1 ratio still and at its best we'll probably see an increase in that ratio. We just need to maintain the 2:1 ratio to swing Warner's over and this so-called war is over. How anyone sees this move as other than desparate is beyond me. If you look at the trends you can easily see that they are at their last breath and we can easily seal their fate and nail em. It disturbs me that some people can be so feeble and buy into a lesser product even blu supporters that cant wait a little bit to get their Transformers fix. But its ok, I have no problem with Blu supporters buying this cheapo player for Transformers, its their money to lose and I'd rather have a blu supporter buy the player than a newcomer to hi-def. But seriously, at its best this is only prolong the war which is starting to get to me because this needs to asap so that prices on media can drop and we get all the releases. Anyone thinking that two formats will be viable are sorely misonformed, there can only be one format and we as consumers vote with our dollars. If we give HD-DVD a reason to exist then its our fault for keeping the war going. People need to learn how to delay gratification, hey I wanted to pick up Transformers as much as the next guy but I know it'll be on Blu shortly and I can wait. I'd much rather see an end to this format war and endless bickering and cheap stabs from both camps. All you have to do is look at recent events that point to one conclusion, Toshiba is giving it one final push to see if they can stay alive in this market and they are pulling everything they've got this 4th quarter. They saw how Transformers failed to generate a win for them, they know Warner's wants to end the war, they are basically paying studios to support them, they are the only manufacturer of HD-DVD because no other CE is willing to to jump in because it simply isn't profitable, so I ask everybody how does this not stink of desparation? Does anyone honestly believe that they can be a viable format gioven all of these circumstances? Practically the entirew industry including PC are behind blu-ray and people are worried? I'm sure we'll see some good deals for blu during black friday, and the lowered PS3 will move units as there are alot of good games available now, packaged with spidey 3 (which is a great marketing strategy btw) that lets owners know that it plays blu-ray movies. So, everyone needs to calm down and keep buying blu as they would normally and things will be kosher.

[PrinceLH]

Originally Posted by slickkeng

Man, it seems like every 5 minutes theres a new thread about the HD-DVD players. Its not meant to do much guys, its out of print and most likely those that picked it up are enthusiast whether blu or HD-DVD and not J6P. It basically sold out instantly and guess why that is? Its the people that visit bargain forums which guess what are enthusiast. Most likely they are the ones that already own and HD-DVD player but want a second one as a gift or for a second room or whatever. Or they are blu owners that have a itch for Transformers (which will be released on blu anyway if they had the patience). Then there are the shoppers that have not gone hi-def yet and found these deals to be irresistable. Anyway, my whole point here is that it will have very little impact in the end. PS3 sales this holiday season can easily offset the number of cheap HD-DVD players being sold. At its worst, we'll still that 2:1 ratio still and at its best we'll probably see an increase in that ratio. We just need to maintain the 2:1 ratio to swing Warner's over and this so-called war is over. How anyone sees this move as other than desparate is beyond me. If you look at the trends you can easily see that they are at their last breath and we can easily seal their fate and nail em. It disturbs me that some people can be so feeble and buy into a lesser product even blu supporters that cant wait a little bit to get their Transformers fix. But its ok, I have no problem with Blu supporters buying this cheapo player for Transformers, its their money to lose and I'd rather have a blu supporter buy the player than a newcomer to hi-def. But seriously, at its best this is only prolong the war which is starting to get to me because this needs to asap so that prices on media can drop and we get all the releases. Anyone thinking that two formats will be viable are sorely misonformed, there can only be one format and we as consumers vote with our dollars. If we give HD-DVD a reason to exist then its our fault for keeping the war going. People need to learn how to delay gratification, hey I wanted to pick up Transformers as much as the next guy but I know it'll be on Blu shortly and I can wait. I'd much rather see an end to this format war and endless bickering and cheap stabs from both camps. All you have to do is look at recent events that point to one conclusion, Toshiba is giving it one final push to see if they can stay alive in this market and they are pulling everything they've got this 4th quarter. They saw how Transformers failed to generate a win for them, they know Warner's wants to end the war, they are basically paying studios to support them, they are the only manufacturer of HD-DVD because no other CE is willing to to jump in because it simply isn't profitable, so I ask everybody how does this not stink of desparation? Does anyone honestly believe that they can be a viable format gioven all of these circumstances? Practically the entirew industry including PC are behind blu-ray and people are worried? I'm sure we'll see some good deals for blu during black friday, and the lowered PS3 will move units as there are alot of good games available now, packaged with spidey 3 (which is a great marketing strategy btw) that lets owners know that it plays blu-ray movies. So, everyone needs to calm down and keep buying blu as they would normally and things will be kosher.

100%!

[KidOmega123]

Originally Posted by slickkeng

Man, it seems like every 5 minutes theres a new thread about the HD-DVD players. Its not meant to do much guys, its out of print and most likely those that picked it up are enthusiast whether blu or HD-DVD and not J6P. It basically sold out instantly and guess why that is? Its the people that visit bargain forums which guess what are enthusiast. Most likely they are the ones that already own and HD-DVD player but want a second one as a gift or for a second room or whatever. Or they are blu owners that have a itch for Transformers (which will be released on blu anyway if they had the patience). Then there are the shoppers that have not gone hi-def yet and found these deals to be irresistable. Anyway, my whole point here is that it will have very little impact in the end. PS3 sales this holiday season can easily offset the number of cheap HD-DVD players being sold. At its worst, we'll still that 2:1 ratio still and at its best we'll probably see an increase in that ratio. We just need to maintain the 2:1 ratio to swing Warner's over and this so-called war is over. How anyone sees this move as other than desparate is beyond me. If you look at the trends you can easily see that they are at their last breath and we can easily seal their fate and nail em. It disturbs me that some people can be so feeble and buy into a lesser product even blu supporters that cant wait a little bit to get their Transformers fix. But its ok, I have no problem with Blu supporters buying this cheapo player for Transformers, its their money to lose and I'd rather have a blu supporter buy the player than a newcomer to hi-def. But seriously, at its best this is only prolong the war which is starting to get to me because this needs to asap so that prices on media can drop and we get all the releases. Anyone thinking that two formats will be viable are sorely misonformed, there can only be one format and we as consumers vote with our dollars. If we give HD-DVD a reason to exist then its our fault for keeping the war going. People need to learn how to delay gratification, hey I wanted to pick up Transformers as much as the next guy but I know it'll be on Blu shortly and I can wait. I'd much rather see an end to this format war and endless bickering and cheap stabs from both camps. All you have to do is look at recent events that point to one conclusion, Toshiba is giving it one final push to see if they can stay alive in this market and they are pulling everything they've got this 4th quarter. They saw how Transformers failed to generate a win for them, they know Warner's wants to end the war, they are basically paying studios to support them, they are the only manufacturer of HD-DVD because no other CE is willing to to jump in because it simply isn't profitable, so I ask everybody how does this not stink of desparation? Does anyone honestly believe that they can be a viable format gioven all of these circumstances? Practically the entirew industry including PC are behind blu-ray and people are worried? I'm sure we'll see some good deals for blu during black friday, and the lowered PS3 will move units as there are alot of good games available now, packaged with spidey 3 (which is a great marketing strategy btw) that lets owners know that it plays blu-ray movies. So, everyone needs to calm down and keep buying blu as they would normally and things will be kosher.

Amen!