OK I dont want to sound like a traitor but

[zball]

I think if blu-Ray does not have a player this christmas for around 250$ we might have a chance of losing this war. I this this Battle is Blu-Rays to win or not and i want Blu-Ray to win but If HD gets chepper things will not be good for us. What do you think???? sorry about spelling

[shadowmoon]

No it's a legitimate concern. However, I don't agree with your point of view. Sales numbers has shown BD players has outsold HD DVD since I believe either last month or the month before. Not since launch, it's just one month sales figure, but we are gaining momentum even with expensive players. We still have more studio support, better PQ and SQ, better storage capacity, and cheaper disks The player price has almost become irrelevant to this format war as consumers sees the value of their purchase and happy with the movie selection.

[MOONPHASE]

the only reason why hd-dvd players are so damn cheap is because they are made out of cheaper material then blu-ray

[Zyclone]

i would'nt be to worried i don't think the war will end soon but when it does its looking pretty blu , but im a user of both formats so im not to fussed.

if blu wins your already set with a player and a collection of HD DVD wins from the looks of it their software and hardware players will be that cheap it won't cost that much to go red if it ends that way.

[BStecke]

No matter how cheap the player, that still doesn't change the lack of top-tier titles available on HD-DVD.

[GasCat]

People are paying 2,000 dollars per wheel on the cars and you're worried about $250 for the player?

How much was that pair of shoes?
How much was it to take your family of four to the movies?
How much is it to fill up your gas tank?
How much was the last groceries you bought?
How much was that cable bill or internet bill?

Things add up fast, because the dollar isn't worth anything any longer. Sad but true.

[Lord_Stewie]

Originally Posted by zball

I think if blu-Ray does not have a player this christmas for around 250$ we might have a chance of losing this war. I this this Battle is Blu-Rays to win or not and i want Blu-Ray to win but If HD gets chepper things will not be good for us. What do you think???? sorry about spelling

I don't know how this makes you sound like a traitor. you provided a legitimate concern, and I agree with you. The cheapest HDDVD player that you could find today in the market is about 199 bucks. the cheapest BD is about 499. The consumers will look for following categories before making a purchase:
1)PRICE: a new technology at an economic price tag.

A) Yes HDDVD has an advantage in this category.
B) As a matter of fact their pathetic campaign revolves around it.

2)CONTENT: Special features, HI DEF presentation, and Quality comes along in the picture.

A) Now this could be a tricky one, all HDDVD talks about is the interactivity, and claims that it is farther superior than BD.
B) BD now has the capability of providing it, since both Fox and Disney are going to start to use it. Even Sony will be using it for the release of Resident Evil: EXTINCTION.
C) BD Discs has a 50GB memory capacity, which means it will be able to provide the ultimate entertainment experiance. Awesome PQ, and Lossless PCM track along with the picture. (IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES.)

3) STUDIO SUPPORT: Studios supporting the technology.

A) a simple mathematical equation:
SONY + FOX + DISNEY + MGM + LIONSGATE
VS.
UNIVERSAL + PARAMOUNT/DREAMWORKS
WITH
WB being a neutral studio
=
I think you get the picture, serious trouble for HDDVD.

Out of the 3 categories mentioned above BD has a 2 VS. 1 advantage against HDDVD. I don't think the price matter is a problem. Although I admit if BD lowers the prices of its players then that will seriously cause a major blow to HDDVD. IT COULD BE THE KNOCK-OUT WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR.

[koreyman]

Price is a big factor but not at this stage, pepole who are buying the hd formats are pepole I think that invest in qualty which rarely comes cheap(unless you like glorifeid dvds) now for a dvd replaceing format then yes price matters but at this stage tech factor rules all I mean thats why we all suport blu ray not cause it is blu but it is just better plain and simple

[Terjyn]

We are not in the mass adoption point of the product. Price is not of the slightest concern at this point.

[scragham]

considering the state of the economy and the impending recession, i doubt that this holiday season is going to be a good one for retailers, much less for HD optical media reaching mass adoption.

we'll see though.

[u_nick]

A low priced player will help, but these days, its not going to win or loose the war. Its certainly a factor, just not as big as it used to be. The comsumer is more informed these days. "technology" is more and more a part of our everyday lives as the years go on. the internet has now also become a proper tool for researching pluses and minuses. the comsumer is definitely more informed than they used to be, and people dont want to settle for crap.

[movies3]

im not worried about HD DVD at all i just want more ppl to know about HD then anything....our real battle is with DVD

[LynxFX]

I think this is just a false hope from the HD DVD entourage. People that will only pay $200 on a player won't pay $25-$40 on a single movie disc. People only need to purchase a single player in the beginning, but movies are a constant expense.

If any side wants to outright win, lower the cost of the media. The players are dropping in price quite nicely and BD has done it without crippling the players. Toshiba has had to remove features to get the cost down.

Besides, when I walk into a Best Buy and see a BD player at $475 and next to it the equally featured Toshiba player at $400, I don't think we are that far off.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by zball

I think if blu-Ray does not have a player this christmas for around 250$ we might have a chance of losing this war. I this this Battle is Blu-Rays to win or not and i want Blu-Ray to win but If HD gets chepper things will not be good for us. What do you think???? sorry about spelling

Zball, and others. Let's not forget one very important thing. The "perceived value" of consumers.
You have product A: "Blu-ray" which offers HD movies.
You have product B: "HD-DVD" which also offers HD movies.

People will notice that HD-DVD is half the price of blu-ray, or more. Anything more than a 50 buck difference and people will see the less expensive model as the "cheap unit" - not as the less expensive one. "Perceived value"

Now the questions start, "If it is the same thing, why does blu-ray cost twice as much?" HOPEFULLY, a knowledgeable sales person or fellow shopper steps in. One need only compare the movie selection size. "See the movie ratio? It's going to stay that way, or worse for HD-DVD."

This price war puts HD-DVD in a class by itself. For the consumer who only wants the cheapest thing - period. Only in this case, they won't have the movie selection that we do. In the end, they will have NO movie selections. In the end after that, they won't even have a working player. This stuff will be floating around yard sales and on ebay for years to come!

Worst case senario is what my more cautious friends have done - decided to wait it out some more. They don't like the cost of the player? Well, the PS3 is a better value. Afraid of buying the movies and getting stuck? No problem, your local Block Buster and Net Flix rents them. The PS3 isn't going away any time soon.

I've sold plenty on ebay where the lowest price didn't get me a single sale. Only some fancier marketing helped me sell it. In some cases after I RAISED the price! You may think that is BS because it doesn't work on you. Me neither, but my brother is half a sucker for it. So are LOTS of other people. Trust me, it works.

In short, HD-DVD could price themself out of the market simply by looking TOO CHEAP.

[Dadds]

Originally Posted by movies3

im not worried about HD DVD at all i just want more ppl to know about HD then anything....our real battle is with DVD

we cant fight the good fight with 2 companies


someone has to go

cough hd cough dvd cough

[helli3yte]

Originally Posted by GasCat

People are paying 2,000 dollars per wheel on the cars and you're worried about $250 for the player?

How much was that pair of shoes?
How much was it to take your family of four to the movies?
How much is it to fill up your gas tank?
How much was the last groceries you bought?
How much was that cable bill or internet bill?

Things add up fast, because the dollar isn't worth anything any longer. Sad but true.

it don't mean a thing if you ain't got that bling

[aristotles]

Originally Posted by zball

I think if blu-Ray does not have a player this christmas for around 250$ we might have a chance of losing this war. I this this Battle is Blu-Rays to win or not and i want Blu-Ray to win but If HD gets chepper things will not be good for us. What do you think???? sorry about spelling

Let me ask you this question. How often do you buy players? Now how often are you going to buy titles that you enjoy?

Look at the existing and widening price gap between HD DVD and Blu-ray titles. If the Blu-ray titles continue to trend down towards parity with DVD, how long do you think HD DVD will be able to survive?

I'd rather pay a bit more upfront for better quality and features (1080p, 24fps, optical pass-through, fast forward with sound) rather than getting a cheap player and having to pay through the nose for content. Add on top of that possibility of having to pay extra for online only "extras".

I've got nothing against additional content but I should not have to pay extra for it and it should not get in the way of my enjoyment of the main feature that I actually paid for. I hate the fact that even some interactivity enabled titles on blu-ray prevent me from hitting the stop button and then starting back up from where I left off by pressing the play button.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by zball

I think if blu-Ray does not have a player this christmas for around 250$ we might have a chance of losing this war. I this this Battle is Blu-Rays to win or not and i want Blu-Ray to win but If HD gets chepper things will not be good for us. What do you think???? sorry about spelling

I think people who only spend $200 or less for players won't spend $20-$40 for discs.

Disc sales are what will win/lose the war. Players are doorstops without software. And Blu-ray is clearly dominant in title availability, even without Paramount/DWA.

Why are people figuring this will be the first and only time in history that a video player was purchased without the consumer looking into the software situation?

Gary

[BTBuck1]

The ps3 is blu-ray until a player can be had at $250. That said, I think the ps3 will really surge this holiday season. That coupled with an onslaught of great titles, there is no stopping Blu-ray. IMO HDDVD has blow it's wad, and I highly doubt there is anything that could stop the gears the BDA has set in motion. I think Blu-ray has this thing sewn up, so long as another Paramount incident doesn't occur.

[sj001]

I remember how expensive DVD was for the first few years, and I was a very early adopter of that format. It took a LONG time for them to come down to the price points they are at today, and the fact that Toshiba has their players priced so low means they have self-destructed. Who wants to sell new technology at no profit or at a loss? Who will choose HD-DVD when they go in their local shop and see 10different brands of Blu-ray players, and ONLY Toshiba for HD-DVD, and possibly Onkyo?