A message for the format neutral members!!

[Lord_Stewie]

Hey,

I started loving Hddvd up until i saw that Bluray is what i want (for various reasons.). to see your movie in its ultimate hi def version. how many of you are switching formats? and why?

this post's purpose is to educate those checking our site, and we shall educate them why BLURAY is better than HDDVD!

[kaliraver]

Originally Posted by shadblz

Hey,

I started loving Hddvd up until i saw that Bluray is what i want (for various reasons.). to see your movie in its ultimate hi def version. how many of you are switching formats? and why?

this post's purpose is to educate those checking our site, and we shall educate them why BLURAY is better than HDDVD!

Here, here. I think that this movement is really going to pick up especially in the next month with those 5 free Blu-Ray movies, that will be a steal for some new Blu-Ray owners.

[Zyclone]

im not a HD fan boy and i don't want to start a flame war because everyone is nice and cool here but this is bothering me.

when HD was offering free movies alot of people started going oh HD is desperate they are giving away movies go blu ray! but now that blu ray is doing it everyone is going hey blu ray is just promoting its product thats cool.

i know in sales numbers so far blu ray is leading but i just find it interesting that when the side your not on does it , its a sign of weakness but when something you do support is doing its a smart move.

im not singling anyone out on this board iv'e seen it on alot of boards regarding A/V and dvds im just bringing it up here.

[CJ P]

There is a lot of fanboyism going on on BOTH sides. Same thing with the PiP issue. Blu-Ray is still firming up things like BD-J and the profiles so what do Blu-Ray fans say when they don't have a feature HD-DVD has? Ah, we don't need it, that's lame, who cares. Its amusing but frustrating when you're less biased about the issue.

Now to answer the original question... I'm not switching formats, I'm just going dual formats. I bought into HD-DVD with the lower prices but see the tides shifting in favor of Blu-Ray (mostly I'm looking at disc sales and quality of titles available (meaning quality of the movie, not the transfer though that is important too)). So, I bought a PS3 which is a nice hedge because I'm not a hardcore gamer but I do game so it will get used regardless of which format wins.

[Blubaru]

Originally Posted by CJ P

Ah, we don't need it, that's lame, who cares.

We don't need it. It seems that the consumer doesn’t want it either.


HDi is a gimmick and always will be.

[CJ P]

Don't forget "special features" was one of the selling points that got DVD rolling. While you might not get sucked into them, a newbie might. Also, right now they're being underutilized. They're being thought of "inside the box" of DVD special features. Remember how amazing the "follow the white rabbit" feature on The Matrix was? It sold discs I'm sure which may have meant people buying their first player. What I see when I see people saying they don't care about these features is "I don't know what it can do, but I don't care". That seems like waste to me, something really cool could come out of it.

[doctorsteve]

Originally Posted by Zyclone

im not a HD fan boy and i don't want to start a flame war because everyone is nice and cool here but this is bothering me.

when HD was offering free movies alot of people started going oh HD is desperate they are giving away movies go blu ray! but now that blu ray is doing it everyone is going hey blu ray is just promoting its product thats cool.

Good point. I second that emotion. I think it may be perceived that HDDVD "blinked first", and many are quick to see the same type of behavior as now a positive thing for BR.

All things being equal, it's a tactic to get adopters, nothing more (well, might also serve to get rid of poor selling titles, too). "What's good for the goose" and all that. Consider yourself vindicated. The Doc

[nhaase]

The desire for special features enabled by high-def will be seen when Blood Diamond is released next week on HD DVD. I think that the BD version will outsell the HD DVD version, giving one piece of evidence that people primarily want HD video and audio, and PiP, IME, and all that crap are just creature comforts. I think this will be shown again with 300.

Personally, I've never cared for special features. I'll watch deleted scenes when I'm bored, but I don't want icons and crap flashing up on the screen when I watch a movie (like Blow on infinifilm), I just want the movie. I think I did use "follow the white rabbit once," but quickly stopped it and just went back to the movie. I just don't care about commentary or anything, unless its from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, they're hilarious.

Zyclone, I agree w/ you there. The thing which saves it from being desperation or anything is that Blu-ray hasn't been slipping in its sales lead, whereas HD DVD was losing ground when considerably when they started. I remember when my mom got our first DVD player we got 5 free movies, but that was to aid in mass adoption, which I see this BD deal as, since they're selling very well and cheaper players are hitting the market. The BDA isn't just slashing prices on existing players for a month or so (like Toshiba), the prices for first-gen players are decreasing due to newer players out there.

[The Don]

Originally Posted by Zyclone

im not a HD fan boy and i don't want to start a flame war because everyone is nice and cool here but this is bothering me.

when HD was offering free movies alot of people started going oh HD is desperate they are giving away movies go blu ray! but now that blu ray is doing it everyone is going hey blu ray is just promoting its product thats cool.

i know in sales numbers so far blu ray is leading but i just find it interesting that when the side your not on does it , its a sign of weakness but when something you do support is doing its a smart move.

im not singling anyone out on this board iv'e seen it on alot of boards regarding A/V and dvds im just bringing it up here.

the difference is...BD is killing in sales and then Toshiba drops player prices drastically...and then offers 5 free movies and at that time, it is a sign of desperation as they are making moves right when this all happens

BD was killing during the whole time Toshiba offered their deal...

BD has to do something to hit the 'next level' of blu-ray purchases...and they followed suit on a similar deal to what Toshiba offered...ON TOP of the recent news...

there's a point where you are desperate and a point where you are putting your foot to your opponents throat...

if you look at the situation in the order that they happened, it's clear which move was desperate and which was applying more pressure...

right now, BD is taking away the one strength that HD DVD people think they have....and that's price...BD is offering players for 100 bucks more and a similar deal...

along with a strong lineup of new movies out as well as soon to come by the end of the year...

HD DVD has 2 exclusive hits for the rest of the year....BD has a handful or more..especially after Transformers...

[CJ P]

Originally Posted by nhaase

The desire for special features enabled by high-def will be seen when Blood Diamond is released next week on HD DVD. I think that the BD version will outsell the HD DVD version, giving one piece of evidence that people primarily want HD video and audio, and PiP, IME, and all that crap are just creature comforts. I think this will be shown again with 300.

Personally, I've never cared for special features. I'll watch deleted scenes when I'm bored, but I don't want icons and crap flashing up on the screen when I watch a movie (like Blow on infinifilm), I just want the movie. I think I did use "follow the white rabbit once," but quickly stopped it and just went back to the movie. I just don't care about commentary or anything, unless its from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, they're hilarious.

Zyclone, I agree w/ you there. The thing which saves it from being desperation or anything is that Blu-ray hasn't been slipping in its sales lead, whereas HD DVD was losing ground when considerably when they started.

That won't prove anything except that owners of format X will buy the movie on format X. Do like DVD does, release barebones edition for a little cheaper and then one with special features and see which one sells better. But Blu-Ray has to reach the point where they can do that. Historically, with DVD feature laden DVDs have sold better than the same movie without such features unless the pricing differential is very large.

[Blu-Ray Buckeye]

Originally Posted by CJ P

Don't forget "special features" was one of the selling points that got DVD rolling. While you might not get sucked into them, a newbie might. Also, right now they're being underutilized. They're being thought of "inside the box" of DVD special features. Remember how amazing the "follow the white rabbit" feature on The Matrix was? It sold discs I'm sure which may have meant people buying their first player. What I see when I see people saying they don't care about these features is "I don't know what it can do, but I don't care". That seems like waste to me, something really cool could come out of it.

Something reallly cool COULD come out of it, you are right. But when things get really, really cool will they be on a format with 60% more capacity per disc or the one with less? I wonder.

[Blu-Ray Buckeye]

Originally Posted by nhaase

Zyclone, I agree w/ you there. The thing which saves it from being desperation or anything is that Blu-ray hasn't been slipping in its sales lead, whereas HD DVD was losing ground when considerably when they started. I remember when my mom got our first DVD player we got 5 free movies, but that was to aid in mass adoption, which I see this BD deal as, since they're selling very well and cheaper players are hitting the market. The BDA isn't just slashing prices on existing players for a month or so (like Toshiba), the prices for first-gen players are decreasing due to newer players out there.

I think there is some hypocrisy on this topic. However as you suggest, I also think there is a big difference between the 2 offers. Getting 5 free titles with a $500 player is far different than getting 7 with a $200 player. The latter feels like much more of a giveaway. I may not have the numbers exact but the point stands.

[aaronwt]

I like the quality on both formats. i will always be format neutral.
I just got my first HD DVD that has the ability to download new content. That defintely has promise. It would be nice to be able to download new content all the time. Hopefully both formats start to utilize this to it's full potential.

[WickyWoo]

when HD was offering free movies alot of people started going oh HD is desperate they are giving away movies go blu ray! but now that blu ray is doing it everyone is going hey blu ray is just promoting its product thats cool.

The difference is that Toshiba started offering 5 free movies months ago, in conjunction with price slashing. It was a desperation move

If you look at the timing, this offer is to push BR for the 4th of July sale, which is the biggest mover of A/V electronics outside of Christmas. It's obviously calculated and planned. In addition they're not ponying up AAA titles like Toshiba was for the most part.

Toshiba's slashing and freebies tend to come out of nowhere, and coincide with a smack to the head by the BR camp.

EX- BR announces Pirates and a bunch of others. All of asudden Matrix appears out of nowhere as a "first on HD" title 2 months later, coinkidentally on the same day.

Toshiba is reactionary, and on the defensive, and that's never a good thing in this kind of situation

[Blu Tiger]

I was nuetral format, but as my name implies...I picked a side and am going to only support it: blu-ray. It's not that HD DVD is not good technology...it's just that I think blu-ray is technically superior. On top of that, they have the most and the best studio support, and their blu cases are just prettier. This war is just confusing for consumers. People are not buying into HD because they don't want to buy an obsolete format, so the sooner this war is over, the sooner blu-ray can take up it's real challenge...toppling DVD as the preferred format of choice.

[CJ P]

Originally Posted by Blu-Ray Buckeye

Something reallly cool COULD come out of it, you are right. But when things get really, really cool will they be on a format with 60% more capacity per disc or the one with less? I wonder.

You're trying to have it both ways then. We don't need special features, but if you're going to have REALLY cool special features, they'll need to be on Blu-Ray. I agree that this is like the free movies, its hypocrisy. We don't need that, lets make fun of HD-DVD, but when we do it, we'll be better at it. LOL

[Texitura]

Originally Posted by Zyclone

im not a HD fan boy and i don't want to start a flame war because everyone is nice and cool here but this is bothering me.

when HD was offering free movies alot of people started going oh HD is desperate they are giving away movies go blu ray! but now that blu ray is doing it everyone is going hey blu ray is just promoting its product thats cool.

i know in sales numbers so far blu ray is leading but i just find it interesting that when the side your not on does it , its a sign of weakness but when something you do support is doing its a smart move.

im not singling anyone out on this board iv'e seen it on alot of boards regarding A/V and dvds im just bringing it up here.

HD-DVD is in dire straits, Blu-ray isn't. That's why it's completely different.

[miked924]

I've been neutral for a while now, actually bought the hd dvd deck first but always intended on buying the PS3. I'll always buy the blu ray now though if it comes out to both formats. Universal has done such a half assed job on their old catalog titles, I'm really disappointed. New titles have looked good but I barely buy any new titles since I refuse to pay more for shitty combo disc.

[Sir Terrence]

Originally Posted by CJ P

Don't forget "special features" was one of the selling points that got DVD rolling. While you might not get sucked into them, a newbie might. Also, right now they're being underutilized. They're being thought of "inside the box" of DVD special features. Remember how amazing the "follow the white rabbit" feature on The Matrix was? It sold discs I'm sure which may have meant people buying their first player. What I see when I see people saying they don't care about these features is "I don't know what it can do, but I don't care". That seems like waste to me, something really cool could come out of it.

Some people actually do not care. I don't care about pip. I can do 12 screens of pip right now, and have never used it even once. I rarely look at extra's. I have a HD DVD player that has HDi, and titles that use it, but I have never used it. I wouldn't care if my PS3 could ever do profile 2.0 specs. I am interested in the quality of the movie, the picture, and the sound, that is it. There are alot of folks that fall into this way of thinking.

[JonFox18]

I think calling the blu supporters hypocrites is a bit much. We aren't involved in the development or marketing of bluray. We can only comment on the actions taken by those in charge of the different formats. When HDDDVD started offering free movies to anyone who bought, thought about, or looked at an HDDVD player, everyone thought it was a sign of weakness. With all their talk about better special features, it was considered lame because most people just want to watch the movie.

I look at HDDVD and bluray as a competing neighbors. HDDVD bought the brand new car and fancy new appliances and is now in deep debt. Bluray waited patiently, saved and planned carefully, and now has a better car and better appliances than HDDVD.

Or you can just think of that classic song, "Anything HDDVD does, bluray can do better! Bluray can do anything better than you!"