I kind of miss the format war....

[Kratos3]

So I'm not the only one!

My comment about the Toshibas was about them justifying HD-DVDs value based on upconverting DVDs, as if that was the major selling point. Sure they did a good job, but it's not HD.

I really miss the BOGOs too. I forgot about those.

[Musashi]

Originally Posted by krazeyeyez

Weren't hddvds 30 gigs? i do know they had the dual layer slated to come out before the February announcement of the final studio jumping ship and toshiba throwing in the towel. If they were 30 then they would have 60gig discs at this point so i would think that would be in your favor regarding that point.

Dual layer HD-DVD was 30GB. 15GB per layer. Blu-ray is 25GB to a layer.

[Terjyn]

I hated the war, but not for the reason most people would think.

I could handle the pro-HD DVD people and their comments.

What I hated was the defeated attitude of so-called Blu-Ray supporters.

In spite of the fact that Blu-Ray was clearly winning the war, these people believed that Blu-Ray needed to over-react to every little thing HD DVD did or they'd lose.

The people who'd post "Blu-Ray needs to drop all player prices to 50$ right now AND drop all movie prices to ~5$ per disc or we are doomed!"

I couldn't stand those people.

[Blu-Benny]

I wasn’t around for the format war…….i waited until there was a clear winner.

I wasn’t in a position to pick one and invest however much money only to have it be a dead technology.

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by Blu-Benny

I wasn’t around for the format war…….i waited until there was a clear winner.

I wasn’t in a position to pick one and invest however much money only to have it be a dead technology.

You demonstrated wisdom. For those of us who must have the latest and greatest, it has always been an expensive learning experience. That was also true of Blu-ray, as the first Blu-ray player - the Sony BDP-S1 - was "not quite ready for prime time", a thousand dollar source of frustration to those of us who bought one. Hindsight being 20/20, I could easily have saved over $20 grand on A/V gear if I just exercised a little patience.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by Blu-Benny

I wasn’t around for the format war…….i waited until there was a clear winner.

I wasn’t in a position to pick one and invest however much money only to have it be a dead technology.

I did the same. I bought my first Blu-ray player in late June 2008.

[Musashi]

Originally Posted by Grand Bob

You demonstrated wisdom. For those of us who must have the latest and greatest, it has always been an expensive learning experience. That was also true of Blu-ray, as the first Blu-ray player - the Sony BDP-S1 - was "not quite ready for prime time", a thousand dollar source of frustration to those of us who bought one. Hindsight being 20/20, I could easily have saved over $20 grand on A/V gear if I just exercised a little patience.

That may be, but it was that very same "those of us" who made it possible to have 100s/1,000s of blu-ray movies today.

I adopted fairly early (March '07). After doing some homework on hi-def, I knew blu-ray would win. The numbers just didn't support any other result.

[Crimson King]

I've seen so many format wars over the years:

compact cassette vs. 8-track
Vinyl vs CD (well for me vinyl really never went away!)
floppy disc vs CD-ROM/RAM
Beta vs VHS
VHS vs Laserdisc
Laserdisc vs DVD
HD-DVD vs Blu-ray
and now standard DVD vs Blu-ray

...then you have oddities like minidisc and DAT which really never took off on the home market.

[Blu-ray Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Blu-Benny

I wasn’t around for the format war…….i waited until there was a clear winner.

I wasn’t in a position to pick one and invest however much money only to have it be a dead technology.

I was around since the existence. I saw my first blu-ray display at Best Buy and fell in love with it ever since. I was truly dedicated to it and bought my first blu-ray player in November 2006. I believe it was a Samsung (forgot the model number) and boy, did it take a very long time to load. I gave up on it shortly and bought a PS3. I sort of regretted being a early adopter because I knew so little about the technology at the time and invested a lot of money in double and triple dipping.

[Blu-Benny]

I bought my 1st blu-ray player in June of 2008.

If I were to venture a guess, I would’ve pinned my money on blu-ray winning b/c of sony & Disney backing it.

But again, I didn’t have the funds to guess and be wrong. I bought my 1st player and HDTV the week my son was born.

Left my wife & son home, me & my daughter went to pick the stuff up….it was my fathers day present!!!

[Crimson King]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray Fanatic

I was around since the existence. I saw my first blu-ray display at Best Buy and fell in love with it ever since. I was truly dedicated to it and bought my first blu-ray player in November 2006. I believe it was a Samsung (forgot the model number) and boy, did it take a very long time to load. I gave up on it shortly and bought a PS3. I sort of regretted being a early adopter because I knew so little about the technology at the time and invested a lot of money in double and triple dipping.

Yep, the blu-ray habit is as addictive as crack! (of course I've never done the latter)

[DaleDark]

Yeah, anyone pining for the format wars should...

a.)Get in on the 3D v No 3D wars (which is even more pointless than HD-DVD v BD since 3D BD will not eliminate 2D, nor is it being marketed as a competing format......not that you'd notice based on the bile being spewed in 3Ds direction).

b.)Frequent the smackdown forums over at HDD where the trolls are still mad that the easier to pirate format lost....and the sight still sports the red in their sight logo 3+ years after HD-DVD died.

[krazeyeyez]

Originally Posted by Musashi

Dual layer HD-DVD was 30GB. 15GB per layer. Blu-ray is 25GB to a layer.

Thanks, memory is not what it used to be lol, i remember the dual layer thing and the bd50's must not have been common yet as i remember thinking the dual layer hd dvd's would give them a slight edge storage wise. I am glad it ended when it did as my next stop after a subwoofer upgrade that morning of the news was going to be to grab a red player as to not have to wait for kong, transformers, or battlestar.

[bkbluray]

Interesting topic! I miss the format war because of the excitement factor. However, I do enjoy having TONS more movies on Blu-ray and Star Wars coming to Blu and LOTR on Blu/extended on the way. If the format war was still going on, I don't think those releases would happen/would have happened.

It was hilarious to hear the HD-DVD fans try to claim theirs as a "superior product"

[Septimus Prime]

Originally Posted by krazeyeyez

Thanks, memory is not what it used to be lol, i remember the dual layer thing and the bd50's must not have been common yet as i remember thinking the dual layer hd dvd's would give them a slight edge storage wise. I am glad it ended when it did as my next stop after a subwoofer upgrade that morning of the news was going to be to grab a red player as to not have to wait for kong, transformers, or battlestar.

You might be remembering the mythical TL51, which was allegedly a triple-layer HD DVD with 51GB of ROM (17GB per layer). It never made it out of Toshiba's lab, though.

[Musashi]

Originally Posted by Septimus Prime

You might be remembering the mythical TL51, which was allegedly a triple-layer HD DVD with 51GB of ROM (17GB per layer). It never made it out of Toshiba's lab, though.

Needs of firmware (or even laser hardware) aside, funny things happen to disc production yields when 3rd and additional layers are involved. Just ask the Digital Bits ppl.

[Johnny Vinyl]

I found the aftermath of the format wars even more interesting, especially here. People bashing Toshiba for no other reason than they lost. Everything Toshiba manufactured was looked upon as garbage and people swore they would never ever buy another Toshiba product again.

They didn't have the internet as we know it during the VHS/Beta war, but I guess those same members would have dissed on Sony after they lost the battle.

How utterly childish, but certainly good for many a chuckle!

[Brightstar]

Originally Posted by BillyJack

I've seen so many format wars over the years:

compact cassette vs. 8-track
Vinyl vs CD (well for me vinyl really never went away!)
floppy disc vs CD-ROM/RAM
Beta vs VHS
VHS vs Laserdisc
Laserdisc vs DVD
HD-DVD vs Blu-ray
and now standard DVD vs Blu-ray

...then you have oddities like minidisc and DAT which really never took off on the home market.

you forgot VHS V DVD

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by joliefan

you forgot VHS V DVD

That wasn't a format war IMO. That was evolution.

[Bluyoda]

I always knew Blu-ray would win, and hated the war, because some movies were released on BD, others on HD-DVD, and yes, we would never get to experience SW in 1080p with lossless audio in that kind of situation.

I bought POTC-Dead Men's Chest on BD, long before I purchased a BD player.

When I came back from VN, I got myself a Pioneer KURO LX-5020, and a PC with a BD drive. That was mid 2009.
In Dec. 2009 I ordered the Oppo-BDP83SE. Yay!
BD rules the galaxy!

Star Wars is actually coming out on BD!
The best thing ever to happen to BD!!!!!!!!!!!