Who has been here since the format war, and are you surprised by how heated it got?

[krinkle]

I remember friends of many years over on another AV forum who quit talking over the format war.

There were also the "lost cause" or "Baghdad bob" types who kept insisting HD-DVD would win, even after Universal announced support?

What are your best and worst memories of the format war period?

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by krinkle

I remember friends of many years over on another AV forum who quit talking over the format war.

There were also the "lost cause" or "Baghdad bob" types who kept insisting HD-DVD would win, even after Universal announced support?

What are your best and worst memories of the format war period?

I've been here from the beginning of the Format Wars, and the worst memories were watching Toshiba pay flat-out bribes to studios to get them to go HD-DVD. It was absolutely pitiful to see; I knew the studios were just playing along to get the cash, and so did everyone else. Sony already owned a studio. Toshiba couldn't buy anyone in installments.


Some of the best memories are also the worst. As studios dropped out of HD-DVD, or half-heartedly "renewed their commitment" to both formats, or offered crazy support for dual format players (vaporware of a particularly pungent kind), the HD-DVD faithful did the same thing I saw three years later with 3-D:

• Insult the companies that didn't go their way as greedy
• Insult the companies that didn't go their way as stupid
• Insult the user base that didn't make the same choice they did as both greedy and stupid.
• Predict that one way or another, HD-DVD was "here to stay"
• Set up an "in or out" clubhouse for HD-DVD, and if you didn't belong, any member could shout "HD-DVD is here to stay!" and order others out of the clubhouse, as a troll
• Start the "show me your papers" tradition, asking how many HD-DVD's did you pick up this week/this month (not "if you" but "how many")
• Equated "support" with "vote with your money"

Yet the format died, for many reasons, primarily that is simply offered less storage. It was so obvious.


4K really has to have plenty of storage to make it, and it needn't be expensive, either. The Format War, along with the 3-D Fizzle, are cautionary tales about trying to base a complete change on the support of unrealistic fanatics to support technology. It has to be simple, obvious, and not require a complete reboot of all technology in the home.


I am not sure if this will occur...

[solarrdadd]

[Johnny Vinyl]

I was around during those days, but the only thing that concerned me was not losing out on yet another format war. I lost the Beta/VHS war by supporting Sony and didn't want a repeat.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by krinkle

I remember friends of many years over on another AV forum who quit talking over the format war.

Yes, war of most any kind can bring out the worst in many of us.

It appears I am one of the senior members here, joined not long after the site came online.

[DNR7265]

I liked going in to Best Buy and watching the HD-DVD display get smaller and smaller as the Blu-Ray display got bigger and bigger. I also enjoyed the bickering back and forth between the customers supporting each format. Good times.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by krinkle

I remember friends of many years over on another AV forum who quit talking over the format war.
There were also the "lost cause" or "Baghdad bob" types who kept insisting HD-DVD would win...

More Irritatingly, despite lower bandwidth and storage capacity/capability, they insisted that HD DVD was equal to (if not superior to ) Blu-ray. Don’t get me started.

Originally Posted by krinkle

What are your best and worst memories of the format war period?

The Best …
The camaraderie of the Blu-ray.com forum because, let’s face it, as a group we were standing up alone against nearly every other U.S. read forum (HTF, AVS, HDD), those of whom may still, to this day, not acknowledge it, but either whose ownership, moderator team, or general membership

…or, all of the above, was decidedly pro-HD DVD (and anti-Blu-ray) in their words, thoughts and actions.

The Worst …
I’m told many of the same proponents of HD DVD have since moved on to now become ‘experts’ on 4K, UHD, HDR, vision science, color science, etc. – showing the same quality of ‘expertise’ they showed during the Blu-ray- HD DVD format war.

[dvdmike]

Some of us on avs were very pro blu

[Blu Titan]

Fought in the format war. Also, took it strong to Mike The Pirate HD .

[Teazle]

When I heard about Paramount being paid to drop Blu-ray (Aug '07) I joined this forum in desperation. As I remember the heat was intense. I mean people were hugely emotionally invested in the war. I'm glad we won't have that for 4K.

[Lordy]

I got dragged along. I originally opted for HD DVD since my favorite studios had sided with Toshiba (Warner Bros. was doing both formats).

[Blu Titan]

It was sad that companies from both sides set off movie lovers vs each other. Using all kinds of pseudo "insiders" to manipulate the masses. Yeah, both sides: HD DVD and the BDA. First and last time participate in something so silly.

[Packerfan75]

I bought into HD-DVD first. I got 8 free movies with my player as a promo. How could I say no? It was still close and nothing was decided yet. No regrets. Best memory was promos like that.
Worst memory was the people who said HD-DVD was inferior and not able to produce the same quality transfers as bluray. Those people obviously never saw the Matrix trilogy or Transformers. 1080p with TrueHD tracks that were as good as anything on bluray. They were ignorant fanboy remarks that I'd see over and over again.

[Teazle]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

It was sad that companies from both sides set off movie lovers vs each other. Using all kinds of pseudo "insiders" to manipulate the masses. Yeah, both sides: HD DVD and the BDA. First and last time participate in something so silly.

Once the period set by the Statute of Limitations expires, I'd like to see Amir M. open his books

[gregmasciola]

I still find it kind of ridiculous that there even was a format war. I was pretty sure Blu-Ray would win, since they had 50gb discs, but I chose to wait it out until it was official.

[Geoff D]

I bought into HD DVD first because I liked the selection of movies better and it seemed to have been born fully formed, unlike BD with its piecemeal rollout (additional profiles), early reliance on MPEG-2 etc. But as the BD range expanded and it became clear that HD DVD was struggling with its 30 GB limit (although given how efficient the video codecs have become it wouldn't be a massive problem today) I bought a PS3 and never looked back.

I never really got into the 'war' aspect though, I just wanted the best all-round package and supported whichever release I saw fit. I was simply a fiend for high-def media, having bought loads of DVHS movies prior to the disc-based HD formats.

I joined BRDC once the dust had settled because there were just as many BD zealots on here as there were HD DVD fanatics at AVS, with the HTF providing a nice middle ground. But now, this is the only place to be for BD discussion.

[Race Bannon]

I believe that war was VERY damaging to the adoption of blu-ray, and helped extend the lifespan of DVD for untold years. It sent a message to rank-and-file folks to "Forget it, the industry can't figure it out so just wait years until it's all sorted out."

It made HD video somehow not seem like the obvious and smooth evolution to go along with the HD TV's everybody was getting.

Even now, there are people that will always think of blu-rays as something odd.

I think from here on out, all new improved formats should be called something along the lines of "blu-ray," so that never again to people get the idea that the new thing is something terrifying and different.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by Teazle

When I heard about Paramount being paid to drop Blu-ray (Aug '07) I joined this forum in desperation. As I remember the heat was intense. I mean people were hugely emotionally invested in the war. I'm glad we won't have that for 4K.

Apart from all the bickering, I remember this distinctly because it meant Transformers would initially release on HD-DVD only. Oh the horror!

[krinkle]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

It was sad that companies from both sides set off movie lovers vs each other. Using all kinds of pseudo "insiders" to manipulate the masses. Yeah, both sides: HD DVD and the BDA. First and last time participate in something so silly.

Looking back I agree with this so much.

I just hope 4K does not turn into another 3D debacle!

[krinkle]

Originally Posted by gregmasciola

I still find it kind of ridiculous that there even was a format war. I was pretty sure Blu-Ray would win, since they had 50gb discs, but I chose to wait it out until it was official.

For many of us - for whom home theater is an all consuming hobby - there was NO WAY we were waiting.

So the corporations forced us into this "us vs. them" scenario.

I eventually bought both and still have about 35 HD-DVDs today. At the time though I was kind of "in the closet" about HD-DVD ownership because I believed in the long term future of Blu-ray.

Can you imagine trying to do 4K on HD-DVD? What a headache!