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

[Interdimensional]

I watched with some interest in the early days, but it was basically over by the time I bought into blu-ray. In the meantime, I'd essentially stopped buying dvds altogether, because I knew I'd be strongly tempted into upgrading down the line. I remember seeing all the red cases sitting next to the blue cases appearing in a small section of HMV. Seemed like a ridiculous situation, and I didn't expect it to last.

Blu-ray was my preferred winner, so I was happy with the outcome.

Originally Posted by Blu-Dog

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...

You can't equate 3D Blu-ray to HD-DVD. For one thing 3D Blu-ray players can play blu-rays. It's not an either/or format war. And the format has already outlasted HD-DVD's brief run.

HD-DVD and Blu-ray's were essentially offering the same thing in a different case. HD video. 3D Blu-ray offers something substantially different, something that may not be for everyone, but something that no competing format can offer.

With your ongoing posts in the 3D forum, you seem to treat it like HD-DVD, some rival format that must be down-talked out of existence. I don't understand this.

[4K display]

Worst memory - the red ant tactics

Best memory - the red ants being squished

Yes it was silly which made it all the more enjoyable

[bailey1987]

What would you all do if there was another format announced to compete with Ultra HD Blu-ray?

From my understanding the new format still uses the blue laser that Blu-ray Disc does but it's tuned to a higher bit spec allowing it to read the pits on the bigger Blu-ray Disc's(66Gb,100Gb),however, Sony had been working on a new laser that was violet in colour, this hasn't been mentioned since so I would not be surprised if it appeared in another format.

There are the other optical Disc's as well Protein-Coated Disc, Layer-Selection-Type Recordable Optical Disk(LS-R) Holographic Versatile Disc and the newest one Archival Disc, any of these could just suddenly appear.

Although on saying that Protein-coated disc sounds like it uses a technique that can be applied to any disc, Archival Disc appears to just use Blu-ray Disc's, meaning that LS-R and HVD seem like the best bet, the others just extend the life of older formats.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

That had me . I may have been injured, hope it did not cause a hernia

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

That had me . I may have been injured, hope it did not cause a hernia

Any Knights or spectators recognize ^ ? The decline of which began with changing tastes in entertainment as well as the technological invention of the musket.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by 4K display

Worst memory - the red ant tactics

It was weird how many believed the hard coat on BD would make the entire disc more brittle than CDs, DVDs and HD-DVDs. There were quite a few pictures posted that showed small cracks on the outer edge of a BD and normally included something like, “put this in my player and it would not play”. Most of the pictures were phony as a 3 dollar bill.

I finally created a depth proportioned drawing showing just how small the hard coat on BD is in comparison to the substrate. After quite sometime I revealed that those posting “put this in my player and it would not play” where as phony as the pictures. Most did not realize CDs, DVDs and BD read from the inside to the outside.

[Bruuce]

The war was interesting to say the least. I got lucky and came across some extra money in late 2006. Was able to pick up a PS3 off of Ebay. The rest, as they say, is history.

Tropic Thunder Blu-ray vs. HD DVD
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2650604057

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by Interdimensional

You can't equate 3D Blu-ray to HD-DVD. For one thing 3D Blu-ray players can play blu-rays. It's not an either/or format war. And the format has already outlasted HD-DVD's brief run.

I equate them for several reasons, some of which were due to the way both were rolled out. I hate to burden this thread with another 3-D bug-tussle, but the main comparison was in marketing hype, glaring omissions of fact, and absurd accusations from the fan-base.


The format has outlasted HD-DVD. I wonder if it has outsold HD-DVD in regard to discs sold. That's a statistic I have never seen.

Originally Posted by Interdimensional

HD-DVD and Blu-ray's were essentially offering the same thing in a different case. HD video. 3D Blu-ray offers something substantially different, something that may not be for everyone, but something that no competing format can offer.

Actually, 3-D is available via streaming, broadcast, and download. Unfortunately, it's not successful in any of those formats - even fans of 3-D aren't interested.

Originally Posted by Interdimensional

With your ongoing posts in the 3D forum, you seem to treat it like HD-DVD, some rival format that must be down-talked out of existence. I don't understand this.

The original goal of both formats was to present them as a fait accompli for disc storage. Oddly enough, HD-DVD was the "cheap alternative" for high definition, while 3-D was supposed to raise the price of every disc to 3-D stratospheric levels (supposedly, by having total compatibility with Blu 2-D hardware).


That didn't happen. Painfully obvious technical drawbacks to both formats were glossed over by fans of both formats, for indecipherable reasons, or just completely ignored. Both were failed money-grab efforts, with their obvious technical drawbacks being the reason for their demise.


If you really want to discuss this, let's open another thread. It will be more of an autopsy.

[GenPion]

I was a HD DVD adopter. It was because of price and nothing else. I was a lot more interested in Blu-ray but figured one of them would win eventually (probably Blu-ray) and I could just get those titles later on. I think I paid around $80 for my first HD DVD player and got 5 or 6 movies for free. These were around $30 each normally including on Blu-ray so it was a good deal at the time. Not so good now that the format is dead, but I was getting to experience HD quality sooner because of it.

I am glad that UHD 4K Blu-ray is basically going to be an extension of what we currently have and that there shouldn't be another format war. It was pretty ridiculous how heated it became between sides. I always thought it was silly how much back and forth there was with some supporters. I am glad Blu-ray won even though I adopted HD DVD first... obviously it's proven to be a better format over time (but it also was out of the gate). Looking back on it, I tend to think studios like Disney realized it was the better format and part of the studio siding had to do with that.

WB was the biggest supporter of HD DVD and they are the one studio with the weakest overall output of consistent quality on Blu-ray. Disney, on the other hand, has tended to be amongst the best (though this isn't accurate for all of their releases, especially the horribly DNR'ed ones). Most Disney titles are high quality, though.

This brings up my memory of my first experience noticing a HD DVD. I was browsing some movies for sale and saw a import copy of Terminator 2 HD DVD. I was so intrigued by the title of the format. I presumed it meant it was better quality than DVD and I wanted to buy it right away because of how much I loved T2. Then I found out about the format war and that you needed new equipment, etc. Back then I had no idea about any of it but it was the prospect of a better edition of Terminator 2 that kind of kick-started it all for me.

[crackinhedz]

how many remember around the format war time, a particular member (dont recall the name, anyone?) went berzerk and became this sites biggest a-hole and spammed thread upon thread of porn...tried banning him but always had a way around it. I believe this was the spark that enacted a lot of the bluray.com posting rules for newbs and ip bans instead of just simple member bans etc.


Oh yeah, the war...jeezus it feels an eternity ago.

[crackinhedz]

Was the name Drinkard or Drinkmonkey or something like that??

[dublinbluray108]

I remember a small bit of the format war coming into Ireland a few years ago by seeing large sections of both HD-DVD and Blu titles in some video stores in Dublin. I never owned any HD-DVD titles as I was only two years into buying standard DVD's at that point. HD-DVD's were a little more expensive than standard DVD's with Blu's even being more expensive then the two combined but I didn't care about that at all.

I was about 16 years old at the time of the format war. I didn't take part in any of the debates to see which side had eventually won out though.

Another thing I remember about the format war was the difference in how the two logos outclassed each other in completely different ways. I'm mentioning this now because I have been doing a course in Graphic Design for a few months which relates to designing logos.

My 1st experience of the HD-DVD logo was yuck! Even today It still looks completely confused and horrible. It's like a crossed eyed cat coming out to get you in your sleep. The Blu-Ray logo however still has lot of class and genius to it's design. It is stunning to look at today.

I'm glad that Blu-Ray won out in the end as I recently begun buying a small number of BD's for now that will get bigger overtime. They are much better value then buying DVD's now as buying Blu's futureproofs my collection even though some DVD's will come in for my enjoyment for the odd occasion that I will buy one in a magazine that relates to my other hobbies.

[Interdimensional]

Originally Posted by Blu-Dog

I equate them for several reasons, some of which were due to the way both were rolled out. I hate to burden this thread with another 3-D bug-tussle, but the main comparison was in marketing hype, glaring omissions of fact, and absurd accusations from the fan-base.


The format has outlasted HD-DVD. I wonder if it has outsold HD-DVD in regard to discs sold. That's a statistic I have never seen.


Actually, 3-D is available via streaming, broadcast, and download. Unfortunately, it's not successful in any of those formats - even fans of 3-D aren't interested.


The original goal of both formats was to present them as a fait accompli for disc storage. Oddly enough, HD-DVD was the "cheap alternative" for high definition, while 3-D was supposed to raise the price of every disc to 3-D stratospheric levels (supposedly, by having total compatibility with Blu 2-D hardware).


That didn't happen. Painfully obvious technical drawbacks to both formats were glossed over by fans of both formats, for indecipherable reasons, or just completely ignored. Both were failed money-grab efforts, with their obvious technical drawbacks being the reason for their demise.


If you really want to discuss this, let's open another thread. It will be more of an autopsy.

I don't think we have anything further to discuss. You have your point of view, that the 3D Blu-ray format is failed, doomed, finished. I'm quite confident that it has a future, even if that future is more likely to be a modest ongoing presence rather than total domination.

We're not going to reach a middle ground on the matter.

I've no interest in changing your mind, but when you go around broadcasting your opinion on the subject in threads where it's of little relevance to the topic at hand, you can expect a rebuttal.

[murphywmm]

I didn't really take part in the war - I decided to wait out and still kept on with DVD. I had a feeling Blu-ray would win though because of the PS3. I bought my first Blu discs after getting a PS3 although I didn't see much difference at the time as I didn't have the equipment to properly enjoy them.

[ouflak]

I guess I was around for most of that stuff. I didn't buy into either format and the 'war' had no effect on that decision. But it sure was entertaining! I did keep track of it, and occasionally threw my own perspective into the ring as that of a fence-sitter.

Originally Posted by Race Bannon

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."

Unless you mean rank-and-file HD enthusiasts and/or movie collectors, then I seriously doubt the average consumer even knew there was a format war going on, and probably wouldn't have cared even if they did know.

[mohit9206]

I was not there during the HD DVD vs Blu ray rivalry but today the rivalry between Blu ray vs Streaming is also interesting. Though this time streaming is poised to win.
Also there is another format war going on in case you guys forgot. Dvd vs blu ray. And DVD is winning this one too. So Blu ray is getting hammered by DVD on one side and Streaming on the other.

[thegoat]

I was paying attention, but I didn't jump on board until after it was all sorted out. I knew that BD had better storage capacity, but I initially favored HD-DVD because they had a better selection, early Blu-ray players seemed glitchy and required lots of updating just to play Blu-ray discs, Blu was more expensive, and Blu'ray's marketing to the consumer was aggressive, which annoyed me. It seemed like half of the coverart was devoted to letting you know how HD the movie was, and there were Blu-ray previews on every DVD disc. Glad I waited!

And I'm glad for the way that it worked out as Blu-ray has better legs to keep physical media moving. I bought an economy level player in 2010 and have never had an issue playing a disc. The selection keeps growing and prices have leveled out. And as far as packaging, Blu-rays are getting all the nice packaging while new release DVDs are mostly spindle-stacked, single disc, slipless shells of their predecessors. :P

[HeavyHitter]

I just remember how incredibly clunky the very first HD DVD player was that I bought. I remember all of the issues almost everyone was having with it. That thing should have never been released as it was looking back. However, it was a race to get in front of BD before they released anything.

[dvdmike]

I do have to say its weird how hollow and light and crappy most bd players are built now

[slimdude]

Originally Posted by dvdmike

I do have to say its weird how hollow and light and crappy most bd players are built now

Yes, and they actually look like toys. The blu-ray players are so light, you can lift it with one finger. The first generation blu-ray players, were bigger, sturdier and well build.