HD-DVD Day is (finally) here
By Richard Lawler 
posted Apr 18th 2006 12:19PM
posted Apr 18th 2006 12:19PM
It's like Christmas except ... Christmas was on time. After what seemed like delay after delay, you can now walk
into your local electronics retailer and purchase a high definition DVD player. No upconversion tricks necessary here, you'll finally be able to buy discs
with more resolution than current players can output. With what would favorably be described as a handful of titles and
a launch shipment of only 10,000 players, HD-DVD is coming in with more
of a whimper than a bang, but at least its finally here, ICT and all.There are already a couple reviews of the first HD-DVDs, and more impressions of the launch players and discs will be on their way in the coming days and weeks. Will HD-DVD's early launch help much as Blu-ray still looms this summer? It's too early to say really, but I do know that of the four of us at HD Beat, only Ben has said he is buying one of the first players available and even then may return it if more content doesn't become available soon. If our reaction is so muted, how long will it take for either format to catch on with the general public? I still haven't seen any of the HD-DVD "So real you can feel it" ads.
Have any of you gotten a hold of one yet or seen them in action, or if you haven't, why not? Let us know in the comments.
It's all about the content. HD DVD only has the backing of 3 major studios. Normally, I wouldn't buy either player until a winner emerges, but I'll be buying a PS3, so I get a BD player by default.
I just picked up the player and two movies (Serenity and Last Sammuri). I also picked up the DVD versions for a comparison. The Best Buy I went to had 3 units and I was the first to buy one. More than one employee commented about being an early adoptor and requesting feedback.
Hopefully I will have a full review very soon.
Got my HD-DVD player and it's quite excellent. Great up-conversion for the movies I already have, the HD discs are gorgeous on my ISF calibrated XBR, and the audio over analog 5.1 is great.
The only downside is the remote (got an 880 so that doesn't matter) and it's a little slow.
Still, combined with a PS3 I can enjoy all the HD movie content I want.
Yeah, I saw the Best Buy's demo in my area. I was really dissapointed. Not with the system/movies, but with the demo. They had it hooked up to a very dim HDTV, running a demo disk, not one of the movies. They didn't even have any speakers hooked up to it...the sound system in the same rack as the HD-DVD player was playing classical music. Also, watching the BB rep trying to put a movie in, it seemed to run pretty slow.
Still, for how it was setup, it looked pretty nice.
Im buying this plus the PS3 for 6 or 700. So for $1200 over the next yr im watching hd mvs now and am covered for all content till the 3rd or 4th generation rools around. Why spend a $1000 on a 1st gen BR player when only so few titles avail till PS3, which prob will be hard to get till spr 07.
The Playstation 3 will be around $500 not $700.
Please don't buy this. HD-DVD is an inferior format with no chance of success. It can't win but it can slow Blu-Ray down and bring the whole high definition disc idea to a halt. First of all HD-DVD IS NOT HALF THE COST OF BLU-RAY. You can't compare a 1080p player with a 1080i player. That price comparison is totally unfair. Maybe HD-DVD will still have a price advantage even at 1080p but the price difference will be small and not worth its huge shortcomings. I can't wait for the Playstation 3 to come out and whipe HD-DVD off the face of the Earth and into the firey pit from wence it came.
Jimmy,
I agree Blu-Ray is better but not because I think it will have better PQ (which it may and probably does) but because it will have more movies available. We will find out soon enough when they hit the street in about 60 days.
Either way I bought a HD-DVD player as well and plan to buy a Blu-Ray player but I probably won't buy a PS3 unless of course GT5 comes out.
I can't believe you still put up with the GT series, it's been what, 10 years and they haven't upgraded the AI, added damage, or added online play. It's the exact same game with slightly upgraded graphics, I felt completely ripped off by GT4