http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/ Engadget HD Comments for Next wave of HDTV adopters may lean towards HD DVD http://hd.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://hd.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 12:38AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 1:06AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
R.I.P HD DVD Jan 2008, go blu,... lol.

h4idol, BBG, Superdynamite in

5
4
3
2
1....
]]>Dec 11th 2007 12:50AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 2:56AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 1:08AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
oh and were you calling for backup with the whole h4idol, BBG, Superdynamite thing??? Altogether, you 4 will ensure Blu-Rays victory!!..............yeah right]]>Dec 11th 2007 1:32AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
Never mind, and h4, I don't post under different names, this has been my name for a long time now, a couple of times i forget to clear the reference in my browser and accidentally posted with the wrong name, not that it's any of your business, but I even contacted engadgethd about it.

I think however though, there is a fair chance that you are in fact HD Purist and I see someone accusing you yesterday of being 'SRBaker", so perhaps a case of the pot calling the kettle black?
I guess we all post under assumed names, like your self, all though, i wouldn't think posting under your real identity with your address at "Broke Back Mountain" would have a positive result for you.... all though, then again, it might i suppose depending on how you look at it.

Anyway, I digress, I notice you didn't slander this article, just me instead, so how come none of your usual elitist drivel, cat got your tongue, or maybe J6 does!]]>Dec 11th 2007 2:03AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
Your sad attack on your fellow HD DVD fanboy is amusing, but definitely misinformed and misdirected. Actually, HD4ME is one of the biggest and most faithful HD DVD fanboys trolling the internet, and often posts under other guises to give the illusion of more widespread HD DVD support. Don't hate on him, he's your friend. ]]>Dec 11th 2007 1:36AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 1:42AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 2:14AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 1:49AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 9:01AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 1:58AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 7:37AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
So say its 2 million people. (since hddvd has 750k players vs blurays 2.7m).That would mean 12.5 m people are these intended buyers, with nearly 5.5m getting hd-dvd vs nearly 3.5m buying bluray.

That seems a bit optimistic.

]]>Dec 11th 2007 1:57AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 2:33AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Lol, Ok, I'll pay that one.

I thought you might be pissed people knowing about your preference for the salami sword, obviously not, "not that there's anything wrong with that".
]]>Dec 11th 2007 2:45AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 2:52AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 10:58AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 4:41AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 7:07AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 8:37AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 12th 2007 5:44AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/cemadvdsales.html

I could easily see 8 million interested parties in 2008, with 43% (3.44 Million) buying an HD-DVD player at a price point of about $150, 27% (2.16 million) going with a Blu-Ray disc player (stand-alone or PS3).

3.44 + 0.75 = 4.19 million HD-DVD player
2.7 + 2.16 = 4.86 million Blu-Ray disc player with an attach rate about half that of HD-DVD (equivalent to 2.43 million HD-DVD players)

Even if you figure Sony can sell (a very optimistic IMHO) 5 million total Blu-Ray disc players next year (about 80-90% of them PS3's with low attach rates), you are looking at about 7.7 million Blu-Ray disc players equivalent to about 3.85 million HD-DVD players.

Blu-Ray may have pulled/been ahead all of 2007, but HD-DVD has all the momentum. And all the nerdboys who squack about the superior Blu-Ray format need only look back to BetaMax to realize that the general public decides these format wars, not a bunch of A/V nerdboys.]]>Dec 11th 2007 9:09AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 12th 2007 5:46AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 9:27AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
These threads have devolved into the same thing over and over. Many of you could make things easier on yourselves by writing a macro that just inserts "HD DVD sucks!" or "Blu-Ray sucks!" into the comment section and post that back and forth. That would further discussion just about as much as the comments now do and it would save everyone a lot of time, don't you think? And the two-years-too-late Brokeback jokes? Seriously? Wow.]]>Dec 11th 2007 9:32AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
I liked that excerpt:
"TDG recently fielded two separate primary research studies focused on consumer interest in next-generation media platforms: the first, an October 2007 survey of 1,500 U.S. adult Internet users; the second, a November 2007 survey of 2,000 U.S. adult broadband users. This larger study is now being offered for purchase by contacting Andy Tarczon at 469-287-8060. "
So... we don't know how they got that result except that they contacted "2000 U.S. adult broadband users."
Not only is it a fairly small userbase, but depending on where the survey took place could make these results sway -a lot- (e.g. AVS forums, base of many HD DVD fans).

Now what's funny, is that other analysts predict the exact countrary.
See
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2007/12/pali-sony-snes-bluray-wins-dvd-war-hollywood-loses.html
and
http://www.nytimes.com/paidcontent/PCORG_317734.html?ref=technology

But I guess those weren't "news enough" to make it front page eh of Engadgethd eh ? ;)]]>Dec 11th 2007 10:27AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
at least my $.02 as a format neutral, the price of the discs and convincing the public to buy hd opposed to sd dvd are the main challenges to the format going mainstream and being fully adopted by the general public. whomever get there first will have a huge advantage over the other.]]>Dec 11th 2007 10:51AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
Phasing out the old format is the only way to get people to adopt the new one. You don't see anyone buying Gamecube's or Xbox's anymore do you? But people are still buying PS2's instead of PS3's because Sony still supports it.]]>Dec 11th 2007 11:04AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
It's a win-win, and I still don't understand how Bluboys can be blind to that fact. Fine say your product is higher quality, but don't tell me it's a better value and don't tell me it makes for better economics, because anyone who spent any time in a high school econ class knows better.]]>Dec 11th 2007 11:13AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
The masses have already spoken, with the Amazon customer vote, and the $99 HD-DVD players selling out in ONE day.]]>Dec 11th 2007 11:21AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
What is it with HD-DVD fan boys and their fascination with armchair market and statistical analysis?!?

Gross over estimation of HD-DVD and under estimation of BluRay in your "honest opinion" eh?!? *rolls eyes*

You couldn't make it up!!! Oh wait, you did!]]>Dec 11th 2007 11:30AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
I'm a fan of BR as well, but currently it's too expensive for me to jump in. It's all about getting the best deal.]]>Dec 11th 2007 11:44AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 11:46AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
Since Toshiba didn't want to lose all of thier DVD licensing revenue they decided to throw thier hat in the ring. Becuase they had less time to create a format they based it on DVD specifications which caused a few problems with the player and space limitations. They spun this as a positive stating that the discs could be made in the same stamping plants with little modification. A few places liked this but it doesn't matter to Studios since they only distribute the discs and don't stamp them. What do they care about the money a stamping plant has to invest. A plant is going to invest money if they have to nomatter what.

HD-DVD was DOA until Microsoft came in. Microsoft saw the early adoption of BluRay as slowing thier digital distrubution roadmap. Bill doesn't like to be wrong about the future he thinks has already been written by him. Microsoft brought with them a whole lot of money and backroom deals. One being Universal due to the NBC Microsoft joint venture. A little extra money thrown around and HD-DVD got its first major studio and a little life for the format. Because HD-DVD could not match BluRay's specs on paper Toshiba decided to add more features to its standard, like ethernet for internet connectivity and dual processors for PIP. Things the majority of consumers would never care about but it could be enticing to studios. Also it would force the BluRay group to add these features to thier spec so BluRay wouldn't look like it had less overall features furthe rstalling the release.

Even with the help HD-DVD still wasn't catching on so Toshiba along with Microsoft started to play dirty, just how Microsoft likes it. Toshiba started to heavily discount its players hoping to sell enough software to break even. Part of the injection that made this possible was Microsoft's generous donation of buying HD-DVD addons for the 360. This still wasn't enough to get more studios to come over to the HD-DVD side and the heavy discounts virtually killed off any chance of other manufacturers jumping in bed with HD-DVD. LG and Samsung decided to make a dual format player spec thinking it would be a smart move but the player has no way of being cost effective.

The only way Toshiba was going to establish HD-DVD as a dominant format was to push more software than BluRay. In order to do that they needed to get the player into as many hands as possible. They began the 5 free movie promotion, as they did with DVD back in the day, since that was succesful in that transition. They got a lot of good press and fanfare but BluRay matched so they increased the promotion. Still it wasn't enough and Microsoft still hadn't stalled long enough. So a nice big backroom deal needed to be made and Toshiba needed a blockbuster movie on its side. Toshiba decided to offer payment of all promotional expenses for Paramount. Hell its a good deal if you are a movie studio, extra cash in your pocket that you thought you were already going to spend. Maybe enough to pay Tom Cruise for a single movie. The deal was made and Toshiba had its blockbuster. All the while Toshiba is still bleeding money to establish the format.

The next step was a quick way to increase stats and nothing more. Toshiba authorized a Wal-Mart special sale on the discontinued A2 model. At $99 it would guarantee a quick 100k players sold. All the while BluRay held a 2:1 software sales lead. It now comes down to a battle of attrition, exactly what Microsoft wanted. If Warner stays neutral it guarantees a prolonged format war and slow adoption.

Micosoft does not play with competition. It is a dictator of a company that believes only it has a right to be in the marketplace. Anything that threatens its dominance is seen as a threat and quickly bought up or smeared. They helped save Apple only to prevent the worlds goverments from breakign them up as a monopoly. In fact the I-Pod may have been th eproduct that helped save Microsoft from being torn apart. The only format of the future is a method of distribution based on Microsoft software and data endcoded using Microsoft codecs.

That is the format war and there never was supposed to be one. It only exists because of pure dirty tactics and underhanded business. The things that Sony gets accused of are exactly what Toshiba and Microsft are doing. Its an age old tactic of acusing your competition of doing exactly what you are doing to them before they can acuse you. That way in the public's eyes they are the dirty party, regardless of truth.

If HD-DVD pulls ahead it won't be because it is the superior format or better for consumers. It will win becuase its consortium was better at playing dirty. Like with current politics I guess people really don't care. Also like current politics there is a lot going on behind the scenes to forward a backroom agenda that isn't neccessarily the best thing for the average person.
]]>Dec 11th 2007 11:48AMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
Why dont you base your long ass rant on some factual information, instead of BS conspiracy theories.

No offense, but you have to look at the format war from an economic standpoint to figure out the winner, not from a tech-geek supremacist point of view.

The Blu fan boy arguments only apply in this niche market that the Hi-Def media market is currently in. Ya'll aren't looking to the future, at which will become MASS-Adopted; and from a business/economic standpoint, HD-DVD has the stronger legs (not relying on a video game console for 90% of it's player sales... a video game console simply wont push a media format into the mainstream, especially when it's the THIRD place video game console)]]>Dec 11th 2007 12:10PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
HD DVD was the first format to come out with finished and finalized specifications. In real world you know, someone who plans first and executes comes out on the market first. That's about the long and the short of it.

DVD Forum is behind HD DVD. So it's kind of official institution that gave us DVD, Sony and BDA crowd wanted more money so that's why they came out with this cartel to basically screw consumers over so they can keep player prices high.

And it's absolutely funny that he says that HD DVD Group plays dirty hahaha.. The group came out with maybe several announcements and BDA is the only group that was using PR, payoffs, misleading numbers, rigged statistics to create an illusion of Blu-Ray winning.

HD DVD Group has been EXTREMELY quiet and just kept doing it's thing.

But I guess some people just simply lack the capability to look at things objectively.]]>Dec 12th 2007 3:12PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 12:12PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
Provide relevant links and quotes that can be backed up, not conspiracy theories and quotes and facts that seem to materialize out of thin air. Because using the logic of someone like Iridium, I could say the following:

***Sony recruits people straight out of middle school and pays them to post things on the internet that make the competition look bad, they have been doing this for years. On the other side, the evil empire Microsoft has been confirmed to be behind the rising fuel costs in order to keep people in their homes to watch their HD DVDs. Check the facts, look it up, it's true***

It does not make the above statements true when I added "check the facts, it's true" with no supporting evidence on top of the conspiracy theories. So please back up claims with some actual facts, and not just what you think a company is doing "behind closed doors," because unless you are behind those doors, you have no idea.
]]>Dec 11th 2007 12:28PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
---------------------------------------------------------------
I like being aware of new technology, but I
typically wait until the price starts coming
down and I know the product works well. 67.3%
---------------------------------------------------------------
By the time I purchase a new technology,
many people are already owners and the price
has dropped enough for me to be interested. 21.3%
---------------------------------------------------------------

Those two percentages should really be reversed based upon the descriptions.

HDTV has worked well for years and the price is not starting to come down, it has been dropping for years. Many people are currently already owners (15-20% of US households with a estimated 90-110 million total US households) and price has significantly dropped.

I'd even argue that the surveyed popultion if non-owners of HDTVs fall into the last category or somewhere in-between (for HDTV) because HDTV is by no means new. I mean we're at the point in which some retailers no longer even sell the technology it replaced, in this case analog tv's.
--------------------------------------------------------------
I never buy "new" technologies, because by
the time I buy (or someone else buys it for
me), everyone else already has one and it is
no longer considered "new." 1.4%
---------------------------------------------------------------

Of course in our society of keeping up with the Jones or at least appearing to keep up with the Jones, few would want to admit that.

Now before someone spins this the wrong way (as is becoming commonplace here), it does not mean a thing about the character or quality of citizen these people are. All it means is they were slower to adopt HDTV (and possibly other technology) than others. It does not make them a lesser/inferior person, nor does it make the the early adopters superior.

It does not even say anything about their income level, because priorities play as much a role in purchasing as income does. I have relatives many times more wealthy than I am who do not own a HDTV. My manager's manager just bought his HDTV this year. It simply is or was not a priority for them.]]>Dec 11th 2007 12:39PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
I bet there is a good majority of people who read these blogs, own a PS3, and bought it with the intention to watch movies. I for one did and I don't need any self-proclaimed HD "experts" mentioned above to tell me what it is or isn't intended to be used for.

The PS3 was designed to play BluRay movies, it was designed to play games, and it was also designed to be a networked media hub. So hard to comprehend? Surely it's up to the buyer to decide what they use it for? Can't grasp that concept either? Thought not. Get used to the fact, the PS3 will ALWAYS be classified as a BluRay player and no amount of childish bantering is going to change it.


]]>Dec 11th 2007 12:43PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/Dec 11th 2007 1:09PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/]]>Dec 11th 2007 11:54PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
Preliminary Blu-Ray specs existed well before HD-DVD came into the picture. Warner Bros and other studios were tentative about a costly switch to blue lasers and the departure of BD from the existing DVD standard. Toshiba and NEC leveraged this and HD-DVD sprang into being.

BD would have been adopted by the DVD Forum if it was more palatable to the forum members. The DVD Forum negotiated with the BDA to jettison BD-J (which studios claim is difficult to program) in favor of Microsoft's HDi (easier to program). This is MS's tie-in. MS is behind HD-DVD because HD-DVD uses their HDi API (most of the other claims around here are speculitive at best; Michael Bay conspiracy theories at worst). The other point of contention between BDA and the DVD Forum was the physical format. BDA members invested billions developing the format and refused to reach a compromise with the DVD Forum on that front. Thus, the war was born.

In my mind, BD-J is the root cause of this war. What a poor choice by the BDA. BD-J has been a nightmare and there may not have been a format war to speak of if BDA had offered HDi instead. HP's efforts to broker a deal and avoid another Beta/VHS war probably would have succeeded if BD-J was dumped.

You can be thankful about two things. The format war has driven prices down MUCH faster than would have been the case for a single format. The format war also forced BDA to revise it's specification repeatedly to adopt features that HD-DVD included from the start. In the end we will have cheaper players with more features. Competition is good, but format wars are potentially bad for early adopters.]]>Dec 11th 2007 2:39PMhttp://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/http://hd.engadget.com/2007/12/11/next-wave-of-hdtv-adopters-may-lean-towards-hd-dvd/
I don't think this represents a looming victory for HD-DVD though, at least anytime soon. To me, this just says we're looking at a dual-format future with both formats going strong.]]>Dec 11th 2007 5:12PM