Seriously, it'd be nice if the hacks that write for this website could look at this objectively. All it takes is Universal and Paramount's continued exclusivity, and combo players will take over. They're two of the larger studios, and looking at my collection, definitely represent more than 2/8ths of my BD and HD catalog. I love Casino Royale, and many of the other popular BD titles out there, but you can bet that there are just as many HD exclusives that I need to have (Bourne Trilogy, Eastern Promises, Face/Off, not to mention HD remains the only way to watch Batman Begins, the Matrix, and V for Vendetta for the time being until Warner works out their BD-J issues). Consumers are going to want to be able to buy from every studio. I imagine that a significant fraction of current HDM owners are dual-format, and that fraction will continue to grow so long as Uni and/or Paramount hold out. Toshiba may not have a chance to win, but you can bet they're willing to stick it to Sony and will pay the studios in the short run in order to see that HD becomes established in much the same way that DVD+R/-R is. They've got a lot to win by keeping the format alive in the form of licensing fees.
You think combo players are going to save HD DVD? When the market contains Blu Ray players and combo players, it means that Blu Ray is the defacto standard. Studios are not going to bother continuing with HD DVD in those circumstances. Why should they lose a very large percentage of their revenue by staying on the proprietary format? Be in no doubt that combo players spend the end for any "losing" format. Which happens to be HD DVD at present.
Sorry, but I don't think so. As users continue to hedge on which format to get and DVD sales continue to slip, the Studios will be forced to make a choice (the one with more media sales worldwide) in order to earn money.
Also, forgive me for the lack of eloquence here, but I don't think that the DVD+/-R analogy is apt. Those discs are for wildly different purposes (and represent a fairly different market) than what BD and HD-DVD intend to be.
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Seriously, it'd be nice if the hacks that write for this website could look at this objectively. All it takes is Universal and Paramount's continued exclusivity, and combo players will take over. They're two of the larger studios, and looking at my collection, definitely represent more than 2/8ths of my BD and HD catalog. I love Casino Royale, and many of the other popular BD titles out there, but you can bet that there are just as many HD exclusives that I need to have (Bourne Trilogy, Eastern Promises, Face/Off, not to mention HD remains the only way to watch Batman Begins, the Matrix, and V for Vendetta for the time being until Warner works out their BD-J issues). Consumers are going to want to be able to buy from every studio. I imagine that a significant fraction of current HDM owners are dual-format, and that fraction will continue to grow so long as Uni and/or Paramount hold out. Toshiba may not have a chance to win, but you can bet they're willing to stick it to Sony and will pay the studios in the short run in order to see that HD becomes established in much the same way that DVD+R/-R is. They've got a lot to win by keeping the format alive in the form of licensing fees.
You think combo players are going to save HD DVD? When the market contains Blu Ray players and combo players, it means that Blu Ray is the defacto standard. Studios are not going to bother continuing with HD DVD in those circumstances. Why should they lose a very large percentage of their revenue by staying on the proprietary format? Be in no doubt that combo players spend the end for any "losing" format. Which happens to be HD DVD at present.
Sorry, but I don't think so. As users continue to hedge on which format to get and DVD sales continue to slip, the Studios will be forced to make a choice (the one with more media sales worldwide) in order to earn money.
Also, forgive me for the lack of eloquence here, but I don't think that the DVD+/-R analogy is apt. Those discs are for wildly different purposes (and represent a fairly different market) than what BD and HD-DVD intend to be.