"Who shows hostility?":

"Some of you blind fanboys..."
"How someone can be up BDA and corporate ass..."


"Who's comparing ALL ENTERTAINMENT?":

"Everything quote is home entertainment. You don't need uncompressed HD to consider it home entertainment..."
"we are talking about home entertainment as a whole..."


My name is Bozster, and I'm a schizophrenic. Please help me.

Agreed. There does not seem to be a single snippet of news related to BD that cannot pass without instant passionate attack from DD proponents, laughable writers from thestreet.com, disgruntled purchasers of HD-DVD, et. al. (if, indeed, these are actually separate groups of people).

Nothing wrong with commenting on the validity of an article, or presenting relevant facts, but the tired old crusades are so 2008.

@Bozster: Dude, are you seriously bashing away THAT blindly?

"Why? Everything quote is home entertainment". Because, it doesn't make sense to compare BD sales against ALL HOME ENTERTAINMENT, unless you're deliberately trying to portray it in a negative light. Hell, why stop at DD - why not lump in total sales of books, board games, alcohol, auto-erotic stimulation devices, etc.? All are forms of home entertainment, and there are many others.

The central point that some people seem intent on trying to make is that BD is somehow a failed or doomed format. It's relative success versus paid HD streaming or downloads, or even versus DVD at the same point in lifecycle, seem to be far more germane for any comparisons than how BD is doing versus Candyland.

"Why I would like digital to grow..." Okay, I see clearly now. You seem prepared to make any argument that's convenient because you have some personal stake in wishing DD to grow, as opposed to sticking to the actual facts about BD.

Got it, thanks.

Not bad for a format that's a "rip-off", but then I guess we're all just "lemmings" for wanting the best AV experience we can get.

Gotta roll my eyes at the DD crowd who seem to have this pathological need to rip into anything indicating BD success. I'm also still waiting to hear how his bright DD future fits into my desire to take media with me where I please, or to have high-bitrate content and superior audio, etc. Heck, I enjoy the occasional stream or download in certain circumstances, but certainly not for HD movies.

Until someone starts separating out actual numbers for HD media's portion of DD, there's not really much intelligent comparison that can be done, eh?

Check it out - I actually got a reply from the author. I left a comment via thestreet.com's website, and received a thoughtful reply from Jason Notte. The manner in which backs up his reasoned argument is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Minus lots of headers, here it is:

From: "Jason Notte"
To:
Return-Path: Jason.Notte@thestreet.com
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 15 Jul 2009 13:30:12.0334 (UTC) FILETIME=[616A00E0:01CA0550]

Keep spending, lemming.

-----Original Message-----
From:
Story Headline: So Over It: Blu-Ray Rips Off Consumers
Story URL:
http://www.thestreet.com/_email/story/10541539/1/so-over-it-blu-ray-rips
-off-consumers.html

Message:
Truly pathetic, dude. If you want to jump on the BD hate-wagon, you're
gonna
have to do better.

The only actual facts you quote sound like a ringing endorsement for
Blu-ray:

"...HDTV owners preferred discs over video streaming and downloads by
nearly 10
to 1. Nearly 50 million Blu-ray discs have been sold worldwide, with
Blu-ray's
growth outpacing DVDs by almost 10 million discs at the same point in
its
lifespan..."

"...companies and their customers also lack the bandwith (sic) and
storage space
to overcome the convenience of discs..."

That doesn't stop you from slinging lots of opinion, along with a
laughable
understanding of resolution, and the inability to spell "bandwidth"
correctly
(or, perhaps, to even know what that is; you know, a series of tubes).

#51 hits the nail on the head: "There's a reason *why* there's an unacceptable number of defective units: the way the system was designed. That means *every* Xbox 360 is at risk"

MS would love to keep dancing around this with phrases like "multiple causes of failure", and "moving target" for defect rate. And there are obviously many fans with blinders on willing to buy these explanations, and play games with their fingers crossed hoping for the best.

The most telling thing in all this? Why wouldn't MS simply be willing to issue a refund to anyone who wants it? It's pretty clear at this point that they are paying more money to "fix" and ship multiple systems to each customer, then this new cash flush on top of that, than just issuing refunds. If your answer is "installed base", go to the head of the class. They will gladly throw away another $4 billion at this point, just to limp thru the remaining 2 years before they orphan this lemon for their next great design. It's all about getting thru this cycle somewhere other than a far distant third place, and hoping to get it right their third time out.

"Buyer beware" was never more true.

...one born every minute...it's working...

Wow, brilliant!

1) Release your console first - no matter what the cost - since you know to do otherwise would equal failure.
2) Split your own platform by introducing HD and non-HD versions. Screw your customers with the resulting lowest-common-denominator games.
3) Rush the damn thing out the door so fast that you don't even get the basic functional design right.
4) Release an HD-DVD add-on simply to counter a spec bullet-point. Screw your customers again when that becomes an expensive and orphaned mistake.
5) Lie thru your teeth about the defect rate, even long after it becomes painfully obvious the damn thing simply doesn't work, to play for time until you figure out what the hell to do.
6) Pay massive sums of cash to try to get developers on-board, and prevent the competitor's exclusive titles.
7) Screw your customers yet again by releasing yet another version of the console, at a higher price. Hope that there are enough "hardcore" chumps willing to buy the thing - with many of the same limitations and faults - all over again.
8) Pay even more massive sums of cash to try to forestall a class-action-lawsuit, and expect your customers to thank you for it.
9) Hope you can hang onto enough market share to avoid becoming irrelevant once people start to catch on to the whole plan and avoid your product like the plague.

That's quite the P.T. Barnum business plan they've got goin' on over there...

Oh, but wait, I thought the 360 was all about GAMING?

Or perhaps that was just the obvious desperate argument to use against the PS3 for offering far more functionality than the 360. Gee, MS and its supporters wouldn't be trying to have it both ways, now would they?

Good luck finding people willing to take hours to download HD video to their 360, and paying handsomely for the privilege. I'll stick with HD Cable, and Blu-ray via Netflix, thank you very much.

Shouldn't Blake Snow be posting some of these reports and desperately trying to spin them into negative news for Sony? I thought that was his role - is he on vacation?