The format war will ultimately be won with consumer dollars, not a petition. This is not a democracy.

Maybe Sony should have put a DVD drive in my PS3 so it could be completely obsolete in 2 years. I hate them for forcing a $499 Blu-ray player onto us poor gamers!

It's a good thing Microsoft isn't "heavy-handed" and would NEVER force proprietary tech on the public.

http://www.shopforbluray.com

Sony didn't push Beta to be a "next-generation" format. There was NO videotape for consumers. JVC and Sony fought to be the first. JVC won because they delivered on key points before Sony could figure it out.

The consumer will end up with the best solution (not necessarily the best technology) that suits their needs. The format that meets these needs first will win.

Nobody cares about Betamax in 2006. Enough with the lame analogy. Something pertaining to the demise of Laserdisc or D-VHS would be more relevant, but not be of any use to Sony-haters I guess.

$1000 Blu-Ray players is no longer an accurate statement. The Samsung sells new on Amazon for $700. Walmart is selling the Philips for $900. These units will be greatly discounted as the PS3 becomes more accessable.

"Limited Quantites" for PS3 means a half-million.
By spring 2007 when supply is more available there will be a few million snapped up.

The magnitude of PS3 owners that will casually buy/rent Blu-ray movies between playing games will cast a long shadow over the entire HD-DVD microcosm.

In what fantasy dimension is HD-DVD running away with the format battle? Malaise?

88,000 BD players just landed in Japanese living rooms. 400,000 will hit the US in 2 days. The installed base of HD-DVD players is about to be dwarfed.

Everyone questions if PS3 owners will buy movies as if gamers are a subspecies of human. If you just spent $600+ on a device wouldn't you explore every feature of it? If games cost $60 then a few $20 movies isn't going to hurt once you get bored with the launch titles. I predict 2-3 movies sold at launch for every console.

3 Major CEs (not rebadges) have shipped first-gen players. By this time next year there will be a dozen 2nd-gen players on the market, along with the readily available $499 20GB PS3. HD-DVD has no support from other CE makers. No burners for PCs even announced.

ALL the major retailers support Blu-ray. Shoppers can't even find a working HD-DVD display unit in a store. How is it going to sell? Did I blink and miss the media coverage of the HD-DVD drive? Maybe they slipped it between the Wii and PS3 launch coverage.

Unfortunately, a console add-on is not going to save HD-DVD. Maybe a Universal player can when they arrive.


http://www.hdformatwar.com
http://www.shopforbluray.com

I was in Target a few weeks ago and saw the Blu-ray/HD-DVD section on the wall of DVDs.

It's not as "front and center" as BBuy, but at least they didn't shove the HD titles in between the SD DVDs.

They really need a working display unit like BBuy or the Sony Store. The best way to educate curious consumers is to show them the HD difference. Otherwise people won't even notice it between special editions of Grease and Baywatch season 5 boxset.

http://www.hdformatwar.com

Last year I bought the 1080i Denon-1920 for $350. Of course, this was before the next-gen DVD battle kicked off.

This time around I would spend the $400 on a Toshiba HD-A1. That way I can upscale my DVDs and watch HD-DVD.

Also, what exactly makes this a "universal" player? SACD and DVD-Audio? Big whoop. I have a cheapo $90 Lite-On Burner/Divx Player/Region Free 480P that can play any crap video content I can burn onto a spindle of brand-X blanks that my Denon won't even read. It's the true swiss army knife of my home theater. That is what "universal" is all about.

http://www.hdformatwar.com
http://www.shopforbluray.com
http://www.hdmoviesales.com

no cablecard here in the San Fernando Valley.

I want Gears of War for XBox360

I smell Sega CD. Like all the console add-ons that have come before it, this thing is doomed. Toshiba stand-alone players will be discounted to $300 by Christmas. By next spring this drive will be in the clearance bin at ToysRus.