Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD... HD DVD about to throw in the towell?

Question

So I know that HD DVD isn't really planning on throwing in the towell as of right now, but I've heard rumors that HD DVD is kind of on it's last stretch and is probably about to die out slowly, especially with the switch of many of the movie producers recently going to Blu-Ray. Now, the rumors I have heard might just be Blu-Ray fanboyism, I don't have any way of knowing that, but what do you think about the current situation? I personally still refuse to choose a side... And please people, don't turn this into a fanboy bash!

Answer 1

It looks like HD DVD is on its last stretch, but is Toshiba getting ready to throw it in?  No.  While it seems clear that Blu will win, I think there is a long hard fought battle yet to be fought before that is a certainty.  Toshiba will not go down easily, but I think that eventually it will.

Answer 2

The both kind of stink right now.  I've was looking into buying one or the other and read aprox. 500  reviews (profesional and consumer) and at least half of the people who own either type complain that movies freeze up while they are watching. And all of them say you have to either download and burn a cd or connect your player to the internet to update it to get it to work and they still freeze up.  I am not buying either till they get their c**p together.  It does seem however that in general HD DVD owners are more satisfied but, Blu ray will probably win because we are suckers and bluray does more advertising and spits out more propoganda.  I've looked at both pictures they look about the same so neither can say their pic is better. bluray has more movies though and hd dvd is way cheaper.  But both should be ashamed of selling technology they haven't mastered yet.  I guess they have to to compete but i wouldn't buy anything that I have to fix when I first take it out of the box. And that may or may not play movies.

Answer 3

The thing that really sucks in all this is that HD DVD really is the better format and this is not fanboyism.....Blu-Ray owners will have to buy a new player in the future unless they have a PS3 due to profile upgrades from 1.0 to 1.1 and then to 2.0. Current players other than the PS3 do not have enough memory to support the new special features like Picture-in-Picture, internet enabled features and games which can be played against other people online. These features are already available on HD DVD and don't require any updates or purchase of new players.

The only reason Blu-Ray is winning is because Sony has not only the studios in their pocket but retailers as well since they are obviously paying some retailers to be Blu-Ray only, and yes this is possible as many stores in my area sell only blu-ray players.

The way things are going of course HD DVD has nothing more than a snowball's chance in h**l to win this.....I'm hoping they pull off some sort of big "upset" move and give Blu-ray a swift kick in the gonads for trying to s***w us.

I have a dual format player so I'm safe on both ends as my player, since it is compatible with all the HD DVD features, has enough memory for the new profile updates to blu-ray....even if it wasn't, I only want to watch the movie and don't care about special features anyway.

Answer 4

Blu ray and HD-DVD still have a long way to go. The down side of Blu ray is that you need to buy a seperate Blu ray player. Most movies now are still coming out with DVD's.

I think that later on, if Sony can really push to beat HD-DVD with Blu ray, you may have a winner. Right now it is too early to decide.

Answer 5

About $100 for a HD-DVD player - an you get up to 7 free movies with it (at least $150 value)! CONSUMER is the biggest winner.  I would take advantage of low pricing on HD-DVD now - it is a better DVD player than any $100 regular DVD player anyway - and enjoy the wonderful new technology.

$399 for PS3 - with 5 free movies - is not a bad deal either.

PS - HD-DVD cost less than the CHEAPEST IPOD!

Answer 6

This is what you get with Blu-ray;

Companies:

Sony

MGM

Warner Brothers

New Line

Lionsgate

20th Century Fox

Disney & Pixar (Steve Jobs?)

Movies:

The Matrix

Spiderman - X Men - Fantastic Four - Superman - *Batman

Harry Potter

Simpsons

Robocop

Evil Dead

Monty Python

Road Warrior

*(Batman is on HD-DVD at the moment but Warner Brothers just made the jump to Blu-ray, get it while you still can HD owners.)

Entertainers:

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Sylvester Stallone

Chuck Norris

Bruce Lee

Bruce Willis

Johnny Depp

Will Smith

Denzel Washington

Will Ferrell

Adam Sandler

Blockbuster Video (some still carry both formats)

Do you really think the HD-DVD stands a chance?

Answer 7

There is alot of bashing I supported hd and am happy I have the features alone are amazing..studio support has dwindles with hd since the warner move but all remaining say they are staying hd!!! I think it's crazy...hd has 70% computer support w/ microsoft and has 3 major studios plus indies and bbc so on and so forth...blu ray is great too!!!! features not as in depth capabilities arent where they could be and will be....lets face it BOTH FORMATS ARE EQUALLY AMAZING I JUST WISH WE WERENT THE DUMMIES THAT WE'RE MADE TO LOOK LIKE WITH CONSUMER BULL$H17 LIKE THIS. I am ready to just enjoy my movies and if it's blu ok if it's both they will drive each other's prices down in competition!!!!   hd dvd will increase marketshare in this agressive pricing campaign and the way I see it is if hd soes go I spent 179.00 on a great upconverter  and will wait for blu to go down a bit

Answer 8

The HD DVD manufacturer, Toshiba, and other companies that support the HD DVD format, CANCELLED ALL presentation booths at CES 2008.

Five of the seven major film studios support ONLY Blu-Ray and DVD.  Those studios that support Blu-Ray are:

Sony, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, MGM

The other two studios that support HD-DVD:

Viacom (Paramount) and Universal

Actually, both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD WILL play regular dvd's.

Answer 9

Looks like this is Toshiba's answer to some people saying HD is dead. I think that if you just want to watch HD movies then it wouldnt matter what format wins. Just wait it out.

But if you want to support a format then go out and compare them. I did... and i went with HD-DVD. If you do compare you'll find that they both offer great looking movies. Its just that people with Blu ray players (mostly video game players for Sonys PS3) will have more choices in movies starting in the month of May.

I do admit that Blu looked just as good but why would I pay more for it? If your in it for storage then Blu is the way to go but we are talking about movies in general for the most part.

We shouldn't let some big corporation decide what format is better for us. I made my decision by doing my own research to see what format worked best. I found that HDs interactive menu seemed more friendly and smooth. Its a shame that Warner will stop making movies in HD DVD. Not much choice there as a consumer huh? And they say they know whats best for consumers.