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[Emowii]

Are people really this scared of picking a loser? It's as if people think that if they pick the format that ultimately loses that, suddenly, their player will stop working and their movies will burst into flames and never play again.

No, their discs will not burst into flames, but consider this.


Let's just say Bluray wins the format war by this time next year. What do you think the owner of an HD-DVD player is gonna do? Keep his HD-DVD player hooked up to his HDTV, and then just buy a Bluray player as well and have both DVD players forever hooked up to their tv? Please.


Those people that get burned are gonna eventually end up biting the bullet and selling the stupid thing on Ebay for a huge loss. They're gonna do the same with their HD-DVD discs. So tell me how fun thats gonna be.

No one is gonna be happy when they realize they're stuck with the dead format. It's a ridiculous waste of money.

 

[Chemo]

Is it really that hard for you to understand that most people don't want to spend half a grand on something that's going to be obselete in a year when all the movie companies drop support for it and all that's left is re-re-released classics and porn.

Of course not. But is it really that hard for most people who don't want to spend a half a grand on something to stay the **** out of next-gen format thread discussion? I think we've had MORE than enough "I'm not buying until the format war is over" posts to last fifty god damned lifetimes.

Let's just say Bluray wins the format war by this time next year. What do you think the owner of an HD-DVD player is gonna do? Keep his HD-DVD player hooked up to his HDTV, and then just buy a Bluray player as well and have both DVD players forever hooked up to their tv? Please.

Frankly I don't care what they do with their HD-DVD player if Blu-ray wins. Look... I still have my SNES hooked up to play games on it that I don't have on other consoles. If I can leave an old console hooked up, I think someone who bought into a losing format can leave their HD-DVD player hooked up too. Whether they do or not, though, is not my problem OR my concern.

What I said initially was true: It's absolutely retarded that people are acting like this. If you buy HD-DVD and it fails, big ****ing deal. You still have all the movies you purchased, they look outstanding on your HDTV, and you can watch them whenever you feel like it. I support Blu-ray, and I will continue to support Blu-ray, and if HD-DVD beats it, I don't think I'll lose a whole lot of sleep. I'll just buy a new player (because by the time it's decided, they'll be cheap as hell) and buy other movies, still keeping my Blu-rays.

 

[Suikoguy]

No, their discs will not burst into flames, but consider this.


Let's just say Bluray wins the format war by this time next year. What do you think the owner of an HD-DVD player is gonna do? Keep his HD-DVD player hooked up to his HDTV, and then just buy a Bluray player as well and have both DVD players forever hooked up to their tv? Please.


Those people that get burned are gonna eventually end up biting the bullet and selling the stupid thing on Ebay for a huge loss. They're gonna do the same with their HD-DVD discs. So tell me how fun thats gonna be.

No one is gonna be happy when they realize they're stuck with the dead format. It's a ridiculous waste of money.

Not to mention, when their HD-DVD player dies, and they don't make them anymore.. what do you do? Hope someone is selling one used?

With the PS3 at least you know you will be able to get one for several years, if not longer.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

the simple answer is that the difference between 720p(upscaled) and 1080p simply is not as much as VHS to DVD. Dvds you also got bunch of other neat extra features and the print would not degrade over time.

With blu ray and HD DVD it seems like the dics cost more and have less extras.

 

[Chemo]

Guys, you can still get LASERDISC players.

LASERDISC.

I think everyone who adopts the losing platform is going to be pretty freaking safe as far as being able to get replacement players goes until we completely replace disc-based media with digital distribution years and years down the road.

 

[ManaByte]

the simple answer is that the difference between 720p(upscaled) and 1080p simply is not as much as VHS to DVD. Dvds you also got bunch of other neat extra features and the print would not degrade over time.

With blu ray and HD DVD it seems like the dics cost more and have less extras.

Well HD-DVD has more extras, and interactive extras, but if you look at the Blu-Ray thread here people say extras don't matter.

 

[Emowii]

Well HD-DVD has more extras, and interactive extras, but if you look at the Blu-Ray thread here people say extras don't matter.

I would say thats a pretty accurate statement when you're talking about 97% of the public. I like extras, but I think vast majority of people out there never even watch a minute of them.

 

[livestOne]

I never said I was one of those people. :lol Just throwing a reason out there why some people are hesitant to drop cash on something that's going to be abandoned.

also I caught you before your edit chemo, so we are getting through to you

 

[Chemo]

I never said I was one of those people. :lol Just throwing a reason out there why some people are hesitant to drop cash on something that's going to be abandoned.

No, no... I understand. I just wanted to explain my stance.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

I think 99% of people won't be able to see the difference between HD-DVD/BRD and upscaled DVD. Now that you can get an upscaler for $80 at Wal-Mart, you're gonna have a tough time convincing anyone that a true HD experience is worth $300 more, except to enthusiasts.

 

[Brofist]

I think 99% of people won't be able to see the difference between HD-DVD/BRD and upscaled DVD. Now that you can get an upscaler for $80 at Wal-Mart, you're gonna have a tough time convincing anyone that a true HD experience is worth $300 more, except to enthusiasts.

are you saying 99% of the population is blind?

 

[AgentOtaku]

are you saying 99% of the population is blind?

:lol

 

[Kabuki Waq]

are you saying 99% of the population is blind?

99% of ppl will notice a slight difference but not enough to make them go buy a player.

 

[M3Freak]

More evidence optical media is dead?

No freaking way: not yet in North America, anyway. Why? Well:

1. Broadband Internet is too expensive
2. Broadband speeds are too slow
3. Stupid, stupid ISPs putting caps on downloads
4. Stupid, stupid ISPs

Until the above is fixed, optical media will not die in North America.

Japan, and other countries with similarily advanced Internet infrastructures will see optical media slowly disappear way sooner than we ever well.

I think people are just really happy with their DVDs, and don't see the benefit of BD or HD-DVD. I think this will change as more people purchase HDTVs though.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

also i think everybody is forgetting one major thing for casuals....going from Bulky VHS to a sleek DVD felt like you were getting something hitechy......Blu ray and hddvd covers just look like regular dvd covers with different edges.

Collector edition dvds look really attractive these days.


Covers count for a lot with casuals.

 

[M3Freak]

99% of ppl will notice a slight difference but not enough to make them go buy a player.

It's not even slight man. It's really like night and day; like black and white.

For example, the BD version of Ice Age 2 is unbelievable. It makes the DVD version look like utter shit. My wife and I were floored when we watched the BD version. My brother-in-law was equally amazed.

DVDs still look decent on the HDTV, but they cannot compare to the few BD movies we have now. There is no competition.

 

[livestOne]

I'm still recovering from those terrible gas prices.:lol But I'll be good to go in a few months.

 

[Brofist]

It's not even slight man. It's really like night and day; like black and white.

For example, the BD version of Ice Age 2 is unbelievable. It makes the DVD version look like utter shit. My wife and I were floored when we watched the BD version. My brother-in-law was equally amazed.

DVDs still look decent on the HDTV, but they cannot compare to the few BD movies we have now. There is no competition.

You are in denial man. you are obviously part of the 1%

 

[GONZO]

Normal dvd FTW, for a long long long time to come. Then comes DD.

 

[AgentOtaku]

It's not even slight man. It's really like night and day; like black and white.

For example, the BD version of Ice Age 2 is unbelievable. It makes the DVD version look like utter shit. My wife and I were floored when we watched the BD version. My brother-in-law was equally amazed.

DVDs still look decent on the HDTV, but they cannot compare to the few BD movies we have now. There is no competition.

Have to concur

...and as the technology progresses and more and more films are shot accordingly, the contrast is only going to become greater

...does that mean the average consumer has to give a shit?....no, not at all.
But certainly, my wife and I can't go back to watching SD if there is a HD variant available

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

1) By the time one format fails, the other will be cheap. No problem.
2) Extras matter, but a hell of a lot less than selection. I don't buy a movie for the extras, I buy it for the movie. I usually choose the version that *has* the extras, but I don't lose sleep over it, and I don't skip a movie for lacking extras.
3) Once people start seeing HD content and have HD sets, they will care.
4) Most people won't pay $400+ for the difference, but they will pay $200+.

 

[djtiesto]

people don't give a shit about competing formats. They don't want to buy it because to your average consumer, the increase in quality is not justified by having to buy a $500-1000 player and $30 movies.

Been saying this ever since the beginning of the HD movie era. The average NeoGAFfer needs to learn that not everybody is making $60,000+ a year in a cushy office job with nothing better to spend their money on than the latest technology, regardless of its perceived value to them. Just look how the PS3 is doing now...

Look how long DVD took to catch on, even with $30 players. My brother used to work at Blockbuster (quit the end of last year), and during his tenure, people were STILL asking for VHS tapes.

 

[krypt0nian]

Someone wasn't there when you knew everyone in the Best Buy DVD aisle on Tuesdays by name.

 

[DarienA]

The average NeoGAFfer needs to learn that not everybody is making $60,000+ a year in a cushy office job with nothing better to spend their money on than the latest technology, regardless of its perceived value to them.

Sucks for you little people then....

 

[Emowii]

Been saying this ever since the beginning of the HD movie era. The average NeoGAFfer needs to learn that not everybody is making $60,000+ a year in a cushy office job with nothing better to spend their money on than the latest technology,

Then I guess you need to find yourself a cushy office job like the rest of us, and get with the times. :lol

 

[kaching]

I don't know why we keep doing this dance about the HD disc formats not taking off as if it's supposed to be decided within the first year they're on the market. If you really want to compare pricing for hardware and so forth for the same time period in DVD's life, could you please actually go back to when that was for DVD? 96-97, NOT 99-00.

Well HD-DVD has more extras, and interactive extras, but if you look at the Blu-Ray thread here people say extras don't matter.

Please read:

2) Extras matter, but a hell of a lot less than selection. I don't buy a movie for the extras, I buy it for the movie. I usually choose the version that *has* the extras, but I don't lose sleep over it, and I don't skip a movie for lacking extras.

Have we cracked more than 200 titles in either format's library yet?

 

[.hacked]

once you go HD you can't go back, god bless the DVD buying public for they do not know what they are missing.

Upscan those DVDs :lol

 

[purnoman3000]

I think it's important to consider that DVD's reached mainstream appeal much more quickly than either HD format will. For one, DVD players were cheaper out the gate, and by 1999, you could get a decent player for under $200. More importantly, however, is that anyone with a tv could buy and use a DVD player. The HD formats are limited to people with HDTV's.

How can you predict a quicker mainstream adoption of DVD over BRD or HD-DVD? They are outselling DVD at the same time in its lifespan. DVD's didn't start outselling VHS until about 2002-2003. That leaves 5-6 years before BRD/HD-DVD has to outsell DVD before it can be deemed more or less successful. That's 2012-2013, I don't think it's unrealistic to think it will be as successful. That is if Digital Distribution doesn't cut into that but in the case of DD, the infrastructure has to be there for faster downloads at cheaper prices along with cheaper storage space.

Also, to those who say upscaled DVD's will be enough, blargh. On a large enough screen, DVD's look like vomit on an HDTV because of the native resolution. You're basically trying to get more pixels/resolution that isn't there, creating something out of nothing. Until someone comes out with an amazing upscaling chip, this is gonna be the case. It's not just the rez/detail, it's the colours as well that you don't get on DVD.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

Sucks for you little people then....

but then again most of us a just beginning our professional Career unlike some 57 yr old gaffers.

 

[mckmas8808]

Normal dvd FTW, for a long long long time to come. Then comes DD.

Why?

 

[Days like these...]

My girlfriend wanted to get a tattoo this weekend and so we went to a tatto parlor and they had a nice 42" lcd screen and it was playing some gangster movie (not sure which one couldn't bare to watch) and it just looked like dirty old ass. I guess i've been spoiled but I dont understand how people can drop $1 or $2k on a tv and but not willing to spend $400-$600 on a HD DVD or Blu Ray player.

 

[GONZO]

Why?

Simply because it's the cheapest medium. And 90% of human will go after the cheapest medium. You can gat a dvd player for under 30 dollars U.S. at the moment. That's nuts, YOu can get a damn good upscale dvd player at under 100. Those stats are mind boggling. The saturation of regular dvd's is monumental and it's continuing to grow. The cap still hasn't been reached and until that time has come there really is no room for another market leader. blu-ray and hd-dvd are great formats. I just feel that they're too late. Right now fiber optic wire is being laid all over the country at an amazing rate and over the next 5 years it should be readily available to over 70% of the U.S. That's when Digital distribution will start taking off. For now all the trends and sales data that I've seen point to the fact that for the majority of consumers 480P is more then good enough. In a few years I see cable companies offering movie downloads to a set top box that allows you to view your movie or even burn it to a blank hd-dvd or blu-ray disc. That right there is the future of home entertainment content delivery. There are still tons of hurdles to get to that point but it's coming, and coming quicker then most think.

 

[Raistlin]

Normal dvd FTW, for a long long long time to come. Then comes DD.

No.

Due to the viewing differences versus audio, there will always be a segment of the population that cares about quality.

It will be a very long time, if ever, that DD can support the bitrates and size of HD DVD, let alone BluRay.

 

[AdmiralViscen]

Ouch. That's worse than I thought.

 

[Chemo]

No.

Due to the viewing differences versus audio, there will always be a segment of the population that cares about quality.

It will be a very long time, if ever, that DD can support the bitrates and size of HD DVD, let alone BluRay.

This is the right answer. The winner of this format war has an entire generation ahead of itself before high quality DD becomes viable on a mass level.

 

[djkimothy]

My girlfriend wanted to get a tattoo this weekend and so we went to a tatto parlor and they had a nice 42" lcd screen and it was playing some gangster movie (not sure which one couldn't bare to watch) and it just looked like dirty old ass. I guess i've been spoiled but I dont understand how people can drop $1 or $2k on a tv and but not willing to spend $400-$600 on a HD DVD or Blu Ray player.

Because DVDs are cheap and "good enough."

 

[GONZO]

Because DVDs are cheap and "good enough."

This is the correct answer.

 

[Pimpwerx]

Exactly. It hasn't even been a year since these formats were launched. How many of you even considered or owned a DVD player back in 97-98.

At $500-1000 for PC drives? Pfft, forget about it. I waited until I got a PS2 in early 2001. Didn't get one on a PC until 2003. This article is reaching. PEACE.

EDIT: It's funny how DVD has turned out to be the stopgap many of us predicted it to be when its specs were first finalized. HDTV was being negotiated from way back when, and the 1080p figure had long been out there. When they revealed it was only gonna support SDTV resolutions, it was pretty obvious there would be a need for a switch once HDTV specs finally got ratified. DVD could have been a longer-term format if the consortium had waited until the multilayer reading was more mature. I think HDTV and BD will be commoditized within the life of the PS3, so having DVD-compatibility built-in makes migration to that standard much simpler. Studios want the switch b/c DVD sales are supposedly drying up. They're usually right (successful) in these gambles. PEACE.

 

[Raistlin]

Because DVDs are cheap and "good enough."

Then why bother with a HDTV at all?

 

[virtuafightermaster]

Give me a $20 HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player like the current DVD player, I will jump right in.

 

[Raistlin]

Give me a $20 HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player like the current DVD player, I will jump right in.

Wait ... you use a $20 DVD player?


:lol :lol :lol

 

[krypt0nian]

Because DVDs are cheap and "good enough."

I thought that too until I played my first BR disc on my 1080p set.

 

[mrklaw]

people don't give a shit about competing formats. They don't want to buy it because to your average consumer, the increase in quality is not justified by having to buy a $500-1000 player and $30 movies.

why does this always come up? At this point in the platform it isn't selling to the 'average consumer'. Its still selling to the enthusiast.

DVD took 2-3 years to come down to cheap players. Discs were similarly priced to Bluray/HDDVD at the start too.

Just because DVD is so massively popular now doesn't mean Bluray/HDDVD suddenly need to be in that position 12 months after launch.

 

[quest]

Then why bother with a HDTV at all?

For video games and OTA which is free and the nice form factor of the tv is nice benifit. I can also record that OTA for a measily 6 dollars a month and get hours of entertainment. On the other hand I would have to shell out 500+ for the player then 25+ for the movies. That is just to big of investment right now especially since there will be a loser to the format war. That and I need atleast 2 players because I have 2 TVs in the house that get used for movies. On my 720P 42 inch TV and my 37 inch 720P TV upscaled DVDs don't look that bad. Are they as good as OTA nope but they are good enough for the price.

I was much more excited about DVD than I am either hd-dvd or blue ray. DVD was a massive up grade over VHS in every way especially for a person who buys movies.

 

[purnoman3000]

"good enough" sucks balls. I guess I'm jaded but I'm disappointed with even some HD content, forgot SD. I can't play games that at least have a widescreen 480P option. This is how bad my craving has become.