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[bucko]

Is this news verified? It's only Sunday a bit odd that they would mention this on Sunday.

Anyway time for some cheap movies I guess.

[shenmuemaster]

R.I.P

but still, cheap HDDVDs  

It be interesting if MS produced a BluRay addon for the 360 that turned out to be cheaper to buy a 360 with BR addon than a PS3...probs wont happen, but interesting all the same  

[imdbowlgod]

ms probly wont release a blu-ray add-on until profile 2.0 comes out

[Zod5000]

I agree with the person above, that putting an HD-DVD player in the 360 would of delayed its release and increased its cost, which would of killed two of the reasons why the 360 leads over the ps3.

I believe all copy protection can be defeated, so DRM wise I couldn't give two craps about either format from a copy protection point of view.

I had the hd-dvd addon and a ps3 (because when i bought the hd-dvd addon in october, it was very apparent that alot of movies weren't on hd-dvd at the time).

I think both formats were pretty good, they both look great on my tv.  My collection is about 50/50 between hd-dvd's and blurays, but I haven't bought an hd-dvd since warners made the announcement.  I'll be awfully tempted to grab some in blowout sales though.

I think standardization is good, when theres one format, they can push it, they don't have to split shelf space in two, or confuse the consumer.

[k3n85]

50% off many titles at Amazon, 30% off the rest

http://www.amazon.co.....f_rd_i=hd dvd

[BoNg420]

QUOTE(k3n85 @ Feb 17 2008, 02:19 PM)

50% off many titles at Amazon, 30% off the rest

http://www.amazon.co.....f_rd_i=hd dvd

Ill wait for 70-80% off and or buy 1 get 2 free

Im not suprised bluray won, I own an A35 and PS3, I own about 40+ blurays, and maybe 20ish HDDVDs.  I like my selection in bluray better too.  Better choice of movies to watch.

[HotKnife420]

QUOTE(Skevus @ Feb 17 2008, 07:47 AM)

The worst thing with HD-DVD loosing is that HD-DVD was mutch better with the HD-DVD Extras and that HD-DVD was moore consumer friendly. I presume Warner brothers prefered to scrue the consumeres and then going Blu Ray is the way to go. And I believe Sony payed of the Warner Brothers executives, gave them a nice cabin for christmas or a private jet of their own so they don't have to share the one they already have with eachother. I wish HD-DVD had won and still I haven't invested in any of the HD systems. It just feels bad that the worst format have woon. It is not about witch format i s better but of witch format have deeper pockets. However when PS 3 went Blu Ray Sony had to win because it would be really funny owning a PS 3 if HD-DVD had woon. And now we know that throwing money on warner brothers was the right thing to do because sony wouldn't have woon without them. However I hope that Toshiba continue manufacturing the HD-DVD RE roms for PC and the prices on the HD-DVD DL media goes down to the prices of DVD+R DL then I Can use HD-DVD Externally with a TVIX 6500 and watch X264. Warner Brothers scrued the consumers, now it's time for the consumers to scrue the Warner Brothers.........

 A few months ago, I probably would've said the same thing (or close to the main point, anyway). After lots and lots of reading, I'm actually convinced that Blu-ray has mad potential. HD-DVD may be better *now*, but I believe Blu-ray has more room for growth. Remember how all early DVDs had the most basic menus and almost no features? BDs seem to have some "basic" features, but the presentation will improve over time, as people compiling the BDs will get more familiar with the javascript.

[sabbath_dude]

This news doesn't bother me in the slightest. Today I just bought myself a brand new sealed 360 HD DVD add-on for £46 on eBay!   (and that was after reading this news article). You can now pick up tons of used/new HD DVD titles from between £4-£10 since everyone has started jumping ship and dumping their movie collections as fast as they can       . From a collector of consoles and rare add-ons point of view it'll be cool to have the 360 HD DVD drive and big collection of HD movies in years to come.

If this is more than just a rumour I am a little surprised Toshiba didn't hold out and support the format for just a bit longer. I'm not sure If I'll personally ever need a standalone Blu-ray player (I don't really need an HD DVD player!) but when the prices drop to the same level standard DVDs are today I'll consider it. For now I'll continue to invest in extra storage for my PC. Digital downloads are where we're headed.

[88 Ecko Unltd 88]

So its about time . I'm glad i didn't go ahead and buy the HD-DVD player some weeks ago     Now I can go ahead buy the PS3 gladly without thinking about the dam format war   I'll probably just wait for now and buy the PS3 when it prices drops here in a little bit  

Thank god this is done and over with  

[XBNormUK]

My personal thoughts are that the whole 'format war' has been generated by the industry, for the industry, and has certainly been financially motivated. It has been simply to stir a bit of interest in the techy consumers out there who have to have the latest thing, or indeed the movie fans who are big on quality. Net result, people buy hardware and media that aint gonna last or be supported for more than a couple of years. It is well documented that the masses have not been adopting a new format as quickly as the big boys in the industry would like, maybe tired of more discs to replace, maybe due to downloading, but either way, i think the industry has been stoking the fire as a whole to milk a bit more money out of consumers before adopting the new standard.

And now we apparently have. Wahey for BluRay (mini disc or betamax anyone?), and sony have broke the bank and pretty much bought off the market to push through blu ray. But is it worth it for them, I mean, great for them to have a successful format, and its capabilities sound impressive, but how many of us will be buying media off a shelf in a few years time. Surely there cant be long left for disc orientated media players. Certainly a media less games console is not a million miles away, and right now we are all starting to embrace digital download as part of our media selection and purchasing routine. I know I certainly wont be rushing out to replace my move collection on Blu Ray.

Anyways, I know jack about this whole thing so just my personal ramblings, but as a Gamer I think MS got it right. MS based a console around gaming, Sony based and built a console around a format, giving MS a massive head start and a huge price advantage in the process. Result, I bought a 360, I wouldnt have bought if it was say, a hundred pound more expensive but included a HD DVD. The games catalogue is great, maybe due to the head start for developers, ease of development, but either way, as a games console I cant really fault my 360. (And no I have had no RROD yet! ;-)). Due to my happiness with it I have since upgraded to an elite for my HD needs.

Anyone can enlighten me on what effect this will have on the content available for the movie marketplace, if any?

Thanks for reading, god i even bore myself sometimes! ;-)

[Mr Invader]

I wanted Heroes: Season 2 to come out on HD-DVD!   That's all I wanted.

[JohnnyVegas]

the reason the ps3 is priced below the standalones is for the simple reason of selling more ps3's. it is a calculated business move by sony.

Sony owns the rights (the master plan of creating BR)and will continue to keep the cost high to keep manufatures prices over the console. They should let the BR thing be and focus on getting some damn games.

Sony has lost my business years ago but this just reafirms it for me. Sony sucks my monkey balls.
Hard.

[Flagg3]

QUOTE(fataldog187 @ Feb 17 2008, 03:47 AM)

There have been no official announcements from Toshiba concerning this, only an 'unidentified source' saying "We have entered the final stage of planning to make our exit from the next generation DVD business" Source: (Reuters reporting on NHK story).

I think this still qualifies as a rumor until an official announcement is made by Toshiba or the HD DVD promotional group. I am also somewhat surprised at the way it is being reported on X-S without at least a "Rumor:" tag in front of the story or something like "Toshiba plans to pull the plug, says source" etc. :s

It's not considered a rumor because it has been confirmed with a reliable source at Toshiba.  

Don't confuse anonymous sources with unnamed sources.  When a news organization confirms something with a source that they consider trustworthy at a company, it is a confirmed source.  Sometimes the source asks not to be named in the media, but the reporters know who it is, and wouldn't report it without fact checking that the source is someone in a position to be able to comment reliably on the subject.

[Flagg3]

QUOTE(JohnnyVegas @ Feb 17 2008, 05:35 PM)

the reason the ps3 is priced below the standalones is for the simple reason of selling more ps3's. it is a calculated business move by sony.

Sony owns the rights (the master plan of creating BR)and will continue to keep the cost high to keep manufatures prices over the console. They should let the BR thing be and focus on getting some damn games.

Sony has lost my business years ago but this just reafirms it for me. Sony sucks my monkey balls.
Hard.

Sorry, your way off here.  

First of all, Blu-Ray is a standard that was founded by 9 separate companies:  Sony, Matsushita, Pioneer, Philips, Thomson, LG Electronics, Hitachi, Sharp, and Samsung.  All of them are a part of the Blu-Ray Disc Association, and all of them have a vested interest in the formats success, as well as full voting rights on the direction of the format.  (Several of the companies besides Sony own patents involved in the blu-ray disc format, and they all receive royalties from the format.)

The actual truth of the matter is that the format war was really initiated by Microsoft.  The Blu-Ray camps and the HD-DVD camps were willing to merge the formats, but the main sticking point was whether to license Microsofts HDi format, or Sun's Java platform for interactivity.  The companies voted in favor of Java, so Microsoft recruited and funded Toshiba so that they could singlehandedly develop the HD-DVD format.  So your argument is a bit backwards.  If HD-DVD had won, the format would have largely been controlled by Toshiba and Microsoft, whereas Blu-Ray is comtrolled by 9 of the largest electronics manufacturers in the world.  

Sony gets all of the press for Blu-ray, but the fact is that it was pretty much Toshiba against the world, and if it weren't for Microsoft's attempts to salvage HDi, then Toshiba never would have had the capital to sell the hardware at such a large loss for so long to begin with.  

[sinister slipknot]

I bought a HD DVD player well over a year ago... you'd think i'd be pissed, but since my 360 died a little under a year ago i couldn't care less!