Hey, thanks Disgruntled HDDVD Fan.
You seem like a decent guy too but I’m sure you are looking a little thinner these days since there’s no more milk from your dried up HD-DUD teat. (to use your strange analogy)

Your post made me laugh since I admit I have always liked the colour blue best. Ironic hey?!?

I’ll make this short since its probably only you and me reading this post now…

You didnt really answer my post well. I still stand by the fact that BD-Live or your HDi or whatever is a fraction of the enjoyment of the movie experience. I love movies but rarely use the “extras” except to see lost cuts of the film. Something even DVD’s have, let alone Blu rays from day 1. I really doubt anyne with the first gen of blu will be crying over this. If they do, Buy a new player once they are $100.00 and use the old one for the bedroom. It’s not rocket science. NEXT…

Unless you sit very close to a 32inch TV, you will see barely any difference. Blu ray WONT ever take over the “small TV” market as it is meant as a large screen format. (again, not rocket science) WIth larger screens coming way down in price (under $1000 even for 1080p) this market will be big enough alone to support blu and HD in general.

I see no mention of the fact that HD-DVD would allow Toshiba to continue to get simular royalties that DVD gives them. Me thinks this may have been a big part of them not wanting to join the rest of the CE gang. Oh well. They learnt the hard way...... Life goes on.

Truth is, I would have supported HD-DUD if it won as my main goal is a HD media that is better than down loading. I just saw that Hd-DVD had too many limitations with sound and space so I am glad of the outcome.

Enjoy your day....

I’m sure that Dave C. is not bad guy.  I’d like to have beer with this guy and talk tech for awhile. Beer,whiskey, Ovaltine, Gatorade anything to get him to take a break from the his addiction to the Blu-Koolaid.  Dave C.  suckles at the great Blu-teat way to often. I imagine his complexion at this point is more Smurf like than human.

Well lets take a look a the flaws of his last post.

First his history on the lead up to the fake format Skirmish between HDDVD and Blu-ray is somewhat flawed.  As there were many Hardware manufacturers in the HDDVD consortium.  HDDVD was already a done deal when Sony began pushing it’s unfinished format.  While it is true that Toshiba was the only company making the players initially they weren’t the only hardware manufacturer on board when HD DVD launched.  Even if they were it doesn’t diminish the fact that as a whole HDDVD was a better format for the consumer overall.  Here’s a link to an interesting article about the current compatibility issues still facing Blue-Ray customers.

http://www.dvdtown.com/news/warner-no-bd-live-blu-ray-titles-this-year/5703

Also in his last post Dave seems to believe that Blu-ray isn’t really a good format for 32” HDTV and you really couldn’t tell the difference between Blu-ray and upconverted movies on a 32” 1080P HDTV.

This is completely ludicrous. If that is true then the format war is already over. DVD is a success because right now it can play on anything everywhere.  It’s successor must do the same. The truth of the matter is on properly calibrated HD displays you can see the difference between upscaled and true HD content.  What you can’t tell is the difference between 1080i & 1080p on HD displays less than 60”.  1080p is more of a marketing gimmick than anything else.  There will never be broadcast HDTV resolution higher than 1080i simply because of bandwidth limitation. Most sports programing is produced @720p because it gives the best picture with action. Low action content is often broadcast @ 1080i.  Other than Blu-ray and HDDVD the only potential source for 1080P content would be the PS3 and XBOX360. Of course you won’t be seeing any 1080P game on either platform because the frame rate suffers greatly.  Action games like MADDEN football and GTA4 would never work well on either system @ 1080p.  In fact the PS3 version of GTA4 runs at 630p which is Ironic considering all the HYPE Sony generated around the 1080p capability and the power of the cell.  It’s 720p on the 360.

What is also high comedy is that our Blu friend thinks BD live compatibility is a minor issue. Again he fails to realize that the average consumer expects things to “just work”.  If it doesn’t the product is a failure.  IMHO this is another potential nail in the coffin of this format going up against DVD.
At best Blu-Ray would become the niche format of Home theater enthusiast while DVD would live on indefinitely.

The above clearly shows why consumers need to research products they plan to buy versus listening to the HYPE generated by the Pathetic Fanboys of any product.(Especailly this one) At this moment in time investing in any Blu-ray Hardware is still risky. There is no Guarantee that two years down the road that some Hollywood studios may reevaluate their commitment to Blu-ray based on cost and sales and suspend or reduce the amount of content released.

At the least wait until Black Friday and exercise caution even then.  Your best bet is to put your money into your HDTV if you haven’t purchased one yet. Get the best display you can afford and include professional calibration in your budget.  For most consumers a Blu-Ray Player purchase should be at least a year off.

One more thing.
I must commend again for Disgruntled HDDVD Fan being honest and up front with the true reason for all his comments.... His name!!!! :-)

Wow, I thought this thread was dead already but Disgruntled HDDVD Fan wants to try again at making a point...and again he fails.

Please list to me and the others reading this what wonderful little features you have enjoyed on your HD-DUDs besides watching the movie itself????
I agree the HD-DVD product itself was very good quality but I fail to see how people cant understand “you get what you pay for”? You buy a great $99 HD-DVD player that uses a format backed by 1, yes ONE main CE co making the hardware. Toshiba didnt want to join the REST of the CE companies with Blu-ray and it seems a big reason was Toshiba’s royalties to DVD would end with Blu-ray BUT not if they made HD-DVD the norm. So, they went out on a very shakey limb and did their own thing against all others. HD-DUD followers say they had guts to go against the big competition BUT was it not only to continue to get their royalties in the HD world?? What a joke that backfired on them and all the people who didnt see this coming.

Now, more back to your post.

Your buddy who bought the 32 inch TV is NOT the typical customer targeted for Blu-ray (OR HD-DVD if it was still around) as even with 1080 p, you would barely notice the diff between a HD source and a good up converted DVD source. No one could argue that (go test my theory).
Blu ray is great to market to any one buying larger than 32inches.
I love blu ray but would not sugg this for a small set.

I think its pathetic HD-DUD sheep keep bring up lack of BD-Live as an issue for older players. I love tech stuff but I would wait until my old blu ray died before getting a newer “BD-Live” compatible player.
The cost of Blu ray movies are falling.Warner just lowered their costs to aprox $15-$20 each and here in Toronto, we have a ton of Blu-rays for $20.00 each new (Best buy etc)
End of story!
Im turning off my e-mail reminders for this old subject now.... :-)

Dave C. Wrote :

“Please go away and enjoy your 50 HD-DUDs in peace and allow the rest of us to enjoy the latest movies as they come out on Blu ray. “

I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.

For so many have sipped from fountain of Blu Kool Aid those of us who have not must protect the others who have no idea about this technology from making buying decisions based on Fanboyish enthusiasm.
Think of me as a lone voice in the HD Home video wilderness. A high tech “John The Disgruntled Baptist”.  Many of the reasons I hear for going Blu-Ray now is based more on hype than truth.

A good example is Dave’s other comment :

“Perhaps you are playing 1 of your 50 decent HD-DVDs and are accessing the wonderful little games or linking online to see what Tom Cruises favourite drink is?”
So I guess Blu-Ray is so good we don’t need special features anymore Dave. I will pay $30-$35 for just the movie now. Less for more. I can’t believe I’m writing this and not out spending my gas and food money on BD players and titles.  Well the BD consortium seems to think special features are important Just not important enough to have those features ready when they launched Blu-ray. Instead there are thousands of Players out there that cost anywhere from $800-$1000 that will not fully support BD-Live.  All HD-DVD players can connect to the Internet via Ethernet to provide a full interactive experience. The $99 HD-DVD player I bought IN THE FALL 2007 as well the $600.00 player some 1st adopter purchased spring of 2006 can utilize all the extra content and interactive features of HD-DVD.

Later this year when Disney begins shipping it’s first BD-Live titles how many people are going to realize that their $800- $1000 BD players don’t support BD-Live. Well maybe they won’t care if they are like Dave.  Of course if you’re like me and many other DVD fans you want deleted scenes and commentary tracks and web based Content. These things add value. HD-DVD delivered these features on day one. Blu-Ray is just getting to that level after two years. And you ask me how HD-DVD was/is a better technology.
One more thing I want to point out to Blu-ray Zealots. If you think that Blu-ray future is certain then it wont matter if people wait a year or two for prices to drop and to see if the Studios are truly committed.
Deep down I think many of you know that the real format war is happening right now. A fine example is what I witnessed @ a local Bestbuy. A friend of mine was shopping to replace his old TV that was dying.  He ended up with a sweet deal on 1080p 32” Samsung for the price of a 720p Samsung since it was out of stock. After getting the TV the Salesman recommended that he replace his DVD player with an upscaling 1080p DVD player. In fact he never mentioned Blu-ray at all and the Upscaling players were sitting right next to the BD players. While my friend didn’t buy the upscaling player that day he does plan to do so at some point.  He’s also had the set about 3 weeks now and is still running all his content including his XBOX 360 through S-video.  He is an example of typical Joe six pack (without the beer).  He’s seen the quality of HD content but just isn’t pressed.  He bought an LCD HD TV only because it’s the only thing available. This is the thing the fan boys just don’t get. That often” just enough” is good enough.