Mainstream interest in HD DVD took off with Walmart’s $99 offer on its HD-A2 unit.
We can do the whole “less filling, tastes great” debate all day, but when it comes down to it—HD DVD made a killing on Black Friday.
The HD DVD Promotional Group says post-Thanksgiving promotions have put total sales for players around the 750,000 mark. Those figures include the sales of Xbox 360 consoles, with the add-on HD DVD drive.
Hey—I finally caved in and bought one. At the price Amazon.com was selling them (with 10 free movies!), I just couldn’t resist.
Estimated price cuts found some HD DVD players starting around $200, says Twice. (I got mine for about $50 less!) Blu-ray, on the other hand, starts around $400.
It’s nothing personal Dave. You enjoy a spirited debate, and I don’t. Nothing more than that. I’ll debate something if I feel the topic is important to me, but generally don’t enjoy arguing for the sake of arguing. Somehow I get the idea that if we were playing Halo 3, we’d spend half an hour debating what map to play. :) (Yes, I’m exaggerating in an attempt at humor.) I’ll keep your tag handy in case I do change my mind.
Steve,
What’s your Live gamertag? Mine is signifyingmnky.
Based on your commenting pattern on this site, I don’t think we’d get along well on XBL. Thanks though.
I’m sorry to hear that Steve, though I am interested in what in my commenting pattern makes you fell we couldn’t get along.
I enjoy a spirited debate, but I don’t make things personal. If by chance you change your mind, feel free to send me a friend invite.
There seems to be quite a lot of PS3 owners in a thread about HD DVD!
Dave;
What’s your Live gamertag? Mine is signifyingmnky.
Based on your commenting pattern on this site, I don’t think we’d get along well on XBL. Thanks though.
Guys, on this convergence idea, I’m 100% with you. I bought my PS3 when I did specifically as a blu-ray player. I’d gotten hooked on HD television and wanted to start watching my movies in HD. I am a gamer, but I’ve been through enough generations that I knew it’d take a while for the games to start rolling out, so there was no real reason, as a gamer, to be an early adopter
I was quite content to purchase the PS3 as a movie player and keep the 360 as a gaming machine. I could stream to either of these, but choose the PS3 just because I’m comfortable leaving it on 24/7, which isn’t the case with the 360. I don’t want to have to send it in for repairs again.
I was really bummed, though, when the Elite came out without an HD-DVD player built in. I was all set to upgrade. Maybe next year, though.
See, someone gets it. The PS3 is an all around home theater centerpiece right out of the box. I use it to stream media as well and it’s awesome. No loading discs or copying music locally. Blu-ray, upscaling, games, web browsing...it does it all. You just can’t beat it for the price. Honestly, I just don’t think Sony does a good enough job of telling everyone all they can do with it. The ads still focus on gaming with nary a mention of Blu-ray or it’s other multimedia capabilities. They need to get their Blu-ray partner Apple and their marketing machine involved. That’s a whole new line of “Doofus Gates” commercials right there.
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I bought into HD DVD for three reasons.
First, HD DVD has the movies that I like to watch. Sure, there are a few Blu Rayt exclusives that I would like ( Pirates anyone ) but my HD DVD player does a fine job of upconverting my SD DVDs till all studios release on both formats. Not to mention I can import some Blu Ray exclusives ( RE series, Underworld, Bridge to Tarabithia, Brothers Grimm, F4, Ghostrider, and many more ) since there is no region coding.
Second, I didn’t have to pay a premium to watch movies in High Definition. My HD-D1 puts out an astounding picture. Watching HD DVDs on my 65” Mitsubishi DLP I am always pleased with the results. Right now, the software pricing seems to favor Blu Ray, but that is bound to change once production levels reach mass market.
Third, lack of a completed spec, and overintrusive DRM. I will not buy a Blu Ray player that can’t play the interactive content coming that HD DVD already has. So, all first, and second gen Blu Ray players are out of the question. And, since BD+ Advanced countermeasures allows the studios to run native code on the machine, I will watch SD DVDs on my HD DVD player before I ever buy a Blu Ray player that does this. I am not a pirate. I have purchased all of my DVDs and HD DVDs legitamately, and am offended that Studios assume that I am going to turn into some mad pirate just because I now have a digital copy of a movie. Paranoia anyone?
So, to sum up, Price, Movies I like, and player ability ( and overability ) will keep me from buying a Blu Ray player. Lose region coding, make all studios format agnostic, lower the price of the players and lose BD+ Advanced countermeasures, and I might buy one.
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