Feb 27
Time to Get a Blu-Ray Player!
I can’t believe the big news dropped when I was kaputski but it’s official that HD DVD is dead!
And I say good riddens!
Now don’t get me wrong, I feel bad for all of you who were early adopters of HD DVD.
I mean, at point or another I guess you had about a coin flip’s chance of coming out on top and now…
Well now the writing is on the wall.
Was This How it Should’ve Ended?
I don’t know. Even though I’m definitely more tech savvy than your normal consumer, I never learned of any big differences between the two formats and the smaller ones look to be fixed or getting fixed in recent updates of the Blu-Ray format. So personally I’m just glad things are over so we home theater enthusiasts can put some real money behind a serious solution. But on a related side note, I really wasn’t happy when HD DVD seemed to prolong things by offering HUGE sums of money to buy out studios in support of their format so I’m not really shedding a tear over how things shook out.
HD DVD Fallout
Now that the dust is starting to setting, maybe the most interesting thing is how companies are trying to deal with it all. Engadget HD is a constant source of HD DVD updates and amisdt all the crazy (but true) stuff they report, the thing I’m most interested in is the price of the HD DVD add-on for the 360 being lowered to $49.99. I mean, that’s cheaper than new games!! Obviously, I’m a bit tempted to buy it but then that voice comes back and says, “Hey! They lost remember! How much longer will movies be sold for it!?” But then I think about it for a bit longer and say, “But with a little more time, chances are that prices for HD DVDs could come WAY down!” Oh wait - Looks like they already are.
What do all of you make of this? Should I get a player now? Should I just not and go Blu-Ray when I eventually get a PS3? Do any non home theater fans care about any of this?
February 27th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
If the movies hit for like $5 then the player is worth it for $50 so you’ve got some great movies.
PS3 is the way to go Blu-ray wise for you, Sony are releasing new players in the next few months but as you’re a gamer, the PS3 it is!
February 27th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
I’m not really sure this affects TGH and I at all as we haven’t invested a lot in either technology yet. We have been waiting and watching. We’ll probably be doing some upgrades to our home theater system (if you can call it that) in the near future. So at least it is nice to know which direction some things will be going in. But technology changes and things get obsolete so quickly that I wonder how long Blu-ray will be the way to go? ;)
February 27th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I have not been in a position to buy any new technology like this for a while so have not been keeping up too well.
I am dying for a 360 but wish they were able to adopt the blu ray system. Damn Sony!!
February 27th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
@Pete - I read a post on Destructoid today that a backwards compatible 80GB PS3 with MGS4 was going to be released in June… I think that might be the ticket.
@Teeni - That’s a good question but for me at least I can rationalize it (which is all that I do when it comes to electronics) by putting it in terms of games. I think I get a new video game system every 2 years or so. So if it lasts that long, I’m good. (#):)
@Forest - You don’t need to to figure out the whole Blu-Ray thing to buy a 360 buddy! The system is just awesome. New videos, movies, music, dlc, demos, xbla games ALL THE TIME!!! When I first bought the system I didn’t have a game to play but it didn’t matter ’cause there was a million things to download!!! GWAAAAAAAAAAAA…. Hm. Perhaps I digress.
February 27th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
well, till the time….torrents are present….many people won’t buy anything :D
February 28th, 2008 at 2:28 am
Being one of the un-techsavvy bloggers ou there, I seriously can’t differentiate between Bluray and HD DVD… I know both of them are high capacity storage systems, and that’s all. Actually I find that having two quite comment formats on the market is very confusing to the customers. I’m glad that one is out of the way now and so we’ll just have to stick to Bluray then.
February 28th, 2008 at 3:13 am
Bush, yes indeed sir, I think that could well be the one to get come June 11th or 12th, whichever was the MGS release date.
February 28th, 2008 at 7:22 am
@teddy - Yeah, and I guess that’s something that really isn’t talked about. I REALLY still consider the high def format a bit above most consumers. My parents for instance are what I consider to be “normal” consumers. They took it upon themselves to get a nice HD LCD, and with it came an HD DVD player. My mom (who actually is very accepting of high def and random tech) didn’t understand why she should be excited about HD DVD because (in her words) DVDs look great on her LCD. I could go on about this but for the sake of boring everyone…
@Pete - snake?… SnakE?! SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!?!
February 28th, 2008 at 8:35 am
I’d like to be smug and say that I knew Blu-Ray would win over HD DVD and that’s why I never bought a 360. But I wasn’t planning on buying the HD Drive anyway. I was just broke.
They sold VHS for years and years after DVD players came out. Until a year or two ago, you could find them in bargin bins ridiculously cheap. Honestly, a cheap HD DVD player may be a good investment, especially if you like the current catalogue of movies out.
February 28th, 2008 at 11:06 am
@Kali - Good point. I guess what it may come down to for a lot of people is just what quality of movie you want to see and hear. A lot of people are fine with VHS quality, others are fine with DVD. And then there are the others so who aren’t looking back from HD!
February 28th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I like the title of this post. I just bought an Xbox 360 HD-DVD player :)
February 29th, 2008 at 9:42 am
My parents like HD DVD too because they say videos look nicer in this format. I told them that HD DVD is able to display their wrinkles and pimples in greater details, and since then they never talked about it :) heh.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
I have a friend who decrypts BlueRay discs so they will play on a normal HD-DVD or regular DVD player. Since he or she may or may not have thousands on titles on hand (only for close friends and family), I will never spend more than the cost of a blank DVD for any movie I want…hahaha:)
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:38 am
I think you should wait more ..let the blueray become more mainstream also there will definitely be a price drop ahead.
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
@Apexad - Ha ha. I went to Best Buy yesterday and was REALLY tempted to buy one myself because of your comment. (#):)
@Teddy - It’s def true that some people don’t look as pretty when you can see all the details. *nod*
@Bobby - Nice. You know, even though I never got into burning movies and games, for some reason I always have to put a dvd burner onto my computers. Go fig.
@Shashank - Yeah, the price point is still a fraction above what I’d want to pay and honestly, I should probably focus on a new TV first. *nod*
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:27 am
[...] happened. As you know, HD-DVD has basically thrown in the towel and many are claiming it’s time to get a blu-ray player but I am not one of those people. I’m currently at 13 movies on HD-DVD and that does not [...]