PC's Role Key in New Format War

An anonymous reader writes "With the PlayStation 3's launch still a ways off, Toshiba and Sony are turning to the PC as the next battleground for the DVD format. News.com reports that some manufacturers are, at least for now, planning to offer both options on upcoming desktop and laptop PCs. Only a handful of films and software are to be available for the formats this year." From the article: "PCs equipped with HD DVD or Blu-ray will cost several hundred dollars more than comparably equipped models with DVD drives--a factor that should keep sales relatively low this year as consumers wait for applications and video titles that can take advantage of the higher capacity."

But I thought

[FuturePastNow]

Sony said we didn't need a PC? [ign.com] The PS3 is supposed to be good enough for anything.

Re:why pay more for DVD drive?

[Tweekster]

1/10 failure rate? what kind of crappy media are you buying?

Are these companies retarded?!

[NeuroManson]

Seriously, HD DVD formats on a laptop are laughable. LCD displays are limited in resolution, and for that matter, so are current HDTV monitors/displays. Your HD DVD would look the same on a 17" widescreen laptop as a non HD DVD, unless you're lucky.

The ONLY reason someone would want to pirate an HD-DVD format is to reduce its quality to be viewable on current technology.

Re:Shot Themselves in the Foot

[Maxo-Texas]

I guess it depends on what you define as "rich".

You can get a very large phillips projection screen TV for 1199 from circuit city when it goes on sale on the major holidays. After taxes-- 1299. After taxes and service plan 1699.

That's in the budget of anyone making 50k a year and up. If it is the main thing you want in life -- it's in the budget of people making a lot less-- probably down to about $35k.