High-Def Format Wars - Battle of the Freebies

An anonymous reader writes "It's come to this: eager to introduce the masses to the virtues of the next-gen DVD formats, the studios and manufacturers backing HD DVD and Blu-ray have begun giving discs away. It all started last month when Microsoft pacted with Universal to give away copies of 'King Kong' on HD DVD to consumers buying the XBox 360 HD DVD add on. Sony followed that up by offering a free 'Talladega Nights' Blu-ray with the first 500,000 PlayStation 3 units sold in the U.S.. Now today, HD DVD backer Toshiba has announced that it will give away *three* free HD DVD discs with every player sold for four months beginning on November 1st. With all these freebies, more people will likely have received free HD DVD/Blu-ray discs by the end of 2006 than will have actually paid for them."

I'll just take the drive

[dattaway]

for the high power blue laser diode.

Free Movies

[Ucklak]

I remember when I paid $199 for my Toshiba DVD player way back when, there was a free movie signup as well.
Lost in Space, Stargate, and Six Days Seven Nights were included.

Re:

[Iphtashu Fitz]

I got the same bundle, plus I think one more DVD with Julia Roberts. Forget which one though.

I think two of the four are still in their shrinkwrap 4+ years later.

Re:

[antdude]

Same for notebooks if I remember correctly. My father got one an Toshiba Satellite Pro 2655XDVD back then and it had an offer for three DVD movies. Movies weren't big block busters though.

Re:

[batkiwi]

Same dvd player, same price (christmas 1998 timeframe?), and I got the typical rebate experience:
-Yes sir, we're processing it, 3-6 weeks ... no dvds come ...
-We already sent one lot of dvds to your apartment complex, and got 6 more requests, so we didn't ship the rest! One per address!
--But it's an apartment complex, there are different unit numbers on the address
-too bad!

Re:

[evilviper]

Lost in Space, Stargate, and Six Days Seven Nights were included.

They decided to give them away instead of throwing them in a landfill?

Jee-zus!

[rk]

First the rootkit, then the PS3, and now giving away "Talladega Nights"... why does Sony hate us so?

Yet reason to avoid the PS3!

[doublem]

What will they be giving away next? A remastered copy of Ishtar?

*shudder*

Re:

[rk]

"Isn't that the only movie still available on Betamax?

Yes... from the first printing, no less! They were going to play it non-stop in Camp X-ray but even Alberto Gonzales said "Whoa, that's kinda hardcore, don't you think?"

Re:

[Alsee]

They were going to give away Gigli, but the executive in charge didn't show up in time with the master disk. They found him two weeks later still at home, in a fetal position behind his couch in his TV room. Doctors say even if he recovers from the neurological damage, there's no way he'll ever be able speak again... during the two weeks hiding behind the couch he had chewed off his own lips and tongue.

-

Shovelware

[Rob T Firefly]

Reminds me of the time I bought a Pentium computer in the mid 1990s that came with a foot-high stack of CD-ROMs. It was a nice attempt at an intro to the possibilities of the new format, but there were only so many different versions of "Virtual Rock Gardening," "Compton's Interactive Encephalopathy," "Mavis Beacon Teachs Self-Neutering," and "The Adventures of Poorly-Rendered Cutscene Man" I could really get any use out of.

Re:

[Itninja]

Don't forget the compulsory copies of "Critical Path", "Wing Commander" or "Where in the [whatever] is Carmen San Diego?" that seemed to be in every piece of hardware I bought in the early 90's.

Re:

[Alsee]

Virtual Rock Gardening," "Compton's Interactive Encephalopathy," "Mavis Beacon Teachs Self-Neutering," and "The Adventures of Poorly-Rendered Cutscene Man"

Ok I see the obvious connection between Self-Neutering and Cutscene Man, and I see how you'd then have an opportunity to arrange a... ahhh... "rock" garden... but I'm not quite sure of the purpose of putting "Compton's Interactive Encephalopathy" in for that pack. What's up with that?

-

Bring on the Freebies

[steve-o-yeah]

With all these free discs floating around, I'm reminded of the AOL days. AOL supplied a generation of bored youngsters with hours of microwaving, shattering and throwing AOL media. Someday kids will remember the "good old days" when Billy knocked out Timmy's tooth with a Blu-ray and when mom made them scrub out the microwave to get all the HD goo off the sides.

Re:

[Amouth]

i wonder if we can get enough of them to make a new throne..

http://www.stupidco.com/aol_throne_finished.html [stupidco.com]

Re:

[Rob T Firefly]

My friends and I used to hang out in subway stations and whip AOL CDs at passing express trains. While in retrospect that was dangerous and irresponsible behavior, I can't help but think it would have been just that much more gratifying if our missiles had Will Ferrell's face printed on them.

Thinking ahead

[Control Group]

Sony followed that up by offering a free 'Talladega Nights' Blu-ray with the first 500,000 PlayStation 3 units sold in the U.S..

Given their production rates, I expect that promotion to last through 2007... ...and here I thought corporations only focused on the short-term.

What?

[filtur]

So sony is shipping 400,000 ps3's but the first 500,000 get a movie when the next 100,000 show up next year? I'm getting a wii and I can use the left over money to purchase a dvd if I please :)

Don't want what they're giving away...

[Warlock7]

Aside from a couple titles on the Toshiba list, there isn't one film being given away that I would waste my time watching.

Am I the only one who thinks Talledaga nights ...

[kinglink]

Is a bad choice? It's not really an HD movie.. King Kong at least hard large screen appeal especially with the CG. But Talledaga night? Not to meantion Will Farrell.... I think they just chose a movie that no one would buy in HD normally, just to get an easy freebie.

Sony really needs to pick up the slack. The PS3 would have ended the format war easily, but Sony has completely screwed that pooch. Perhaps it's Sony's fate. they did get CD and DVD, but this is sounding more like Betamax. It's true it'll be better in the long run to adopt Blu-ray, but god if it's not starting out like a lame duck.

On the other hand HD-DVD isn't exactly shining either. Both format really needs to show why "you need this now". My parents have a 50 inch CRT, and still watch VHS on it, it gives a great picture (Better then broadcast tv), DVDs also look great, they have no need to go to a new format, to rebuy all the dvds and tapes on it. That simple fact makes me wonder if it's worth it. Hell they even got the extended editions of Lord of the rings on single DVDs. Perhaps it's just not necessary yet, and won't be until we go beyond 1080p. Of course if your so anal you must have the perfect resolution go ahead, but I'll stick with my DVDs for a while (Still don't like tapes, but that's me, my parents can't get their movies on DVDs still, and for some don't feel the need.)

Talledaga nights is their only choice.

[CyberLord Seven]

In this Washington Post [washingtonpost.com] article [washingtonpost.com] on Sony Corps. 94% profit plunge they mention that Talledega Nights was only marginally profitable, but was also one of their few successes.

Given that the article states that Sony Corps. profit has fallen so dramatically I'm surprised that they can give away anything.

Re:

[BobSutan]

You've just described why many are referring to the HD-DVD and BR as the "new laserdisk". IMO they're totally right. The quality increase over DVD is barely there for most that have seen it in action. And if you've got a 720 HD set with an upscaling DVD player, you are REALLY going to be hard-pressed to see an improvement over the 1080p+BR/HD. The only tried and tested benefit to Blueray is that its the better format of the two for data storage (as on the PC).

Aside from data storage, I suggest consumers byp

Re:Am I the only one who thinks Talledaga nights .

[evilviper]

My parents have a 50 inch CRT, and still watch VHS on it, it gives a great picture (Better then broadcast tv),

Digital TV will certainly change that. Broadcast signals will go further in most situations, and the picture will be absolutely bit- PERFECT right up until the edge of the signal coverage area.

they have no need to go to a new format, to rebuy all the dvds and tapes on it.

HD-DVD and Blu-ray are both backwards compatible. Anyone saying "I don't want to rebuy everything" is a complete idiot. You kee

Re:

[kinglink]

I probably should modify that.

VHS LOOKS better then old tv shows and some normal broadcast tv over cable.

This is more like trying to watch a 90s sitcom on a non-hd channel.

I am almost afraid to try Nick At Nite, or TV land just because I've seen what 10 years has given us.

Now if they were *good* movies...

[vanyel]

...then when a dual media player comes out, I'll happily take all the freebies they want to give away... I refuse to buy hardware that's limited to one or the other though.

Psst...buddy!

[mjeppsen]

"eager to introduce the masses to the virtues of the next-gen DVD formats, the studios and manufacturers backing HD DVD and Blu-ray have begun giving discs away."

Isn't this basically the same strategy employed by drug dealers?

-MJ

Re:

[vanyel]

I went to check on Samsung's player (the one I'd heard about) and comments indicate you may be right, in which case they can use both formats for the fertilizer they are (HD-DVD for the format itself, Blu-Ray for Sony's idiocy), as far as I'm concerned.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[multipartmixed]

Wow, you think YOUR slashcode bug is annoying.. How would you feel if your user page URL didn't parse?

Re:

[Pink Tinkletini]

There is no place for you to hide, Prisoner 163409 [slashdot.org].

Re:

[Overzeetop]

I seem to remember that the sound system made more of a difference in experience than the picture size (and, presumably the resolution) of the picture. So spend a few hundred on a decend amp with surround speakers (nothing fancy really required), and keep your DVD player.

BTW - I picked up an open box 51" Hitachi HD set (1080i/720p) for $800 a year and a half ago. DVDs (and, for that matter 320p DiVXs) look good. HD is crystal clear - really fantastic, actually. I'd give up the HD for a full set of M&K s

Re:

[Zontar_Thing_From_Ve]

and the cheapest panel is $800 for some 24" display I followed the link to newegg for this panel and it has a response time of 16ms. Anything above 8ms is generally considered inferior for watching TV or movies - the screen won't update fast enough. The Westinghouse does have an 8ms response time.

Re:

[westlake]

That means I'm spending around $1500 for this "experience" they're peddling, all told.

The experience for most buyers will be:

Their first wide screen set.
Their first with multichannel digital sound.
Their first experience with very large screen direct view or projection TV
---the big screen sells HD and HD sells the big screen
Their first replacement of a CRT as their primary television. Once you make this choice, you don't look back.

When color TV was introduced in the U.S. in 1954, the price tag was $1

Re:

[evilviper]

That means I'm spending around $1500 for this "experience" they're peddling, all told.

You're complaining you can't afford a luxury car, while ignoring the cheaper, nearly-as-good cars out there RIGHT NOW.

Sell me the display for $400 and we can talk. :-)

You can already get a 27" 1080i CRT HDTV for $400 (no OTA tuner--that usually adds $100).

How high-def do we need?

[multipartmixed]

I still watch TV on 27" JVC TV I purchased in 1995. I think it looks great. The picture was awesome the day I bought it, and the picture is still great today.

I watch TV on Bell ExpressVu (Canadian Dish Network), rent the odd DVD, and watch the occasional torrent movie or TV show I missed.

You know what? I think it looks great. Of course, I sit six or eight feet back from the TV.

I am really missing anything? The new TVs in the stores look fine, but every time I visit a friend who has an enormous screen, I can't help but think "Man, those guys look all blocky and stretched" when Hockey Night in Canada is on.

I mean, WTF?

Re:How high-def do we need?

[Control Group]

I can't help but think "Man, those guys look all blocky and stretched" when Hockey Night in Canada is on.

That's the magic of HD. SD sports on a big screen (like my 50") are blocky and stretched. Sports in HD on a 50" screen, though, make me wonder how I ever watched sports in SD. The aspect ratio alone, which allows you to see more of the field at once, is worth the price of admission.

For me, at least, the leap from SD to HD when watching sports is literally equivalent to the leap from VHS in EP to progressive scan DVD. It's just plain better.

Re:

[garcia]

That's the magic of HD. SD sports on a big screen (like my 50") are blocky and stretched. Sports in HD on a 50" screen, though, make me wonder how I ever watched sports in SD. The aspect ratio alone, which allows you to see more of the field at once, is worth the price of admission.

Yet I go to a store, a bar, or someone's home that has an HD screen and I watch something *other* than HD it looks like complete and utter shit compared to my 19 year old 27" Sony.

Blocky, smeared, etc. It's an unpleasant experie

Re:

[Aqualung812]

However, you point out exactly why HD is not as important as color (Seriously, I remember hearing how it was as big of a deal as B&W -> Color 5 years ago). HD is only helpful on a large display. I have one 56" display in my home, and 5 other under 20". I can see an improvement from VHS to DVD on all of them, and even if I couldn't, the format alone had advantages (no rewinding).

However, with HD-DVD/Blueray, I would be buying discs only for one TV. In addition, when I watch films on HD HBO or th

Big plasma and lcd screens are crap

[Colin Smith]

I had a look at some large "HD ready" plasma and LCD screens the other day. The picture quality is shite . I mean really really bad. You can see pixelation, step changes in what should be smooth colour and jagged pictures during high speed sports events. I wouldn't touch any of them with a barge pole and anyone who has bought one is a muppet.

 

Re:Big plasma and lcd screens are crap

[dogbowl]

If you play an 8-track on the nicest stereo system in the world, its still going to sound like "shite"

Re:

[Colin Smith]

So basically what you're saying is that if all you have is 8-tracks you'd be a fool to buy the nicest stereo system in the world.

BTW, I include in the list of crap plasmas and LCDs; Sky's HDTV system when coupled to an HD ready plasma. High definition? Yes, and completely unimpressive, there were still artefacts visible in the picture.

 

Re:

[mkarpinski]

Take this for what's worth... The perceived picture quality depends somewhat on where the displays were setup. I've noticed that many retail stores that have HDTVs on display, take no time whatsoever to configure them properly.

Half the time they are not even showing HD content - Just stretched SD content (which usually does look horrible)

Re:

[Steve525]

Every time I've looked at a HD display in a store, I've thought the same thing. The compression they are using on HD transmissions suck. Lot's of blocky artifacts and obvious quantization errors. I still think the picture is better than SD, but it's not as good as one would hope. I really don't think they have enough bandwidth, or a sophisticated enough algorithm, for over-the-air HD. HD players should be someone better in this department. I've also never been a fan of LCD displays or any rear project

Re:

[Mad Marlin]

It is not the customer's job to sell overpriced electronics to himself.

Re:

[pipingguy]

every time I visit a friend who has an enormous screen, I can't help but think "Man, those guys look all blocky and stretched" when Hockey Night in Canada is on.

CBC has a HD channel for HNIC (only for some games, apparently). I caught one last weekend on a 1080i 37" LCD and it was quite impressive.

Re:

[evilviper]

I still watch TV on 27" JVC TV I purchased in 1995. I think it looks great.

I still watch TV on a 13" B&W tube TV I purchased in 1959. I think it looks great. The picture was awesome the day I bought it, and the picture is still great today.

Am I really missing anything?

Re:

[mgblst]

You, and many people are completely missing the point of HD - the zoom factor. Haven't you ever watched a movie, and wished you could zoom up on ...ahem... certain parts. We all have, and now we have the technology. Yeah, baby. Next step in the technology is the ability to move objects out of the way.. can't wait for that one.

Wow!

[east coast]

Talledaga Nights!?!?! I'm so there, d00d.

Like dumping

[QuantumFTL]

This is like dumping, but cheaper because the DVDs cost very little to produce, and no one's going to buy them unless they have the player anyways...

pr0n

[TheWoozle]

Just like every video format before it, the eventual winner here will take off when there is a decent selection of porn to be had.

Re:

[gstoddart]

Just like every video format before it, the eventual winner here will take off when there is a decent selection of porn to be had.

Other than the sheer quantity of porn to be had on a single disk, I'm not sure most people want to see porn in HD.

I mean, you'll be able to see the stretch marks and blemishes in astonishing detail, but will it be any better? Only cmopanies like Vivid might be inclined to do this.

Heck, as it is, DVDs still end up with older video snippets on them that don't even come close to wh

Re:

[myheroBobHope]

I have yet to see any HD porn... I'm thinking that porn is one thing that won't improve with better definition and sound... I don't really want to see the lines on the "actress".

The changeable angles feature is nice, but really, the director usually knows the best way to angle the camera, and switches between them well.

I'm not really sure porn is going to improve with technology, unless you are talking sex devices...

Re:

[mgblst]

Well, another way to think about it is that they can fit more people on the screen at the same resolution. That can't be a bad thing.

The way to instant market share

[Skapare]

The first one million units sold shall have DRM disabled.

I'll wait a little longer...

[CODiNE]

Til they start giving away the players free. Then I'll get one... maybe.

Battlefield Earth for teh win

[MaWeiTao]

Once either one of them offers Battlefield Earth in HD, then we'll talk.

Move along people, nothing to buy here...

[Shotgun]

With all these freebies, more people will likely have received free HD DVD/Blu-ray discs by the end of 2006 than will have actually paid for them

That's because there will be very little content on most shelves for people to buy. Remember LaserDisc? The BlockBusters and BestBuys of the world don't care about low volume, competing formats. They only care to stock material that moves fast. None of these formats will take off until one starts getting a definite advantage on the market, and then the networ

```pacted'''?

[Russ Nelson]

Somebody "pacted"?? Gah! They've shited the language!

Deja-vu!

[ZorinLynx]

Wow, deja-vu.

I remember these promotions when DVD was starting as a format, back in the late 90s...

"Buy X DVD player and get 6 movies free!"

Of course, it wasn't your choice of movies... But it's neat to see them doing this again...

Too bad there's two freaking formats competing.. this is going to do nothing but hurt the adoption of HD disc players until multi-format players come out.

-Z

Free upgrade, please

[Dachannien]

When a company offers to replace my entire DVD collection with its HD counterparts, then we can talk.

Of course, I'll still say no, because of the DRM. "Free" just isn't worth it.

dvd is fine

[Maxo-Texas]

Dvd is fine.

The slower these are adopted, the longer product comes out on DVD and is super cheap.

I've no interest in rebuying my 400 dvd's in hd-dvd or blue ray.

PLUS hd-dvd and blu-ray have so much capacity that they should really be including a lot *more* content. I mean- you could probably put every mainstring song every recorded on a blu-ray disk at 192 bitrate.

History tells us.

[jimlintott]

History tells us that the best way to tell which format will win the format war will be to visit your local porn store and see which HD format is available.

Porn has driven visual media technologies for quite some time now.

"Free" Disks?

[dakirw]

With all these freebies, more people will likely have received free HD DVD/Blu-ray discs by the end of 2006 than will have actually paid for them.

Well, they'll have paid for the "free" disks by buying the overpriced new HD-DVD/Blu-ray players, so not much of a discount in my mind.

Talladega nights vs. King Kong

[heroine]

What would you rather watch? Talladega nights or King Kong? First betamax, then memory stick, and after making all those proprietary formats cost twice as much and have 1/10th the users, Sony has created the world's first proprietary audience.

Replacing DVDs

[Tekoneiric]

If they offered one to one replacement for my large DVD collection, I'd think about upgrading but we all know that's not going to happen.

Re:Talladega Nights for the win

[interiot]

HD-DVD Jon will save us... maybe it will take a ten line perl program this time.

Re:

[CastrTroy]

I won't be impressed until he does it in 10 lines of VB.

Re:Talladega Nights for the win

[drinkypoo]

It takes 10 lines of VB just to declare that you are using VB!!

Couldn't you just bang on your helmet and lick the window?

Re:Talladega Nights for the win

[Stripe7]

I doubt if it makes too much of a difference to their bottom lines, they can either give those movies away or let them sit on store shelves unsold.

Re:

[Greyfox]

I was actually wondering if I could pay more and have them keep their DVDs. Ugh. Why not just throw a copy of Episode One and... oh I dunno... Maybe that last Star Trek movie that Shatner directed... what was that one again? The Undiscovered Country? Yeah... that'll sell some DVD players!

Re:Talladega Nights for the win

[Grishnakh]

Maybe that last Star Trek movie that Shatner directed... what was that one again? The Undiscovered Country? Yeah... that'll sell some DVD players!

Blasphemy!! How dare you confuse such a thing!!

Shatner did NOT direct The Undiscovered Country (ST VI), which was a great movie. He directed The Final Frontier (ST V), which was so horrifically bad that many ST fans consider it to not have happened.

Re:

[Greyfox]

I either didn't see the Final Frontier or if I did I took something afterwards to blot out all memory of it. I don't have good memories of The Undiscovered Country either, though. I remember something about the plot really pissing me off but I'd have to watch it again to remember what and I really don't want to do that. Hmm... Maybe if I got a free copy when I buy my HD-DVD player...

Aah and now the circle of Slashdot postings is complete and we are right back where we started, but one level up. Feel that?

Re:

[Grishnakh]

Your mind probably automatically took defensive measures to block out your memories of ST:V, in order to preserve your sanity.

ST:VI is actually considered one of the better ST movies. It's not as great as The Wrath of Khan of course, but it's probably #3 according to most people, after The Voyage Home, or maybe #4 after the Borg one.

Re:

[mcvos]

I either didn't see the Final Frontier or if I did I took something afterwards to blot out all memory of it. I don't have good memories of The Undiscovered Country either, though.

How dare you compare those two? The Final Frontier (ST V) is the biggest piece of crap ever committed to film, whereas The Undiscovered Country (ST VI) is the best Star Trek film ever. It has everything: ice planets, prison worlds, mystery, conspiracy, intrigue, the prospect of either a bright future or a devastating war, and e

Comic Book Guy

[sadler121]

Comic book guy is that you?

Sucked So Bad...

[Kozar_The_Malignant]

Actually, for me it didn't happen. It sucked so badly that it sucked open a wormhole to an parallel universe where it never was made. Just before the collapse, I fell through.

Re:

[Firehed]

If us silly Americans will *pay* for crap like that, what could possibly give you the idea that it being free isn't an incentive to buy something even more expensive? I know that the people with vaguely decent taste are the "pirates" (ie, the ones not going to theatres to see the shit they produce), but most people will happily lap up the load of crap produced and pay for it.

Re:Talladega Nights for the win

[Chris Burke]

I'm just wondering why they think Talladega Nights is a good showpiece for Blu-Ray technology. King Kong makes sense as the visuals are a big part of the movie. But a comedy? I'm not getting the logic.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe they hope you'll be laughing so hard you won't realize how much money you just wasted?

Re:

[Spazntwich]

I'm guessing you didn't see the movie.

It's got plenty of action/racing scenes that will show off the high resolution, framerate, and 7.1 sound capabilities. It doesn't have loads of CG eye-candy special effects, but what are there will probably make for a damn good display of the capabilities of the format.

Re:

[drinkypoo]

They should just re-re-re-remaster Top Gun for the N-teenth time so that a whole new generation of vidiots can have their stomach contents rearranged by the subwoofers at the ol' circuit shitty. Gotta love those afterburners.

Besides, who wouldn't want to buy a TV displaying the only movie gayer than priscilla queen of the desert? You can be my wingman any time!

Re:

[GreyPoopon]

How many people honestly have a set they can watch something like that in all its glory on?

The 1080p sets have hit the market at a much lower price than their lower resolution siblings did. Just glancing at the typical retailer... a decent 42" plasma set is about $2000. A 42" LCD 1080p set is about $2700. I don't know about you, but the choice would be pretty easy for me. Expect all the HDTV holdouts (like me) to be picking up the higher resolution sets within the next year.

Re:

[Warlock7]

The systems are all losing money...

The first one's always free.

[Kadin2048]

It's called a "loss leader." You give something away in order to get people to spend more money on something else.

If you're unfamiliar, walk down to the corner and talk to your friendly local crack rock dealer, he can fill you in on the basics.

Whoever can get the most consumers 'hooked' on their format stands to make a whole lot of money...

Re:

[CastrTroy]

Well, since the discs come with the expensive players (XBox 360-HDDVD and PS3), there will be nobody returning the discs because they can't play them. Although there will probably be a few why try to play them in the old player. It won't really help persuade anyone who doesn't already have a player.

Re:

[Control Group]

Since these are all being bundled with the matching player, I don't really see this plan working out so well.

Re:

[Ajehals]

Offtopic -

Do appear to be some issues logging in, although the problem seems to be fairly short (2-4 minutes) and infrequent (for me anyway) I've seen it maybe 5 times in the last 3 days (503 System error is the response I am getting trying to get to the login page). Anyway you are not alone.

Ontopic

Since when does anyone read the article!?

But more to the point I wonder if giving away say 5 decent DVD's (Older Blockbusters may be a good place to start (Die hard / Top Gun / Terminator etc..) without needing

Re:

[multipartmixed]

You need to buy an RF modulator, and a 75-to-300-ohm matching transformer.

HTH.

Re:Oh the silliness of consumer marketing.

[Mikya]

Simple reasoning would tell us that you're an idiot. Just because the technology is similiar does not mean the units should have the same price. Further more I do remember when DVD players were 500 dollars a pop. It was nearly ten years ago when the technology was new. It's only now that they're 25 dollars. I wouldn't be suprised if in 2015 we're buying HD or BluRay drives for $50.

Re:

[syousef]

Simple reasoning would tell us that you're an idiot.

Good to see you using those social skills. People like you are why Linux has no market share. Can't you disagree without being obnoxious?

Re:

[Maxo-Texas]

Well if Mikya did do that, then simple reasoning would show us Mikya is an idiot.

Re:

[cayenne8]

"Also a lot of people saying how entrenched DVDs are seem to have forgotten the early 90s and the "struggle" DVDs had in getting off the ground, what with the heavily entrenched VHS to compete against."

Well, but, there is a difference now between entrenched DVD's and the new HD versions. First, the DVD was such a HUGE step above the VHS...it didn't wear out (a big seller), you could skip around on it quite easily, and the quality in pictures and sound was leaps above the old video tape....even on the same

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Simple reasoning? I guess this is the excuss you give when you have no facts to back what you say. When DVD players cost $500 there build cost was still much higher than $25-50 prices come down when volumes go up, also when the chinese start making knock off units which dont have to recover the R&D costs. Consumers all want new technology at build cost and then complain about outsourcing to india and that it broke after 3 movies. Forget your reasoning and learn some facts.

Re:

[MrAnnoyanceToYou]

The funny thing is the question of, "Who pays for this?" I wouldn't think that it's much of a dent to either corporation, but it does mean less off-the-shelf copies of each movie will be bought. This means that a lot of the cost of distributing things for 'free' comes out of the pockets of the people basing their income on the royalties. So, by association, you shouldn't buy a PS3 for the free movie because you're helping terrorists and starving out stuntmen.

Re:

[MightyYar]

The processing power on these systems is/was pretty high when they are first introduced. I had a pretty spiffy new computer when DVDs were still new-ish, and it was unable to play them reliably without a MPEG2 decoder on the video card. Today, you need a pretty decent computer to do full HiDef H.264. The hardware cost for a HD-DVD player is probably pretty darn high right now, but it will obviously come down as custom chips enter the market and come down in price.

Re:

[TheRaven64]

Right. When DVDs were new, every single graphics card advertised that it could do motion compensation (which reduced CPU usage by 5-20%) and the best ones for video also did iDCT in hardware (giving up to a 50% load reduction). It took about a 400-500MHz CPU to do DVD decoding purely in software, and these weren't available until 2-3 years after DVDs were released.

Re:

[Overzeetop]

No, the razors are costing a fortune right now. They're trying to give you a free blade or two so you'll go buy the razor. Of course, given the offerings, it's a bit more like passing out rusty, nicked blades - 'cause only the true masochists are going to really enjoy watching either of these films, much less in HD.

Re:Just like your first HIGH!!!!!

[Grishnakh]

DVD works for me. Besides. Hollywierd will maybe put out 1 movie a year worth buying anyways. Everything else worth buying has been out for years.

Strangely enough, it seems that most of my TV/DVD-watching time is now spent watching TV show discs, instead of movies: Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Firefly, 4400, etc. There's a lot of great stuff coming out on TV while the latest movies aren't that great. We may even get to the point where TV shows just get released straight-to-DVD since TV execs are so incredibly stupid that they sometimes cancel the best shows (Firefly) in their first season.

Re:

[payndz]

This is so stupid they should have a standards board that sets an international standard.

They did. It chose HD-DVD. Unfortunately Sony decided they didn't want to play because they'd spent money developing a format that wasn't picked by the DVD Forum [dvdforum.org], so instead they spent still more millions - billions? - to push Blu-Ray instead.

And the consumers of the world said, "Wait, fuck that! You think we don't remember getting stung by VHS versus Betamax? We'll stick with our regular DVDs, thanks."

These formats are bulletproof

[heroine]

HD-DVD has been out for almost a year. BD has been out for a few months. No breaches of encryption. Millions of 128 bit keys on each disk. No software players being sold. No interest from users in watching movies on their PC. These formats probably won't be cracked.