Originally posted by: zombie84
Well, a worthwhile parallel would be: "I could buy a DIVX player and ten DIVX disks for the same price as a DVD player. How can I not lose?" Actually, you should probably just wait until November when you start seeing $300 Blu-Ray players and $200 HD-DVD players.

Here's my 2 Cents.

I disagree. DIVX was a wasted format. The whole idea of it was completly different than DVD. You didn't own the movies. It was like renting DVD's. You didn't own them. You "bought them," but it was more like a rental, as they'd lock up after a certain number of days and then you had to pay more $$ to unlock them permanently. Even then, it only worked on your player. So if you wanted to take it to a friends, tough luck. He has to pay to unlock it on him player. Nothing in that is a worthwhile paralell.

That is NOTHING like Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. You buy Blu-Ray or HD-DVD and you can watch it on your player, your buddies, etc. You own them. They arn't "locked" like Divx was. They both can be bought and played on any player al la DVD, unlike Divix. There is nothing similer in the comment. The whole idea of HOW Divx worked and the structure was flawed.

Furthermore, both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are viable next gen formats. By that I mean both can output a 1080P picture, both hold lots more data than DVD. Which will win out? So maybe it is Blu-Ray, how knows. So DL Blu-Rays hold 50GB vs 30 GB of DL HD-DVD. HD-DVD has a few things going for it IMO Blu-Ray doesn't. First, I have a DVD player in my car. I have many in the house. I have 5 DVD players + one in the car. If I Buy Blu-Ray, those players are useless. I can't use them for my movie. Maybe I want to watch a movie in the bedroom or another TV, or my friends in my car want to see a DVD on the long trip, with Blu-Ray I have to by the Blu-Ray AND DVD version to be able to use ALL my players. My GPS/DVD/ 5 volt preout Headunit in my Car is worth $2000. I don't want to buy a disk that renders the DVD player in it useless. If I by HD-DVD, gues what? Most HD-DVD disks contain the HD-DVD and the DVDF version. so it will work on ALL my current players AND my HD-DVD one (if I want to see it in HD). That's a BIG plus over Blu-Ray, and one that Blu-Ray can't match. 2nd, Blu-Ray disks are more fraigle and easier to scratch than HD-DVD or DVD. Also, they have to have 2 different Lasers (red and Blue) to be able to read both Blu-Ray disks and DVD's. HD-DVD's only need the one Red laser. Less parts to break, less parts to manufacture, cheaper cost. Also, $300 Blu-Ray by XMAS? I'll believe that when I see it, they are still $800, and the PS3 doesn't count. I went thought 3 PS2's cuz the Laser kept going out. In contrast, I've never had a DVD player laser go out. I am not spending $500 on a PS3 and using it as a Blu-Ray. If it breaks like PS2's were famous for, then I have to spend $500 on a PS3 or $800 on a Stand Alone. If you buy an XBOX with the HD-DVD add on, and the laser goes out, it's $200 more, $300 for a stand-alone.

Maybe Blu-Ray wins out, maybe not. My guess, both will hang around for awhile. I am planning to buy a 1080P 73" mitsu DLP tv in the next year. I am not shelling out that cash for a TV and not buying a player so I can watch a few movies in HD. HD-DVD is cheaper, and a lot of the disks are daul HD-DVD-DVD, so the discs play on regular DVD players. As I said, that's a BIG plus for me, it means I don't have to spend $50 on the Blu-Ray and DVD version, I just by one. HD-DVD is cheaper, and has the pluses I named, that's nothing like Divx. So maybe it looses, and maybe you think I wasted my money. Not me, because it's no more of a waste than the DVD player I bought for $330 back in 99 or 00. The thing still works too, so I got my $$ out of it. With all the things I said above, if I spend $300 on a HD-DVD player and in 3 years the format is dead, I'll have gotten my $$ out of it too.

I agree, if you don't need it now, then wait, as the prices WILL come down, and most ppl don't want to be stuck on the Betamax end of this battle. A more worthwhile comparison would be VHS and Betamax, not DVD and DIVX. However, with me, the things I said above come into play in my choice. Those matter to me, and Blu-Ray can't offer me some of those. Plus, I don't know anyone currently with a Blu-Ray player, but I know several with HD-DVD players (I'm sure there are plenty of ppl with Blu-Ray also, I just don't know any). When I get a Big DLP TV, if I want get an HD format and both formats are available, I'd lean towards HD-DVD due to all the things I mentioned which make a difference to me.

*2 cents*