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How much longer will the format war last? — Page 4

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I really hope most people will only buy the next Star Wars release if it's good. DVD was such an improvement over vhs and laserdisc and I think most people don't buy as many dvd's anymore just because "it's on dvd with extras." The novelty has worn off, at least for me. More people are probably aware about online reviews and screenshot comparisons and maybe thanks to Lowry, people realize "Digitally Remastered" doesn't always guarentee an amazing improvement or even a good job with the transfer.

Any idea on when blu-ray drives and burnable media will become mainstream? I have to imagine it will be quicker than dvd. Ever since I learned blu-ray had 5 times dvd capacity, I've been dreaming of burning my own standard definition videos uncompressed while requiring less discs. Which is why I'm glad blu-ray won because HD-dvd has less capacity.

Take back the trilogy. Execute Order '77

http://www.youtube.com/user/Knightmessenger

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In the words of a great poet....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZpKwGXcxbk

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.”

Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death

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not to sound like a trekkie or anything but would the death od HD DVD mean we will get the remastered tos on blu ray and the movies as well?

does this mean that shows like heroes and battlestar galactica (new version) will be on blu ray?

i also hope it means movies like the matrix, star wars and lord of the rings are also coming to blu ray soon along with the whole james bond catalogue and the first 2 x-men films.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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^ Absolutely to all the above. In this day and age of double dipping you can expect them to hesitate getting their releases on a living format. Though I'd say the likelihood of those releases being remastered to Blu-ray standards is pretty slim. When they do release them, I suppose they will just use the same HD-DVD masters and make the necessary changes to turn it into Blu-ray.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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I'd say we'll definitely see all of those, except Star Wars of course, sooner rather than later. The studios just have to retool for Blu-ray, but once that's done, I have no doubt we'll see all of those.

I'm sure that once Heroes Season 2 comes to DVD/Blu-ray, they'll remaster Season 1 at the same time and just rerelease it. And I have no doubt that LOTR will come out on Blu-ray, possibly once The Hobbit comes to theaters (I can't think of a better way to drum up interest).
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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Another reason why I hate that Sony Blu-Ray won this war. Sony, screwing over the world one customer at a time.
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I don't think this is going to effect sales of Blu-ray to anyone but the enthusiast market. Most lay people just aren't going to give two shits about being able to play along with the movie. The enthusiasts will just hold off until a "proper" release is available.

The studios can try to double dip with these interactive features all day long. Their core market though, people who just want to watch movies, aren't going to take the bait. They'll probably rebuy all their HD-DVD titles on Blu-ray when they're released, but they're not going to worry about making sure that every last missing scene or documentary is on the disc.
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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I agree. I have roughly 100 dvds and probably 20 HD titles, and I've watched/utilized the special features for maybe 5 of them altogether. I just want to watch the feature, MF!
40,000 million notches away
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I honestly never thought that those discount chinese DVD players had much effect. I payed $300 for my DVD player in 2001, and I'd pay that much again now; most of the discount players suck and are poorly made, and honestly what is $200 difference for a player when you will be spending hundreds and probably actually thousands of dollars on disks? Disk price is the real factor here. Players are a one-time investment, so having to pay $300 for a decent player instead of $99 for a lesser one is honestly the least of our worries. Disk prices have been falling steadily, lets hope that nothing stops this aspect, not the hardware one.
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Originally posted by: Windexed
I agree. I have roughly 100 dvds and probably 20 HD titles, and I've watched/utilized the special features for maybe 5 of them altogether. I just want to watch the feature, MF!

Well, actually, I've watched all the special features of every disc I own and I probably have about 50 DVDs.

Originally posted by: ferris209
http://www.slashgear.com/bda-manages-blu-ray-market-price-to-keep-the-value-from-falling-to-dirt-cheap-like-dvd-player-0610641.php#more-10641

Yep, this Blu-ray is a wonderful idea. Gentlemen, we have effectively sold our souls to the devil. That's just my feeling though.


How exactly do they expect to stop them? Oh no, they're not licensing the Blu-ray tech, so they can't put the "Blu-ray" label on the player. I'm sure no chinese manufacturer will bother buying a Blu-ray player and then reverse engineer it. Then, they'll simply sell it as a slightly more expensive, but still very cheap, DVD player (it'll have the DVD logo on it). Internet message boards will catch wind of it and everyone will just order them online. Do they seriously think that just because it's not "licensed" that people won't be able to get them?

Originally posted by: zombie84
I honestly never thought that those discount chinese DVD players had much effect. I payed $300 for my DVD player in 2001, and I'd pay that much again now; most of the discount players suck and are poorly made, and honestly what is $200 difference for a player when you will be spending hundreds and probably actually thousands of dollars on disks? Disk price is the real factor here. Players are a one-time investment, so having to pay $300 for a decent player instead of $99 for a lesser one is honestly the least of our worries. Disk prices have been falling steadily, lets hope that nothing stops this aspect, not the hardware one.


Are you kidding? I bought a Cyberhome player at Best Buy for $50. It plays everything I throw in it. I could've spent $200 or $300, but why? The cheap player plays just as good as those. People are going to see the $50 DVD player and wonder why the Blu-ray player is $200 (4 times the cost). It doesn't offer 4 times the quality. Some people might be willing to pay that price right now, but the way they're handling it is just going to slow adoption. Rather than let the market decide, they're basically trying to control the price. And why? So the Chinese can't make a cheap player. Seriously, the enthusiasts are always going to spend more on their players. The average person doesn't care if the output quality of his Chinese player is slightly less than the $300 player. What they do care about though is the ability to play any disc they buy anywhere (yes, even traveling abroad or ordered online). A LOT of people got mad with region locked DVD players, which is why they ended up buying the cheap Chinese ones, since those let you either unlock the region or just change it.

Price controls are a huge worry. If Sony tries to keep the price high, which is what it looks like they're doing, then people will not buy them. There is no format war any longer. A $300 player today should be $150 or less by next year. No one needs to churn out anything other than Blu-ray players, so there's really no excuse for keeping the price high.
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You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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I am with lj on the whole price of the player thing. My cousin always insisted on getting the most expensive brand of everything. He and I were roommates for a while and it seemed like his Sony disk would spit out a large number of burnt discs as well as some original DVDs that were badly scratched. Amazingly, my $19.99 Apex DVD player could play just about every disk his couldn't. Doesn't seem like cheaper should be better. In all fairness this particular Apex, while still alive, can hardly read anything without skipping anymore. Now I have a $40 Philips player, and it is the best I have owned, plays just about anything, even PAL discs and divx files.

Hopefully Sony's plot for high prices will fall through. When I finally buy a Blu-ray player, I do not intend to spend more than $60 on it, unless it is a PS3.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Originally posted by: ferris209
Originally posted by: lordjedi
I don't know how they think they can stop it:

http://formatwarcentral.com/index.php/2008/01/20/more-on-chinse-blu-ray-disc-players/


No they won't stop it, but I'm sure that Sony won't go down without a no holds barred full on attorney brawl. Much like the establishment is trying to stop pirating movies and music, they make it more difficult and expensive, but they never stop it.


That'll be interesting to see. "We'll sue you!" "Um, go ahead, our country doesn't follow your laws". Look how long it took to crack down on Cyberhome for not licensing the DVD spec. Of course now, the other cheap player is the Coby, which looks almost exactly like the old Cyberhome. Hmm.
F Scale score - 3.3333333333333335

You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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Originally posted by: lordjedi
Originally posted by: ferris209
Originally posted by: lordjedi
I don't know how they think they can stop it:

http://formatwarcentral.com/index.php/2008/01/20/more-on-chinse-blu-ray-disc-players/


No they won't stop it, but I'm sure that Sony won't go down without a no holds barred full on attorney brawl. Much like the establishment is trying to stop pirating movies and music, they make it more difficult and expensive, but they never stop it.


That'll be interesting to see. "We'll sue you!" "Um, go ahead, our country doesn't follow your laws". Look how long it took to crack down on Cyberhome for not licensing the DVD spec. Of course now, the other cheap player is the Coby, which looks almost exactly like the old Cyberhome. Hmm.


Heh heh, good point, but at least it will make Sony rip their hair out, that'd be nice, yeah, really nice.
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I'm surprised it took this long. I guess hackers weren't going to commit the time until the war was settled.
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An interesting sidenote: BD2.0 Live is expected to be available in the next few days for the PS3. http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6543669.html?desc=topstory

“I love Darth Editous and I’m not ashamed to admit it.” ~ADigitalMan