Rest In Peace HD-DVD

true, but in general, these people are the most likely early adopters, and until this* format war, their 'vote' has set the standard for what would be come the format driven to mass market adoption (if it even reaches that point).

this time, studios and gamers decided instead.  do you think those groups ultimately care or want the same thing as movie diehards, purists/enthusiasts?   

Don't care, frankly, who decides.  My interest is only in getting a decent product available to me in the marketplace.  Consumers don't generally choose which standard is adopted in the computer world, to my knowledge (e.g. wireless networking).

But you just said the average consumer distinguishes "basically nothing" between the two formats.

I'm going to guess that the majority of next-gen BluRay units will be backward-compatible with current BluRay discs.  If I read you right, the only negative of larger note is that a BluRay disc can't be played in a non-BluRay DVD player (like the one in my console or my computer) -- right?

who's to say that now the 'war' is over that product quality won't decline without the competition, at least at the same price point?  people just now buying in would never know the difference. 


sorry, i meant distinguish nothing  in PQ or AQ, not necessarily in features/convenience
even the average joe would notice the differrence between the hd-dvd combo disc he bought and could stick in his laptop, car, etc  and the bd disc that he can not.   (assuming both formats survived in perpetuity)

Ironically, the next-gen BluRay discs will not be backward compatible with current BluRay players.   

Not a huge deal as early adopters routinely take it in the shorts. 

I think PQ/AQ will, or would have been, a perceived benefit that swings back and forth between the formats depending on who you ask.  But region-free encoding and reasonable DRM are huge.  Add the fact that full compliance with the top BluRay spec is a year or two away (at least in affordable units) and we basically have a product that's not ready for the mass market.  HD-DVD is/was. 

There are more negatives than you see on the surface.  I was a HD-DVD fan but I'll take the blue pill at some point only mildly outraged and incensed.  But even as a relatively early adopter I'm waiting for BDA to get its *feces* together.  I expect that'll take at least to the end of 2008 and probably well into 2009.  That gives downloads a bit of a chance especially given J6P's penchant for accepting a 60% solution.  If downloads do take off, HDM is going to be hurting.  In fact, at that point the war between downloads and SDM will be as fierce as the current war between downloaded music and RIAA/CD and HDM will languish as niche or completely die.  I don't want to see that as I want a drawer full of little shiny discs I can call my own.  I think HD-DVD stands a better chance in the long run - especially if they could have pulled off across-the-board studio support.

Not to be a cynic, but could the impending future versions of BD be one of the reasons Warner jumped ship to BD? Most people like to have the newest versions of everything, so when the next generation Blu-Ray hardware comes out, people will want the BD titles that they already own in the new format. New formats=more sales for the studios. It's like Lucas and his *goshdarn* 20 different versions of his Star Wars films. It's the same *feces* with more and more special effects, but people keep buying it.

I don't know.  It's anecdotal but you read a lot of early adopters on highdefdigest.com and avsforum.com who say they won't even double up SDM and HDM.  This, I believe, is due to the nice job the better players do in up-converting.  I've purchased something like 50 titles on HD-DVD and only a couple are dups - only movies I really, really like.

I think BluRay 1.1 compatible discs will only sell to folks who don't have the movie already (other than a tiny percentage of adopters with money to burn.)  Plus there's no indication that 'new and improved' versions of existing HDM titles are in the works. 

The best people can hope for regarding the BD profile situation is that a new disc will play fine in an old player and they'll just be lacking the extra features.

I don't want combos at +$5.  I'd much rather have the HD-only version and the Lincoln in my pocket.  If they were the same price, sure, that'd be cool.  In a BluRay world it becomes a bit different due to the Mouse Factor.  If I buy Cars it would be nice if it played in the minivan.  If I buy Reservoir Dogs, not so much.