The format war is over...Warner goes BluRay exclusive!

[Mr. Laser Beam]

So long HD-DVD, looks like this is the clincher. Warner has just gone BluRay exclusive. Say goodbye to the )(%*#)(^*#)(^ format war! :thumbsup:

The Digital Bits

CNBC

USA Today

Reuters

Now which chant should we join in? "I knew it!" or "I told you so"?

 

[Russ]

Amazing turn of events. Got to wonder what Universal and Paramount now do.

Now we just need a decent priced Profile 2.0 player, and I'll jump into the Blu-ray side.

No, the PS3 isn't an option for me, sorry.

 

[Arthur Frelling Dent]

And I just bought an HD-DVD player in November.

Actually, I'm not too upset about it. It was cheap and I did get 10 free HD movies with it plus my main reason for buying it was because my old DVD player didn't work with my HDTV. If someday I want/need to buy a Blu-Ray player and it can't play my HD-DVD's, I'll just leave my HD-DVD player hooked up as I still have an empty HDMI slot.

 

[Russ]

Well, at least your movies won't stop working.

Just wait until a similarly low-priced Blu-ray player is released.

And damn't, the Blu-ray studios better get their asses moving on interactivity. That's one of the reasons I supported HD DVD over Blu-ray. Their showing so far has been pitiful on that front.

 

[USS KG5]

Russ said:
Amazing turn of events. Got to wonder what Universal and Paramount now do.

Do an Italy and switch sides. As the linked article says by mid-2008.

Well at least the industry's infighting paid for by the consumer will soon be over.

Now - the question is how long Blu-Ray lasts before streamed HD over the net takes over!

 

[Russ]

I'll definitely be picking up a Blu-ray player, no question there. The problem is I refuse to buy anything except for one that is Profile 2.0.

 

[USS KG5]

Well currently in the UK Blu-Ray players start at the cost of the PS3 and the discs sell for around £20 or more.

So I'm not touching them with a bargepole until they come down to sane money.

 

[Amaris]

^ Yep. I remember when DVD players were $350-$450 (about £175-£225). I worked at Sears at the time, and people were buying them like crazy.


J.

 

[TerriO]

Bugger, and my laptop has an HD-DVD built-in. *sigh* That's what I get for being an early adopter.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Well I'm glad I didn't go and order the HD DVD add on for the xbox and buy a load of HD DVDs over christmas now.

 

[Sheep]

I have no problem with Warner going Blu-Ray only, but you'd think they would've announced this BEFORE the holidays. By announcing this now, they just alienated all the people who bought into HD-DVD for Christmas. GG Warner.

Hopefully the BD profile spec gets somewhat finalized soon and comes down in price, as I have no intention of buying an incomplete product. Been there, done that, won't do it again.

 

[Arthur Frelling Dent]

On the bright side, maybe we'll be able to pick up some HD-DVDs at clearance prices much as I've amassed a modest UMD movie collection for my PSP at $4 a pop.

 

[zenophite]

so much for early adoption. never buy first run technology especially if there are conflicting formats. this HD vs Blu ray thing smelled a little too much like the DVD v original divx. HD-DVD will be getting creamed now.

 

[jeff lebowski]

Russ said:
I'll definitely be picking up a Blu-ray player, no question there. The problem is I refuse to buy anything except for one that is Profile 2.0.

I din't see 2.0 as being a draw to the format.

The HD video/audio is the draw.

If you want interactivity and such.

Go on the internet.

 

[MIB]

Looks like my move to hold off on going HD/Blue Ray for a while panned out to be a good one. However I don't believe Blue Ray will be replacing DVD as fast as DVD replaced VHS. People have only finished that conversion just a few years ago. I don't think they'd be wanting to do it again. I sure as hell don't. Especially what with all the anime I have on DVD at this point.

 

[FordSVT]

Sheep said:
I have no problem with Warner going Blu-Ray only, but you'd think they would've announced this BEFORE the holidays. By announcing this now, they just alienated all the people who bought into HD-DVD for Christmas. GG Warner.

??? You don't think they were waiting to get final Xmas sales numbers in before making this decision???

 

[Meredith]

I am glad the format with larger storage space is winning. This makes the computer peeps happier.

Now to take all my Backups I made with my DVD-R and combine them to a few Blue Ray discs

 

[Sheep]

FordSVT said:

Sheep said:
I have no problem with Warner going Blu-Ray only, but you'd think they would've announced this BEFORE the holidays. By announcing this now, they just alienated all the people who bought into HD-DVD for Christmas. GG Warner.

??? You don't think they were waiting to get final Xmas sales numbers in before making this decision???

If you want to use that line of reasoning, wouldn't it also make sense to see how the number of cheap HD-DVD moved in the past few months INCLUDING Christmas affects things?

If this decision was made after taking into account Christmas sales, there's no way they took that into account considering Christmas was all of two weeks ago.

 

[Russ]

jeff lebowski said:

Russ said:
I'll definitely be picking up a Blu-ray player, no question there. The problem is I refuse to buy anything except for one that is Profile 2.0.

I din't see 2.0 as being a draw to the format.

The HD video/audio is the draw.

If you want interactivity and such.

Go on the internet.

The draw for ME is interactivity. Video/Audio is very important, but not something that isn't available elsewhere.

If I don't see the same sort of commitment to interactivity from the BDA as I did from the HD DVD group, I'm not jumping in. I'll settle for digital distribution or something.

Unlike most people, I don't buy my movies just because I liked it in the theater. Special features are VERY important to me.

 

[zenophite]

i'll be happy with dvd's for a long time. I really don't feel any pressing need to buy the same old movie again just because i can now actually count the hairs in the actors nostrils.