Blu-ray is winning the DVD format war, says Sony

[F9zDark]

one sec so if i buy a XBOX 360 i get a HD player ? or is it a addon ?

not like im intrested in buy a 360 i just never herd it had a HD player :S

No you need to pay 200 USD for it.


BluRay outselling HD-DVD more than 2:1? Looks like this battle has been decided. And with the PS3 launch in Europe coming, its only inevitable that BluRay will win.

Lets also look at it like this, considering consoles ONLY, BluRay has well over 1.5 million user base. HD-DVD, has only 50,000. With the European launch, which supposedly there are to be 3 million units ready for such, assuming they all sell thats a 4.5 million BluRay user base.

Really people, anyone thinking that HD-DVD even has a chance is just fooling themselves. Cold hard economics have clearly indicated that Bluray will win out.

[Shrygue]

I agree that Blue Ray will win.

[irongiant]

I'm just going to stick with DVD.. I really have no reason to go out and buy a next-gen DVD player as anything that I feel is worth watching is already available on DVD.

This paragraph stated above really misses a fine point:
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The cheap players thing is worth addressing here. The reality is, price sensitivity isn't an issue in the first year or so of any new format. It's mostly just the early adopters who are interested at that point anyway. By the time a wider consumer base is starting to get interested, 2nd and 3rd generation players have entered the market and they're inevitably cheaper. What surprised me most at CES is just how aggressively the HD-DVD camp seems to be trying to drive their format's hardware prices as low as possible by bringing off-brand Asian manufactures into their fold. The arrival of ultra-cheap $100 and $50 players in the DVD industry is what spelled the end of DVD hardware profitability for the major CE manufacturers. So why INVITE this situation before your format is even a year old? It makes no business sense that I can see, unless it's a desperation play - a last ditch effort not to lose.


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I dont see this as a last ditched effort to loose, I see it as a way to win.. and heres why.
History has shown that in technoligy, cheaper technoligy will always beat out high priced better counterparts. For instance the Apple Macintosh was for awhile superior to the IBM PC. but what really crushed apple was that many clones could be made that would still be compatible and run the same operating system. So.. I think this is the same as whats happening here. If we started getting cheap HD-DVD players for the home that produced equal quality to something that was offered for 200-300 dollars I believe that it would have an edge. Remember VHS vs Betamax? one was cheaper and the other had better quality.. remember which one that won?

History will repeat itself and I think when people are ready to make a switch.. they will at the cheapet price to them. I personally believe that next-gen format will be streaming from the internet and storing movies on a hard drive.. like a tivo or the iTv. No format costs.. its decently accessible and with the size of harddrives greater than 300 gigs being as affordible as they are.. its feasible too.

But.. who listens to me, I still play my Dreamcast religiously and watch DVD's, so i'm still living in the stone age.

-JV

You're forgetting one obvious fact, Blu Ray players can and will also come down in price. Added to that the massive factor of the PS3, over the next 5 years or so of it's lifespan the PS3 will gradually be reduced in price as happens with a console. So there's a constant supply of Blu Ray players to market that gamers and HDTV owners will be snapping up. Blu Ray will only continue to grow, look on the bright side though.. the HD DVD add on will become a collectors item in years to come!

[F9zDark]

And whats more interesting is that a website reported that the PS3 was in fact the best BluRay player on the market; with fewer problems and issues than other BluRay movie players when it comes to playing movies.

So not only do PS3 owners get a BluRay player, but they get the best one out so far.

[Pumped'Up]

If anything, having the 2 formats did nothing but hurt the consumers and the format consortium members themselves. I agree, BD is clearly the winning format. HD-DVD just doesn't have the studio support for it to even survive much longer.