An interesting article but I don't think they gave enough weight to the importance of price ... until blu-ray is about the same price as HD-DVD, blu-ray won't win. Right now, HD DVD players are half the price of blu-ray players.

Amazon has the HD-A2 for 300 bucks and I understand that people been getting it for as low as 250 but that player doesn’t even do 1080p. The most affordable 1080p HD DVD player is the HD-A20 and it’s priced at around 400 dollars at Amazon. The new second generation Sony Blu-Ray player the BDP-S300 is only 500 dollars and it has HDMI 1.3. You would have to get the Toshiba HD-XA2 if you wanted HDMI 1.3 and it cost around 600 dollars. Anyway there is already a Blu-Ray player that has the same upscaling capabilities as the XA2 and it’s the Samsung BD-P1200 with a price that's only several dollars more than the XA2.

Yes you get a whole lot more free movies if you buy an HD DVD player but realistically the prices are about the same.


-EDIT-
I didn’t see Kevin Shaw’s post when I wrote this

One thing I forgot to mention, Panasonic's own second generation player, the DMP BD10A will come with 5 free movies and the unit is priced at around 600 dollars. I’m hoping Sony does that to their BDP-S300. If they do Panasonic will have to lower their player’s price by 100 dollars as well.



http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/12/hitachi-showcases-internal-ggw-h20n-blu-ray-burner-hd-dvd-read/

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/K4vfdLLSw4mR6u/Toshiba-Slashes-HD-DVD-Sales-Targets.xhtml
http://news.digitaltrends.com/news/story/13254/toshiba_cuts_hd_dvd_forecast_as_sales_jump

http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Home_Cinema/DVD/H7L2L2R8
http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/06/12/toshibas-vardia-rd-a600-hd-dvd-recorder-with-600gb-disk/



Can we have a section just for High Definition Formats?

...but that player doesn’t even do 1080p.

Personally, I see this is a good thing. Its a lower-cost, entry level setup that will still be quite a bit better than SD. From what I've seen, most-if not all- HDTV screens smaller than 42 inches don't even have 1080p capability. Considering that you can get a decently sized (32"+)720p/1080i screen for about $600, I'd rather have that instead of doubling the price for something marginally larger with 1080p. Assuming there's a large portion of the market filled with these 720p screens, spending that extra cash on a 1080p player doesn't make sense.

I think having that lower-cost option will help to sway more people over instead of bludgeoning people with one high-priced option, telling them its such better quality. While most everyone on this board knows, and can probably see that 1080p is the best option available- not everyone out there in the general public is entirely convinced. Heck, I know people that think VHS is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and can't understand what all the fuss about this "High Definition" is all about...

Just my two cents...

In the end it's all speculation anyway. Both are here at the moment and likely stay for a while.

I'm hoping that by the end of the year it will be clear where this is going....

But Blu-ray is apparently winning handily in terms of number of discs being sold, and that's even with Toshiba players selling as low as $249 some places. The article addressed the price issue and came to this conclusion:

"If that's all you have going for you, cheaper might win you a battle or two, but without more studio and industry support, it's never going to win you the war."

The key phrase is "without more studio and industry support" ... Is there anything preventing the studios (except Sony) that have pledged exclusivity to blu-ray to change their minds once they see that the majority of the public has HD DVD players? Besides, I don't think the average consumer knows anything about the studio and industry support or storage issues ... I think the thought process goes something like this ... "ok, this plays HD DVDs? Great. And it costs half the price of that other player that plays high def DVDs? And there's no difference in the picture? Great, I'll get the one that's half the price."

To put it another way, the industry and studio support that blu-ray currently enjoys may evaporate if they don't start pricing their players as cheaply as HD DVD players.

1080p outputs aren't necessary. The movie is stored as 1080p24 on disc. Thus when the movie is output on a 249.99 HD-D2 (Costco, Sams Club) it's output at 1080i60. Thus it contains the full progressive picture that is delivered after your HDTV de-interlaces the signal properly. Assuming that your TV doesn't blow the de-interlacing the picture quality will be no different regardless of if you player outputs 1080i or 1080p.

HDMI 1.3 is another relatively worthless feature. So it transfers native bit-stream TrueHD or DTS HD. That's great but none of your titles are sending native THD or DTSHD out of the player. They both employ internal mixers so that you can modify the various audio streams. Then the player outputs this mix as PCM to your receiver. So ....you guessed it. You spend a bunch of money for a HDMI 1.3 player and AVR only to have that player working with PCM audio which could have been easily accomplished with a HDMI 1.2 player which is much cheaper.


I just mated my HD DVD player with a Sharp Aquos 32" and damn it looks good. My suggestion is to forget the format war and get what makes the most sense for you. Neither format will be obsolete...especially to those on this board...it's not like you all don't have video cameras ;}

If you can’t see a difference between 1080i and 1080p than why did Toshiba put 1080p in all of the higher priced players? Having a player that can output 24p will give you a better picture no matter how good your TV is and if you’re TV has 120hz and 24p input, the picture will look incredible. Same with HDMI 1.3, why does Toshiba have it in the HD-XA2? Besides the sound options, it does give you 1.8 times the colors if you have a compatible TV and some of them are already out.

Players such as the Toshiba HD-XA2 and the Samsung BD-1200 are fully worth it for the features they include and people should not feel cheated.

Higher numbers and more specs always impress people.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003752013_blockbuster18.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6762621.stm

Retailers in Australia did the exact same thing when they said its best to carry just Blu-Ray products.

The impact of this announcement might be big but if Amazon does that, well….

http://blogs.business2.com/utilitybelt/2007/06/bluray_vs_hd_dv.html?source=yahoo_quote

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003752013_blockbuster18.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6762621.stm

Retailers in Australia did the exact same thing when they said its best to carry just Blu-Ray products.

The impact of this announcement might be big but if Amazon does that, well….

Amazon won't do it the HD DVD players are amongst the best selling DVD players.

The key is Wal-Mart whether you shop there are not Wal-Mart are the walls of Jericho that must come down.

I'm looking forward to CEDIA and the Holiday rush. It'll seperate the contenders from the pretenders.

You sort of misunderstood what I was trying to say meaning BlockBuster taking sides isn’t as big as it sounds and it would only mean anything if Amazon does that.

You sort of misunderstood what I was trying to say meaning BlockBuster taking sides isn’t as big as it sounds and it would only mean anything if Amazon does that.

Oops...we're crystal clear now.