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View Full Version : HD DVD: We're Not at War With Blu-ray


Suhit Gupta
08-27-2007, 05:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.betanews.com/article/HD_DVD_Were_Not_at_War_with_Bluray/1187630265' target='_blank'>http://www.betanews.com/article/HD_DVD_Were_Not_at_War_with_Bluray/1187630265</a><br /><br /></div><i>"As I sat in a Washington, D.C. hotel suite earlier this month demoing and discussing the first network-enabled movie titles with the HD DVD group, one remark struck me: HD DVD says it is not at war with Blu-ray and seemingly has little concern over Sony’s format. It’s hard to miss the ping pong game of rhetoric between the promotion groups pushing HD DVD and Blu-ray. From sales figures to exclusive deals, press releases are churned out almost daily. The so-called “format war” is Betamax and VHS redux - at least that’s what the media wants you to think. But the real competition is with standard-definition DVDs and convincing the masses of the merits of hi-def. And that’s the crux of why HD DVD just doesn’t care that Blu-ray has more studio deals or the PS3: none of this matters yet until more people start upgrading. Unfortunately, you won’t hear either side say that publicly, because it’s important to make consumers feel like they are missing out by not becoming early adopters."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/652.jpg" /><br /><br />I don't think this move is a ploy on the part of the HD-DVD folks, it really doesn't seem like it. I do think that, unlike the Blu-ray team, the HD-DVD team wants to co-exist with their competition. Well, let the touchy-feeliness begin. ;-) This article points out the positives and negatives of both technologies, though I wouldn't put money on the end of this debate any time soon.

Felix Torres
08-27-2007, 05:22 PM
Its not a war; its a race.
First to $199, first to $15, first to 10 million.

Jeremy Charette
08-27-2007, 09:49 PM
Looks like HD DVD will be at least 2 out of 3. And if you take out the PS3, that last one is a dead heat, maybe a slight lead to HD DVD if you count Xbox 360 add-on drives. (I would, since unlike the PS3, people are buying them ONLY to watch HD DVDs on them.)

Felix Torres
08-28-2007, 03:11 AM
Don't know if anybody cares, but Amazon seems to be testing the waters on HD-DVD (and BD) pricing; buy three movies out of a list and the cheapest of the three is free.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=897932

As an example, a combo of BATMAN BEGINS, SERENITY, and TROY would be $39.98 delivered.

That's getting into DVD pricing territory.
Apparently it works in multiples of three (2 free out of 6, 3 out of 9, etc) out of an unspecified list. (The AVSFORUM crowd are mapping the list...)

No telling how long it'll last but it would be interesting to see what it does to sales, since the same deal runs across both formats.

Jeremy Charette
08-28-2007, 04:19 AM
Sucked me in! I picked up:

V for Vendetta
Blue Planet
Casablanca

$39.90, shipped.