wich format is winning the next gen. home video war?

Question

blu-ray or hd-dvd

Answer 1

There are 2.2 Million Blu-Ray machines in the homes including PS3 and 750,000 HD DVD machines in homes including the XBox360 add on. Blu-Ray movies have outsold HD DVD movies 2 to 1. In Europe and Japan they have outsold HD DVD 3 to 1. 18 of the top 20 High Definition disks have been on Blu-Ray and only 2 were HD DVD. You can expect to see HD DVD come out swinging because they are way behind on the scorecards. They already paid BIG BUCKS to sign some exclusive studio deals. They are acting desperate. I swear when I went to CES way back in January the Blu-Ray booth felt like they had already won and the HD DVD booth was quiet and serious like at a funeral. It's too bad that Toshiba couldn't work together with Sony and the others because I really like the new Toshiba TVs and I've always thought they were a good value.

There may be big news in Jan. It is rumored that Warner Bros. will pick a side then (probably during CES). Guessing which may be a fun game but I understand that they have already turned down a $150M or so offer from HD DVD.

For updates click the link.

Answer 2

Neither.HD DVD and Blu-ray are not ready to give in to each other. There may never be a winner. DVD would have to be replaced. The two new formats are still only an option.

Answer 3

i think of it's going to be an exceedingly tight race between the Wii and the Xbox 360. the two are going for a diverse team and that they are the two low value sufficient to no longer destroy your financial company. Wii could have a lead i ought to assert by using fact of all the recent stuff it somewhat is packed into that mini gadget. The PS3 in spite of the undeniable fact that seems to me like a Xbox 360 with a diamond coating. they did no longer somewhat upload that lots to the device and it somewhat is high priced as heck. while you're low value and searching for relaxing, circulate Wii. in case you acquire the money and choose some severe FPS and activities circulate with the 360. PS3, ineffective.

Answer 4

Click right here for all the latest format war news: http://www.avtruths.com/blurayvshddvd.html

Answer 5

Consumers! War brings down the prices.

Answer 6

Overall, to date, almost no-one is winning.

Sony and Toshiba are losing money in the hope of eventually winning $billions.

Movie studios are losing $ on producing HD disks (most only sell fewer than 3000 copies).

Consumers are being forced to spend $$$ to buy new HDMI equipped and/or larger and higher resolution HDTVs (even though old ones worked fine), A/V receivers with HDMI (even though the old ones were just fine), and expensive disk player (either upconverting DVD players with HDMI or HD players).

The only real winners are the press -- the 'war' is keeping many pundits employed -- and some ad houses producing the endless misleading ads (e.g., have you ever seen it in a Blu-ray ad that the extra space on Blu-ray disks (which often isn't there since most disks are 25 GB capacity not 50 GB) isn't needed nor used, or that almost none of the existing stand alone players (and PS3 until Sony makes a firmware upgrade available) can play most of the special features on disks).

And hardware manufacturers are doing OK selling the new HDTVs and A/V receivers and overpriced HDMI cable (which we are forced to buy because of HDCP).

Doesn't it P___ you off -- it sure does me -- that much of this is being imposed on us because studios needed a high price alternative to DVD to recapture profits slowly eroding with that genre (hopes of having consumers repurchase their DVD libraries!) and have also taken the opportunity to force through HDCP and other DRM measures to try to protect their copyrighted material? What is really sad is that it doesn't work (BD+, the copy protection added to Blu-ray disks and which resulted in many unplayable disks was broken in 2 weeks) ... but it costs you and I big bucks anyway. Too dumb to learn from the music world I guess!

OK, rant over.

Serious answer, Blu-ray is ahead in disk sales (largely due to studio subsidized discounted prices and almost continual buy-one, get one free deals (BOGO) ... which have now made it difficult for studios to sell disks at full price any more), but HD DVD is ahead in stand alone player sales.

However, the tide is slowly shifting as the second tier buyers -- who are primarily driven by cost sensitivity -- take over from the early adopters (who tend to be more technology driven), and this can be expected to primarily benefit the HD DVD camp given lower cost players (sub-$200) that better meet most consumer needs ... particulalry this demographic.

Both formats have reached a point that one can have reasonable certainty that neither are likely to disappear (although HD disks still contribute a minute fraction of studio revenue and unless profits increase support could disappear), but neither are they likely to become more than niche formats any time soon either.

The logical outcome is dual format players, but for technical reasons these are unlikely to ever be inexpensive ($300-$400 minimum, but more likely minimum $500-800 with higher end video processing), so they will likely become an option for the minority of consumers willing to pay more for HD. The likely scenario is a striation of the marketplace with the majority sticking with DVD, a minority (who can benefit and are willing to pay extra) embracing HD disks and a gradually increasing role for HD video on demand (HD-VOD) and download services (sub-1080p resolution, but "good enough quality" HD).

Consider -- ONE blockbuster DVD (Transformers) sold more copies in one week than all HD disks in both formats combined TO DATE. In the US recently (November 2007) 600,000 DVD players were purchased in one week, vs 57,000 HD players of both types.

Sure it is still early, but in comparison to the same point in the VHS to DVD transition, consumers are buying less than half as many HD disks as DVDs (3.6 vs 8.6). On-line forums are increasingly having discussions about DVD being good enough, and decreasing willingness to pay the extra cost for HD disks unless they are something that really justifies HD.

The problem is the incentive isn't the same. Moving to HD disks has disadvantages ... high cost, loss of convenience (you can't (reasonably) use it in the car or kitchen, or take to the beach), poor choice of movies (~700 vs over 80,000 on DVD), and an over reliance on glitz and CGI blockbusters.

So for the majority of consumers, even the minority who even know about the 'war' and have HDTVs, a high percentage can't benefit from HD disks because their screens are too small or not 1080p (needed to maximixe benefit), don't have HDMI connections, they sit too far back to see the increased resolution, or simply don't feel there is sufficient benefit over upconverted DVD to justify the cost of HD disks (both the player and the expensive disks).

So ... who is winning ... who cares, it isn't you and I (unless you are happy to pay the high cost of admission, high ongoing fees in exchange for marginal benefit). I'm not.

Answer 7

blu-ray. you hardly ever hear about hd-dvd.

Answer 8

bluray