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Topic: Anyone consuming HD or Blu-ray?

Bill Gabel
Film God

Posts: 3873
From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 04-11-2007 05:48 PM

quote:
Once you start seeing things in HD, you want everything to be in HD!

Scott is right, I got a Toshiba HD-A2 2 weeks ago. And seeing how well this deck runs on different displays. Right now it's at work running a Sony SRX-R105 projector, the pictures looks amazing. [thumbsup]

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Mitchell Dvoskin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1869
From: West Milford, NJ, USA
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 06-15-2007 02:58 PM

BJ Club & Costco has had the Toshiba HD-D2 player on sale for $250 for the last month or so. Broke down and bought one, connected it to my Benq 8700+ DLP front projector, on to a 10' wide home screen. I have to say I am impressed. In fact, I am very impressed.

The HD-D2 is the same as the HD-A2, with a different model number so that stores would not have to beat the discounters prices.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 06-15-2007 05:07 PM

I think I'll stay away from HD-DVD. No need to purchase a losing format.

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Dave Williams
Wet nipple scene

Posts: 1836
From: Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 06-17-2007 04:17 AM

Toshiba has now lowered the price of its A2 machine to 299 before tax, and their next generation machines, as well as the first generation machines with firmware upgrades will be able to run something called X3 discs.

X3 allows a regular DVD disk on a regular DVD burner to produce HD content readable by the Toshiba player. This will tap into the market of those that don't want to pony up the heavy duty cash for the blu ray recorders and players.

Sony has had bad luck trying to win technology wars before, and they really blew it with the PS3 deal, but I do hope they can pull this thing out and introduce some new bells and whistles, as well as get the price down.

I have seen that Sony is dropping the MSRP of thier flagship player to 599 in order to compete with Toshiba. They need to drop it even further.

I like the idea of a dual player, but the cost is really too high at 1200. I bought one of the first DVD players available at 1800 becuase I made 80 grand a year when they came out and I was a moron with cash. Now I make like 8 grand a year and won't bother with any maching that costs over 18 dollars.

Ciao

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 06-17-2007 09:46 AM

The PS3 is their flagship player. It does a lot better job than their stand-alone units. $499.

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Mike Heenan
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1896
From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 06-17-2007 11:44 AM

DVD players originally cost $1800? Where did you buy that? IIRC my first player cost around $400 for the Toshiba and I want to say it was the first generation player but I can't be sure. But I dont recall ever seeing at Fry's electronics or the like a player for $1800.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 06-17-2007 12:06 PM

The first DVD players were released in the Spring and Summer of 1997. I do remember some high end DVD players commanding huge prices like $1800 or even more. A lot of the regular ones were priced at around $700. I remember one of Panasonic's models costing that.

I bought my first DVD player early in 1999, a Sony model with full Dolby Digital 5.1 analog output. It cost over $400. It didn't quite make it to the 3 year mark before I had to replace it with a new Pioneer 5-disc changer bought for $250. Now that DVD player is on the blink. Guess I'll probably just spend $50 for some other single disc unit.

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Mike Heenan
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1896
From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 06-17-2007 03:48 PM

My toshiba that I bought back in the day still works great last time I used it, although now I've switched over to my DVD recorder/VHS combo, and a cheapie Cyberhome $20 unit for movies with closed captions, as the DVD recorder player doesn't support them for some reason. The cheapie unit occasionally gets pixellation problems on some discs but usually goes away after a bit.

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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!

Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 06-18-2007 05:13 PM

In a further illustration of how sales of the formats are going, Blockbuster announced today that their future (for now at least) hi-def rentals will be exclusively Blu-ray. From Forbes.com:

quote:
Market Scan
Blockbuster: Blu-ray All The Way
Evelyn M. Rusli, 06.18.07, 11:30 AM ET

In the high-definition DVD war between Blu-ray and HD DVD, Blu-ray is pulling ahead. On Monday, Blockbuster announced that its next batch of high definition DVDs will be exclusively offered in the Blu-ray format.

The Blu-ray boost, expected in mid-July, will feature 170 titles to be distributed at 1,700 Blockbuster (nyse: BBI) stores.

Shares of Blockbuster were up 2.4%, or 11 cents, to $4.69 in pre-market trading from $4.58, Friday's closing price on the news.

Since late 2006, the movie rental company has offered both formats at 250 stores across the country. Both formats were given equal billing, but Blockbuster soon realized that Blu-ray outsold its competitor by 70%.

Blockbuster will continue to rent the HD DVD titles it already offers and may expand its HD DVD inventory in the future but, for now, the company has placed all its chips on Blu-ray.

“We intend to meet the demands of our customers and based on the trends we’re seeing, we’re expanding our Blu-ray inventory to ensure our stories reflect the right level of products,” Blockbuster executive, Matthew Smith, said Monday.

Blockbuster’s news is a major victory for Sony (nyse: SNE), the maker of Blu-ray DVD players, which has been locked in a heated race with Toshiba (other-otc: TOSBF.PK), which makes the HD DVD players, to dominate the high definition market. The battle recalls the showdown between JVC's VHS and Sony's Betamax in the 1980s, when customers were forces to pick one format over the other. While all HD DVD and Blu-ray players can play standard DVDs, they can’t play competitor’s discs.

In the format war, Toshiba had the head start with the introduction of its player in March 2006. However, since then, Sony crept up on Toshiba by forging strategic alliances with movie studios. Blu-ray now has exclusive partnerships with a handful of studios including Sony's holdings, Disney and 20th Century Fox. In a bit of a role-reversal Sony looks like its borrowing a page straight from JVC's old playbook, when it courted major film studios to tighten the noose on Betamax.

The strategy seems to be working. This month, Sony predicted Blu-ray player sales could jump from 100,000 to 600,000 units in 2007 because of the popularity of DVDs exclusively released on the format. Meanwhile, Toshiba lowered its 2007 estimate 44.4% to 1.0 million units from 1.8 million.

Shares of Sony were flat on Monday morning, down 0.2%, or 12 cents, to $54.53.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 06-18-2007 06:20 PM

These "format war" HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray stories might be interesting to tuck away for a few years and then re-examine perhaps in 2012. They might seem silly and irrelevant by then.

Once dual format "universal" movie disc players become both commonly available and more affordable the whole format war will be done. There can be no clear winner as long as movie studios remain divided on which format they support.

It doesn't matter if one format is outselling the other by 3 to 1 right now. Both are small, high end, niche formats that serve relatively small markets of early adopters. Both will remain in that position for at least another year or two.

If 30 million people had HD movie disc players and BD movies and players were outselling HD-DVD by tens of millions of units then I might consider HD-DVD to be in trouble. Not so right now. By the time either HD disc format reaches a mark like 20 million or 30 million players shipped the dual format "universal" players might be very common or totally ubiquitous.

By 2012, the future of Blockbuster Video itself might be in doubt. At the current pace of improvement, broadband Internet connections in the United States will be running at 30 million bits per second or much faster by 2012. That's fast enough for real-time streaming of HD video content via the Internet to a home theater system.

The looming changes in the Internet may make a big impact on sales of pre-recorded movies. I still like buying a tangible product on disc from a retail store and having some physical memorabilia of a movie. But I could end up being part of a small minority who feels that way. If so, formats like HD-DVD and Blu-Ray may not have all that long a life span.

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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!

Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 06-19-2007 02:11 PM

True enough I suppose. But early on it is looking more and more like HD DVD is never going to get to that point, some exclusive studio pairings notwithstanding. Both in the US (at 70%+) and Japan (at 2:1+) BR is enjoying a huge numbers advantage over HD DVD. More dual-format players and drives will eventually remove the need to commit to a format. Still not many dual-format machines out there yet and the market may decide early enough that more dual-format players will be seen as unnecessary.

Collectors of tangible things may indeed be in the minority these days. I can see the studios loving the idea of on-demand live streaming. No more costs of the logistics of distribution of physical product, and the ability to more totally control availability. Want to put a title on ice for a while or longer? No problem, and the viewer has no recourse but to make or find illegal copies. Content providers are still working to overturn the concept of 'fair use' or at least make it a mute point through DRM technology. No more second-hand market either - content providers have been fuming over not getting a piece of that pie ever since the CD made that market more viable.

In the mean time, I'm about to jump in with BR. That's the format we will go with for our future Japanese film screenings at JASN and the local JACL. I'll be adding HD DVD capability later but only if I have to.

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Joel N. Weber II
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 115
From: Somerville, MA, USA
Registered: Dec 2005

posted 06-19-2007 08:52 PM

amazon.com is still selling audio CDs. Audio requires less bandwidth than video by enough that if audio CDs are ever going to become obsolete, I'd expect them to have already become obsolete by now.

And how am I supposed to back up my PC when I decide I want something higher capacity than a DVD? With a tape drive that costs more than a PC?

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Frank Dubrois
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 896
From: Cleveland, OH
Registered: Mar 2005

posted 06-19-2007 09:15 PM

quote: Bobby Henderson
These "format war" HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray stories might be interesting to tuck away for a few years and then re-examine perhaps in 2012

Dec 2012 will be the end of time. The Universe is scheduled to end.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 06-19-2007 09:20 PM

Audio CDs still sell for a number of reasons.

Lots of customers like that tangible product to hold in their hands. You don't get that from buying a virtual product off the Internet. I could have downloaded my Adobe CS3 Design Premium suite upgraded. I preferred to order the retail product and have the DVD-ROMs.

Many adults still find them to be more convenient than farting around with MP3s, that's because a lot of adults listen to music in their cars or bookshelf stereo systems and don't feel like getting involved in a closed system like Apple's iTunes or try to figure out how a lot of other MP3 to CD systems work.

Lots of people know the LPCM format on standard CDs is superior in quality to MP3 or iTunes AAC files -despite all the bullshit marketing lies coming from various technology companies claiming otherwise. With Internet bandwidth increasing with big strides in recent years, companies like Apple are starting to offer some online music in lossless compressed formats to actually compete with music CD on the quality front.

However...

...many of the folks who see things the way I do are over 30 or older. Many (but not all) younger people couldn't give a crap about the quality differences between MP3, AAC and classic LPCM on music CD. Perhaps that might change once Internet speeds increase enough to allow someone to download a 60MB LPCM .WAV music file in just a few seconds.

I expect a lot of big changes to happen with super fast Internet bandwidths. I keep saying traditional video rental stores will be greatly threated by this. Cable TV companies are going to be under the gun. Even a lot of over the air broadcasters may see their business models and methods of programming delivery change. Ultimately anything that can go on the Internet will eventually be broadcast from it.

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 06-21-2007 08:26 AM

quote: Frank Dubrois
Dec 2012 will be the end of time. The Universe is scheduled to end.

Frank,

You're a few years early... in fact Sir Isaac Newton predicted that it would last as long as 2060.

Mark

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