Slashdot Mirror
NPD Group Says "Wait! HD-DVD Isn't Dead Yet"
The NPD group, owners of the not-quite-as-popular-as-they-had-hoped HD-DVD format, attempted to battle back against the tide of "naysayers" who claim that the format war is over and have declared Blu-Ray Disc the winner. "While select articles have implied that HD-DVD as a format is doomed and the sky is falling for the format's supporters, the NPD Group this afternoon reinforced that sales results from a single week do not necessarily indicate a trend, and that the week in question had several intriguing variables that have gone unreported."
If the NPD Group really wants to shake things up they ought to offer free HD-DVD licenses.
"the NPD Group this afternoon reinforced that sales results from a single week do not necessarily indicate a trend"
true, but the format is on its way out. People have been waiting for a sign of which way to go, and now they have it. The rumor is out.
Not everyone bothers to read sites like Slashdot and Digg. Many may have no clue about what's been going on in the HD DVD war. So they see lower prices and they switch to that format. Warner hasn't yet released all their movies on Blu Ray, and their current HD DVD stock is probably still out there.
So does everyone here hate HD DVD because of some orrational hatred of Microsoft? I personally like HD DVD for it's cheaper price and the lack of heavy handed tactics used to try and force us all to convert. One of us. One of us. One of us.
Because I have a PS3 is really the only reason. I don't want an Add-on on my 360, just like the stupid DVD add-on for the original XBOX.
A customer enters a multimedia shop.
Customer: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint.
(The owner does not respond.)
C: 'Ello, Miss?
Owner: What do you mean "miss"?
C: I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!
O: We're closin' for lunch.
C: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this hd-dvd what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.
O: Oh yes, the, uh, the format...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?
C: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!
O: No, no, 'e's uh,...he's resting.
C: Look, matey, I know a dead hd-dvd when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.
O: No no he's not dead, he's, he's restin'! Remarkable format, the hd-dvd, idn'it, ay? Beautiful plumage!
C: The plumage don't enter into it. It's stone dead.
O: Nononono, no, no! 'E's resting!
C: All right then, if he's restin', I'll wake him up!
(shouting at the hardware)
'Ello, HD-DVD! I've got a lovely fresh cuttle movie for you if you show...(owner hits the hardware)
O: There, he moved!
C: No, he didn't, that was you hitting the hardware!
O: I never!!
C: Yes, you did!
O: I never, never did anything...
C: (yelling and hitting the hardware repeatedly) 'ELLO HD!!!!!
Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your nine o'clock alarm call!
(Takes hd-dvd out of the hardware and thumps its head on the counter. Throws it up in the air and watches it plummet to the floor.)
C: Now that's what I call a dead hd-dvd.
O: No, no.....No, 'e's stunned!
C: STUNNED?!?
O: Yeah! You stunned him, just as he was wakin' up! Formats stun easily, major.
C: Um...now look...now look, mate, I've definitely 'ad enough of this. That hd-dvd is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not 'alf an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein' tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk.
O: Well, he's...he's, ah...probably pining for the fjords.
C: PININ' for the FJORDS?!?!?!? What kind of talk is that?, look, why did he fall flat on his back the moment I got 'im home?
O: The hd-dvd format prefers kippin' on it's back! Remarkable format, id'nit, squire? Lovely plumage!
C: Look, I took the liberty of examining that hd-dvd when I got it home, and I discovered the only reason that it had been sitting in its hardware in the first place was that it had been NAILED there.
(pause)
O: Well, o'course it was nailed there! If I hadn't nailed that bird down, it would have nuzzled up to those bars, bent 'em apart with its beak, and VOOM! Feeweeweewee!
C: "VOOM"?!? Mate, this hd-dvd wouldn't "voom" if you put four million volts through it! 'E's bleedin' demised!
O: No no! 'E's pining!
C: 'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This hd-dvd is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker!
'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies!
'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig!
'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!!
THIS IS AN HD-DVD!!
The summary is partially incorrect. The NPD Group is a research firm, they do not own the HD-DVD format or anything close to it. The closest thing to HD-DVD's owners would be the DVD Forum, which is a consortium of companies.
The reason NPD is involved in this is because they are one of the big research firms for tracking sales data. NPD is the firm that released the earlier reporting talking about HD-DVD hardware sales slowing and this is a clarification of that. They are pointing out that one week's results can not be extrapolated to argue that HD-DVD is dying/dead like many people did, it's too short of a time period in a week with several unusual variables.
The NPD group are not the owners of the HD-DVD format, they are a market research company. Toshiba is a major client so statements from NPD in regard to HD-DVD should be taken with a grain of salt.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
NPD group is not an owner of the HD-DVD format. They are just a bunch of market analysts who provide information to retailers. See their website : http://www.npd.com/corpServlet?nextpage=profile_s.html
There are two kind of people, those who win and those who whine
So do you hate BluRay because of some irrational hatred of Sony? I personally like BluRay because it comes free with a PS3 and the lack of have handed tactics by MS (such as buying support) used to try and force us all to convert. One of us. One of us. One of us.
Frankly if you want to look at the sides involved you could at most choose the lesser of two evils, lets see who is the convicted monopolist again? Who is the rootkit company again? Who insist on ignoring standards and enforcing their own inferior solutions on the public?
Sorry, this format war was about the difference between Jack Johnson and John Jackson. If the parties involved had been smart they would simply have merged their products and saved everyone a lot of trouble.
Oh and I don't hate MS, I just don't trust them, they got a very long history of lying to serve their own goals. Sony does the same, but I have never ever been forced to use a Sony product that was riddled with bugs. Can you say the same for MS?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I Ain't Dead Yet #%$#@!!
It wants to go for a walk!
What he can't kill, he has sex on. Trent.
As an insider I can attest to the fact that the online world has been nailed by one of the most successful viral marketing campaigns ever waged in a digital format war. An unnamed company (or three) got together before the recent announcement by Warner Bros in the weeks before CES to orchestrate this domino effect. The game plan was, in a nutshell, that Warner Bros would announce their support for Blu-Ray (even though they will continue to make HD-DVD for some time) and their subsidiaries would follow closely with announcements. Then it was revealed that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and Twentieth Century-Fox Home Entertainment would reaffirm their commitment to the format. This information was fed into the biggest gadget blogs with the underlying message that the war is over. This was parroted near verbatim by submissions to all of the major technology and social bookmarking sites. Major audio video forums had been primed with posters working for the viral marketing firms employed to pull this off. Overnight every major site on the internet along with mainstream media was singing the Blu-Ray song. To make sure the statistics following CES would confirm the "Blu-Ray has won" story manufacturers were heavily discounting Blu-Ray players. This week, much to no ones surprise, this came true.
So why am I sharing this? I am firmly in the Blu-Ray camp but the techniques employed in this war have been rather unethical. Which blog or news agency will be the first to hunt down the facts in this story to confirm my story?
Don't buy it? Then read this article on TechChrunch which describes the same techniques used to market viral videos.
People like to complain that Warner stabbed HDDVD folks in the back, but this is a true stab in the back.
These guys know it's over and are trying to squeeze the last few bucks out of this things before it's all over, so they put out crap like this to get a few suckers.
It's bad for the industry, for their partners (except Microsoft), for the consumer, to let this format war last any longer, and it's over, so let's move on.
These folks are starting to embarrass themselves.
Excellent! We attack at dawn!
how does that have any relevance to the OP?
HD-DVD can make a comeback. How, you ask? Make it a DRM-free format :)
While I'm dreaming, I'd like an F-15.
Several reasons:
- Pricing is a lot higher - higher than what the provided quality actually provides. (OK, DVD:s suffered from the same in the beginning)
- They have competition from the classic DVD:s and need a real smash hit on blue-ray/HD-DVD only to really get going.
- The competition from the net is a factor to count on. Today you can download and play on your PC and monitors are available at 1920/1200 for a reasonable price - which means that as soon as cameras get higher resolution your home PC is able to play...
- The advantage of optical disks has been lost and hard disks are way ahead of the optical and solid state disks are catching up fast and will overtake the capacity of optical disks. This means that the need/use for optical disks as a backup medium is now over and this will result in a lower demand for burnable Blue-ray and HD-dvd drives/media.
So - this is a case of shooting yourself in the foot while barking up the wrong tree.Anyway - the formats aren't completely dead - they are just not good enough. There will always be buyers/users, but don't expect them to be as mainstream as the DVD.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
It not dead yet, just resting and dreaming of Norway.
Beauty is in the beholder of the eye.
So the naysers are saying the war is over, and the yayseyers are saying NO, the war is not over? Sounds like NPD has their terms switched.
In a war, when the "sky falls" for one side, it's a victory for those who aren't part of the war, in this case, the potential next-gen DVD system buyer.
And just because I've got chocolate all over my lips doesn't mean I've just eaten chocolate. But I have, in fact.
Just let the format die so I can expand my library of titles by the dozens for pennies on the dollar. Fortunately even if the format goes belly up, my player will still work and I can still enjoy my existing library. ...and yes, I have a Blu-Ray player as well so whoever wins is fine with me.
Blu-Ray: You fight with the strength of many men, HD-DVD. [Slashes HD-DVD's arm off]
HD-DVD: 'Tis but a scratch.
Blu-Ray: A scratch? Your arm's off!
HD-DVD: No, it isn't.
BLU-RAY: Victory is mine! We thank Thee Lord, that in Thy mer--
HD-DVD: Hah! [kick] Come on, then. Have at you!
As late as yesterday I read in a popular swedish computer magazine that Asus is producing an internal HD-DVD player, so at least Asus is confident that it's not dead.
Let's wait and see...
Since the introduction of Blu-Ray, it consistently won marketshare from HD-DVD, it went from zilch to two-thirds of the market during 2007.
According to Nielsen, for the week ending January 20th, Blu-Ray disc sales accounted for 83% of the high definition market. (http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=893)
Now that major companies like Warner recognize the situation and give up on HD DVD, that 5 about 6 HD Media sold are Blu-Ray, how could we reasonabily think that it could be reversed ?
Les jeux sont faits.
Inigo Montoya: What's that?
Miracle Max: Go through his clothes and look for loose change. Thanks a big tip o' the hat to The Princess Bride.
I pretty much like it less because it's a lossy HD format that has a lower video bitrate. If we're going lossy here, I want the highest bitrate possible. This is HD, we're not supposed to see artifacts anymore. I want to see the least amount possible. I really don't care that it doesn't have a DVD side, I don't care about any interactive features, I just want a really good looking movie.
Twinstiq, game news
You can talk about sales rates or attach rates or how much shelf space is dedicated to blue boxes as opposed to red boxes, you can talk about technical merit or political merit, you can talk about studios committing to or being bought out by one side or another. You can talk about all number of things, but I know the war is over.
Blu-ray wins. I know this to be true.
I know this because sitting on the shelf underneath my teevee is a Toshiba HD-A3.
I'm not touching either HD DVD or Blu-Ray. One has to be completely dead before I invest in the other.
I'll stick with my DVD Upconvert player for now (http://dvdupconvert.wordpress.com/).
Blue-Ray: Bring out yer dead.
Consumers: Here's one.
Blue-Ray: That'll be ninepence.
HD-DVD: I'm not dead.
Blue-Ray: What?
Consumers: Nothing. There's your ninepence.
HD-DVD: I'm not dead.
Blue-Ray: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
Consumers: Yes he is.
HD-DVD: I'm not.
Blue-Ray: He isn't.
Consumers: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
HD-DVD: I'm getting better.
Consumers: No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment.
Blue-Ray: Well, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
HD-DVD: I don't want to go on the cart.
Consumers: Oh, don't be such a baby.
Blue-Ray: I can't take him.
HD-DVD: I feel fine.
Consumers: Oh, do me a favor.
Blue-Ray: I can't.
Consumers: Well, can you hang around for a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
Blue-Ray: I promised I'd be at the Robinsons'. They've lost nine today.
Consumers: Well, when's your next round?
Blue-Ray: Thursday.
HD-DVD: I think I'll go for a walk.
Consumers: You're not fooling anyone, you know. Isn't there anything you could do?
HD-DVD: I feel happy. I feel happy.
[Blue-Ray glances up and down the street furtively, then silences HD-DVD with his a whack of his club]
Consumers: Ah, thank you very much.
Blue-Ray: Not at all. See you on Thursday.
Consumers: Right.
"What the hell is an aluminum falcon?"
You know, this could be just me, but it seems at least vaguely conceivable that the NPD group could potentially be somewhat biased in this matter. In the absense of any independent analysts agreeing with them, I am tempted to give greater weight to the various third parties reporting the opposite view. Not that I'd want to make a snap judgement or anything...
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
I am a Blu-Ray supporter, but it isn't just last week's hardware sales that where down -- HD-DVD disc sales have plummeted as well for the last two weeks, loosing by more than 5:1 for both weeks. You might get a bump in hardware sales as players are slashed to ridiculously low closeout prices, but the war is over. Lots of people will pick them up as upconverting dvd players and then buy dirt cheep discs on Ebay as some people try to unload their HD-DVD collections, but you will never see HD-DVD get past a 1/3 market share ever for a single week of new HD disc sales for the next two months, and after that they'll be lucky to ever do 1/10. They been struggling for over a year just to stay in the 2:1 ballpark and didn't manage a single week win in 2007.
This is just the excuse Target and Wal*Mart have needed to just stock 1 format and end buyer confusion.
Letter To Iran
Anonymous Coward is the most respected poster on this site!
I don't know if piracy is a big winner, but I think Sony was smart putting the BR Player in their Playstation 3's. Microsoft should have put HD-DVD Players in the Xbox 360. While it would have turned some people off of the 360, the vast majority would have said well since my Xbox can play HD-DVD's I might as buy them since they are better than regular DVD's anyway. That alone would have boosted sales tremendously and made it a real threat to Blue Ray.
"The best way to accelerate a Macintosh is at 9.8m/sec^2" -Marcus Dolengo
Independent studios rely on DVD releases for profitability. As high definition becomes the standard for content quality, consumers will be more and more averse to buying content on what they see as the "old" DVD format. But unlike with DVD and HD DVD where independents have the option to sell DRM-free discs when they can't afford the gargantuan licensing costs, Blu-ray's mandatory AACS effectively prevents them from being able to sell high definition optical discs, relegating them to the "old" and "low-rent" standard definition DVD format and ultimately snuffing them out as less and less consumers buy DVDs.
OK, I had to go into (ugh) a Wal-mart just a few hours ago (in my town they are literally the only store open before 9AM, that sells any kind of car products. Unless I want to pay a gas station $100 dollars a gallon for oil.)
I was lured into the electronics dept. by a big wall of shiny things. I happened to notice that they had their HD-DVD and Blu-Ray movies set up on the end of one of the isles. I asked one of the passing mouth-breathers with a wally world badge if this was all of the HD movies they had, to which he replied that this was indeed the entire selection.
The display consisted of about 8 columns and and 10 rows, I think. Blu-Ray had fully 6 of the columns and part of another. HD-DVD shared the rest of the space with some valentines day movies.
I decided to look at the selection of hardware that was available for each format. There were two Blu-Ray players (three if you count the PS3's in the video game section.) HD-DVD had exactly one player on offer. They did not even carry the Xbox 360 add on HD-DVD drive anymore. It was true that the HD-DVD player had had its price slashed, but I noticed that the Sony Blu-Ray player had also been marked down by $100.
The point of this little story is that unfortunately Wal-Mart has a huge influence on the average American. I know a lot of people that spend most of their shopping dollars at the store (not because they like it, but because they have shitty jobs that don't pay them enough to shop anywhere else.) If either of these two formats is ever going to become more than a niche product it becomes very very important for them to have the support of the large retailers. The fact that it looks like Wal-Mart is squeezing HD-DVD off the shelves means that if the format isn't dead already then it is not too healthy.
Of course the Blu-Ray section was not too large either, unless you count the PS3 games (they are Blu-Ray discs, do we have to count them?)
"...you can't press a Blu-ray disc without AACS for some reason."
The reason is obvious: AACS is expensive, and so mandating this requirement means that the big companies (Warner, Sony etc) have made it impractical/impossible for their smaller competitors to join the hi-def home entertainment market.
I would think Sony (and others) could do it just like they do for the PSP: Put the latest firmware required to play that disc specifically on that disc. Update and done. I don't know about checking keys and whatnot, but if the player itself needed an update, it could easily be done that way. I do agree that the amount of updates for blu ray and making the older players obsolete already due to changing spec is highly annoying. Dear Blu Ray: People don't want to waste hundreds of dollars, crazy, I know...
as long as hd-dvd players are half the price of blu-ray, hd-dvd will win...i don't give a crap what studios SAY they will use. if no one is buying blu-ray, they will switch.
the hd-dvd players seem like a huge value to me. they're half the price of blu-ray. they allow me to watch a new high-def format, and THEY WILL UPCONVERT MY CURRENT DVD COLLECTION so that I don't have to replace them all at once or maybe even at all.
if consumers buy more hd-dvd players than blu-ray players and studios still stay blu-ray only, that is very depressing because it means that their is no consumer power.
Some little details that show HD-DVD was aldready dead.
Weeks before the announcement, they did not even capture 50% of the hardware sales. That is with much cheaper players and excluding the PS3.
Look at the hardware at CES, which has nothing to do with Warner announcement, everyone and there dog was building a Blu Ray machine. Toshiba was alone against the industry on their sinking ship.
The Warner announcement is just the final nail in the coffin. The booth shots were hilarious, you could almost hear the crickets in the HD-DVD booth.
Guys care.
After all when your woman "gets you" to watch one of those the only ameliorating element is the (usually) hot female love interest.
You might as well see her clearly.
This same reasoning leads to an understanding of the high definition release of certain films. (Into the Blue, I'm looking at you.)
Don't post innacurate information
If you do, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet I will end you.
HD DVD has the ability to press a DVD and HD DVD on a disc. I would start including the HD DVD version on every standard DVD. Anyone that doesn't have an HDTV but is planning on getting one sometime in the future can still continue to build their DVD collection, and then enjoy them in HD when they upgrade. That will also provide an incentive to upgrade.
There are still a lot of people out there that do not have the equipment to play either Blu-Ray or HD DVD. Since I work in the tech field, most of my coworkers do, but there are only two of us in my neighborhood that have HDTV. I am the only one in my immediate family that has HDTV as well. Not having to worry about your DVD collection being obsolete by having the HD DVD version as well would be a good selling point.
I do still hope HD-DVD is somehow alive, but I fear it's more like this:
HD-DVD: Microsoft always triumphs! Have at you! Come on, then.
[whop]
[Blu-Ray chops HD-DVD's last studio off]
HD-DVD: Oh? All right, we'll call it a draw.
Blu-Ray: Come, Warner.
HD-DVD: Oh. Oh, I see. Running away, eh? You yellow bastards! Come back here and take what's coming to you. I'll bite your Heroes off!
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Here is a link that provides the raw sales data. HD DVD sales nosedived from 14,558 players sold to 1,758. Sales were just 12% of the week before. 1,758 players sold is simply pathetic and if this continues a few more weeks and the format just isn't viable. It wouldn't surprise me if more HD DVD players were returned than sold last week.
Maybe there was a small affect by the HD TV promotion but its fairly obvious that Warner's announcement followed by the disastrous showing by HD DVD at CES were the main causes.
The next few weeks are going to be interesting. I expect we'll see some minor recovery as stores try to shift remaining stock at bargain prices but this really looks like the end. Maybe Toshiba knows it too and is just saying nothing while the channels are cleared out. And it can't come a moment too soon since this is probably the make or break year for HD storage to go mainstream.
Toshiba is Japanese for lemon. Why else would then have a lemon on all of their ads behind their logo? Do a search for Toshiba and Lemon and you will come up with a lot of hits.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
Why would consumers buy HD-DVDs *or* Blu-ray disks for "50% more" than the current price of DVDs?
Consumers largely DON'T CARE about the higher resolutions or the supposed extra stuff. They just want to watch the fucking movie. Consumers also know that the new formats will have EVEN MORE unskippable commercials and technologically unnecessary DRM-problems.
In short, we get practically no additional value out of a HD-DVD or Blu-ray movie. DVDs are bloody good enough. Until the new formats are actually *cheaper* than typical DVD prices, they are not going to see widespread adoption.
It's good to see that the Iraqi Information Minister has found a new job.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Save Farscape!
The NPD group, owners of the not-quite-as-popular-as-they-had-hoped HD-DVD format should remove their tinfoil hats, the party is over.
There is no security when liberty is sacrificed.
OK, so how do you explain that on the Amazon site best selling DVD players including traditional DVD players, HD-DVD, and Blu Ray the three versions of HD-DVD player hold 1st, 3rd, and 5th place and have been holding there ever since Toshiba slashed prices? Currently there is only one Blu Ray player in the top 10 list and it is on the 9th place and dropping. Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/electronics/172514/ref=pd_ts_e_nav
Now, you can either claim that there are a lot of dumb people out there buying a dying technology or look at it from the opposite perspective: that there is a growing number of people out there who do not believe the PR hype of media or the Internet any more, which would make them, well, quite smart, no? While second option sounds a lot more hopeful, I am not holding my breath. Yet, unless Toshiba has bribed Amazon to skew the stats (for which I currently have no reason to believe), figures in the link above sure paint a different image of the current situation.
Another thing that comes into mind based on my brief exploration of the Blu Ray and HD-DVD movie libraries (I haven't invested in either yet), I must say that apart from Pixar, currently HD-DVD has a lot more titles that are worth getting (HD or not).
"An undecided buyer would have to be pretty brave to bet on HD-DVD at this point."
Why is that? You can get an HD-DVD player now with 7 films for the same price as 7 bluray films without a player here in the UK. The Bluray player costs an extra £250 on top so that's a pretty big difference for now. Even if HD-DVDs stop being produced you've still got 7 high def films and a nice upscaling DVD player.
Even if HD-DVD is dead, the current deal on Toshiba's low end player is hard to argue against because you don't actually lose anything by going for the offer, but you gain arguably the cheapest entry option into true HD content.
It's one of those things you can buy if you're interested in high def and win or lose, it doesn't really matter. Even when the system eventually dies if HD-DVD is gone then you'll have still got a nice life out of it and the free DVDs will be cheap enough to re-buy in another format for a couple of £ or so if you liked them enough. It'll probably also be enough to keep you going until Bluray drives become more reasonably priced even if you rent movies.
Essentially the current cost of Toshiba's HD-DVD drive and the free HD-DVDs can act as a no-risk bridge for those wanting high-def content but not being willing to buy a Bluray drive right now.
I have downloaded a fair few 4mbit x264 Blu-Ray/HDDVD rips and been playing them back on my Sharp 37" 720p via HDMI from my MacBook Pro and lately a HTPC. I also have a very nice $400 upscaling DVD player. Comparing the two, the (PAL) DVDs are no match for the downloaded files, the difference in detail is dramatic - especially action movies like Batman Begins and Casino Royale. But even a comedy like Death at a Funeral, which I watched in HD last night, is much nicer to look at. And don't get me started on the BBC's "Planet Earth" in HD! I can only imagine watching the original HD discs on a proper player will be even better - especially when you go 1080p on a larger screen.
Of course the content is the most important, but a very clear, detailed picture is a very nice thing to have. Unfortunately, it is not worth paying 50% more on the discs for. Luckily, I rarely buy movies anymore; I use rental-by-post and my service has an ever growing range of HD titles in both formats.
Now all I am waiting for is a clear winner in the wars and the manufacturers to stop ripping us of here in Australia by wanting us to pay 50% more for a first-gen player than they are asking for 2nd-gen players in the US...
As for you point 3 above, as long as there is DRM, you can not buy a movie or music, only rent. Sure iTunes says you can buy music, but really it is just a really long rental until the service is discontinued and there are no more servers to authorize your computer for playback. And don't think it unlikely; see Google Video "sales" as a prime example. (at least people got their money back) The best you can hope for is that just before shutting down the service they give you a utility to strip the files of DRM. Otherwise you'll be shafted.
CART MASTER: Ninepence.
HD DVD: I'm not dead!
CART MASTER: What?
CUSTOMER: Nothing. Here's your ninepence.
HD DVD: I'm not dead!
CART MASTER: 'Ere. He says he's not dead!
CUSTOMER: Yes, he is.
HD DVD: I'm not!
CART MASTER: He isn't?
CUSTOMER: Well, he will be soon. He's very ill.
HD DVD: I'm getting better!
CUSTOMER: No, you're not. You'll be stone dead in a moment.
CART MASTER: Oh, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
HD DVD: I don't want to go on the cart!
CUSTOMER: Oh, don't be such a baby.
CART MASTER: I can't take him.
HD DVD: I feel fine!
CUSTOMER: Well, do us a favour.
CART MASTER: I can't.
CUSTOMER: Well, can you hang around a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
CART MASTER: No, I've got to go to the Robinsons'. They've lost nine today.
CUSTOMER: Well, when's your next round?
CART MASTER: Thursday.
HD DVD: I think I'll go for a walk.
CUSTOMER: You're not fooling anyone, you know. Look. Isn't there something you can do?
HD DVD: [singing] I feel happy. I feel happy. [whop]
CUSTOMER: Ah, thanks very much.
CART MASTER: Not at all. See you on Thursday.
If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
NT
TPJ - Founder, The Amazon Basin
Sales were 85/15 in favor of BD last week.
This week they were 83/17 in favor of BD. and Hardware sales went to 93% in favor of Blu-Ray on the standalone front.
How many weeks will this have to go on before the NPD will declare it dead?
Just pick one, will ya!
If AACS is required, you couldn't burn your own media - why then are Dell and Sony and Apple backing the format? People who make HD camcorders and computers with movie producing programs?
Find one shred of proof that what you say is true.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Not too many people have complained that the Slashdot writeup gets it almost completely wrong...
I for one applaud the NPD Group's efforts to make sure people understand their figures, and understand the trends at work here; unfortunately, Slashdot once again proves that consumers and techies don't like to be bothered with fact.
Stating on Slashdot that I like cheese since 1997.
The answer to the three questions were, MS, Sony, BOTH!
It wasn't really all that difficult to figure out. MS is a convicted monopolist, Sony (Well Sony/BMG) put a rootkit with their product and BOTH have always tried to force their own products instead of standards.
Learn to read.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.