Yes. Add to this that I can get DVDs of some great movies for $5 at Wal-Mart, or $1 for old cartoons, Andy Griffith, etc. My 32" screen probably isn't going to look any better with Blu Ray or HD-DVD than it does with what I've got, and I'm perfectly happy with the quality. Fortunately for the HD guys there exists many guys like me with cash to burn and a 42" HD LCD waiting for some content. I'm am not content with broadcast HD or SD.
In some ways, this is looking like the successors to the CD format that all flopped badly. Looking at video, while the studios are trying to make better quality formats (with unhacked DRM), people are flocking to youtube and other lower quality alternatives that offer convenience. It's analogous to people flocking to mp3s which offer convenience and "good-enough" quality. Youtube is not popular because it's DRM free or poor quality. It's popular because it has so many users who make or upload content. Content is kind. But a 5 min distractions are a different market then a 1.5h movie. There still exists a market for spectacle. You tube is just interesting but it's not a replacement for movies. It may replace TV.
That totally misses the point. We're talking *standards*, not *manufacturers*. Having multiple manufacturers who are competing for the exact same market is fantastic. But it doesn't help capitalism to have multiple standards; if anything, it fragments the market and makes competition more difficult. Indeed, both format were functionally the same for consumers. Not a single significantly different feature for consumers. Thus all they were doing was delaying HD adoption.
Basically, what's happening now is nobody wants to get caught up in the HD-DVD vs Blu-ray pissing contest, so a whole lot of people who otherwise would have bought a player by now are getting sick of the crap and want someone to win. That doesn't mean we want to see only one manufacturer making players; far from it. I'd like to see tons of manufacturers competing directly on the basis of a single standard. I'd like to get a better disc player than the one I have now, but I don't want to get in the middle of this crap. Which is why I hope paramount and Universal make some hasty exits to expedite the change.
A lot of the "parents" I know would not trust their HD-DVDs or Blueray discs to their "Disney aged" kids, in the first place. Pretty much all of them back up their original DVD and give the kids the backup... Surprisingly, a lot of them are "non geek" parents. Of course, a lot of them rent the DVD, and then create a backup, too... Not that I really support that. Fortunately Blu-ray mandates a anti-scratch coating that is really really hard to scratch. Find a bargain bin Blu-ray and try it out (total recall is a candidate).
Warner joins Blu-Ray. People think the battle is over. In response, HDDVD prices are slashed. Consumer's flock to HDDVD. Battle continues. A beta player at 1/3 price is still not going to move much.
I thought "at Ford, quality is job 1?" Maybe they should change their motto: "At ford, quality is an afterthought. Looks and stylishness are job 1! Oh and litigation is job 2!"/quote>
I'd argue it's: "At ford, quality and style is an accident. Desperately trying to stay afloat is job 1! Oh and litigation is job 2!"
Like those proprietary USB cables. Ain't nothin' ever use them. Darn cables - I've got the these VGA connectors - they need a proprietary cable. And those darn ethernet connectors. Don't get me started on DVI. All of theose are expensive and never used anywhere. Not good for bandwith either. I think the point might be closer to "damn thats a lot of cables. anything to reduce that helps". Right now I have 1 micro USB cable 4 audio cables, 1 cat 5, 1 extermal STA, 1 power plug, 1 dvi, 2 standard USBs, a PS2 keyboard, and 3 normal USB cables dangling out of my machine. IF i coudl reduce that it would save a great deal of time when upgrading or tinkering with it. Right now it's a bit of a chore. It's worse on my other comp which has many of the same cables but is stuck in a tiny recess in a huge immovable desk. It's literally 30 min to recable it after repairs or upgrades due to how hard it is to reach the back and it's impossible to plug all the cables in while the computer is not in the cubby.
It's not really meant to compete with USB. that just the interpretation of the author of the article. How is a 3cm range competing? It's simply a new device to device short rant interface. It's really ridiculous when each thing Sony is associated with or invents is part of a "format war". It's just the articles author trolling for eyes by using this obvious flame bait.
Well Sauron's Ring of Power had some positive features for the user too. Invisibility, Kick Assitude, Frothing Megalomania to name but three, but that doesn't alter the fact its primary purpose was to bind people in the darkness. Same with Cocaine really.
Don't let it fool you though. Pretty soon you'll be stealing from your best friends and family and/or selling your ass on the street to get the money for a copy of Eragon Special Edition BluRay though, unless you cast your PS3 into the fires of Mount Doom and buy a chipped Wii off eBay. Well if PS3's are the ONE ring then consider me sold.. ahh my precious..
What's interesting is that apparently they don't know where it came from, and it's supposedly strange to just have a relatively small cloud of hydrogen coming towards us from a totally empty area of space. God, Cthulu, and the FSM went to a Mexican place for lunch.
If someone has a thousand albums on MP3, whatever. It doesn't say anything about them. They spent a night raiding P2P. Big deal.
If someone has a thousand albums on Vinyl, it's a different story. You think something of him. Maybe good, maybe bad, but you can expect him to rather deeply identify himself by his music. Each record was individually chosen, to the exclusion of others. Time was invested, thought was expressed, identity is reflected.
And that, of course, is what not just Vinyl, but the entire shared music experience is really about. Music is more than bits. Music is more than waves of air lapping or pounding at one's eardrums. Music is, or at least can be, about identity. That a fifteen year old kid is desperately trying to assert his should surprise absolutely nobody here. Music to me, brings emotions and memories. I really needn't have physical evidence of my dedication to music. Because while it was background to a lot of important events it was not center stage. It was just background. To some people the music itself was important. Not to me. And seemingly not to the majority of people. As well I think you are confusing time spent on music and the importance someone places on it with the physical media. My best friends carefully categorized hard drive full of MP3's and WMA's is the modern version of what you enjoy about music while my dirty directory of random MP3 is the modern version of the majority of humanity. He is a musician and strives to get a wide range of music and as well being a musician means he's dirt poor. So $0.99 MP3 bought at people recommendations serves him better then specialty or used vinyl.
It took me 3 years to land a decent job with my own office (with a view to the yoga studio across the atrium) and decent pay. I think it's more a generational thing. Echo boomers have been taught about self-esteem but not hard work. So They graduate and expect one of those dot com jobs right away. They're disappointed when they have to slog through 3 years of tech support/customer service jobs before grabbing a hand up. I'm on the leading edge of the echo boomers and i can attest most of my generation want what our parents have but don't know how to get there. Conversely We had to wade through a few more years of education on average and came out to a job market where your average wage wont' allow you to start a life. The amount of cost of living inflation in the North America and lack of wage inflation means Your entry level position will buy 70% of what our parents entry level positions bought.
Moral of the story: Never believe anything you read or hear, especially when it's said in corporate circles. Damn.. school must have been hard for you.
There has been a blitz of these "the war is over, HD DVD is doomed" stories last couple of days, and sites post them very uncritically. Same with political "assassinations" online, doesn't matter how many times they are refuted, the lies live on and will probably enter the history books one day. Perception sometimes is stronger then truth. Beta lost. The perception is that it didn't have porn and lost partially due to this persist. Beta had porn. So you have a urban myth that contributed to the fall of a format. Whether paramount jumps or not is now irrelevant because everyone assumes they will. However they also didn't "deny" they were not producing Blu-ray they simply re-affirmed they will be producing HD DVD. There is a subtle but substantial difference.
When you can smell Jenna Jameson's perfume as her virtual body climbs over you... that is when the Format War will be over. I'm uncertain if the smell of skank is really a good thing.
Probably a good point. In my defense, most of my friends/relatives/etc aren't overly tech savvy, although several of them own HDTVs. Most of them just wanted a big screen TV, not really caring if it was HD or not. They all know there is a new format, and complained about it being like betamax (both my dad & father in-law bet on Betamax in the late 70s), so they're at least aware of it. Anecdotal evidence for sure, but I know they're all waiting for the new VHS to come out on top before choosing. Anecdotally as well, in my social circle event he 75 year old crusty HK surgeon who doesn't know squat about computers picked up a 42" sharp aquas and inquired with me on which HD format to go with. The majority of my family friends and friends have picked up one kind of HD TV or another. Most have either a PS3 or stand alone HD DVD player. Most were not super tech savvy. Then again We're Canadian and we're usually ahead of the North American tech curve.
With high capacity external drives so cheap, I have to wonder if optical as a mainstream backup medium is dead. Of course there will always be power users who need the storage, but are they enough to make 100GB discs a volume item or will most people buy 25GB to master home video projects to? HD-DVD and Blu-ray are meant for the average Joe who don't know who to set up a DVI cable from their comp to their TV. External storage may be cheap but technical savy is not spread very fast. That is why HD download will not soon overtake physical media. Perhaps in 10-15 years when the more technologically comfortable echo boomers hit their stride.
Which multi sided dice do I have to roll to move out of my parents apartment, get my license to drive, and lose my virginity? Save vs Geekiness with a -10 penalty. 1d20.
What's funny about that is that HD DVD players run Linux. I think MS's support for HD DVD is more about HD DVD not depending upon Java than anything else. (That makes MS/Gates sound more like Apple/Jobs...:) I found an entry on a 3rd party linux HDDVD player on wikipedia and some instructions on how to mod existing players to play blu-ray and HD-DVD on the UBUNTU forums if you know a player key such as the 360 HD-DVD player key but I didn't find the actual third party app. Is the wikipedia entry referring to the UBUNTU hacks or to a legitimate OSS or proprietary player? I somehow doubt that avoiding Java was the only or even principle consideration in going with MS's solution.
I thought the last format war was decided by pr0n?
Of course, there's too much of that on the internet this time for it to be the really deciding factor this time around.... It's a quaint urban myth. Both VHS and Beta had porn. At all points in their lifespans.
Microsoft only has itself to blame if HD DVD fails. And if HD DVD fails only Toshiba would be seriously hurt. MS has only a very minor direct stake in HD DVD. They paid off paramount more to annoy Sony then to beat Blu-ray. They don't' make movie content, they don't press disks, they don't do anything but provide part of the software for HD DVD's. So MS is just just playing it strategically and making winning expensive for Sony hoping it will weaken their position in another equally profitable market, games. It probably worked in the US. The PS3 is not #1, and not #2. I'm not averse to it. I like my PS3 but it didn't succeed as well as Sony wanted, MS strategic manueverings with HD DVD may be part of the reason.
There is one player left who will likely fight on, that being microsoft. They absolutely don't want blu ray to succeed, because that means they lose another round to Sony. They don't wish it to succeed but they aren't stupid. They paid off paramount to be a thorn in Sony's side. If the wind blows hard enough in on direction they will make a blu-ray attachment. They already succeeded in making this generations format war expensive for Sony. They may sign off on that victory and move on or they may have other tricks. But they aren't that invested in HD DVD while Sony bet the bank on it. I somehow doubt MS is going to push further.
Here's a company who's tried to rootkit your system, and appears to have every intention of inforinging upon your fair use rights. vs a Company who gives you a rootkit disguised as a OS (VISTA)?
Forgetting the fallacy of one stake holder behind both formats; it's like pontificating on weather you'll buy a Volkswagen or Mitsubishi based on what evils those two companies did in WWII.
It is all about the story and how well that story is portrayed, a clearer picture will not improve ether aspect but it can certainly make it far worse, and no being able to more clearly see that fake scenery is fake or to more readily spot the errors in special effects doesn't do anything for me. And then there is spectacle. Where it doesn't matter if the lead is a wooden statue (the Matrix), you just want to see shit explode. As a cinifile I have the unfortunate job to inform you that me and you are a minority. I'd rather Hollywood released nothign but high quality epics and indies films but joe smuck likes his terrorists good n blowed up. So while you can say a clear crisper picture doesn't mean much, joe smuch says it means his next TV purchase. And as a cinefile while a movie like reservoir dogs is great in DVD or even VHS or even on radio, LOTR or SW:EP V really really needs HD. Even cinefiles can like well done spectacle.
Slashdot Mirror
PATENT PANDING, it's nto a typo. They are pandering for a patent.
I'd argue it's:
"At ford, quality and style is an accident. Desperately trying to stay afloat is job 1! Oh and litigation is job 2!"
It's not really meant to compete with USB. that just the interpretation of the author of the article. How is a 3cm range competing? It's simply a new device to device short rant interface. It's really ridiculous when each thing Sony is associated with or invents is part of a "format war". It's just the articles author trolling for eyes by using this obvious flame bait.
Don't let it fool you though. Pretty soon you'll be stealing from your best friends and family and/or selling your ass on the street to get the money for a copy of Eragon Special Edition BluRay though, unless you cast your PS3 into the fires of Mount Doom and buy a chipped Wii off eBay. Well if PS3's are the ONE ring then consider me sold.. ahh my precious..
If someone has a thousand albums on Vinyl, it's a different story. You think something of him. Maybe good, maybe bad, but you can expect him to rather deeply identify himself by his music. Each record was individually chosen, to the exclusion of others. Time was invested, thought was expressed, identity is reflected.
And that, of course, is what not just Vinyl, but the entire shared music experience is really about. Music is more than bits. Music is more than waves of air lapping or pounding at one's eardrums. Music is, or at least can be, about identity. That a fifteen year old kid is desperately trying to assert his should surprise absolutely nobody here. Music to me, brings emotions and memories. I really needn't have physical evidence of my dedication to music. Because while it was background to a lot of important events it was not center stage. It was just background. To some people the music itself was important. Not to me. And seemingly not to the majority of people. As well I think you are confusing time spent on music and the importance someone places on it with the physical media. My best friends carefully categorized hard drive full of MP3's and WMA's is the modern version of what you enjoy about music while my dirty directory of random MP3 is the modern version of the majority of humanity. He is a musician and strives to get a wide range of music and as well being a musician means he's dirt poor. So $0.99 MP3 bought at people recommendations serves him better then specialty or used vinyl.
It took me 3 years to land a decent job with my own office (with a view to the yoga studio across the atrium) and decent pay. I think it's more a generational thing. Echo boomers have been taught about self-esteem but not hard work. So They graduate and expect one of those dot com jobs right away. They're disappointed when they have to slog through 3 years of tech support/customer service jobs before grabbing a hand up. I'm on the leading edge of the echo boomers and i can attest most of my generation want what our parents have but don't know how to get there. Conversely We had to wade through a few more years of education on average and came out to a job market where your average wage wont' allow you to start a life. The amount of cost of living inflation in the North America and lack of wage inflation means Your entry level position will buy 70% of what our parents entry level positions bought.
Mem sticks is a failure. MD is actually a huge success in Asia. 3.5" and CD were the other Sony victories.
Of course, there's too much of that on the internet this time for it to be the really deciding factor this time around.... It's a quaint urban myth. Both VHS and Beta had porn. At all points in their lifespans.
Forgetting the fallacy of one stake holder behind both formats; it's like pontificating on weather you'll buy a Volkswagen or Mitsubishi based on what evils those two companies did in WWII.