SA Footy

Looks like a few more movie companies and now PORN are jumping on the Blueray bandwagon.
I detect there will be an end to this war very soon if there isn't already especially with Blueray being able to fit extras on them that HD can't.

Blu-Ray will win, purely because it has a cooler name.

Go Blu-ray!!!

I was on the wrong side fo the BETA/VHS battle

Yep, looks like blu-ray will win.
Cooler name (HD-DVD is a mouthful), more studio content, but unfortunately continues the anti-consumer region coding scheme (HD-DVD is region free).
Sony lost the VHS/Beta battle (at consumer level anyway), but they'll win the hi-def war.

Blu-ray disc prices in Australia are outrageous so far as it really only appeals to a niche market.
Prices a far better overseas (eg Amazon) and fortunately not all discs are region coded.

So far have 'The Fifth Element' and 'Starship Troopers' on blu-ray (play via PS3) and both look awesome

I read an article recently in a PC magazine that suggested most companies were ready to get behind Bluray and the rest may offer Sony [ I think it was Sony holding out ] an inducement to make it universal.

Didn't Porn decide the winner of the Beta/VHS wars?

If so, I'm on the Blu-ray wagon...

And the winner is.....


Toshiba concedes defeat in DVD war
Article from: Agence France-Presse

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From correspondents in Tokyo

February 19, 2008 10:14pm

JAPANESE high-tech giant Toshiba announced its withdrawal from the high-definition DVD business, conceding defeat in a long-running format war with rival Sony.

Toshiba Corp said that it aimed to end sales of its HD DVD machines by the end of March, clearing the way for the Blu-ray format developed by Sony Corp and its partners to become the industry standard.

In a replay of the VHS-Betamax video cassette format war in the late 1970s, Japanese high-tech giants had been battling to set the industry standard in next-generation DVDs with two rival formats that are incompatible.

But Toshiba and its HD DVD partners suffered a series of heavy setbacks, with Hollywood titan Warner Brothers and US retail giant Wal-Mart both throwing their weight behind Blu-ray.

"We carefully assessed the long term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," said Toshiba chief executive Atsutoshi Nishida.

"While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality," he said.

As well as ending sales of stand alone high-definition machines, Toshiba said it would stop volume production of HD DVD disk drives for computers. It will also assess whether to keep making notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives.

But it will continue to provide after-sales support for people who have already bought its next-generation DVD players and recorders.

Blu-ray and HD DVD both offer cinematic-quality images and multimedia features.

But analysts say the availability of two different types of formats was confusing for consumers, who have been reluctant to buy one type of machine in case it becomes obsolete.

Toshiba said it would focus on more profitable business areas, such as NAND flash memory chips that are essential for portable music players and other consumer electronics.

The group announced today that it would jointly build a new semiconductor plant in Japan next year with its US partner SanDisk as part of efforts to cement their leading positions in NAND flash memory.

Good news from both a consumer and technical point of view.

Wedgie wrote:Good news from both a consumer and technical point of view.

Technical yes, consumer no.
It would be fine if blu-ray didn't have region coding to suck up to the movie studios.

Interceptor wrote:

Wedgie wrote:Good news from both a consumer and technical point of view.

Technical yes, consumer no.
It would be fine if blu-ray didn't have region coding to suck up to the movie studios.

Consumer a definate yes as they can buy one product knowing confidently it wont be obsolete soon.
Also HDDVD was virtually obsolete already as it couldn't fit what Blu-Ray did.
And there's always ways around region coding.

Wedgie wrote:

Interceptor wrote:

Wedgie wrote:Good news from both a consumer and technical point of view.

Technical yes, consumer no.
It would be fine if blu-ray didn't have region coding to suck up to the movie studios.

Consumer a definate yes as they can buy one product knowing confidently it wont be obsolete soon.
Also HDDVD was virtually obsolete already as it couldn't fit what Blu-Ray did.
And there's always ways around region coding.

There's still no way around blu-ray region coding (apart from importing a unit from overseas), a couple of years since the launch. In time it may happen. Note that not all discs are coded, so that is a plus.

HD-DVD was launched before blu-ray and probably could have won if Toshiba had been smart about the marketing and strategy. Putting blu-ray in the PS3 helped the cause for Sony, despite the high price of the console.

Oh Dear.

I have 5 Dvd players.

The best one, able to show any DVD is Playstation2.

Looks like I will have to update......?

Paid $1150 for my first DVD player. Paid $50 for the last.

None of them work as good as PS2....