HD DVD Out Bid?

[camaroguy1998]

It seems HD DVD's death was bought and paid for!
Allegedly Sony has paid Warner to jump ship and join the BluRay team to the tune of $400m !
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... ry=Toshiba

RANT....
I thought I made a fairly informed purchase when I bought my Toshiba HD DVD player in Dec.
HD DVD players and movies had been out selling BluRay by a pretty fair margin and it seemed HD DVD was on its way to a future victory!
I feel like I got screwed, IMHO "The People" didnt clearly choose BluRay, the choice was made for us by someone who lost the last big format war Sony!
IMHO Sony should have offer a rebate or coupon to everyone who trades in their HD DVD players!

Does anyone else feel like I do?

[ibleet]

I have been patient and haven't bought either format, so I honestly don't have an opinion either way. At least the Toshiba HD DVD was cheap enough. I seen 'em going for around $100 on many occasions. Heck, they still play HD and normal DVD's, so not that big of a deal overall...just my 2c.

Sony is a big company and a lot of people got caught up in "the cost of doing business". Don't hold your breath for any type of rebates though. They accomplished what they wanted to and they could care less about the little people.

[vicaphit]

I have always sworn that the PS3 would carry Blu-Ray to victory. Regular BR players are way to expensive, but if it can play games too, consumers will buy it.

If Xbox 360s came with the HD player, HD would have won.

[stev]

Sony lost ... Betamax tapes vs. the VHS format. VHS won and was cheaper on the market.

Now ...

Sony won, BlueRay DVD vs. HD DVD format. BlueRay won and is more expensive on the market.

Go figure that out ...

[Digital Puppy]

HD DVD players and movies had been out selling BluRay by a pretty fair margin and it seemed HD DVD was on its way to a future victory!

Sorry man, but this absolutely false. Even before the announcements of this month, BR has outsold HDDVD by at least 3-to-1 since inception. Source 1, Source 2, Source 3.

I'm actually a fan of Sony and BR (and Microsoft, and, *gasp* Apple, etc.), but I'm a bigger fan of High Definition in general so I'm glad this format war has ended. I had been waiting (along with a whole bunch of others) for the war to end before contributing to either side. Now that there is no "Blue" versus "Red" anymore, the studios, hardware manufacturers and consumers can get on with moving and exposing the HD format to mases and make it more mainstream (and affordable).

I believe the people did choose..don't think Sony and it's hardware backers (Sharp, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, LG, et. al) were the only ones to have deals with resellers. A year ago, the news was ripe with the weekly alliances that the HD-DVD people and BR people were brokering...whether it was Wallmart choosing HD-DVD or Blockbuster video choosing BR (and it subsequent PS3 rentals), Sony didn't have a monopoly on back room deals. It's obvious now that Sony had a lot at stake and put it's money where it needed to be. If they had lost, there would have been mass Seppuku in Tokyo.

I predict that we will soon see the sub $200 BR players as well as a host of players coming out that consumers will find worth purchasing. A single-format HD player will drive sales of HD panels and we will see more HD-over-net content from companies like Netflix, Apple, Blockbuster, etc. The end of the format war will , in turn drive the content makers (ie. Studios) to create more HD content. More content means more HD outlets (ie stations and programming). This, of course, would have been the case if HD-DVD had won, but in the end it's good for us as consumers that the industry is not stuck in a paralysis and can get on with developing the media.

So, no, I don't agree.

I hope you still have your receipt.

[ibleet]

Blue Ray always made more sense with the larger storage capacity. The only thing that kept HD DVD in the running was price. As technology finds new ways to decrease production costs, blue ray will fall into a more affordable price range.

[KnightRid]

I always said the only reason blu-ray was winning was because of the money Sony was shelling out.

Mike

Rebates for hd-dvd players..LOL - Sony has everyone where they wanted them now, why give a rebate. MAYBE a small rebate on a PS3 purchase, or maybe a free game or something...I could see them doing that.