its too bad that ....

... consumers where blinded by the Blue Ray marketing campaing into thinking that it was a better product (its not)

... greedy movie studios sold out their customers for money (what a surprise)

... retail outlets did not beleive that HD-DVD would be sucessfull (it would have)

... Toshiba pulled out so early

I keep hearing people say that, but when you look at the specs Bluray is better. So what exactly was better about HD-DVD?

More capacity and higher data rates for video, whats to hate?

I think HD DVD would have been the best short term solution for a next step for the masses. Meaning cheap and average to the above average.

And still leaving true hard core enthusiast lacking and wanting. They same way they do with blu ray.

The newer tech and where we need to be for that price point isn't blue laser. It just doesn't hold enough information. The increase in storage is marginal. And the visual difference doesn't justify the price in my opinion.

Had Toshiba won the studio whores had no intention of making things reasonable for the consumer.

Combo disk should have been standard. But guess what they want to milk the crap out of us. They want your collection of purchased movies not backed up. They want us repurchasing the same movie over and over.

They'll do the same with blu ray. LOL check this out 300 is going to be re-released with the interactive crap on it later when blu ray suckers get BD 2.0 and all of the other feature that the dvd consortium (forum) requested.

So current current owners of movies CAN'T just purchase an upgrade. They'll be treated like their buying an enhanced version of the film.

I can't see myself buying into high def for quite some time. Upconverting will do for me.

Too much milking of our fellow consumers of valuable hard earned dollars.

Companies, at the end of the day, exist to make a profit for themselves. Most will do just about anything that's not illegal (and some will even cross that line) to ensure they bring in the dollar. The only thing that keeps them from completely screwing over consumers is market perception. Bad press for obviously unethical or predatory business practices can sometimes lead to lower sales. That's when businesses listen.

However, there are ways of mitigating some of this. Investing in a Blu-Ray player now is not necessarily a bad idea. Most recent players upgradeable, and BD 2.0 really only provides improvement in interactivity to a niche crowd. The same video/audio codecs will be around... which is the movie experience people really care about. So I wouldn't really worry about which BD profile your player supports. All HiDef players still play DVD's, so your old library is safe as well.

And if you don't want to buy expensive movies, join a service like NetFlix where renting HD titles is no more expensive than their DVD counterparts.

Basically, if you can afford a HD player, you can have your cake and eat it too... today. And you don't have to go broke doing it.

I teasingly say the blu ray suckers. But as you hae read before I feel bad that consumers have been pitted against each other.

People post here with the "we" as if these companies are in it for our best interest.

When a company is fair and offering more than a reasonable effort to the consumer I appaud them. I respect Toshiba fully because i think they did make that effort.

I still hadn't purchsed either because outside of big special effect films I don't see the payback being worth it over upconverting.

Don't get me wrong I think the picture is very nice. But when they had spderman 3 scedules for $49 on blu ray. That told me without competition the movie studios would milk the hell out of it.

They cry about piracy, basically saying let us keep everything unfair and loadsides.

@enlighten,
I thought you are a HD supporter...so you at least has a $100 cheap HD player.
For all the sour grape people, HD lost..doesn't matter which format is better. it's 95% the same quality wise. The extra features are garbages that no one has time to use. There are more movies than I have time to watch. The movie studio is the one that pick format..who cares which side they pick as long as they pick one... they pick VHS last time...which is as much worse than betamax...but you don't complain now VHS was out there...and VHS player eventually become dirt cheap...so will blue -ray.
If you are broke with no money, then HD is not for you either way. stay with your 13 inch SD TV at your mom's basement.

I'm not an HD DVD supported.

If you can fully read and comprehend, which at this point is extremely questionable. I stated out of the two which one I felt was doing more for the consumer.

I didn't chose to purchase based on the greed that I see in the studios eyes. They are getting worse and it's sickening.

I have enough money to buy what I want, but I have something that you don't have and wont have for quite some time. That's consumer fight...

I don't earn money to just give it away or be swindled out of it.

And I evaluate all products based on my need of the product, my perceived worth/value of it and the role it will play on my daily life.

At this point I don't need to see Jack Nicholson facial pits in order to have a great at home movie experience.

Special effects films and ones where a great deal was put into the creation of the scenery are the only real reason I'd pay big bucks.

I see movies at IMAX for this reason.

So I will spend the money when I see something worth it.

And FYI jerk open your eyes and get your head out of your own azz. Assuming you are American, European or from any other any other country losing jobs at a rapid rate.

Here's a newsflash for you, the middle class is hurting as jobs two things are rapidly happening:
1) middle class is shrinking
2) jobs are leaving going to india, china, mexico and other cheaper countries
3) remaining jobs are being lost to those same country that send people from there country to perform temporary work
4) bankruptcy is at an all time high as people are forced to supplement their income with credit

So loser come down off your rich high horse

yo... that post probably hit below the belt for a lot of people. I agree that if you're hurting financially, worrying about the HD format war should be your last concern.

I agree with you in theory, but dang dude... You aren't going to convert people by beating them over the head from above.

Right now, it's all about the Blockbuster premium pass. I wouldn't ever buy a movie. $19.99 with unlimited rentals. In that case, I just need a player.

Blockbuster will soon be obsolete and it will all get delivered to me via my cable box.

That is, of course, if our economy survives that long.

JH