Let the format wars begin

[HAVIC]

No unified High Def DVD format see below

http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2005-08-23T025215Z_01_MCC310276_RTRIDST_0_TECH-SONY-TOSHIBA-C-COL.XML

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

This is old news. Talks between the two broke down about a month ago. No new talks have been scheduled.

[kexodusc]

I'm predicting a cold war...long and boring. Can't see either camp sticking 2 feet in the water on this.
They'll probably test the waters with their respective formats. Who knows, maybe one will overwhelmingly catch on for whatever reason.

[ericl]

Who knows, maybe one will overwhelmingly catch on for whatever reason.


That's probably our only hope. Maybe one will destroy itself by being completely lame, a la divx.

Who knows, this could be a blessing. Perhaps the free market will actually work like it is supposed to, and the best format wins.

[twochannelsonly]

I voting for two channels only ... hehehe

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

That's probably our only hope. Maybe one will destroy itself by being completely lame, a la divx.

Who knows, this could be a blessing. Perhaps the free market will actually work like it is supposed to, and the best format wins.

Actually Big E, I think both will destroy themselves. Both formats insistance on controlling the content so tightly will ultimately sink both just as it did with SACD and DVD-A.

The idea of having a player hooked to a phone jack is a non starter with me. Its smacks too much of DIVX too me, and I loathed that format and was glad it sunk. The idea that they can render my player useless is also a non starter for me. I am the very person they are trying to target(the early adopter) and so far they have failed to convince me to switch over to that format.

[StanleyMuso]

Actually Big E, I think both will destroy themselves. Both formats insistance on controlling the content so tightly will ultimately sink both just as it did with SACD and DVD-A.

The idea of having a player hooked to a phone jack is a non starter with me. Its smacks too much of DIVX too me, and I loathed that format and was glad it sunk. The idea that they can render my player useless is also a non starter for me. I am the very person they are trying to target(the early adopter) and so far they have failed to convince me to switch over to that format.
apart form the reasons mentioned by Sir T, with which I agree thoroughly by the way, I think such proposals also would infringe hugely on our privacy. I don't want some big corporation bod monitoring every disk I run on my machine. Besides, who would be paying for that telephone hook up? Not the greedy corporation, that's for sure. We the mug punter would pay for the priviledge of being spied upon.

Down with such concepts. Lets organise a boycott if they come to fruition!!!!! And let those bods know now that its not on!

[Woochifer]

An article in today's LA Times adds a little bit to the Reuters report. It seems that a last minute compromise is still possible, but chances of restoring sanity to the HD vid disc situation are getting more and more remote. The LA Times article adds a timeline that would likely have to follow if the two sides reach a compromise -- at least six to nine additional months.

An interesting angle to all this (and from how I read it something that could torpedo any compromise) is that a compromise would also push back the release of the PS3. Given how Micro$oft has been pushing for a Christmas season release for its Xbox 360, I don't know if Sony would want to push the PS3 release back to the end of next year. Much of the PS2's dominance of the gaming console market is due to their more than one year headstart on the Xbox. By the time Xbox hit the market, the PS2 already had millions of consoles out and a full game library to work from. The push to get the Xbox 360 out so quickly is in response to that headstart that PS2 had the last time around. The Playstation lineup has been Sony's biggest profit generator, so their thinking on Blu-ray could very well be more influenced by the need to preserve that franchise than developing the market for a new HD disc format.

[kexodusc]

An article in today's LA Times adds a little bit to the Reuters report. It seems that a last minute compromise is still possible, but chances of restoring sanity to the HD vid disc situation are getting more and more remote. The LA Times article adds a timeline that would likely have to follow if the two sides reach a compromise -- at least six to nine additional months.

An interesting angle to all this (and from how I read it something that could torpedo any compromise) is that a compromise would also push back the release of the PS3. Given how Micro$oft has been pushing for a Christmas season release for its Xbox 360, I don't know if Sony would want to push the PS3 release back to the end of next year. Much of the PS2's dominance of the gaming console market is due to their more than one year headstart on the Xbox. By the time Xbox hit the market, the PS2 already had millions of consoles out and a full game library to work from. The push to get the Xbox 360 out so quickly is in response to that headstart that PS2 had the last time around. The Playstation lineup has been Sony's biggest profit generator, so their thinking on Blu-ray could very well be more influenced by the need to preserve that franchise than developing the market for a new HD disc format.

Interesting. Looking at their financial reports, the short term profits from gaming consoles is worth far more than the long-term licensing fees they'd earn from "owning" the BluRay patent. The gaming console war might very well be the deciding factor here. Or at least enough of a roadblock to make an HD disc compromise impractical for both camps.

I asked this in another thread, but does PS2 really dominate the gaming console market by a wide margin? I have both Xbox and PS2 and I find any store I walk into has an equal amount of both. Xbox is more fun on my HT so I have a few more games with that console, but I don't really have a favorite.

[Geoffcin]

I asked this in another thread, but does PS2 really dominate the gaming console market by a wide margin? I have both Xbox and PS2 and I find any store I walk into has an equal amount of both. Xbox is more fun on my HT so I have a few more games with that console, but I don't really have a favorite.

In performance, but it's still an unsightly wired box sitting on the floor.

Now MS says that you can get your XBox in two flavors, plain and loaded. I wonder if there's going to be an upgrade module for HD-DVD?

[swicken]

It seems that most of the posts on this site are about the format war. None of you actually know enough to determine who is going to win.

[Geoffcin]

It seems that most of the posts on this site are about the format war. None of you actually know enough to determine who is going to win.

When that something is impossible to know.

[swicken]

When that something is impossible to know.

Not impossible. I have a time machine and I know that Sony wins the format war. No justifiable reason, but no one can argue with my time machine.

It's true, I used a NAD T763 for power. I warped through time like woah, plus the sound was AWESOME. Theres nothing like time travel in 6.1 (DONT START WITH ME 7.1 , YOU DONT TECHNICALLY EXIST YET)

But seriously, before you say things, stop and think 'I wonder if someone has already stated this' and then answer your own question with 'Why, yes they have.'

It'll save everyone a lot of time.

[Geoffcin]

Not impossible. I have a time machine and I know that Sony wins the format war. No justifiable reason, but no one can argue with my time machine.

It's true, I used a NAD T763 for power. I warped through time like woah, plus the sound was AWESOME. Theres nothing like time travel in 6.1 (DONT START WITH ME 7.1 , YOU DONT TECHNICALLY EXIST YET)

But seriously, before you say things, stop and think 'I wonder if someone has already stated this' and then answer your own question with 'Why, yes they have.'

It'll save everyone a lot of time.

Don't use profanity unless you want to see your posts disappear.

It will save me a lot of time.

[swicken]

Don't use profanity unless you want to see your posts disappear.

It will save me a lot of time.

Profanity? Where?

EDIT: Oh I remember now, though thats stretching it. Do you have a list of words that I can/can't use so I can be sure what your version of profanity is?

[Haru]

I voting for two channels only ... hehehe

I know that we are talking about "new" formats but I agree with tco. I have heard some of the new formats systems and although interesting, Im sticking with stereo for music only.
If your talking about HT, then maybe, but I will be dragging my feet as long as I can.

I have lived through vinyl, 8-track, cassette, CD. ( now its back to vinyl and CD)

VHS, Laserdisc and DVD. ( now its DVD on a decent HT setup using Carver electronics but nothing special) The format is Dolby Pro-logic and its just fine for me.

I love both listening to music and HT but IMHO, Its 2-separate systems for 2-separate mediums. The two will never be combined in my home if i can help it. ;)

[twochannelsonly]

I have lived through vinyl, 8-track, cassette, CD. ( now its back to vinyl and CD)

You know Haru we could even add those little CD's that were out for awhile, and remember for a couple of years some of us even recordered on BETA and real to reals, DCC...

There has been so many changes, nothing can be set in STONE anymore. Its just a shame when you buy something and can only find a handfull of things to play on it.