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Blu-Ray stand-alone players have sold just as many as HD-DVD stand-alone players. That's EXCLUDING the PS3 AND at a higher price. That number will likely increase now that WB has made a decision.
I guess people are willing to pay more for higher quality products after all.
I agree that the number will increase post- Warner decision. But you'll have to provide a source with numbers for your claim of Blu-ray standalone sales (pre-announcement) before I can believe you...
Also, remind me why Blu-ray is "higher quality" overall (keeping in mind all of its limitations that I mentioned in the post above).
You get 5 high definition movies with all the HD DVD extras and you're in pocket in terms of value. Can't argue with that.
Blu-Ray may win the home media and theatre; but Microsoft, Intel, HP still support HD DVD (and Microsoft quite staunchly too). Don't be surprised if home data-storage and Microsoft starts using HD DVD for the next generation of data and perhaps even home-movie recording.
20GB, 30GB and 45GB HD DVDs are out there and 51GB are in development (HD DVD supports up to 3-layers, BR only 2).
Netflix is irrelevant to me (I'm in the UK).
Blu-Ray is not superior. They use pretty much identical technology, codecs etc. and almost no studios have plans for BR 2.0.
There might be more Blu-Ray disc sales; but thats to be expected. There are more titles.
There are more HD DVD players - and in a recent survey, HDTV buyers are looking for HD DVD players, not Blu-Ray. Well; at least until WB pulled out.
I've heard the storage space argument before... Is that all I get for giving up region free discs, decent price, and backwards compatibility? I'm not sold.
Microsoft used proprietary, VC-! video. window based technology that would make HD-DVD a Microsoft format.
Consumers need open standards, neither camp has been good at doing that.
WB chose Blu-Ray because of strong sales in europe and asia as well as the high quality content protection provided by camp Blu-Ray. Time Warner has been hurt the most by piracy and HD-DVD failed to realize how important this issue was to WB.
In the end WB needed to make a choice, they chose Blu-Ray, they own a lot of content and Toshiba should give up on HD-DVD and focus on network storage if they want revenge since that is the way the market will go in the next 5 to ten years anyway.
Bob makes a good point.
HD DVDs HDi uses XML and ECMAScript (which is powered by Jscript).Its technology is just as easy to grasp. And if bothcompanies have ignored using an open-source approach; why even make the argument?
Content protection is always a joke. Its always got around eventually. WB was part of the HD DVD development. If it was really an issue they would have left some time ago.
Besides, this is about HD DVD owners getting the better deal. Which I do believe they have (and always have).
As HD DVD comes to its end; we could see massive HD DVD sales to get rid of the remaining stock (only an assumption here, but a valid one nonetheless). In terms of cost for each High Definition movie, the HD DVD users certainly got it better.
VC-1 may require a royalty to Microsoft but it is a better format than plan MPEG4.
Personally I'm HD DVD, I love the "Region Free"ness of it, it allows me to get films from anywhere in the world, the interactivity that Blu-Ray is just starting to get, HD DVD has had since the beginning.
However if HD DVD dies, I'll just pick up a BluRay player (More than likely a PS3), and buy new films on BluRay instead, until then I'm buying HD DVDs like they are going out of fashion (Which perhaps they are).
Given how short of a life most DVD players have, I'm not wasting any more money on HD-DVDs that I may not even be able to play in three or so years.
I'm likely not spending any more on HD DVDs either. In fact, I haven't bought any other than the 10 that came as part of my original deal of $174. I'm now enjoying HD content via my player solely through HD DVDs from Netflix.
My pain was eased because HD DVD is the more consumer-friendly format. Compared to Blu-ray, lower price = less pain. Also, since most of my 10 movies will work as regular DVDs, $17 per movie with a free player isn't that bad. I'll be able to use these movies even after HD DVD's death (hence, more easing of pain).
The point is, if Blu-ray were the player dying, I would have lost much more money and had a bunch of movies that don't work on any other standard.
Matt, you must have better luck with electronics than I do. I've had to replace many DVD players. Once my HD-DVD playuer is fried, I don't expect to be able to replace it (or want to unless something drastically changes.)