# Is HD-DVD dead?



## Davidius (Aug 14, 2008)

I was going to buy Microsoft's HD-DVD drive that you plug into the Xbox 360 since the price just came down to $50, but I read in some reviews that this is a worthless investment because Blu-Ray has won the next gen movie war and that many studios have stopped/are going to stop producing movies in the HD format in favor of Blu-Ray. Does anyone know anything about this?


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## Seb (Aug 14, 2008)

Davidius said:


> I was going to buy Microsoft's HD-DVD drive that you plug into the Xbox 360 since the price just came down to $50, but I read in some reviews that this is a worthless investment because Blu-Ray has won the next gen movie war and that many studios have stopped/are going to stop producing movies in the HD format in favor of Blu-Ray. Does anyone know anything about this?



Yes. Dead as a doornail. 



> WikiPedia: HD DVD or High-Definition Digital Versatile Disc is an obsolete high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.[1] HD DVD was designed principally by Toshiba, and was envisaged to be the successor to the standard DVD format. However, in February 2008, Toshiba abandoned the format, announcing it would no longer develop or manufacture HD DVD players[1].


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## Quickened (Aug 14, 2008)

This is true. Better off investing in a blu-ray down the road.


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## Davidius (Aug 14, 2008)

Ugh! I was so excited that it was $50 for the Xbox upgrade!

Does this mean I need to save up for a 1080p as my first HDTV so that I can get the full power of the Blu Ray?


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## Davidius (Aug 14, 2008)

How much is the average Blue Ray player? Maybe I should just buy a PS 3.


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## Quickened (Aug 14, 2008)

Davidius said:


> How much is the average Blue Ray player? Maybe I should just buy a PS 3.



If i remember correctly that would probably be your best bet. Not only can you then play blu-ray it works awesome as a media storage device. I like how its set up and there are some good games for it.


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## Davidius (Aug 14, 2008)

Quickened said:


> Davidius said:
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> > How much is the average Blue Ray player? Maybe I should just buy a PS 3.
> ...



The Sony Blu Ray players I found on Amazon were $300+. The PS3 is now only $399...where's the salivating emoticon?


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## Davidius (Aug 14, 2008)

So how long will it be until Blu Ray gets dethroned?


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## Davidius (Aug 14, 2008)

Joshua said:


> Yes.



?


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## Seb (Aug 14, 2008)

Davidius said:


> So how long will it be until Blu Ray gets dethroned?



I think you've got a long time before that happens. Blu-ray seems to solve all the different problems that made a new format necessary. At least on the video and games front. 

Data storage wise we'll continue to see the envelope pushed for a few more design cycles before it settles down.


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## Seb (Aug 14, 2008)

Joshua said:


> I totally saw some Blu-Ray gang members gank and murder that one known as HD-DVD. He was left for dead, and just then some Bud Light bandits came along and plundered what was left of his belongings. It was really quite sad.



Where were the Newcastles? I thought they were supposed to be protectors of the weak? What? Were they still trying to help old ladies cross the street?

Those slackers!


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## matt01 (Aug 14, 2008)

Seb said:


> Davidius said:
> 
> 
> > I was going to buy Microsoft's HD-DVD drive that you plug into the Xbox 360 since the price just came down to $50, but I read in some reviews that this is a worthless investment because Blu-Ray has won the next gen movie war and that many studios have stopped/are going to stop producing movies in the HD format in favor of Blu-Ray. Does anyone know anything about this?
> ...




Wow. I have no idea what you are all talking about, other than that it has to do with movie players...


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## Answerman (Aug 14, 2008)

Davidius said:


> Does this mean I need to save up for a 1080p as my first HDTV so that I can get the full power of the Blu Ray?


Yes, I bought a 1080P LCD last year and a PS3 last Christmas when Walmart had a "secret" sale on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was $399 for the PS3 with the 80Gig HD, MotorStorm and 15 free Blue Ray movies. Finding it packaged with the movies was the only way I could get the wife to buy into getting the PS3. Check fatwallet.com or slickdeals.net for deals around Thanksgiving time and you could save some money.

1080P is incredible with Blu-Ray movies. Motorstorm is great, but they were only able to program it using 720P. I heard the graphics were just too intense for it to handle 1080P at this time. I hear that it takes a few years for the programmers to learn all of the tricks to get the games to run efficiently at the higher resolutions. Some games are at 1080P but with MotorStorm, you have about 15 cars, trucks and motorcycles crashing all around you, it pushes the system to its limit.

PS3 also has a webbrowser but it is a little combersome to use. Maybe if they had a mouse and keyboard it would be different. Does anyone know if they have a mouse and keyboard setup for PS3?

I had a spare computer lying around so I hooked it up to the screen also. If you do this make sure that your video card can handle 1080P output, if it can, it makes for an incredible computer screen. My kids just love using Google Earth and a freeware paint program that I found on a 42" screen.

Also, I heard that the PS3 has a high end video processing chip so at the time I bought it, it was one of the best ones found in a Blu-Ray player. Things may be different now though.

I hope this helps.


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## Davidius (Aug 15, 2008)

Will standard definition DVDs continue to be made? I have a feeling it will be some time before I can afford a 1080p HDTV and a PS3. However, I found someone on my local Craig's List site who is selling a brand new Pioneer HTIB system made especially for Xbox for a very good price, and I thought I would just be content with standard definition and surround sound for a while.


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## Seb (Aug 15, 2008)

Davidius said:


> Will standard definition DVDs continue to be made? I have a feeling it will be some time before I can afford a 1080p HDTV and a PS3. However, I found someone on my local Craig's List site who is selling a brand new Pioneer HTIB system made especially for Xbox for a very good price, and I thought I would just be content with standard definition and surround sound for a while.



Oh yeah. You've got quite a while before DVDs go away. Bill Gates predicted some 10 more years before they're gone.

I think the movie distribution companies are going to reflect what the average consumer does for quite a while. I currently know very few people with with BluRay or a 1080p HDTV. Once the number of consumers with hi-def abilities passes a certain threshold the format will change, but that still looks like it's a long way off.


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## R Harris (Aug 15, 2008)

Davidius said:


> I was going to buy Microsoft's HD-DVD drive that you plug into the Xbox 360 since the price just came down to $50, but I read in some reviews that this is a worthless investment because Blu-Ray has won the next gen movie war and that many studios have stopped/are going to stop producing movies in the HD format in favor of Blu-Ray. Does anyone know anything about this?




Not sure about the technicalities involved with this equpiment concerning compatibility, but could not Microsoft or someone else simply develop a "Blu-ray" drive that could be plugged into the Xbox 360?


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## Davidius (Aug 15, 2008)

R Harris said:


> Davidius said:
> 
> 
> > I was going to buy Microsoft's HD-DVD drive that you plug into the Xbox 360 since the price just came down to $50, but I read in some reviews that this is a worthless investment because Blu-Ray has won the next gen movie war and that many studios have stopped/are going to stop producing movies in the HD format in favor of Blu-Ray. Does anyone know anything about this?
> ...



I have seen rumors about this on the internet, so something like that may very well be coming sometime soon.


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## Seb (Aug 15, 2008)

R Harris said:


> Davidius said:
> 
> 
> > I was going to buy Microsoft's HD-DVD drive that you plug into the Xbox 360 since the price just came down to $50, but I read in some reviews that this is a worthless investment because Blu-Ray has won the next gen movie war and that many studios have stopped/are going to stop producing movies in the HD format in favor of Blu-Ray. Does anyone know anything about this?
> ...



It's coming in Q3 2008 XBOX 360 Finally Getting Blu-ray - Tom's Hardware


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## KMK (Aug 15, 2008)

Does this mean we soon will no longer be able to get movies on Betamax?


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## Answerman (Aug 15, 2008)

Seb said:


> R Harris said:
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> > Davidius said:
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You know Blu-Ray is Sony's (the makers of Playstation) technology so I imagine they are probably making Microsoft pay a pretty penny for this. Of course I hope the adopt a Christian ethic and be fair with them.


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## DMcFadden (Aug 15, 2008)

KMK said:


> Does this mean we soon will no longer be able to get movies on Betamax?



Stupid question! Of course we will, Ken. As long as there are 8-tracks to play our music.


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## Seb (Aug 15, 2008)

Answerman said:


> Seb said:
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Yeah, MS was pushing hard to make HD-DVD survive. If they were smart they would open up the XBOX a little and let third party folks make these kind of accessories, then THEY would have to pay royalties to both MS and Sony.


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## Davidius (Aug 15, 2008)

Seb said:


> R Harris said:
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The problem is that that only mentions Xbox consoles equipped with a Blu Ray player. I'm not about to go out and buy another Xbox. The question is: will they make a Blu-Ray add-on like they did with the HD-DVD add-on?


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## Seb (Aug 15, 2008)

Davidius said:


> Seb said:
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Sorry David, I read the article too fast and didn't notice that it was only planned for integration on new systems.


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