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HD DVD No More - Sony Blu-Ray Wins

Hopefully this means the price of Blu-Ray players will start coming down. They have always been much higher in price than the HD DVD players.
 
Ken said:
How much were DVD Players when they first came out in the late 90s? I know it was high at first.
Click to expand...

In the four digits initially, then dropped to the $700-800 range. Then the plunge to today's prices, which was surprisingly swift when it happened.

Sucks for HD-DVD owners, but at least this battle got resolved relatively quickly. Wonder what the next format war will be?
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Ken said:
How much were DVD Players when they first came out in the late 90s? I know it was high at first.
Click to expand...

In the four digits initially, then dropped to the $700-800 range. Then the plunge to today's prices, which was surprisingly swift when it happened.

Sucks for HD-DVD owners, but at least this battle got resolved relatively quickly. Wonder what the next format war will be?
Click to expand...

At least with HD DVD players, most if not all should be backward-compatible, so they'll still play standard DVDs (upconverted). Plus, the remaining stock of HD DVD movies should start getting really cheap.
 
The next format war will be Apple Quicktime/iTunes vs. Microsoft Windows Media.

The future of media will be internet/hard drive based. The era of removable media (tapes, discs, etc.) is slowly going away. Many people download music (from legal sources like iTunes) rather than buy CD's. In a couple of years, the same thing will happen to DVD's. There are a few issues to be solved involving bandwidth, but once those are solved the era of removable media will be gone.

The HD-DVD/Blu-Ray was will be the last battle fought in the removable media world. The next battles will be fought in the online world.
 
Another reason for Linux lovers like me to rejoice. Up yours, Micro$oft!

(For those who have no idea what I'm on about, the interactive functions of HDDVD used a shell which made extensive use of software technology developed by Micro$oft. The interactive functions of Sony Blue Ray, on the other hand, is pretty much entirely Java based.)

Now let's see if in the next couple of years or so, ATAPI-based Blue Ray combo recorder drives for the computer become available in the sub-$150 price range. Then and ONLY then, will I devote any time and effort to BR.......

"- How much were DVD Players when they first came out in the late 90s? I know it was high at first.
- In the four digits initially, then dropped to the $700-800 range. Then the plunge to today's prices, which was surprisingly swift when it happened."

That still amazes me to this day when I look at a display of DVD-Video hardware in the store. It seems not even a decade ago you'd pay almost $1000 for a machine, and now today you can easily snag one for sometimes less than $50 depending on where you go and what brand you go with (and the discs, which at one time retailed for sometimes $50 for a regular movie, are now even being given away for free by some outlets.) Heck, in some places you can even get a DVD Video VCR for about $100!
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Sucks for HD-DVD owners, but at least this battle got resolved relatively quickly.
Click to expand...

Not soon enough!

FightingIrish said:
At least with HD DVD players, most if not all should be backward-compatible, so they'll still play standard DVDs (upconverted). Plus, the remaining stock of HD DVD movies should start getting really cheap.
Click to expand...

The only good news. The players can be used with your old DVD collection. Disc prices should fall, if you can find HD DVDs (online or raid the remaining stock at limited outlets).
 
jal41 said:
The future of media will be internet/hard drive based.
Click to expand...

I refuse to watch movies on my laptop, so when movies become more commonplace on the internet we are going to need better hardware linking TVs to the internet. Directv is already doing that with their On Demand service (the DVR receiver connects to the internet and downloads the on demand video), but the bandwidth issue makes it painfully slow to download the content, and I rarely use the service for that reason.
 
I really didn't see it coming!

I just wonder what Paramount and Universal will do now that they have the HD DVD Contract.

I agree, I prefer discs over downloads any day.

Unless they can come up with special features, I won't even think about it.
 
ansky212 said:
I refuse to watch movies on my laptop, so when movies become more commonplace on the internet we are going to need better hardware linking TVs to the internet.
Click to expand...

And we'll need a better Internet distribution system, which will require fiber all the way, not the various hybrids (coax, copper pair, etc.) that are commonplace these days to deliver service to home and business. The Internet is going to choke on all the video demands, unless a complete updating of communications infrastructure takes place.
 
The next media should be a flash drive movie like the small flash drives you use to store files from a computer on. Movies can be placed on flash drives and then all the major electronic companies would have to make is a device that the flash drive movie would play on. It would connect to the TV by using the video and audio inputs. Has anyone thought of this idea yet?

It would work maybe. Now when you go to the store and buy movies they would be in a small package with a flash drive in it. Plus they can't get damaged as CD's and DVD's can.
 
Ken said:
It would work maybe. Now when you go to the store and buy movies they would be in a small package with a flash drive in it. Plus they can't get damaged as CD's and DVD's can.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much the same concept as renting DVDs. You will still need to go to the store to get the flash drive and then return it. So I don't see how that really improves anything. I have found that damaged/scratched discs are rarely a problem, and I would think that if a flash drive was damaged it would be more difficult and costly to replace. And flash drives are probably more costly to produce than DVD discs.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Ken said:
How much were DVD Players when they first came out in the late 90s? I know it was high at first.
Click to expand...

In the four digits initially, then dropped to the $700-800 range. Then the plunge to today's prices, which was surprisingly swift when it happened.
Click to expand...
My first DVD player in 2001 (when I transisted from buying VHS videos to DVDs) was a Sylvania I bought at Fred Meyer for about $150...which is now the starting price for DVD recorder/VCR combos!

CD/RW drives (and later DVD/RW drives) back then were $300-$500; now, they're up to $100.

Jonathan Allen
 
ansky212 said:
I got my first DVD player in July 2000 and paid $250 for a Panasonic model. I'm still using it today.
Click to expand...

Yeah thats about the time I got my Apex at Circus City for $170.00.Will at lease Sony
did not kill Blueray off like the Betamax Machines and the Minidiscs players. To this day I still think Betamax is better then VHS.
 
Sony should use this latest news to market their Blu Ray players and reduce cost to get the players into as many homes as possible. Most of their money will be made off selling the Blu Ray movies anyway. But if nobody can afford the player they are not going to sell any movies. It's kind of like the computer printer industry. Printers are usually pretty cheap to buy, then they make money off all the ink you have to buy.
 
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