The Energon Pub

News Credits: 2 · by **Shadowman** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:39 pm

Another hard blow to HD-DVD, another victory for Blu-Ray.

For me, the death knell has sounded. Netflix is abandoning HD DVD. That's the high-definition competitor to Blu-ray, which gained the upper hand last month with overwhelming support from Hollywood studios.

But I took comfort that I'd still have movies to watch on my HD DVD drive. I recently bought the drive even though I knew it would most likely be an eventual dead-end. But at only $100, it seemed worth it. That's partly because I could still watch HD DVD movies while they lasted, particularly as I didn't have to buy them. I could just get them from Netflix.

Now that won't last too long, either. Here's what Netflix said today in a note to HD DVD users: "While we will continue to make our current selection of HD DVD titles available to you for the next several months, we will not be adding additional HD DVD titles or reordering replacements."

Oh well. The investment isn't a complete loss. The player does a good job at upconverting standard-def disks to look good on an HDTV. And it will play high-def disks that I make myself in a standard DVD burner—something a Blu-ray player can't. But stick a fork in: HD DVD is cooked, and even sooner than I'd hoped.

by **Rogue.** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:55 pm

Oh well. I guess Sony finally "won" a format war. A proprietary format isn't necessarily the best, though.

But isn't this like shooting yourself in the foot? This will alienate those people who do have and like HD-DVD. They'll rent them from another source, I suppose. But that will depend on how much longer HD-DVD will be around.

by **Grahf** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:08 pm

I'm kind of glad that my PS3 will continue to have a purpose still. Until some decent games are released for it, it will stay as my DVD player. This just makes the eventual Transformers Blu-Ray one step closer. What exactly does HD-DVD still have in it's corner besides Paramount now?

News Credits: 8 · by **Liege Evilmus** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:12 pm

to think I almost bough a HD player last week(it was cheap).

by **The Happy Locust** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:21 pm

Rogue. wrote:Oh well. I guess Sony finally "won" a format war. A proprietary format isn't necessarily the best, though.

But isn't this like shooting yourself in the foot? This will alienate those people who do have and like HD-DVD. They'll rent them from another source, I suppose. But that will depend on how much longer HD-DVD will be around.

Hmm... thought I posted in this thread. Well, nothing showing so I apologize if I show a double post.

I chose HD-DVD and I still feel it was the better format. But unfortunately that puts me in the minority. But at least, as mentioned earlier, my HD-DVD player has a kickass upscaling ability. There's a noticable difference watching the Simpsons movie (non-HD format) in my HD-DVD player compared to my normal DVD player when viewed on the same TV.

As for alienating those who chose HD-DVD, I don't think it matters when that market is not potentially 90% less profitable than the future Blu-ray Market. Bah!

News Credits: 2 · by **NOBODY LOVES WHEELIE** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:11 am

I'm not overly tech savy...please explain the differances between these two formats...

News Credits: 2 · by **Shadowman** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:34 am

NOBODY LOVES WHEELIE wrote:I'm not overly tech savy...please explain the differances between these two formats...

HD DVD is successor to DVD, and it's supposed to hold about 3 times as much data.

Blu-Ray, the new format from Sony, uses a different type of laser to read the disks, and can store substantially larger amounts of data. It's critical flaw is that it's much more expensive.

by **Rogue.** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 1:08 pm

Shadowman wrote:Blu-Ray, the new format from Sony, uses a different type of laser to read the disks, and can store substantially larger amounts of data. It's critical flaw is that it's much more expensive.

And its critical flaw is also that it's proprietary, which is why it's more expensive. Sony has the Blu-Ray market by the balls, if you can pardon the semi-pun there.

I'll just wait for the next-next format to come about before buying anything other than a regular DVD. Though the HD-DVD upscaling feature sounds nifty.

News Credits: 2 · by **NOBODY LOVES WHEELIE** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 2:12 am

Shadowman wrote:
NOBODY LOVES WHEELIE wrote:I'm not overly tech savy...please explain the differances between these two formats...

HD DVD is successor to DVD, and it's supposed to hold about 3 times as much data.

Blu-Ray, the new format from Sony, uses a different type of laser to read the disks, and can store substantially larger amounts of data. It's critical flaw is that it's much more expensive.

Thanks!