The eighth floor

[BiggyG]

This story has really annoyed me today. Everybody's complaining that loads of people who bought HD-DVD have wasted their money.

The truth is anyone who had more than half a brain cell and who carried out even the smallest amount of research into what they were buying knew to buy Blu-Ray.

All of the stats were more impressive:

http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/19/blu-ray-vs-hd-dvd-state-of-the-s-union-s-division/

It was quite simple. In computers Blu-Ray was always going to win because it held more.

In viewing films Blu-Ray was always going to win because more studios supported it.

The only thing HD-DVD had going for it in the beginning was that it was slightly cheaper. Supporters of it cited the example that VHS won over betamax because it was cheaper, even though betamax was better quality. But what VHS had going for it was porn. Porn companies were the first to adopt VHS on a mass scale because of its cheapness. However, that wasn't a factor here because most people just download porn these days.

The reason DVD took off was because it was bundled with the PS2. not a surprise then that the Blu-Ray took off partyl down to being bundled with the PS3. And the X-Box 360 users can't really complain either. Nobody actualy bought the add-on HD-DVD player for it, and now Microsoft will simply develop an add-on blu-ray player for the 360.

So WHY OH WHY do newsbeat insist on using that clip of the moron saying "I wish someone had told us they weren't going to support it"

Seriously people like that bloke are people the world can do without. Toshiba aren't going to tell you they're losing until the very last minute, its just bad business sense. And the guy in the shop telling you its the future isn't going to tell you its going to be obsolete because its his job to sell the damn things.

At the end of the day if you've got enough money to spend a grand on an HD-DVD player without thinking then you've got enough money to do it again on a Blu-Ray player. If you haven't got enough money to do that, then you should really do your research.

Phew that has relived me somewhat, Ive been wanting to scream that at the radio all day!

[dstrkzn]

Ill Go Bluray when there selling them for 14.97 in Asda

Your right in saying that anyone who went for HD-DVD can probably afford to get Blu-ray.

[sebdevlin]

Same here I've got a PS3 and can count the number of blueray titles I have on one hand (casino royale as it came free with it) as the price drops I will probably move onto buying more blueray titles but i'm not really fussed about it really. I certainly won't be rebuying the hundreds of dvds that I have as I did with VHS. After getting roundly stuffed with betamax it seems sony finally won something, but whether this will translate into sales of blueray player/discs is yet to be seen and I can't see that happening just yet

[Jono]

I'm happy with my DVD Recorder. Not fussed about all this HD technology at the moment. I see it as something that'll help destroy Freeview as they'll want to devote a load of space to it, instead of giving better channel choice.

[sinister]

I'm not bothered about hi def dvds, but I am glad blu ray won out as it has the higher data capacity. Will make backing up my photographs not only easier but drastically reduce the amount of disks required.

[DC]

hd is ok for the football, infact great for the football. for anything else, theres really no point, as there isn't much choice around at the moment. i have only just spent around £70 or a new dvd recorder and i am happy with it.

[dstrkzn]

Will make backing up my photographs not only easier but drastically reduce the amount of disks required.

Yeh it seriously will! 6000+ pictures on Flickr! crazy

[sinister]

There's a few crap ones besides those too.

[DaNNiP15]

i dont even have a dvd recorder so i definatly dont have a hd dvd player

[SEANN]

I havn't really took to HD yet, I don't plan to either. I'm still watching the same films as blu-ray users, still getting the same storyline, too. It seems pretty pointless at the moment, give it 10 years to develop.

[Jugalug]

I'm convinced that in a few years, when everyone's HD - it's the TV standard, like SD is now - they'll introduce a new HD, with even higher resolutions than HD now. Anyhoo.

[Guest]

I'm convinced that in a few years, when everyone's HD - it's the TV standard, like SD is now - they'll introduce a new HD, with even higher resolutions than HD now. Anyhoo.

Exactly. If they introduced the 'ultimate viewing experience' now, how would they expect to be making profit in 10, 15 years time? There'll always be something new to introduce and we all fall for it.

[BiggyG]

Exactly. If they introduced the 'ultimate viewing experience' now, how would they expect to be making profit in 10, 15 years time? There'll always be something new to introduce and we all fall for it.

I object to the argument that we're all being screwed by these companies.

There are many arguments why the most sophisticated technology available today has not been released. Not least is cost of manufacture. This technology is initially made as a prototype which costs millions. If they mass marketed it using the same method, they would not be able to sell the technology cheap enough that anyone would buy it. Hence it is held back whilst production techniques are refined enough to make these products cost-effective.

There is also an argument that it is better for the consumer for the technology to be held back. Many companies develop rival technology at the same time, but because of the time it takes for them to come to market, usually only one will make it, which enables users to adopt a universal format. Incompatible technologies are not consumer friendly as what consumers strive for is compatibility between their pc, tv, phone, games consoles and all other electronic gadgets. When rival technologies do make it to market we see situations like the HD-DVD Blu-Ray war.

Even if they did release all the technology available now, what would these companies then do? They'd have to develop more technology, and we'd only enter the same cycle again anyway.