The War is Over (Format Wars)

[Lord of Joshelplex]

All I care about is if using BRs for TV shows will redice the prices on buying them. Also games, but games are using them now.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Originally Posted by Hatake Kakashi

Not quite a competitor. DVD releases are going to be dwindling much like VHS had, as well as CDs are fading in favor of mp3 downloads and hotswappable player cards/flash drives. And Sony's already proven previously that it's not afraid to ask ridiculous prices for their brand of superiority.

Microsoft Complex, anyone?

It's a pity really. I would much rather see business run according to the wants of the public, rather than the desperate need of corporations to cling to more expensive formats. Do they cost the same as HD DVD to manufacture? Yes. Will corporations still overcharge because of the "superior" nature of their products? You bet your ass. I can see only a single benefit coming from this: we now know which corporate phallus we must suck.

Bloody hell. Sony wins again and gets to take another shit upon the populace. So much for the public marketplace.

BUt in this situation I don't see why people couldn't keep buying DVDs. If we all turned to them someone would make them.

[Hatake Kakashi]

Originally Posted by Barrel-Hating Sycophant

BUt in this situation I don't see why people couldn't keep buying DVDs. If we all turned to them someone would make them.

That would assume that there would still be retailers willing and able to market them. Wal-Mart has been slowly phasing out many of the older, obsolete tech in order to capitalize on the "next big thing," which I am sure most other major retailers will do as well. And with most of the motion picture studios being either owned by Sony or an affiliate, or having made promotional deals with them to release movies in favor of their particular format, it is only a matter of time before they completely abandon the standard DVD format altogether. US Legislation is also pushing the move to hi-def, with legislation that will cut off our current standard signal transmission in (I believe) 2009. Meaning, in order to even watch cable television, you'll need either a signal converter for your non-hi-def television, or you'll need to go out and support the new tech. Since most people will be jumping on and picking up a hi-def television anyway, why not get the most out of that 1080p set and upgrade your digital media players as well (this is a marketing strategy which Wal-Mart and other retailers are forcing their sales staff to push)? Now, unfortunately, the choice in upgrading for the hi-def digital media has been reduced.

All that's left for the motion picture companies to do now is to phase out production of standard DVD releases, and give the public the nudge off the cliff that is Blu-Ray.

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Hatake Kakashi

That would assume that there would still be retailers willing and able to market them. Wal-Mart has been slowly phasing out many of the older, obsolete tech in order to capitalize on the "next big thing," which I am sure most other major retailers will do as well. And with most of the motion picture studios being either owned by Sony or an affiliate, or having made promotional deals with them to release movies in favor of their particular format, it is only a matter of time before they completely abandon the standard DVD format altogether. US Legislation is also pushing the move to hi-def, with legislation that will cut off our current standard signal transmission in (I believe) 2009. Meaning, in order to even watch cable television, you'll need either a signal converter for your non-hi-def television, or you'll need to go out and support the new tech. Since most people will be jumping on and picking up a hi-def television anyway, why not get the most out of that 1080p set and upgrade your digital media players as well (this is a marketing strategy which Wal-Mart and other retailers are forcing their sales staff to push)? Now, unfortunately, the choice in upgrading for the hi-def digital media has been reduced.

All that's left for the motion picture companies to do now is to phase out production of standard DVD releases, and give the public the nudge off the cliff that is Blu-Ray.

First off, Blu-Ray is not proprietary. Other companies can make Blu-Ray palyers, and there are even units that play both Blu-Ray and HD.

Second off, yes, the US government is making the switch to digital in 2009. They're also providing free, yes FREE, converters to people who don't have compatible sets. Nobody is being forced to buy all new sets for their homes.

As for Wal-Mart, they arm-twist foreign suppliers, screw their workers, and lie their asses off to the public, because, yes, all of their front-of-the-store, showcased items are cheaper, but many of their back-of-the-store, more high-quality items that the bargains are supposed to lead a path to are much cheaper elsewhere. Pu|23 3v1l, omgwtfbbq, whatever. But they have defined to America exactly how a store should be run on the surface, and therefore DO lead the pack, because despite the fact many of us know about the slimy underbelly, Americans are cheap, lazy, and unwilling to make sacrifices for the good of the whole.

Basically, until Wal-Mart stops looking so great on an individual level, it's going to lead and determine much of the market.


Edit: And just to clarify this, Blu-Ray will be double-releasing with standard DVD for at least a couple more years, and likely many, simply because if people have to drop money on a player just to watch a new movie, they're not going to buy the new movie. Formats don't just get dropped and die. They transition over long periods of time to maximize the current audience, while also maximizing familiarity with the new product, so by the time the new product takes full control, the old format is a non-issue. It happened with VHS to DVD, it happened with audio cassette to music CD, and it's literally been a continuous evolution with optical data discs as speed has increased. It's also happening as best as possible with DTV, since they've been selling digital-compatible sets for years to slowly replace analog sets as they wore out. The only reason there's any turbulence whatsoever is that older sets were made to last longer than newer ones, so they didn't die fast enough. I have a dead five-year-old TV and one made in 1986 that's still running good as ever, and a black-and-white TV that lasted over 30 years before going kaput. My '86 TV will need a converter. My newer TVs will probably have to be replaced in the next few years, anyway, at which point, we'll just buy digital.

[Sky Warrior Bob]

Universal has gone Blue-Ray, Woot! Now Paramount needs to follow suit, and it'll be officially over.

SWB

[Fifthfiend]

are much cheaper elsewhere.

See also: the Internet.

Seriously if you're buying it in a store, you're getting robbed.

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Fifthfiend

See also: the Internet.

Seriously if you're buying it in a store, you're getting robbed.

Sadly, I've gotten quite literally robbed of my money over the internet. Ebay blows, but it was only $20. Unfortunately, I was stupid and waited too long to give the creep a bad review. :stressed:

Frankly, after that, I pretty much stuck to the idea of "at least I can see it in the store" unless I was sure I was dealing with a reputable site, which has thus far been a pretty limited number.

[Fifthfiend]

I'm just saying for some reason every time I'm about to buy something in a store I stop myself, go look on Amazon or Newegg or somewhere, and it's like a hundred dollars cheaper.

Unless it's made by Apple because fuck Apple.

[bluestarultor]

Newegg is a good site for electronics. That one, I trust.

[Bells]

Originally Posted by Hatake Kakashi

Not quite a competitor. DVD releases are going to be dwindling much like VHS had, as well as CDs are fading in favor of mp3 downloads and hotswappable player cards/flash drives. And Sony's already proven previously that it's not afraid to ask ridiculous prices for their brand of superiority.

Microsoft Complex, anyone?

It's a pity really. I would much rather see business run according to the wants of the public, rather than the desperate need of corporations to cling to more expensive formats. Do they cost the same as HD DVD to manufacture? Yes. Will corporations still overcharge because of the "superior" nature of their products? You bet your ass. I can see only a single benefit coming from this: we now know which corporate phallus we must suck.

Bloody hell. Sony wins again and gets to take another shit upon the populace. So much for the public marketplace.

I really dont see this "Corporation crushing little guy" view im getting from what you're saying (unless i'm mistaken?).

First and foremost, Bluray aint "sony" and HD-Dvd aint "Microsoft"... Bluray has over 200 companies behind it, which over 100 were there in support since day one. And like news already told us, HD-DVD is more "toshiba" than anything else.

Sony and Microsoft are quite likely "poster boys" and "pushers" for these formats.

Sony has the better product. That's what the public wanted, that's why HD-DVD will phase out. It's not "korpoative Politika" or anything like that, just that Bluray was more appealing for comapnies and ofcourse, consumers.

This is most likely for the best... it's not like when DVD's came out everyone wasnt saying "Fuck those DVD's! I'll keep my VHS player! Why do i need more?! i DONT!" over time things changed.

Disc Prices will go down, Hardware prices will go down, Soon we will start to see differences between DVD and Bluray getting bigger. Like, all those series that were being released in like, 4-6-8-10 DVD's sets, being released in "A Single Bluray disc!" or two...

Hell... do you think that they aint gonna release a new Star Wars set? 2 Bluray discs, all the movies and features! it will happen... so it will with all those series people love, because it will be cheaper to make an 1-2 Bluray disc set than an 4-5-6-7-8 DVD disc set.

Give it one more year so they can explore the extra space in the Disc and they will start to fill that sucker, and HD sets will start to get Buyable... and from there on, things will be smoother.