Hey, all! Thanks for the approvals thus far, and the comments. I agree that I should have addressed the excusivity issue on both sides of this war by mentioning the Dreamworks/Paramount deal in my article. I suppose the reason I didn't is because, for better or worse, I felt it levelled the playing field more than anything, thus making the eventuality of studio neutrality a more distinct possibility. At any rate, I apologize for omitting that subject because it really did deserve mentionining.

The writer says how Sony is evil for getting exclusive support but last time I checked the only studio that was paid for exclusive rights was Paramount which was bribed by HD-DVD backers.
In the end, that's just some fanboy rant.

HD DVD and Blu Ray suck right along with the PS3 and 360!

I didn't know I couldn't submit my own articles. Forgive me if I overstepped my bounds in doing so. As for the largely negative response I'm seeing in the comments, like all of you here, I've just expressed my opinion. Like all opinions, mine is flawed. In my experience opinion is what most of these articles come down to, be it one about the 360 versus the PS3, or the PSP versus the DS. There's no need to take personal offense to it, folks.

Honest Question: Are there actual hardware sales figures from both camps?

@ gunmetal - Thanks for the post.

Sony is evil

ok

If i was wearing those gloves my blueray glove would blast his liver

How come everyone fails to mention that the push for movie studios wasn't made by Sony but by a group called the Blu-Ray Disc Association.

Yes, Sony is a partner in the BRDA and of course that prominently landed the Sony Pictures movies straight to Blu-Ray, but nobody ever mentions the fact that top leading manufacturers were also responsible for gaining the attention of the big names in hollywood.

Matsushita, Pioneer, Philips, Thomson, LG Electronics, Hitachi, Sharp, Samsung and Sony all pitched the idea of the Blu-Ray format for HD films to the big studios and that is what got many of the studios to jump on board. It wasn't cash flow....it was actual product testing within many of the studios that got them on board.

Who else has jumped on board as a member of the BDRA? Well....Apple, TDK, Dell, Hewlett Packard, The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. and Universal Music Group.

Aww hell....if you really want to know how the whole BRDA thing goes down? click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

The only actual company in the format wars to be "purchased" was the Paramount/Dreamworks deal and that was the HD-DVD forum that handled that. In fact, the Viacom employees who spoke on the deal had said that the money had been handled by Toshiba and their largest contributer (which is Microsoft) in the number of $150 million in incentives.

The point is that the BDA (BRDA) has tried to handle itself without buying off anyone. Just like the PS3 has tried to gain market share by being a better and more open ended platform instead of having the parent company funnel money down developers throats so that they can keep, steal, or lock in exclusive titles.

I had studied everything that had to do with the HD format wars this time around. In fact, it was the reason i bought a PS3. Sure, I love the games for it and im glad that it is beginning to finally gain ground in terms for software, but the Blu-Ray sold me and after spending way too many damn hours in Best Buy and Circuit City watching BR movies and Hd-DVD movie displays over and over I can honestly say that I went with the superior product.

M3RCUTIO I know that you have chosen your camp in the HD war and I wish you luck, but I guess i hope you'll take a look at that long list of contributors and founders of the BRA and see that this HD format was a joint effort to bring the public in to the HD area with a single and superior format. When it comes down to superiority I find that innovation also should play a part in the advancement of HD media. The HD-DVD does qualify as a HD format but it does not produce the higher quality audio and video that a BR-Disc can. Example: Transformers. Sure, it looks nice but you don't have any of the digital audio in place and your stuck with plain ole' DVD sound. Does that matter to many people? No, probably not, but to a tech buff like myself? It is unacceptable.

I may be wrong about everything that I have said, but day after day (despite PS3 sales) the Blu-Ray movie sales literally beat the snot out of HD-DVD sales in software. Sure, stand alone players are claimed to be sold more than BR players, but thats because the numbers do not count the PS3 or the Dell and Apple computers/laptops that are sold with BR-drives in them. Apparently because "media center" doesn't count as a stand alone they just omit that number completely.

In every aspect the BRA has continued to triumph over the HD-DVD forum and the Paramount/Dreamworks deal only delayed the inevitable.

...

You seem like a nice guy, so I won't blast you for your decision. But, unfortunatley, you made the wrong decision. Even with the power-house transformers being HD-DVD exclusive, HD-DVD still trails. Spiderman 3 comes out next week, then POC, then ratatouille. Blu-ray really has the 1,2 punch when it comes to this hi-def war. Don't get me wrong, the bestbuy deal is really a great one and you definitley get your moneys worth.

This weekend I'll buy the Toshiba. I expect the lowered price to make HD-DVD sales explode (relatively speaking) this holiday season.

Once upon a time there were these two formats.

HD-DVD was the shiety format that ALL the dumb people supported.

Blu-ray was DA BOMB format that ALL the smart people supported.

Blu-ray won.

The End!......SUCKAS!!!!!

How to build your transformer looking of a system(360).

*First lay down you shiety 360 surrounded by at least 13 fans pointing directly at it so it doesn't blow up the first week.

*Next stack your shiety cheap dead format add on on top of it.

*Now plug in the ugly hunchback looking HDD to the back of it.

*What's that, you don't want to run an internet wire? No problem, just GO OUT AND BUY the WiFi ADD ON sperate. Now glue it to the system any way you want. Cause here at M$, we like to give you the CHOICE.

*What's that you have a Bluetooth headset that you use with your phone and would like to use it with our system? TOO BAD!! go out and buy OURS you SUCKA!!

*Sorry our system does NOT output 1080p. It's all just SMOKE and MIRRORS, but we're not sorry, we just keep denying it. Just like Mr. Bush.
AAAAHAHAHHAHAHAAHhAHAHA

No expense should be spared....cheap is never the way to go! You get what you pay for unless we are talking about PSN of course. These average consumers thats looking for that "sweet spot" of below $200 may have any affect on stand-alones sold but i doubt they will be buying the same number of movies that audiophilies <~~sp? tech junkies and movie buffs will buy and they will more than likely pick blu-ray. IMO.
~END!~

But why are we lisening to some one that already has an xbox 360... what if i will star buying HD DVD when i have a ps3, that does not make any sense. At this point MS will do anything(including give 150 million away)so HD DVD wins the format war... like paying people to came out w/ stupet reviews.

I think it's going to be close with the new hd dvd selling so low, 200 at every wal mart. people are just going to buy cheap.
I think it can go either way, plus a new format is coming out' vmd I think, there going to release lord of the rings and some AAA movies. I think it's going to be long and dirty so put on your goggles

HD-DVD FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's amazing!!!!

Just that it will be treated like a divx in stand alone players of the future.

Its cheap because its losing. Dont fall for these cheap prices and expect it to pay off in the long run.

so is that why the ps3 went cheap

the way i see it, if you buy a ps3 and blu ray loses the format war you still have a unit that has some second hand value,
buy a hd standalone player or the 360 add on and HD loses... well nobody is gunna want to take it off your hands.
not trying to flame just seems to me from a financial point of view ps3 is a safer bet, its always got that resale value

i will be buying blu ray movies for a long time......so ill always be supporting it.....i got a ps3 so i wont abandon it, unless for good reasons, but none at the moment

double post

We should drag up every unknown blog post we can find where someone tells us how they bought a PS3 and then played a Blu Ray movie.

I can't see how this post should carry any weight whatsoever. He bought the HD DVD addon, for pitys sake, he has no idea about High Definition.

Toshiba made DVD.

Sony made Betamax, Minidisc and UMD.

Im going to place my bets on the only one here who has actually had a successful format.

TOSHIBA.