Previous rumors they denied, this time they are not commenting. I think that says a lot. It would be unwise to announce it now if it won’t be available until 2008, it would damage 2007 sales.
Personally, I think this dual-tuner "do everything" machine is separate project. I really think we'll see a basic 360 SKU with HD DVD and a larger hard drive in the 1st half of 2008. Just a guess.
This story was posted on October 8 and it is making news on this site today? 11 days later?
My guess is the local HD DVD group informed them of some upcoming developments and that influenced their decision:
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Said Browning [JB Hi Fi Marketing Director]: "The fact that movie houses like Paramount are behind the HD DVD format along with the like of DreamWorks is key. I believe that more content providers will get behind the format and that the likes of Microsoft who are big supporters of the HD DVD format will bring out an Xbox with a built in HD DVD playe...
Scott Browning, JB Hi Fi Marketing Director, talking about why they are going to start carrying HD DVD
"Microsoft who are big supporters of the HD DVD format will bring out an Xbox with a built in HD DVD player. This is a given he said".
http://www.smarthouse.com.a...
Somone made a mistake. It's not the end of the world.
On Blu-ray: “Pirates of the Caribbean” has framing issues and “The 5th element” was recalled and reissued. Again, not the end of the world.
Transformers does have High-def audio, DD+ 1.5 Mbps, which is 3 times the data rate of normal DVD. It doesn't have lossless audio, which is uncompressed.
All of the reviews are saying the audio is a 10 out of 10. I'll be watching it later tonight.
I received my Jack Ryan HD DVD collection today and there are no special features. It appears a mistake was made, I wonder if they’ll do a disc swap or something?
Anyway, I tested 2 of the movies and they look and sound great. No complaints from me.
* HD DVD Standalones continue to outsell Blu-ray
* Amazon: 5 HD DVD players ranked before 1st Blu-ray player
* Toshiba to sell 5 million HD DVD laptops before July 08
* Sub $200 players on the way
* 51 GB disc (compatible with older players) to be announced soon
* Transformers, Shrek, Bourne & many other exclusives
* PS3 sales are still in the tank
* Toshiba in better financial shape than Sony
* Blu-ray profile 1.1 problems
...
I reported this story as false.
The headline & story are misleading; there is no mention that the data is only from one store.
NPD, which tracks all stores, shows last week: BD-54% HD DVD-46% and HD DVD has been averaging above 40% for the last 5 weeks.
This is just for one store, not official NPD numbers.
What a joke..
What I can’t believe is that Heavenly Sword, a true AAA title with heavy advertising, only sold 207,346 total copies so far. Shocking.
US Market Share:
Wii = 34.7%
360 = 51%
PS3 = 14.3%
Yes.
First HD DVD closes the movie sales gap from 2:1 to 3:2 (for the past 5 weeks). Then we learn Netflix users are choosing HD DVD 2.4 to 1 over Blu-ray. Now we learn standalone HD DVD players are still outselling Blu-ray standalones. And Xbox 360 is killing PS3 in every way.
Is this why a stripped down, clearance priced PS3 has Sony fanboys so excited?
Video Business: Sources have estimated that just 20% of PS3 owners have played movies on the machine.
Good news for HD DVD... and we're starting to see standalone HD DVD players are popping up at Wal-marts around the country. All this and $199 players haven't even hit store shelves yet.
Yes, this day will always be remembered: The day Sony removed a bunch of hardware and did a 2nd $100 price cut within 4 months in order to somehow reverse a dismal 15% and declining US market share.
The war started when Sony refused to submit Blu-ray to the DVD Forum for approval so they wouldn’t have to share the royalties. They promised hardware manufactures that they will keep hardware profitable (unlike DVD, which quickly went to Asian manufacturing and became unprofitable). They then promised movie studios that PS3 numbers would blow HD DVD out of the water before it even had a chance.
Sony failed on both fronts. Cheaper hardware by the HD DVD group forced lower Blu-r...
Here in the USA it’s 3:2 Blu-ray with HD DVD averaging over 40% of all high-def sales for the last 5 weeks. Not my numbers, look at the videoscan data.
When that European Microsoft VP was apparently “misquoted” about a new a new HD DVD drive coming in 2008, Microsoft commented, denying the rumor.
They could have said the Toshiba guy was misquoted, but they haven’t so far...