You didn't read any of the previous posts did you?

If HDDVD or BluRay triumphs..will this mean a drop in price for the discs themselves? Cause at 30+ bucks CAn. I don't think I will be buying a huge boatload of them.

It will probably mean an increase (short term) due to lack of competition.

If you're buying most of your HD discs in Canada, you're shopping in the wrong country.

I would hope though it isn't a given that whatever format wins as it becomes more main stream and DVD dies the prices will start to come down. I will say that $40+ a pop isn't my sweet spot. Its not even my semi-sweet spot.

It will probably mean an increase (short term) due to lack of competition.

If you're buying most of your HD discs in Canada, you're shopping in the wrong country.
You know, I don't think that argue really works for software. Titles are in competition with each other for your share-of-wallet, and not really with the media format. Especially given that mere mortals cannot tell the difference between the two if the proper attention is given to the transfer process.

I believe the HD media war drives price competition in hardware, though, no doubt about it.

And you're spot-on regarding shopping in the wrong country. I was in Houston TX this morning and bought The Last Waltz for just over $20. And FWIW, HD DVD and BD had exactly equal shelf space at Circuit City ;)

If the day comes when only one format rules do you expect to see:

-BOGOs?
-Free movie offers with H/W purchases?

Hell no. It will BOGTOYB... Buy One, Get The One You Bought.

James, at what point do you see two formats hindering the adoption of either format? You keep mentioning the war driving the hardware prices down, and the BOGOs, but you can't expect that to last forever, right? So at what point do YOU think that having two formats turns from being a good thing, to hindering adoption?

Gord
P.S. I remember many "deals" (usually buy two, get one free from a list) in '99/2000 when it came to DVDs.

I agree that there is the format war, but within the formats there is competition also in the software. Blu-ray is now starting to see competition in the stand alone players too with prices in freefall, which is not only to combat HD DVD but also against other blu-ray players.

If the day comes when only one format rules do you expect to see:

-BOGOs?
-Free movie offers with H/W purchases?

Stacked against the benefit of one format for all titles I suspect the majority would pick the one format.

A dual format player solves the problem of picking a format while maintaining competition.

Hopefully CES 2008 will contain some future promises that will result in a consumer friendly priced player that puts the "war" into the hands of the h/w manufacturers.

A dual format player solves the problem of picking a format while maintaining competition.

Hopefully CES 2008 will contain some future promises that will result in a consumer friendly priced player that puts the "war" into the hands of the h/w manufacturers.
The only problem is that the companies aren't willing to give us a low cost dual-format player.

At this point I wouldn't pay $500 for one. $299 maybe, but it'd have to be Profile 1.1 or later.

The next step to mass adoption (if it is even possible any more) is a single hi-def disc format which can be marketed better to the masses. Many people are sitting out now because there is not a single format. Warner has the power to effectively take us down this path and hopefully they make that decision soon.

The next step is education. Many HDTV owners are clueless in what they think they are watching vs. reality.

They're not buying HD DVD / BD because they think they are already watching HD movies.

A sub $500 dual format player would go a long way to solve the problem of mass adaptation but consumer education is way up the list IMHO.

A dual format player solves the problem of picking a format while maintaining competition.

What it doesn't do is fix all the problems of studios having to produce in 2 formats, stores having to reserve space for twice as much software which will only sell half as many copies of each. Really that won't happen what will happen is instead of having a selection of new titles and a selection of catalog titles there will just be the new titles on each side. That is if consumer don't just give up on the format.

I don't get this HD-DVD mind set where they are loosing the war so the logical thing is every one should go neutral and if that happens every one will just suddenly abandon Blu-ray and claim alegance to HD-DVD. Manufacturers will have no issues with just scrapping their fab plants, consumers will happily trash their players including every PS3 ever sold. Business deals will easily be broken with no repercussions etc, etc.

Give your head a shake. The only thing HD-DVD ever had going for it was the price of the players and that is vaporising fast.

sub $500? I thought players had to be $100 or $200 before people would buy?

jvillain, huh? I don't have a clue what you are basing your statements/conclusions on.

I would need a calulator to count the number of posts wishing all studios went nuetral.

I'm not sure how this turns out to be a bad thing for BD or why people would stop buying BD.

If dual format players become cheap and commonplace then I don't see why Warner would need to keep making HD DVD's... They could then concentrate on the format they sell the most and keep retailers happy which would only have to allocate shelf space for Paramount and Universal.

.....or WB could drop BD and concentrate on HD DVD. Not sure why WB should pick BD over HD DVD.

It makes sense for WB to support both formats. Why tick off consumers?

All of these posts about WB "doing the right thing" confuse me.

jvillain - if dual format players become the "norm" and are mass adopted, then studios can stay exclusive all they want. There would be no need for a studio to be purple unless they really wanted to. If every studio went neutral and put out all movies on both formats letting the consumer decide, I have no doubt it would come down to price and that the mass adopters would not care bout 30GB vs 50GB and 30Mbps vs 48Mbps and would choose HD DVD.

Cheers.