Gartner Research Expencts Blu-ray To Win By End Of 2008

[Ian]

Come on Toshiba.. when Gartner tells you to give up, you probably should.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,14186 ... icle.html#

"Gartner believes that Toshiba's price-cutting may prolong HD DVD's life a little, but the limited line-up of film titles will inflict fatal damage on the format. Gartner expects that, by the end of 2008, Blu-ray will be the winning format in the consumer market, and the war will be over, wrote analyst Hiroyuki Shimizu in Gartner's Semiconductor DQ Monday Report.

[dolphinius_rex]

Yeah.... it's getting to be really sad.

One of my friends already uses HD DVD as the basis of comparison-style insults. I.E. "You just failed that like Toshiba failed with HD DVD".

Not a lot of HD DVD supporters in my group of friends

[vinnie97]

eww, I wouldn't get along well with a group of Sony shills. Toshiba has no reason to hand it over to Blu-ray when their profitability from DVD royalties is on the line.

[SithTracy]

Sony has had it's fair share of failures (BETAMAX, ATRAC, MiniDisc... and I actually liked the concept of MiniDisc)... But I am a Sony hater, by bad luck I guess... Never had any Sony equipment work or last... and I am someone that anally takes care of my techno gadgets.

But I concur BluRay has won... and I think Sony finally learned, you cannot succeed with something being the only one to produce it... The LG's, Samsungs, Pioneer's, Sharp'setc. all jumped on board. When (and if) the time comes I will by my BluRay equipment from anyone but Sony.

[jacktheripper]

Couldn't agree more Sith.

Sony finally got a good idea and made good work with it instead of so many other failures (PS3 is still dragging its heels) among others. Glad to see Blu-Ray took off.

[Grain]

Drag it out! I want Cloverfield on HD DVD

[dolphinius_rex]

Drag it out! I want Cloverfield on HD DVD

It makes more sense to see in SD though

[Grain]

Drag it out! I want Cloverfield on HD DVD

It makes more sense to see in SD though

I've been deliberately trying to not catch any spoilers on it until I've seen it. So, not sure what you mean by SD?

[dolphinius_rex]

Drag it out! I want Cloverfield on HD DVD

It makes more sense to see in SD though

I've been deliberately trying to not catch any spoilers on it until I've seen it. So, not sure what you mean by SD?

Well, the whole thing was shot on a consumer camcorder (according to the premise), so it's probably standard definition and not high definition.

[Grain]

Gotcha. The trailers certainly don't look low-rez, but who knows what it actually will look like. Certainly has some good buzz.

[vinnie97]

Drag it out! I want Cloverfield on HD DVD

Sweeney Todd is coming at least.

And Sony hasn't won this yet. If the disc compatibility problems don't come to an end and SOON, Sony can forget about Blu being anything beyond a PS3 format.

[dolphinius_rex]

Drag it out! I want Cloverfield on HD DVD

Sweeney Todd is coming at least.

And Sony hasn't won this yet. If the disc compatibility problems don't come to an end and SOON, Sony can forget about Blu being anything beyond a PS3 format.

The only major disc compatability issues are the ones with HD DVD combo discs. At least profile 1.1 and 2.0 Blu-Ray movies will have the movie and the bulk of the features play back in all Blu-Ray drives/players. Admittedly, sometimes a new firmware is needed.... BUT you don't need to return your discs because they fail out of the box. Blu-Ray is nice that way.

[Dartman]

So far all the combo disks I have work in my A2 so I guess it depends on luck and your player. It's nice getting the dvd movie on one side for my HD challenged family members. Too bad both sides insist on charging a premium for the movies most of the time.

[Grain]

I've noticed that combo discs of mine that didn't work originally (ie Star Trek S1) work if you open and close the player. Some that didn't work at all now work first crack. Makes me think it's more of a player issue than a disc problem now.

[dolphinius_rex]

I've noticed that combo discs of mine that didn't work originally (ie Star Trek S1) work if you open and close the player. Some that didn't work at all now work first crack. Makes me think it's more of a player issue than a disc problem now.

It's a complicated problem. It's part disc and part format spec from what I understand. It can be solved with firmware modifications (which also run the risk of screwing up compatability with other fixed disc issues), or it can be fixed by replacing the discs. Both have been done in the past, although generally Toshiba releases new firmwares. I suspect Toshiba doesn't want to cause problems with the studios. Unfortunately, it also means that for the players affected with the discs affected, it's very inconvenient. It also is a concern for potential hardware manufacturers, who might consider making HD DVD players.

[Grain]

I'd be happiest with non-combo discs, but some people like them, and the odd studio seems to see some value in them.
As time goes on and player hardware matures, hopefully these combo issues and BD's profile woes just becomes one of those "remember when" stories.

[vinnie97]

Drag it out! I want Cloverfield on HD DVD

Sweeney Todd is coming at least.

And Sony hasn't won this yet. If the disc compatibility problems don't come to an end and SOON, Sony can forget about Blu being anything beyond a PS3 format.

The only major disc compatability issues are the ones with HD DVD combo discs. At least profile 1.1 and 2.0 Blu-Ray movies will have the movie and the bulk of the features play back in all Blu-Ray drives/players. Admittedly, sometimes a new firmware is needed.... BUT you don't need to return your discs because they fail out of the box. Blu-Ray is nice that way.

I have almost a dozen HD DVD combos...haven't needed to return a single bloody one of them. The complainers will always be the loudest on these problems and it's never as widespread as it appears based on internet reports. On the other hand, the Fox title Sunshine, which is over a month old, won't play properly on my BD-UP5000, and it's not even a 1.1 title!

[Ian]

On the other hand, the Fox title Sunshine, which is over a month old, won't play properly on my BD-UP5000, and it's not even a 1.1 title!

What? You're buying Blu-ray movies?

Doesn't the BD-UP5000 have issues with BD+? I can't remember if that was one that did.

[vinnie97]

aye, you caught me. Blame Lost Season 3.

The BD-UP5000 has done decently with BD+ (Fantastic Four: RoTSS is just peachy). Sunshine is another animal...seems to be an audio problem that arrests playback at about 5 mins in and the problem happens multiple times throughout the movie.

[Grain]

My Samsung 1400 has played Sunshine, RE Extinction & MP's The Life of Brian without updating to the newest firmware (1.5), but they take about 3.5 minutes to load . I like the hardware in the 5000 (good audio & video components), but I'm not buying a dual format player until BD sorts out the profile nonsense.