zombieflanders

My music et al is on my MacBook Pro, which is currently being repaired. I just used my work PC to upgrade and it worked great. Just make sure you turn off automatic syncing first!

Jason's right. Blu-ray has no releases this week, HD DVD has none next week.

"Oh, but that's Sony's main claim: "We won't sell to you if you don't buy our player." And here I thought I should buy BD because the format's better."

Huh? The only one that won't sell to you if you don't buy their player is Toshiba. They're the only one's making HD DVD players now, including the 360 addon. Meanwhile, I can buy players from Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Pioneer, Sharp, and more. Many of those are now available for $500 or less. To an average consumer, it doesn't matter if it's $250 or $500, and even if they buy the players, HD DVD is actually losing market share for movies to BD as the year goes on. They've been outsold 2:1 for the year so far. Not only that, HD DVD has released more titles but sold *less* actual discs.

Nice try, but lies get you nowhere.

Nigel,

You're completely full of BS. DVD has no opposing format, so why aren't you claiming the same thing for DVD? Nor did VHS for several years, or LPs.

Talk about taking one's head of their rear end...

Awww...no need to get all worked up, Phoenix. Especially since you're basically lying by omission. You see, your claims about numbers all come from Amazon. Unfortunately for you, Amazon numbers have been disproven as sales indicators many times over. Planet Earth hasn't been at the top of *actual* sales numbers for a while now. It didn't even make it in the top 5 in hidef sales last week.

Oh, and keep on going with the "$ony iz teh only Blurry company!!!11one!" foofarah. It's amusing *and* completely wrong.

"but when you consider that one of the Pirates titles was a day-and-date release, this really isn't news at all"

Might want to spend a little more time on research. All of these were catalog titles. Dead Men's Chest came out December 5, 2006.

"You mean like Apple with the iPod? Or like Panasonic in HDTV's? Or like Motorolla in cell phones?

If that's being an outcast, sign me up."

Wow. Are you joking, or are you actually that uninformed? Apple's iPods, Panasonic's HDTVs, and Motorola's flagships (including early RAZRs) are lauded because of their quality and aesthetics in the mid-to-high end of the price curve (particularly earlier on), not the bottom.

Toshiba's willingness to go to the Chinese gutted the DVD market for the major manufacturers. When that happened, it was Toshiba and their closest partners on the DVD Forum (including Warner) pulling it in, not other signatories such as Pioneer or Panny, and certainly not Philips and Sony. That's why almost every single major CE manufacturer jumped on Blu-ray before HD DVD was even announced, and why Toshiba is the only one making standalone STBs. By going with the Chinese again, Toshiba will only generate more anger, and after the legal and technical goatscrew that is SED, they've only shown how many more backs they're willing to stab.

"That is because of the PS3 saturation. So, the movie sales are coming from Gamers and High-end users."

Okay, first of all, is the PS3 not a cheap Blu-ray player? It doesn't matter that it's also a gaming system, it's strong proof that the BDA isn't "catering [to] high end users". The whole point of the PS3 was to provide an inroads for Blu-ray. That's not a problem, that's marketing. Second of all, this "gamers and high-end users" stuff is HD DVD Promotions Group BS, pure and simple. How else do you explain the huge popularity of BDs like "The Departed", "The Pursuit of Happyness, "Happy Feet" or "Night at the Museum"? None of those are aimed at either the gamer or high-end (whatever that means) demographics.

"If they really want to get into the meat & potatoes of the market where the average consumer lives they need to lower the price. Panisonic is on the right track releasing their latest one at $600, just gotta keep getting those prices down."

I agree on the pricing idea, but instead of holding quarterly fire sales or giving away 3/5/7 free movies with every single player, Blu-ray is quietly making inroads, forcing Toshiba into a reactive state rather than proactive. After the Wal-Mart FUBAR, we got a great view at HD DVD's confusion and desperate need to catch up. They've already alienated 95% of the major hardware vendors, they're going it alone (although Microsoft is doing their best to kill off HD discs), and going with the lowest Chinese bidder will make Toshiba an outcast in the consumer electronics world.

"Well, I gues its time for the Blu-Ray Group to stop catering for high end users and think about the common people who wants quality and low prices. Its seems they missed this memo!"

Really? Last time I checked, Blu-ray discs had been selling better than HD DVD for 5 straight months, despite every free movie giveaway, player price drop, new model, and attempted Toshiba/Microsoft attack. Even when they have one title topping the charts, the others are so far behind that they fail to bring a win to HD DVD's sales for a week, let alone on a regular basis.

"Hate to correct you but the format war is entirely Sony's fault as they are ones that did an end-around the DVD Group when Blu-ray was not approved as the successor to DVD because it had cost/production issues and was not consumer friendly. HD DVD had the go-ahead and the head start, but they wasted it."

Wrong! Not only was Blu-ray announced first, it was done by the majority of the large manufacturers, many of whom were sent downriver by Toshiba and DVD. HD DVD was still arguing over whether or not to use red lasers with Warner when Blu-ray came onto the scene. Not only that, it was Sony, Philips, and Panasonic that led the Blu-ray research, not just Sony.