Disciple wrote: New Line Cinema keep releasing their films exclusively on Blu-Ray for the period during which the film is still playing in international territoriesBut that exclusivity is only for a couple months. Everything New Line announced for BluRay they also said the HD version would follow, just at a later time.

If Warner picked BluRay, HD-DVD would stand no chance and falter only a little while later, Paramount just isn't enough. But if Warner picked HD-DVD then it still wouldn't be over for BluRay seeing as how big FOX and Disney & Sony Pictures are.

UMD has BEEN done, and Sony still releases movies on that dead format even though almost no-one supports/buys it. Don't you think they'll do the same here? Of course they will. I doubt if Blu Ray will ever go away completely.

No one said HD DVD was superior, it's not. BD is technically superior on paper, but that superiority is not translating into real-world performance. However, it is still the dominant format for reasons that elude me. Why people would buy into a format that's not standardised, requires you to buy new hardware and still enforces region coding is beyond me.

I'm curious as to why he prefers the BD version. It wouldn't have the interactive features of the HD DVD release, and even if if did no one could play them. Sure it might have a lossless audio track, but Dolby's own engineers have stated that the Plus track is audibly transparent from the studio master. I'm pretty sure he's not actually basing his comments on anything that would benefit consumers. Downloads won't become the preferred format for HD content until uber-fast broadband with no caps are the norm (so never then) and people can buy terrabyte HDDs for next to nothing.

I don't get the attraction of downloading films. Any time away from a PC trying to get it to work is time well spent in my book. Plus having hundreds of films on one drive, that could breakdown would be a nightmare. HAve a back up on disc then I hear people say. Well isn't that what DVD/BD/HDD is anyway. I much prefer the physical medium of a disc. You know where it is and it's hardly a bind getting off your arse and putting a disc in a player is it. The only plus side to having all your films on one hard rive is the space it saves in the real world.

I use a hard drive for recording TV and converting MiniDV to DVD but I would never trust it to safeguard any important video media. It's a real bonus to have a hard drive but eventually you need to clean it up and put to disc the things you want to keep. Which brings us back to actually needing some sort of independant physical storage. That will change over time of course. I would think Discs will eventually disappear and be as quaint as VHS is now for some people.

I would look forward to a time when you could buy you movies on something like a credit card with all the data on the chip, and all you need to play it on is a reader with a RAID array at home. To view the card it would need to download onto the RAID but that would only take seconds. You'd then be free to either keep it on the hard drive or delete it safe in the knowledge that you had the file safe in some sort of credit card style wallet.

And the sky would be pink. And Coke/Pepsi would come out of taps. And cars would fly. Mr Kipling mince pies might actually be less dry than Morrisons own. And everyone would have their own robot (for the ironing, dishes and hand jobs etc). And there'd be no war.....

Disciple wrote: If you look back at what they've released in HD so far you could argue that they favour HD DVD as they've released a lot of films with HD DVD exlusive special features such as the In Movie Experience PIPs.
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Isn't that because (up until now with the 1.1 BD players & discs) BluRay couldn't have those features?

Can anyone tell me if the new Toshiba HD XE1 is multi region ?

Thanks Chris , Ive loads of Region 1 dvd,s So its a no go, At least HD is region free , Cheers

region free Ive just got the new Sony S500 Blu ray player, with a Sony 40 inch X series TV and a Sony  3300 ES AV reciever, + The new KEF ES 3500 Speakers, I was in Chicago last week and was looking for the new Samsung Duel, HD ,BLU RAY Player, to solve the region problem , But its not out until the new year,

region free yor wrote: Ive just got the new Sony S500 Blu ray player, with a Sony 40 inch X series TV and a Sony  3300 ES AV reciever, + The new KEF ES 3500 Speakers, I was in Chicago last week and was looking for the new Samsung Duel, HD ,BLU RAY Player, to solve the region problem , But its not out until the new year,

"Pick a side, we're at war!"..... Colbert is God

This whole situation is dreadful, we'll be updating home cinema equipment as fast as mobile phones next. We'll need a new HD player, firmware update, HDMI cable and plasma TV every six months. Can't remember the last time i needed to update the innards of my DVD player, oh wait a minute i never have.

Just goes to show how much this HD format needs to grow up when it's success or failure depends on two games machines.

Yea, I read that...

It's not over still, Toshiba needs to play their cards now, and play them damn good.

With the way things are going, I think Paramount are going to shoot themselves for switching, because in the end they will have to switch back to Blu Ray. I know BLU RAY'S GONNA WIN! WOO-HOO!

Can't wait to get my first Blu Ray Player this year, right after I pay off my credit card. Of course I have to save some money first. I already have a Sony Bravia with Sony HDMI imput, so need to upgrade my projector.

With the recent Warners decision and the rumblings that Paramount and Universal have 'get out' clauses from their HD-DVD deals, it looks like this thing may finally be over sooner rather than later.  I certainly feel justified in treating my brat that was given a PS3 at Christmas, to his first Blu-ray title to play on it now...  

It has no means of outputting multi-channel audio aside from HDMI, which means you need to buy a new amplifier to enjoy PCM, DD+, TrueHD, DTS-HD HR and DTS-HD MA. Most standalone decks have discrete analogue outputs and can internally decode most of those formats to passed as LPCM.

That's the only reason I dismissed it as a player. Wouldn't bother me so much if it was just for personal use, but it is quite limited when it comes to reviewing. Also, not much point having an HD viewing experience and an SD audio one.

The only one backing HD-DVD is Paramount now, correct?