They just don't want to admit they've made the wrong choice, even though near enough every other company is now backing Blu-ray.

All they've done is show their ignorance of the market. Blu-Ray outsells HD-DVD 2-1, so they've proven that this is less about technical capability and what's best for the consumer (who has voted with their wallet) and more about political motives.



Hopefully they'll suffer financially as a result. I have no plans to support HD-DVD, and until their releases hit that format, it'll mean zero sales from me and most of the people I know.

I guarantee that by the end of the year 2008 HD DVD is completely shot down. This is not a fanboy comment, this is just reality.

I still say they should have stuck with VHS... >.>;;



/totally kidding XD

Good. We dont need those idiots using Blu-Ray. Let them stay on there Microsteal supported formats. They dont deserve the right to use Blu-Ray media.

really I think Universal and some others are looking more to the future than really putting money into a product that may turn out to be short lived.

I agree that the HDDVD will not last long and these companies are not stupid. Its a short term bridge between the now and the evolving market.

Downloaded content, HD video quality on demand via streaming DRM management is improving. 500 gig home video centers with wireless music streaming to other rooms are becoming normal. People are spending more time at their PC and gaming consoles. The ability to come home kick back and then from a menu choose their form of entertainment is happening now and propelling the industry into new areas dictated by our changing lifestyles.

People in general are more connected via tech than at any other period and this is creating a new environment. We will no longer need to go to the store to find the latest or greatest as we can do it from our comfortable chair.

Already the Xbox regardless of format is showing how easy it is to play a game or to have a demo downloaded to play. This is just the tip of the iceberg and Sony will be doing the same. Look what Apple did with I-Tunes and how many other companies that 5 years ago said it was BS are now doing the same. Jeez, even Nokia have their own music store and as they have such a huge user base are developing their own games system where your phone is the console.

No format war there as they just don't give a rats tit about the HD DVD or Blu Ray as they know that the future is wired or wireless but not plastic discs.

That Blu Ray is better is not the point here, it is looking to see where money is invested to ensure minimum loss and maximum profit. Neither format will ever compete with Data via the internet when we consider cost and delivery. The internet is not going to go away as it is just gonna get bigger better and faster.

Whilst some may argue about this format war I regard the medium itself is already approaching the end of its life span. "The need for Speed" factor negates the use of Blu-Ray in my home as a storage medium as I love the speed of dumping 50 gig as data to an eternal drive in less than 15 minutes. (Using a raid system as storage these days is just so cheap)

As for games needing so much data on a disc, all I can say is that this proves that the delivery system is not as effective as it could be and that it is a mid term solution until the internet infrastructure can deliver speeds to the home that many government facilities and universities enjoy right now. 8 mbit or higher connections are not rare but still not common. This will change and in my opinion the supporters of HD DVD are well aware of this and are looking to the future rather than investing in a new spin on an older tech. After all it makes no difference to the data, data is stored read and delivered regardless of whether it is a disk, a drive, memory or the net.

Today is the 12th of January 2008.

By 2012 only 4 years from now I truly believe that games will be delivered via the net and that gamers will have online storage at the content providers of choice, be it PS3/4 or Xbox 360/720.

For film freaks it could be much sooner as already HD content is readily available.

first off, the bandwith all over the world is too low just now to stream HD content, and even if it was high enough, it will probably cost an arm and a leg to get say, 20 mb broadband, it costs me £20 a month for unlimited 4 mb internet just now so i dread to think how much more it would cost for an extra 16mb on top of that!



second thing is that i like the idea of having a medium in my hand rather than on a hard drive that could be deleted accidently! lol!

I don't see that happening any time soon until WiFi can reach current fiber optic speeds...or GB/sec. Along with that, it wouldn't make any sense if more hard drive space isn't available. With the current HD content that's out, you can fill 1TB worth of data relatively quickly.



There will not be a replacement for optical mediums as there will never be replacement for game interaction via controllers/keyboard and mouse.

I have to say that the comment of shabghai360 was the most intelligent comment I've read in the last weeks.



But i have to disagree with some things like "Big Daddy" and "the by" said:

As long WiFi isn't at a decent speed, it won't be much successful. Also to have a movie in the hand in form of a disc is for many people important. It's the feeling of "owning" the movie what counts. Even today, many people still don't have fast Internet connections.



And don't forget that the technical knowhow is still an issue. It sounds sad, but some people can't even insert a disc in a player. How should these people even be able to stream it over the web? And a BIG problem which i see is the portability.

Try taking a movie to your friend when it's on HDD. Sure, you can take your harddrive to your friend, but I don't want to risk my whole movie collection just because I want to watch it with my friend. Imagine it falls down:

HDD + dead.

Blu-Ray + if you're lucky, it doesn't even a scratch.

Or what is when you don't have the possibility to insert it in your friend's computer? ( be it because he hasn't SATA or be it your lack of knowhow).