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- unfettered one
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Topic: And So It Begins - First Budget, Standalone HD DVD Player Announced
Discount manufacturer Venturer Electronics today announced that it would release its first HD DVD player in time for this year's holiday shopping season. The Canadian-based company, which is known for value-priced electronics, hasn't yet revealed a list price for the new disc player, but it's expected to be among the lowest priced of all entry-level HD DVD players yet to hit the market. With Toshiba's HD-A2 retailing at under $250, and the Xbox 360 Add-on at under $179, it's a good bet that the Venturer player might break below the $150 mark. Details on the new player were still sketchy at press time, but as you might expect at that price, the player does come with some trade-offs. According to a post on the company's web site, specs will include 1080i video output via HDMI and Dolby TrueHD support. We'll keep you posted as more specs, pricing and a release date for this new player are revealed. Stay tuned!
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/ … lidays/905 Venturer HD DVD Player to Ship in Time for 2007 Holiday Sales 8/28/2007
Venturer Electronics today announced the launch of its first HD DVD player for the North American market. Responding to strong consumer demand for high definition video playback devices, Venturer will introduce the SHD7000 that offers the superior HD movie experience as defined by the DVD Forum. Featuring 1080i video output and an HDMI connection, the SHD7000 is designed to be compatible with the vast majority of HDTVs already in North American consumers' homes. With Ethernet connectivity to the network , the SHD7000 also allows users to access bonus features from movie studio web servers and unlock special prerecorded content on some HD DVD discs. Dolby TrueHD rounds out the high definition experience by presenting the HD DVD disc soundtrack as it was meant to be heard, virtually equal to the studio master. In addition to its HD DVD playback capability, the SHD7000 will upconvert standard DVDs to near HD picture quality via its HDMI connection, allowing a consumer's existing library of DVDs to look better than ever. CD playback is also supported. The SHD7000 will be distributed in North America by Venturer Electronics of Markham, Ontario, and sold through national retailers with retail prices expected to be one of the lowest among entry-level HD DVD players. Venturer Electronics, headquartered in Markham, Ontario, offers a wide selection of value-priced, high quality consumer electronics products. Since 1988, Venturer has focused on making the latest technologies affordable to North American consumers.
http://www.venturer.com/news-details.aspx?id=15 This is pretty fantastic news for TV fans looking to make that next leap, but of course are on a bit of a budget. Most people (around 90% of them) who already own HDTV, have a model that tops out at either 720p or 1080i. So a low priced HD DVD player that only hits 1080i is perfect. And for anyone else who currently does not own HDTV yet, the 1080i models are the lowest priced models and will save you hundreds and even thousands in some cases, over holding out for a 1080p model. I fully expect 1080i model HDTVs to come now another few hundred by this holiday, so this could work out very well for anyone interested. And the best part is, Venturer is only one of about half a dozen companies expected to announce budget HD DVD players in time for the holidays; so expect some nice discounts at point of sale as retailers attempt to maximize profit from this new low priced end of the HD spectrum. At these prices, I would not be surprised to see some retailers even bundling players and sets together at some nice discounts to the consumer, this holiday. And who would be interested, you say? I don't know about you, but I just picked up my copy of Heroes on HD DVD today, and I honestly could not be happier with the purchase. The picture quality is just stunning, and so much better than the HD broadcasts from back during the season. Factor in the new Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 Surround (1.5mbps) soundtrack (something else not featured in the TV broadcast), and this show really comes alive. It helps that it was filmed in HD in the first place. Plus there are so many extras in this set, I just do not know where to start. Anyway, there is a burgeoning library of fantastic TV programs already in HD and more coming soon. Definitely reasons enough to start looking into getting into HD inexpensively if you can. Oh and did I mention, all HD DVDs are region-free (standard)? This is good as there is a nice library of international television programming being released to the format. And as long as you understand the language, it's only a matter to just pop online and purchase it. It is guaranteed to work in your HD DVD player. TV Currently/Soon To Be Released On HD DVD Heroes: Season One Nip/Tuck: The Complete Fourth Season Smallville: The Complete Fifth Season Smallville: The Complete Sixth Season The Sopranos: Season Six, Part One The Sopranos: Season Six, Part Two Star Trek: The Original Series - Season One Battlestar Galactica: Season One Deadwood: Season One Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series The Office: The Complete First Season TV Currently/Soon To Be Released On Blu-ray Weeds: Season One Weeds: Season Two Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series Masters of Horror: Season One - Volume One Masters of Horror: Season One - Volume Two Masters of Horror: Season One - Volume Three Masters of Horror: Season One - Volume Four Lost: The Complete Third Season
- BlackBox
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Re: And So It Begins - First Budget, Standalone HD DVD Player Announced
Tnx for the info - great news
- unfettered one
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Re: And So It Begins - First Budget, Standalone HD DVD Player Announced
This just keeps getting better. A price has finally been attached to the upcoming Venturer SHD7000 HD DVD Player. Venturer HD DVD Player: $199
According to a published report, Venturer has revealed pricing for its recently-announced SHD7000 HD DVD Player. As we first reported yesterday, budget electronics manufacturer Venturerplans to release a value-priced HD DVD player ahead of the holiday shopping. Today, DVD Town is reporting that according to a Venturer rep, the deck will be made available at a record-low suggested retail price $199. As we've previously reported, the player's announced specs include 1080i video output via HDMI and Dolby TrueHD support. No word yet on a release date, nor whether the deck will be carried by Wal-Mart, Venturer's largest North American retail partner. Stay tuned...
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/ … :_$199/911 HD DVD Player: SRP $199
Announced today as the cheapest entry-level HD DVD player Venturer's SHD7000 HD DVD player gets a price. We just talked with a representative from the company who said the suggested retail price will be $199. Normal sellers of Venturer products include Wall-mart, so a price around $150 in stores should not be impossible. We will see.
http://www.dvdtown.com/news/hd-dvd-player-srp-199/4707 Wow $199 is an awesome price for a next generation DVD player. I have to give props to Toshiba and the DVD forum. I remember working in the home theater department at Monty Wards when the first DVD players came to market. They ran anywhere from $800 on the low end, to $1500 on the high end. And it took them forever to finally come down in price to the $199 level, so that they would finally be appealing to the mass market consumer. By basing many of the HD DVD design specs on regular DVDs, Toshiba and the DVD Forum have managed to do in 18 months with next-gen, hi-def players, what it took years and years to do with the original DVD. I have to take my hats off to a job well done. And the very thought that it may be possible to pick one of these up for around the $150 price tag if you hit the right retailer handing out the right deal . . . I already have a HD DVD player, but at these prices, I can easily see myself picking up a few extras as gifts this holiday season.
- Halo2
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Re: And So It Begins - First Budget, Standalone HD DVD Player Announced
Do you sell them or just work for the company?
- Halo2
- Tyrant of Athos
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Re: And So It Begins - First Budget, Standalone HD DVD Player Announced
Oh and are Blu Ray loosing the 'war' already...
- Registered: 2006-09-14
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Re: And So It Begins - First Budget, Standalone HD DVD Player Announced
Just read the other day, bluray counts for 90% of sales in europe.
- unfettered one
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Re: And So It Begins - First Budget, Standalone HD DVD Player Announced
Commentary: A War of Hype, and Paramount's Big Bombshell Fri Aug 31, 2007 at 04:57 PM ET By Joshua Zyber
Editor's Note: A long-time movie buff and collector of discs from laserdisc to DVD, Joshua Zyber is a staff reviewer at DVDTalk, and an enthusiastic supporter of all things High Definition. In his twice-monthly High-Def Digest column, Josh discusses a broad range of topics of interest to other early adopters.
As most readers of this site are by now well aware, the High Definition format war got a whole lot more interesting on Monday, August 20th, 2007. Surprising just about everyone, including many within their own company, Paramount Home Entertainment announced that effective immediately the studio would be dropping support for Blu-ray and releasing High Definition titles exclusively on the HD DVD format. As has been widely reported, this means that some major summer blockbusters including 'Transformers' and 'Shrek the Third' (Paramount also distributes Dreamworks titles) that were hotly-anticipated as future Blu-ray releases will now come out only on HD DVD. The impact of this cannot be overstated, and goes far beyond a couple of hit movies. In fact, it may just be the single biggest and most shocking development to happen in the format war to date. Prior to this point, Paramount was, alongside Warner Bros., one of the chief proponents of format neutrality, and had released discs equally on both sides. By kicking Blu-ray to the curb, as it were, a major studio with a huge catalog of desirable titles ('The Godfather' trilogy, 'Braveheart', 'Grease', and the entire 'Star Trek' franchise among them) has effectively issued a vote of no confidence for the future prospects of the format. Making this news all the more startling is the fact that it came despite many recent reports that Blu-ray discs had been outselling HD DVD by a 2:1 margin. Why, in the midst of numerous proclamations that Blu-ray had all but locked up the win in this horse race, would a major studio change its strategy and side exclusively with the "losing" format? If they're already selling more Blu-rays than HD DVDs, aren't they "leaving money on the table," so to speak, by dropping Blu-ray? Industry and web pundits have been abuzz with theories about Paramount's motivations, the most popular being that they were paid off to the tune of up to $150 million, an allegation reported by no less than the venerable New York Times. For their own part, in an interview with Chief Technology Officer Alan Bell, Paramount has cited "manufacturability, the reliability of players, the cost, [and] the infrastructure that's developed to support our creation of titles" as the primary factors behind their decision. Could these factors really outweigh the widely acknowledged sales advantage that Blu-ray software currently holds over HD DVD? What's really going on here? To get to the heart of this matter we need to cut through all the hype, spin, and outright misinformation that has perpetuated since the start of this format war. We need to take a hard look at that credited 2:1 sales ratio and analyze what it really means in practical terms to the companies involved.
An Important Disclaimer It seems that any article related to the High Definition format war will inevitably be picked apart and scrutinized for signs for bias (not without good reason in many cases), so before we go any further, I feel that I should address my own position in all of this. I've been covering both High-Def formats since each debuted, and have been described as biased towards HD DVD by some Blu-ray fans, mostly because I gave favorable ratings to early HD DVD hardware and discs, and negative marks to early Blu-ray equipment and software (apparently, the fact that Blu-ray really did have serious quality issues at its start doesn't matter to some people). The less-polite among them have called me a "shill" when it was in the interest of their own arguments to do so. I want to clear that up right now. Unlike some supposedly objective editorialists covering the format war, I have never received any financial compensation or lucrative gifts from any party on either side of the issue. If offered such, I would reject it to avoid the conflict of interest or appearance of impropriety. I am currently on my second disc player for each format, all of which were purchased immediately upon release and paid for out of my own pocket. I have not attended any lavish Las Vegas parties thrown in my honor by the backers of one format or the other, nor do I write articles (paid or otherwise) for the official promotional web sites on either side. I have no ties to any corporation that would in any way influence my writing on the topic. My opinions are strictly my own, based on my own observations and experience. I should also note that I have no insider knowledge into the business decisions of the companies discussed here. Everything I say in this article is based on publicly available information. I am not a format fanboy, or a corporate shill. What I really am is a High Definition fan, so much so that I've gotten to the point where I can no longer watch standard DVDs, finding them blurry to the point of giving me a headache from straining to see detail that isn't there. I want every movie I watch to be in High Definition, mastered in the best quality presentation possible. Whichever format will deliver that to me makes me happy. I don't care whether a movie I like is released on Blu-ray or HD DVD, because I can play both discs. That said, it's true that I was critical of Blu-ray early on. The fact is that HD DVD launched out of the gate with a more polished and impressive product than Blu-ray did, and at half the price. Over time (I'd like to think due to pressure from both buyers and critics like myself), the Blu-ray manufacturers and studios eventually cleaned up their acts, greatly improving their quality and at least somewhat bringing down their prices. Technical specifications aside, in actual practice the two formats are essentially indistinguishable today, and I consider that a big victory for both. As I said, all I want are great-looking High Definition movies, whatever it takes to get them. Nonetheless, I will still call things as I see them, and to that end I remain greatly annoyed by Blu-ray's lack of interactive features, seeming inability to finalize their format specs, and still exorbitant hardware pricing. At the same time, I am equally frustrated by HD DVD's continual problems with compatibility between Combo-format discs and HD DVD players. Neither format is perfect, but at their best both offer an amazing home theater experience. At less than their best, I have no hesitation about criticizing either one for their mistakes. That's where I stand.
As I Was Saying… With all that out of the way, let's look at some real numbers. For months now, we've been inundated with press releases trumpeting the 2:1 sales gap between Blu-ray and HD DVD, but until recently none of them offered the actual number of units sold. We were given ratios and percentages, all of which sounded pretty damning for HD DVD's chances of survival, but had no real figures to back them up. It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that Home Media Research provided actual sales numbers for the first half of 2007. In that announcement we learned that sales of Blu-ray discs for the first six months of 2007 totaled 1.6 million units, compared with 795,000 HD-DVD discs sold in the same time frame. Indeed, that's twice as many Blu-ray sales as HD DVD. Doesn't that just about wrap up this format war? Not so fast. The sales lead only sounds impressive when taken out of context. To put those numbers into perspective, during its first week of release alone, the Standard-Def DVD edition of '300' sold 5.10 million copies. That's one single movie on DVD, during just one week of release, moving more than twice as many units as all Blu-rays and HD DVDs combined could manage in 6 months. In fact, that lone DVD in its first week significantly outsold the grand total of all High-Def media from inception in early 2006 to date (3.7 million in all). That's an astounding disparity, and it has only grown in subsequent weeks of that disc's sales life. Let there be no confusion on this point. DVD is where the studios make their money. High Definition media amounts to barely a blip on the DVD sales radar. Bragging that Blu-ray has outsold HD DVD 2:1 at these volumes is like boasting that an ant is larger than a flea, just before the big shoe of DVD comes down to smoosh them both into oblivion. These formats are going to have to start moving DVD-sized sales before either one can be called a success, and that isn't going to happen anytime soon. A year into their lives, both are still in their infancy. Another thing you won't read in a Blu-ray Disc Association press release is that Blu-ray is a lot more expensive for the studios than HD DVD. The development costs are higher, the authoring and manufacturing costs are higher, and the licensing fees are higher. If the discs were selling in DVD-sized volumes, none of those problems would be significant, but that isn't happening. We have to consider the possibility that, despite selling more Blu-rays than HD DVDs, at the volumes we're talking about Paramount may have actually been losing more money on Blu-ray than they were losing on HD DVD. Wouldn't that be a kick in the head? Now, that's merely speculation on my part. No hard numbers on that have been released, but Alan Bell's comments above about "manufacturability, the reliability of players, the cost, [and] the infrastructure that's developed to support our creation of titles" sure seem to hint to that effect. In any case, this notion that Paramount is "leaving money on the table" by dumping Blu-ray is clearly false. If anything, they're letting go of one failing aspect of their business and hoping for the best from another.
A Big Payday? And what of the claims that Microsoft and/or Toshiba offered Paramount a $150 million incentive package to drop Blu-ray? A public relations firm employed by BDA member Sony has reportedly been making hay of this story in an (arguably successful) attempt to undermine the public perception of Paramount's decision. Microsoft denies participating in anything of the sort, and none of the other companies involved have officially acknowledged such a package, but for the sake of argument let's say that it's true and there was some sort of compensation involved. Frankly, who cares? It's a business deal. They happen every day, and I find it tremendously hypocritical to denounce Paramount for accepting an incentive package from the HD DVD camp without considering the possibility that at least one of the Blu-ray studios may have done the same at the start of the format war. For the record, when directly confronted with the question this week, Fox, MGM, and Sony each denied that any "sweeteners" influenced their decisions, while Disney would only issue a mysterious "No comment" statement. So consider this: Disney has long claimed that interactivity was one of their biggest concerns in choosing a High-Def disc format, even to the extent of actively participating in the design of the HDi specification used in HD DVD. Yet despite that, they release titles exclusively on the competing format that currently still can't implement simple picture-in-picture functionality and is at least a year and a half behind HD DVD's progress in the area Disney claims is of critical importance to them. Early last year, CEO Robert Iger stated that the company would "probably publish in both formats", yet that never came to pass. Where was the outrage last year when the Blu-ray exclusive studios declined format neutrality? Would it have been considered scandalous if Paramount had chosen Blu-ray exclusivity last week rather than HD DVD? Likewise, when Sony recently locked down a promotional arrangement with Target, in which the manufacturer will pay for an endcap display in Target stores and the national retailer will not carry any other stand-alone High-Def disc players, where were the cries of "payoff" then? Aren't consumer choices being limited to further a corporate agenda? Business is business. Whether Paramount or any of the studios are really receiving anything in return for supporting their chosen formats, I can't say, but transactions of this nature happen all the time between huge multi-national corporations. There's nothing illegal or unethical about them. Let's not kid ourselves into believing that companies in the BDA haven't tried to entice Warner and Universal into dumping HD DVD and going Blu-ray exclusive with similar offers; Personally, I have no doubt that they're continuing to do so right at this very minute.
The Future Is Not Set. There Is No Fate But What We Make for Ourselves. Considering the real facts of the matter, presumptions that the High-Def format war could be won by either side anytime soon were seriously misguided. The truth is that both Blu-ray and HD DVD are losing the real battle, which is to supplant DVD as the next mainstream optical disc standard. They're just losing it to different degrees. But we're still very early in the game. Releasing movies on High Definition media is an investment in future potential. Everyone involved is betting that there will eventually be real money to be made from one format or both. In making the decision of which to support, a company like Paramount must weigh not just current sales results (which are still insignificant at present volumes), but also the long-term business strategies on both sides. According to their August 20th announcement, Paramount believes that HD DVD has more potential for growth. Why might they feel that way? For one thing, the Blu-ray format has based a large part of its sales plan around the Playstation 3, which is by far the best selling and most popular Blu-ray playback device on the market. Unfortunately, the PS3 hasn't met expectations in the video game arena, trailing behind the XBox 360 and Nintendo Wii in popularity among gamers. While there are enough PS3 consoles in active use right now to lead to the 2:1 disc sales advantage over HD DVD as discussed above, perhaps Paramount doesn't feel that this is a sustainable business model. HD DVD has consistently sold more dedicated stand-alone disc players than Blu-ray, and stand-alone players have a much higher attach rate of discs sold (PS3 owners are more likely to buy the unit for games than for Blu-ray movies). Taking the long view, if this trend continues, HD DVD could have a growth surge that eventually surpasses Blu-ray. The BDA has been using all the muscle of their promotional machine to maintain the perception of winning the format war, expecting that hype will eventually become reality. In truth, all they've managed to gain so far is a larger slice of a tiny pie, which wins them nothing more than temporary bragging rights. Has either side made a real profit yet?
What Am I Getting At? If the tone of this article seems overly negative or critical of Blu-ray, note that I am making no judgments about one format being superior to the other, nor am I predicting which of the two will eventually win out over the other, if that should happen at all. As I explained earlier, I own both formats, and I just want movies in High Definition, however I can get them. All I hope is to present an alternate viewpoint to the widely held presumption that prior to Paramount's announcement, Blu-ray had all but locked up their victory in this format war, a notion I don't believe is supported by the facts. Are there opposing perspectives on last week's events? Of course there are, and no doubt you're hearing them loud and clear all over the web. Hysteria over the format war has reached a fever pitch, with fans of both sides treating the spectacle like a sports rivalry, each hoping for the utter domination of their team over the other. This isn't helped at all by the media, crawling as it is with pundits weighing in with ill-informed opinions based on misleading statistics, each screaming louder than the next to make their sound bite heard over the din. I think it's time we all took a step back and tried to look at this from a more balanced perspective. If the video game market can survive with multiple formats, each offering their own exclusive releases, how is the High Definition market any different? Personally, I foresee both HD DVD and Blu-ray coexisting for a long time, and potentially both thriving. If competition between the two formats continues to result in improved quality, lower prices, and a steady stream of movies in High Definition, that's a good thing in my book. Should anyone still think that I'm playing favorites, know that my next column will take aim at HD DVD for their many Combo disc compatibility problems, which aggravate me to no end. That's my take.
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Jos..._Bombshell_/921 Very nice read that I found the other day on the subject of this "format war". But nothing he has stated in this article is anything new. Myself and other knowledgeable observers of the "format war" have been stating all along the 411 on what is going on. I think I mentioned this at least once on these forums, and Lord knows plenty of times on my own blog. Consider this for a moment. All total combined sales of both blu-ray and HD DVD account for less than 1% of all home video sales. Fact of the matter is, no one involved with either blu-ray or HD DVD has yet to make a profit yet, and have all only accounted for losses. And it is going to be that way for a good while. Anyone even thinking that the entire entertainment industry is going to make a final decision on which format is the winner (if there ever is a "winner"), based on less than 1% of sales, is either completely ignorant of how business in the real world works, or is just purposefully putting the blinders on and keeping themselves in a state of self delusion. I'll put it this way. Back in the early 1990s when DVD was new to the world, and there was no format war involved with it, just the single new format. The entertainment industry as a whole, waited until DVDs had gained at least 15% marketshare before they finally decided the platform even had a future. The most likely outcome between the blu-ray/HD DVD "format war" is that neither will ever gain mainstream acceptance and will be initially supplanted by regular old DVDs, and then ultimately over the next five years with digital distribution. In five years time, the home video version of digital media devices like iPod, are going to be the hottest consumer electronic devices on the market, and the vast majority of consumers will have completely forgotten about blu-ray and HD DVD. Everyone will have a little box no bigger than a DVD player that sits on top of their televisions; it'll do both HD (720p) and SD (480p) and it'll store hundreds of movies on the single box; it'll be able to stream those movies to any television in your home; and stream multiple videos simultaneously; it'll also act as a Tivo (DVR), and will even stream your Tivo (DVR) recordings; it'll be able to stream those videos to any PC or laptop in your home as well; and finally, it'll be able to stream those same videos, wirelessly to just about any internet capable cellphone, PDA or portable entertainment device (ie. iPod, Zune, Creative Zen, Archos, etc.). It'll be the ultimate in convenience; you buy the movie once, either in SD or HD, and you can view it anywhere at anytime on any of the myriad of devices you own, whenever the feeling moves you to watch. In a world where such devices and services exist, there is no room for either blu-ray or HD DVD in the mainstream homestead. In all likelihood, the future for both blu-ray and HD DVD has already been written in the past with technologies like Laser Discs, and mini-dics and SACD and DVDA. All fantastic technologies well ahead of their time, offering entertainment in it's highest fidelity possible in it's own time. All relegated to the 10% of the home entertainment market reserved for the die-hard enthusiast who has got to have the best possible version or of their entertainment, if at all possible. Just like SACD and DVDA, blu-ray and HD DVD are fated to live out their existence as equals in a kind of obscurity, just beyond the veil of the mindset of the mainstream. Whether the fanbois of today can accept that or not, all the numbers and the milestones are pointing thus. Every major milestone to date that either blu-ray or HD DVD needed to make as proof that either had what it took to gain mainstream acceptance, not only has both technologies missed those targets, but both technologies combined have fallen way short of those markers as well. There about 10% of the people who can tell the difference in fidelity between 720p and 1080p; or can tell an mp3 from lossless audio, and those are the ones who are going to want to continue to buy the disc. Most consumers cannot tell the difference between 480p and 1080p, so there is no incentive for them to even consider purchasing anything more than standard DVDs. This is more than evidenced by the fact that HDTVs still have not caught on yet; they represent less than 15% of all new television sales, despite the fact that the FCC is going all digital in 2009, and most consumers when the subject of HDTV comes up, will quickly tell you without shame, "what's the point, I can't see a difference." And here is the single greatest stumbling block for blu-ray and HD DVD, not enough people care about HDTV, much less on a HDTV set. In light of that, there is simply nothing new that blu-ray and HD DVD can offer the majority of consumers. However, the box I mentioned above, with all the convenience of DVDs, plus the added convenience of their video libraries being able to fit in a little box on top of their TVs, as opposed to having to always shop for more bookshelf space for storage; and with the convenience of only having to buy a film once, yet having access to it in just about any manner imaginable, from almost any connected device in a person's ownership. Now those are real conveniences the everyman can understand and appreciate, and even if the only hi-def ever made available from such a device was 720p, you are not going to hear about many in the mainstream audience complain about it. The thing is, you have to put that 90% sales in Europe into real world perspective or you risk becoming like all the other fanbois out there on the internets. North America represents 60% of all HD sales. The PAL regions, including Europe, represent about 25%. So in actuality what you are looking is only 90% of 25%, which in actuality is only 22% of total worldwide HD sales. But when 100% of all HD sales is equivalent to less than 1% of all home video sales . . . well you see just how much of a complete joke it is to run around the internet attempting to present that 90% quote as if it were something special. It's not even close. Ultimately, the number only represents less than 0.22% of all home video sales. Suddenly that 90% does not seem like such the big number that whichever promotional group provided said number was trying to make it look like it was. Fact of the matter is, the "format war" between HD DVD and blu-ray is almost completely fictitious. The "war" itself is composed more out of corporate press releases which takes all their facts out of context, than by anything having anything remotely to do with reality. So what we ultimately have here in this thread are the bare facts which there are only two of mentioned prior to this post: 1 - starting sometime this holiday, there will be a next-gen player for under $200 (for all who are interested), and 2 - European blu-ray sales represent less than 0.22% of sales. When you cut through all the press release innuendos and other malarchy and just stick with the facts . . . life is a lot less stressful. As you'd honestly be surprised how many people are out there right now stressing enough to lose hair and sleep over this fictitious "format war", when all they have to do is put down the stupid press releases, and do what I do, get informed, I mean truly informed and either: buy both formats and understand that the majority of people are never going to buy one, much less both formats - ever, and that is perfectly okay, the world is not going to end over it; or abstain from purchasing either format and join the majority of people who are happy enough with standard DVDs, to await a true next-generation format, and not just another disc. See, life is simpler already.
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Re: And So It Begins - First Budget, Standalone HD DVD Player Announced
- Registered: 2007-01-09
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Re: And So It Begins - First Budget, Standalone HD DVD Player Announced
It’s reasonable and authentic to view reality in dualistic terms. Nondualism simply poses that there is this higher reality that we don’t realize until we’ve become one with it. Like I said a long time back, you’d have to go to the real world, outside of the matrix if you will, and come back to our reality, to place any truth claims on it actually existing. To me, nonduality is just speculation and not necessarily so. This looks to most sane people as: hope you don't own a gun.
- Registered: 2007-01-09
- Posts: 29
Re: And So It Begins - First Budget, Standalone HD DVD Player Announced
And if you do: Hope you don't live anywhere near where i do. Damn.
- Registered: 2007-01-09
- Posts: 29
Re: And So It Begins - First Budget, Standalone HD DVD Player Announced
TV site my dear. Nothing is real. Keep up the good work. Like shooting cockroaches. They do not seem to mind or care. Again. Damn.
- santah
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Re: And So It Begins - First Budget, Standalone HD DVD Player Announced
- Wizard
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Re: And So It Begins - First Budget, Standalone HD DVD Player Announced
Is he off his medication again.?
DRM "manages access" in the same way that Prison "manages freedom". http://xkcd.com/488/
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