Does anyone know when the powers that be might be deciding which format for HD-DVD/Blu-ray is going to reign surpreme? I'm waiting for that before I buy.

They are both going to be around so why not just wait till they are more affordable, I live in Japan and I see BluRay all over the place.

I didn't want to wind up like all the Betamax owners of the recent past. I've been hearing from Cnet and Consumer Reports that they recommend the same thing... wait until the smoke clears and prices come down.

Hello jim:

I think I saw a Samsung that plays both for around $700.

excon

Hey hey hey, I resemble that remark, I am moving my house right now, I opened up a box and there was my Sony Super BetaMax from the 80's, mint condition but not in its original box like most of my old $75,000 home recording studio from when I was a kid in the military. About 55 pieces of equipment, tossed a few sets of speakers this time though.

Thanks excon. I'm pretty sure that is still going to be too high for my budget.

Unlike the VHS/Beta wars, I believe that dual drives will or have been developed that will at lease read, if not write, to both. Which would mean that neither goes away.

But, the costs of the higher def equipment is still too high to know what will happen.

Would you like this transferrred to the Psychics forum? ;)

Heh heh heh. Naw, I'll just wait, thanks.

I saw a Toshiba HD-A2 that was rated fairly decent for a player and not too expensive... at least in my price rrange.

FYI, LG makes a dual HD-DVD/Blue-Ray DVD-drive, model: LG-GCC-H20L, it costs about $260 cad. great choice for a HTPC, and is an excellent price compared to a stand-alone unit.

Hello again, HVAC:

That's a great price. Sooooo, how many movies are available in HD? Lots? Some? Gonne BE a lot? Not many?

excon

Thanks HVAC888, I'll look into it. Not a bad price.

I know this is from December, but the answer is today, Toshiba apparently stopped production of hd-dvd last night and is expected to announce this week that the production has ended for good.

PC World - Toshiba Halts HD DVD Production, Mulls Future

Thanks lowtax for that update. I'll pass it on.

Eva, I believe 2 days ago Walmart announced they were choosing Blu Ray. It "Appears"
Blu ray won out. A combo player would be Ideal.

To follow up to my earlier comment, Toshiba has officially announced that the rumors were true, they have stopped HD-DVD production for good and are withdrawing the technology from the market.

This was announced only 5 hours ago.

Live from Toshiba's HD DVD press conference in Tokyo - Engadget

Made the news here in Japan just last week on TV. HD will no longer be manufactured, Toshiba is the number one manufacturer and they are out of the HD business officially, they will sell what is on the shelf and in the warehouse then that's the end of their HD days. They and others in Japan will continue to make BluRay for the foreseeable future.

But I was reading somewhere (CNET I think) that it is still not time to buy blu-ray. The next version (v2) is due out in a few months, rendering current versions... well, not obsolete but definitely old tech.

The article recommended the Sony PS3 which has a blu ray player in it. They say the drivers in the bluray drive of a PS3 can be upgraded from V1 and 1.1 to 2 over the internet, whereas other blu ray players are stuck with the software that came from the factory.

Yeah a PS3 can have updated software via the internet... but so can some current blu ray players but id get a PS3 if I had a choice I am skipping next gen formats (other than the fact I already own a PS3)

HD Downloadable Content is where we will eventually end :)

Already on the 360 and PS3 and its certainly the future although not for everyone :)

I don't know, there is a lot of talk about downloadable content, I think it's a lot further than most people predict.

Not everyone has or wants a high speed internet connection, heck not everyone has a computer at all.

And there is still that feeling of owning a movie on disc, a physical item, as opposed to purchasing data that you can't actually see.

But yes, after seeing the sales figures I bought a ps3 and am glad to hear it's software can be updated when this version 2 will come out

T has finally been settled. Toshiba are no longer manufacturing hd dvd players, so it looks like its going to die out. Long Live Blu-Ray!