Whelp, it's over. HD DVD is dead.
Of course, no sense in buying a Blu-ray player, since none of them support the latest discs. None that is, but the PS3.
Which is why I'm saddened to see HD DVD die (not just because I picked up a player last year for $99 at Wal-Mart). Sony makes the movies, controls the spec, and makes sure it's player is inline with the spec changes. Sony likes to charge through the noise on electronics, and don't mind spying on customers.
The winner wasn't decided on merit or price, but rather backroom deals. Sony kept most studios only putting new movies on Blu-ray, keeping titles slim for HD DVD, until retailers had no real reason to carry both formats.
Microsoft (who backed HD DVD) should take note here - don't bother with catering to the MPAA/RIAA mafia. To appease the media mafia, Microsoft put huge crippling "features" into Vista for DRM. This was done of course, so the media mafia would all their content to be played on Vista in all it's HiDef glory. Instead, Microsoft should just patch out the DRM out of Vista, and tell the mafia if they want to reach the 3 Million copies of Vista sold to deal with it.
Of course, this would let Steve Jobs kiss ass to the mafia with Apple TV as he has done so well in the past.
3 comments:
Considering I was going to eventually get us (me) a PS3 just for Final Fantasy, this bothers me none. I should probably just get it sooner now.
Oddly enough, I am sort of happy. By all accounts Blue Ray seemed the better choice in a strict capacity / hardware sense. Of course I am sure there are all kinds of political motives involved here, but I usually do not keep up w/ those.
A good thing about this though is that I can now invest in blue ray discs and, perhaps, a blue ray burner. I have been scared to buy anything for this very reason.
Quick note: Final Fantasy is certinally the most compelling reason for a PS3. Hardcore, lol
Spec wise they are the same - you can argue space for Blu-ray, but they both have more space than the studios would ever use (they don't even use all the space of a DVD now).
The big difference was requirements - HD DVD player were required to implement all features, Blu-ray players can pick and choose. This mean discs will be made for the lowest common denominator, just like DVD (ever had a disc actually use the multi-camera angle option of DVD? it was optional for a plater to support it, so most don't).
Of course Sony changed this after winning. Blu Ray "2.0" requires the extras - like network connection - be on players. No play on the market meets this except PS3 - and for the 1.0 players you can flash bios update an ethernet jack.
Last, HD DVD's and player are cheaper to make, and were cheaper to buy.
I'm not looking to ge BluRay discs - this 2.0 game is going to stall the market, and it's something like less than 1% of the market is HiDef - the other 99% are still using and buying DVD. Odds are good a third format may ride in before this is over.
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