when are the hybrid players going to come out! i want best of both worlds!

Hybrid players are still are rumour and might be some time to become reality.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061218-8443.html



Ali

HD DVD Not All There in LG's 'Dual' Format Player
Posted by DrFlick on Jan 18 2007 @ 9:04 AM
Keywords: Blu-ray, HD DVD



LG's new Super Multi Blue Player they were showing at CES is an exciting product that definitely is defining the future of next generation high-definition DVD players.

However, buyer beware.

I gained a few interesting insights when I asked some specific questions at the LG booth. For those that have heard me talk about HD DVD and Blu-ray technologies, it is all about interactivity.

In other words, if you're used to watching HDTV all the time, you probably are not blown away by the picture quality of HD DVD and Blu-ray.

You may notice an improvement in audio quality if your system is designed for it, but you will definitely appreciate the way you can interact with the content and menus on the disk.

Here's the problem: LG's Super Multi Blue player does not currently support the interactivity features of HD DVD.

Apparently, LG had the guts for its Blu-ray player completed, which is why they have the Java-based interactivity engine used by Blu-ray.

I was told that LG decided to add in the hardware components to play HD DVDs, but did not have the time to get the iHD software engine for interactivity completed before they had to make their big splash at CES. It is not clear if it will be upgradable, either.

Another interesting note is that the unit supposedly does not play CDs. I did not get a chance to follow through on this while there, but the representative seemed pretty sure that it would not play CDs. I am not sure how that is because it does play standard DVDs, but that would be something to check before purchasing one.

One last consideration is that this player only has HDMI 1.2, which means that you will not be able to get some of the higher definition lossless audio features or the deep color and broader color space afforded by HDMI 1.3. This may not be a big deal for many early adopters, but it is a factor if you really want to take advantage of what HD DVD and Blu-ray offer.

As mentioned, this is an exciting product in a completely new market segment -- for Version 1.0. Just be aware of the potential limitations -- especially if you're interested in all that adult entertainment that Julie Jacobson writes about -- and do not expect to be able to experience the more compelling features of HD DVD--the interactivity, additional features, and "alpha blended" menus.

Derek R. Flickinger is vice president of R & D for Interactive Homes, Inc.


** and the DANCE CONTINUES

http://www.cepro.com/news/editorial/17467.html

available on pre order @ circuit city

An interesting study by Adams Media Research that has data supporting the fact that when it comes to standalone players, HD DVD is outselling BR by a 5-1 margin. They claim that the larger BR number is mainly from sales of the PS3.




http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070115-8625.html

HD DVD opens up early lead with standalone players, consoles different story
1/15/2007 9:38:25 PM, by Jacqui Cheng

Is there an early winner in the next-gen format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray? New data from Adams Media Research says that about 695,000 consumers in the US own either a Blu-ray or HD DVD player. Upon first glance, it appears as if the players are selling relatively well and that Blu-ray is winning the format war. Making sense of the data, however, is difficult.

President and Senior Analyst Tom Adams spoke with Ars Technica concerning his firm's findings, which were first published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. According to Adams Media Research, roughly 425,000 of the 695,000 next-gen players sold recently are Blu-ray players—about 61 percent of units in the wild. Comparatively, HD DVD accounts for 270,000 units, or roughly 39 percent. Presented this way, Blu-ray looks to have a significant lead.

Yet only 25,000 of those Blu-ray players were purchased as standalone units (that is, dedicated Blu-ray players), with the other 400,000 coming in the form of the Sony PS3. The big question here is whether or not PS3 purchases are signs of consumer interest in Blu-ray, per se. Compare this situation to HD DVD: 120,000 units were purchased as standalone players, with another 150,000 units coming in the form of HD DVD upgrade kits on Xbox 360s. (The Xbox 360 does not come with HD DVD, but a $200 HD DVD addon appeared on the market shortly before the 2006 holiday season.)

All told, a hair over 79 percent of all next-gen DVD players are tied to gaming consoles in some way or another. That means that so far, only 21 percent of next-gen players sold were bought by consumers as standalone units. Further, sales of HD DVD standalone units outpaced Blu-ray units by nearly 5 times as many units, comprising almost 83 percent of standalone purchases versus Blu-ray's 17 percent of the same. Presented this way, HD DVD appears to have more momentum than Blu-ray.

In either case, standalone sales are still not stellar, although Adams told Ars that low standalone numbers did not necessarily mean that there was weak demand for the players. "[HD DVD and Blu-ray] standalone (non-game) lagged last year mainly because of supply issues, not demand," he told Ars. "Components, especially the new blue-laser diodes, were in short supply, and Sony in particular diverted as much as it could get to the PS3," Adams said.

"Game machines are typically adopted at much faster rates than consumer electronics products—tens of millions of homes in 3-4 years versus millions," Adams continued. "Yes, there is some hesitation [to buy standalone units] because of the format war, but the target market of early adopters typically buys most new technologies soon upon availability, even if there's the chance they'll be obsoleted eventually."

So who is really winning the next-gen format war? Sales in 2007 are likely to solidify numbers for both formats, although HD DVD looks to be getting off on a better foot for now judging by standalone player sales. On the flipside, market research firm Forrester recently said that they believe that Blu-ray will be the winner in the long run due to the greater volume of available content in Blu-ray format. There has also been a question of whether hybrid players would put the war to rest or just offer a convenient alternative for indecisive customers while the format war rages on.

title: The Key To HD Format War is Volume of Titles

date: January 17, 2007
by: Jerry Del Colliano

One of the big lessons from the SACD vs. DVD-Audio format war, which resulted in no winner, was the idea that major record labels expected consumer demand to magically materialize itself before they were willing to release a significant amount of their back catalogue music. While Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon turned out to be a really nifty title on SACD, the rest of the catalogue was never released to tempt people, who liked what they heard with Dark Side, to buy more software. The same can be said of the lackluster mix of Metallica’s Black Album on DVD-Audio. Never did audio enthusiasts or hardcore heavy metal fans get tempted to upgrade their audio systems to listen to the entire Metallica catalogue, because only one title was ever released. Ignoring the technical limitations and complications that plagued SACD and DVD-Audio, based around unfounded fears of piracy (the labels would be lucky if enough people wanted music in surround to try to steal it), it was a lack of both quality titles and depth of catalogue that made the high-resolution audio war an ugly battle without a winner.

HD DVD and Blu-ray are fighting a far more high-stakes battle in the world of HD video discs, yet the same lessons from the SACD and DVD-Audio battle remain relevant to whichever format emerges victorious. The need for large volumes of titles is essential right now in order to woo gamers (HD DVD on Xbox 360 and Blu-ray on PS3) to buy and/or rent movies on HD disc formats. Having enough volume of HD movies on store shelves and being promoted in the marketplace will tempt Costco-shopping housewives and soccer dads to pick up a new player to go with one of the 1.5 million flat HDTVs sold each month in the United States.

Right now, there simply isn’t enough content out on Blu-ray or HD DVD. There are about a hundred movies released on each format, many of which are truly excellent. However, there need to be thousands of titles on the market. Specifically, the newer a film is and the better the special effects are, the sooner it should be re-released on an HD disc format. While older movies should all be eventually released in HD formats, it’s the newer titles with more modern transfers and cinematography that look best on gleaming new 1080p HDTV sets. An easy way to get volumes of profitable and creatively important content on the street is for studios to release entire television series on HD disc formats. The Sopranos are coming back for their sixth and supposedly final season on April 8, 2007 – would serious fans consider buying Season One through Season Five on, say, Blu-ray if they were released a few months before the last season? How about a series like 24 on HD DVD? 24 has newly-shot, exciting content that people really need to follow in order to become fans, which makes it a really compelling title for potential release to boost the software available on movie store shelves.

Oddly, the Blu-ray camp has shied away from adult material at this stage of the format war, despite the huge revenues the industry generates from home video sales. Many AV industry veterans consider pornography to be the main factor that led VHS to win over Beta in their early ‘80s format war. Our sources say they saw a few HD DVD titles at the adult section of the recent CES show. All morals and convictions aside, if you are trying to win a video format war, you might want the pornographers on your side. Some (perhaps most) might play the role of dirty scumbags, but that doesn’t change the fact that they sell hell of a lot of home videos.

Lastly, have you noticed that none of the four remaining record labels have embraced HD DVD and/or Blu-ray? Having seen their domestic revenues slip from over $30,000,000,000 in the early ‘90s to a mere $11,000,000,000 today, you might expect to see the majors interested in selling their back catalogues on a copy-protected format, but the majors are busy trying to continue to sell music by the download instead of building value into a disc that could save the album-based business model for them. Fighting new technology is nothing new for the music business, as we have seen with every new audio format. Unfortunately for music enthusiasts and the bottom line at the record labels, they aren’t yet a part of what could be a big wave with HD disc formats.

The pipeline is going to open up with more and more content on HD DVD and Blu-ray, especially as players get better, cheaper and more reliable. As players hit $299 and lower, and as there are thousands of titles on HD DVD and Blu-ray respectively, mainstream America as well as the rest of the world will very likely embrace one or both of these new formats in a way that will replace the DVD as the preferred disc format for most consumers. Whatever the studios can do to get the tens of thousands of feature films, videos and television programs out of the vaults and onto store shelves will do wonders to keep people reaching for their wallets when it comes to investing in HD DVD and/or Blu-ray.



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So far I'm happy with my second generation Toshiba player and the discs I watched. No issues.

PS3 hits Europe: March 23, £425 ($840), 60GB only
Posted Jan 24th 2007 8:05PM by Evan Blass
Filed under: Gaming



Well friends, the moment many of you have been waiting for has finally arrived: Sony's just lifted the months-long veil of secrecy that's been shrouding the PlayStation 3's impending European launch. The good news -- and there's not much of it here, folks -- is that March 23rd is indeed the date you need to circle on your calendars; all that talk of an April release turned out to be bullplop. However, there will only be a million consoles available for the entire continent, and as we mentioned before, each and every one of those will be of the pricier 60GB variety. Now, will they cost the same $600 that consumers have been paying in the US? Hardly; expect to drop a cool £425 (that's over 840 freakin' bucks) for the privilege of getting your PS3 on -- assuming that you can even procure one without looting or rioting, that is. We'll have more on the launch as this story develops, but we're thinking that you might wanna stop wasting your time here in favor of securing a place in line at your local gaming retailer -- as we know all too well, things are gonna start getting pretty hairy pretty quick.
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I usually look through the sunday flyers and for the first time Blu-Ray was no where to be found, HD-DVD was up front and center!! Best Buy and Circuit City were featuring big sections on HD-DVD hardware and software in their flyers!!

I gotta see this...

Best buy kind'a of alternates the deals between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Last week they promoted Samsung Blu-Ray Player with any 2 Blu-ray movies and also additional $200 off if you buy Samsung TVs.

This week it's with toshiba. Next week, they are offering few Blu-Ray titles as Buy 1 Get 1 Free. Of course, they are mostly useless titles.

It will be interesting to see how these stores promote the formats in the following weeks with several new releases in one format while there are almost none of interest in one format. Casino Royale could be huge promoting tool for Blu-Ray here in the US.

are they offering 2 free dvds again with hd a2

No! But I will not be surprised if they do it again as I noticed a pattern with Best Buy. They first gave 2 free BDs with Sony Blu-Ray Player. Then they gave two HD-DVDs free with HD-A2 and that's when I purchased my HD-DVD player. Last week they gave 2 Free Blu-Ray movie with Samsung Player.

Best Buy did Buy 1 Blu-Ray movie and Get 1 Blu-Ray movie FREE from select list once and are doing it again next week. I hope they will soon do that with HD-DVDs.

thanks yaar!!

btw did u see list of new universal/spielberg titles to be on HD DVD

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/ ... _E.T._/454

HD DVD Promotions Group Tous Spielberg Classics 'Jaws,' 'Jurassic,' 'E.T.'
Tue Jan 30, 2007 at 03:04 PM ET

Generating lightning fast buzz among early adopters, the HD DVD Promotions Group has added a trio of exclusive Spielberg classics to the "Coming Soon" section of its 2007 HD DVD release list, suggesting that the first of the director's long-awaited classics may finally be hitting the format.

The group, which is the official promotional organization for format backers including Universal and Toshiba, routinely updates its HD DVD title list (which can be found in PDF form here) with officially announced titles, as well as those confirmed to the group as being in the planning stages by the major studios.

Though not all of the "Coming Soon" titles the group has been listing on its site for the past year have actually seen release, the list does provide a strong indicator of what fans might expect in the coming months.

So needless to say, with the appearance of the Steven Spielberg classics 'Jaws,' 'Jurassic Park' and 'E.T.,' hopes are now high among HD DVD fans that the director's first titles will hit high-def this year.

Of course, as DVD enthusiasts know all too well, Spielberg turned out to be one of the longest hold-outs of the standard-def format, refusing to release his major titles for many years despite much pleading from the fanbase. It is also worth noting that Universal itself, in a press release and statements made only late last week, promised 100 new HD DVD titles in the coming year, but ino Spielberg titles were included on the list pending "filmmaker involvement." So we'll take a wait-and-see attitude towards the news, if only for fear of being disappointed.

Should even one of these Spielberg gems see release this year, however, it would certainly prove to be a boost for the HD DVD format, as most of the director's titles are currently distributed by Universal Studios releases, the sole studio holdout from the Blu-ray camp.

As always, stay tuned... we'll keep you posted.