HD storage format war is over

aMIGA_dUDE

HD-DVD is well and truly a dead format. Microsoft one backers of HD-DVD is seriously looking at supporting Blu-Ray now.

The writing is truly on the wall now.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/01/09/ces_xbox_could_back_blu_ray/
http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/01/08/microsoft-may-consider-blu-ray-if-consumers-demand-it/

aMIGA_dUDE

Well it truly over Toshiba has given up and stopping all production of HD-DVD. That meanings they will no long build new hardware or HD-DVD producer updated software tools.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/29635/Toshiba-scraps-HD-DVD-as-hi-def-war-ends
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7250068.stm

So Fat lady is now singing

Zebedee69

Riq wrote: »

This is just like the console wars.

The Sega Saturn was a far superior machine to the Playstation but due to a lack of 3rd party sales it all went wrong

Dont forget the bad feeling created during the 80's and 90's when they ceased support for Megadrive and 32x to rush the Saturn out. This alienated people from the brand and is something Sony got right, supporting old Playstation consoles well after the new version is out. Nintendo nailed this one too keeping games flowing for the Super Nintendo after 64 was out.

Also the saturn was harder to code up with parts of the system off limits except to Sega's 1st party developers hence stunning games such as "Nights into dreams" and "Sonic Racers" which used the Saturns capability to the max. When developers took time with the system great games came out like Wipeout which was superior on the Saturn and Street Fighter Turbo which was way way above what the station could do. Unfortunately most developers were lazy and frequently mucked up the coding.

Also Sony developed the brand as a more mature colsole (18-40 Group) hence it being considered cool compared to Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, Atari Jaguar and Panasonic Neo. Although the Wii is doing well time will let us know if its a long term thing............

I believe Xbox will continue to play second and third fiddle behind Wii and Station until Microsoft get bored of being last. I think they will quit then perhaps after 360.......

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As for Blu Ray it was always going to win as Playstation supports it. All those millions of houses that play the disks already............... Next thing is if BT, Tiscali & Virgin will rival Sky with their interactive TV offering. I think Satalite will cease to exist in 10 years time unless they can sort a feedback loop system for it that doesnt rely on a phone line. If they dont then TVOD will leave them for dead......

richt71

Watching Click (beeb's technical roundup) last night they are suggesting that cheap boxes to stream movies from the major movie makers will replace both formats of dvd recorders within the next 2 years.

aMIGA_dUDE

richt71 wrote: »

Watching Click (beeb's technical roundup) last night they are suggesting that cheap boxes to stream movies from the major movie makers will replace both formats of dvd recorders within the next 2 years.

Sorry but very much doubt that download content will take off for long time. This all down to bandwidth that true HD video needs. You can easily be talking 8 GB for 90 min's. Lot people have limits by there ISP to bandwidth to about 5GB a month or they charge for more per GB and expect this price to increase and not to decrees as more customers start using it. Yes the more popular it to become the higher price will be.

Also you download to device, so there no way of taking the film to friends place with out lugging around an expensive peace of hardware around with you.

Crabman

Hi - I'll move this to the Techie Board

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Crabman

aMIGA_dUDE

It all done and over with now.

Toshiba has said it will stop making its high definition DVDs, ending a battle with rival format Blu-ray over which would be the industry standard. (BBC)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7252172.stm

superscaper

Downloading and streaming will certainly impact hugely on physical media in the future but I think it'll be a while yet and it won't do away with physical media altogether, especially optical discs. What else are we going to back up on to? In terms of actually buying movies then downloading probably will overtake optical media. But there's holographic disc formats to come out yet (TiB storage capacities).

BigBouncyBall

aMIGA_dUDE wrote: »

I do fill very sorry for people who just brought an HD DVD (betamax) system.

Why? - People who have invested in HD-DVD have been enjoying fantastic quality movies for over 2 years. They will continue to enjoy watching those movies for years to come. The players and discs are not just going to self destruct or stop working.

Also can you stop comparing betamax and HD-DVD? This 'war' is quite different to the Beta vs VHS debate.

Cerro

Shame really, HD-DVD was better than Blu-ray in almost everyway, its was a small difference in most cases except in sound quality, HD-DVD had a much better audio codec. HD-DVD was the chosen successor to the DVD format, only Sony have come and taken that away... but at least its not some Apple rubbish we are being force fed.