HD DVD thread - Toshiba: HD DVD DISCONTINUED, REPAIR/SUPPORT CONTINUES, NO BLU PLANS

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[quote name='KaneRobot']I believe he also said it would be out BEFORE the dashboard update, but we're getting pretty close to 5/7 and still have not heard anything about it. Sounds like Microsoft to me.

I ordered Planet Earth from the Warner store....I don't really havea hard-on for documentaries/educational programming, but this stuff is not just information, it's eye candy and a well-done film as well.[/quote]

Ditto, I always wondered why people buy those types of DVD's but I happened to catch a little on Discovery and It was pretty damn good. The quality from my cable box wasn't as good as I hoped, but I'm sure HD DVD will be better.
 
[quote name='SteveMcQ']I think there were known problems with those two movies working with the 360 add-on and a few other players. Someone here went through three returns trying to get a working CoM disc, but I don't think was successful.[/QUOTE]

My order for CoM from buy.com was cancelled, and nobody online seems to have it in stock. I'm under the impression that a new pressing is happening on this disk, and there will be functional stock available soon. At least I hope so.
 
I was just thinking today - I don't think I've seen Hollywoodland in stores, ever. Anyone see it out in the wild?


Also, good call on the sig, Link.
 
[quote name='KaneRobot']I was just thinking today - I don't think I've seen Hollywoodland in stores, ever. Anyone see it out in the wild?


Also, good call on the sig, Link.[/quote]

Saw it at Best Buy when it first came out, haven't really looked for it recently so I'm not sure. I'll keep an eye out next time im in a store.

Thanks :D
 
[quote name='KaneRobot']I was just thinking today - I don't think I've seen Hollywoodland in stores, ever. Anyone see it out in the wild?


Also, good call on the sig, Link.[/QUOTE]

We have a couple copies in my store, which is odd as we typically don't carry all that many Universal titles very much.
 
[quote name='KaneRobot']I was just thinking today - I don't think I've seen Hollywoodland in stores, ever. Anyone see it out in the wild?


Also, good call on the sig, Link.[/QUOTE]
saw it best buy today only one copy but that goes for most of the hd-dvds at my store.
 
[quote name='Transformah']My order for CoM from buy.com was cancelled, and nobody online seems to have it in stock. I'm under the impression that a new pressing is happening on this disk, and there will be functional stock available soon. At least I hope so.[/quote]

Well I can tell you that the place I ordered fro told me that Universal was shipping out a new pressing to its distributors.......The same thing may be happening for The Good Shepherd as I got an email from Amazon that they couldnt replace my bad copy as they have found that the problem is mroe wide spread then they thought and hopefully it will be rectified within "2 weeks"......
 
[quote name='LinkinPrime']Warnerbros Store

Coupons = 28% off: Enter RNDIS first then WBWEL
Free Shipping on orders $60 or more. Preorders count towards $60.

Planet Earth HD DVD 57.XX after discount


edit:
OR

Amazon.com $66.99 Shipped
[/quote]

Warner codes are n longer stackable....I will get the new codes as soon as I find out what they are.......WB is offering 15% with no coupns though and there is still free shipping with orders over 60$....You may still use the WBWEL and RNDIS codes, but they must be used seperately....
 
[quote name='Ph8te']Warner codes are n longer stackable....I will get the new codes as soon as I find out what they are.......WB is offering 15% with no coupns though and there is still free shipping with orders over 60$....You may still use the WBWEL and RNDIS codes, but they must be used seperately....[/quote]
so is it the same effect? if they're offering 15% off w/ no coupons. to add 1 coupon and have the 28% off?

or is it 15% off max? because then amazon would be cheaper.
 
Yep, mine shipped from Warner on 4/20 apparently, so I should have it soon. Too bad there are zero extras, but I'm willing to sacrifice the extras of the DVD for picture quality of HD DVD on something like this.
 
[quote name='Sporadic']The first Planet Earth review has been posted.

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/planetearth.html[/quote]

Hm...3 stars for sound just because it doesn't have TrueHD...Oh well I'm happy with Dobly Digital 5.1 good thing the picture quality got 5 stars.

On another note, has anyone been able to cancel an order from HDDVDWorld.com ? I have emailed them 3 times now asking for them to cancel my Matrix Trilogy preorder and they have yet to respond and/or give me a refund. I paid through PayPal so the funds were gone the day I placed the order.
 
I was able to return good shepherd, and the replacement I got worked fine...

Children of men wasn't in stock, so they wouldn't take the return

as for hollywoodland, there were a couple in stock at my local best buy and cirucuit city last night
 
Wal-Mart Names HD DVD the Winner

http://news.digitaltrends.com/talkback184.html

Snippet:

[quote name='Rob Enderle']
There is one retailer that has the power to call the winner of the protracted Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD fight and that vendor is Wal-Mart. Over the weekend they apparently leaked plans to bring in a massive number of low cost (possibly sub $200) HD DVD players for Christmas.

...

For Wal-Mart the only real metric is cost. Wal-mart doesn’t really make money off of the movies and do not sell high-end home theater equipment. They are known for aggressive prices and, as mentioned above, they subsidize their DVD sales. They needed something that could sell for under $200 soon and they needed the lowest cost of the new formats. This is where HD DVD shines, not only had Toshiba agreed to license to low cost manufacturers early on, but HD DVDs are pressed on the same lines that regular DVDs are, they require no major equipment change out and the blanks, when compared to Blu-Ray are less expensive as well.

This made the decision simple, Blu-Ray was just too expensive to make this work and any technical advantages were insignificant against Wal-Mart’s need for the lowest cost offering. For them it is about price and that is where HD DVD clearly has the sustainable advantage.

...

It means that any studio wanting Wal-Mart’s support after year end had better be selling HD DVD movies. Wal-Mart won’t be promoting Blu-Ray and, after year end, will increasingly focus their marketing on getting people to buy into HD DVD players and the related HD DVD movie from them.

In short, the Blu-Ray aligned studios will now have to either support both formats or risk losing much of Wal-Mart's business and given how material this business is to them, you have to think that an anti-Wall-Mart decision would have a material impact on their bonuses and career longevity. It certainly puts Columbia Pictures, which is owned by Sony, in a particularly uncomfortable position.
[/quote]

:)
 
Holly fucking hell...I'd never thought I'd see the day where I'd see Wal-Mart as a fucking hero. That's badass. Hope this is true and that previously exclusive to BR studios jump ship.
 
Good for walmart, the thing that I never understood was that it is allegedly cheaper to make a hd dvd dics over blue ray. With the combo drives out now, why would any studio want to pay extra to produce the same content, that would be going to a customer that could play either. I thought as soon as the combo drives came out, some of the studio's would at least stop supporting blue ray only, and support both.
 
Walmart's the largest discount retailer in the world, them showing their support for one format over another is pretty big. It doesn't mean the war is over but it is important for HD-DVD to be given Walmart's support.
 
Could Walmart change their mind after sales figures show BR holds 70% of the high def market so far this year? Of course that's also if BR keeps these figures up.
 
[quote name='millrat1030']Could Walmart change their mind after sales figures show BR holds 70% of the high def market so far this year? Of course that's also if BR keeps these figures up.[/QUOTE]

Not when 70% of the high-def market is equal to around 1% of DVD sales and when the competitor had 1/3 as many title releases in the same period of time and BD's biggest hardware launch just recently occured (PS3).

No, Walmart was well aware of all of these things and was also well aware that both highdef formats were and still are in the minor league in terms of sales. Bottom line, they wanted the best value players and they got it with HD DVD. With the ability to sell players and discs cheaply, its just a matter of marketing HD DVD to the masses which shouldn't be so tough for Walmart consumers. HDTV + HD DVD. :)
 
[quote name='millrat1030']Could Walmart change their mind after sales figures show BR holds 70% of the high def market so far this year? Of course that's also if BR keeps these figures up.[/quote]
Not likely. The reason this buy is even possible, let alone at these prices is because there's a reference design. Microsoft and Broadcom put a lot of time and money into designing a "standard" HD DVD player that could be easily assembled by anyone who had the required parts (just like video cards). As of yet, there is no reference design for Blu-Ray, so all players have to be a ground-up build. This is why the "low cost" BR player for this year is the $599 Sony due to launch in June.

So Wal-Mart could change their mind and decide to push Blu-Ray, but they wouldn't have anything to sell besides the Sony, which they've already committed to carry. And a $588 player (my guess on the price) won't sell ANYWHERE NEAR as well as a $199 one.
 
[quote name='geko29']Not likely. The reason this buy is even possible, let alone at these prices is because there's a reference design. Microsoft and Broadcom put a lot of time and money into designing a "standard" HD DVD player that could be easily assembled by anyone who had the required parts (just like video cards). As of yet, there is no reference design for Blu-Ray, so all players have to be a ground-up build. This is why the "low cost" BR player for this year is the $599 Sony due to launch in June.

So Wal-Mart could change their mind and decide to push Blu-Ray, but they wouldn't have anything to sell besides the Sony, which they've already committed to carry. And a $588 player (my guess on the price) won't sell ANYWHERE NEAR as well as a $199 one.[/QUOTE]

I don't even think a $599 BR player will sell better then the $599 PS3 BR Player.
Hell, even the 20GB is a better value for Wal-Mart to sell.
 
[quote name='LinkinPrime']Hm...3 stars for sound just because it doesn't have TrueHD...Oh well I'm happy with Dobly Digital 5.1 good thing the picture quality got 5 stars.

On another note, has anyone been able to cancel an order from HDDVDWorld.com ? I have emailed them 3 times now asking for them to cancel my Matrix Trilogy preorder and they have yet to respond and/or give me a refund. I paid through PayPal so the funds were gone the day I placed the order.[/quote]
Contact MovieMinded on either AVS or HiDefDigest forums via PM with your order number and he should be able to take care of it for you.
 
Thanks, HDDVDWorld.com actually replied today, they asked me to provide them with a link to where I found it cheaper so that they could PM. I told them I got 28% off from the WB online store and I'd just rather cancel it now.
 
Panasonic/BDA tempers flare over HD "combo" players
Declares LG is in breach of Blu-Ray Disc Association contracts!

Straight from a longtime AVSFORUM member:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=838904

Apparently Panasonic's outburst happened in public at the most recent official DVD forum meeting (prior to official Samsung announcement of a similar but fuller featured HD DVD/BD combo player) and is reflected in the meeting transcripts... I wonder what exactly the BDA contract contains, and whether it would be considered "anti-competitive?" My guess is signs point to YES. A job for the FTC/EU maybe?

Glad to see that companies like LG and Samsung are stepping up to the plate for consumers despite anti-competitive BDA contracts apparently being in place! Also, its now more clear why combo players may not have happened sooner.
 
[quote name='Ruined']Panasonic/BDA tempers flare over HD "combo" players
Declares LG is in breach of Blu-Ray Disc Association contracts!

Straight from a longtime AVSFORUM member:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=838904

Apparently Panasonic's outburst happened in public at the most recent official DVD forum meeting (prior to official Samsung announcement of a similar but fuller featured HD DVD/BD combo player) and is reflected in the meeting transcripts... I wonder what exactly the BDA contract contains, and whether it would be considered "anti-competitive?" My guess is signs point to YES. A job for the FTC/EU maybe?

Glad to see that companies like LG and Samsung are stepping up to the plate for consumers despite anti-competitive BDA contracts apparently being in place! Also, its now more clear why combo players may not have happened sooner.[/quote]
In what seemed an exchange of spite, LG split ranks with its Blu-ray compatriots by voting in favor of all HD DVD measures before the SC -- rather than abstaining, as the pragmatic Korean companies usually had.
Click to expand...
:lol:

LG's got balls. congrats LG, youve made a new friend in me :)
 
[quote name='Ruined']Panasonic/BDA tempers flare over HD "combo" players
Declares LG is in breach of Blu-Ray Disc Association contracts!

Straight from a longtime AVSFORUM member:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=838904

Apparently Panasonic's outburst happened in public at the most recent official DVD forum meeting (prior to official Samsung announcement of a similar but fuller featured HD DVD/BD combo player) and is reflected in the meeting transcripts... I wonder what exactly the BDA contract contains, and whether it would be considered "anti-competitive?" My guess is signs point to YES. A job for the FTC/EU maybe?

Glad to see that companies like LG and Samsung are stepping up to the plate for consumers despite anti-competitive BDA contracts apparently being in place! Also, its now more clear why combo players may not have happened sooner.[/quote]
In what seemed an exchange of spite, LG split ranks with its Blu-ray compatriots by voting in favor of all HD DVD measures before the SC -- rather than abstaining, as the pragmatic Korean companies usually had.
Click to expand...
:rofl:

LG's got balls. congrats LG, youve made a new friend in me :applause:
 
[quote name='gizmogc']Hell, even the 20GB is a better value for Wal-Mart to sell.[/quote]

It would be, if it existed. Sony quitely discontinued it a few weeks ago.
 
[quote name='gizmogc']I don't even think a $599 BR player will sell better then the $599 PS3 BR Player.
Hell, even the 20GB is a better value for Wal-Mart to sell.[/QUOTE]
I'd buy a standalone player at the same price before I bought a PS3. I don't trust that PS3 Blu-Ray player, especially after the problems that have popped up.

I'm definitely waiting until BD-J is finalized and Blu-Ray adopts some sort of standard before I go in on it. Even then I may just wait, Blu-Ray doesn't have much that screams for me to buy it that won't also/only be on HD DVD. I like Spider-Man and Rocky, but I don't need to pay 600 bucks to watch them in slightly higher resolution.
 
[quote name='KaneRobot']I'd buy a standalone player at the same price before I bought a PS3. I don't trust that PS3 Blu-Ray player, especially after the problems that have popped up. [/quote]
What problems are you referring to? I've owned my PS3 since launch and it's played BRD's flawlessly....and I use my PS3 to watch movies a majority of the time. I also have friends who bought theirs soley to watch HD movies and they haven't had any issues with it. I would say the PS3 is the best, inexpensive BRD player on the market right now.

I have the 360 HD-DVD player and I think I'm going to sell it. The upcoming releases are less than impressive and there aren't that many. My player has been collecting dust the past month....pretty sad.
 
[quote name='Setzer']What problems are you referring to? I've owned my PS3 since launch and it's played BRD's flawlessly....and I use my PS3 to watch movies a majority of the time. I also have friends who bought theirs soley to watch HD movies and they haven't had any issues with it. I would say the PS3 is the best, inexpensive BRD player on the market right now.

I have the 360 HD-DVD player and I think I'm going to sell it. The upcoming releases are less than impressive and there aren't that many. My player has been collecting dust the past month....pretty sad.[/QUOTE]

As much as I will state I dislike Sony, the PS3 is a pretty good Blu-Ray problem. I have had not a single issue with it (besides the HDMI 'popping' that occured early on before a Firmware fix, well, fixed it.)

LG, you rule!
 
From IGN...

April 25, 2007 - The recent pres-release-bickering between the HD-DVD and Blu-ray camps isn't terribly new, though most previous spats have gone down in the midst of large trade shows. The most recent squabbling began when HD-DVD celebrated the format's birthday by announcing that 100,000 dedicated players had been sold, preserving the format's hardware lead, not counting the PlayStation 3 (story). Blu-ray fired back, announcing that Blu-ray movie sales had reached the 1,000,000-sold milestone, and added a little salt to the wound with the data that 70-percent of Q1 HD-movie sales were thanks to Blu-ray (story).

Today, HD-DVD's representatives from Webersh & Wick public relations wrote to IGN Gear directly with updated HD-DVD news. According to their figures, HD-DVD movie sales lag only 2,000 units behind Blu-ray with 998,059 units sold. The firm points out that pre-orders of Planet Earth and The Matrix Trilogy will propel HD-DVD over the million-mark quite shortly. Representatives also stated that hardware sales have continued with strength in April, maintaining a 4 to 1 margin over Blu-ray.

Though consumers would likely benefit to a resolution to this format war sooner rather than later, it's looking like the struggle may continue for quite some time. The upshot of it all, however, will be a long and amusing PR battle. Honestly, it's rare in technology to get this much back-and-forth in claims, counter claims, dueling sales statistics, and one sided announcements of victory, so kick back and enjoy it, maybe while rocking some undeniably pretty 1080p movies on the format of your choice.
Click to expand...
 
[quote name='Setzer']What problems are you referring to? I've owned my PS3 since launch and it's played BRD's flawlessly....and I use my PS3 to watch movies a majority of the time. I also have friends who bought theirs soley to watch HD movies and they haven't had any issues with it. I would say the PS3 is the best, inexpensive BRD player on the market right now.

I have the 360 HD-DVD player and I think I'm going to sell it. The upcoming releases are less than impressive and there aren't that many. My player has been collecting dust the past month....pretty sad.[/QUOTE]

Well I'm glad to hear the PS3 is good for something besides looking for cancer cures.

It is the cheapest BD player. And I feel sorry for all the other standalone blu-ray player manufacturers that were undercut by Sony.

Of course, after October 31st, the PS3, and all present BD players will be obsolete in some way. And that's kind of sad too.

Yay for paying $600 to be a beta tester! :bouncy:
 
[quote name='gizmogc']As much as I will state I dislike Sony, the PS3 is a pretty good Blu-Ray[/QUOTE]

I probably made it sound worse than it is....I was mostly referring the the handshaking issue. I am aware that a firmware update was issued, but there are still people who reported issues with it even after applying it.

More importantly though, I'd just prefer a dedicated player anyway once the Blu-Ray standards are finalized. Buying something that expensive before everything is "finished" just seems like asking for trouble to me...not to mention equal-ground standalone players generally being higher quality than what you usually get on "also plays videos!" devices like game consoles.

The HD DVD 360 add-on is a different story since it's so cheap. If they were trying to charge like $300, they could shove it. I got it for just over half that (with a free movie that is actually show-off worthy and a remote), and it's probably the best value I've gotten in anything console related in a long time.

And I'm going to have to call bullshit on HD DVD not having any good releases coming up. Those sound like the words of someone who has bought into Sony's nonsense from around CES time in January. Blu-Ray has "more studios," but the often-overlooked fact is that a lot of the big name content that people tout on Blu-Ray is also going to be released on HD DVD...sometimes with more features, if recent history has shown us anything. People just compare the exclusive studios and say "well, obviously Blu-Ray blows it away" without realizing a shitton of high-interest films are/will be dual format.
 
[quote name='KaneRobot']I probably made it sound worse than it is....I was mostly referring the the handshaking issue. I am aware that a firmware update was issued, but there are still people who reported issues with it even after applying it.

More importantly though, I'd just prefer a dedicated player anyway once the Blu-Ray standards are finalized. Buying something that expensive before everything is "finished" just seems like asking for trouble to me...not to mention equal-ground standalone players generally being higher quality than what you usually get on "also plays videos!" devices like game consoles.

The HD DVD 360 add-on is a different story since it's so cheap. If they were trying to charge like $300, they could shove it. I got it for just over half that (with a free movie that is actually show-off worthy and a remote), and it's probably the best value I've gotten in anything console related in a long time.

And I'm going to have to call bullshit on HD DVD not having any good releases coming up. Those sound like the words of someone who has bought into Sony's nonsense from around CES time in January. Blu-Ray has "more studios," but the often-overlooked fact is that a lot of the big name content that people tout on Blu-Ray is also going to be released on HD DVD...sometimes with more features, if recent history has shown us anything. People just compare the exclusive studios and say "well, obviously Blu-Ray blows it away" without realizing a shitton of high-interest films are/will be dual format.[/quote]

well the PS3 really is a pretty good BR player. it just loads discs very slowly.

& i agree. im sick of people saying all HD DVD has is universal. it has universal, rogue & focus pictures, weinstein, & studio canal as exclusives. it also has paramount, warner, dreamworks, new line, & every network, cable, & premium station barring those owned by fox.

but w/ WM supporting HD DVD and WM accounting for 40% of DVD sales, i would be severely surprised if the other studios dont go neutral by mid 2k8.
 
[quote name='propeller_head']well the PS3 really is a pretty good BR player. it just loads discs very slowly.

& i agree. im sick of people saying all HD DVD has is universal. it has universal, rogue & focus pictures, weinstein, & studio canal as exclusives. it also has paramount, warner, dreamworks, new line, & every network, cable, & premium station barring those owned by fox.

but w/ WM supporting HD DVD and WM accounting for 40% of DVD sales, i would be severely surprised if the other studios dont go neutral by mid 2k8.[/QUOTE]


Good point. Not to mention that just about every Warner title on both formats, is always better on HD DVD.
 
[quote name='psychobrawler']Started watching Planet Earth last night. Holy crow that's some beautiful stuff...[/quote]

Is the picture quality better than HD cable?
 
Barring a godawful transfer, HD disc is going to always be better than HD cable. There's generally a lot of compression going on when you're watching something on HD cable.
 
Dreamgirls just got a 5 star PQ review as well, on highdefdigest.com

I don't much care for the movie but maybe I'll pick it up for demo material (to impress chicks).
 
[quote name='thrustbucket']Dreamgirls just got a 5 star PQ review as well, on highdefdigest.com

I don't much care for the movie but maybe I'll pick it up for demo material (to impress chicks).[/QUOTE]
because chicks are impressed by HD
 
[quote name='thrustbucket']Dreamgirls just got a 5 star PQ review as well, on highdefdigest.com

I don't much care for the movie but maybe I'll pick it up for demo material (to impress chicks).[/QUOTE]

Don't bother, no PCM or Dolby TrueHD track on either.
 
[quote name='anomynous']because chicks are impressed by HD[/quote] :lol:
c'mon, its partly true. u know it. i have a friend w/ a 50" plasma he has mounted on a stand about 8 feet opposite his bay window. and the wall is on the 2nd story of a pretty busy street. if he keeps his shades open babes will stop and point.

but it might have more to do w/ the female brain being attracted to shiny bright things than anything, cause it only happens at night :rofl:
 
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