- LOCK - Format War - HD DVD vs. Blu-Ray - LOCK -

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Dpatel,

I think Plant Earth will actually be readily available, not hard to find. Its been getting a ton of press, and if it continues to rank so high on Amazon on BOTH formats, I expect to see it at Best Buy and the likes for a while. I plan on picking it up used in a few weeks as I'm sure there will be plenty of copies for sale (for those watching it once).
 
[quote name='gizmogc']Dpatel,

I think Plant Earth will actually be readily available, not hard to find. Its been getting a ton of press, and if it continues to rank so high on Amazon on BOTH formats, I expect to see it at Best Buy and the likes for a while. I plan on picking it up used in a few weeks as I'm sure there will be plenty of copies for sale (for those watching it once).[/QUOTE]

Ok, good. I think i'll buy it if I can find a good deal on it, but I'm not in a hurry.

Also, I'm not sure who started this whole 'support your format on X day', but it looks like it has caught on.
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?message.uid=28767311#U28767311
http://www.ps3forums.com/showthread.php?p=1309013#post1309013
http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=8039
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=838282

I don't see the point of supporting a format on a certain day, but whatever.
 
[quote name='dpatel']Ok, good. I think i'll buy it if I can find a good deal on it, but I'm not in a hurry.

Also, I'm not sure who started this whole 'support your format on X day', but it looks like it has caught on.
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?message.uid=28767311#U28767311
http://www.ps3forums.com/showthread.php?p=1309013#post1309013
http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=8039
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=838282

I don't see the point of supporting a format on a certain day, but whatever.[/QUOTE]

Since every website says to buy them through amazon.com, my conspiracy theory is its something they cooked up for both formats just to push sales. :D
 
[quote name='rodeojones903']Since every website says to buy them through amazon.com, my conspiracy theory is its something they cooked up for both formats just to push sales. :D[/QUOTE]

:rofl:

That would be hilarious. Props to Amazon if its true, because, I imagine HD will organize another day in response to this and so on, and so on.
 
Walmart plans to only sell HD-DVDs. Its not confirmed yet though.

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


" 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.

So, if this move by Wal-Mart is true , and it appears to be (but we won’t know for sure for a few months yet), the format war is likely over and Wal-Mart has declared the winner."
 
[quote name='life.exe']Walmart plans to only sell HD-DVDs. Its not confirmed yet though.

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


" 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.

So, if this move by Wal-Mart is true , and it appears to be (but we won’t know for sure for a few months yet), the format war is likely over and Wal-Mart has declared the winner."[/QUOTE]
Not being a fanboy, but:

that article was all made up, they wrote it based off of the Wal-Mart Budget HD DVD player thing.
 
If BR keeps selling at the rate it is now, how would it be in Walmart's best interest to stop selling them? Walmart has always used cheap prices on their DVD's to get shoppers in the door, if BR can keep it's sales numbers growing why wouldn't they take advantage of that? I know BR numbers are far from DVD's but they are definitely better than HD. Personally, the Walmart in my town doesn't carry either format.
 
I don't think Walmart will exclusively support HD. They just are in favor of them since it is the cheaper of the two ($300 player vs. $600 PS3 or $1000 standalone), and walmart is all about affordability.
 
yea, sorry. Was just listing those prices off the top of my head. Still, $300 is a much more appealing price point than $500, which is why Wal mart is upping the HD-DVD support.
 
F~~ Wal-Mart. I only go there to buy things I know they take a loss on (since I don't impulse buy).
Like a sweet CAG deal.

I'm not against big business or anything, just shitty and semi-oppresive business.

Tower, RIP.
 
[quote name='dallow']F~~ Wal-Mart. I only go there to buy things I know they take a loss on (since I don't impulse buy).
Like a sweet CAG deal.

I'm not against big business or anything, just shitty and semi-oppresive business.

Tower, RIP.[/QUOTE]

I hope you don't shop Best Buy or EBGamestop...
 
[quote name='millrat1030']You can get a BR player for under $500 if you want one.

http://www.buy.com/prod/samsung-blu-ray-dvd-player/q/loc/111/202749795.html[/QUOTE]

Wonderful, and I can buy an HD-A2 several places online for less then $300. What WE are talking about is in-store (Best Buy, Wal-Mart, etc). Until I can walk into one of the big stores and buy them those prices don't matter to the general public. Thats why this $300 or less HD DVD player actually matters. I continue to see people posting links to the Samsung unit (usually refurbished), but honestly, I have no intentions of buying something they may be worthless once October 31st rolls around (may not be compatible with Blu-Java)
 
[quote name='dpatel']I don't think Walmart will exclusively support HD. They just are in favor of them since it is the cheaper of the two ($300 player vs. $600 PS3 or $1000 standalone), and walmart is all about affordability.[/QUOTE]

No one really wants the cheaper standalone BR players for the reasons I mentioned above (possible lack of Blu-Java = Crippled). The new Samsung unit got decent reviews, though its $800.
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']I hope you don't shop Best Buy or EBGamestop...[/quote]
Nope. I'm an ebay guy mostly.
(unless of course I get sweet CAG deals that they take hits on, the main reason i visit this site)
 
[quote name='dpatel']crap! It seems the demand for planet earth was underestimated. All online retailers I checked were sold out.[/quote]

I'll expand on that. *Warner* is sold out. They're printing them as fast as they can, but all the major vendors will be backordered for a while, and the Discovery store has been told that they won't see any copies until mid-Summer. Apparently as of yesterday (street date) they've sold 4 MILLION copies of the 3 versions combined (no separate breakout for the HiDef versions, unfortunately). That's unbelievable for a $100 documentary.

Hope everybody got their orders in early, otherwise you could be in for a bit of a wait. Mine shows up today. :)
 
[quote name='dpatel']crap! It seems the demand for planet earth was underestimated. All online retailers I checked were sold out.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, damn!

Best Buy was sold out of both versions as well as Fry's.
 
BDA (Panasonic) is pissed at LG

Blu-ray stalwart Panasonic brutalized LG for its combo at the latest DVD Forum Steering Committee meeting, we're told. From transcripts we've seen, Panasonic accused LG of breach of contract for offering a combo player, and said it should be censured for doing so. LG blithely thanked Panasonic for bringing publicity to its combo -- and said its lawyers would respond. 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...


Stolen from an AVS poster...

LG was 100% Bluray - until the day they build a hybrid player and the next generation with full HD DVD support is on its way.

Samsung was 100% Bluray - there is even an article, only a few weeks old, in which they repeated that they stand 100% behind Bluray - until the day they announced a hybrid player and that they even think about producing a pure HD DVD player

TDK was 100% Bluray - until the day they started to build HD DVD Players with Fuh Yuan

Disney is currently 100% Bluray - until this one day that will come at the end of this or the beginning of the next year...
 
[quote name='gizmogc']BDA (Panasonic) is pissed at LG




Stolen from an AVS poster...

LG was 100% Bluray - until the day they build a hybrid player and the next generation with full HD DVD support is on its way.

Samsung was 100% Bluray - there is even an article, only a few weeks old, in which they repeated that they stand 100% behind Bluray - until the day they announced a hybrid player and that they even think about producing a pure HD DVD player

TDK was 100% Bluray - until the day they started to build HD DVD Players with Fuh Yuan

Disney is currently 100% Bluray - until this one day that will come at the end of this or the beginning of the next year...[/QUOTE]

LG has already announced a second gen version of there combo player...100% HD DVD compatible. Remember, Samsung helped launch Blu-Ray and Sony threw them under the bus blaming them that there early releases got bad reviews due to their player (When infact it was the discs themselves, Fifth Element and House of Fyling Daggers for example)
 
[quote name='geko29']Hope everybody got their orders in early, otherwise you could be in for a bit of a wait. Mine shows up today. :)[/QUOTE]

yea... just rub it in my face :(

[quote name='gizmogc']Yeah, damn!

Best Buy was sold out of both versions as well as Fry's.[/QUOTE]

Did you pre-order, or are you stuck waiting too?
 
[quote name='dpatel']Did you pre-order, or are you stuck waiting too?[/QUOTE]

I did not pre-order but its not a big deal if I get it now or next month. I have a backlog of movies to watch.
 
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='gizmogc']I did not pre-order but its not a big deal if I get it now or next month. I have a backlog of movies to watch.[/QUOTE]

You need to add "Volcano High" to that list.

Anyone have any news on when "My Sassy Girl" is going to come out on HD DVD in Japan?
 
[quote name='gizmogc']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. [/QUOTE]

:lol: they are getting just as bad as the BDA when it comes to press releases.
 
[quote name='dpatel']:lol: they are getting just as bad as the BDA when it comes to press releases.[/QUOTE]

Now when the BDA is claiming victory for selling 2k more discs...thats just laughable. All this does is make the BDA look like idiots, again.
 
[quote name='gizmogc'] Remember, Samsung helped launch Blu-Ray and Sony threw them under the bus blaming them that there early releases got bad reviews due to their player (When infact it was the discs themselves, Fifth Element and House of Fyling Daggers for example)[/QUOTE]

You sure about that? From what I remember, it WAS the player. Although, I believe it was corrected a few months after with a firmware update, but the player was bad.

Samsung's just released a statement that the softness in video playback that some reviewers noted was due to an incorrect setting in the noise reduction chip. This setting, unfortunately for early-adopters, isn't user accessible. That means their only choice is to wait until September—says Samsung—to download a firmware update that they can burn to a CD to update their players. The softness turns the HD sharpness that is supposed to put Blu-ray way above regular DVDs into almost DVD-level quality. You're paying $1,000 for that?

Also reported on Ultimate AV, the BD-P1000 "does not decode Dolby Digital in surround mode for the 5.1-channel analog outputs, and does not decode DTS for those outputs at all." This, in addition to the other problems they found in their initial review such as trouble getting component out to work (on their setup) and trouble getting HDMI to work on our setup
Click to expand...
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/bd_p1000/

It says the player was out in June, but Firmware wasn't out until October. I can see why Sony faulted the player.
 
[quote name='gizmogc']Now when the BDA is claiming victory for selling 2k more discs...thats just laughable. All this does is make the BDA look like idiots, again.[/QUOTE]

I don't normally trust sales numbers that come from within the company. I'm sure both blu-ray and HD-DVD overinflate their numbers. Those numbers you posted were, in fact, from the HD-DVD camp. If you want to believe them, that's fine, but I find it hard to believe they are also overinflating their numbers.
 
[quote name='dpatel']You sure about that? From what I remember, it WAS the player. Although, I believe it was corrected a few months after with a firmware update, but the player was bad.


http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/bd_p1000/

It says the player was out in June, but Firmware wasn't out until October. I can see why Sony faulted the player.[/QUOTE]

It was the discs. Both movies look like crap is my up-to-date PS3, and Sony is already planning on re-releasing The Fifth Element with a better transfer.

Sony made Samsung rush their player out ASAP to counter Toshiba with the HD DVD players. Firmware may have fixed some issues, but its not Samsung's fault Sony feel shlrt on the transfers. Even the A1/XA1/A2 etc have had firmware updates that 'improve' the picture. Remember, SONY didn't even have there own Blu-Ray player out till months after Samsung's arrived.
 
[quote name='dpatel']I don't normally trust sales numbers that come from within the company. I'm sure both blu-ray and HD-DVD overinflate their numbers. Those numbers you posted were, in fact, from the HD-DVD camp. If you want to believe them, that's fine, but I find it hard to believe they are also overinflating their numbers.[/QUOTE]

Which is very true. However, going by the current track record, I would believe the HD group over the BDA any day of the week.
 
[quote name='dpatel']Representatives also stated that hardware sales have continued with strength in April, maintaining a 4 to 1 margin over Blu-ray.[/QUOTE]

So, when talking about attach rates, we include the PS3, when talking about hardware sales, we don't? Strange...

That's what I meant when their spin is just as bad as BDA. I tend not to beleive all the BS that comes out of company PR. It is entertaining, but that's about it.
 
[quote name='gizmogc']It was the discs. Both movies look like crap is my up-to-date PS3, and Sony is already planning on re-releasing The Fifth Element with a better transfer.

Sony made Samsung rush their player out ASAP to counter Toshiba with the HD DVD players. Firmware may have fixed some issues, but its not Samsung's fault Sony feel shlrt on the transfers. Even the A1/XA1/A2 etc have had firmware updates that 'improve' the picture. Remember, SONY didn't even have there own Blu-Ray player out till months after Samsung's arrived.[/QUOTE]

Umm.. did you read that review? Yes movies did look bad, but that's not what the complaint was about. The player obviously had issues. Having bad movie transfers isn't going to negate the obvious problems that the player had.
 
[quote name='gizmogc']Which is very true. However, going by the current track record, I would believe the HD group over the BDA any day of the week.[/QUOTE]

Neurtal 3rd party > all, that's all I'm saying. I don't see how HD being the 'lesser of two evils' makes them any more truthful. If your only options were the HD camp and BD camp for sales reports, then I could sorta see your point, but that's not the case.
 
[quote name='dpatel']So, when talking about attach rates, we include the PS3, when talking about hardware sales, we don't? Strange...

That's what I meant when their spin is just as bad as BDA. I tend not to beleive all the BS that comes out of company PR. It is entertaining, but that's about it.[/QUOTE]

The 4:1 is per standalone players. There is no way to tell if every PS3 being sold is being used as a Blu-Ray player. Obviously they are not if they just passed 1 Million discs sold.

Now, when talking about attach rates per movies thats a different thing. They then count the PS3 as well as the 360 add-on as that is for total players, standalone or not for the attach rate of discs. THAT would be only fair. If not, Blu-Ray would have an attach rate of what, 50 discs per stand alone player :lol: That could even make Universal go neutral.

Yes, its crazy. Yes, its very confusing.
 
[quote name='gizmogc']The 4:1 is per standalone players. There is no way to tell if every PS3 being sold is being used as a Blu-Ray player. Obviously they are not if they just passed 1 Million discs sold.

Now, when talking about attach rates per movies thats a different thing. They then count the PS3 as well as the 360 add-on as that is for total players, standalone or not for the attach rate of discs. THAT would be only fair. If not, Blu-Ray would have an attach rate of what, 50 discs per stand alone player :lol:

Yes, its crazy. Yes, its very confusing.[/QUOTE]

I know it's hard to tell, but they're just being extremely inconsistent which, conveniently, works out in their favor. Which, like I said before, is the reason why I tend not to go to internal company statements to get my "news".
 
[quote name='dpatel']Umm.. did you read that review? Yes movies did look bad, but that's not what the complaint was about. The player obviously had issues. Having bad movie transfers isn't going to negate the obvious problems that the player had.[/QUOTE]

Yes but they BOTCHED a Zhang Yimov Wuxia Fantasy disc for HD and for that Sony should almost be SHOT. His films should be given the HD treatment as if they came from God him/herself. Anything less is an insult for a man who has gorgeous background and color in his movies and Sony might as well spit in his face.
I wish more American directors would follow his cue in terms of the eye candy he creates.
 
[quote name='Sarang01']Yes but they BOTCHED a Zhang Yimov Wuxia Fantasy disc for HD and for that Sony should almost be SHOT. His films should be given the HD treatment as if they came from God him/herself. Anything less is an insult for a man who has gorgeous background and color in his movies and Sony might as well spit in his face.
I wish more American directors would follow his cue in terms of the eye candy he creates.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. I was really pissed off about that. If it would've been Hero, then all hell would've broken lose. I wasn't too much of a fan of House of Flying Daggers. Only reason I wanted it was because it would've made an awesome BD movie. Guess not. Hero is one of my all time favorites though.
 
[quote name='dpatel']Agreed. I was really pissed off about that. If it would've been Hero, then all hell would've broken lose. I wasn't too much of a fan of House of Flying Daggers. Only reason I wanted it was because it would've made an awesome BD movie. Guess not. Hero is one of my all time favorites though.[/QUOTE]

Well the philosophies aren't great. HOFD's is a crap copout now in our 1984 society and "Hero" I would've killed the Emperor, he was scum, but the visuals on his stuff, at least for HOFD, are top notch.
I think a Wuxia Fantasy weekly series in the U.S. on HD would do well here as there are a percentage of American males and females who would fap heavily to the GORGEOUS visuals they'd feature.
This is why I hope to see "The Promise" on both as I think it'd look awesome. If you're down for it e-mail Warner like I have. Also I want Weinstein's stuff on HD DVD as well so e-mail them too if you're a Wuxia Fantasy fan. I want "Zu Warriors", "Seven Swords" and others including "The Protector" original edit since I heard the new one isn't that good. Granted that's more hardcore Martial Arts. Also "Ong-Bak" might be good to see.
There isn't enough Foreign product in general on either here. I'm willing to buy the Dutch import of "Ghost Of Mae Nak" if Tartan would incorporate downloadable English subs for it, they're score an automatic sale from me. I also want "Pulse", "A Tale Of Two Sisters" and I was going to buy the Japanese import of "My Sassy Girl". Also "Il Mare" was originally going to come out on HD DVD in Japan too but the listing seemed to be pulled from Amazon Japan. It's not bad either and I think the Korean house looks better then the American one.
 
Yea, a lot of those movies would be great on HD, but I doubt we'll see them for a whlie. There just isn't demand for those movies. Sure it has quite a few fans, but with such a small userbase already, they want to release guaranteed sellers. It will be a while before you get a lot of those movies on HD, but it'll be amazing when it does.

You have great taste in movies by the way.

By the way, have you seen curse of the golden flower yet? I haven't had a chance to yet. I know it just recently came out in the U.S.
 
Thank you, thank you. ;-)

Btw the preview for "The Promise" is AWFUL! They show the ending right near the end of the preview. Idiots.
You know another great movie they need in HD on disc? "Cutey Honey". I need Eriko Sato in HD. Even though it's got no nudity I'll settle for it. It's a fun movie.
Here's one movie I'm looking forward to in HD, "Black Book". I'll be harrassing Tartan UK to release it on HD DVD over there since Sony has the rights here. What I don't understand is if Sony can release "Volver" here on BR why can't others release Art Flicks on HD DVD here? Magnolia and Weinstein realized they can make money on em'. I just hope if "The Host" is successful I can persuade, see nag, Magnolia to consider releasing "One Percent Of Anything" in HD on HD DVD and Blu-Ray. It's a K-Drama and features the same old Korean guy from "The Host" in it. He's great in it and the show overall is good as well. I NEED at least one K-Drama in HD and I'll pay $100 for it over here.
I'll even start a petition for it.
 
[quote name='dpatel']..just nod and smile

:lol:[/QUOTE]

We should start up a club and petition to get more of these movies released in the U.S., especially Toho's stuff as well.
 
Wouldn't be a bad idea. Wonder if any other CAGs are interested in it? If it's just us two, mint not be an effective petition :lol:
 
[quote name='dpatel']Wouldn't be a bad idea. Wonder if any other CAGs are interested in it? If it's just us two, mint not be an effective petition :lol:[/QUOTE]

I'm not just talking about us, I mean AVS members, Satelliteguys.us, HighDefDigest, etc. Also possibly Europeans as well depending on the movie.
For Tartan's stuff since most of the time they own the same stuff on both shores this would increase #'s and impact them more. I'm thinking people doing online, printing it out and signing their name to verify the uniqueness of said # in the petition, i.e. not just someone signing a bunch of different times under other e-mail's.
"Battle Royale" I see an easy possibility if they see some real interest. I don't think it would take too much of a nudge getting Tartan releasing it in the UK.
 
[quote name='DomLando']Fuh Yuan retracts $299 Wal-Mart HD DVD statement. Link here:
http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/04/26/fuh-yuan-retracts-299-wal-mart-hd-dvd-statement/[/QUOTE]

:lol:
Yeah, and Microsoft denied the Black HDMI enabled 360 all the way till the annoucement.
Samsung denied making an HD DVD player...until they did. They were so 'Blu-Ray is awesome' right until last week. This IS going to happen, no question about it. Consider HD DVD the winner if it does. If thus HD DVD player even sells 50,000 units before Christmas, and maintains the same current attach rate (which is about 10-15 times more then Blu-Ray), we may start seeing Disney go to where the money is.

Here's a post from a person who is very much involved in the whole thing and it's been confirmed by a few more people directly involved in the whole deal at AVS-Forum.

"The Fuh Yuan base deal is done. They will be producing HD DVD players for Wal-Mart.

No one says the deal hasn't been done yet or that the initial order will not be completed. The posting on their web site is a bit confusing, and may be an attempt to stop people form contacting them directly.

I don't know about the significance of the recent post on their site, but it does not affect the base deal. That is in progress and sub-contracts have been made and finalized.

They are looking for the best price and availability they can give to Wal-mart for deliveries above the base amount.

Initial confirmed order quantities are over 1 Million units, its probable the 2 Million units initially mentioned in the first Fuh Yuan press release is the base number. Fuh Yuan has been asked to give quotes and estimates on how quickly numbers above the base quantity can be delivered next year.

Early estimates of full scale mass production in August were evaluated and found to be somewhat aggressive and possibly over optimistic. Physical assembly or staffing or the physical facility is not the issue, a short delay is SoC software related. Plant will be producing at that time but full scale production may slip until October, with initial batch quantities of 5-10 thousand units required to be available in the first week or so of October.

Recent meetings between Fuh Yuan and Broadcom engineers revised the schedule and engineering considerations have lead to the late August to early October production schedule slippage.

Fuh Yuan is making the chassis and loader and doing assembly.

Decoder chip and other silicon being supplied by Broadcom, probably the reference design announced at CES, or a derivative.

The optical unit is based on a Toshiba HD DVD unit design and is being manufactured by the TDK hardware unit under contract.

Wal-Mart has certified the China Great Wall manufacturing facility for Wal-Mart (probably for compliance with stuff like personnel management and environmental considerations) .

Probable limited production runs available in mid-late Oct in some selected Wal-Mart stores. Wal-Mart under control obviously of when they first start to sell the players, but some limited production available to them in October.

I have conflicting information on when the initial 2 million orders is scheduled to be delivered by. One source says all by end of 2007. Several others say, some in October, a lot (around 1 million or so ) by EOY 2007, with the rest in early 2008. The quantity produced by the end of the year may be dependent on the production throughput of the plant which is not known yet.

Its possible that under 50% of the initial 2 M units may be available by the end of the year. Big volume is expected in 2008 and as of now more than 50% of the 2M order is expected after the EOY.

Last Friday Fuh Yuan had a major meeting with Broadcom, perhaps feedback from Broadcom was the reason for the August to October full scale production delay. Broadcom may have to spin the chip or may have a delay in the completion of the embedded software or perhaps Broadcom wanted a bit of room in the overall software schedule.

Several other SoC player deals for HD DVD are now in the works. This isn't the only deal being worked on, though it is one of the largest and obviously significant because it involves Wal-Mart.

All major SoC guys like Broadcom and Sigma are working now on HD DVD solutions. Sigma's Blu-ray SoC solution is available but any units using it will not be in production before this Fuh Yuan device hits the shelves.

My sources for this include several prominent hardware guys in the industry that have been known as being creditable before and are both involved and non-involved in some aspect of the deal. The mods here (AVS-Forum) know some names, but I cannot reveal the sources. "
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[quote name='gizmogc']:lol:
Yeah, and Microsoft denied the Black HDMI enabled 360 all the way till the annoucement.
Samsung denied making an HD DVD player...until they did. They were so 'Blu-Ray is awesome' right until last week. This IS going to happen, no question about it. Consider HD DVD the winner if it does. If thus HD DVD player even sells 50,000 units before Christmas, and maintains the same current attach rate (which is about 10-15 times more then Blu-Ray), we may start seeing Disney go to where the money is.

Here's a post from a person who is very much involved in the whole thing and it's been confirmed by a few more people directly involved in the whole deal at AVS-Forum.[/QUOTE]
I was just posting it. I didn't say it meant anything. I still think it is going to happen. But I don't know at all how you can consider HD DVD the winner just from this.
 
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