Carl Tyler's Blog

1 - Just got it... damn it !

I guess I will need to get a PS3 now.... !!

Update: I have a Toshiba HD DVD A3 for sale. Anyone interested ?

2 - @Luis - I bought the same HD DVD player before Christmas for $125. I figured at that price, why not? Good thing that I haven't invested too much in HD DVD's.

And the funny part? I heard that the p0rn industry was backing HD DVD and because of that, I figured that HD DVD was a lock. *sigh*

3 - DVD's per say only have a few years ahead of them. We will soon be switching to Internet Downloads for TV Shows and movies. My ISP is already providing such a service. Who wants to drive to Blockbuster, or even the hassle of waiting for Netflix to send the stuff via the mail. Not to mention the carbon impact...

4 - @3 I agree. On demand streaming, with a Netflix like price model is the way to go. Netflix is trying to do this, but the choices is fairly limited, there are even rumours that they will soon allow for streaming of movies to devices like the Playstation3.

Some have claimed that Microsoft supported HD DVD, so that this confusion would persist, giving it time to get it's video streaming solution for xbox360 and Windows ready technically and to market.

5 - I think @3 is on the right track. I've read a number of editorials that support the notion that - for the "connected" - HD "on demand", downloadable, etc. will be hear almost at the same rate that movies are available on HD. I'm skipping the optical media and jumping to an HD capable media server.

6 - @5 Except they aren't HD. They are abusing the HD term to pull the wool over your eyes. They are not offering HD despite their use of the term. If you want to be misled that's ultimately up to you. But if your interested in knowing what your really getting for your money see the links after these few sobering quotes...

"The only time 4 mbps 720p will look better than 8 mbps 480i is when the video on the screen is almost entirely stationary or it’s a low-complexity video such as animation movies."

"So the bottom line is that so-called “HD” video from Microsoft’s XBOX360 HD download service and Apple’s new Apple TV service or any other web download service is simply not HD by any respectable definition. These companies cannot and should not use the “HD” name with video that is lower fidelity than standard DVD."

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And the burgeoning HDTV market will only make these standard definition D/L's appear much worse in comparison to and in order of quality: up-converted DVD, 1080i HD satellite content, Over The Air (OTA) HD broadcasts (which are free). Last but not least Blu-ray with lossless sound which is another level up in quality from all of them. They are in for some tough slogging IMO.

@4 Carl, MS definitely wanted to scuttle Hi-Def in order to ..

1. Slow down PS3 adoption
2. So a larger percentage of people wouldn't get actually get used to real HD and then complain what's wrong with the picture from their on-line services. The longer they could delay HD getting a foothold was a win for them and their "good enough" approach. How many people want to go back to watching SD sports after watching it in HD? Not many.
3. They never wanted either format to succeed and Blu-ray least of all for the reasons above.

Personally I think these standard definition D/L's will be a small part of the mix with rental market share not significantly increasing for at least 5 years. Optical is not going anywhere for the vast majority of people for quite some time IMO. In either the rental market and definitely not the ownership market.

Doesn't really matter to me since the PS3 has all bases covered. Blu-ray, up-converted DVD, PlayTV (for those in Europe so far) with movie and music download services coming. Good thing it can be upgraded with a standard 320GB laptop drive for all the content coming my way. And then solid-state laptop drives when their prices come down.