It looks like with Toshiba stopping HD-DVD production (according to Japanese news) it is finally dead and Blu-ray is the winner. Some of the news about MS being ready with a Blu-ray player smells a bit, but no doubt they had planned for this.

[link=][/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=182602]

I think that a blu ray player for the 360 might be a red herring (hence the smell!!!) . I would suggest that this leads to M$ really trying to push digital downloads as being the way forward. However as someone who like to have the physical game, film or album in my hand I think M$ might end up loosing out on this.

Actually I like the idea of digital downloads, especially if you are just " renting" something but the high prices really turn me off. It' s way cheaper to go to a store and rent a movie instead of downloading it. And that' s counting gas!

As for buying I' d actually prefer downloads if there was a way to get all the special features, too, without having to pay more.

I prefer to have a shiny disc in my hand rather than downloads - the 360' s drive isn' t big enough anyway. All this is a kick in the whatsits for those HD-DVD early adopters, still I guess that' s one of the risks you take.

It does really remind me of the Beta and VHS wars of the early 80' s. We got the superior (picture quality) system only for it to usurped by the cheaper more available alernative. I am not saying either format is better than the other, because, I am happy with DVD at the moment, but it is just all too simillar.

BTW Our Betamax machine still runs.

Impressive that you Betamax still works - what' s the msot recent film you have on it?

I' m happy with regular DVD too at the moment, I' m not a big film-watcher so its not worth the outlay. Now at least with a winner decided, and I wasn' t bothered which, I can plan to get a Blu-ray player sometime.

Hmmm most recent film watched on it..... the original planet of the apes film with Charlton Heston.

It has had it' s belt replaced a couple of times, other than that, it has been fine. The unfortunate things is trying to find an HDMI cable for it....lol

what, it doesn' t have HDMI!? But its got component or vga, right?

[link=][/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=182602]

You fail at linking, and reading too, apparently. There is a thread for this in " Everything Else" , you know, where it belongs.

yep, you' re right on both counts, I' m a complete noobster. Apologies for the wasted seconds in reading the thread.

Thread continuing... regardless of whatever it was Dan said to you.

Digital distribution is the way of the future. The way off future. The average consumer simply doesn' t have the means to make that happen right now. Not everybody has a PC with an enormous hard-drive, many people are still wary about buying things from the internet, and above all, connection speed is going to be the biggest thorn in DD' s side. People don' t like to wait for things, and when they see an estimated completion time at 3 hours 25 minutes...

don' t worry my response to him could be taken seriously or sarcasticly depending on how you wanted to read it.

I agree on DL games/films there' s just too many downsides for it to work at the moment.

So Eddie, you Torr and I started a cod4 game at the weekend, then you cleared off part way through - was it something I said?

ORIGINAL: alijay034

It does really remind me of the Beta and VHS wars of the early 80' s. We got the superior (picture quality) system only for it to usurped by the cheaper more available alernative.
...

Is it just me, or does that sounds NOTHING like what just happened!?

As far as downloadable content, I think the 360 has the best system so far. First of all, they keep a record of what you' ve bought, so you don' t HAVE to store the information on site (at home, as it were).

Secondly, from the time you hit, " confirm rental" or, " buy movie" to the time it' s watchable is about 3 to 5 minutes! And that' s with a 720p movie!

Third, the price for a rental is right around what you pay if you drive to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video. Except there' s no driving!

Caveats? Well, it only goes to 720p (no 1080i or p), and I' m sure if you have a slow connection your wait time before being able to watch the movie may be longer. I' ve got Verizon FIOS, so no worries on my end, but for others... I don' t know! Also; no special features.

For me, owning the movie means I can hold it in my hands! So " buying" any downloadable content is out of the question! I also don' t rent movies anymore, as I just buy them and add them to the collective! So basically, my whole argument is moot for myself! That was fun!

So Eddie, you Torr and I started a cod4 game at the weekend, then you cleared off part way through - was it something I said?

Um, nope. I don' t know what was up actually. I can' t remember if that was the game the both of us had to take off at, or what. We had both our boxes and 2 televisions rigged up, so we were tag-teamin' it for the evening.

I' ll hit you up for a game some time in the next couple days, before my live subscription runs out.

By the way, Nitro you need to get yourself back on live (when you get back, if this is the week you' re out). I don' t think I' ve played a single game with you online yet, and I' ve been brushing up on my CoD skills.

ORIGINAL: Eddie_the_Hated

Thread continuing... regardless of whatever it was Dan said to you.

Digital distribution is the way of the future. The way off future. The average consumer simply doesn' t have the means to make that happen right now. Not everybody has a PC with an enormous hard-drive, many people are still wary about buying things from the internet, and above all, connection speed is going to be the biggest thorn in DD' s side. People don' t like to wait for things, and when they see an estimated completion time at 3 hours 25 minutes...

I think it is closer than you give credit. Apple, Microsoft and many other companies (like ISP' s) are starting to establish an infrastructure for it that work very well.

The same ' average consumer' you' re talking about doesn' t have an HDTV or BR drive either.

Connection speed, as Chee Saw said, is moot point if a proper caching and streaming method is used. TIVO and other similar products all have an upgrade path that leads to digital distribution. The existing install base for these products means they already have a great advantage over HD-DVD/Blu-Ray.

I' ll never buy digital distributed content (not movies anyways), too easy to lose. I want the physical disc.

I' ll never buy digital distributed content (not movies anyways), too easy to lose. I want the physical disc.

I agree. None of this purchasing a license crap. I want the disk in hand.

I think it is closer than you give credit. Apple, Microsoft and many other companies (like ISP' s) are starting to establish an infrastructure for it that work very well.

Their advantage isn' t as large as one might think over HD optical media. Many of those require you to purchase additional hardware (iTV), or a service plan with " free" hardware (ISPs), so it places you back in the same position as someone buying a Blu-Ray player.

The same ' average consumer' you' re talking about doesn' t have an HDTV or BR drive either.

That' s debatable. 30% of Americans already own an HDTV. That' s nothing to scoff at, and those numbers are almost a year out of date.

In my opinion, Blu-Ray' s ace-in-the-hole is the PS3. With component costs plummeting, the price will soon follow. Sony pushed the DVD, and they' ll do the same for Blu-Ray.

If you' ll forgive the pun, in hindsight, Sony showed a great deal of foresight.

Digital distribution, however far off you might think, is already happening so what you are arguing over is when it will become mainstream. The first thing to notice is that most people are happy with their DVDs and are content to stick with them, some people haven' t had them for long. If you consider the long life of VHS and how long it took DVDs to become mainstream, now I think that the people who will be debating over this are the people who had a betamax(or same type of people) these people are way ahead of the mainstream. That being said, who says DD and Blu-ray will compete? This isn' t like M$ will be making all the DD and so I believe that mainstream DD won' t happen for another solid 3-4 years, this is not to say it won' t increase but people will likely think of it as an extra thing, like say they can download a show they missed and forgot to tivo or something. Now with all this excitement about which HD format would win, it means jack shit as the people who have enough money to have an HD setup can probably afford a Blu-ray player(especially since they are getting cheaper quickly), but within the next year or two the price of HD setups should come down and with the rampant use of credit and the younger foolish people coming into the market it will be mainstream soon enough.

So Eddie, you Torr and I started a cod4 game at the weekend, then you cleared off part way through - was it something I said?

I can' t quite remember that either, but sorry and it was prolly because we were getting kicked off. I say you join me, mass, eddie, and agent on sunday for a few games. Also that is an invitation for almost all of you(remember we are on the 360).

Should be available for a game on Sunday (about 10:30pm UK time probably) although like everyone else my live account has expired - must nip down the shops and get a new one on Saturday.

I actually thought that HD-DVD would turn out to be the winner despite having less storage space. Just for the fact that hd-dvd players could play the dvd' s that people already have.