vurbano said:
I can watch HD just fine with my 250 dollar Linkplayer2 and non DRM HD WMV movies at 8-9 mbps from sites like this
http://www.hd-tec.com/magazin.html until this craziness is over. The first 2 or 3 years of this nonsense will be at a "please screw me" price and the players will be 2 times the size and price that they will be in 3 years.
How? just where do you think you are going to get all of these HD DVD titles from? It will take years before all of the movies are converted and cut to HD DVD. We tend to think of ourselves as a large group but we HD enthusiasts are just a drop in the ocean. Not enough volume there to inspire the release of everything on HD DVD. I couldnt think of a worse purchase at this point than buying the first generation product to play something where there may not be more than 20-30 titles available for years to come.
Is this my wife?
JK of course...she has similar concerns.
I know there are more questions than answers with the whole HD disc situation, but I'm ok with that. I'm a tech geek, and am excited about getting my hands on the new eq. and seeing how it performs. The market will do what it will do, and in the meantime I'll have some new eq. to try out, plain and simple.
The format battle itself is unfortuante, but considering the weight of supporters behind both sides I don't think either will cave in soon, and each format will eventually find a niche in the marketplace. My opinion is that HD-DVD will eventually gain majority studio support, primarily due to market recognition. Blu-ray, by the specs, is superior but a market newcomer. All things being equal, the newcomer is likely to be a harder sell vs. the brand recognition of DVD/HD-DVD.
I hope the HD authoring and distribution process is more efficient and steady than you predict, but you are right--it will take time to release films on HD media (Content production and DVD authoring is part of what I do for a living to pay for my tech toys).
I concede my opinions just that, and I may be wrong, but I'm fine with my choice to be an early adopter and I do understand why others do not share the same enthusiasm.