HD DVD at CES 2008

[rockymtnhigh]

So, with the Warner Brothers/New Line decisions to abandon HD DVD, I decided to check out the HD DVD and BD areas at CES. Well, it took me a while to even find them -- deep into the bowels of the South Hall of the LVCC, but I did eventually get there. The HD DVD Promotion group had a decent size display, showcasing hundreds of titles, and with space for many of their partners. It was not doom and gloom, but when I pressed them on questions about whether HD DVD truly will just become a toaster (or as one SatelliteGuy once said "a $300 brick" they had mixed responses. Shaking of heads; one woman who was an employee of the HD DVD Promotion group kept telling me that this war was not over by any means. Yet she also recognized that its the consumer who is hurt by this whole "highly politicized format war."

One thing they did do was focus on the interactive nature of HD DVD; and talked about a lot of titles coming out in 2008. We'll see.

BD had a larger display, although to be honest, more of it seemed to be focused on a 1/4 size replica of the pirate ship from Pirates of the Caribbean movies. And they kept saying, over and over, "the future is blu." But since they are riding on cloud nine, I didn't see any reason to ask them questions. Indeed, I didn't have any questions for them.

Wish I had something more substantial to report, but that's my take of the HD DVD booth.

Live from CES....

 

[jcrandall]

not a toster or brick....a $300 upconverting DVD player just drop the HD.

 

[luckycat]

not a toster or brick....a $300 upconverting DVD player just drop the HD.

Ha! Well my upconverting brick was $98!!

 

[caesar gdi]

yeah I am kinda pissed i just bought one last week for 179.99. It's already shipped and I should get it tomorrow... I might return it.

 

[geekboy2000]

yeah I am kinda pissed i just bought one last week for 179.99. It's already shipped and I should get it tomorrow... I might return it.

I would absolutely return it. It's hard to say how things will play out with certainty, but I just (yesterday) returned my Toshiba HD-A3, and bought a Playstation 3. Movies look great (and start-up/load is fast), and it does lots of other cool stuff too.

Mark

 

[allargon]

I have two. Both upconvert just fine. My A20 arguably does a better job than the Oppo.

You can return it if you want.

 

[motorcycle_rider]

yeah I am kinda pissed i just bought one last week for 179.99. It's already shipped and I should get it tomorrow... I might return it.

I got within a week ago also with 10 movies for the a little less. Well 10 once the 5 rebate ones get here. I have around 10 more movies on order and looking at a few more. I have absolutally no intension of returning mine. I feel for the price I paid I either got a free player or 10 free movies that are in HD. I also have a great upconverting player.

A person I work with who is pro-blu said this to me today. If i find the same deal for the A30 let him know because he will order it. He made a great point. There is no clear winner yet but it is heavily leaning to one side and enjoy both as long as you can if it fits your budget.

BTW my daughter looked thru my current dvd collection adn what I ordered. She estimated that about 60+ percent where universal, or paramont. It was quite interesting.

But as allargon said. You can return it if want. Ultimately it is your choice, and you need to do what is comfortable with yourself.

 

[motorcycle_rider]

rockymtnhigh

You noted that the areas where difficult to find. Was that statement for both BD and HD DVD? Also is that standard with different exibits there?

 

[rockymtnhigh]

rockymtnhigh

You noted that the areas where difficult to find. Was that statement for both BD and HD DVD? Also is that standard with different exibits there?

The Las Vegas Convention Center is massive. The South Hall, where the HD DVD and BD displays were is the size of several football fields (stacked two floors deep!). It wasn't any more difficult to find than anything else is -- because everything is a challenge to find. You walk for miles.

But HD DVD and BD were actually adjacent to each other. I found that a bit strange, but also a little amusing. The BD display was larger, but its entirely about how much money you pay for the booth.

 

[TheForce]

Not much different perspective on the situation here. I saw the HD DVD booth first and spent some time there as I had a need to talk to a rep about some software bug issues.
As stated by rockymtnhigh, the booths were near eachb other and I would only say that were not hard to find at all if you understand how the convention is laid out. The one floor were this stuff is, is all Home theater related stuff. I always walk a pattern through the convention and begin one end and zigzag the asiles, stopping at the booths that interest me. Then make note of those I need to return to later in the week. These are the ones that have a rather large crowd on the first days. With this pattern, any particular booth is usually not missed.

The HD DVD group was not well populated when I was there. I spoke to one rep and it was obvious that the subject of HD DVD and Warner had sent some big shock waves through the organization. The attitude was that Warner's decision will really hurt the customers. If other companies start doing both, then maybe Warner will do the same.

The booth itself had lots of titles in foreign language. They were claimimg 1000+ titles altogether.

 

[iceturkee]

i just bought my A-3 for $120 plus tax. of course, i did have an $80 credit. but i have no plans to return. i will enjoy what hd dvd stuff i can buy plus the bulk of my collection is SD anyway. i haven't tried playing any of the SD stuff yet to see how well it upconverts.

 

[dlsnyder]

...The booth itself had lots of titles in foreign language. They were claimimg 1000+ titles altogether.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if HD-DVD became the international standard and BluRay was adopted by the US, and the rest of North America by default. That's just the way things seem to go now a days.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I asked one of the HD DVD partners about the rumor of the 1/2 Billion incentive to Warner, and he had this "I am not going to confirm or deny that" but his eyes spoke more than words. Genuine sense of frustration.

Here is another idea: if people keep buying the low cost Toshibas, then there will be more and more incentive to make titles available in both.

I would not return one if I had just got it; I'd enjoy it.

 

[Kevinw]

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if HD-DVD became the international standard and BluRay was adopted by the US, and the rest of North America by default. That's just the way things seem to go now a days.

Then we could buy movies from Europe In HD-DVD format

 

[dfergie]

Then we could buy movies from Europe In HD-DVD format

We can now... BD exclusives too

 

[TheForce]

While most of you all know I am totally neutral on the format war, in addition I am also rather annoyed at those who who love to paint the doom and gloom for the other side.

So to cheer up the HD DVD crowd, I went to speak to two reps for both sides today, just to get some inside scoop.

First, HD DVD-
As most of you all know HD DVD is already equipped to handle the internet feature set, not just a software upgrade ip connection as with BluRay. But if any of you all have tried to use this, you know how awkward it is to use the IR remote control to access and use these features. SCOOP- In the works, soon, is a new HD DVD feature that will allow users to plug in a USB keyboard or IR Keyboard for faster easier web features. I asked about mouse and was told, first it will be a keyboard only upgrade.

Additionally, the presentations at CES focused on the superior technology already available on HD DVD vs the "other format" We were reminded in that prewsentation that the features we have NOW with HD DVD are only promised for a future version of the hardware.

So now I head over to Samsung and Sony to fish for something. At Samsung, I cornered the guy on the BD1400. Ask him about advantages of profile 1.1 in the 1500. His response was, as a salesman he must recommend I go out and get the 1500. Then in more conversation he admitted that profile 1.1 will not offer the wide spread features HD DVD users are used to. For that we should wait for profile 2.0 and buy that hardware. I asked him when the profile 2.0 is expecgted to be available. He said the profile 2.0 is not mandatory as is 1;1 after a specific date but Samsung plans to release profile 2.0 players in the Fall as they did profile 1.1. He expected all manufacturers to jump on Profile 2.0 since that is what is required for the BluRay format to achieve the level of performance as HD DVD has today.
While at the Sony booth, I congratulated the BluRay rep on the Warner announcement and he said we are all quite pleased with their decision but to be honest, they really feel this will be temporary. Content producers can't sell their product without offering media to both camps and they know this.

Obviously none of this is official so we have to consider it all just trade show banter. However, I thought with all the sadness of the Warner story, you might like something positive to look forward to.

 

[motorcycle_rider]

Don

I want to thank you for the information that you have provided on this. The IR or USB keyboard would be interesting.

As you are into publishing video. Does either format have any interest for you in that aspect. Is it even possible yet at this time even?

 

[TheForce]

As you are into publishing video. Does either format have any interest for you in that aspect.

I stated a couple of months ago that for business reasons I was most interested in BluRay for distribution of HDV p[roductions I do which is not too many at this time. BUT, as I edit using Sony Vegas and DVD architecture for SD DVD, Sony has already stated that their BluRay -RW and BluRay -R will be supported directly in that software. So initially, I see BluRay being first but no reason why with the addition of another HD DVD recorder I could not be dual format in distribution as well. Sony claims that by 3rd qtr, they will have the -R and -RW fully supported for this work. We'll see!

 

[CochiseGuy]

Thanks for the news from CES. Interesting news on the keyboard support; it would be a big improvement. I participated in a community screening of HP Order of the Phoenix and it was a lot of fun. In addition to the co-ordinated pauses, re-winds, you can chat back & forth with the messages appearing on the top black bar. Most of us used a laptop logged into Warner's HD site as it's way to awkward to use the on-screen keyboard. I'm hoping they also provide support for a USB "thumb drive" for additional storage of online content.

Return my player???? No way in hell! At a minimum, it is a much better upconverting player than my Panasonic BD player, but I plan on enjoying my HD DVDs for many years to come. And I'm still buying more; Zodiac is on the way from Amazon, and I have other HD DVD pre-orders. And, being the opportunist I am, with the news yesterday from New Line that Pan's Labyrinth would be their first & last HD DVD, I ordered 4 more copies from Warner Home Video - I did very well with The Shooter BDs I ordered when Paramount dropped BD.