I don't know enough about the Speilberg situation to comment on that. What do you think about the rest of the article? Do you believe that Microsoft's ultimate goal is to prevent a HDM winner in hopes that HD downloads will prevail? I do.
No, I don't. Do you think they believe they will be the only choice IF download were to prevail? Netflix, Blockbuster or some other player will be the market leader when and if download prevails. But downloads are years & years away from prevailing, if ever - we don't have the infrastructure in place. Can you imagine the sreaming & yelling form the ISP's if even half their customers started downloading 20-30GB per day? No, I think Microsoft wants BD, HD DVD, DVD and download to all coexist - because will make some money off each one of them. The main thing they don't want is for BD to prevail alone. Too much animosity toward Sony for that one, among other reasons.
I know that a lot of HD-DVD backers think that both formats can and will coexist and they'll both live happily every after. Let's assume for the sake of argument that this doesn't happen. Let's assume that both formats exist for a while, continue to confuse consumers and ultimately die off. Who is to blame if this happens? Sony and Toshiba for sure, I don't think anyone would argue that. Who else? The studios? The manufacturers? Universal? Stubborn HD-DVD supporters?
I just don't buy the line of thought that HDM will die off if we don't have a single HD format. VHS & DVD coexisted for many years, I never saw anyone try to stick a VHS tape in his DVD player, & vice versa. We've had 3 major gaming platforms for many years, I've never heard anyone complain that the the Xbox labeled game they bought wouldn't play in their Playstation. The average consumer isn't as dumb as people think. And I think Universal players will make whether a disc is in HD DVD or Blu-ray format as irrelevant as if the DVD recordable disk he bought is -R or +R.
I would like HDM to survive for the time being because it think it gives us the best PQ and AQ. I don't think we're logistically ready for download only and I don't believe we'll get the best PQ and AQ that way. I don't have a crystal all so I don't know what will happen, nobody does. But IMHO a vote for HD-DVD is a vote against long term survival of HDM.
I respectfully disagree. I also want HDM to survive. I own both BD and HD DVD media and players, and enjoy them both. They're both a big improvement over DVD, and even HD satellite or cable. I don't think enough is known yet about Blu-ray to crown it the one & only. A big aspect of BD is BD+, and it's not even out yet - what is it? what does it do? BD1.1 is supposed to be required of all new player models Nov. 1 - and not a single player meeting the spec is announced or planned - why? They're are only two facilities in the entire U.S. that can produce BD 50GB - independent Cinram, who went neutral at the urging of it's largest customer - Warner, and Sony - which has the largest capacity by far. Why?
For folks who want a HD player & HDM but waiting for a "clear winner" - I advise you to stop waiting and buy a Blu-ray. It's not going to lose. I just hope and don't think it will be the only winner. But if you really enjoy HD and movies, buy both. I'm very happy I did. And it's not all that confusing - the Red case discs go in the big, bulky black DVD style player, and the Blu case discs go into the sleek, shiny little game console looking thingy.
