Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:47 am

Well, as the owner of an Xbox HDDVD add-on I perhaps should be bummed, but since DVDs have another 2-3 years (minimum) before they truly die off like VHS has its NBD, I've concluded after having 2 360s die on me, the 2nd while watching a DVD in that drive (I wrongly figured that would mean no heat from the internal drive and specifically no RROD), that the HD-DVD drive is more useful as an external DVD-ROM than as an attachment to the console anyway. I was thinking this morning, if MS was smart they would offer some kind of Blu-Ray hybrid upgrade for existing HD-DVD add-ons though, buy that hybrid laser tech from NEC and figure out a way to retrofit it onto the existing drives cheaply, charge people $25 or something plus a 6 bucks shipping or whatever and send em back in 6-8 weeks Blu-Ray and HD-DVD capable. Other than that, I guess I'll occasionally hook the drive back up to the 360 when I want to watch one of my 6 movies that don't have DVD combo sides...thats assuming MS gets a handle on RROD and mine is either replaced or retrofitted with the final solution by then

Also, I don't see how this "anoints" Blu-Ray to replace DVD specifically, seems to me there is tech way beyond the 50GB/disc of Blu-Ray lurking just around the corner, the only question is will it be cheap enough to come right into the market at a better price point than either combatant in this silly little war before DVD is totally dead. $25/per movie and in many cases $100/TV season is just too damn much when 85% of the time there is very little quality difference because the original content wasn't _shot_ in HD, and of the other 15% most of the enhanced quality translates to the ability to tell when Actors have good makeup or bad makeup, and in the worst cases to see pores and other unsightly blemishes on them.

I'm a visual quality fanatic saying this of course (One of the many reasons I'm a Mac user), so I've gleefully paid the money when it was something I truly love, but darn it I refuse to believe that at $25 or more per disc the profit margin for the studios and the BD coalition isn't gross and unfair.

Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:30 am

Answering Guest's question:

99.8% of world population. Flat screen, wide HD TVs are sold in almost every corner of the world. Very fast broadband is available to very few places outside South Korea. While Most South Koreans, some western Europeans, and few Americans, will be able to rent and buy their HD movies online and download them, the world will continue to rent and buy shiny plastic discs for many, many years to come. And with a large-enough screen, difference between that up-converted DVD and Blu-Ray is very clear and obvious.

Movies on Blu-Ray will come down, you'll need to show a bit of patience. When DVD movies came out, they were between $30 and $35 each, remember? VHS was still the king, selling at $20-25. As soon as we have critical mass of players (sometime around next Christmas), we'll begin to see cheaper BD movies. And if you don't want to pay $35, you can always rent (from BlockBuster, or NetFlix) for their nominal price.

Obviously, it doesn't apply to the original poster, who is lucky enough with his broadband...

Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:48 am

	Guest wrote:
	On the other hand, Being able to watch Pixar movies rendered out at a native 1080P is bound to be pretty damn sweet.