12:46 PM on 02.24.2008
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Ever since the (not so?) great mass defection of 2007-2008, it has been expected that Microsoft would at some point, abandon their own support of the HD DVD format. If you've taken a peek at Gamerscore since Saturday, you probably saw them announce just that: "As a result of recent decisions made by Toshiba, Hollywood studios, and retailers, Microsoft plans to withdraw from HD DVD. Xbox will no longer manufacture new HD DVD players for the Xbox 360, but we will continue to provide standard product and warranty support for all Xbox 360 HD DVD Players in the market. As we stated earlier, we do not believe this decision will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace. HD-DVD is one of the several ways we offer a high definition experience to consumers and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room, along with playback of the DVD movies they already own."
Not the best of news for those that hoped that the struggling format would finally take off and fly on its own, but there is one silver lining in this situation -- it has zero effect on the Xbox 360 and its games. The announcement should also put those bothersome rumors of yet another SKU with an internal HD DVD drive to rest. If only we could now get rid of the current scuttlebutt calling for the notably green console to transform into something a little more Blu-ray. When are people going to lose those silly notions that add-ons just don't cut it? I always thought of it as prudent on MS's part not to shove HD DVD down our throats from the start. It was just too risky. As history now shows, it would appear that they made the right choice, and it looks like good old fashioned DVD may be here to stay for a while longer -- at least until Blu-ray players and the disks themselves start matching the price-point that the mainstream finds comfort in. [Via Kotaku] |
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21 comments + 95764 views
I find comfort in $20 DVDs
HD-DVD is now pointless, but to me, so is Blu-rayz. I wish it was important to me sometimes.
Part of me wonders what would happen if they switched their games to HD-DVD disc to combat piracy. The other companies wouldn't sell a recorder to a dead format and the ones out now cost a pretty penny.
... Just some random thoughts. :D
Finally. Good on 'em. At least they aren't stupid enough to try to drag out its death.
I always thought of it as prudent on MS's part not to shove HD-DVD down our throats from the start. It was just too risky. As history now shows, it would appear that they made the right choice
I'm not sure about that. Maybe if they did shove it down our throats HD-DVD would have won in the end.
Do people even care about owning movies anymore?
I only care about owning Planet Earth on Blu-Ray, and that's about it. I've sold off my entire DVD collection (500+), and I don't miss them one bit.
Aww, those turtles are sad...
@ Narishma
At first glance, you may be tempted to say yes. However, it would've jacked up the price of the 360 -- and nullified the competetive advantage it had over the PS3 at the onset.
The 360 has gone on to sell very well, I'd say.
I don't know wahat the big deal is. DVD is obliterating Blu-Ray and Blu-Ray has no chance in hell of beating it before DLC takes over. The war was two years too long, and the average joe just doesn't want it.
I agree with the quote Narishma posted. I for one would not have been able to afford my 360 had an HD DVD player been included. I know a lot of other people (most Standard Def TV owners such as my self) who feel the same way.
However, now that HD DVD is dead I'll be keeping my eye out for a the 360 attachment for cheap. I'm talking like $2o cheap. Thats not a bad price for DVD upscaling.
Blu-ray still somehow sucks still, right?
@DaedHead8
Wait... Narishma was quoting me ;-)
I know Gameboi, I was just too lazy to requote it. =)
I had a feeling HD-DVD wouldn't make it.
I mean look at it, Blu-ray has 10 more gigs PER LAYER compared to HD-DVD
Finally they give up.
Too bad that's a moot point, Vyruz, until they start UTILIZING that space. How many discs does Blu-ray Planet Earth come on? 4. How about the HD-DVD version? 4. Hmm... looks like that space means diddly squat as of right now. Plus, look at the HD-DVD version of 300. Waaaay better than the Blu-ray version. Odd.
Anywho, scuttlebutt aside, I think it would have been interesting if the 360 had HD-DVD in one of the SKUs (maybe not the first one), such as the Elite. Maybe shoving HD-DVD down our throat was exactly the strategy needed to help keep the format afloat? We may never know for sure.
As far as I'm concerned, back to buying normal DVDs for me. No Blu-Rayz are in my future.
Prices will begin to drop now pretty quickly...
RIP HD-DVD.
Seriously, is there any reason we should stop using regular DVDs?
It should be obvious now why Microsoft nominally supported HD DVD but kept it at arms length. They didn't want it stinking up the 360 if it flopped.
I'll say this one more time because I'm correct, digital distribution is the way of life. Where are the video stores? Why are video rental services closing down left and right? Why is it that Tivo sells like hotcakes? How come there are millions of downloads on iTunes on a daily basis? Who among us downloads XBLA, PSN and VC games? Why is DVR a major selling point with cable and sattelite providers? It's the digital age. One box, and all is ordered through a click, button press and some digits on a card. No stores, no retail, the future of entertainment will be at an instant. So enjoy plastic discs, you'll know they'll be junked.
THAT PICTURE IS WIN.
You're watching the commercials... for Leprechaun 2.
Kudo's to anyone who gets the reference.
@NightDehumidifier
You have a good point but the Disc-less future you speak of is still decades off. Digital Distribution is awesome and it will continue to grow, but it is still not for everyone.
Speaking of distribution, does anyone know how well those "on demand" features from cable companies do? I'd suspect that people would be more inclined to use something familiar than something new.
"Seriously, is there any reason we should stop using regular DVDs?"
Yes, have you seen movies in Blu-Ray with HDTV before? It makes a DVD movie look like it's VCR. If we follow your logic, then you mind as well throw away your DVD and watch movie in VHS.
I told you so.... :P long.. long tim ago :P
Does this mean Talladega Nights on Blu-Ray for the XBOX 360 owners?
@DaedHead8:
I agree with you that Digital Distribution is a ways off. Take CD's for example. Yes, you can download essentially any song you want for a reasonable price now. And many people do. Yet we still CD's for sale everywhere we go. In my opinion, this is true and will remain true for a number of reasons. First, there are people who like having the whole package (art, case, etc.). I'm one of them. Second, it's not yet easy enough to take digitally distributed material and switch it from player to player without paying a significant amount of money. I also don't think there is much of a clamoring for such an ability yet, either. Third, and this one wont change for quite a while, people are afraid of the internetz. It's relatively normal to walk into a Best Buy and grab a CD, then pop it into a player and hit play. We've been doing the same thing since 8-tracks, and records were even more complicated. Of course WE don't find the prospect of downloading content imposing at all, but a large portion of the population does. They don't see the benefit in such an arrangement.
Frankly, I'm not sure I disagree with them quite yet.
I agree with those that say that if the 360 did shove HD DVD down our throats, it would have probably won the format war.
Price wouldn'tve been that much of an issue either imo
I'm with birdseye here. There's more 360's out there than standalone Blu-Ray or HDDVD players combined, I'm sure.
In retrospect, I wouldn't have minded HD-DVD being shoved down our throats in the 360 because I think it would have saved (in my opinion) the superior format. Oh well, the entire format war has really turned me off from disc-based movies in general. Give me low-cost digital distribution and a big ol' hard drive any day.
Some of you keep bragging of DLC coming to take BRD out of the market. I'll make you a promise, DLC wont fully take over till (at least) the next gen consoles come out with an HDD of 1-Terra for minimun space at least, and Internet connection can DL 100mb per second. AND to top it all with cream pudding, consumers wont bite into that technology till it is affordable.
Until then, I hope you learn to adapt or just live under a rock till DLC actually comes. Prob 5 years or more from now.
HD movies and games take 25-50gigs of space, were having problems now with regular DLC on our current consoles because the max they offer are around 200'ish Gigs of space. Meaning if DLC comes anytime soon, you would have 4 movies of Talladega's Nights and your HDD is full.
And what about PC you say? how many of you have a 8Core multi-tread chip on your PC with 2 Terra's of HDD space with the new external Nvidia Video cards that has it's own power cord and 200gigs of ram and 100mb DSL connection? aw you dont have it? well better get used to physical media sticking for a while longer.
How is either Bluray or HDDVD superior to each other? They're the same goddamn thing, except different colored boxes. Anyone who says otherwise is retarded.
@kielejocain: Yeah, I agree. I’ve bought single tracks off of iTunes, but never an entire album, because I prefer having something tangible — including a disc, a case, and artwork. I still think that digital distribution, especially for HD-resolution movies, is a ways off — for example, I’ve heard that HD movies that are rented off of iTunes have macroblocking from compression issues — but I could totally see it being the focus of the next generation of consoles in, say, five years or less.
Green Ray is coming to the Xbox 360.
I'm glad it's dead so the blogs can finally stop talking about this ridiculous format war.
I really don't get the struggle between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Isn't Blu-Ray just a more expensive version of HD-DVD?
Digital Distribution is great, but the video quality pales in comparison to Blu-Ray. Hopefully M$ works on a Blu-Ray player add-on..
@SubOrbital and NightDehumidifier
DLC does seem like the next likely step, but its a long way off if you look at the restrictions placed on it by our actual internet connections. I'm unsure what you get in the US, but data caps seem to be a rule here, and with my current (more high end) plan, I would be able to download less than 1 HD movie a month. I also would prefer to watch a movie now, it's faster for me to physically go and buy it than download the 20+ gig file.
Are your connections in the US different to this?? How long would it take you to download 20 gig?? Are you uncapped on your downloads??
Blu-ray will be around for a long time if it's only going to be superceded by DLC.
If you think by DLC you mean you're going to be downloading 20-50GB of data before you can use it are severely underestimating the capabilities of streaming and compression.
Digital cable already allows for immediate viewing of movies, it's just one more step for ownership.
And even easier step if Apple puts HD content iTunes.
People who think dlc will take over anytime soon have another things coming. As always it will be adopted by the few in the beginning but people dont have the computers or the internet speed for it.
And about streaming. Most people want to own their movies not just stream them, therefore its not happening mainstream for a long time.
I've often wondered had Sony not put bluray in the Ps3, would gamers even care about what format movies were to come on?
Woops.
What I meant to say was this:
We just downgraded our 7Mbps pipe to 1.5Mbps because we can't afford the exorbitant price it costs. It took me about an hour or so to download the Crysis DEMO (2GB) on my 7Mbps connection. Can you imagine trying to download entire HD movies (20+ GB) over a 1.5Mbps pipe? I'd love DLC to take over, but until the US can get cheap fast Internet like the cool countries, I'll take my discs kthx.
Nice. So now I can ignore the new Blu-ray add-on for the 360 whenever they get around to making it the same way that I ignored the HD-DVD add-on.
@Axion22 (or anyone else who knows the answer)
Just a couple of questions,
How much compression can you put HD video through before you lose image quality??
Does Digital Cable allow for viewing of standard def or high def and how fast does it stream??
For those calling HDDVD the superior format, or just the same as bluray, you need to learn a few things about video compression.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lossy_data_compression
Just because the HD-DVD and the BluRay have the same running time on the same amount of disks (B-Radicate), doesn't mean they are the same quality of video.
Its funny how many xbox360 fan boys were behind HD DVD, even though its was a shit format from the get go.
Maybe if MS would have used it as a game format as well as a movie and have it internal, then things may have been very diffrent. As it stands, though. They half-assed it like they have done with the 360. I used to think the only thing they got right was xbox live, now, I question that even..
BLURAYPED!
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