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Blu Ray was never going anywhere. This "format war" was a myth for consumers to buy into.

The only question was in regards to HDDVD and it's survival and now we know the answer to that.

Blu Ray, nyet going anywhere. The beta will be dead in 5 yrs.

actually the Divx format was a strong competitor for the DVD format in the early days, they coexisted for years until DVD pulled ahead, its still around in combo players but used mostly for bootlegs

I'd have to disagree just a little with what was written.

Divx players were mainly pushed by Circuit City and their lifespan within the store was:

September 25, 1998- June 16, 1999

I actually bought one of the players and was promised the sun, moon, and stars by a circuit city employee, but after buying the item and finding out he had flat-out lied to me, I took the player back and got my cash back (and do to some oddball mistake an extra $150 bucks) and bought a Sony 5 disc dvd player which I actually still own and is at my parents home.

Divx players and DVD were very different because Divx was about buying a movie for a low price and only being able to watch it once or twice, and then paying extra money to actually purchase the movie to watch forever.

Blu Ray and HD DVD have their differences, but nothing like dvd and divx players.

source for Divx birth and death information

Paramount's out too

I still went with a standalone player that cost as much as a base PS3. I wanted the screen readout and the standard remote functionality. If Blu Ray does take off, I might buy a PS3 just as a bedroom player and then also have the ability to play PS3 games, if I ever wanted to.

I, too, would have to question just how popular either format will be, even if one leaves. Perhaps that's why studios are anxious to get the leader decided early; to increase market penetration and decrease customer confusion. They know that DVD is a major competitor, and unless people feel the need to pay more for movies on discs for very little extra benefit (in the minds of most), either HD format will likely be replaced by something else before even DVD dies. I would wager that the vast majority of people are still using non-HD television sets, and of the ones that are using HD sets, most are happy using up conversion DVD players and paying $15 a movie vs $30 for one that is 1080p natively.

It hasn't been long since HD DVD announced they had sold 250,000 standalone players (ahead of Sony, considering their market base is mostly PS3s). That is not very many at all. And in spite of having both a Blu Ray player and an HD DVD player, most of the movies we watch are on DVD.

Those people spending or not wanting to spend $30 on 1080p native Blu Ray movies should check out Amazon.com and they'll find plenty of excellent movies that run native to that resolution for $19.99.

That's exactly what I do, as I haven't purchased a single movie from a store, every single one from amazon during their specials (buy 1 get 1, buy 2 get 1, etc). However, until they are more closely aligned with DVD prices in brick and mortar stores, I'm afraid that DVD's will still hold a solid value for the vast majority of consumers.

I'll also point out that Amazon's DVD prices are also lower than B&M stores, so you have the same gap between the formats. For instance, Simpsons Movie BD = $27.99, DVD = 15.99. Even if you are looking for older or popular movies that are considered lower cost (19.99 range), the DVD's are even lower as well. For instance, 300 BD = 19.99, DVD = 9.99. Again, the vast majority of consumers will not see the point in paying the extra, and that is aside from actually investing in everything needed to watch it (HDTV, Blu Ray Player, HDMI cables, etc).

I'm afraid that most people are still completely fine using their SD 27" tube with a $30 dvd player hooked up with composite cables. DVD's were not only cheaper than VHS by a good margin (as they were cheaper to produce), but they offered SUBSTANTIAL differences between the formats (hello?! no more rewinding! between quality even on a basic tv, etc). DVD's, just like CD's, were such a great improvement over previous incarnations that it will take something more major than a higher resolution version of the same thing to replace it. I would wager that either format, HDDVD or Blu Ray, will run second horse to DVD until they are both replaced by something else.

You'll always have those individuals who want the very best picture and sound they can get. Some of those people will buy players and surround sound unites when they first come out and pay through the nose. Others like myself will wait till prices are reasonable and then jump in on the action.

This is how I see it. Blu Ray is an improvement over standard DVD. If someone chooses not to buy the player and movies that's cool, but at least we're progressing is Picture and Sound and not getting something substandard to possibly eat. Blu Ray movies and players will continue to drop in price just like DVD players did, and then it won't be a hard decision to pick up a player, especially with so many people able to afford an HD Tv.

I hope you are right, but I still stand by my predictions.  It's certainly not that I think Blu Ray players will stay inflated... it's that I think they may not drop fast enough to replace DVD's before something else comes along.  Just look at CD's.  There were better replacements for it made, and many were purchased by early adopters (I was one), but none were adopted mainstream, and digital music sales took over (again, adopted it early, purchasing a 32MB Rio PMP300 for $200 that held ~12 mp3 songs of decent quality).  And yet, CD's are still around, just not like they used to be (but their "replacers" aren't)

Here's one variable:

People complained about the quality of VHS within its original launch. The color was shoddy in the start and faded within months. Sound was remarkably bad on VHS too.

Nobody (as such) yet has a problem with the average quality of DVD, as it is, generally, pretty damn good. As televisions become bigger, and have a higher and higher resolution (although changing the applied HD format might take decades, like 50Hz. Anyone remember the excitement around 100Hz? My widescreen TV is depressed about it) DVD's are going to look awful. Already on a native 1080 LCD DVDs and 50Hz broadcasts have thick white lines around detail; this will just get worse.

You've not set up your television correctly.

We had a 100Hz tv for about 4 years and the image quality was perfect. It's all down to not going for the £200 bargain at Bennett's and then setting up the TV right.

Otherwise you either get unwanted sharpness or smearing.

Just to let you know, my average guest has trouble telling the difference between our HD DVD or Blu Ray player playing a 1080p movie on our 65" DLP, and a DVD playing through a $50 1080p upconvert DVD player on the same TV.  These are at distances between 16 and 24 feet.  Is there a difference that you can tell?  Sure.  Could you casually notice it, or would you have to look for it?  What about the mass market, what do they have to do?  You're going to have to convince people that they should pay extra to get 1080 instead of 480 upconverted to 1080, even if they can't tell much of a difference (and convice them that they should convert their massive library that companies pushed to build, which is now going to cause resistance to changing).

Yes, there is a big, big difference between an analog SDTV cable transmissions that are stretched over a widescreen, and digital HDTV cable transmissions that fit the widescreen.  A lot of that difference, though, is from analog to digital.  You don't have the same difference between DVD and next gen formats.

No the quality is fine. I'm talking about how they never actually brought in 100Hz as a common SDTV standard.

I never said I was rooting for HD formats....? I already said that the average consumer probably won't care, at least not until they have to.

"Dowin south we gawta beat the naybers...."

I was agreeing with you and giving your point some creditable source. Why does everyone assume that if their post is quoted, it is being retorted?

BTW, you do know that the Concorde has been retired, right? Dad told me about his flight on one from Paris to JFK once. It makes me sad that I'll never see one

I've had one fly over my house on the day it was retired :3

There's a clause in Paramount's exclusivity deal allowing them to get out of Warner went exclusive. It looks like it really is over for HD-DVD.

Oh yeah, Concorde retired back in 2003 and it still saddens me. So Joker, your father bought an $8000 one-way ticket? That's awesome. Some French university is currently rebuilding a scrapped Air France Concorde though.

My mom bought me a scale model for Xmas and I painted and decaled it. Looks awesome. Most beautiful plane ever.

wow, it sure felt like it drug on for years

I know what you mean, but it was a stupid idea to begin with.  I believe I bought X Files Fight the Future for like $5.99 and could watch it twice, and then would have to pay an extra $8.99 to own it forever.  There were like 0 extras on a disc...everything was very basic.  Thank the starts the players pushed by Circuit City died.