Blockbuster goes Blu-ray, HD DVD=beta?,

There's so much spin coming out of both the HD-DVD and Blu-ray camps that it's hard to really get a clear picture of what's really happening in the marketplace.

Talking off the record to mass market dealers, neither format has seen significant adoption up to this point. Gross sales have been described as "dissapointing."

Still, it's far from over.

And no matter how much we deride Wal-mart, they have snuck their way up to being #2 in mass-market CE behind Best Buy, and are gunning hard for #1. They've got a lot more savvy than I would prefer to give them credit for.

I am not sure if you are all aware but someone has already hacked the HD-DVD format over the Xmas holidays 2006.

This could be another factor that is driving content providers and industry support towards Blu-Ray.

In essence the lower technology hurdles and lower cost may seal the fate of HD-DVD....ironic though this might be.

You might envision a future with Blu-Ray media only used for consumer players (protecting copyright) whilst PC's move towards HD-DVD burners for data etc. I can imagine those industry execs worrying about copy protection being thwarted so easily by PC users. Of course they will worry about the higher manufacturing costs of Blu-Ray too....but the greater hurdles and tighter control on copy protection may win the day.

I recall how Sony went after the company that did Playstation 1 emulation - in the end they have proved themselves at defending a controlled proprietary game console format....and that must be what they pitch to Hollywood. Remember that game consoles are often sold at a loss with profit taken from content sales and peripherals.

Think about it...which is the lesser of two evils?

Sony makes big royalties but has the money and major incentive to protect the medium from piracy. Hollywood studios will want this even if distribution costs are higher (as they plan to pass these costs on to customers).

Equipment player manufacturers would probably prefer the other way round....HD-DVD means no royalities to Sony...a lower cost product, higher sales growth and fatter margins (and who cares if there is piracy...as wide cheaply available media will just result in more player sales!)

actually you can tell if ps 3's are being sold for gaming or blu ray... just look at sales of the actual movies... then you can tell who is beating who...

"actually you can tell if ps 3's are being sold for gaming or blu ray... just look at sales of the actual movies... then you can tell who is beating who..."

That doesn't really work either. If every gamer bought just one title to check it out that is a heck of a lot of sales. So far, sales swing back and forth based on who has the hot titles being release. Now if titles were being released on both formats and we could see those numbers.

lol if you check one out you will get hooked... almost all the big movies coming out are AVAILABLE on blu ray some on HD DVD ... more consistancy on good movies for blu ray