Didn't Toshiba just announced a $500 HD-DVD player? At that price point it would make things very tough for blu-ray, which, when it becomes available is way over $1000.

 

Blu-Ray Supporters: Sony Apple, Panasonic, 20th Century Fox, et al.

HD-DVD Supporters: Microsoft, Sanyo, Warner Brothers, et al.

As far as content goes, Sony/BMG and 20th Cent Fox far outweigh Warner Bros., and Apple and Panasonic are big hardware companies. MS can back the technology in its OS, but that's still a minor factor in DVD players.

If you go with one format now, you're guaranteeing you'll be locked out of a big chunk of content.

 

I don't think you'll ever see any upconverting of protected DVD's over component.

 

Here's the first Blu-Ray movies available:

Four studios have announced slates of titles to be ready for the soon-to-be-launched Blu-ray Disc high-definition format reports Reuters. Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Lionsgate, all of which have lent their support exclusively to Blu-ray, announced their plans Tuesday, a day before supporters of the next-generation, high-definition optical disc format stage a formal unveiling at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile Paramount Pictures, which has said it would support both Blu-ray and format competitor HD-DVD with disc releases, also unveiled titles it will have ready for both formats at launch. More studios are expected to announce their high-definition launch slates this week. The debut of Blu-ray hardware in North America, Japan and Europe is slated for sometime in the early part of 2006, the same time as Toshiba's less technologically impressive but cheaper to manufacture rival HD-DVD format. Blu-ray is expected to have the lead due to more studio co-operation and quicker penetration into homes thanks to the upcoming launch of the Playstation 3.

Sony's offering includes The Fifth Element, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Desperado, For a Few Dollars More, The Guns of Navarone, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight's Tale, Kung Fu Hustle, The Last Waltz, Legends of the Fall, Resident Evil 2, RoboCop, Sense and Sensibility, Stealth, Species, SWAT and XXX. Dual-layer Blu-ray discs with Black Hawk Down and and Bridge on the River Kwai will debut in the Summer, as will the first season of "Stargate: Atlantis".

From Summer Sony will start debutting four catalog titles per month rising up to ten by year's end, and will street titles from its 2006 slate day-and-date with their regular DVD debuts.

Fox's first wave has twenty major releases including Fantastic Four, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Behind Enemy Lines, Kiss of the Dragon and Ice Age. The rest will be announced shortly.

Lionsgate's lineup includes Lord of War, The Punisher, The Devil's Rejects, Saw, T2: Judgment Day, Reservoir Dogs, Total Recall, Dune and Rambo: First Blood.

Paramount's launch slate will have releases such as Four Brothers, Sahara, Aeon Flux, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Italian Job, Tomb Raider, U2: Rattle and Hum, Sleepy Hollow, We Were Soldiers and The Manchurian Candidate. It will continue its roll out of Blu-ray titles throughout 2006 and beyond, most notably bringing out such titles as the "Mission: Impossible" film series late in the year.

 

I think its too early for adoptation. I'm going let the pieces fall into place and then I'll go with the winning format, which I think will be Blu-ray.

 

Zenith had an upconverting DVD player via components... the DVB 318. They've since installed new firmware disabling this feature, although the old firmware can be downloaded and installed. Most people who have it love its picture quality.

BTW, this is simply an upconverting player, not an HD or blu-ray player.

 

I have an LG upconverting player - it'll up convert non-copyright DVDs (ie older ones, and burned ones) over component.

But only over HDMI will it upconvert newer, copyrighted DVD's.

 

VHS or Beta? Comes down to who has better marketing. We all know beta is a better format, but VHS won the marketing game. I

 

I am late to the party but an avid HD fan. This current format war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray makes me sad that these wars even starts. Look at what happen to DVD-Audio and SACD and where are they now? In my opinion at this moment it all point to Blue-Ray to dominate over HD-DVD since I hardly noticed a difference with HD-DVD and a latest generation DVD that up converts to 1080i.

However, 1st generation Blu-ray sucks, awaiting to confirm what happens with this format war before I invest in an HD movie player.

However, 1080 Progressive is the bomb. I can not even see pixels up close on my 1080 P Sony 46" XBR2 LCD Screen. In the meantime I am re-enjoying my library of DVD movies on my 1080i upconversion DVD player to my HDMI connection. Playstation 3 with Blu-Ray on November 17th will make me excitted about Home Theatre all over again.

Tan

 

$500 for HD-DVD? Heck for $200 you will be able to buy Microsoft's HD-DVD add-on for the XBox 360 before Xmas... assuming you already own a 360, like me!