Now that the format war is over... what is your next move?

[Sonnie]

Now that the dust has settled and Blu-ray has officially won the high definition format war, what are your plans?

I plan to keep my Toshiba XA2 for now, since it is a very respectable upconverting DVD player and I still own a few HD-DVD titles.

One option I have entertained is at some point in time, when Blu-ray releases the HD-DVD titles I own now... and if a respectable upconverting BD player releases, I may dump the HD-DVD player or move it to the great room and use it as an upconverting player.

The option I am favoring is to drop both high def formats and stick with the lesser expensive SD-DVD.

Decisions, decisions.

[OvalNut]

I've been happily sitting on the fence until this shook out, and using my excellent RP82 for SD DVD. I'll continue along this track until I see a well built and featured $200 BD player with analog outs.

... Then I pounce!


Tim

[HomeTeam]

I plan on keeping my HD-DVD player, like you mentioned Sonnie, its still a great upconvert DVD player and I have a lot of great HD-DVD's that I can still watch on it. And there are a couple of more HD discs that I want to get. And I may, may, get a backup HD-DVD player when the prices go down some more.

I will be getting a PS3 (40GB) in the next couple of weeks. I've been planning on getting one anyway for Metal Gear Solid 4, but since I have some unused Best Buy gift cards, I figure, why not use it for that. Plus I just bought The Rock and Con Air on Blu-Ray so I've already started building my Blu-Ray collection.

[tonyvdb]

As I also have both formats I will look for sales on HD DVDs and if its at a good price I will still buy them. I dont see a reason to worry about the A2 dying anytime soon as I still have an old Panasonic SD DVD player from 1998 that still works great that the kids use.
Is the AX2 the only one from Toshiba that uses the Reon chip? I find that the A2 works great as an upconverter.

[mrstampe]

OvalNut wrote:

I've been happily sitting on the fence until this shook out, and using my excellent RP82 for SD DVD. I'll continue along this track until I see a well built and featured $200 BD player with analog outs.

... Then I pounce!


Tim

I agree with OvalNut. I happily waited out this format war mess and will look for a good sub-$200 BD player. Some think that the lack of competition will keep prices high for a while. I tend to think that this newfound lack of format competition will promote a greater number of less expensive BD players in the not so distant future.

First, more electronics companies will jump on board to build their version of the surviving format player -- leading to greater device competition rather than trepidation about format competition, hence lower prices.

Second, the single format will drive an economy of scale. More devices built by the major manufacturers (ie Sony, Toshiba) will allow them to be built for less cost per unit. As to whether that cost savings is immediately passed on to the consumer remains to be seen.

The third factor promoting less expensive BluRay has more to do with technology lifecycle than the loss of HD-DVD. As there are fewer and fewer "early adopters" buying these players, the industry must naturally drop prices to appeal to the wider market.


Lastly, don't forget about HDTV OTA broadcast adoption in less than a year and the wear-out of SDTVs, both driving HDTV sales. As consumers increasingly have the ability to appreciate the superior quality of BluRay movies, their conversion to the better disk format will continue.

[Wayde]

I'd gladly pick up an Xa2 in a bargain and buy up any sale priced HD DVDs I can get my hands on.

I have room on my receiver for the extra component and a SD player with Reon upscaling is pretty nice.

[bonehead848]

I plan on selling my 360 and buying a PS3!!! Its going to be great to have everything in one. I dont even have an upconverting dvd player so this should be a great upgrade for me. I would love to keep both but I am a student so cash is short.

[Richard W. Haines]

Like some other said, I'll buy the remaing HD DVD titles I want when the price goes down and
then at some future point purchase a Blu-ray player but not until they start releasing classics
on it. I don't care if I see most new features in high definition since I'm not that impressed
with the photography in most cases and few are worth seeing once due to the poor writing
much less multiple times. However, the classics with their vibrant Technicolor photography
or those made in large formats like VistaVision and 70mm would be worth buying and screening
in hi def. On some list on line I saw "Gone with the Wind", "The Wizard of Oz" and "North by Northwest" slatest for Blu-ray in the future. That's when I'll buy the new machine. In the meantime I'll watch the HD DVD movies I already have like "2001", "The Wild Bunch", "Superman" and
"The Adventures of Robin Hood" along with standard DVDs upscaled on the Toshiba HD XA2
player. I guess when all is said and done, I'll get a lot of use out this machine even though it's
in an obsolete format. So perhaps the $500 was a total waste. And of course I still have some
good old reliable 35mm Technicolor prints to watch projected which look better than the video
formats.

[louthewiz]

I like my A-3 so I will buy some more titles as the price drops, As for bluray I am going to wait for 0PP0 to release their br player.

[thxgoon]

I'm glad I sat this one out. I've been wanting a PS3 really badly so I'll probably get one of those as soon as my institution of higher education is done sucking me dry Maybe with Bush's economic stimulus check

[atledreier]

I'm definetly keeping my Toshiba. I love it to bits, it upconverts like a dream, and it's the first HD-DVD model to hit the european market (HD-E1). I'll probably have to get a PS3 in the near future, but no rush.

[SteveB]

Same here as many said. I'll get more HD DVDs when prices drop. I will probably go BD before too long. I am anxious to see if Oppo will make a player. There are a lot of movies that I would like to have on BD.

[imbeaujp]

I will use my Toshiba HD DVD until Rotel have a HD player (all my system is Rotel).

If a can get some HD DVD movies at low price, I will get them.

[rubbersoul]

Like so many other people I am glad that I waited and did not invest in Toshiba's HD DVD market. I like there products and as a matter of fact I still have a Toshiba five disc player that is four or five years old and it operates perfectly.
It still bothers me that two mega corporations could not work out a "live and let live solution" to either format.
The best solution in my opinion was to buy a LG or Samsung SD, Blu Ray and Hd compatible player. At least those companies gave you a GOOD option without wondering which format was going to win.

I am still going to wait until the prices for player and software drop in price. Another 12 to 18 months and we should be able to see what the real market is like.
Besides if I can avoid buying a Blu Ray from Sony I intend to do so. At least Toshiba put a product out there that was reasonably priced. It will be interesting to see if Sony will be a HOG or a pig in this market.
Right now I am cheering for LG, Samsung, Pioneer and I can't wait until Oppo gets into the market.

[thewire]

I'm happy still with my new XA2. I had to have some of my favorite titles to enjoy in my new HT and some were not available on Blu-Ray. I also recently got a DVD to watch that I plan on having a Blu-Ray version of later. It was only 14 dollars. I own four HD-DVD's. I think I have watched them all more than a few times and I will continue to do so. I have been mostly renting HD-DVD from Netflix and still will while they continue to offer it.

My DVD's are mostly television shows because those are not available in Hi-Def. I hope that with the new changes they will be available on Blu-Ray instead.
I'm not sure where to put the XA2 in theater or the media room. Might move it to the theater for the titles I have.

For the theater we are getting a Blu-Ray player, new speakers, new AVR, and maybe a new projector as well.

Blu-Ray was in the plans and now that I only need to worry about one format, I am very excited! I hope that whatever Blu-Ray player we invest in will have the best to offer in both audio and video for years to come.

I first read the announcement on the msn welcome page the day it was announced and then went directly to an HD-DVD discussion forum. My mother called me a couple days later to inform me about it since a friend of hers has a hubby that is manager of an AV store, and she had heard the news.