Lost: Season 3 & Pirates 3 pre-orders up

[Derb]

Amazon is taking pre-orders for Pirates 3 (listed for December 4th) & Lost: Season 3 (listed December 11th)

Hope that "Lost" street date holds out.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...nandscathed-20
$23
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...nandscathed-20
$87

[Vonner]

Damn, I am going to have to get a Blu-Ray player to see Lost in HD, aren't I.

[dugpa]

Originally Posted by Vonner

Damn, I am going to have to get a Blu-Ray player to see Lost in HD, aren't I.

Or watch it on ABC.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Vonner

Damn, I am going to have to get a Blu-Ray player to see Lost in HD, aren't I.

It will come to HD DVD. In fact, Disney & Lionsgate are the most likely studios to go neutral first and support HD DVD. You need to exercise patience, though.

On top of that, why buy a Blu-Ray player when in 6 months you will be able to buy a "combo" player that plays both formats for the same price? I'm sure the dual format Samsung BD-UP5000 that comes out in October will be relatively affordable.

Then again, there is so much stuff coming out on HD DVD, why not just spend your money there on other stuff until it comes out for HD DVD? A new player is equivalent to about 25 movies - thats a lot of cash to throw down when the same material will be available in the future for HD DVD. Its a lot of cash to throw down just so you can see whatever title immediately!

At the minimum, I'd wait to see how things play out at CEDIA in early September. Should be some interesting announcements then.

[ganthc]

There's a lot of wishful thinking up there. ^

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by ganthc

There's a lot of wishful thinking up there. ^

Disney will come around as will all other studios. They will have no choice once $199 HD DVD standalones saturate the market. J6P isn't going to buy a $499 BD player.

Studios and manufs are trying really hard to force the consumer to buy the more expensive format with more DRM. But consumers are hanging in there, and that is a good thing. Just a bit longer (Q4 2007) and HD DVD will be out of our hands and into the mainstream.

[ganthc]

It's just funny that you always say that Disney and Lionsgate will switch or become dual format, but you will never give Universal that option. Because if Universal went bi-format, the war would be over. Period. But if it helps you to think that Disney is switching, then so be it.

[chlngr1970]

At this point it is all conjecture. I can see why Ruined is so adamant about Universal NOT going nutral, and thinking that Disney/Lionsgate could. Disney helped develop part of the iHD, and Universal is one of the MAJOR players on the HD-DVD board. IF HD-DVD does hit critical mass, it only makes sence that more studios would get on board. Same if BD were selling stand alones like hotcakes, I'm sure Universal would eventualy go blu. What about this does not make sence?

j

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by chlngr1970

At this point it is all conjecture. I can see why Ruined is so adamant about Universal NOT going nutral, and thinking that Disney/Lionsgate could. Disney helped develop part of the iHD, and Universal is one of the MAJOR players on the HD-DVD board. IF HD-DVD does hit critical mass, it only makes sence that more studios would get on board. Same if BD were selling stand alones like hotcakes, I'm sure Universal would eventualy go blu. What about this does not make sence?

j

It's not that I'm not understanding what he's saying. It's that it all seems like pipedreams at this point. Considering the marketing push that Disney is doing for Blu-ray, and the momentum in smaller studios choosing blu-ray, and former hd-dvd only small studios going dual format, I just don't see where he is able to on one hand proclaim Disney's supposed switch, and keep Universal off limits. My explanation was that if Universal topples, so does hd-dvd, which means Ruined will never concede Universal, but will continue to, like he has since last year, say that Disney and Lionsgate are switching.

[chlngr1970]

But look at the momentum at retail...

HD-DVD selling HD PLAYERS hand over fist. PS3? Sales slowing...BD Stand alones, not so much. If Sales trends continue as reported, HD-DVD is a runaway hit, and BD seems to be going down hill.

Like I said, it is all conjecture till someone balks...

j

[sub780lime]

it is all conjecture, it is just not being stated as conjecture and that is what Ganthc is pointing out.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by chlngr1970

HD-DVD selling HD PLAYERS hand over fist.

In terms of standalone hidef players sales on AMAZON.com, currently...

Sales rank
--
1. #72 HD DVD Toshiba HD-A2
2. #320 BD Samsung BD-P1200
3. #415 HD DVD Toshiba HD-A20
4. #918 HD DVD Toshiba HD-XA2
5. #1610 Sony BDP-S300

Clearly HD DVD continues to dominate in standalones. The HD-A2 is the only standalone in the Electronics top100. And in the top 1000, there are only 4 standalones and 3 of them are HD DVD. HD DVD players will be even cheaper during the holidays and the big promotional push should really move a ton of units.

BDA is really trying its hardest to pronounce HD DVD dead and kill it off because in the end, there is one pesky fact that is troubling them. If it comes down to a price war, HD DVD will always win - players are cheaper to make and discs are cheaper to replicate. Any DVD line created in the past 3 years is capable of replicating HD DVD. And older lines can be upgraded for $250k, compared to 2mil+ for a BD line. HD players have a much wider tolerance range for acceptable playback than BD players making them easier and cheaper to manufacture, and they don't require 1080p either saving them another costly chip. Not to mention that Microsoft/Broadcom have already developed a reference design, meaning that manufacturing a HD DVD player is virtually "plug n' play" for the player manufacturer - with little to no R&D necessary to make a player. If Blu-Ray can't kill off HD DVD now before the Q4 2007 HD DVD player saturation, it will be extraordinarily hard to overcome HD DVD anytime in the future due to the price difference.

[chlngr1970]

Well, untill someone comes in and proves that he/she is a qualified insider, EVERYTHING here is conjecture. I don't know what Ruined does, but what if HE is an insider, but because of NDAs, he is not allowed to go further into what he knows? So far, he has been pretty on about what has happened.

Who knows, what if he is a plant? I don't know.

So...how can any of this be considered anything more than conjecture?

j

[billyslits]

chlngr1970, just because someone consistently reports bad news about a rival format doesn't mean they've got the inside track. It just means they might be getting paid to cheerlead HD-DVD and disseminate bad buzz for Blu-Ray. It's propaganda not insight.

Oh, and as far as sales for the sales for the PS3 slowing down, here are the just-released NPD numbers for the PS3 (pre-price drop, pre-"5 Blu Ray movies with any purchase promo", pre-E3):

March 2007 vs. April 2007 vs. May 2007 vs. June 2007
PlayStation 3: 130,000 vs. 82,000 vs. 81,600 vs. 98,500

It actually looks like things are picking up for the PS3 - not radically but improving just the same.

On topic, I'm looking forward to Lost season 3. I think that, once the creators of the show established that the series would end in 2010, they were able to start moving the story forward. Finally.

Pirates 3 - I kind of hated. I liked some of the chances the director took visually but it all just became so convoluted and chaotic that I lost interest.

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by chlngr1970

Well, untill someone comes in and proves that he/she is a qualified insider, EVERYTHING here is conjecture. I don't know what Ruined does, but what if HE is an insider, but because of NDAs, he is not allowed to go further into what he knows? So far, he has been pretty on about what has happened.

Who knows, what if he is a plant? I don't know.

So...how can any of this be considered anything more than conjecture?

j

Let's resurrect a few gems that contrast Ruined's predictions, and mine:

http://forums.dvdfile.com/showthread.php?t=58948
http://forums.dvdfile.com/showthread.php?t=61294
http://forums.dvdfile.com/showthread.php?t=61280
http://forums.dvdfile.com/showthread.php?t=61924

among others...

[Vonner]

Originally Posted by dugpa

Or watch it on ABC.

It's a little late for that (for this season). I haven't watched it on TV yet, no reason to start now when the DVDs are so convenient. I have it pre-order on DVD, but would rather have it in HD if it was an option. Right now to have it an option I'd need to buy a blu-ray player.

Originally Posted by Ruined

It will come to HD DVD. In fact, Disney & Lionsgate are the most likely studios to go neutral first and support HD DVD. You need to exercise patience, though.

I'm not good at that.

Originally Posted by Ruined

On top of that, why buy a Blu-Ray player when in 6 months you will be able to buy a "combo" player that plays both formats for the same price? I'm sure the dual format Samsung BD-UP5000 that comes out in October will be relatively affordable.

I already have an XA2, why would I want a combo player?

Originally Posted by Ruined

Then again, there is so much stuff coming out on HD DVD, why not just spend your money there on other stuff until it comes out for HD DVD?

I am.

Originally Posted by Ruined

A new player is equivalent to about 25 movies - thats a lot of cash to throw down when the same material will be available in the future for HD DVD.

There is no guarantee that it will come out on HD-DVD.