Its Australian $249 for the additional Drive for Xbox 360 and that Includes a HD DVD, this is what I call Value for moeny.

I’ll get 1080p movies,

Not a PS3 fan boy so Im over the moon with HD-DVD just wish this WAR was over.

Well then its obvious who wins the battle !?!?!
This article do not contain any fact at all.
I personally dont care much who wins but i think at this point its to early to say anything.
I have a 360 and waiting for my PS3 to arrive but i will not get the HD-dvd as its going to take space and add more cable to my cable collection
I really dont see why i should get the extra HD-dvd player when i can have my hd content on blu-ray!

Once PS3 hits Europe i believe Blu-ray will take off. MS should have made a build-in player. I know it would have been more expensive and not everyone need it but on the other hand they would gain so much more of the market. O well that is what i think anyway.

Xbox360 sold BAD in Japan…. Lol shop keepers used them as foot stools. I remember when Xbox360 came out…. in America it was sold for full price, and i could easily get one imported from Japan for half the price…. cuz it sold so crappy over there.

I’m currently in australia, and i have YET to see 1 HDDVD on sale yet… Even the biggest Franchise of Electronics and Audio Visual Jb-Hi-Fi doesnt even have any of them. I went in and asked them “do you sell HD DVD?” and they are like “no im sorry, we do not stock them.” then i ask them “do stock HD DVD players?” and they are like “im sorry we do not stock them too, however we can order it in for you”

Its funny how all “news” reports are so biased to America only. lol. Need statistics from ALL OVER THE World to be able to make this arguement fair… There isnt ONLY americans in the world…. there are other countries =P

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/technology/04video.html?ex=1325566800&en=65cf5ef6a97fc5f3&ei=5089

Time Warner’s new format that plays on, wait for it
BOTH HD-DVD & Blu-Ray

That’s what wins. Yep.

Both formats are just portable starage media, circa 50gig , thats all folks , dont get conned into buyig stuff you dont need – we allready have high def players – our comps – we can allready get high def titles – nudge nudge – and if we did want to let our pal watch the film then buy a freeking extenal HD lol.

You mention HD DVD isn’t needed as if it’s a nessecity, but where talking about a hedonic product here, that ‘need’ can be created (by advertising or other marketing, or by the market itself).

Apply that argument to the failed Laserdisc format.

That’s exactly what early adopters of the format stated back then. It’s only the mass market consumer that matters and the early adopter/technophile is pretty much of no consequence whatsoever.

True, but as you can read I used the words ‘can’ and ‘helping’. It’s not a black and white matter. No breakthrough product can be succesfull without the support of innovators and early adopters. But that doesn’t mean their support automatically leads to a succesfull product. Like the case of the laserdisc you mentioned.

There are many other factors that play more and less important roles as well, such as marketing, competion and in this case the support of content providers. One of the reasons VHS succeeded and Betamax failed that many people forget or simply don’t know about is that betamax never had much support in the form of content (and not just by the porn industry). Sony has learned a good lesson from that and now (partially) owns several music, movie and game companies.

as Geek pointed out, it’s not the technophile’s that make or break a product, it’s the common layman. you have to convince the average idiot that they need it. it took a long time for my parents to get a DVD player, and even today they barely use it. there’s still a ton of older people who don’t have a computer or use the internet. this technology, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are not going to be long-term products, because they just aren’t needed right now, and when people are ready for HD, and by people i mean the common person, there will be a new and better format, most likely.

simple truth is that i just don’t think the need for it is here yet. most are happy with DVD’s still, and because there are two formats, people are scared to buy either format, because they don’t want to spend $500+ on something that may be useless in a year. they want a guarantee, a solid product, a definite.

superior technology means nothing, many superior things have failed because the common person didn’t see the need for them in their lives. the electric car, people were happy still with their gas guzzlers (although that tune is changing). the Segway, great technology, but people just don’t have the need for it. 64-bit computing, it has a ton of advantages, but getting everyone to switch isn’t so easy, we’re still stuck on 32-bit.

and of course, let’s not look past how the most inferior of the new consoles, the Nintendo Wii, is killing the other two technically superior products in sales.

it’s all in the presentation, making the simple person feel like they need that product.
HD-DVD and Blu-Ray have not done that.

There’s a fair bit of hype about BLU-RAY, but hardly anyone knows of HD-DVD”

=> Australia is apparently siding with the Blu-ray, that’s why you see very little on HD-DVD.

JB-Hifi is actively promoting it. They cite “consumer confusion” as a reason to not actively promote HD-DVD. (Hell, I’m having hard time understanding the benefits of either!)

I don’t care who wins, as long as the capacity for one disc can occupy 10 single-sided DVD-R/+R media. (I want 47GB per disc capacity. I don’t care how you do it, but that’s my requirement).

As insurance, I think I’ll wait until drives that support BOTH formats are out and readily affordable. Say 5yrs?

“Yes, but innovators and early adoptors can make or break any new technology. They’re the ones who buy the first products at high(er) prices enabling companies to create advantages of scale. And let’s not forget the word of mouth advertising they create helping the penetration of new technology into the mass consumer markets.”

Apply that argument to the failed Laserdisc format.

That’s exactly what early adopters of the format stated back then. It’s only the mass market consumer that matters and the early adopter/technophile is pretty much of no consequence whatsoever.