HD-DVD war created to support downloading

I guess the studios are not the only ones being paid on the HD scene...Sounds like Michael Bay is in Sony's payroll...too much crap he's been spilling against HD-DVD lately...

Bay admitted last time (as he swiftly changed his tune) that he really didn't know much about HD DVD. Seems like nothing has changed. With the approval of the 51gb HD DVD there are now no Blu-ray technical advantages (with the 1 exception of raw bitrate unknown - but if the 51gb disc has the same spin speed as the older 45gb TL HD DVD disc then HD DVD tops that too). Even in the so-called 1st developed world we don't have the connection speeds or the download limits for this loopy conspiracy theory to become reality. Bay really ought to get a little more clued in before going on his little personal publicity hunts.

It's been well know for many years now, that Microsoft don't actually have any real interest in Blu-ray/HD DVD war, and merely want a long bloody battle, whilst they get their download service upto speed. Talk about anti-consumer.... The only way consumers can win this, is by buying Blu-ray and killing HD DVD.

This has been an open secret within the DVD industry for some time now. HD-DVD was virtually already dead two years ago until Microsoft starting pulling strings behind the scenes in order to screw up Blu-ray and Java as an HD delivery system. Every single studio using HD-DVD now is doing so because Microsoft is paying for it.

Only over my dead lifeless body i willbuy any online content from microsoft. I would rather watch re-runs on DVD at home. But that wont happen SONY Will win this game!!! GO SONY!

...created to get us all downloading content, but two points... 1) Most countries internet infrastructure will not support HD on demand downloading either now or for many years to come. 2) The way the on demand sites will want to work is to charge per download or viewing. Sadly for the service providers this business model WILL fail, the only thing that will work is a fixed fee per month where you download as much as you like. In the same way you might pay £15 per month for as many DVD rentals through the post as you can handle.

And the very next day, Ars Technica ran an article on debunking this rumor... http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071205-debunking-the-microsoft-hd-dvd-conspiracy-theories.html Basically, the statement from MS was that if anyone's making payments here, it's Toshiba.

I don't have an X-Box but do have a Series 3 HD Tivo (the ultimate DVR, by the way, expandable with great home media features in addition to the best DVR functionality) sitting on my home network, and occasionally download content from Amazon's Unbox service. I recognize this as the way of the future. I also: 1) Realize that this isn't going to be mature for a couple of years from the model point of view. Heck, the movie studios will keep it screwed up for some period of time. 2) Infrastructure is a MAJOR issue for the logical "buffet" model suggested by SNooPY. Not just for the end users, most of whom don't have the sustained bandwidth to download and watch real time 1080i HD without SERIOUS compression losses (your cablemodem may do semi-OK for some content today, but what happens when you and all your neighbors and streaming HD movies on your shared line? RIGHT....), but also on the provider end. You're talking about some SERIOUS bandwidth to pull this off. 3) I want high quality movies NOW - not SD like I get from Unbox (HD, soon I hope), and not even reduced quality semi-HD like you get on XBOX. Solution: bought a Blu-Ray player AND an HD-DVD player. I think Blu-Ray will "win" in the end because of technology and momentum. I'm supporting this outcome by preferring Blu-Ray over HD-DVD on my Netflix account, so the only HD-DVD titles I see are the exclusives, but in the meantime, I'm format agnostic and get most of my Netflix movies in HD.

Are you people stupid? I'm glad they're doing it. Who the hell likes having useless dvd covers and game boxes anyway? I can't wait for the day when all media: games/music/movies etc come in downloadable format only. Physical media adds to the cost of the devices, it's slow to read and write, it's noisy and it's a lot more prone to reading errors. I say go microsoft. This is one conspiracy i hope is true.

"He claims that... Ballmer is quietly writing $100 million cheques to movie studios." While Bay's statement is not exactly 100% accurate, Microsoft has paid $50,000,000 to Paramount and $100,000,000 to Dreamworks in 'promotional considerations' to go HD DVD exclusive. It's no secret - even these two studios don't deny it. Search google if you don't believe me. :-)

For the unbelievers....MS has contract currently to provide content delivery on cable providers...many don't use the drm (using their own) and only use the billing/interface for delivery, but they do pay for it. The idea has always been to make bd/hd-dvd enough of a hassle to stall for the cable/satellite providers to offer movie downloads via MS software. Even if it's SD downloads why not it's still $ while the dvd's suck. It has an effect on sony ps3 as well, but that's just a bonus. 360 does not release games for the hd drive and has said it has no plans to integrate and hd-dvd into the standard system. So it's really just a me too stance, but one geared to make the war continue. They'd rather you downloaded content from any service they provide.

Me and my friends have been saying this since the beginning. BLU-RAY and HD-DVD are just a waste of time! Next, who cares about "most" countries when this topic only really applies to the countries buying most of the content. You are very I'll informed as Verzion is now setting up FIOS at VERY affordable (just as cheap as Cable in some cases), which has amazing abilities. By that I mean over 10x the speed they're actually selling. (To bad our hardware can't handle the amazing speeds...) Anyway, streaming is the future and having an actual physical format is hindering growth. And don't worry about having to buy from Microsoft. I mean, you'll be able to stream stuff from your iTV, and save it on your iPOD, then take pictures of your favorite part it send it to all of your friends with your iPHONE and then they can view it on their brand new iMAC. Yep you don't have to worry about a software/hardware giant taking over all forms of media. All you have to do is buy Apple..... Errrrr...

1mbps (mega bits per second), that is what I get in download speed on average. So, that puts a 51GB (Giga Bytes) download at more than 100 hours continuous download. Assuming my ISP does not terminate my contract for this kind of a download, and that the internet connection stays up 24/7, I will be able to watch the movie 4 days after I start downloading it. Isn't Netflix faster?

Let me get this straight: some of you folk are actually *complaining* that there is more competition in formats? The last thing we need is to have these HD players hiked up in price because there's no competition. I personally enjoy the fact that these companies have to pack their players with many movies to entice me to buy their hardware. Long live competition, from any source, Microsoft or whoever.

What a dilbert. Seriously, HDDVD came first, as it is the official successor to the DVD format (from the DVD Forum). Bluray is the late-to-the-party spoiler. If it weren't for Sony's thick-headed and historically-ignorant greed, there would be no format war.

I dont know for sure this is happening, but it sound exactly like the kind of thing Microsoft or any large corporation would do. Everything they do is motivated by the need to make money. Corporations are set up to make money, not perform altruisitc acts on behalf of the community. I actually hope that HD DVD prevails. because I prefer it for technical reasons plus I hate any form of internet delivery. If I buy something, I like to be able to hold it in my hands.

"The only way consumers can win this, is by buying Blu-ray and killing HD DVD." Or by buying neither and not caring.

Who's worse? sony or MS? who was worse hitler or stalin? why bother with such impossible questions, just avoid all of it and be a pirate, yar.

@DaveBG Did you know al current HDDuD players dont spport TL discs nor 51GB discs? so all those milion, no wait 700,000 HDDuD players would be incompatible. Not to mention BLu0Ray already has developed 100GB discs and Prototype 200GB discs, so 100GB>50GB Ur such a HDDuD fanboy, trying to spread your FUD here please go back to AVS