After talking to some cable guys I was told that bandwidth is a major problem becuase of analog signals, 80% of the cable is taken by analog so soon as they is turned off there will be alot more to play with.

As said above I believe VOD will be the future.

n the wake of the recent announcement of Warner Bros new allegiance to the Blu-ray format (and, as result, sister company New Line Cinemas similarly adopted format loyalty), the HD DVD group has canceled their pre-Consumer Electronics Show press conference. Were not sure if the announcement will impact the HD DVD Promotion Groups booth at the show, though we imagine it will create an atmosphere for their visitors with a level of awkwardness similar to that of a nursing home.

In a mass email to CES attendees, a representative for the group said they are "currently discussing the potential impact of this announcement with the other HD DVD partner companies and evaluating next steps." If these "next steps" dont include lining the pockets of every remaining film publisher on the market to convince them your formats still viable, HD DVD could go the way of the Betamax with a quickness.

TBH, bluray sales in all regions other than the US dominates those of HD-DVD.  In the US its much closer but Bluray still sells more.

Thats a very bold claim lol

Lets hope this either spurs the multi format readers or kills HD DVD off.  The formats make almost no difference so just standardize ffs.  FYI I think they picked the weaker format for the customer for the closed format they could slow piracy on.

While people are willing to cough up the money for a HD set they arent willing to buy the player to go with it. Many just arent interested in higher resolution while others just cant decide which is the format to go for, so they choose neither.

TBH far too many were stung, or know people who got stung, back in the VHS vs Betamax days.

Its going to take some time for DVD movies to die.

Sorry Steve, I should have been more clear I was talking in terms of big studio film releases rather than the usual TV fare. I agree with you for terrestrial HD, yes. If/when Sky drops the £10 fee for HD it will really gain momentum.

These ideas that all disc formats will die off are laughable though, it just wont happen, not for a long time.

the "problem" with Blu-Ray is that you have to remember it has the ability to be physically locked to a player if they want to.  Sony havent turned it on yet, but if they can get away with it they will.  If HD-DVD is killed off then you lose the unlocked format.  

Exactly - Bluray is a closed format and theres some nasty things in it.  Dont expect any software players or plugins for winamp and the other players anytime soon unless theyre willing to drop a big chunk of change each year to rent the specs book on 12 month loans.

Sony never want  certain films on their formats they think are to graphic etc, porn wont be on it and there has been a lot of moans about some of the features on blu ray and there is still this strange thing of so many of the movies on the format not using hardly any of the abilities the format has while hd-dvd many seem to be packed.

For me it still seems odd what it is going on and all the decisions being made on what format to go for seems all down to businesses deals and money backing going on

While blu ray is actually better in a number of areas I still go on the fact hd-dvd has the better name and currently people putting movies on it seem to be doing a better job

ms with the xbox can always just release a blu ray box as well for £150 so safe their but I think they should just go for it and risk it and go put hd dvd as standard in the console. I think if they went for it from day one things could have been a different story But its all about money and deals at the moment.

I think since they cancelled all shows and interviews at this years show I think they are in deep talks about what to do next. I cant see hd-dvd dropping out but This recent blow has been a bit of a shock and they looking at what to do and talking to folk etc.


http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/07/def-war