Took them two years before getting a Blu-Ray drive? Awesome I'll definitely would be looking into it if more than 1% of the movies where available and they wouldn't cost 3-4 times more than a normal DVD...

"This product does not play HD DVD discs."
I bought their HD DVD player and was starting to build a library of HD DVD's when they just pulled the rug out and knocked me on my ass. I'll never buy anything from them again, I bought a Panasonic blue-ray player to replace it.

I bet it was a hard pill for them to swallow, making a Blu-Ray player. Probably like when Sony finally made a VHS player.

"I'll definitely would be looking into it if more than 1% of the movies where available and they wouldn't cost 3-4 times more than a normal DVD..."

I agree I only buy Blue-ray when I can get them cheap like between $10 & $15.

I'm glad I got an HD dvd player. I have a player and about 15 movies for less than $100.

Buy them on eBay and Amazon Marketplace, and you can get them for $10 & $15.

They didn't cease the HD-DVD technology for fun. They were at war with Sony and their Blu-ray technology. Some studios backed HD-DVD and some backed BR. In the end Blu-ray had enough backing that Toshiba had to throw in the towel or probably begin losing a lot more money.

Believe me they tried to make HD-DVD the format, but Sony and major movie studios had something else to say about it.

That said, choosing a Panny player was not a bad choice at all. Good quality stuff.

oops, wasn't logged in when I made the above comment..

i am very happy sticking to dVd and playing them thru my OPPO 1080p upsampling DVD Player onto my Panasonic 42" Plasma.I also have great power in my home with devices to watch/clean it so my video looks close to what a blu-ray does.

think i am wrong well i did a A/B comparison with my setup and my friend brought his playstation w/ a blu-ray movie.
we compared 10,000 BC DVD & Blu-ray.

I refuse to pay the expensive price of blu-ray for alittle better picture.it is not worth it to me.,

uh? 3-4x the cost? No. A new release movie title... pick any... the MSRP for a DVD is $18 (avg) and the BR is $26 (avg). About 20%. Even in Costco, WalMart, etc. 4x the picture quality... for $5~10 more... If you have a 50" $1500 TV... whats the big deal over $10?

--- Other subject:
SONY is pretty much the ONLY remaining brand to BUY blank VHS tapes... go figure.


Toshiba had no choice, they couldn't continue HD-DVD alone. When Toshiba announced that they were killing HD-DVD, Toshiba was the ONLY and has always been the ONLY maker for HD-DVD players. All the others were re-branded Toshibas. Meanwhile, Samsung, Panasonic and others were making their own players.

If Toshiba's BR player is a good product... might as well buy it. Sony made some of the best VHS VCRs.

Toshiba have to thank their partner the world's biggest software company Microsoft such a strong backing of hddvd.

Ah, the irony.

Toshiba and Sony both make (mostly) good products, but I don't generally buy either one. I generally don't like their remote controls, features, and/or styling.

Well it was all ways a win win for Toshiba. HD-DVD was doomed
from the beginning. Sony, Panasonic, and Samsung three of the major
players behind Blu-ray. Problem with this is TSST.
(Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Corporation)

I still like the idea of using regular DVD's but putting the high-def formats on them like h.264. The only thing that would need is specific players that have enough horsepower to play those streams (maybe even firmware updates for ones that do already) and just using stuff that really is extremely cheap and plentiful. Though it'll never happen.

I really do not know why people keep beating this dead horse. I am not going to say I am a fan of Sony, but technically speaking, HD DVD is close, but not at the limit of what red laser products are capable of.

At some point, they will have to switch to a laser based technology that can carry more bandwidth and has more head room for growth and blu ray, while slightly more expensive to implement in the beginning has dropped in price allot.

I do agree that the disc's are still pricey, but DVD's were that way too. The only reason HD DVD's prices got cut so much is they were already on their way out before they had a chance to do much.

I am looking for an 8 layer blu ray solution for my pc now because I want to record 16 hours of uncompressed HD video from my camcorder to a disc that can be played in a PS3 or other blu ray player.

But, that is still a few years down the road.

What on Earth are you talking about? New releases cost almost exactly the same on BD and DVD and although older movies are always cheaper on dvd anyways just because they've already been around for so long as it is, its only by $3 or $4 not 3-4X.

Mr_man: I bet it was a hard pill for them to swallow, making a Blu-Ray player. Probably like when Sony finally made a VHS player.

Belardo:--- Other subject: SONY is pretty much the ONLY remaining brand to BUY blank VHS tapes... go figure.

=-=-=-=-=-=
To you both, Its much easier for Sony to swallow and change to VHS than Toshiba to change to Blu-Ray, because Sony (with Phillips) invented both Beta format and the VHS format (player and media), but used Beta (higher qual format) for themselves and licensed VHS to others. Problem was that they lic it to 3 others (to start) that had the exact opposite product development and market strategies. Sony/Phillips created the best possible product with best components and sell for top dollar - then trickle down those features later to med-end units, but other 3 create lower-end models that are good enough for the mass market and sell for a fraction of the prices Sony and Phillips were selling theirs to a niche group of users. So, it's not the same thing.

you people are nerds

"While everything else in the release is fairly standard, our favorite part is probably the footnote that says, "This product does not play HD DVD discs.""

And why exactly is that?

Hmm, maybe they should have used their association with LG and used their previous BD model, that was a combo unit and that way, they would have still had the best and support HD-DVD too.

Personally, I will wait it out a little more, since I have a GGW-H20L drive that does its work great on the computer ;-)

Why buy a dedicated player, when I have a HTPC.

Or you can be like me and not own a HDTV or a Blu-Ray player yet...lol. Glad I'm waiting because prices on HDTV's are going down and now I can get my own PS3 for $300. Never buy new technology..let the prices fall.

If you have a PC or PS3 there is no need for this or any other player.