Death of HD-DVD

By Keith Campbell

Monday, February 11, 2008

I try to avoid being an early adopter of new technology; there is too much risk, and too many uncertainties. You just don't know which technology will win the market. The clear choice for the best product doesn't always win the wallets of the consumer. Even as the VCR is disappearing in American homes, academics and marketers still shake their head in wonderment of how VHS beat out Betamax.

Early adopters suffer other "issues" too. Take for example the famous battery problems of the early I-Pods, or the bugs and compatibility issues in Vista. I-Phone users paid a premium to be the fist people on their block to own the new "wonder phone." Only to have the price drop $200 just a few weeks after it was released. X-Box users suffered the "ring of death." I could go on and on with examples.

I know the risks of being an early adopter, and honestly I just don't have the desire to spend my hard earned money on a product that is poorly designed. I don't want to pay to be a beta tester for a product that isn't ready for the market, or worse a product that just loses viability and goes away. I would love to buy an E-Book such as Amazon's Kindle, but I don't want to throw my money away on a product that may not be viable or useable in six months.

So, today I wonder why in the hell I purchased an HD-DVD player last summer. I read all the arguments, and experts, and I thought I made the right choice. At the very worst, most "experts" assumed that both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray would both become viable options, with no clear winner. I read a lot of information, and was confident when I shelled out my money, that I at least picked a viable product. The outlook for my HD-DVD has been bleak in the last few weeks because major studios have been abandoning HD-DVD. Today, in my mind, I received the final death blow to my expensive wager, an email from my beloved Netflix.

Dear Keith,

You're receiving this email because you have asked to receive high-definition movies in the HD DVD format. As you may have heard, most of the major movie studios have recently decided to release their high-definition movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format. In order to provide the best selection of high-definition titles for our members, we have decided to go exclusively with Blu-ray as well.

While we will continue to make our current selection of HD DVD titles available to you for the next several months, we will not be adding additional HD DVD titles or reordering replacements.

Toward the end of February, HD DVDs in your Saved Queue will automatically be changed to standard definition DVDs. Then toward the end of this year, all HD DVDs in your Queue will be changed to standard definition DVDs. Don't worry, we will contact you before this happens.

All I can say is…dang it, I hate learning expensive lessons.

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Posted by OtherJoel (anonymous) on February 11, 2008 at 5:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)

This was weird. A year or so back, I read in some tech column that HD-DVD was winning. So much for that.

I'm sticking with regular DVDs as long as I can. Not like it will make a difference on my 8 year-old Trinitron.

Posted by DOTDOT (anonymous) on February 12, 2008 at 10:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Keith, you can see this as a HD-DVD problem, or a Netfix problem. All's not lost. Keep an eye out for titles in your format, and enjoy it 'til it is sure enough over.

This will be a GREAT way to stimulate the economies of Japan/Taiwan/China with our packages. Blu-ray it is, but don't buy a used Samsung.

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=0...

Posted by lostblend (Keith Campbell) on February 12, 2008 at 12:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Best Buy is now recommending Blu-Ray too. HD-DVD's response?

"We have long held the belief that HD DVD is the best format for consumers based on quality and value, and with more than 1 million HD DVD players on the market, it's unfortunate to see Netflix make the decision to only stock Blu-ray titles going forward. While the Best Buy announcement says they will recommend Blu-ray, at least they will continue to carry HD DVD and offer consumers a choice at retail."

I predict in 6 months I won't have any options to choose from in the HD-DVD format. Maybe this will be an extra motivator to get a PS3...

Posted by beatle919 (Marcy McGuffie) on February 12, 2008 at 4:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)

HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, PS3. Shit man, you be speaking a foreign language to me! If someone ever handed me an IPOD, I probably wouldn't even recognize what it was. I can't even operate the "thing" we purchased last year to record stuff...I honestly have no idea what the hell it's called...all I know is that it pisses the husband off even more than me. Unlike me, he knows how to operate it - but, apparently, it's not all it was cracked up to be. I miss my good ole VHS VCR. That's a language I understand!

But, I do feel for you, Keith. Even though you have spoken a foreign language to this technologically impaired woman, I do understand the sad ending to your story...that, sucks the big one, dude!

Posted by clayhill70 (anonymous) on February 23, 2008 at 11:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Marcy, I share your ignorance and yes possibly fear of "new gadgets". My slow slide into tech-no ignorance began with the 8 trac tape players, I much preferred LP's and turntables. Even though I eventually purchased an 8 trac because of its portability I continued to buy vinyl for its "quality". All of that quality is warping in the attic beside the turntable.
On the bright side, long before you and I purchase the newest gadget it's usually become more user friendly and the bugs have been worked out. The dark side, it's probably two weeks away from becoming obsolete.
I fear I'll have to surrender my drivers license long before geriatric challenges make it mandatory.

Death of HD-DVD

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