Interesting image to pair with the article.... anyway Blue-ray will win the battle due to its larger storage capacity. Ps3 games will be able to be much larger than its xBox counterpart.

Toshiba has announced they will include HDDVD drives in EVERY laptop they put out this year. there are FAR more Toshiba laptops that sell per year than PS3s and we should see an end to the argument that PS3 hardware is helping the Blu-Ray hardware sales numbers.

Not all PS3 owners even know what Blu-Ray is let alone use it to watch movies, while EVERY single HDDVD add on sold for the 360 is being used solely for HDDVD viewing.

OK, now I'll go out and buy a HD-A3, wait till Blu-Ray goes profile 2.0, and buy that one when it's below $300, and then buy a standalone hybrid at no more than $300. I don't really like the idea of watching high definition movies on my small computer/laptop screen. I dunno, just me I guess.

Hmmm, maybe this means I should be a Blu-ray burner today as a year-end business expense. I haven't wanted to go down the path of archiving data to one of two formats having a war...

With large corporations behind the formats, two sumo wrestlers will probably be a more appropriate photo.

However, since everyone views HD DVD as the underdog, maybe this one will do?

[neatorama.cachefly.net]

SEIVEN: By that logic we should see an end to the arguement that Toshiba laptops is helping the HD DVD hardware sales numbers. Not all Toshiba laptop owners even know what HD DVD is let alone use it to watch movies.

@Seiven:

But will people buy HD-DVD versions of movies just to watch on their Toshiba laptops?

Will Toshiba also increase the screen res of all their laptops? An awful lot of laptops that Toshiba sells currently have 1280x800 resolution.

When will people learn.

HDDVD vs. BluRay is not the same as VHS vs Beta. This is the equivalent of SA-CD vs DVD-A. Neither one won that face off because consumers were more interested in iPods. That's right, Low-Fi audio from an iPod beat out the super rich hi-fi of DVD-A and SA-CD. The same will happen with Blu-Ray and DVD-A. Apple will release a rental program that will make sense and everyone will clamor to drop $300 on a AppleTV. Why own a physical format at all? Download and or Streaming is the wave of the future. And the quality will increase with time just like iTunes music has.

We'll be streaming Full HD movies with 7.1 surround from our ATVs in well under 5 years. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will be but a joke some guy reminds everyone about on a tech blog.

Even if every new computer, game, and movie-specific player were to be a multi-format HD DVD and Blu-ray player, I do not think it would make the "Format War Endless and/or Meaningless" for at least a few reasons.

First, endlessness would require sufficient consumer support for media in both formats to survive, which simply seems unlikely because content-producers do not want to spend money developing and manufacturing content for two similar formats that not only require more work than supporting one format or the other, but preclude the manufacturing and distribution savings of producing a single format.

Similarly, multi-format players will not render the competition meaningless because they will not alleviate the problems inherent to multi-format production, but nor will they encourage consumers to select one format over the other, leaving both uncertainty over which media for producers to support and uncertainty over which media for consumers to select when more than one option is available. Adding to consumer uncertainty-for thoughtful consumers, at least-is the likelihood that if one format does eventually best the other, new players will cease to incorporate support for both formats in an effort to reduce hardware production costs, leaving consumers who have purchased media in both formats stuck with media they can no longer play once they replace their players, whether due to hardware failure or upgrades.

It does seem possible that for consumer data storage both formats could exist similarly to DVD-R and DVD+R, but I really think the pre-recorded media is going to be the deciding factor for hardware sales for the foreseeable future-at least until recorder and media prices reach mass-market prices, which also seems less likely with manufacturing and distribution expenses split over both formats.

I think the format war pics on Giz should be the two Lazurus' from the 60's Star Trek. One matter, the other anti-matter.. forever fighting.

What about Red Ray? Could that be the dark horse that brings balance?

@dallasmay2: DVD-A and SACD were flawed, that is what did them in. Online downloadable music does not compete in ant other way than a version of music. The flaws in DVD-A and SACD are numerous, but the ones that stand out is a requirement for analog wiring for 6 channels for SACD (no digital out) and DVD-A suffered from the need to use a screen for navigation (it can't replace CD players in cars unless you use a screen).

Physical media is going to be MUCH more practical for the masses for the foreseeable future. Most people do not want to wait for a 5GB+ download. Physical media is only a storage medium at this point.

@dallasmay2: "Why own a physical format at all?"

Because physical formats do not require backups or entail risk of loss due to hard drive failure; because they are not subject to hard drive storage limits; because they are available instantly instead of after downloading and thus not subject to connectivity or hardware failure during download; because they can be used without network-dependent DRM; because they are not linked to players; because they can be transported apart from players; because they can be shared; because they can be sold or traded; because they can be given as gifts with wrapping paper and bows; because their boxes enable impressive and informative shelf displays; because they allow movie selection in peace and quiet with devices off instead of by the roar of computer and set-top-box fans; because printed boxes offer higher resolution text than computer displays; because it can be satisfying to hold a movie box in hand; because physical media and boxes can make good coasters and possibly trivets.

@Seiven: Who the hell watches movies on laptops... if you are even interested in HD quality wouldnt you watch it on a HDTV over a 17in laptop? Maybe its just me?

@Michai: Ever hear of TV out? Once HD drives are in laptops it's only a matter of time before HDMI ports are standard too.

I watch most things now via the VGA out of my laptop on a 40" LCD...

By 2012? Try by 2008.

[www.maximumpc.com]

A big $20 more than the comparable Blu-ray only drive they reviewed in the same issue.

HD DVD will be long gone by 2009.

HD-DVD on a Toshiba laptop?

Pointless. Unless that laptop is at least 42".

@Galley: As perssismistic as I am about the format, I doubt HD-DVD will disappear in 1 year, 6.5 hours.

@The_Mhor:

True, my step father just bought a cheapo $599 laptop and it had HDMI out.

@Brian Sexton: That was about the most coherent reply to the "we'll all be downloading it soon anyway" statement I've heard. Well done.

Most of these laptops have video out and you can connect it to a TV with DVI or HDMI.

"..by 2009, universal drives will cost the same as Blu-ray drives" - how about by 2008? The LG GGC-H20L combo drive is $300, same as a Sony internal BD drive. I have one of the LG drives in my PC, and playback is flawless in both formats, including BD-J.