HomeHD DVD Combos
During the unfortunately short lived Amazon “Buy 2 HD DVD/Blu-ray movies, get the 3rd free” promotion, I purchased 3 HD DVD movies (300, The Departed and Happy Feet … with the discount, it was even cheaper than buying the DVD versions of these movies locally). What made me want to buy the US version of these discs (remember, HD DVD is region-free, so any disc sold will play anywhere, unlike Blu-ray) is that they are all combo discs – HD DVD on one side, DVD on the other. These are not available here in Australia, so I was interested in getting my hands on one of these discs and see what it was like. I did run into a problem with the Happy Feet HD DVD side, in that it would not play in my Xbox 360 HD DVD player, but it was easily solved by using tissue paper to clean the disc (it looked slightly oily to me). Anyway, the DVD side worked fine and the single disc widescreen DVD versions of these films were present (300 and The Departed were without extra features, but Happy Feet had the same set of features as the HD DVD side).
But I can’t help but feel it’s all a bit gimmicky, and that do I really need the DVD version of the film? If I were to, say, travel and want to play the movie on my notebook (which only has a DVD drive), I suppose this could be handy. But I suspect the HD DVD side won’t like the wear and tear associated with flipping the disc over and having fingerprint smudges all over the place as the disc is being handled. Buying the HD DVD only version, and then getting the DVD version when it goes on sale seems to make more sense to me. Or if they made a 2 disc set, one disc is the HD DVD version and the other is the DVD version, then I could go for it (assuming they keep it at the same price). Or if the studios were really keen on promoting HD DVD, then they can forgo the DVD version of the film at release, and then only issue the HD DVD combo version for the first few weeks (they would have to lower the price to at least be competitive with other DVD new release titles). This would (albeit, artificially) lift the sale of HD DVDs, but I think it’s good for the consumer too (again, assuming the price is right), because they would have a HD DVD verison of the film ready to watch when they go down the HD route in the future, and all without spending any extra money.
In any case, Warner are re-issuing all their combos as HD DVD only versions now, and with the associated price drop too. The extra price that is put on these combos means that Blu-ray movies appear to be cheaper, and that can’t help the HD DVD camp.
My Wii is bigger than your Xbox
I’m sick and tired of hearing people comparing Wii and Xbox 360/PS3 sale figures. Let me first say that I own a Wii and a Xbox 360, and I’m looking at buying a PS3, so I’m not biased towards any of the consoles (well maybe slightly biased against the PS3). While it is true that all 3 consoles are so called “next-gen” systems, to put the Wii in the same bracket as the Xbox 360/PS3 is ridiculous. The Wii is aimed at an entirely different gaming demographic, and the games released on it demonstrate this fact. Hardcore gamers are not likely to be captivated by the graphics and gameplay of the Wii. Plus, the Wii is selling at an entirely different price range, although the Xbox 360 Core package is starting to compete at the same price range. Comparing the Xbox 360 to the PS3 is fair (even though the PS3 is priced much higher), since both consoles attempt to do pretty much the same things. Comparing the Wii to either of the other consoles is like comparing a VW Beetle to a Hummer … I’m sure one sells a lot better than the other too.
HD-VMD
Just like the world needs another blog like this one, the world also needs another HD format. Seriously, “**** off” is what I say to the marketing people who thought another HD format would be a great idea. Do they really think people will buy yet another HD media player? Do they really think that the major studios, all of them have already backed HD DVD or Blu-ray (or both), will back yet another media format? (so far, HD-VMD’s content providers include VCL, Lazy Town, Eros Entertainment and Channel Nine here in Australia … not exactly the big names in movies)
Back when DVDs first came onto the scene, there were tons of other competing formats, some still based on CD technology. All of them failed, badly, and rightly so. I just can’t see any other outcome other than total failure for HD-VMD, or any other new HD media formats, especially when neither HD DVD nor Blu-ray, even with all their financial muscle and studio support, can be considered much of a success.
