HD-DVD / Blu-Ray war over

[slycat]

Looks like Toshiba have finally bit the bullet and announced they are planning to withdraw from HD-DVD production (confirmed by Reuters) meaning effectively Blu-Ray has won. Now I had been holding out for a HD-DVD/Blu-Ray combo player, however now all I need to bother with is a Blu-Ray. The problem is for a standard format, there's three different versions or profiles, 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0 (BD-Live). The latter isn't in use yet but come Summer it will be so there's no point in getting a player that isn't future-proof.

No current Blu-Ray players support BD-Live but one of the requirements of it is that the player has an ethernet port for internet access. At present there is only one Blu-Ray player which has an ethernet port and is firmware upgradable to have BD-Live when it's available in the summer... the PS3. So, I'm presented with the choice of either getting a PS3 now, selling my soul to Sony but being able to enjoy HD film loveliness (Ratatouille!), or I wait until the summer when the BD-Live compatible players will be available.

Hmm...

Comments

[tktiger.livejournal.com]

Aren't there talks of Microsoft bringing out a Blu-Ray drive for the 360? Why not wait until you can get one of them? Oh, but you might need the Eilte as that has an HDMI port and I've a feeling that Blu-Ray only works with HD outputs. Which is why Blu-Ray films will only work on the PS3 when using the HD output.

Then again, I might be wrong. :)

[slycat.livejournal.com]

Well there were suggestions made by Microsoft that should HD-DVD lose, they wouldn't rule out a Blu-Ray addon, though nothing's been confirmed yet. Secondly, yes, if the 360 did use a Blu-Ray addon, it would have to be transmitted to the TV over a secure digital cable which is only possible through HDMI. As HD-DVD chose not to require this (and was region free), this wasn't a problem. Fortunately, I do have an Elite anyway so wouldn't be an issue for me, and all new 360s come with HDMI anyway.