Xbox 360 Fanboy

why the heck not, i'm not paying 900 dollars for a bluray player, and i'm not buying a ps3. i don't want to be left out of the high-def movie market forever.

To be honest I wouldn't bother getting a Blu-ray player for quite a long time. I bought the 360 HD DVD player because I was excited about hooking it up to my new big TV, but I don't like repeat-watching many of the available movies enough to spend the $30-$40 that BR/HDDVD are asking.

Come back and wake me up when the disks are $10-$15 and the selection is as good as DVD, and I'll reconsider.

Sureley they could make a external drive that could play both formats?

I can't help but think that as long as it's taking to actually decide on this war one of two things will probably happen. 1)There will readily be available players that play both formats, and/or 2)We will be able to just download and save every movie in HD ourselves. I can't wait for the Windows Home Server for just that reason.

I thought this was the reason for doing it through an external drive.. Choice.. If I want a High Def Disc, I can get one, or not. MS isn't making me pay for one. Since it's still early in the race for the Next Gen Movie Format, you don't want to be the console maker with a Laser Disc built into your system.. So, stick it on the outside, offer it as an add-on. If the format fails, offer the format that wins.

Now, if BluRay doesn't win, what is Sony planning on doing? Surely they won't start creating PS3s with HD-DVD over BluRay? So would they start creating an external HD-DVD drive? How odd would that be....

Also, as far as Combo Drives (HD-DVD and BluRay) that is NOT the answer to the format wars. This means that the consumer is the one that loses as we are paying for both technologies because the industry can't agree on which format to settle on. I give the whole thing another year at most. I believe by this time next year, we'll have a clear indication of which format will win.

I'd be nice to get Blu-ray.

I don't have an HD DVD player or Blu-ray yet; I went the affordable route for my HDTV and got an upconvert DVD 5-disc player for under $200 and I suggest everyone do the same for now.

I haven't decided which format of the two HD discs I prefer.

I highly doubt it will happen, considering in an interview in 1up.com's EGM magazine, they interviewed Peter Moore and he said quite clearly, "We have no intention of bringing bluray to the Xbox 360. We don't believe in bluray and we shouldn't support something we don't believe in."

That's not an exact quote, as I don't own the magazine, I read my friend's, but that's just about what he said.

Since I have yet to acquire an HDTV (money happens to disappear when you have a kid) the format war doesn't make much of a difference to me, aside from my fanboyness wanting HD DVD to win out.

That said, it's nice to know Microsoft will be able to offer Blu-ray should it succeed in the market.

@6:
With the price of HD-DVD players, it's starting to become foolish not to buy it over an upconverter. For example, Circuit City has a deal next Sunday where you can buy the Toshiba A2 for $400 and you get 4 free movies from Circuit city and 5 free movie sfrom Toshiba (and they're not crappy movies like in the DVD days). That means the player ends up costing you no more than $220 -- or $20 more than you paid for an upconverter (the A2 is considered one of the best upconverting players on the market - I had the Panny S77, one of the top rated, and the picture on the A1 looks just as good on my 100" projection screen).

Of course if you don't like to own movies, it's probably not that good a deal. But if you like buying movies, it's a killer deal.

Sorry for the non-Xbox post... :)

Another thing Moore said was "We do not want to burden the consumer with a drive of our choice, as Sony did with it's PlayStation 3."

Again, not an exact quote.

Peter Moore said similar at one of the E3s. MS hasn't picked a side in the HD format wars.. hence why they won't make the system with an internal HD DVD drive.

I think I'd get a BR player add on later - much later IF it wins hands down. I have an upconvert for less than 80 bucks now and the HD add on for xbox. I'm hoping to coast along with that for at least a year or so.

I think that by the time I would purchase a BR player (as it is almost certain to win at this point) a stand alone player will be much more cost effective and I won't have to rely on my 360 not breaking down in order to watch HD movies.

PS. If you don't believe me on the BR winning just check the sales figures for movies these last few months. 2:1 sales

@3
Took the words right outta my mouth.
This trend of dribbling out upgrades and peripherals rubs me the wrong way sometimes.

meh...i wont be getting a hd dvd player or blu-ray player anytime soon...so i'll get whichever wins in the end.

LOL the only people who care about high def movies are the same ones with high speed broadband connections. Something tells me that these are also the same people that would rather DOWNLOAD their movies than buy them on discs that have to be swapped out every time they want to watch a movie.

discs are old crap.. Remember before everyone had MP3 players? People walked around with those silly portable CD players! Well if you get a HD movie disc player, you're the dude with the silly portable CD player. LOL @ U!

This article continues the pr spin campaign that had just recently launched for BluRay. As the installed player base is not meeting its target (read less than awesome Ps3/BR Drive sales), they have been trying to promote the perception that BR has already won. If they can make you believe that's the case, regardless of the truth that then becomes your operating reality.

eg. "Why would I buy this drive, that format is already dead"

I agree that downloadable content is the way of the future, and the xbox live marketplace is great! However the cost of a rental and the selection is still too anemic.

I have netflix and an HD DVD drive add-on for the 360. So at least for now I am happy. If I could download HD movies from Netflix using my subscription, then I would never need an HD disk again.

That said, I hope Blu Ray doesn't win, just because I dislike Sony and their constant pushes for proprietary formats. It drives me nuts.

rumor or not, its evident that neither format controls sony or microsoft. the companies involved in the format war will simply cut losses, and adapt.

the winner isn't special, so the flame wars are futile.

Selection has killed both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD for me. I just don't like spending $30 for movies when the selection is so pathetic, and a lot of the older titles really don't look much better than an upscaled DVD via VGA on my 360.

Add to this the fact that I get HD movies on several channels, and on the XBox Video Marketplace, and the disc-based versions are starting to look useless to me.

They need to get the price down, the selection up, and the market settled before I try HD discs again. I'm glad I sold my HD DVD add-on, and I won't be getting a replacement for quite a while.