The HD DVD booth at CES: A somber sight

By Mykel Nahorniak | Published January 8, 2008, 12:37 AM

HDDVD Booth

The atmosphere at the HD DVD booth Monday at CES was anything but enthusiastic. Demonstrators forced smiles while politely answering questions from visitors, but their attempts to mask the appearance of utter defeat at the hands of an ally proved challenging.

After last week's announcement from Warner Bros. that it would use Blu-ray as its exclusive content medium come next May, and the HD DVD Promotions Group's subsequent and prompt cancellation of all one-on-one meetings with the press, it's hard to ignore the message the HD DVD Group is sending to the general public. The format war is far from over, however.

Although we obviously caught the HD DVD representatives on a bad week, there were still plenty of fans eager to show their support. While we were chatting with folks from the HD DVD camp, several passers-by stepped in to offer words of encouragement. There are many who feel strongly that HD DVD is the better format, and that it will prevail in the long run.

Last week, the HD DVD group sent out a promotional notice reminding consumers that about one million of its consoles had been sold to date in North America.

Just a few feet away on the show floor, the Blu-ray booth was emanating a smug glow of self-congratulation. None were willing to say the battle was over, but it was clear they felt the handwriting is on the wall for HD DVD.

With rumors of Paramount dropping the HD DVD format as well, the curse of the self-fulfilling prophecy may be inevitable.

Comments

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HDDVD - The look and Sound of....Going out of Business!

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A quick end to a useless, horrible format. Good riddance.

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Who the hell are you ???

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I felt pretty much the same way when DVD overtook VHS. I'll definitely feel the same way when the next format overtakes Blu-ray... which I'm guessing will not be long.

(Strange that Firefox considers 'DVD' to be spelled incorrectly, but not 'VHS')

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Useless and horrible give me a break.

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That is clearly an ignorant and biased comment.

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So how about some basis for your comment? Maybe explain what makes the format so horrible and useless? Seems to me that both BR and HD-DVD do the same exact thing... play content in high definition... so, pray tell, what makes the format so horrible and useless?

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Exactly... not that we'll ever hear from you again, but why the good riddance comment?

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Hi Joey. Are you mad that you have to buy another bluray? Well blu hoo hoo.

(doing my best blublood parity)

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troll elsewhere

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What does troll even mean?

I'm serious because I thought I knew what it meant but I'm not sure anymore.

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trolling for fish........

tryng to get someone to bite the hook

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Educate me, why would he have to buy another PS3? Did the blu-ray drive go dead already?

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Why should I educate you? Go read some of the other articles on this site. I dunno about PS3, but if you have a bluray player that isn't PS3 you are in for a shock.

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I think you jumped the gun a bit. Blu-ray seems to be prospering quite well right now... but I do admire your optimism.

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