[PeteG]

There is absolutely zero evidence of chinese hd dvd players and the ones that are going to be made are in fact not hd dvd compliant,or even close to hd dvd spec, and will only be made for the chinese market.

Look's like their coming this fall. 

http://www.venturer.com/news-details.aspx?id=15
http://www.e-gear.com/story/story.bsp?sid=73371&var=story

[jqp]

Yes, despite the lengthy sermon, they seem to be coming

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/format-wars/first-sub+200-hd-dvd-player-announced-venturer-shd7000-294791.php

and here is a much better deal, name brand with 8 free movies

http://www.bargainist.com/deals/2007/08/toshiba-hd-dvd-player-240-8-free-movies/

[jqp]

This author feels B-R will lose for basic financial reasons, and both formats may lose

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/WIkqRmgiiUw0IV/Blu-ray-Loses-RhapsodyMTV-Target-iTunes-Weakness-Product-of-the-Week.xhtml

[Philistine]

This article fits in with my findings:

I went to my local Best Buy this week, and was pleasantly surprised to see that they had both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray on demo - both looked great with no format looking better or worse than the other, but no one was interested!  As usual they had a glut of PS3's and XBox 360's but, apart from accessories,  no sign of a Wii anywhere (it's been like that since Christmas). 
The reason I was in BB was to get my hands on an external 750Gb hard drive for $175 - Dish Network have just enabled the usb port on their HD-DVR receivers in order to allow archiving of recordings.  I'm now able to archive all the high-def concerts on the Rave channel, and as we know the music concert offerings from both HD disc camps is pitiful. 
So I'll just stick with my sat based system until the mess clears, if it does - with my generation wary of the VHS/Beta war, and the younger generation downloading movies and audio, I'm not sure there's enough demand anymore for a media based high def format.  The real issue is not Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD, but the two combined formats competing against other leisure activities.

Sony have developed a core competence in screwing things up, looks like they're true to form again with the PS3 and Blu-Ray.         

[Ears]

There is absolutely zero evidence of Chinese hd dvd players and the ones that are going to be made are in fact not hd dvd compliant,or even close to hd dvd spec, and will only be made for the Chinese market.

Look's like their coming this fall. 

http://www.venturer.com/news-details.aspx?id=15
http://www.e-gear.com/story/story.bsp?sid=73371&var=story

Now there is some evidence.
Of course the AVS inspired B.S thread about Wallmart ordering a bunch of players from a completely different Chinese company is still just a rumour.

These will not be selling at Wally World apparently.
www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6473655.html?nid=2705

There are already several BD deals for cheap Chinese players and  other new Chinese companies signing up with BD announced today....but who cares about cheaper  quality players when  new players from Loewes, Hitachi, Sharp,Samsung, Denon, Philips, Pioneer Elite, Sony and Panasonic are all coming and other cheaper companies are announcing players that are 2.0 compliant like Daewoo.
Mitshubishi is supposed to be delivering a 3-d BD player in early 08.
If you add all the companies backing BD vs hd dvd , its basically Toshiba/Microsoft vs pratically the rest of the CE world.

With hd dvd players being half or at least close to half as cheap as BD players ever since launch, why is it that BD keeps selling more movies every week in 07, and it seems to be heading to even bigger numbers for BD software sales advantages?

Because the masses are not even close to buying into HD optical.
1 One format only needs to exist before the masses ever jump.
2 Player prices do need to be around 50.00- 99.00.
3 Software needs to be under 20.00 for new releases and under 15.00 for catalog titles.

This isn't about the masses yet, and Dale Earnhart JR driving the Sony Blu-ray car next year is an attempt to reach the masses for 08 but it will not work because of both software and hardware pricing being too high, and the fact that most of the masses don't even have an HDTV yet.

I keep seeing rumours of a BD player/recorder being  possibly announced soon, and that could have an effect on all of this if it is more than just a rumour that is.


The only true indicator we have is software sales worldwide for both formats, and the only thing we can hope for is that one format takes the reigns and the sooner the better, or say goodbye to what could be the last optical format, and hello to low quality downloads.

[tex-amp]

With hd dvd players being half or at least close to half as cheap as BD players ever since launch, why is it that BD keeps selling more movies every week in 07, and it seems to be heading to even bigger numbers for BD software sales advantages?

I wouldn't be happy with 2 to 1 movies sales when player sales are 5 to 1.  This holiday season BD needs to outsell HD players 5 to 1 to maintain that 2-1 movie ratio.  I think that will be hard to do.

[PeteG]

This isn't about the masses yet, and Dale Earnhart JR driving the Sony Blu-ray car next year is an attempt to reach the masses for 08 but it will not work because of both software and hardware pricing being too high, and the fact that most of the masses don't even have an HDTV yet.

I believe the Chinese will be making cheap players for both sides before long. So far I been very happy with a Panny BP10AK and I don't think the Chinese will come close to it or my Tosh.