[TDDance234]

ha. I remember my freshman year, one guy in our dorm camped outside of BB for a PS2. He wouldn't even let anybody gaze at it. Man that thing is old. Move on to the next gen folks.

Why? The PS2 still has very good graphics and is extremely affordable. You can buy 4 PS2s for the cost of 1 PS3. That's ridiculous.

[LUconn]

What the heck would you want 4 PS2's for? No but seriously, the cost is getting you a BlueRay player which are off the charts expensive. If that still doesn't do it for you, grab a 360. Hundreds cheaper than a ps3, better graphics than a ps2 and loads of other details that make it superior to a ps2.

[El Scorcho]

Blu-Ray sucks. It's a Sony-proprietary format with no significant advantages over HD-DVD. It's just Sony trying to leverage their way into the living room, once again.

Xbox 360 for $299 + HD-DVD add-on for $199 = $500 = Still $99 cheaper than the PS3.

[LUconn]

Well, I wasn't advocating one or the other. Personally I'd like to see Blu-ray die simply because I have a 360. But they're both nice systems.

[HenryGale]

Is there any leader so far as to what may become the HD DVDFormat? HD DVD or BluRay...or are they going to co-exist?

[LUconn]

that'll be debated for years to come until one of the formats, take control, I believe. I guess they could coexist but that would certianly be obnoxious.

[HenryGale]

Funny story...don't know if it is true or not...but back when there was the same issue between VHS and Beta tape VCR formats...I heard the determing factor that swayed eveything to VHS was that the porn industry chose to go with VHS, thus, everything went VHS.

Don't know where I read that...who knows, probably read it here

[RubberMallet]

ha. I remember my freshman year, one guy in our dorm camped outside of BB for a PS2. He wouldn't even let anybody gaze at it. Man that thing is old. Move on to the next gen folks.

hey babies...

you forgot to tell everyone my finaglization skills when it came to laying claim to a ps2...and how awesome i am

[RubberMallet]

That's impressive.. the PS2 is by far the best gaming system. Coming out with the small version was absolutely brilliant by Sony. Appearently, they didn't learn with the PS3.

considering the ps2 that was tiny has zillions of issues, i wasn't impressed with it...

[RubberMallet]

i love my ps3 but i rarely play it as the games i'm looking for aren't out yet....the 360 takes up most of my time if i'm playing anything...

[El Scorcho]

Funny story...don't know if it is true or not...but back when there was the same issue between VHS and Beta tape VCR formats...I heard the determing factor that swayed eveything to VHS was that the porn industry chose to go with VHS, thus, everything went VHS.

Close, but not quite. Sony wouldn't allow the "adult industry" to use the Betamax format. That, indeed, is what won the war for the VHS format. Once again, Sony has said that the adult industry will not be allowed to use the Blu-ray format, which leads many to think that HD-DVD will eventually win out. I think it's a sad thing, but that industry tends to drive the direction of technology. As for the content itself, I can only speak to what I've read, but word on the street is that once the adult industry's customers have seen the content in HD, they walked away thinking maybe HD wasn't such a good thing after all. That's all I have to say about that.

I will say that LG has a hybrid HD-DVD/Blu-ray player out that isn't really any more expensive than most of the standalone HD-DVD or Blu-ray players. I think Samsung has one on the way. I think those players are more likely to end the format war than either format winning out. If the price of the hybrid players stays on par with the single-format players, people won't care what format their movies are in. I'm personally just not a fan of Sony because they've done so many shady things in the tech industry over the last few years.

[Libertine]

Funny story...don't know if it is true or not...but back when there was the same issue between VHS and Beta tape VCR formats...I heard the determing factor that swayed eveything to VHS was that the porn industry chose to go with VHS, thus, everything went VHS.

Close, but not quite. Sony wouldn't allow the "adult industry" to use the Betamax format. That, indeed, is what won the war for the VHS format.

Again, close but not quite. The "adult industry" scenario is only an example of why Betamax lost the format wars, not the cause. Here's what happened: Sony pretty much invented both VHS and Betamax. Betamax was, by far, the superior signal format so that's what Sony decided to go with and market. They never thought that there could be a real market for the inferior VHS format so they pretty much junked it. In some cases, they sold off or even gave away the technology to minor Korean and American companies. However, they shot themselves in the foot b/c, since they basically made the VHS format free to anyone who wanted it, guess which one took off? VHS machines and tapes were still inferior but they were also cheaper to purchase and manufacture and VHS ended up flooding the market. Also, with so many manufacturers working with VHS, the existing technology was improved on making that format that much more versatile and marketable. It isn't that the porn industry caused VHS to be the format of choice; they just went to VHS at the same time as everybody else.

[El Scorcho]

Sony pretty much invented both VHS and Betamax.

No, they pretty much didn't. JVC invented the Video Home System format. Sony invented Betamax first. They were direct competitors, though Sony gave away a lot of the technology in Betamax, which significantly helped with the development of VHS and a couple of other formats that never caught on.

Betamax was, by far, the superior signal format so that's what Sony decided to go with and market. They never thought that there could be a real market for the inferior VHS format so they pretty much junked it. In some cases, they sold off or even gave away the technology to minor Korean and American companies. However, they shot themselves in the foot b/c, since they basically made the VHS format free to anyone who wanted it, guess which one took off? VHS machines and tapes were still inferior but they were also cheaper to purchase and manufacture and VHS ended up flooding the market. Also, with so many manufacturers working with VHS, the existing technology was improved on making that format that much more versatile and marketable. It isn't that the porn industry caused VHS to be the format of choice; they just went to VHS at the same time as everybody else.

Sony didn't have an option as to which to market. Betamax was their technology, VHS was not. VHS tapes had technological advantages, too. They played longer and rewound a lot faster. Betamax caught up with both of those advantages later, but it was too late.

The adult industry did play a part in the failure of Betamax, but they weren't alone. Sony refused to license the format to other regular movie studios as well. It was Sony's overall refusal to license Betamax to a variety of studios that caused Betamax to fail in the home. This time around, however, there is signifcant debate about what role adult films are going to play in the format wars. It's a 4 billion dollar a year industry, and that's not something those in the industry take lightly.

[LUconn]

you guys know way too much about porn.

[RubberMallet]

this reminds me....knaps, who was the fat dude with the glasses who used to play his own version of Crank Yankers in his dorm room ....he had red hair...

[LUconn]

I don't want to say in fear that somebody here might know him. It was never officially confirmed.

[RubberMallet]

didn't we have a nickname for him that he dispised....or was that just me...

[Libertine]

Sony was certainly not the only company working on home video formats but they were working on both the VHS and Betamax formats and were farther along while JVC was really only working the VHS angle. Sony dropping their VHS format immediately benefitted JVC because, even though they were direct competitors, they were no longer necessarily competing against another company but against another format. Other than who had what first and the overall impact of the porn industry on this, I'm not sure where we disagree here.

[HenryGale]

word on the street is that once the adult industry's customers have seen the content in HD, they walked away thinking maybe HD wasn't such a good thing after all. That's all I have to say about that.

Line of the day...

[Libertine]

The news industry has said much the same thing....for somewhat different reasons, of course.

[Sly Fox]

That's just the anchors. Otherwise the only problem with going HD is the transitional period with 4:3 file video. There's no way to make it look good than anyone has discovered as of yet.

[Fumblerooskies]

I must say that Stuart Scott is butt ugly in HD...fake eye and all.

[Libertine]

That's just the anchors.

Well, that's all the news is, isn't it?

[TDDance234]

So, what should it be? XBOX 360 or the Wii?

[belcherboy]

So, what should it be? XBOX 360 or the Wii?

If you want more adult oriented games with better graphics, go with the 360. If you want more party oriented games and kid friendly games, go with the Wii. The Xbox 360 on an HDTV is VERY cool.