HD DVD

Banyak tech geeks sedang bertanya-tanya, "Apa terjadi kepada HD DVD?" Jika anda menjadi seorang di antara pembeli malang untuk macet di perang format, lalu anda mungkin sedang merasa frustrasi dan marah tentang pembelian anda. Sejak Toshiba mengumumkan bahwa akan memberhentikan produksi di HD DVD PLAYERSnya, mengakui kekalahan ke Sony 's superior Blu Ray DVD media, banyak pembeli ditinggalkan dengan mesin tanpa penggunaan yang tidak akan dapat memainkan film baru yang mana pun yang muncul.

Pasti anda sudah mendengar pepatah, "Pembeli hati-hatilah." Bagaimanapun juga, kebanyakan konsumen mengambil itu jika mereka sedang membayar $300 untuk film definisi tinggi yang baru yang main mesin, tidak bermaksud menjadi usang di kurang dari tahun-tahun waktu. Itu adalah persis apa yang terjadi untuk mendiami yang dibeli sahamnya hype melinungi Toshiba/HD DVD PLAYERS Microsoft tahun yang lalu. Mereka diberi tahu bahwa saingan baru akan berganti konsumen cara melihat/mendengar film di kamar hidup mereka sendiri. Tetapi, pemain Bluray Sony mendapatkan perang di jumlah waktu yang luar biasa pendek. Meskipun ada jangka waktu hidup HD DVD yang berumur pendek, pengecer sedang menawarkan suatu penangguhan untuk pembelanja tidak puas.

Toshiba dan Microsoft tidak satu-satunya pecundang besar dengan turunnya HD DVD. A yang diperkirakan 1,3 juta orang pelanggan sekarang tertikam dengan mesin tanpa penggunaan ini. Untuk menebusnya pada pembeli, raksasa eceran suka Wal-pasar, Circuit City, Best Buy dan Amazon sedang menawarkan diri untuk mengimbangi sebagian dari biaya. Lebih dari itu, pengusaha pabrik seperti Samsung dan Sony sedang memeriksa kasih-sayang pembeli kemenangan dengan mesin yang memenuhi keperluan baik Blu Ray cakra maupun HD DVD pemilik.

"Perang format membingungkan bagi pembeli," kata orang-dalam Samsung, kalau berbicara tentang Sony Blu Ray format lawan. HD Toshiba/Microsoft DVD. When debu menurun, 1,3 juta orang konsumen sudah menjatuhkan ratusan dolar di atas mesin usang. Walaupun dapat bermain tua DVDs dan membeli sekitar 386 hak di HD DVD, orang tidak akan dapat mendapat film baru yang mana pun yang muncul. "Sekarang masih ada HD DVD cakra yang diinginkan oleh orang untuk membaca; tetapi tak seorang pun mau menulis kepada format itu," orang-dalam Samsung menampakkan. Untuk menghibur pecundang perang format, Samsung membangun Blu Ray cakra/HD DVD combo perangsang yang akan membaca kedua format. Banyak pengecer dan pengusaha pabrik lain sedang ikut-kutan.

Best Buy is offering a $50 gift card to people who purchased an HD DVD player or HD DVD Xbox360 unit before February 23rd. The gift cards should all be automatically mailed out by May 1st to "Reward Zone" customers or people who bought warranties. Other customers must call 1-888-BestBuy and have a receipt or credit card information ready, as proof of purchase. Best Buy also offers a trade-in center to scrap the old player, although you will not be getting a particularly good return on your investment. For example, a Toshiba HD XA2 unit, originally priced at $1,000, may fetch you $148.50 and HD DVDs $2.70 each.

Similarly, Wal-Mart shoppers will receive full refunds on returns of HD DVD machines, provided that customers still have their receipts. Anyone who purchased an HD DVD player on or after November 1st can return their player by April 30th to receive their money back and dispose of the old machine. Customers who were unfortunate enough to lose their receipts may want to turn to Best Buy's trade-in center for a reprieve.

Similarly, Amazon is the most recent retailer to jump on the $50-Giveaway bandwagon. Some Amazon customers received an email, stating: "New technologies don't always work out as planned. We at Amazon.com value our customer relationships more than anything and would like to support customers who purchased these players by offering a credit good for $50 off any products sold by Amazon.com." Any HD DVD purchase bought before February 23rd is eligible for the refund and the product can be turned in any time before April 9, 2009. It should also be noted that Amazon has consumer-friendly Blu ray sales as well.

Circuit City is now accepting HD DVD returns in-store only. According to Gizmodo and Digg readers, Circuit City is offering to give a store credit or a same-price, "trade-up" refund to consumers who would rather own the Blu Ray player. This is one of the best deals offered but it hasn't been widely promoted. Additionally, Circuit City has slashed the price of the LG BH-200, a combo player that will read both Blu Ray discs and HD DVDs to $599.99, after the instant savings.

Combo Blu Ray disc/HD DVD players may be the hot-ticket item for the next few years, as manufacturers and industry leaders scramble to regain some of the diminished consumer confidence. Both Samsung and LG have developed Blu Ray/HD DVD combo players that can read both formats. A consumer's best bet, then, would be to return the old player for credit towards this new player, unless he or she hasn't purchased many HD DVDs, in which case, simply buying a new Blu Ray disc player wouldn't be such a bad idea. There is yet another option on the horizon: Sony is looking at a TV/Blu Ray DVD player hybrid, although the release date is not yet scheduled.

What about all those XBOX360 users who hoped HD DVD would make their machines more updated and with better quality? Microsoft hasn't exactly been bashful about their bitterness and contempt for the Blu Ray disc format, but they've at least agreed to offer an XBOX360 firmware upgrade, via the internet, that offers "compatibility improvements" and "additional support for network features." One can only hope they get with the times and sign on with the winning team, which has been Sony's Blu Ray DVD.

Surprisingly, in a statement from Toshiba, that is the manufacturer of the inferior HD DVD technology, the company has refused to make any concessions to the 1.3 million consumers who bought the players. "There is nothing wrong with the products," Toshiba argues, "So we aren't accepting returns from customers. Customers understood that there were two competing formats and understood that one of them would probably prevail, so they made the decision to go with HD DVD." Despite their lack of sympathy, at least confidence in the generosity of retail giants can continue. Though it has cost retailers thousands, if not millions, they have done the right thing to keep consumers happy and coming back to the store for Blu Ray media, if nothing else.

• Ray Disc