mancide's blog

Author: admin

  • Hate Over HD-DVD Announcement

    Yesterday Paramount and Dreamworks announced they were going to exclusively support HD-DVD. There is also speculation that this move comes with some very big promotional consideration backed by Toshiba and Microsoft (the two primary backers of the HD-DVD format). Some people even think this is a ploy by Microsoft to get more content on XBOX Live Marketplace for download.

    Before I continue, let me disclose I own an HD-DVD player and I own an XBOX 360. I am also not an industry insider, but an avid reader on this subject. These are my personal opinions and nothing more. I do, however, agree that a continued format war only hurts the consumer.

    Right now, this “format war” is really nothing. When you talk about the number of units either format is shipping, we are talking about hundreds of thousands, not hundreds of millions like DVD. Currently both players are out of the reach of the impulse buy. HD-DVD players are getting close, and there are rumors that Wal-Mart is pushing for sub $200 players for this holiday season. That would get HD-DVD into the range of the impulse buy before Blu-Ray. If this rumor does become reality and HD-DVD does not make significant gains with Wal-Mart pushing low-price players, I think that is a significant blow to the fate of HD-DVD.

    However, lets remember who pulled out of the HD consortium and formed camp Blu-Ray. It was Sony. Sony had an unfair advantage in forming camp Blu-Ray. They own controlling interest in two major movie studios. So from the instant there was a split in the HD disc development, Sony had two studios HD-DVD would never have a chance at getting. Sony also has very deep pockets for “promotional considerations”. This is extremely evident by the fact they are losing money hand over fist in pushing the Playstation 3, which features a Blu-Ray drive. It is also worth noting that the Playstation 3 is also the most affordable Blu-Ray player on the market. It just so happens the gaming community has been alive with criticism about the soft game line-up for the Playstation 3. This also leads to increased Blu-Ray sales, as someone who dropped $600 on a “gaming console” isn’t going to let it sit there and collect dust. If they can’t play games, they will probably use it to play Blu-Ray. It is also worth noting that a recent report indicated most people were not aware of the Blu-Ray capabilities of the console, but I’m not so sure how accurate that report is.

    That brings up another interesting point about this whole “format war”. I am not convinced the general public is ready to give up on DVD. My fiancee says she cannot tell a difference between an HD-DVD and a regular DVD. Most people who have HDTVs have them hooked to standard definition cable sources. Most people don’t know that you need HD content to notice a difference. I don’t think most people care about this so-called “format war”. Microsoft might be hedging their bets and hoping an extended format war allows digital distribution to develop a user-base. I prefer, as I think most consumers do, a physical media tied to my movies. I have used the movie rental service on XBOX Live, but I prefer to use my Blockbuster total access account.

    Blockbuster also recently announced that company owned stores would only rent Blu-Ray movies. Franchise stores can still rent either format of their choosing, or like my local franchise neither at all. Blockbuster on-line is still renting both formats. This is indeed interesting, because if Blockbuster was picking Blu-Ray based on performance, they would have dropped HD-DVD from the on-line and franchise stores as well. This makes you believe that they had to receive some “promotional consideration” money from Sony to make this decision. Just as Target received to sell the BDP400 Blu-Ray player as the exclusive HD player for this coming holiday season.

    Calling the format war over and giving it to Blu-Ray is a bad decision in my mind. Blu-Ray isn’t a finished specification. Current Blu-Ray players will not be compatible with the final specifications additional features. Right now this is where HD-DVD is king, the features. HD-DVDs specification is complete and all players currently produced will be able to play all these features. Sony again ships a product that is behind its competitor with promises to fix it after it hits market. Just like the Playstation Online experience is behind XBOX Live, Blu-Ray’s feature-set is behind HD-DVD.

    Who will win this “war”? Only time will tell. I’m pulling for HD-DVD, however, I think both products are still searching for their market. I don’t think consumers are ready to give up DVD. Also we are seeing a lot of posturing by both sides because the numbers are so close. Yes Blu-Ray has “outsold” HD-DVD by 2:1 at points during this year. However, we are not talking about 20 million units vs. 10 million units, we are talking about 500,000 units vs. 250,000 units. We are talking about peanuts in a market worth much more than that. Also throw download services like those offered by Netflix, Amazon, and even XBOX Live and you have even more competition for HD content hungry consumers. HD movie discs need one format. The excuse that three different gaming disc formats exist with each other doesn’t fly here. Most consumers do not own each gaming console. Most blockbuster gaming titles come to each format. Continuing this artificial split of the movie studios is short-sighted and will cause both formats to fail if a prolonged war continues.

  • Thirty Months to Go!

    I just calculated my debt-snowball plan again, and it looks like 30 months to go, less my car and home equity loan. Including those two items pushes me beyond the 48 month window that the tool I have to calculate it with can handle.

    That seems like a long time, however, my car will be paid off approximately the same time as the consumer debt so it will be a double whammy and I can then attack the home equity loan with full force.

    I now see the light at the end of the tunnel. A long, long tunnel, but I can now see the end. A few weeks ago I was completely lost and stressed. You can ask my fiancée, she will tell you I was taking it out on her. I think we are both in a better place now that I have this snow-ball plan in place and the first three items are marked off with big red lines signifying those accounts are paid off.

    Now, just to get the rest of the expenses in check and figure out how I am going to pay for the wedding and cruise packages.

  • The Revolution is Now

  • Jake Brown

    I think he is ok, but this is the worst skateboarding fall I’ve seen in a long time.

  • The Library

    Recently Megan has been checking out DVDs from the local library for us to watch. We do have a Blockbuster Total Access subscription, which costs $10.59 a month after tax, that we use as well; but that only allows us to have 1 movie at a time.

    I have not been to the library to see the selection, but she assures me there are some recent movies there, as well as some older ones which she has been checking out three or four at a time. While some frugal experts would probably say that continuing the Blockbuster subscription was silly, since we could get movies for free from the library, I have a hard time giving it up as we currently get newer HD-DVDs from Blockbuster through the mail, then trade those in at the store for other DVDs. We typically get at least four or five a week and I also get a coupon for one XBOX 360 game rental a month, which itself easily justifies the $10.59 subscription.

    The library DVDs have been a welcome addition as we killed the Dish Network subscription and only watch movies or DVDs now. The main reason for killing the TV feed was simply to save money. But I have also noticed I don’t really have any desire to go see movies at the theater since cutting the TV off. This is probably because I haven’t been bombarded with TV ads for the newest movies coming out.

    I guess the whole point to this rambling is, you should definitely check the library for DVDs and movies to fill your entertainment gap on the cheap, or even on the free. This is on frugal tip I see us using for the next few years.

  • Hall of Foam

    I finally finished my World Beer Tour at Old Chicago today. I also finished the Summer Mini-tour so I got the special Summer T-Shirt in addition to my Sweatshirt and getting my name on the Hall of Foam.

    I’m sure I’ll go back, but not for a while. I’m burnt out on their food and just want to eat at different places when we go to Evansville or Clarksville for a while. Old Chicago has great food and great beer, the biggest thing I will miss is the great music they play, however variety is the spice of life and one can only take so much pizza and beer before wanting something different.

  • Woot-off going on

    There is a Woot-off going on. Currently the woot-off tracker is holding up better than last month. I made some changes to the way the script works on the back-end so Dreamhost should be happier with the script this month.

  • First debt step

    While I do not think this was the optimal first step it is going to be one that really helps free up some money and improve our financial situation.

    We have decided to postpone the wedding until next year. This allows us time to save some more money and ease the financial stress on ourselves. This will also mean about $1,800 I get back from deposits and payments on the honeymoon Disney Cruise. This is money I can then turn around and pay on other consumer debt to help get on track. I would also highly recommend Dreams Unlimited Travel if you are looking to book a Disney Cruise or other Disney vacation as they have been extremely easy to work with. We will defiantly turn to their services first when we rebook our honeymoon.

  • RJD2 – Work It Out

    This has to be one of the coolest videos I’ve seen in a while.

  • Helpmewithmygameproblems.com

    One tip most people do not think of when attempting to reduce their debt is additional income. I have a few websites I attempt to run, including this blog, but the one I think holds the most promise is my video game hints and tips wiki.

    I have been self-promoting it over the past few months on Shacknews’ latest chatty thread and a few times at somethingawful’s forums to see a small success. The number of page views are up as I keep chugging away at adding new content, but the community aspect is not there. A few kind souls have contributed to varying degrees over the last year and I appreciate every one of them.

    As I chronicle my progress on debt reduction I will also share information and ideas to help start a web-based community site that might just put some extra cash in your pocket.