The Format War

[RedIsNotBlue]

That is weird though. Why are they releasing movies over there that aren't available here?

 

[Zenien]

Different regional distributors used by companies abroad. It's not a solution, or a healthy one, for a format long term mind you but it works for the HD-DVD enthusiasts who are willing to pay a premium price to import.

 

[Fading]

This is from about 4 days ago, again I don't know much about it, but what I found quoted. Apparently Peter Moore seems to be leaning towards Blu-Ray. Here's a quick paragraph on who Peter Moore is from Wiki -

"Peter Moore (Born 1955 in Liverpool, England) is the head of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business division, which includes the Xbox and Xbox 360 game consoles."

- So his word must have a lot of pull to it. If he's saying HD-DVD becoming the standard is bleak, and that Microsoft is giving the most cutting edge tech which they view as Blu-ray, maybe the 360 will have a stand alone player soon. If Microsoft pulls out from HD, or goes neutral, that could hurt HD-DVD a lot. Can anyone site the article he said this in? I googled quick and 3 sites said this, but I didn't find the original article.

http://www.psu.com/node/10948
Rumor: Blu-ray heading to 360

Added on 13/05/2007.
During a recent interview in Japan, Peter Moore told reporters that Blu-ray could be heading to 360.

IT Media was informed by Moore that the 360 will see a Blu-ray add on, similar the to the HD-DVD add-on, before Christmas. The drive will give 360 owners the power of viewing Blu-ray disc movies much like the PS3. No announcement was made on whether or not Blu-ray games will be playable, but given Microsoft's stance on HD-DVD games, playable Blu-ray titles are highly unlikely.

The only question is, can the 360 support Blu-ray as well as the PS3? Sony and Microsoft each adopted either Blu-ray and HD-DVD respectively, in hopes of creating a new standard format. Moore said that the hopes of HD-DVD becoming the standard are now “bleak.”

The PS3 was completely built around Blu-ray which gave the format the upper hand over HD-DVD in delivering high definition movies to as many homes as possible. Moore insisted that “Microsoft is giving the consumers the most cutting edge technology out there and in this moment in time Blu-Ray is that.”

He added “that whatever the outcome of the HD-DVD/Blu-ray war, the Xbox 360 can adopt the dominant format since it uses an external drive.”

The question remains: can the 360 repeat the PS3's success as a Blu-ray player, especially as the Premium Xbox 360 has no HDMI output.

Stay tuned to PSU for more info.

Source: TeamXbox

 

[L.A.]

I want blue ray add on for my 360!!!

 

[imdaly]

And this was posted today:

Five months after it happened, Microsoft has finally decided to quell rumors of a Blu-ray player for Xbox 360. Way back in January in an interview with ITmedia, Peter Moore of Microsoft was quoted as supporting Blu-ray if HD DVD met an untimely end. It seemed like a shocking, but reasonable, statement at the time. Now Microsoft's GamerScoreBlog has decided to finally put an end to the speculation which has allegedly grown since the statements were made.

GamerScoreBlog says, "Some online media outlets have picked up this story and are citing Internet speculation of an alleged Associated Press story that does not exist, along with comments taken out of context from a story in ITmedia that appeared back in January. This information is being reported as news and as a result of a recent interview, neither of which are true."

So there we have it. Microsoft and Xbox are sticking by HD DVD and say they are "fully committed." But like any good public relationship we have no idea what's going on behind the scenes. The abuse, the lies, the heavy drinking. Maybe one day Microsoft will have the strength to finally fight back against HD DVD in the back of a limo and go find Blu-ray. Only time will tell.

Source

 

[Avalanche]

Oh well. If they want to support a losing format that's their choice. It's all about the games anyway really.

 

[Fading]

And this was posted today:


Source

Eh, I'm gonna quit digging around for now lol. 2 rumors of press conferences that have been shot down, oh well.

 

[imdaly]

HD Formats Gear Up For 4th Quarter Showdown

With both camps in the next-generation format war resolute in their supremacy, it wasn't a surprise to hear representatives at last week's Media-Tech Expo in Long Beach, Calif., declare their side will have the upper hand by Christmas.

Blu-ray Disc got the most hype, feting the May 22 release of the first two "Pirates of the Caribbean" films on the high-definition format.

But the rival HD DVD camp hardly sat idle, using the trade show to underscore its market penetration, a nationwide theater promotion and player rebate, and refocused attention on the format's interactive features.

The HD DVD Promotional Group, together with Toshiba Corp., announced a rebate plan that will allow consumers to buy a Toshiba HD-A2 player for $299 after deducting a $100 in-store rebate. The purchase includes five free HD DVD titles from a selection of 15.

"The Toshiba rebate is timed perfectly to coincide with the May 22 Warner Home Video release of the "Matrix" trilogy, one of the most anticipated releases on HD DVD to date," said Ken Graffeo, EVP of high-definition strategic marketing for Universal Studios Home Entertainment. "We believe consumers will see a $299 price for pristine HD content as a good reason to choose HD DVD."

During the final week of the rebate, between June 10 and June 16, consumers can apply the $100 rebate to any Toshiba HD DVD player -- or buy their HD DVD player along with any Toshiba HDTV with a screen size of at least 42 inches and receive an additional $100 rebate.

"We know that price is a powerful driver for consumers to adopt new technology," said Jodi Sally, VP of marketing at Toshiba America Consumer Products.

The announcement coincided with word that Panasonic is cutting its Blu-ray player price more than 50% at the end of May, replacing the $1,299 BD 10 with a $599 BD 10A -- a price that also includes five Blu-ray movies, including the first two "Pirates" releases.

"We hope this does something," said Eisuke Tsuyuzaki, VP of corporate development and GM, Blu-ray Disc Group, Panasonic North America.

The HD DVD group expects its theatrical trailer campaign to reach about 30 million moviegoers. The trailer will run across a network of 932 Regal, AMC and Cinemark movie theaters nationwide, with exposure on 12,000 screens, in front of the summer's biggest blockbusters, including "Spider-Man 3" (which, ironically, is from Blu-ray supporter Sony Pictures).

Representatives from both formats said consumer adoption of high-def packaged media continued to show promise, aas evidenced by new hardware players at lower prices.

"We are already moving into second-generation Blu-ray players, and we are beginning to see the competition of the marketplace beginning to take hold and bring down prices," said Sandra Benedetto, director of product planning, management and sales engineering for industrial optical-disc products at Pioneer Electronics USA.

Pioneer is a founding member of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA).

Observers from both camps said the format war, if nothing else, continues to exert downward pressure on prices, which will hasten consumer adoption of HD discs.

"At the end of the day, it's a definite win for the consumer," Universal's Graffeo said.

Citing anecdotal data, Benedetto said the U.S. market for high-def discs was strong, with more than 2 million combined HD DVD and Blu-ray discs to be shipped this year, increasing to 4.75 million discs in 2008, 8.47 million in 2009 and 16.5 million in 2010. She said BDA-affiliated studios will release 43 titles this year, followed by 147 titles in 2008, 342 titles in 2009 and 628 titles by 2010.

By comparison, HD DVD backers plan to ship nearly 800 titles this year, including 20 releases this month, 29 in June, 73 in July, 57 in August, 77 in September, 115 in October, 185 in November and 240 in December, according to the HD DVD promotion Group.

Led by Microsoft's XBOX 360 HD DVD add-on drive and PC HD DVD drives, about 2.5 million players will be sold by the end of the year, according to the HD DVD group.

"When Blu-ray announced they had sold 1 million titles, we had sold 985,000. So we are very much neck and neck in terms of that type of format performance," said Richard Doherty, director of technology strategy for the consumer media technology group at Microsoft Corp., and HD DVD Promotion Group representative. The attachment rate for HD DVD consumers remains at about 15 to 18 titles, which is considerably higher than when standard DVD evolved, he said.

Doherty said several HD DVD interactive features first announced at the January Consumer Electronics Show, including picture-in-picture (PIP), jumpable scenes, GPS scene positioning and movie storyboards, are now a reality.

Bill Mandel, VP of broadband technology for Universal Pictures, said 2008 will likely find increased HD DVD title Internet connectivity. Networking jacks are mandatory on all HD DVD players and allow for Internet-based connectivity. Warner Home Video July 3 will release the first major studio title with such interactivity: the Oscar-nominated "Blood Diamond" in HD DVD ($28.99)

Source

Very interesting article here for both sides. What really has my attention is the numbers stated for the planned releases for the two formats in the future. I mean, I want this to be accurate, but that's freaking amazing if it is! This would mean that HD DVD would see more releases this December alone, than Blu-ray would see in all of 2008!

 

[Zenien]

I'm guessing it's a worldwide number, including the pornography, the Studio Canal library in Europe, the indy studios and the Universal non-combo re-issues. But still, 440 titles for October, November and December? That's insane if it's not a mistake. Then you just have to figure what are the titles people will actually want versus the lineup of BR releases.

 

[RedIsNotBlue]

Why is WB half assing Blu-ray releases? I mean fully commit or don't even bother. It just pisses me off how many titles they are holding back.

 

[imdaly]

So yeah, some sense was finally made of the "news" that was made last week or so ago...

HD DVD Group Responds to Erroneous Report of 2007 Release Count


Tongues have been wagging since late last week over a published report that the HD DVD camp was planning to release nearly 800 high-def titles between now and the end of the year, but it turns out that number was wrong.

First published in the trade publication Home Media Magazine, the erroneous report listed a month-by-month breakdown of title counts from May of this year through December that seemed to increase exponentially by the month, with a total of 500 titles planned for the fourth quarter of this year alone.

Contacted for comment, the HD DVD Promotional Group told us that the Home Media Magazine report was incorrect. The group says it "conservatively" projects a worldwide total of 600 HD DVD releases for the entirety of 2007, and that the error in the report appeared to stem from a slide in an HD DVD powerpoint presentation that listed the cumulative number of titles by month for 2006.

The Home Media Magazine report also quoted a Blu-ray spokesperson as saying that Blu-ray-affiliated studios will release a total of 43 titles in 2007. This number also appears to be incorrect, given that 160 titles have already been announced through September in the U.S. alone.

The HD DVD Promotional Group told us it was seeking a published correction to the article.

Source

So basically, the lady who read the slide showing the total number of titles released from April to December last year somehow interpreted it as the monthly number of upcoming releases for the rest of this year.

Yeah, whoops, lady.

I was gonna say...mannnnn...that's a LOT of titles to release in one month if it was true!!

 

[Avalanche]

It did seem like a ridiculously large gap between the two.

 

[Kritish]

I’m sick of the format war, I just want one to win so I can buy it. There’s no way in hell I’m going to buy one before it’s over, that’s what happened to my dad when he got a beta-max.

 

[L.A.]

Why is WB half assing Blu-ray releases? I mean fully commit or don't even bother. It just pisses me off how many titles they are holding back.

I think WB is semi-exclusive with the Blue ray, and arent they making that total HD? A disc that can play both on blue and HD dvd.

 

[RedIsNotBlue]

I think WB is semi-exclusive with the Blue ray, and arent they making that total HD? A disc that can play both on blue and HD dvd.

That is what I am saying. There is no such thing as "semi" exclusive. You either support it or you don't. They are releasing selected titles onto blu-ray and they are supposedly not even taking advantage of the film on it but offering more on the HDdvd. I don't get the logic behind "kinda" committing to a format. And I think the totalHD idea will fail. I personally want movies on one format.

 

[L.A.]

That is what I am saying. There is no such thing as "semi" exclusive. You either support it or you don't. They are releasing selected titles onto blu-ray and they are supposedly not even taking advantage of the film on it but offering more on the HDdvd. I don't get the logic behind "kinda" committing to a format. And I think the totalHD idea will fail. I personally want movies on one format.

Just be patient dude...I upconverts all my dvds to HD via 360 and they look great! When I had an HD-dvd, I couldnt tell which movie was HD or the upconverted HD. I can wait...

 

[TheBat812]

I’m sick of the format war, I just want one to win so I can buy it. There’s no way in hell I’m going to buy one before it’s over, that’s what happened to my dad when he got a beta-max.

haha, he chose beta-max... what kind of media does that even use?

 

[BatMatt]

haha, he chose beta-max... what kind of media does that even use?

it's like a smaller VHS

 

[RedIsNotBlue]

Just be patient dude...I upconverts all my dvds to HD via 360 and they look great! When I had an HD-dvd, I couldnt tell which movie was HD or the upconverted HD. I can wait...

I am being patient. Just puzzled by Warner's approach.

 

[RedIsNotBlue]

Well correct me if I am wrong but wasn't Betamax's defeat pretty much apparent when Sony started making VHS tapes? It seems that is the direction Warner is going with these hybrid discs.

 

[Fading]

Well correct me if I am wrong but wasn't Betamax's defeat pretty much apparent when Sony started making VHS tapes? It seems that is the direction Warner is going with these hybrid discs.

Still tho, comparing Beta vs. VHS, and HD vs. Blu-Ray is completely inaccurate. Blu-Ray isn't like Beta, and neither is HD. This won't be decided by porn, which both carry, and is far easier and more often gotten via internet. The only similarity between BR and Beta is that Sony's backing it, most consumers don't have that bitter hate for Sony that has been increased this generation by game fans.

As for hybrids, I just don't see them working IMO. Take a movie rental place, they have space set aside for DVD's, and now Blu-Ray's and HD-DVD's, would they have to set aside a new spot for hybrids? If they did release hybrid's too, then it would be fighting for the same sales HD and BR are fighting for, so eventually one of those two would fail sales wise. If they stopped producing HD exclusive movies, then what's the point of a hybrid? Why not just release BR's at that point? Most ppl are going to choose one or the other after their done with DVD's, and most are already confused enough by what the differences are as it is and being introduced to another disk (even if it's simplistic, a new inbetween format will confuse most consumers even more) will just put more ppl off on it.

 

[RedIsNotBlue]

What is the actual goal of hybrids? Also on a sidenote I checked out my local Walmart the other day and they carry zero HD or Blu-ray movies.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Warner Bros and Wal-Mart are just waiting it out for the victor and then will fully commit. Warner Bros doesn't want to support a losing format and Wal-Mart doesn't want to carry 4 versions of the same movie (widescreen, fullscreen, blu-ray, and HD-DVD)

 

[RedIsNotBlue]

Okay I understand that but how does making hybrid discs help out either format? If anything it will just prolong it.

 

[L.A.]

Okay I understand that but how does making hybrid discs help out either format? If anything it will just prolong it.

Well I guess WB looked at this way, whoever wins, we still win