The Format War

[Timstuff]

I really want Serenity on Blu-Ray quite badly, but until Universal comes around, it would be nice if Fox helped tide us over by releasing Firefly: The Complete Series on Blu-Ray.

Really though, it's quite sad that the only thing keeping HD-DVD afloat is Universal flooding the market with their catalog titles. With no customers to buy them, all their doing is bringing Universal Home Video closer to bankruptcy. I don't care how big their library is, it's not enough to sustain an entire format. It's like if Sony was the only studio releasing Blu-Ray discs while everyone else went to HD-DVD. There's no way HD-DVD can win against the massive customer base and studio support of Blu-Ray, and Universal is simply being the captain at the wheel of the sinking Titanic at this point.

 

[imdaly]

All blu-ray has to do in order to kill HD-DVD is just release a few key titles from each of the major studios:

Columbia Pictures: the Spider-Man movies, the Adam Sandler movies, and a few movies that are part of Columbia's back catalogue such as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Dr. Strangelove and Lawrence of Arabia

"Happy Gilmore" is distributed by Universal, which is already on HD DVD.

"Billy Madison" is distributed by Universal, which is scheduled to be released on HD DVD on July 10.

"The Wedding Singer" is distributed by New Line, which has not announced who they will be supporting yet, though they are owned by Time Warner, so they should be neutral when they do.

"Little Nicky" is also distributed by New Line.

"I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" is distributed by Universal, which is HD DVD only.

"Dr. Strangelove" is distributed by Warner Brothers, who are neutral.

Disney: release the movies that have been re-released in a Platinum Edition and the Pixar movies

20th Century Fox: The X-Men movies, the Predator movies, the Alien movies, the Planet of the Apes movies, the Die Hard movies, Titanic, and the Fly movies

"Titanic" is distributed by Paramount, which releases on both HD DVD and Blu-ray.

Warner Bros.: release all the movies that are currently only on HD-DVD

Lion's Gate: release most of their library, it's not that big in the first place

Some films, such as the "Saw" series' are arriving this year on HD DVD in Spain. And because of HD DVD being region-free, anyone who wants them can easily import them and play them on their HD DVD players here.

MGM: The Wizard of Oz, Terminator, the Robocop movies, the James Bond movies, and the Rocky movies

"Wizard of Oz" is distributed by Warner Brothers, which releases on both HD DVD and Blu-ray.

"Terminator" and "Terminator 2" are already released on Blu-ray, and "Terminator 2" is available on HD DVD via France.

 

[Timstuff]

Okay, so if I want to watch Saw and T2, I have the option of either buying Blu-Ray, or paying an eBay premium. Dandy.

The best thing that you can say in defense of HD-DVD is that Universal is exclusive and some companies are neutral. But with Blu-Ray, most of the biggest companies are exclusive, and Uni is the only studio not making movies for it. HD-DVD still has no way of winning at this point, while Blu-Ray does. Universal and Toshiba have already shown all of their cards, where as the BDA and its associates haven't even brought out their biggest guns, and are still winning.

 

[Fading]

"Happy Gilmore" is distributed by Universal, which is already on HD DVD.

"Billy Madison" is distributed by Universal, which is scheduled to be released on HD DVD on July 10.

"The Wedding Singer" is distributed by New Line, which has not announced who they will be supporting yet, though they are owned by Time Warner, so they should be neutral when they do.

"Little Nicky" is also distributed by New Line.

"I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" is distributed by Universal, which is HD DVD only.

"Dr. Strangelove" is distributed by Warner Brothers, who are neutral.





"Titanic" is distributed by Paramount, which releases on both HD DVD and Blu-ray.



Some films, such as the "Saw" series' are arriving this year on HD DVD in Spain. And because of HD DVD being region-free, anyone who wants them can easily import them and play them on their HD DVD players here.




"Wizard of Oz" is distributed by Warner Brothers, which releases on both HD DVD and Blu-ray.

"Terminator" and "Terminator 2" are already released on Blu-ray, and "Terminator 2" is available on HD DVD via France.

Ok, so how about the Star Wars, Spiderman, X-Men, and Shrek. Not to count all the other Disney and Pixar movies that sell like hotcakes heh.

 

[Timstuff]

Exactly. HD-DVD has no tricks left up it's sleeve. Universal is already rolling out many of the biggest movies in their library, and Toshiba is already losing money just to get the price of players down to the $200 neighborhood. If they're doing all that and yet they STILL can't save the format, then there's probably nothing left for them to do.

In the Blu-Ray camp however, there's still plenty of ammunition left to finish off HD-DVD for good. The manufacturing costs of Playstation 3 are getting lower and lower each month, and it's only a matter of time before Sony announces a price drop (most likely this fall). Also, as FadingCB mentioned, the biggest movies from the BDA's members haven't even been released. The Spider-Man, X-Men, Star Wars, and Disney/Pixar catalog movies are all going to be HUGE, and they are just waiting for the right time to release them.

And what does HD-DVD have left that they can announce? More price drops? The Back to the Future Trilogy, which Blu-Ray supporters will eventually get anyway (seeing as HD-DVD is rapidly losing ground)? Pretty much the only thing that is keeping the format war from being totally over with and buried is the fact that Universal still supports HD-DVD exclusively, and they account for about 80% of the releases. Once they announce neutrality though (which they WILL), it's over for the discs in the maroon-colored cases.

So long HD-DVD, we barely knew ya.

 

[KALEL114]

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/soapbox/soap060107.html

Read and open your eye's the truth.

 

[Timstuff]

Wow, truly excellent article! While the opinionated may be divided over the issue, there is no doubt in the minds of experts... Blu-Ray is the way to go for HD entertainment. They covered pretty much everything. The next generation of movies is going to be Blu-Ray or nothing.

 

[imdaly]

And what does HD-DVD have left that they can announce?

Back to the Future series
Jurassic Park series
Jaws series
American Pie series
E.T.
all the Universal Monster movies
all the Hitchcock movies

The "Shrek" movies are by Dreamworks, which has only released one title so far (that I can think of), and that was "Dreamgirls" which they released on both, so any "Shrek" High-Def releases should be on both.

Also, George Lucas decides which studios release his "Star Wars" movies, so nobody knows which format the movies will eventually be released on. All that is known right now is that Lucas himself has said that there is currently absolutely no plans on releasing any of his "Star Wars" films on High-Def for a while.




So I'm curious...does anyone here actually have a High-Def player??

 

[Timstuff]

So basically, Uni can announce more catalog titles, which they've already proven quite handily are not making very big splashes on HD-DVD. Anything Uni can put out at this point is not going to make much difference. They could have their entire studio catalog on HD-DVD by the Christmas, and it STILL wouldn't be enough to save the format. Like I've said before, it's like if Sony was the only exclusive backer of Blu-Ray-- just one exclusive studio is not enough to support an entire format.

And Shrek releasing on both formats is irrelevant, because that does not help HD-DVD at all. It's still on Blu-Ray, and at this point, people are more likely to choose Blu-Ray than HD-DVD. It does not at all change the fact that Blu-Ray still has superior support, and as a result is garnering superior sales.

And while Star Wars may be Lucas's baby, Fox is still his distributor, and they are Blu-Ray only. The only way Lucas could get Star Wars on HD-DVD is if he somehow broke off his ties with Fox and went to a different distributor, and I can't imagine what a huge legal blow up that would be (other than nailing the front page of Variety). Lucas is most likely waiting to see which format wins, but at this point, all signs point to Blu-Ray.

And yes, I own an HD movie player (my PS3).

 

[imdaly]

Exactly. HD-DVD has no tricks left up it's sleeve.

How about this?

Toshiba Plans HD DVD Laptop Counter-Offensive


Apparently hoping to counter the "PS3-effect" on Blu-ray sales, HD DVD backer Toshiba says it plans to put HD DVD drives in all of its laptops in 2008.

While the manufacturer currently provides optional HD DVD drives for its laptops, Toshiba Senior Vice President Hisatsugu Nonaka said today at a news conference that all Toshiba laptops will come with HD DVD drives next year. "The demand is there; people want to watch their favorite movies in high-definition on the road," explained Nonaka.

This latest announcement from Toshiba would seem to suggest that the manufacturer thinks it can achieve the same kind of lift for HD DVD that Sony provided for Blu-ray when it baked a Blu-ray drive into its its PlayStation 3 game console late last year.


Of course, Sony's decision to embed Blu-ray drives in its PS3 has been great for Blu-ray (adding 3.6 million installed users), but arguably not-so-great for overall sales of the PS3, which as a result carried a higher pricetag, turning off some would-be buyers. Whether or not Toshiba's laptop sales might suffer the same fate remains to be seen.

Source

 

[BatMatt]

I may be mistaken, but unless they're big laptop screens won't the HD be less impressive? I think the smaller the screen, the less you notice the difference

 

[Timstuff]

All that's going to accomplish is showing how desperate Toshiba is to move units. They could sell an HD-DVD player for $99 and it would still be a bad deal without the studio support that Blu-Ray has.

At this point, price is not very relevant, because the war is currently being decided by people who have deep enough pockets for Blu-Ray anyway. The people who get bent out of shape over how much something costs are probably happy with their DVD players right now, and probably don't even have HDTVs. The winner will be declared by the early adopters, and the early adopters are choosing Blu-Ray.

Including HD-DVD drives with all Toshiba laptops in 2008 won't do any good if Sony has a huge holiday season with PS3. And with titles like Uncharted, Lair, Ratchet and Clank, Killzone 3, and (hopefully) Metal Gear Solid 4, I don't think anyone is going to give a crap about what Toshiba's doing with their laptops.

At this point, not even a motivational speech by Matt Foley is going to help HD-DVD get back on the right track, and he's even an IP of Universal, too.

 

[Havok83]

How about this?





Source

I think thats just as bad as Sony putting BRD in PS3. I can understand Toshiba putting HD DVD in some models but ALL? Doesnt affect me as I dont buy Toshiba products, but it would suck if this had a big impact on their pricing

 

[Fading]

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/soapbox/soap060107.html

Read and open your eye's the truth.

Good article, Harry Knowles was pretty inaccurate in what he said. I mean I can understand that he wants to back HD, but someone working for a decently well known place like "Ain't it Cool" should know that saying HD has released 542 titles, and BR only 62 is far off. Even hardcore BR biased fans haven't said that lol. Either way it's cool that bits is backing BR and taking a stance, and even tho it's an opinionated article he laid it out pretty good.

 

[RedIsNotBlue]

Harry Knowles supports HD dvds? Yet another reason for me to stick with Blu-Ray.

 

[hippie_hunter]

"Happy Gilmore" is distributed by Universal, which is already on HD DVD.

"Billy Madison" is distributed by Universal, which is scheduled to be released on HD DVD on July 10.

Oh yeah, I forgot that Universal did the early Adam Sandler movies. Which were pretty much the good ones.

"Dr. Strangelove" is distributed by Warner Brothers, who are neutral.

"Wizard of Oz" is distributed by Warner Brothers, which releases on both HD DVD and Blu-ray.

Sucks to those that actually made them: Columbia and MGM.

"Titanic" is distributed by Paramount, which releases on both HD DVD and Blu-ray.

Damn 2 studios taking part in making movies, it's confusing.

Some films, such as the "Saw" series' are arriving this year on HD DVD in Spain. And because of HD DVD being region-free, anyone who wants them can easily import them and play them on their HD DVD players here.

"Terminator" and "Terminator 2" are already released on Blu-ray, and "Terminator 2" is available on HD DVD via France.

Do you actually think that the average HD-DVD buyer is going to get a DVD from Spain and France?

 

[Timstuff]

LOL when you have to start resorting to imports to support your device, you know you're in trouble.

Harry Knowles supports HD dvds? Yet another reason for me to stick with Blu-Ray.

I was looking through the talkback on Harry's HD-DVD endorsement, and pretty much everyone is under the opinion that Harry did not have to pay a red cent for his HD-DVD player. It's the only explanation for why he could post such a biased article with so much false information. I mean, either Harry is so unprofessional that he'll just say whatever the crap he wants without fact checking, or he's completely sold out.

Not that it really matters these days, because according to my brother, Harry sold out ages ago. He might as well put a big banner at the top of the page that says "Opinions for sale! E-mail Harry Knowels for a quote!"

 

[imdaly]

I was looking through the talkback on Harry's HD-DVD endorsement, and pretty much everyone is under the opinion that Harry did not have to pay a red cent for his HD-DVD player. It's the only explanation for why he could post such a biased article with so much false information. I mean, either Harry is so unprofessional that he'll just say whatever the crap he wants without fact checking, or he's completely sold out.

Not that it really matters these days, because according to my brother, Harry sold out ages ago. He might as well put a big banner at the top of the page that says "Opinions for sale! E-mail Harry Knowels for a quote!"

You will not hear me ever try to back-up Harry Knowles. That dude's an idiot all the way around.

And yes, his article about why HD DVD is going to prevail is chock full of inacuracies. I seriously don't know where he got a lot of his "information", but as a fellow supporter of HD DVD, I find his article to be extremely embarrassing.

Luckily for him, his nearly complete misunderstanding about HD DVD vs. Blu-ray, he still accidentally chose the correct format in the end.

 

[RedIsNotBlue]

Harry Knowles is a tool. If you want him to praise you just send him some free ****. What a scumbag. The only reason he probably isn't backing Blu-Ray is because he didn't get anything from them.

 

[Phaser]

It's sad to see this thread being the only one with any kind of real discussion/argument. The Hype Gaming forums have completely gone down the drain. :

 

[Electro UK]

Well who's left? Just about...

no-one. GR's the place to be these days.

 

[Fading]

You will not hear me ever try to back-up Harry Knowles. That dude's an idiot all the way around.

And yes, his article about why HD DVD is going to prevail is chock full of inacuracies. I seriously don't know where he got a lot of his "information", but as a fellow supporter of HD DVD, I find his article to be extremely embarrassing.

Luckily for him, his nearly complete misunderstanding about HD DVD vs. Blu-ray, he still accidentally chose the correct format in the end.

I can respect that, no matter where you stand and which system you want to promote, last thing you want is someone even with a little pull saying very inaccurate things about the competitor. It just makes it looks like your choice is desperate enough to pay ppl to lie.

 

[Zenien]

It's sad to see this thread being the only one with any kind of real discussion/argument. The Hype Gaming forums have completely gone down the drain. :

The Xbots ran pretty much everyone else out of the forum with their immature *****ebagery. Of course someone like you wouldn't believe me, the arrogant sod that you are, but consider for a moment how after the forums were split the Xbox section was the most active, and after the grand exodus when every single one of them left except for like 2 who continue to post here once in a while, the post gap between the Xbox forum and the Sony forum remains the same as the Nintendo forum is pretty much dead.

So much for Extromaniac blindly believe the the forum is Sony fanboy prime.

Or that Master Chief can beat Samus Aran.

 

[L.A.]

I think we should go back to just one fourm for all gamers

 

[hippie_hunter]

The Xbots ran pretty much everyone else out of the forum with their immature *****ebagery. Of course someone like you wouldn't believe me, the arrogant sod that you are, but consider for a moment how after the forums were split the Xbox section was the most active, and after the grand exodus when every single one of them left except for like 2 who continue to post here once in a while, the post gap between the Xbox forum and the Sony forum remains the same as the Nintendo forum is pretty much dead.

So much for Extromaniac blindly believe the the forum is Sony fanboy prime.

Or that Master Chief can beat Samus Aran.

Sorry but the blame goes to both the Sony ****e and Xbots along with the mods for poorly handling the situation.