The Format War

[GL1]

Well, most of the numbers here are skewed or useless. Number of Sales to date this year means NOTHING in regards to the console war, and while HD-DVD may be leading overall, have better marketting and such, the fact that Universal, their big backer, may be pulling out means a heckuva lot more to the HDvBR format war than who is winning in Japan.... a TON more.

That said, I still think it's too close to call, but Universal pulling out is a serious turning point.

BUT it still won't make the PS3 successful OR fun.

 

[Fading]

Well, most of the numbers here are skewed or useless. Number of Sales to date this year means NOTHING in regards to the console war, and while HD-DVD may be leading overall, have better marketting and such, the fact that Universal, their big backer, may be pulling out means a heckuva lot more to the HDvBR format war than who is winning in Japan.... a TON more.

That said, I still think it's too close to call, but Universal pulling out is a serious turning point.

BUT it still won't make the PS3 successful OR fun.

I'm a bit confused on Universal. They have stated their HD-DVD only, but their logo is under the backer section on the Blu-Ray association page. I shrunk it down, but you can still see it, the third logo from the right at the bottom.

http://www.blu-raydisc.com/

I'm pretty sure Universal is still HD-DVD only, so either they made a mistake and Universal hasn't called them on it, or they know something we don't with Universal not having told what titles their releasing this year yet. I doubt Universal's switching already however, so I'm guessing it's a mistake on BR's part. I agree with the above tho that if Universal ever does switch it'll be over.



Edit - I think this might be why, I just found it. So Universal music is now supporting Blu-ray because of storage, I totally missed the "Universal music" under the logo-

http://www.blu-raydisc.com/Section-14029/Section-14033/Section-14038/Article-14857.html

World's Leading Music Company to Support Blu-ray High Definition Optical Format

SANTA MONICA, CA, August 15, 2005 - Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's leading music company, has joined the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) as a contributing member. The addition of Universal Music Group to the BDA's current lineup of more than 140 leading companies in the hardware, software, consumer electronics and information technology industries is expected to have a major impact on how music is created and enjoyed by consumers.



"The delivery of both high-definition video and multi-channel audio technologies is becoming increasingly important," stated Larry Kenswil, President of eLabs, UMG's new media and technologies division. "We recognize that Blu-ray Disc has the capacity, functionality and interactivity both artists and music fans demand. We intend to work closely with the BDA in order to represent the unique requirements of the music industry in the format creation process."



“Universal Music Group is the latest in a continually growing list of companies that have told us Blu-ray Disc’s capacity and functionality are important to the growth of their future business,” said Brian Zucker, Blu-ray spokesperson and Technology Strategist at Dell.. “In collaboration with the world’s leading technology and content companies, we are on track to launch a complete high-definition format that is a quantum leap in innovation and delivers a dramatic new consumer experience in all areas of home entertainment – movies, music and games.”

Double edit -

This makes good sense of it, read it if your confused.
http://forums.highdefdigest.com/showthread.php?t=1262

More or less I believe it says Vivendi controls the game portion of Universal, and both it and the music portion of Universal are now Blu-ray supporters. Only the movie portion of Universal is still HD exclusive. More or less if either of those portions had more controlling shares of Universal then it would be Blu-ray exclusive atm....I believe. That guy did his research, but it was slightly confusing.

 

[Fading]

Also I know that the numbers don't mean much this early in the game, but I do find it impressive that BR is starting to overtake HD even tho HD came out earlier. I just want it to end sooner than later so less ppl buy whichever format loses and I'll know if it's worth it to amp up my BR collection.

This is another take on the numbers, but honestly not sure if the site is biased or not, it's from the Nielsen report-

http://www.gardgy.com/news/blu-ray-outselling-hd-in-new-year/

According to figures released by Nielsen VideoScan to Home Media Magazine, Blu-ray movies are quickly gaining ground on HD DVD. The sales numbers show that Blu-ray Discs have been outselling HD DVDs by a strong margin thus far in 2007.
During the first week of 2007, sales of Blu-ray more than doubled that of HD DVDs, with the latter making up only 46.14 percent of sales compared to the former. Blu-ray pulled even further ahead the next week, leaving HD DVD behind at only 38.36 percent of Blu-ray’s numbers. To clarify, that means that, from January 1 to January 14, for every 100 Blu-ray Discs that were sold, only 38.36 HD DVDs were sold – meaning that Blu-ray has been outselling HD DVD by nearly a three to one margin.

The most obvious reason - the launch of the PlayStation 3, which rapidly injected the Blu-ray Disc movie market with at least 687,300 players. In contrast, HD DVD backers announced at CES 2007 that some 175,000 HD DVD players were sold in the U.S. since the format’s introduction. The sales numbers of PlayStation 3 alone put Blu-ray players way ahead of HD DVD machines, which is likely a part of Sony’s strategy for its format.

 

[imdaly]

Also I know that the numbers don't mean much this early in the game, but I do find it impressive that BR is starting to overtake HD even tho HD came out earlier. I just want it to end sooner than later so less ppl buy whichever format loses and I'll know if it's worth it to amp up my BR collection.

This is another take on the numbers, but honestly not sure if the site is biased or not, it's from the Nielsen report-

http://www.gardgy.com/news/blu-ray-outselling-hd-in-new-year/

The article you quoted must've been writen before it was revealed that for those first 2 weeks of January, Neilson/Videoscan (who released those numbers) did not count the sales of the HD DVD combo discs at all.



Universal has shown no signs of switching over to Blu-ray at all, so don't let yourself start believing that. They re-confirmed they're HD DVD exlusive at last month's CES, also stating that they have plans for 100 titles to be released this year. Now they COULD go and set all of those movies for release dates in the next couple months, and then pull them off the schedule in the last couple weeks before they're supposed to release, like FOX/MGM just did, but Universal's got the habit of making sure they'll actually be able to deliver on their promises before they make them.

HD DVD is having a little slow period right now, and during this slow period Blu-ray has had their biggest release months so far. I think that the fact that Blu-ray can have a million PS3s out and all those new releases out last month, while HD DVD releases only a couple titles, and Blu-ray can only double HD DVDs sales for that month speaks highly of the power of HD DVD.

Blu-ray's got the marketing.
Blu-ray's in the pockets of many of the Circuit Citys/Best Buys, etc
Blu-ray's included in every PS3.
Blu-ray's got the support of more studios and more manufacturer's
Blu-ray's got more new releases than HD DVD for Jan. and Feb.

The fact that HD DVD is still holding its own despite all this is great news for HD DVD, IMO. HD DVD's staying in the fight even with its arms tied between its back and Blu-rays got two swords.

Once the titles start picking up again next month, we'll see who's ahead. A short blip in Jan or even Feb. means nothing if it doesn't hold.

 

[Zenien]

The ajusted numbers still had BR outselling HD-DVD 2 to 1 FYI.

 

[Ken Kutagari]

That thing about Universal is the music branch FYI.

 

[Cth]

Interesting how that 2 to 1 figure coincides neatly with all the numerous B1G1 deals on Blu Ray discs

 

[Avalanche]

Universal has shown no signs of switching over to Blu-ray at all, so don't let yourself start believing that.

Eventually they will, purely in the interests of good business sense.

 

[GoldenAgeHero]

what makes blue ray good business?

 

[BatMatt]

If Blu-Ray has a huge lead on HD DVD, then it's not smart for Universal to ignore the format

 

[imdaly]

But it doesn't. Blu-ray, while outpacing HD DVD for last month (when there were hardly any HD DVDs released) only outsold HD DVD by a 2:1 margin. And what did it take for BD to do this? Much more advertising $$, 1million PS3 owners, and many more movie releases (for that month)...all so that Blu-ray's highest selling title of the month could sell a whopping 7,500 copies.

Yes, that's how small the market still is. A brand new title like "Crank" only managed to sell 7,500 copies. One million PS3 owners alone should've guaranteed more than that sold.

"Batman Begins" on HD DVD had been already out for 13 weeks, and it still managed to sell something like 4,500 copies in January. And this is with about 1/5th of the amount of players out there in people's homes.

I don't think Universal's gonna look at the charts and think "Uh oh, Blu-ray has outsold HD DVD for 3 weeks out of the past 9 months, they're selling a couple thousand more copies than our format did during it's dry period."

And Blu-ray is still outsold by HD DVD for total discs ever sold. It's still trying to catch up.

 

[Zenien]

Out of curiosity which player do you own.

You're a very good backbencher though, I'll give you that.

Oh course you alrady have your answer prepared from AVS forums, but out of curiosity what do you think HD-DVD is going to have to fight back when aced with all the upcoming BR exclusives.

 

[imdaly]

I own the XBOX360 HD DVD drive.

Price is the #1 thing HD DVD has going for it, and you cannot for a second downplay the importance of it.

And HD DVD will have its own set of great exclusives: Jaws 1-4, Jurrassic Park 1-3, Back to the Future 1-3, Children of Men, Smoking Aces, The Good Shephard, Scarface, Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy, TMNT, tons and tons of Porn. Not to mention many titles being on HD DVD first: Star Trek (series AND movies), Matrix 1-3, Harry Potter, etc.

You will also notice that, because of the problems Blu-ray is having with the BD-J feature (that only the PS3 is capable of doing so far out of all other BD players), that Warner Bro's has vastly slowed down on releasing movies in the states for both HD DVD and Blu-ray, so they can impliment them into both when they release. This is why you have "Batman Begins", "V For Vendetta", and others available here in the US for months now (and with sweet HDi features) and not on Blu-ray yet at all. Meanwhile, they're not being so cautious internationally, which is why we see all the Harry Potters, Wizard of Oz, Matrix 1-3, Goonies, Ocean's 11 and 12, etc. announced there already (many of them for HD DVD only).

And of course, again, we have the movies that, while Blu-ray exclusive here, they are/will be available to us HD DVD owners anyway through import, because of the glorious lack of region coding.

Here, just check out some of the titles available or announced for HD DVD so far this year:

An American Haunting
Arizona Dream
Basic Instinct
Brave Story
Brotherhood of the Wolf
The Brothers Grimm
Don't Look Now, We've Been Shot at (La Grande Vadrouille)
Downfall
Elephant Man
Elephants Dream
The Equilibrium
FIFA World Cup - All The Goals Of Germany 2006
Finding Neverland
The Fog (1980)
Ghost of Mae Nak
The Gift
Goal!
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The Graduate
Hate (La Haine)
The Island
Jersey Girl
Killing Me Softly
King Kong (1976)
Leaving Las Vegas
The Machinist
Mulholland Drive
Oldboy
Oliver Twist
Out of Time
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
The Pianist
The Prestige
Rambo
Rambo II
Rambo III
Ran (Akira Kurosawa)
Reign of Fire
Renaissance
Rides, Vol. 1
Rides, Vol. 2
Rides, Vol. 3
Running Scared
Serpico
The Shadow Army
Shinobi: Heart Under Blade
Three Days of the Condor
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Total Recall
The Uninvited
xXx
2001: A Space Odyssey
300
Blade Runner
Blood Diamond
A Clockwork Orange
The Dead Pool
Dirty Harry
El Cid
The Enforcer
Eyes Wide Shut
Flags of out Fathers
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The Good, The bad, and the Ugly
The Goonies
The Holiday
K-19
L.A. Confidential
Letters of Iwo Jima
Little Buddha
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
Magnum Force
The Matrix
The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Revolutions
Music & Lyrics
Natural Born Killers
Ocean's Eleven (1960)
Ocean's Eleven (2001)
Ocean's Twelve
The Piano
Poltergeist
The Reaping
Saw
Saw II
The Shining
Sudden Impact
Underworld: Evolution
The Wizard of Oz
Zodiac



Now I agree that it'll be aggrivating to see the Pirates of the Carribbean and Spider-Man movies come out on Blu-ray only in a few months. But I'll have plenty of other movies available for me to take my time and money until Disney and even Sony eventually start supporting HD DVD, too.


Heck, it's not like my player can't upconvert the SD DVDs really well until then anyway. How about your player?



Oh, and I spend a lot more time at Highdefinitiondigest.com than AVSForum.

 

[Zenien]

Sony will nto be supporting HD-DVD, and the people who want this format war over know any defections will just prolong it which is why you aren't going to see any of the exclusive BR supporting going format neutral.

That is a good list, but being able to import those titles has a marginal effect on the format war as a whole, even with those titles you have listed, Blu Ray is still the better format and its best player is matched in price to the lowest HD-DVD player, and it has a better selection and more releases coming out weekly then HD-DVD.

Seriously Imdaly, the market needs one format, and it would be a heck of a lot easier for HD-DVD to die then BR (Universal just needs to go neutral).

You make a compelling arguement for why someone would buy an HD-DVD player... provided they're willing to pay premium prices to import titles from Europe (and wait however many weeks) to have a selection that's on par with the industry support of Blu Ray. You can't deny that the Format war is already over in Japan, and its going to be hard for the HD-DVD group to stop any momentum on the Blu Ray side when BR holds a huge content advantage and most of the industry is behind it.

- Even with Blu Ray Players being twice as expensive as HD-DVD players, both camps dedicated players are currently selling neck and neck.

- The exclusitivity of the studios owned by The Walt Disney Company (Walt Disney Pictures, Miramax Films, Touchstone Pictures, and Hollywood Pictures), News Corp (20th Century Fox, and Fox Searchlight Pictures), Lion's Gate Entertainment (Lion's Gate Films and Artisan Entertainment) and Sony (Columbia Pictures, Tri-Star Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Screen Gems). HD-DVD has the exclusitivity of only the studios owned by NBC Universal (Universal Studios, Focus Features, and Rogue Pictures) and the Weinstein Company (the Weinstein Company and Dimension Films). This studio support allows blu-ray to develop a better film library also

- Blu-ray has pretty much caught up to HD-DVD and at the rate it is selling, it will pass HD-DVD very soon.

- New movies coming out on both formats are tracking higher on the Blu Ray side.

- Mandatory ownership of a blu-ray player along with your Playstation 3. Even though the Playstation 3 isn't selling as well as the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii, it will certainly help the blu-ray format. Compared to the Xbox 360's HD-DVD drive, which is optional

- The Format Wars have already ended in the Japanese market with blu-ray as the clear victor," HD-DVD is below 10 percent market share relative to Blu Ray sales.

 

[Zenien]

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...or_Blu-ray/457

ELECTRONICS retailer JB Hi-Fi has thrown its weight firmly behind Blu-ray in the coming high-definition DVD format war, announcing it will only stock Blu-ray products.

Speaking at the official launch of Blu-ray in Australia by the Australian Blu-Ray Disc Working Group, JB Hi-Fi marketing manager Scott Browning said Blu-ray technology and discs would be the only high-definition format the chain would support, apart from selling drive units for the Xbox 360 console which will support the rival HD-DVD format.

He said 10 per cent of the floor space at the chain's stores would be devoted to Blu-Ray technology and titles by the year's end.

He predicted this would probably increase to 30 per cent by Christmas 2008.

 

[BatMatt]

But it doesn't. Blu-ray, while outpacing HD DVD for last month (when there were hardly any HD DVDs released) only outsold HD DVD by a 2:1 margin. And what did it take for BD to do this? Much more advertising $$, 1million PS3 owners, and many more movie releases (for that month)...all so that Blu-ray's highest selling title of the month could sell a whopping 7,500 copies.

Yes, that's how small the market still is. A brand new title like "Crank" only managed to sell 7,500 copies. One million PS3 owners alone should've guaranteed more than that sold.

"Batman Begins" on HD DVD had been already out for 13 weeks, and it still managed to sell something like 4,500 copies in January. And this is with about 1/5th of the amount of players out there in people's homes.

I don't think Universal's gonna look at the charts and think "Uh oh, Blu-ray has outsold HD DVD for 3 weeks out of the past 9 months, they're selling a couple thousand more copies than our format did during it's dry period."

And Blu-ray is still outsold by HD DVD for total discs ever sold. It's still trying to catch up.

Yes I meant that hypothetically if Blu-Ray takes a big lead by lets say, years end, it wouldn't be good business sense for Universal to keep ignoring the format

 

[Avalanche]

Yes I meant that hypothetically if Blu-Ray takes a big lead by lets say, years end, it wouldn't be good business sense for Universal to keep ignoring the format

Which is what will happen.

 

[BatMatt]

I hope so

 

[Deleted User]

Which is what will happen.

Which is something you do not know.

I really don't know why so many people are lobbying for Blu-Ray. It's a technically inferior product in comparison to HD-DVD as is, even if it is only a slight difference. Not to mention that it costs a hell of a lot more. Why do consumers consistently stick their neck out so they can encourage companies to ******* us?

I just want to know. It's a question that has been lingering on my mind for quite some time, and I'm quite curious. Do you just love not getting the best bang for your buck? Buying **** on who's backing it alone is poor consumerism.

 

[Zenien]

Wow I don't know where you get your information, but it's pretty wrong on like 95 percent of everything you mentioned.

1. It's a technically inferior product in comparison to HD-DVD as is, even if it is only a slight difference.

It's a technically superior product in comparison to HD-DVD. It holds more on single layer, can hold more layers because of how thin its layers are compared to HD-DVD, it have much more industry support and money behind it, not to mention releases from major studios. What maeks a good product is why Blu Ray is selling neck and neck with players that are half as expensive as it. We don't know if BR will continue to take off or not, but if you were a betting man who would you bet on here.

Not to mention that it costs a hell of a lot more.

No it doesn't, at the end of the day the cost to manufacture each BR-DVD is virtually identical to that of HD-DVD and they're both road mapped to hit DVD production costs relatively soon.

As for the players, the only reason HD-DVD costs less is because Toshiba is selling their players at almost zero profit margins. That's also why the consumer electronics producers aren't making HD-DVD players much at all, because they can't recoup their R and D.

And really, the best BR player out there as rated by the tech sites in General, is the PS3, and you can get an HDMI capable PS3 for 500 dollars which is directly price parallel to the HD-DVD players.

Why do consumers consistently stick their neck out so they can encourage companies to ******* us?

I'm sure the millions upon millions upon millions of dollars spent developing technology plays a role in this. It isn't all just screw the consumer (which the Blue Ray format is hardly doing).

and I'm quite curious. Do you just love not getting the best bang for your buck?

Beats me but it's not happening with Blu Ray...

Buying **** on who's backing it alone is poor consumerism.

What you're inferring is when companies offer lip service, that's not the case with movie companies in this market. Or maybe the movies being released actually aren't on store shelfs?

 

[Fading]

Which is something you do not know.

I really don't know why so many people are lobbying for Blu-Ray. It's a technically inferior product in comparison to HD-DVD as is, even if it is only a slight difference. Not to mention that it costs a hell of a lot more. Why do consumers consistently stick their neck out so they can encourage companies to ******* us?

I just want to know. It's a question that has been lingering on my mind for quite some time, and I'm quite curious. Do you just love not getting the best bang for your buck? Buying **** on who's backing it alone is poor consumerism.

Zenien pretty much nailed it above. Production cost is more or less a mute point. DVD's costed more than VHS's if memory serves, but they drove the cost down. BR is new and needs entirely different factories to produce, given time they will stream line it and cut the cost dramatically.

Actually looking at some online sites, how's it way more expensive. Babel is the exact same price for both formats ($27.95), Casino Royal for BR is $.70 cheaper than The Departed for HD. The price for different movies varies inbetween $4-5 between the two formats with some cheaper for HD, and some cheaper for BR.

As for BR being inferior, I'm still not sold on that. The main complaint I've heard on BR is it's coding, which it can always switch and be equal in visual quality. HD on the other hand will never hold as much info per layer as a BR period. HD-DVD is 15GB and is rumored to triple layer up to 50GB, BR is what 40GB, and can reach a maximum of 200GB.

To me storage means a lot. If done right entire seasons of a TV series can be held on one disk instead of 8 or 9 DVD's. Movies the length of Lord of the Rings can be on one disk with the extended scenes and all the footage instead of 3-4 disks. The entire Star Wars trilogy, and prequals can be held with all the xtra footage on one 200GB disk. When burners come out, I can hold 2x my entire Hard Drive (have a 100GB drive atm) on one disk. Storage does mean a lot if used right, and honestly that's something HD-DVD will never have in spades.

To me it's not just who backs it (Fox, Disney and so on), but it's potential. Plus I want to just see the format war end sooner than later, and HD just has to lose Universal and it'll be more or less over, while BR would have to lose a lot more exclusives to hurt. It would just be far more simple for HD to bow out and come to some kind of comprimise than wait on BR and all it's backers to give up.

 

[Ironhide]

I sure hope Blu-Ray ends up winning the dvd wars!!! With many more movie studios backing Blu-Ray rather than HD-DVD, that should be an indication as to which format is better.

 

[SpiderFan17]

I recently got a ps3, and I tried out some of the best blu-rays out there. I also was an early HD-DVD adopter, so keep in mind my experience is a PS3 through HDMI being compared to a Toshiba HD-A1. As a double format owner, I can safely say I easily prefer HD-DVD as a format. The features on HD-DVD are really slick, and plentiful in quite a few cases (Universals U-Control, the in-movie experience on certain WB releases). The video quality between the two formats seems to even out for dual-releases, so I really couldn't care less that blu ray can hold more, when both formats give me the same things.

However, blu ray isnt at its full potential yet, which may be why I still view it as inferior. Where is the java support? How can you honestly say that the format is better when it's lacking its biggest feature? Will it arrive? Absolutely. Does it have a lot of potential? Absolutely. Until then, the HDi support trumps the NONEXISTANT bd-j support. Hell, that's why WB hasn't really released any of the comic book movies onto Blu-ray, because they cant implement the in-movie experience feature that Batman, V For Vendetta, Constantine, and others have. What's also worrisome is BD-J isn't on a timetable. Nobody is commenting about it. You can't dig up any new info about it. It's logical to ASSUME that it should come out soon, seeing as how if blu-ray went a year without a huge feature like that, the technology could be viewed as inferior. However, we are not the programmers, so we simply have no idea. I am using the usual rule, however, if you aren't hearing anything about progress, there's a good chance it isnt ready yet.

I honestly can say, given the current situation, I would prefer HD-DVD to win. Who is supporting who is a non-factor in saying that, as well. It's highly illogical when talking about which format is technologically superior by mentioning the support. The technology needs to be compared on its own, to each other. Right now, Blu-ray just doesn't really have what I'm looking for in a future format.

Nevertheless, if i had to make a true prediction of what will happen, the formats may end up just becoming the equivalent of SACD and DVD-A. Sony and Toshiba both have too much pride to concede this one.

And for the record, when I removed the dual-releases from the blu-ray lineup, it really is slim pickings for me to find things that are worth purchasing (renting through netflix is a different story). That's only talking about titles themselves, not discounting the ones I DO want that have been released barebones (Reservoir Dogs) or with average video quality (American Psycho). This is coming from someone who owns 22 HD-DVD's, so I'm not exactly picky.

 

[Zenien]

Good post, it warrants a serious reply (I'll do later:P)

The lastest Videoscan sales show that from Jan 27 to Feb 4, Blu-ray went from 87.6% sales since inception to 92.5% - a whopping 5% jump. This translates to nearly 3:1 movie sales advantage for Blu-ray. In fact, it's the biggest sales difference in a week since the release of the PS3.

 

[Zenien]

Disney is going all out with Pirates movies. 75GB, BD-J, bonus features, etc


http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/s...ty_to_Include_Two_Discs,_BD-Java_Features/481

Disney 'Pirates of the Caribbean' Booty to Include Two Discs, BD-Java Features
Tue Feb 20, 2007 at 02:32 PM ET
Tags: Disc Announcements, BD-50, Exclusive HD Content, Disney (all tags)

In two Blu-ray firsts for Disney, the studio will unleash their premiere two-disc and BD-Java-enhanced titles when it brings the blockbuster 'Pirates of the Caribbean' films to the format this spring.

As first announced late last month, the studio is set to debut 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest' on Blu-ray on May 22, just in time for the theatrical premiere of the third film in the trilogy, 'At World's End.'

With expectations high for both releases to be a "trojan horse" for Blu-ray -- meaning the kind of huge A-list titles that will entice new consumers to finally dive into the format -- Disney appears to be pulling out all the stops to ensure fans are not disappointed.

Each title will be a "75GB" release, meaning a BD-50 dual-layer disc for the movie, and an extra BD-25 single-layer disc with additional extras.

Tech specs include the usual 1080p video transfers and uncompressed PCM 5.1 surround tracks. Extras will replicate the existing, feature-packed standard-def DVD versions.

And exclusive to the Blu-ray releases will be two BD-Java bonuses. 'The Curse of the Black Pearl' will include "Scoundrels of the Sea," an interactive in-movie feature that presents facts on-screen about the legends and lore of pirates. 'Dead Man's Chest' will include an "exciting" new Java feature called "Liar's Dice," a single-player game shot in live-action HD video.

Disney has set a $34.95 suggested list price for each of the 'Pirates' flicks.

Full specs for both titles have now been added to our Blu-ray Release Schedule

.We've also set up dedicated threads for both titles in our Forums area -- click the following links to discuss 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' Blu-ray release and 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest' Blu-ray release.