The Format War

[Zenien]

I just realized that both of the movies that came out for BR in that week also appeared on HD-DVD.

 

[BatMatt]

I think you have better eye sight than I do. lol. A friend of mine has a PS3 and a 32 inch HDTV and I can hardly tell the difference between a good upscaled DVD to a High Def Disc. Now, when I watch it on a 65" TV then the difference is huge, at least to my eyes. lol.

Perhaps but I agree, the bigger the TV, the bigger the difference.

 

[KALEL114]

It has begun.
http://www.n4g.com/industrynews/News-50627.aspx

 

[KALEL114]

This is a 180 of sorts.
http://news.spong.com/article/13113?cb=382

 

[Havok83]

It has begun.
http://www.n4g.com/industrynews/News-50627.aspx

I didnt expect a price cut this soon and defiently not till late fall, in time for Christmas, but good job Sony. Looks like it is working out for them

 

[Fading]

Great news for Sony. Their turning out a profit on the consoles, and using that profit to lower prices to sell more consoles. I know this will sound a bit like a Sony guy on a commercial or something, but I seriously wonder how they can make a profit with everything they cram in it. I know Nintendo makes profits because they build most parts in company, whereas Sony and Microsoft seem to have to import most parts which drives up the cost. So at this point both the PS3 and Wii make profits on every console sold, but the 360 still doesn't? Wonder what Microsoft is doing wrong putting it together as they have a standard DVD drive powering it, which is what I assumed drove the PS3 price so high, but now it's got me baffled if the PS3 can turn a profit with a more expensive drive.

This also must mean that BR drives have been streamlined, which would fall in line with the prices going down and rumors or prices going even further down.

 

[KALEL114]

I think the diode prices going down dramaticly helps.
I think Zen brought htis up. Here are a couple of links.
http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=15931
http://kotaku.com/gaming/blu_ray/cheaper-blu+ray-diodes--cheaper-ps3s-255380.php

 

[hippie_hunter]

I doubt that the Playstation 3 has reached profit point yet, but it's obvious that Sony isn't losing as much money per Playstation 3 sold that many Xbots make it out to be.

 

[RedIsNotBlue]

This has been info has been circulating for a while now but might as well post it in case someone missed it. The Spider-Man trilogy is rumored to be released on 11/01 in France???

 

[Doctor of Doom]

Well we knew there was gonna be a dramatic reversal the second they announced the price cut. If anything this is slightly smaller than some predicted, though still impressive.

The questions are
A) If it's sustained and
B) If it slows down the wii.

 

[KALEL114]

It will sustain it. The WII is'nt a concern right now. The issue is the impact this has on the "Format War", which I think is a huge boost for the Bluray camp.

 

[imdaly]

Sharp Electronics has announced it will release its first Blu-ray disc player in time for the holiday season.

Dubbed the BD-HP205, thus far Sharp has released only preliminary specs for the deck, which is due by late fall.
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Expect 1080p output capability at both 24fps and 60fps, plus in-board Dolby TrueHD decoding.

The player is also slated to fully support HDMI v1.3, and includes analog 5.1 outputs as well.

Sharp is also touting a new 'Quick Start' feature, which will load a disc mere seconds after being inserted into the tray. This is likely to be viewed as a welcome addition by early adopters, as currently load times on Blu-ray (and HD DVD) players tend to be frustratingly slow.

The manufacturer has not yet announced an exact street or pricing for the BD-HP205, but we'll keep you posted. Watch this space!

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/new...ies_First_Blu-ray_Player_for_Fall_Release/749

Sharp's BD-HP20S not coming to America -- resume waiting for BD-HP10U

July 10, 2007
It figures, doesn't it? Nearly every time we hear "cheap" and "high-definition player" in the same phrase, the news either turns out to be completely and utterly false, relates solely to HD DVD, or in the most recent case of the BD-HP20S, is not suited for American homes. As fate would seemingly have it, we're now hearing that Sharp's briefly anticipated no-fills Blu-ray player will be reserved for Japan, and according to PCWorld, it won't be making its way stateside "anytime soon." Sadly, that means we must all resume waiting for the nearly forgotten BD-HP10U, which was mentioned way back at CES but has hardly been heard from since. Ah well, at least you can snag a PS3 and five Blu-ray flicks for a mere $500 now, right?

Whoops!

New 'Star Trek' HD DVD Details Revealed
July 10, 2007

Fresh details have surfaced for the highly-anticipated high-def disc release of 'Star Trek: The Original Series,' with the set now expected to include never-before-seen footage exclusive to the next-gen edition.

It was nearly a year ago that Paramount Home Entertainment first revealed plays to release 'Star Trek on HD DVD, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the sci-fi classic. At the time, the studio said the new release would feature a host of new GGI enhancements, among them redone spaceship exteriors, a rejiggered opening and even a digitally remastered version of William Shatner's classic 38-word "Space, the final frontier..." credit monologue.

Now comes news that the high-def release will also include never-before-seen behind-the-scenes 8mm footage taken during the original production of the series.
Though Paramount has yet to announce an official street date for 'The Original Series,' the just-published program guide for this year's Comic-Con that the studio is planning to give convention attendees a first peek at footage from the long-awaited release on July 26 at a special event dubbed "Star Trek: The Original Series - As You've Never Seen It," which is also slated to include a panel of 'Trek' luminaries.
Strangely, Paramount has made no mention of a Blu-ray release of the series (only HD DVD), although since the studio supports both next-gen formats, we can only assume that the set will ultimately find its way to Blu-ray, as well. More details are expected to be revealed at ComiCon. Watch this space!

HD DVD and Blu-ray Titles to Take Center Stage at Comic-Con 2007
July 10, 2007

High-def early adopters attending this year's Comic-Con in San Diego will be treated to a first look at several of this fall's most eagerly anticipated high-def releases.

The newly-published schedule for this year's genre fest reveals at least three upcoming next-gen titles that will be getting the Comic-Con treatment when the annual conventional rolls into San Diego late this month.

As we first reported earlier this morning, kicking things off on Thursday July 26th is what organizers are calling the "worldwide debut" of the upcoming high-def disc release of the original 'Star Trek' series. The one hour session, dubbed "Star Trek - The Original Series: As You've Never Seen It" promises to be an interesting one, featuring a preview of the fully remastered HD DVD (which has yet to be given a street date), and a panel that includes Rod Roddenberry, son of the Star Trek creator.

Next up, on Friday July 27, producer Joel Silver and Spanish director Victor Garcia will preview the next-gen editions of 'Return To House on Haunted Hill,' due on HD DVD and Blu-ray this October. As we've previously reported, this direct-to-disc sequel from Warner is slated to include new "Navigational Cinema" technology that will enable the viewer to make seven choices as the story unfolds, leading to over 90 different iterations of the film.

Finally, at what's sure to be a packed session on Saturday July 28th, the entire cast of 'Heroes' will join co-executive producer/comic book writer Jeph Loeb and series creator Tim Kring for a session that is expected to include a first-ever look at the August 28 HD DVD release of 'Heroes: Season One.'

Needless to say, we can expect more than a few juicy tidbits to come out of each of these sessions. If you can't make it to San Diego to see them in person, not to worry -- we've got you covered. Watch this space for complete coverage of all the Blu-ray/HD DVD news to come out of Comic-Con: 2007. Stay tuned!

 

[Zenien]

Recently, Bill Hunt over at The Digital Bits caught a lot of flack over a piece he wrote on the HD war, and why The Digital Bits was backing Blu-Ray as the “format to beat”.

Bill’s piece was a response to a post from Harry Knowles over at Ain’t It Cool News where Harry talked about picking up a HD DVD player, and why he had chosen that particular format. Bill decided to respond to the piece primarily because Harry’s piece was full of erroneous information (I know, on Ain’t It Cool News? Surely I jest…). Harry’s piece has since been edited somewhat, but is still far from correct. It is full of fear, uncertainty and doubt, and has several facts flat out wrong. Bill’s piece does a more than adequate job of pointing out the flaws in Harry’s arguments, though, so I won’t get into that here.

I found Bill’s piece thought-provoking, and very well researched. It is a very logically presented argument as to why Blu-Ray will ultimately prevail in the HD DVD/Blu-Ray format war. It also started me on a train of thought related to one of the specific reasons Bill feels Blu-Ray will win; studio support.

I thought it’d be interesting to take some data from Box Office Mojo related to the studios and which format(s) they support, and then amalgamate that data.

I took a look at the top 100 grossing films from 2005, 2006 and 2007 year-to-date, as well as thetop 100 films of all time and the top 100 films of all time adjusted for inflation, and then mapped the studios that own them back to the format(s) they support.

For 2007, up to June 28th (I started doing the analysis on June 29th), the top 100 films have grossed a total of $3,693,457,524. Of that, 52.65% of the dollar value gross, or $1,944,471,566 is from studios exclusive to Blu-Ray. 10.07%, or $372,099,319 is exclusive to HD DVD, and 37.28% or $1,376,886,639 is dual-format. The remaining 1.18% ($43,400,114) has not chosen a side.

Of the top 100 2007 (YTD) films, 47 are from Blu-Ray exclusive studios, 14 are HD DVD exclusive studios, 29 are dual-format studios and 10 are not supporting either format currently.

Looking back at 2006, the top 100 films grossed a total of $7,868,951,746. Of that, 60.01%, or $4,722,185,762 was from Blu-Ray exclusive studios. 10.07%, or $792,188,570 was from HD DVD exclusive studios, and 29.92% ($2,354,577,414) was from dual-format studios.

Of the films, 53 were from Blu-Ray exclusive studios, 14 from HD DVD exclusive studios and 33 from dual-format studios. There were no films in the 2006 top 100 from studios that had not declared a format preference.

Going back to 2005, the top 100 films had total grosses of $7,688,897,916. 47.79% ($3,674,562,080) came from Blu-Ray backers, 11.73% ($901,950,973) came from HD DVD backers, and $3,112,384,863 came from dual-format backers. Again, no films in the top 100 came from studios that had not declared an HD preference.

Of the 2005 films, 47 came from Blu-Ray backing studios, 14 from HD DVD backing studios and 39 from dual-format studios.

OK, so when it comes to “new releases”, things are weighted pretty heavily toward Blu-Ray. Of the top 300 films released from January 1 2005 to present, 147 of them are from studios that are exclusively supporting Blu-Ray currently, and they represent 53.60% of the total grosses. Add in the numbers from the studios that currently support both formats, and you have 248 out of the top 300 films coming out at some point on Blu-Ray, and they represent 89.07% of the total theatrical grosses.

On the HD DVD front, only 42 films are exclusives to the format, representing 10.71% of the total grosses. Add in the dual-format studios, and HD DVD has 143 films, with 46.18% of the total grosses represented. This is the biggest hurdle HD DVD has to overcome, and given that the studios that are Blu-Ray exclusive are steadfastly so, I don’t see how they can (Sony, Fox and Disney are the three biggest Blu-Ray exclusive backers. Sony because they have a vested interest in the technology, and Fox and Disney because they are proponents of heavy copy protection and Blu-Ray has an extra layer of protection (BD+) that HD DVD does not - none of these three studios has a compelling reason to support HD DVD).

New releases represent the overwhelming majority of home video sales, and this is why Universal has been so aggressive in getting newer movies out on HD DVD. This holiday season, however, things will shift even more in Blu-Ray’s favor as many of this summer’s biggest movies like Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and Ratatouille hit Blu-Ray and not HD DVD. Of the summer’s big releases that will be on HD DVD, the vast majority will also be available on Blu-Ray. In fact, of the top 20 movies released year-to-date only two, Knocked Up and Evan Almighty, are HD DVD exclusives.

Still, catalog titles have been huge for DVD and have the potential to do so again for the HD formats. Looking at the top 100 films of all time, 44 are from Blu-Ray exclusive studios (46.68% of total gross), 12 are from HD DVD exclusive studios (12.12% of total gross) and 42 are from dual-format studios (41.2% of gross). The remaining 2 films are from studios that don’t support either format yet (those two films, if you’re interested, are The Passion of the Christ and My Big Fat Greek Wedding).

If we adjust the all-time 100 for inflation, the numbers skew even more in Blu-Ray’s favor, with 57 being Blu-Ray exclusive studios (59.27% of adjusted gross), 11 being HD DVD exclusive (12.24% of adjusted gross) and 30 supporting both (28.49% of adjusted gross). Again, there are two films from studios supporting neither format at this time (1.59% of adjusted gross) - this time, My Big Fat Greek Wedding drops out of the top 100 and is replaced by Duel In The Sun.

All of this seems irrelevant in light of the percentage of home video sales that Blu-Ray and HD DVD represent. A giant slice of a tiny pie is still a small piece of pie. If you stop and consider that standard definition DVD sales have leveled off, and are expected to decline this year, and that the movie studios are going to need to find new revenue streams to continue the growth of the home video market, it becomes obvious that the home video market needs a “new” DVD to carry it into the next generation. The HD formats are the best bet for that currently. Digital downloads are not ready for prime time (there are no standardized formats, and no standardized players, and the studios have not lined up behind any formats).

In the end, the reality is that no matter what numbers you look at, Blu-Ray has the advantage. Blu-Ray is outselling HD DVD, it has more studio support, it has more consumer electronics manufacturers’ support and the library of movies is rapidly overtaking HD DVD. Blu-Ray also has a deeper library of catalog titles to reach into.

It is time for Universal Studios, the Weinstein Company, Toshiba and the few other HD DVD hold outs to face facts and throw their support behind Blu-Ray. The sooner this format war ends, the sooner the general populace will be able to replace those dwindling DVD revenues with a new stream, and that means more HD content for all of us. Everyone wins…well, as long as you consider re-purchasing content you already own “winning”, but that’s the price you pay for progress.

http://blog.pixelperfectproductions.com/?p=54

 

[BatMatt]

I <3 pie charts

 

[Avalanche]

Pie charts rule.

To summarise:

Not only is Blu-Ray consistently selling better than HD-DVD, it also has more of the films you want to see. Basically, HD-DVD is an all round lose.

 

[블라스]

Spider-Man 3 sucked.

 

[Zenien]

While it did suck, it didn't suck as much as Pirates 3, Shrek 3, or Transformers. I think I'm forgetting about some other big franchise movie that came out and sucked this summer, but what are you going to do.

 

[블라스]

I haven't seen Transformers nor Pirates
Shrek sucked at parts and was teh funny at some others!
But yeah, it mostly sucked

 

[Avalanche]

Shrek 3 sucks?

 

[블라스]

Is this the place to ask a technical question about the HD dvd?

 

[Zenien]

Sure why not.

 

[블라스]

Shrek 3 sucks?

It just felt kinda forced, but I still laughed

 

[블라스]

Ok, so the Hot Fuzz R1 DVD is, as expected, very crappy (HAY IT'S NOT AN AMERICAN MOVIE SO IT SUXX!!1 LOLZ!!'), but the HD-DVD/DVD combo of Hot Fuzz is going to have all the awesome extras that the R2 DVD has.

Can I watch those extras in my regular DVD player or do I need an HD player thingie?

 

[BatMatt]

depends which side of the disc they're on. If they're on the DVD side, absolutely, the HD DVD side, negative

 

[블라스]

Ahhhh...got it.
Thanks a lot, friend.