Hey All,

Warner Brothers announced that they are going Blu Ray exclusive, which is being seen as a big blow to the HD-DVD camp.

Link to more info

Thoughts??

Since I'm Blu Ray only (PS3 owner), this is good news for me.

They by no means have a monopoly in distribution, so I think you'll still see others offer HD-DVD.

In other news - Sonys 1st Qtr Profits are down by $250 million today - after someone wrote a huge check to Warner.

Did they really, or are you joking around? I know HD-DVD bribed one of the production companies with a $150,000,000 check so it wouldn't be surprising if it went both ways.

Works for me. Now if friggin' Universal would hurry up and switch over, I'd be good to go...

I'm joking. They would never announce it - but I'm sure it happened. Warner wouldn't just make a decision like that without some kind of financial incentive. If they did - they're dumb!

Rumor is that Apple is going to put Blu-Ray burners into the Macs (and therefore, support Blu-Ray in DVD Studio Pro and, I assume, iDVD).

They've held off putting any HD drives in them so far. We'll see in about 2 weeks.

Nice - yet another ploy by Apple to make an overpriced computer even more expensive.

:rolleyes:

When you can edit video on a PC as well and as easily as on a Mac, come back with that statement.

Oh...and as cheaply.

Premiere is a joke compared to FCP. The only program worth anything on a PC is Avid. And it's more expensive than FCP.

Totally agree. But it was probably at least two, three or four times that amount of dough ($250 mill). Think of the future sales secured by such a move.

Just give the PS3 another year and watch the sales go through the roof. Already kicking myself for buying one before the price went down...d'oh!

Blu-ray is going to win out and everyone knows this, why would Warners waste their time with a dead format?

I'm glad I still haven't had the need to commit to either. Upcoverting my DVD's is looking great as well as my free (for a year) HD pay channels.

Then again, didn't something like this happen last year and then a month later something else happened to swing it back the other way again? Oh well, I don't need to be involved in any of this yet.

PS3 owners probably all just got boners at the same time today though. If this does finally seal the deal, they can finally somewhat justify paying so much.

Mike704 - You're a retard. (Had to get that in)

I don't believe PS3 ownership alone will have any bearing on Blu Ray winning the war. If Sony wanted to drive a fatal nail into the HD coffin they need to drop the price of players like HD already have.

Right now HD-DVD is the much more affordable format, with players for $99. Yes Warner hopping on the Blu Ray bandwagon is a setback for HD, but by no means is it an end to the war.

NismoXse02 - I did the same as you. I owned a HD-DVD player for 1 day, but it didn't play my British Region 2 DVDs and there was no way to hack it to do so. So I took it back and went with a high end Oppo up converting DVD player and I'm Very impressed with the image quality on my 42". When I upgrade to 60" soon tho - we'll see how well it does on the bigger screen.

I hope someone wins soon. I just bought a HD TV and will not buy a DVD player until one format is set on.

I'm look at getting an unconverting DVD player. What's a good model to look at for a good price?

Where? Wal-Mart did that and others matched it. But they aren't that cheap anymore.

Good luck finding one under $200.

(Of course, that's still cheaper than the Blu-Ray players.)

http://www.oppodigital.com/dv981hd/dv981hd_index.html

or

http://www.oppodigital.com/dv980h/default.asp (Bit cheaper)

Weird! My local Costco this morning still had the Toshiba HD-DVD player for $99. Maybe I should snap a few up and Ebay em then if the prices have gone up everywhere else.

Rinky no need to be a douchebag...read a fucking newspaper or magazine and they all say that HDDVD lost the battle a while ago.

You obviously have no fucking clue. Do you believe everything you read in the newspaper?

Walmart had some el-cheepo Magnavox 1080P Up-converting DVD players with the HDMI output for $39.95 right before Christmas and I picked one up (along with a HDMI cable from monoprice.com for 9 bucks). I've played a quite a few movies on it so far and I am quite impressed with the quality of the picture. In fact the difference between this cheepo and my three year old top of the line Sony DVD player (with progressive scan) on my 1080P 46" Samsung is staggering. The up-converting really does make a difference.

The best quality films (least pixilation, errors, best color depth, and contrast) I've watched so far on the up-converting DVD player is Starship Troopers (for some reason it just looks fantastic), Spiderman II, the Matrix Reloaded, the Ring Trilogy and Star Wars Ep. II and III look great as well.

As a supporter of both formats, I have read many articles about the format war. I have no idea what articles you are referring to, but most I have read did not pick a winner. Most unbiased articles point to issues with both formats and advised there was no clear winner up to that point.

Either way - while BD is beating HD-DVD, both these formats combined are only about 1% of DVD sales. And this is after over a year on the market.

I also recently got an hdtv. I am just going to wait for now to see which format gains more strength. Can get the hd dvd player for my xbox pretty cheap but don't want it to be paperweight material.

I certainly wouldn't purchase a hd dvd player at this point. All signs point to BD as the winning format. The studios supporting BD account for 70% of the home video market.

Blu ray exclusive studios -

Disney
Sony Pictures
20th Century Fox
MGM
Lionsgate
Warner Brothers
New Line Cinema
Starz/Anchorbay

Yes, but BD does have it's biggest negative going for it still...

It's a Sony developed standard

True - but for some reason, A LOT of people love Sony.

You listen to CD's don't you???

That was a Sony/Phillips creation

Sony has had some format successes, but also many failures.

My biggest issue with Sony is they seem to refuse to use current standards - and instead try to come up with something new just so they don't have to pay royalities to other companies. This would be fine, but the result is usually more expensive and less quality. And then when it fails, you are stuck with a failed format.

This is the one I have after the reviews I read on it and the price.

The Player

The Review

You'll have to search for the model

I think we all agree that the losers in the HD-DVD/blu ray wars are the consumer. I too await on the side line until a clear winner emerges. Too bad, because I've skipped purchasing about a dozen or more movies this year for this very reason.

The only thing that makes me kinda lean towards blu-ray is the technology. I've read a few places that the bandwidth or max bitrate output is higher, and we all know blu ray has higher storage capacity. That to me means more uncompressed movie content.

The HD DVD had a valid attempt, in premise, to try and deliver a cheaper way. However, if they didn't exist, then everyone would be producing blu-ray players and the cost would be much cheaper as well.

If it really was as one sided as one system you could play video games, but the other was dirt cheap then it would be over already. But it's not. It's a luxury market, and people have money to spend for home theater, just not twice.

The 1st to sell new releases at $16.99 will have my vote. How much more can these HD disks cost to make? The extra features are worthless. I just watch the movie & could care less about the "making of" or outakes.

I guess this possibly means no Dark Knight for HD-DVD owners. (Depends on when their contract officially expires). So that's what, 70% or so of the market (by volume)?

So anybody know which studios are left "on the fence"?

edit: Rut roh:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/07/paramount-following-warner-out-the-hd-dvd-door/

Wow. Paramount is already trying to jump ship, too?

That was fast.

Looks like I picked the North in this civil war.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aQMGgh2LV_bU&refer=japan

While it hasnt happened yet, the clause is real

I am unconvinced as well that any format has "won" yet... especially when Transformers the movie is available only on HDDVD...

:p

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/08/paramount-current-plan-is-to-support-the-hd-dvd-format-curre/

Paramount has officially issued its denial of the rumor -- originally printed in the Financial Times -- that it is very close to ending its exclusive support of HD DVD. The quick end to what had been reported as an 18-month agreement could be the result of a "get out" clause triggered by Warner Bros.' sudden departure from HD DVD releases. Whether this will follow last year's "Universal may switch" rumor, that didn't happen, or last month's "Warner may switch" rumor, that did, remains to be seen. Until we hear otherwise, Paramount, Transformers and Shrek are still HD DVD only, whether they like it or not.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/af/HighDefShare.svg

Paramount will hold out until their exclusive deal expires then it will shift back to Bluray.

Paramount and Universal are the only major hold outs and they won't last long past their current agreements.

You can't ignore the shear number of films and studios soon to be, if not already, Blu-ray.

It is not over yet. But if it is it will be a shame. I am sure the average consumer cannot wait to pay for a more expensive player that does less. I would like to see HD-DVD win so HD players would have been in more homes (cheaper price). In turn we would see studios putting out titles quicker. I cannot wait to see how much Blu-Ray disks will be when there is only one format. Oh in case you are wondering I am not bashing I have both.

I dunno, Magma. Did VHS prices skyrocket after betamax was beaten into the ground?

One thing everyone forgets is that the elimination of HD-DVD doesn't eliminate competition at all. Blu ray DVDs still have to compete with other Blu ray DVDs for consumer dollars, and regular DVDs have already set something of a benchmark for what people are willing to pay for movies, TV show seasons, etc.

I'm just glad the format with more storage is winning. The more I can eventually cram onto a disk in terms of computer backup, the better.

Wow, you still use disks to back up stuff on your computer?

You are right VHS didn't go up. But Sony lost that battle. Cannot wait for Blu-ray players to cost 99.00 dollars. Yea right. Cram away but now it is about cost. The average consumer is not going to spend 300+ for a player to watch a DVD when they can pick up one for 50.00. Plus the war isn't over yet Paramount said they are staying put. The best way for either side to win is release some of their best movies IE Jurassic Park, Lord of the Rings, Star wars. That would help either side. Right now I support the one that is the least expensive.

I use DVDs to store a backup of my external hard drive, which is where I keep all my media.

Imagine being able to put 200GB on a single disc (the potential for Blu-Ray).

Then again...NAND may bypass it in the not-so-distant future.

Blu-Ray just got the porn industry on their side too.

HD porn = nasty...think razor burn.

Exactly!!! Don't need to see every pimple on that starlett's ass.

I fully concur... HD porn = bad idea.

That's what people said about the conversion of adult movies from the fuzz & hiss fest that was VHS to the clarity of DVD.

I'm all for it! Whatever gets me closer to true 3D. That would be hilarious to get a 3D adult movie for my buddies. I'm thinking that camera angle for the money shot would make most guys jump out of their chair.

I'd post their reaction on Youtube like it was one of those 2girls1cup reaction videos.

The razor burn comment comes from some porn stars as a reaction to some testing they've done with HD.

Warner, Fox Blu-Ray Bribery?
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news08/080115a.php

Think the fallout from the Warner Bros. Blu-Ray defection has settled down yet? Think again.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has published a startling story today that claims that not only did money change hands in regards to the Warner/Blu-ray deal, but that 20th Century Fox was also paid off to stay with Blu.

According to the report, Warner actually wanted to go HD DVD but would only do it if another studio were brought in and gave HD-DVD backers time to come up with that arrangement. Once done they would have had four of the major six studios behind it, leading it to likely win the format war.

That other studio was Fox, the least reliable and prodigious of Blu-ray's exclusive backers who has frequently delayed their title releases. What ones the studio has put out have been mostly catalog releases that have had several problems.

Fox was apparently lined up, and told the HD DVD camp it was going to switch to HD DVD, but nixed the deal at the last possible minute as Fox apparently received a reported $US120 million payout from Sony to stay Blu-ray.

Warner then switched and apparently received between $US400 and $500 million for its defection. WHV home video reps have denied claims of a payout, but right up til their defection last week they repeatedly denied any plans to change either - rendering their credibility dubious at this point.

The Blu-ray move by Warners continues to have impact on the high-definition field with dual format adult studo Digital Playground revealing that they plan to stop releasing porn on HD DVD probably by the end of 2008.

Goes both ways. Paramount was paid to go with HD-DVD and unlike Warner, it was confirmed.

Home Media Magazine pleads for HD-DVD to "Knock it off" and "Do the right thing"
http://www.homemediamagazine.com/news/html/buzz_article.cfm?sec_id=buzz

Apple has sold more movies than BOTH HD and Blu-ray combined.
http://www.dvdtown.com/news/apple-has-sold-more-movies-online-than-hd-dvd-a nd-blu-ray-combined/5127

Yes, pron for the blu-ray/ PS3 too:
http://www.blurayfreak.com/2007/12/the-other-pirat.html

Microsoft despite previous statements is now posturing no blu-ray support for Xbox:
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/01/10/microsoft_denies_hddvd_reuters_quote/

China enters a third option? http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/09/china-announces-ch-dvd-a-new-high-definition-d vd-standard/
:rolleyes:

In other words:

Holy crap, did you read that press release?

"The Optical Memory National Engineering Research Center has announced CH-DVD, a high definition DVD standard based on the DVD Forum's HD DVD, but with additional Chinese-owned technology tacked on. This additional technology takes the form multiple thin lead discs, bonded together with diethylene glycol based adhesives designed to prevent the spread of pirated content. When the disc is played, the laser heats up the discs, causing minute quantities of the adhesive agent and media to vaporize, thus neutralizing the would be pirates with a toxic mixture of airborne anti-freeze and lead. A new foundation called the China High Definition DVD Industry Association will be promoting the format, with the aim of launching a hardware player in 2008, and getting content producers on board before that."

NSFW but funny nonetheless

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=friS4OOcdgQ

Niice.