Paramount to likely drop HD-DVD
Jan 9, 2008 at 3:24 PM Post #32 of 44
Here's an impression from CES on BluRay:
...I went from the Sony booth where they were tooting BD Live and the still unscheduled 2.0 profile (in some cases with the Godzilla director there to show it off himself). And when you get to the their actual demo of BD live what was the big, great feature (really the ONLY feature they had to show)? A downloadable Godzilla ring tone for your cell phone! Are you kidding? Apparently not. It was really depressing. And I pushed the reps on the details but they had very little else they could offer. I was hoping for “this is just the tip of the iceberg and here are some of the other great things it will do” but all they could show was “and here is where you could register the disc online or join an email list, etc. Really, really lame… And the interface still looked terrible. And it totally removed you from the movie – all the content was its own screens that froze the movie and dropped the sound. I asked if they would have BD Live features that were able to play WITH the movie and were integrated to its time code and they said nothing currently was in the works, “but anything is possible.” They didn’t seem to “get it” at all. (Oh, they also showed how they would be able to update the trailers you see with a film over time, as if this was a great feature for consumers! I couldn’t help but point out that they can’t manage to get more than a token set of trailers on the PS Networks so I’m not holding my breadth on this…)

What concerned me is Sony didn’t seem at all concerned that their competition already had features they can’t even yet articulate as on their short-term radar. That worried me I would have felt better if they really demonstrated they knew what the other camp had and were promising to get there or better soon…

...it does appear that the BD camp (or at least its leader Sony) is pretty far behind in the feature camp and I hope this doesn’t shut down the feature innovation development pace. I could see that happening also because without a “keeping up with the Jones’” incentive, all things being equal it is more cost effective for Studios to release products with as few extra features as possible.
Click to expand...
AVSForum Impression Link


So uhh, good job Sony. You really stuck it to HD-DVD and outshined them... I honestly don't know What these studios see in BluRay, it's still a mess of a format.
 
Jan 9, 2008 at 10:19 PM Post #33 of 44
Quote:

Originally Posted by GAD /img/forum/go_quote.gif
People still pay for ****?


Hey man, we are talking about HI-DEF! Every pimple, every cellulite...
biggrin.gif
 
Jan 10, 2008 at 6:24 PM Post #34 of 44
Quote:

Originally Posted by saint.panda /img/forum/go_quote.gif
warner_300.png



That graph is going to look a little more blue a little sooner:

Universal HD DVD exclusivity contract has expired, sits non-renewed - Engadget

Paramount and Universal being the last two big studios supporting Blu Ray, and Universal already having doubts about extending their contract, I think we're possibly going to see announcements from Universal and Paramount really soon.
 
Jan 12, 2008 at 7:03 AM Post #36 of 44
So I did some reading on the two format. they both use the same video codec, same reading rate, so both can reproduce the same quality. except bluE-ray has larger space per layer, require better optical technology and more costly to produce. I would think hd dvd would win because its cheaper to reproduce, which is always how it is for mass.

So what exactly is the legitimate reason that blu-ray is winning/better than hd dvd? (not that i will go out to buy neither).
 
Jan 12, 2008 at 7:14 AM Post #38 of 44
I'm surprised too. It seems the consumer would benefit more from the cheaper HD-DVD. If you don't count PS3s who actually buys a $400 BluRay player? The film studios are choosing BluRay because it's better for them, not us.
 
Jan 12, 2008 at 7:19 AM Post #39 of 44
Quote:

Originally Posted by terrymx /img/forum/go_quote.gif
So I did some reading on the two format. they both use the same video codec, same reading rate, so both can reproduce the same quality. except bluE-ray has larger space per layer, require better optical technology and more costly to produce. I would think hd dvd would win because its cheaper to reproduce, which is always how it is for mass.

So what exactly is the legitimate reason that blu-ray is winning/better than hd dvd? (not that i will go out to buy neither).


Advertising. The Blu-Ray camp has been extensively aggressive in their marketing, while HD DVD has been pretty complacent. I've had plenty of friends that don't know anything about the war come up to me and ask "Have you heard about Blu-Ray?" On the other hand I've had maybe two or three ask "Have you heard about HD DVD?" It's too bad because Toshiba really has the better technology IMO. Blu-Ray can hold more data, sure, but HD DVD has an extensive feature list that Blu-Ray technology can't touch. Video and audio are identical as they use the same codecs. It's only the medium that is different.

This thing isn't over BTW. The threads like this one are started by misinformed people who don't really know what is going on in the industry. The public opinion is that Blu-Ray has won and Paramount is going to switch anytime, which is far from the truth at this point in time.

At the end of the day Toshiba still has a large share in the market and their players have been selling like hot cakes. With more instilled players we may see studios switch back over to HD DVD if sales increase even more. Studios have switched frequently between the two formats and they will again, either in HD DVD's favor or Blu-Rays. Only time can tell but the war is far from over at this point, which unfortunately is the general conception. This view however might indeed help Blu-Ray win the crown faster. If the public opinion is that Blu-Ray has won then that will obviously effect sales.

Lets not forget either that the world richest mofo is backing HD DVD.
 
Jan 12, 2008 at 2:46 PM Post #40 of 44
Quote:

Originally Posted by Yukon Trooper /img/forum/go_quote.gif

This thing isn't over BTW. The threads like this one are started by misinformed people who don't really know what is going on in the industry. The public opinion is that Blu-Ray has won and Paramount is going to switch anytime, which is far from the truth at this point in time.




You imply that you do know what is "going on in the industry". Are you an industry insider? Or does you opinion also come from reading what is publicly available?
 
Jan 12, 2008 at 4:27 PM Post #41 of 44
I was convinced HD-DVD was going to win- I was wrong.

Incidentally- if you purchased an HD-DVD player from Amazon in the last 30 days, be sure to email them regarding their 30 day price guarantee (if you don't return it that is). I purchased an a30 for $240 and sent for the free DVD's, however, Amazon has issued about $70 in refunds. Their email this morning quoted the $172.97 as the lowest price.

Another reason Amazon is awesome, by the way.
 
Jan 12, 2008 at 6:39 PM Post #42 of 44
Quote:

Originally Posted by terrymx /img/forum/go_quote.gif
So what exactly is the legitimate reason that blu-ray is winning/better than hd dvd? (not that i will go out to buy neither).


Most likely money amongst other things. Although the HD DVD camp did the same (Paramount was offered tens of millions of marketing incentives from Toshiba), the Sony conglomerate probably had the deeper pockets. Otherwise, it would have just been a funny coincidence for Warner to announce its HD DVD departure right before the CES. While product quality and marketing are probably important as well, it's a supply-driven market (personal conjecture), especially in the beginning, and Sony learned this lesson from the Betamax days when it didn't have the backing of Hollywood / pørn industry.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yukon Trooper /img/forum/go_quote.gif
This thing isn't over BTW. The threads like this one are started by misinformed people who don't really know what is going on in the industry. The public opinion is that Blu-Ray has won and Paramount is going to switch anytime, which is far from the truth at this point in time.


Even if this were true, I believe public opinion plays a not so unimportant role in the insiders' decision making process.
 
Jan 12, 2008 at 7:44 PM Post #43 of 44
Quote:

Originally Posted by coredump /img/forum/go_quote.gif
If you don't count PS3s who actually buys a $400 BluRay player?


Unfortunately for Red supporters, you can't actually discount the PS3. If I had to pick one reason for Blu's current standing, that would be it.

Obviously, it's a combination of things.
 
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