Warner Bros to back Blu-ray DVD format exclusively

[PiracyX]

According to the owner of Home Theater Forum who appears to have been an insider on this deal, WB was given $620 million (not sure if it's in cash or incentives or both) to go exclusive.

Link

[Julius Caro]

According to the owner of Home Theater Forum who appears to have been an insider on this deal, WB was given $620 million (not sure if it's in cash or incentives or both) to go exclusive.

Link

More than 500 :p

Some dude in High def digest says that HD-DVD was offering 300 million to warner and that right now that offer is up for anybody who wants to go at least neutral?

For the BDA it makes all sense to get warner on the blu side at whatever price

[sn00pie]

Now that I think of it, Warner was dumb to wait the holiday season to announce this. They royally screwed over alot of people who bought HD DVD players and movies this holiday season.

Paramount and Dreamworks were paid a heft amount back then to go HD DVD, in what we thought was the end of BD. Quite a different scene today. I'm sure a substantial amount of money was involved in this deal. However, money or no money, the tide has clearly turned on the format war. This is a "loss" Sony can afford to take to make the PS3 a better buy IMO.

I my PS3 is all I can say.

[NateB1]

If the $650 million buyout deal is correct, this stinks. An inferior format winning because Sony is willing to buy their way to supremecy, without any thought to the consumer (as if any company cares for the consumer!). Just when HD-DVD was appearing to gain momentum, Sony pulls this. If they continue bribing studios, consumers who want to buy the better, more consistant format won't be able to, because Sony is willing to bribe the studios, at whatever cost, to "force" the consumer to buy their product.

If this deal is correct, I am now really mad at Sony. :crazy: I hope they bankrupt themselves with the costs of BD disc replication and bribing offers.

If there never was a deal, forget what I said above. :p

And for the record, I am against all buyout offers, including those put out by the HD-DVD Forum. The consumer should be the one to decide, not a for-profit mega-corporation.

[Julius Caro]

Oh god. In my eyes neither format offer better things than the other, except for region-freedom in HD-DVD. Pip? Online features? Fancy, but hardly a dramatic change to my movie watching experience.

Stop going all "bad" for the consumer or "good" for the consumer because neither format was backed by angel consumer-loving companies. In the end that 25gb+ VC-1/AVC encode is all that matters to me. And both can deliver that

Dont be mad because Warner was paid out, Paramount also was. And this time warner is not un-announcing titles like paramount

[Cormier6083]

Thing is, companies could give a ****. A company is out there to get money. That is exactly what a company is. It has no compassion. All that matters is that they got your money. No matter if it's Sony or Toshiba.

[+Mystic MVC]

So does this mean Sony is going to lessen the extremely tight restrictions/security on the Blu Ray disks or are they always going to be such a restricting medium now?

[mattmatik]

Now that I think of it, Warner was dumb to wait the holiday season to announce this. They royally screwed over alot of people who bought HD DVD players and movies this holiday season.

Unfortunately, for us consumers, it doesn't matter. They will say your movies will still play and that your equipment will still work. To them, that is good enough.

I don't really know what to think. Do I still buy HD-DVD movies? Do I support a format that is all but been given it's death sentence? I know my HD-DVD add on will always be there but that means one more piece of equipment I have to manage.

"Hey, let's watch a movie! Great, how about Lucky Number Slevin? Cool! But, wait, you can't use that player, use the other one." How stupid.

Will all of the HD-DVD releases get re-released in BR format now?

And, can I sell my add on and movies anywhere like Gamestop?

[NateB1]

So does this mean Sony is going to lessen the extremely tight restrictions/security on the Blu Ray disks or are they always going to be such a restricting medium now?

Why would they? If they do indeed win, they can do anything they want. If their track record is any clue, they will probably find and use another "uncrackable" DRM scheme to prevent copying - look at the 2005 rootkit fiasco, and some of their recent DVD releases. There is no way on earth they will reduce security on the Blu-Ray discs.

[+Mystic MVC]

Why would they? If they do indeed win, they can do anything they want. If their track record is any clue, they will probably find and use another "uncrackable" DRM scheme to prevent copying - look at the 2005 rootkit fiasco, and some of their recent DVD releases. There is no way on earth they will reduce security on the Blu-Ray discs.

That's what I figured, but its just a little scary after all the rootkit business with what they will install to monitor certain activity.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Why would they? If they do indeed win, they can do anything they want. If their track record is any clue, they will probably find and us another "uncrackable" DRM scheme to prevent copying - look at the 2005 rootkit fiasco, and some of their recent DVD releases. There is no way on earth they will reduce security on the Blu-Ray discs.

Oh noes! /rookit

:/

Do you really expect a company to lower their security to ALLOW their products to be cracked?

95% of people claiming to want to "backup" their software are no doubt pirates, or wanting to copy something for a friend.

Never once in my life have I said, ohhh I better go make 10 backups of this original incase it gets scratched, I just keep the original in damn good condition.

Oh well you guys can scare yourselfs with "rootkits" whilst I enjoy hi def movies, your choice ;)

[Coldgunner]

how in gods name is a rootkit gonna infect a player? what they gonna spy on?? what film you watched last???

[Sethos]

Guess we gotta break out the Kleenex & Tin-Foil hats ...

[ritsuke Veteran]

95% of people claiming to want to "backup" their software are no doubt pirates, or wanting to copy something for a friend.

Never once in my life have I said, ohhh I better go make 10 backups of this original incase it gets scratched, I just keep the original in damn good condition.

:yes:

[+Mystic MVC]

how in gods name is a rootkit gonna infect a player? what they gonna spy on?? what film you watched last???

No, but a PS3 is sure connected to the Internet so who knows.

I am just saying, weirder things have happened in the world, so I am trying to take Sony's past into consideration a little bit.....sorry jeez. :(

[Coldgunner]

No, but a PS3 is sure connected to the Internet so who knows.

I am just saying, weirder things have happened in the world, so I am trying to take Sony's past into consideration a little bit.....sorry jeez. :(

people found out what sony was up to before, unlikely that they'll try the same tricks

edit: profile 1.0 players can still play profile 1.1< movies, just can't use a few minor features.

[Ianwoollam]

Oh well you guys can scare yourselfs with "rootkits" whilst I enjoy hi def movies, your choice ;)

What happens if a new copy protection device that Sony decides that should be on all their newly made Blu-Ray's stop you from enjoying hi def movies because you find out your player is one of the players that dosn't support it anymore like with the Casino Royale DVD's a while back?

[DrCheese]

Unfortunately what most of the BD haters fail to realise is that having at least the basic region protection and the better security on BD was what made fox and a few other studio's decide to release on BD in the first place. Yes its lame but without it they wouldn't have released at all, or would have waited years before finally giving in.

As happy as I am by this news, I can't help but feel really bad about those consumers who have brought HD-DVD kit that may now become useless. I know we all brought next gen equipment knowing this would eventually happen but it's still pretty lame. I kinda covered myself because if BD died, I still had a decent console (quit laughing back there...) in the PS3

Also I wish people would stop thinking BD=Sony. Its true they had a large say in BD but they aren't the only ones.

[Cormier6083]

how in gods name is a rootkit gonna infect a player? what they gonna spy on?? what film you watched last???

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

No, but a PS3 is sure connected to the Internet so who knows.

I am just saying, weirder things have happened in the world, so I am trying to take Sony's past into consideration a little bit.....sorry jeez. :(

It was a bad mistake and something they were at fault for, and their reputation paid heavily for at that time.

I hardly expect the PS3 to spy on someone though... this is getting a little to "big brother" or "everyone is out to get you" syndrome.

If you worry that the PS3 has some sorta "secret rookit" I worry what your daily life must be like.... do you go into a public bathroom in California thinking Arnold has microscopic video cameras setup in the cubicles? Stop being rediculous :p

Be reasonable/sensible guys.

[Elliot B.]

<image snipped>

:laugh:

Love how that image keeps re-appearing!

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

What happens if a new copy protection device that Sony decides that should be on all newly made Blu-Ray's stop you from enjoying hi def movies because you find out your player is one of the players that dosn't support it anymore like with the Casino Royale DVD's a while back?

I have no idea what you mean with Casino Royale.

As for your speculation, why tie yourself up worrying about that when there is no indication something like that could happen.

The world could end tomorrow but I don't worry about it, as to me right now there is no clear cut indication it could happen (but yes it could).

[+Mystic MVC]

Holy crap audio what is your deal?

A company makes a huge mistake, but I am instantly supposed to forget about it? I realize they will be more careful in the future and with something as large as Blu Ray, I would hope they wouldn't, but way to jump all over me.

By the way, instead of just posting you don't know about the Casino Royale thing, certain BD players needed an update to play it a couple months back.

[Andrew Lyle Global Moderator]

thank god the war is coming to an end, and we can all rest easy knowing blu-ray players won't drop in price now, considering they have the edge, and will rob us any chance they get LOL

I was pro HD-DVD, because it had DVD playback, until i heard blu-ray does the same. GO BLU-RAY!

[Cormier6083]

People forgave Microsoft for Windows ME. Why not forgive Sony?

Were you directly infected with rootkits?