Warner Bros to back Blu-ray DVD format exclusively

[Joel]

Simple. They are avid supporters of HD-DVD and since HD-DVD will be gone soon like Bush, they are just stating their frustrations by writing nonsense.

Not everything being posted is nonsense, although some are claiming everything is.

exactly, or they will post how the war for some reason ISN'T over yet or why it's BAD for the consumer.

It's not over and it is bad for the consumer, but I'll be the first to admit that it's a serious blow that may end up being the straw that broke the camel's back, and may finally actually bury the HD-DVD format. Getting worked over it < discussing it like rational beings.

[Julius Caro]

exactly, or they will post how the war for some reason ISN'T over yet or why it's BAD for the consumer.

The bad for the consumer thing cracks me up. I guess I can understand they "don't like" sony (what I dont understand is how some hate sony so much that will be skipping BD and waiting for the next thing) but, mmm, if Microsoft is the alternative, please refrain from even posting, lol.

I will tell you how HD-DVD isn't consumer-oriented:

1. Blu-ray was first

2. Toshiba then developed a format based on the same technology but more compatible with already available dvd-production equipment. That means it was cheaper for them to produce. Cheaper to produce != lower prices. More likely = higher profit margins.

Economics 101: Maximize profit margins. Minimize production costs.

We all know how introducing a new format works. First, expensive, for early adopters, then, cheaper as demand grows and production costs are reduced even more. By making it cheap since the beginning, that means their profit margins are high since the beginning. That's SO consumer oriented, right?

I think that BD players and HD-DVD players cost about the same to produce. On the hardware side, they both use the blue laser lens, with different optics. They support the same codecs, similar bitrates, etc.. so same hardware. I doubt the different optics justify the current price different. My conclusion is that toshiba is selling them below the cost price or with next-to-zero profit margins.

But wait, there's more. The discs are cheaper to produce, and yield rates are higher. Movies cost about the same. Consumer sees titles from both formats at the same price. Where's the advantage here? Mimicking BD software prices to get higher profits... consumer oriented.

What HD-DVD got right:

1. The whole spec and player requirements. No profile headaches. They simply got what BD wanted, but faster. They were ready to deliver that faster. However, judging by the number of PiP-enabled titles and online-enabled titles, I guess the rush wasn't justified. Still doesn't justify BDAs inability to implement the specs when they should have.

2. Region free.

What Blu-ray got right:

1. blu-ray burners. HD-DVD burners are nowhere was reliable as BD ones (you can check benchmarks and such things)

2. "global" advertising. It didnt matter to them that europe wasnt a big market for HD movies (99% of HDTV owners havent seen ANY hd channel at all). HD-DVD failed miserably outside the US.

What both got wrong:

AACS. Seriously will they ever learn? Calling Bluray "DRM infested" because of BD+ is pure hypocrisy. BD+ finality is the same as AACS. But sadly, it happens to be there. Don't EVER doubt that the goal of both parties was to provide content protection at whatever cost. BOTH formats have the Image constraint token flag, remember? There are more layers of DRM in both formats than paparazzis at britney's gate. AACS, HDCP.. as long as the whole "managed copy" is put into practice I guess it won't matter.

DRM is dying. I don't even know what HDCP is for considering it is uncompressed video that goes through HDMI. 1920 ? 1024 ? 24 bpp ? 24 fps ? average-film-length.. that's too many gigabytes to even bother.

(And I'm not a blind BD fanboy part of the BD cult. I hate BD+, I hate the prices, I hate the profiles... The only reason I jumped into the BD wagon was because the PS3 in March 2007 was as expensive as the cheapest HD-DVD/BD player, it was also a console, and there were enough titles announced/released and studio support that I didnt care if BD eventually lost. Not to mention that the ps3 was more likely to be profile 1.1 and 2.0 compliant than any other BD player).

Edited January 6, 2008 by Julius Caro

[acies]

Not to be rude... but do some reading, you can't expect to learn the answer to all your questions in someone's post on a web forum... especially in a topic as heated as this.

As for the whole HD DVD > Blu-Ray comment, yeah, it doesn't have they're reasoning, which would help make their point, but they didn't.

I didn't expect answers to any questions. Simply writing "HD DVD > Blu-Ray" is just a rather pointless reply. Atleast give one reason behind it.

[Ianwoollam]

2. "global" advertising. It didnt matter to them that europe wasnt a big market for HD movies (99% of HDTV owners havent seen ANY hd channel at all). HD-DVD failed miserably outside the US.

Agree with that, over here in the UK I've seen the odd Blu-Ray ad and I've never seen a HD-DVD ad. 99% of people think the only HD we have over here is SkyHD and the PS3 cause they are the only ones advertising Hi-Def Movies. If they did the same 10 free HD-DVD and ?100 offer over here and really promoted it, alot of people I think would have gone for it here, I've spoken to alot of people who have HD-TV's and not one person that I spoke too knows what the hell HD-DVD is, yet most of them have heard of Blu-Ray. Quite surprising really seen as 99% of companies take advantage of Rip Off Britain:pp

[goji]

<snip>

+ 10 billion to the whatever power necessary.

You would think after years and years of these corporate shenanigans we as consumers would be used to it by now. Alas, some of us are smarter than they.

[ctebah]

+ 10 billion to the whatever power necessary.

You would think after years and years of these corporate shenanigans we as consumers would be used to it by now. Alas, some of us are smarter than they.

It's very similar to how life works. Questions like Why did George Bush get elected for the 2nd time? or Why hunger in Africa isn't eliminated yet? or Why nuclear bombs still exist? fall into the same category.

Companies will always find a way of marketing their product to appeal to a certain user base.

[goji]

Stevan, some people are caught up in the gimmicks and unnecessary fluff that surrounds a product.

HD would have been great if they waited and prepared an industry wide timetable for roll out of a majority of necessary products. Had they done this I beleive it would have saved money, time, and resources that could have been allocated elsewhere.

But then again, HD flagging could have been implemented which may have further alienated the HD user base from the general populace far more than what it is today.

[ctebah]

Stevan, some people are caught up in the gimmicks and unnecessary fluff that surrounds a product.

HD would have been great if they waited and prepared an industry wide timetable for roll out of a majority of necessary products. Had they done this I beleive it would have saved money, time, and resources that could have been allocated elsewhere.

But then again, HD flagging could have been implemented which may have further alienated the HD user base from the general populace far more than what it is today.

don't get me wrong, i completely agree with you. and not only do some people get cought in the gimmicks, a lot of them do. I used to work at bestbuy and some of the things management wanted us to say to sell their extended warranty was absurt. but what was even more absurd was the ammount of people that fell for it.

[Joni_78]

Bye bye HD DVD.

[Ayepecks]

Toshiba press conference is going on right now, may have more mention of HD DVD: http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/live-fr...ess-conference/

[TruckWEB]

Toshiba press conference is going on right now, may have more mention of HD DVD: http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/live-fr...ess-conference/

Well, nothing much was said...

"We've been declared dead before...unit sales in Q4 were the best to date. Nearly 1 million dedicated HD DVD players are in the market" "HD DVD has always put the interests of consumers ahead of companies"

And how many PS3 are in the market?

[Ayepecks]

Doesn't look like they really changed any of their plans. But, I'm going to take a guess here and say they're going to roll out some cheap players soon if they intend to keep the war going... judging from the sounds of their comments, I'm going to say they'll at least attempt it.

[GNRambo]

But wait, there's more. The discs are cheaper to produce, and yield rates are higher. Movies cost about the same. Consumer sees titles from both formats at the same price. Where's the advantage here? Mimicking BD software prices to get higher profits... consumer oriented.

Isn't this due to the fact that sony pays a bit for each disk so they keep prices down? Also the players for HDDVD are much cheaper than blu ray (im NOT including PS3 since it isn't standalone).

I agree with what you said about what each disk format did right or wrong.

[goji]

^ In the end they all screwed up and helped delay any serious conversion to HD. GG guys, you know how to truly play ball.

[gunnerhkjp]

From http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/live-fr...ess-conference/

10:10 - Director of Corporate Communications just took the stage - Next up: Jodi Sally to "address" their HD DVD business, but first, President & CEO Mr. Ozaka

10:12 - Great success for Regza LCDs and HD DVD, strong Q4 sales for HD DVD - Really, it says so on the slide.

10:13 - "Very surprised by Warner announcement about HD DVD...etc", basically the same as the press release issued earlier.

10:15 - Jodi Sally is on stage "It's been a tough day for me (laughs)".

10:42 - Annnnd we're out, no Q&A (We had some interesting questions to ask about HD DVD)

Some days, it doesn't pay to get out of bed. :D

[TruckWEB]

Lets all move to VMD.... Forget about Blu-Ray or HD-DVD... !!! :laugh: :laugh:

At least Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are real and here.... VMD is still vaporware and we realy don't need it....

Edited January 6, 2008 by TruckWEB

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

So I have been sick since Friday and not online much if not at all. So I pretty much missed this news and am just catching up now, at least trying to.

First off, is there an easy list to read of what studios support what format?

Second, has there been any other major announcements since this one? I see New Line also went exclusive although they are a pretty small fish in a big pond.

Third, from what I have been reading, anyone want to buy a year old HD-DVD add-on drive for the 360?

[glitch409]

First off, is there an easy list to read of what studios support what format?

Use the pie chart on this. It isn't up to date(obviously), but just imagine that New Lines and WB are blue :) .

[DrCheese]

Philips just showed off a new BD player at CES and said at the same time that Target is going BD only. Of course target has yet to comment on this.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/live-co...ps-press-event/

http://ces.cnet.com/8300-13855_1-67-0.html?keyword=Philips

Its also cheaper than the PS3 and profile 1.1, so much for prices not going down.

[ctebah]

CES got painted BLU this year. The warner announcement before and now a few blu-ray players are getting announced.

[Ayepecks]

From http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/live-fr...ess-conference/

10:10 - Director of Corporate Communications just took the stage - Next up: Jodi Sally to "address" their HD DVD business, but first, President & CEO Mr. Ozaka

10:12 - Great success for Regza LCDs and HD DVD, strong Q4 sales for HD DVD - Really, it says so on the slide.

10:13 - "Very surprised by Warner announcement about HD DVD...etc", basically the same as the press release issued earlier.

10:15 - Jodi Sally is on stage "It's been a tough day for me (laughs)".

10:42 - Annnnd we're out, no Q&A (We had some interesting questions to ask about HD DVD)

Some days, it doesn't pay to get out of bed. :D

All you had to do was look a few posts up. :laugh:

[ctebah]

Philips just showed off a new BD player at CES and said at the same time that Target is going BD only. Of course target has yet to comment on this.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/live-co...ps-press-event/

http://ces.cnet.com/8300-13855_1-67-0.html?keyword=Philips

Its also cheaper than the PS3 and profile 1.1, so much for prices not going down.

yeah, according to some people, blu-ray players are supposed to go up now that the war is over, because sony is an evil company and wants to screw us all over. (sarcasm)

great news from phillips.

[Dogan]

First off, is there an easy list to read of what studios support what format?

btw stevan, funny sig :rofl:

[ctebah]

btw stevan, funny sig :rofl:

according to the same page where the pie charg came from (wiki):

The Weinstein Company has not released any new HD DVD titles since June 12, 2007

[gunnerhkjp]

All you had to do was look a few posts up. :laugh:

Doh! Sorry.

Let's just say I was quoting from your post :p