Warner Bros to back Blu-ray DVD format exclusively

[Julius Caro]

There's a rumor that walmart is going BD exclusive too? I mean what the hell.

So far I've heard this weekend:

- Weinstein wanting money to go BD exclusive, despite not having released titles since june 2007

- Universal / Paramount inevitable rumors.

- Walmart going blu

- Target going blu

- Disney going neutral. (I assume fox and warner are "secured")

With CES and all that stuff, they may just go ahead and go all blu? xD

[Ji@nBing]

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?

Glad you're feeling better. It must feel like you were in a long coma though. You wake up and the war is pretty much over :laugh:

[ctebah]

There's a rumor that walmart is going BD exclusive too? I mean what the hell.

So far I've heard this weekend:

- Weinstein wanting money to go BD exclusive, despite not having released titles since june 2007

- Universal / Paramount inevitable rumors.

- Walmart going blu

- Target going blu

- Disney going neutral. (I assume fox and warner are "secured")

With CES and all that stuff, they may just go ahead and go all blu? xD

yeah, end this war ASAP.

[Andrew Lyle Global Moderator]

The faster HD-DVD gets buried, the faster people will go out and go blu-ray. The fastest that happens, the cheaper high def players will be.

Glad to see blu-ray is about to receive their crown, so the adoption of high def can take place.

[sn00pie]

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?

6 out of 8 major studios are now BD exclusive.

Disney

Fox

Lionsgate

MGM

Sony

Warner

vs.

Universal Studios

Paramount

[ctebah]

6 out of 8 major studios are now BD exclusive.

Disney

Fox

Lionsgate

MGM

Sony

Warner

vs.

Universal Studios

Paramount

the majors need to put some money together and get Universal and Paramount on blu side right away. that would seal the war.

as for one of blu-ray exclusive studios going neutral, that's a joke. no studio would do that as it would prolong the war.

[Julius Caro]

Im reading now that disney rejected HD-DVDs offer? Any reliable source on this?

[sn00pie]

i'm pretty sure if any studio went neutral it would be Disney. there's no question about it - HD DVD will have to buy off one of the major studios in BD zone very soon if they want any chance of staying alive. i have a feeling that that studio may be Disney?

[Fugi]

Us and paramount need to hurry up and switch so this war can end....

[DrCheese]

Disney are as committed to blu-ray as Toshiba are(was? :p) to HD-DVD so I highly doubt they would go. Also they just released aload of details about upcoming disks for this year.

It was apparently fox that Warner tried to pull over to HD-DVD with them but Fox in end decided against it(Or was paid off)

[Xerxes]

i'm pretty sure if any studio went neutral it would be Disney. there's no question about it - HD DVD will have to buy off one of the major studios in BD zone very soon if they want any chance of staying alive. i have a feeling that that studio may be Disney?

Im reading now that disney rejected HD-DVDs offer? Any reliable source on this?

Looks like it might of already happened and failed. Anyone got any info on this? I'm not sure if it was true or not but honistly considering how things are going right now, it's not hard to believe.

Anyway, what are Universal and Paramount gonna do? they gonna stick by HD-DVD or jump ship? it's interesting times, that is for sure.

[Ayepecks]

The faster HD-DVD gets buried, the faster people will go out and go blu-ray. The fastest that happens, the cheaper high def players will be.

Glad to see blu-ray is about to receive their crown, so the adoption of high def can take place.

You would hope so, but look at HDTV -- it's taken a very long time to adopt due to higher prices, and we've known it was going to be a standard (unlike a high-def disc format) for a while. I hope the prices go down soon on Blu-Ray players, though.

[DrCheese]

It does confuse me a lil bit that Americans find $300 a lot of money, to us that's only around ?150 which isn't very much at all, considering that also for us, prices are much higher anyway, i.e the PS3 started out at ?425(its now ?299) which at current exchange rates is like $850/$600 (The 360 is around the same price)

Average salary here ranges from ?15/21k (Although different sources suggest different)

[wrack]

Since day one of this I was sure that this HD vs BR war is going to last long and that is why I am sticking to DVD 9 for now.

I won't even touch the new standards for one more year.

[Ayepecks]

It does confuse me a lil bit that Americans find $300 a lot of money, to us that's only around ?150 which isn't very much at all, considering that also for us, prices are much higher anyway, i.e the PS3 started out at ?425(its now ?299) which at current exchange rates is like $850/$600 (The 360 is around the same price)

Average salary here ranges from ?15/21k (Although different sources suggest different)

Maybe it's because $300 is still a fairly significant amount of mo:blink:ink:

Ugh... I've been watching all the Blu-Ray player announcements at CES, and there yet to be an inexpensive one. Heck, Sony just announced a sub-$drive... why the hell would you brag about a drive being under $200?

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Maybe it's because $300 is still a fairly significant amount of money :blink:

Ugh... I've been watching all the Blu-Ray player announcements at CES, and there has yet to be an inexpensive one. Heck, Sony just announced a sub-$200 drive... why the hell would you brag about a drive being under $200?

It will be a PC burner or something no doubt... do those not cost a lot as it is right now?

[Ayepecks]

It will be a PC burner or something no doubt... do those not cost a lot as it is right now?

From what I gather it's just a reading drive for a PC, and those don't really cost all that much. You can find HD DVD drives (and I think many are burners) that cost in the area of $100, and there are already sub-$200 Blu-Ray drives at the moment, too. I don't get why Sony would brag about being under $200 at this point.

[DrCheese]

yeah that's not a milestone at all, I can pick up drives here for like ?140, hell and its dual format

http://overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-074-LG

edit:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/finally...rive-of-the-pc/

yeah its a burner but once again I can already pick up burners for under ?180

Edited January 7, 2008 by DrCheese

[DrCheese]

The new players are nice, its good to see other CE companies getting in on the act, something HD-DVD never had(pretty much was just Toshiba :p) Some of these are cheaper than the PS3

The MSRP's are a lil high but I doubt it will actually go in stores at that cost. Before the HD-DVD crowd pipes up, as an example the Toshiba HD-DVD A3 has a MSRP of $300 whist its actual street price on amazon is $170

[gunnerhkjp]

Its getting tougher for Toshiba, especially in Japan.

Toshiba executive Yoshihide Fujii (who is also the CEO of Toshiba DM, a subsidiary in charge of Digital Media including HD-DVD) promised last year that he will get on his knees and bow and apologize if HD-DVD lost the format war.

He is known for his very aggressive and wacky comments in Japan. Quite like Sony's Kutaragi.

He was expected to trump his HD-DVD at CES but instead was a no-show.

He's getting bashed quite severly in Japanese forums right now.

[Ayepecks]

The new players are nice, its good to see other CE companies getting in on the act, something HD-DVD never had(pretty much was just Toshiba :p) Some of these are cheaper than the PS3

The MSRP's are a lil high but I doubt it will actually go in stores at that cost. Before the HD-DVD crowd pipes up, as an example the Toshiba HD-DVD A3 has a MSRP of $300 whist its actual street price on amazon is $170

Why would it not hit at the MSRP? :blink:

I'm pretty sure the A3 started around its suggested MSRP too, BTW, it's just had price cuts.

[DrCheese]

It'll probably enter stores at the MSRP but I think retailers or the CE companies will quickly start discounting it to get some competition going within the BD player market.

[kak]

MSRP means crap. It is only high due to it being new tech. After it sits on the shelf a few weeks, they'll price them to move. As more companies start flooding the market with BR players, we'll see prices go down much faster than they currently are.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

No idea where to put this as there are soo many topics right now...

Sub $300 Blu-ray player coming to North America in Q2

Funai have announced a low price Blu-ray player for the North American market. It is expected to hit retail stores during the second quarter for under $300. It has BD-VIDEO Profile 1.1 that supports Picture-in-Picture, HDMI 1.3a,up-conversion from DVD to 1080p and a SD card slot. Sub $300 ($299.98 probably) isn't exactly cheap but its a step in the right direction.

Press Release

Funai Corporation, Inc., the North American sales and marketing subsidiary of Funai Electric Co., Ltd., today announced the introduction of its first Blu-ray Disc player (NB500 series) for the North American market.

The Company will begin production in the first quarter of 2008, and plans to begin selling the player at retail stores in North America during the second quarter. The retail price is projected to be under $300.

Demand for players that supports High Definition contents is increasing swiftly in the U.S. market thanks to the rapid spread of Full HD flat-panel televisions in addition to FCC mandate to switch from analog to digital formats. In the consumer products market in particular, Movie and music contents are becoming more common in the Blu-ray Disc format, and shipments of specialized disc players and game machines compatible with Blu-ray Disc products are increasing. Within the healthy competitive environment in this next-generation DVD market, the Blu-ray Disc format is steadily enhancing its market position.

The player supports Profile 1.1 (Final Standard Profile), the latest Blu-ray Disc format standard, and will allow consumers to fully enjoy the Blu-ray Disc HD experience. The product is expected to further stimulate the Blu-ray Disc market, and enable customers to appreciate movies and music with even higher resolutions and higher quality sound. To see the exhibition of the product, please visit the BDA (Blu-ray Disc Association) booth at the CES Hall in 2008.

BD-VIDEO Profile 1.1, one of the player's main features, allows the user to enjoy watching two programs with sound by PinP (Picture-in-Picture) and Dolby Digital 5.1ch Re-Encoder technology. With the support of HDMI 1.3a, the player is capable of 1080p output, up-conversion from DVD to 1080p, Deep Color, high-bit-rate audio stream out and HDMI-CEC. SD Card Slot extends the player's usability for data playback

from digital video camera and camcorder.

Picture & Source: http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=24066

Still not $99, but a step in the right direction! And hopefull its not $299, but maybe $250.

[sn00pie]

good news for sure, hopefully they can price it at something like $249, that will really move units or SKU's as some members love to here. :D LOL!