HDDVD group cancel CES press conference in wake of Warner announcement

[sn00pie]

New Line Shifts to Blu-ray Exclusivity

Following Warner's lead, sister company New Line has confirmed that it will support Blu-ray Disc high def releases exclusively. New Line has previously delayed their day-and-date new releases on HD DVD due to the format's lack of region coding, effectively making titles such as Shoot 'em Up, Hairspray, and Rush Hour 3 exclusive to Blu-ray. Although a 2008 release slate for the studio has not been released, an announcement may be possible at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=808

[Ayepecks]

Crap. I was looking forward to getting a HDDVD player attachment for my 360 this spring. Well, since I'm sure as hell not buying a PS3 anytime soon, guess I better wait for a Bluray player that is sub-$200.

Microsoft will likely make a Blu-Ray addon after a while. No clue if it'd be inexpensive or not.

[Evolution]

Most people don't have either... so it's good news that this war is finally coming to a close.... hopefully in six months Blu-ray players will be a lot less expensive.

[theyarecomingforyou]

Great. The consumers get crapped on yet again.

Not at all. I'd rather all this nonsense with competing formats was sorted as soon as possible as it makes deciding what to buy very hard. Warner has decided to support one format to make the decision easier for consumers in the future - it's bad for consumers in short-term but should be better in the long run (providing no studios go HD-DVD exclusive; Paramount's exclusivity was only for 18 months). Blu-Ray has greater capacity and though the hardware is more expensive currently that is a very short-term issue and no different to the situation with DVD players initially.

I wouldn't rule out HD-DVD just yet but I hope this is the start of a move towards a single format and I'm happy the format with greater capacity is the one they have opted for. Other than capacity I have no preference - it just means better bitrates or more episodes in a series on each disc.

[captain cracksmoke]

i feel for the people who arent smart enough to wait and buy a player that will play both discs.

[blackhorse]

The weird thing is that one of the first things Warner was asked was when The Matrix Trilogy was coming out on Blu-Ray and their response was "as soon as they work out the details of BD Java and PIP." It still seems like Blu-Ray has more "issues" than HD-DVD, but I guess they figured if they went HD-DVD they would just divide the camps more evenly, while going BR would shift it significantly towards BR. They just want to start selling next-gen movies ASAP. They don't give a crap about the consumers.

Exactly. I don't understand many of the posters here. HD-DVD is clearly the better option from consumer viewpoint.

- Less DRM

- No region coding

- Low cost players

- Better implementation and standardization. Did everyone forget about the BD problems and all the player incompatibilities?

- Almost similar storage space as BD now that triple layer HDDVD discs have been approved and they are supposed to work even on gen 1 HDDVD players so early adopters are not shafted.

For anything, we consumers should be voicing against Warner's decision and vote with our wallets. Leaving aside the fanboiness, HDDVD seems a much better option for us consumers who are used to getting screwed by those movie studios. Keeping in view of Sony's past history with DRM, I wouldn't want to give them control of a standard and get screwed over in future when they have no competition.

[TDQuiksilver]

Boz... paging Boz... anybody out there? *crickets*

Interesting read. A sign of the times? Maybe. Go Blu! :)

[+StevoFC MVC]

i feel for the people who arent smart enough to wait and buy a player that will play both discs.

why? HD DVD still has a ton of movies available. and they won't all just disappear. This discussion is getting totally ridiculous...

There's no reason to reget purchasing an HD DVD player, and there's no reason not to buy one. People are starting to blow this totally out of proportion.

[APH-Alex]

I guess the porn industry will have to decide which format they will be backing... Why Blu-Ray though? This sucks.

[shakey]

im thinking sony has pulled some underhanded techniques on getting people to move over to blu ray. It really hasnt shown me anything that warrants me wanting to pay that much more over what HDDVD has to offer. And for companies to just pull out of contracts and everything over it this early is just unheard of.

in the end though, its the consumer whos screwed by this the most.

[theyarecomingforyou]

Exactly. I don't understand many of the posters here. HD-DVD is clearly the better option from consumer viewpoint.

- Less DRM

- No region coding

- Low cost players

- Better implementation and standardization. Did everyone forget about the BD problems and all the player incompatibilities?

- Almost similar storage space as BD now that triple layer HDDVD discs have been approved and they are supposed to work even on gen 1 HDDVD players so early adopters are not shafted.

They both have DRM so it makes little difference how much they have. Both prohibit copying.

Region coding is certainly a negative.

Pricing is a temporary issue, just like the pricing of early DVD players.

Blu-Ray is having some problems but so do DVD players - I still see new players locking on chapter changes or not supporting menus properly. The difference is that Blu-Ray allows updates to be pushed out online, fixing most of the issues.

Blu-Ray have higher storage in the works, though if they don't get them out there in a reasonable timeframe then there is no benefit to Blu-Ray.

Anyway, when you speak of issues with Java and such you're talking about a format that people aren't familiar with. It took studios a long time to figure out how to use DVDs properly and mainly still go for the most basic implementations. However, I'm not trying to take away from the fact that the HD-DVD group has been a lot more organised and a lot quicker at approving additions to the format (triple-layer discs).

My point is that problems and high cost are to be expected with a new format but both are fixed with time. The problem with the HD war is that without a clear winner it might take years longer for consumers to get behind it, which is only going to hurt the industry as a whole - DVD sales will start to drop as people won't want to invest in a dead format.

I guess the porn industry will have to decide which format they will be backing...

They don't have as much influence as people seem to make out. The internet has largely taken over and people can download hundred gigabyte collections illegally.

[Joel]

Boz... paging Boz... anybody out there? *crickets*

If you really wanted to know, you could just check the other threads for his responses. Or search his name and check out his posts. As it is now, people who are doing what you just did sound like this.

[MGS4-SS]

If you really wanted to know, you could just check the other threads for his responses. Or search his name and check out his posts. As it is now, people who are doing what you just did sound like this.

Sounds funny.

[StandingInAlley]

This really blows :/

Its clear that someone got paid

[TDQuiksilver]

im thinking sony has pulled some underhanded techniques on getting people to move over to blu ray. It really hasnt shown me anything that warrants me wanting to pay that much more over what HDDVD has to offer. And for companies to just pull out of contracts and everything over it this early is just unheard of.

in the end though, its the consumer whos screwed by this the most.

Pulling out this early is unheard of? If you were behind a format that was consistently outsold every week of the prior year (by a pretty large margin) wouldn't you consider switching to up your profits?

The consumer has had a choice to push HD-DVD over the top with it's lower cost hardware, "extra features" and what not... but obviously has chosen not to. Don't believe me? We've seen the sales numbers and Blu-ray media continues to be gobbled up. Why? Beats me... I'm no market analyst. But nobody is forcing you to buy into it either.

Rumors are rumors. And just as the HD-DVD buyout rumors were circulated months back about a buyout, it's now Blu-ray's turn to take the heat. But remember this, nobody is being given money to buy Blu-ray... but they are certainly still picking it up.

[blackhorse]

They both have DRM so it makes little difference how much they have. Both prohibit copying.

The AACS DRM on both HDDVD and Blu ray has been cracked. However since Blu ray is essentially an unfinished standard, unlike HDDVD, a new layer of protection is expected in the next profile update. You can easily backup your HDDVD, just like DVD, now and also in future without worrying about a new layer of DRM.

Region coding is certainly a negative.

Pricing is a temporary issue, just like the pricing of early DVD players.

But that temporary issue slows down adoption and who is to say what would be the price with Sony in control of the standard?

Blu-Ray is having some problems but so do DVD players - I still see new players locking on chapter changes or not supporting menus properly. The difference is that Blu-Ray allows updates to be pushed out online, fixing most of the issues.

Blu-Ray have higher storage in the works, though if they don't get them out there in a reasonable timeframe then there is no benefit to Blu-Ray.

There is a difference between issues with implementations and Disc standard itself. Can you play and new bluray profile disc on an old bluray player, which can't update firmware automatically because network port is not a part of standard, while HDDVD has can? If anything, HDDVD learnt from mistakes and problems during DVD standard and corrected them. Blu ray not so.

Anyway, when you speak of issues with Java and such you're talking about a format that people aren't familiar with. It took studios a long time to figure out how to use DVDs properly and mainly still go for the most basic implementations. However, I'm not trying to take away from the fact that the HD-DVD group has been a lot more organised and a lot quicker at approving additions to the format (triple-layer discs).

My point is that problems and high cost are to be expected with a new format but both are fixed with time. The problem with the HD war is that without a clear winner it might take years longer for consumers to get behind it, which is only going to hurt the industry as a whole - DVD sales will start to drop as people won't want to invest in a dead format.

Agreed. However I would like to see a more consumer friendly and complete standard win the format war. We as consumers have been exploited and harassed by media companies and if we let this nonsense unnoticed we will again be plundered. When I buy a HDDVD disc, I know what I am buying because its a complete standard and media companies can't deviate from it. It was also developed by the same DVD consortium that standardized DVDs and when DeCSS came out, they didn't go and add another level of DRM. If I buy a blu ray disc, who is to say whats going to happen in the future when the standard evolves into a different beast?

[Ayepecks]

Boz... paging Boz... anybody out there? *crickets*

Interesting read. A sign of the times? Maybe. Go Blu! :)

My goodness, would you people stop trying to flame bait him? He's already responded numerous times, stop trying to cause problems.

[Brandon]

So now we are forced to spend 4x as much for a Blu Ray player... F that! My $100 HD-DVD player is amazing!

[Ayepecks]

So now we are forced to spend 4x as much for a Blu Ray player... F that! My $100 HD-DVD player is amazing!

I'm sure (or, I should say, I'm hoping) there will be a reasonably priced Blu-Ray player sometime fairly soon.

[ctebah]

So now we are forced to spend 4x as much for a Blu Ray player... F that! My $100 HD-DVD player is amazing!

where can you buy this $100 hd-dvd player?

[goji]

^ Previous holiday deal?

[Ayepecks]

where can you buy this $100 hd-dvd player?

I'm 100% sure he was referring to the price he got his for, obviously. :laugh:

[Boz]

Boz... paging Boz... anybody out there? *crickets*

Interesting read. A sign of the times? Maybe. Go Blu! :)

I knew this.. this whole thing reeks of dirty plays and payoffs. Major Warner executive switch over to top Sony position recently as well.

Consumer lost that's all there is.

Of course they'll cancel the press conference as they were stabbed in the back with backroom deals. But this doesn't mean the end for HD DVD yet. I was hasty in assumng that..

There's still hands to be played. Catalog advantage is now 60:40 for Blu-Ray, tough but still things could happen. But Universal and Paramount have a ton of blockbusters this year.

Money could be paid to Disney or Fox, deals can be made, HD DVD can swing back from it, the only thing is whether or not HD DVD Group wants to. They clearly have hardware advantage and mass appeal.

We'll see in the upcoming days what the answer will be, then we can definitely say if it's over or not.

Btw, have you heard, new Blu-Ray players are already getting announced. Pioneer says they'll be around $900 for the latest model with prices going up from there. Wonderful.

[goji]

Btw, have you heard, new Blu-Ray players are already getting announced. They'll be $999+. Wonderful.

Maybe HD was meant to be for the A/V snobs of the world? Thats of course forgetting all of the DRM specific reasons surrounding the creation of these formats.

[blackhorse]

I knew this.. this whole thing reeks of dirty plays and payoffs. Major Warner executive switch over to top Sony position recently as well.

Word on the street is that Warner were paid upwards of $500 million.

IMO, Microsoft is going to be the trump card in the battle and I am very curious as to what their next move is going to be.