Blu-ray just got a huge boost in the format war

[DVDCoverArt]

The following article indicates that Blu-ray may be winning the format war. I think you will find the article interesting.

_____________________________________________________________

Warner Bros to back Blu-ray DVD format exclusively

Time Warner Inc's (TWX.N) Warner Bros studio on Friday said it would exclusively release high-definition DVDs in Sony Corp's (6758.T) Blu-ray format, dealing a big blow to Toshiba Corp's (6502.T) rival HD DVD technology.

Some saw the move as an end to the war that has confused consumers and delayed the development of a multibillion-dollar market. Warner Bros, Hollywood's biggest seller of DVDs, represents about 18 to 20 percent of sales in the United States and was one of the few studios that backed both formats.

"We expect HD DVD to 'die' a quick death, versus a prolonged format war," Pali Capital analyst Rich Greenfield told investors in a note.

But Toshiba said it was "quite surprised" by the move and vowed to fight on.

Blu-ray discs outsold HD DVD by nearly two-to-one in the United States last year, but HD DVD won major allies in August when Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc said they would go exclusively with the Toshiba technology.

"I have not seen anyone give up in this fight. Every time one shoe drops and you think 'Oh, it's over,' the other side comes up with something else," said Stephanie Prange, Home Media Magazine editor in chief.

The battle has confused consumers, she confirmed, but many people don't see the need for high-definition anyway, she added.

The stakes are particularly high because sales of traditional DVDs last year posted their first significant drop since the disc format debuted in 1997, according to Adams Media Research. Total DVD unit sales fell 4.5 percent in 2007 and sales fell 4.8 percent to $15.7 billion.

"The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers," Warner Bros Chairman and Chief Executive Barry Meyer said in a statement.

News Corp's (NWSa.N) 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Co (DIS.N), and Lionsgate (LGF.N) are among studios backing the Blu-ray format. Viacom Inc's (VIAb.N) Paramount studios and General Electric's (GE.N) NBC Universal release movies in HD DVD format. In addition, Sony's PlayStation 3 video game system can play Blu-ray movies while Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) Xbox 360 works with HD DVD.

Warner said it would continue releasing in the HD DVD format until the end of May, although those releases would follow the standard DVD and Blu-ray releases.

(Reporting by Kenneth Li in New York and Bob Tourtellotte and Peter Henderson in Los Angeles; Editing by Brian Moss, Leslie Gevirtz)
_________________
DVDCoverArt
Site Master

[terryk]

Wish it had gone the other way. I own both format players and prefer HD-DVD. Of course in a few years another technology will come along and we'll get to replace our movie collections all over again.

[daripper]

I'm going to stick with plain old regular DVD for a long time or until they
quit making them. I just can not justify the cost of moving to either form
of the newer format or the cost of new HD/BR equipment at the moment.
_________________
Site Moderator
---------------------------------------------------------------------
He who never asks the question will never know the answer.
My name is 0110010001100001011100100110100101110000011100000110010101110010

[SG1_Fan]

I like my HD DVD and plan on buying them till I can't get them anymore,I have 1500+ dvd's and 25 HD DVD'S ,I have enough to keep me busy until the next format.If HD DVD does lose then I have a $98 up converting dvd player,the way I see it I can't lose.

[chaotic646]

Im sticking with regular dvd's until hd dvd/blu-ray blank media comes down in price. If I cant make a backup Im not buying it.

[DVDCoverArt]

I think HD DVD would have had a better chance if Microsoft had built an HD Player into their Xbox 360 the way Sony built the Blu-ray into their PlayStation 3.

I think Warner went exclusively with Blu-ray because of the number of Blu-ray players in the market place. You have to remember that the movie studios want to switch as fast as possible to high deffinition to prevent movies from being copied.

Frankley, I don't see much differance between the playback of an upconverted standard DVD and the High Deffinition formats. Maybe this is one of the reasons consumers are not in a rush to abandon traaditional DVDs.

The secret to getting the public to adopt a new format is when they are excited about it. The excitement phase has passed because of the uncertaincy of which format is going to survive. There are too many consumers who not only remember the Beta/VHS war, but were burned by it as well.

The door is not shut on HD yet, but based on the Studios who now support Blu-ray, I think it is simply a matter of time.

HD use to have a big edge in the cost of players, but now even that edge has vanished now that Blu-ray players are under $300.
_________________
DVDCoverArt
Site Master

[blknight3]

I agreee with ripper and chaotic. I'm staying with reg Dvd's. There is a way of backing up the new formats, just not perfected yet.
_________________
For every person with a spark of genius, there are a hundred with ignition trouble.

[DVDCoverArt]

[talion]

Yeah, it's not just getting a clear winner in the format war that's a consideration here. What is my incentive to buy a new machine if there aren't enough titles available for rental in that format yet? What about the cost of blank media? what about the cost of putting a burner into my comp?

Is the new blank media printable? I admit to not even having seen blank Blu-ray discs yet.

[DVDCoverArt]

[chaotic646]

It will be years before HD DVD and/or Blu-Ray blank media is actually affordable. Dual layers have been out for a few years now and the only affordable brand is Ritek but they are garbage. The only reliable DL's are Verbatims and if you want printables they're still over $2.50/disc. I am shocked that they are still so expensive as long as they've been out.

[blknight3]

Well right now Anydvd by slysoft will remove the system protection. and the attached web site is a program that will work on it.

http://www.rocketdivision.com/starburn.html

here is a site that is giving away the above for free for the next 6.5 hours.

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/starburn-9-5/

For educational purposes only of course.
_________________
For every person with a spark of genius, there are a hundred with ignition trouble.

[1Bullet]

this is an interesting post it going all over the place?

First I wouldn't count Toshiba out , there has been alot going for them, Blockbuster who first was only going to carry Blue-ray is now carrying both. Wall-Mart now carrying both. Sony only got a big lift with Blueray play being in Playstation 3.
HD players are cheaper.
The cunsumers are just plain confused, the beta max customers haven't forgotten.

Look at the studios that went with Sony in the first place, either the are fully owned or part owner is Sony.

Unfortunatly there will be a loser, the cusumer that chose the wrong format. (I hope Sony)

As far as Hi Definition not being hacked, both codes are now broken, Just not been able to re-encode Blue-ray yet. HD able to be re-encoded back to mpeg 2 and burn to dvd9 dual layer with very little quality loss.
Why, beause ther full of garbage.

For educational purposes only of course.
A DVD5 the FBI warning 30 to 50 mb. DVD9 80 TO 120 MB , HD DVD 250 to 300mb, when you look at the the entire HD DVD strip out all the extras, trailer,warning unneeded Audio tracks It fits on to a DVD9.
So if the movie industry wanted to give us better quality they could have done it before, but chose not too.
Who the heck needs a Hi def warning, shrink it make the movie 200 mb larger, to improve quality.

Why would anyone want to back up a $30.00 hi definition dvd, buy buying an $800.00 burner and copying onto $23.00 blank hi def dvd, and then burn at 1 to 2 times burn speed. Just buy 2 copies. Or wait ,thats my plan.

I must of be one for the first in my country to have a dvd burner, spent $569.00. The media was $12.00 for DVD-R and DVD+R $18.00 (thanks to Sony). Bad burns really hurt. Burner suporrted up 2 times burn but no media. 1 times burn took 4 hours to burn 2 hour film.(no dual layer then either).
Today 7 years later, burner $39 to $49.00 media $18.00 /100 dvd5.

Just play a dvd with a good standalone player that up converts to 1085p through HDMI looks pretty good on a widescreen.

Now, I started going somewhere else 1085 I or 1085 P , I'm going with P.

[DVDCoverArt]

Unfortunately, Once there is a clear winning in the High Definition war, which I predict will be soon, you will see standard DVDs vanish rather quickly.

Don't forget, that Sony had thought about releasing Spider-Man 3 in Blu-ray only. The only reason they changed their mind is their format doesn't control the HD market yet.

The Studios determine how quickly a new format is adopted, which is why this format war has been such a pain for them. They want to stop people from making backups, so once Blu-ray is crowned the winner, you can expect to see a lot of your favorite movies, especially new ones, available in Blu-ray only.

If you think about it, Sony has done more, by adding additional encryption technology to their discs, to try and stop copying than any other studio. Also, Sony owns several other studios as well.

Personally, I think the actions of the movie industry could qualify for Class Action Status. Their actions have single handedly made obsolete billions of dollars worth of equipment that have been purchased by consumers. The majority of all Hi Def televisions sold did not include an HDMI input.

The studios got together less than two years ago with manufactures and demanded a new interface be designed for Hi Def DVD players and TVs. They were afraid consumers would still be able to copy using the standard connections on TVs and DVDs. Even though DVDs do still have S-video and analog jacks, those interfaces do not allow for Hi Def playback.

The bad news, if you purchased a Hi Def TV just two or more years ago, there is a good chance it does not have an HDMI input. This means that you will not be able to view in High Definition, satellite, Cable, or DVDs.

There are people who bought HD TVs for 5, 10, and 20 thousand dollars that are now obsolete because they do not have an HDMI input.

I don't know about you, but this sounds like a Class Action Lawsuit that is just waiting to happen.
_________________
DVDCoverArt
Site Master

[blknight3]

I agree with the Boss. I'm one of the people that bought a new TV just before the HDMI connections came out. If i remember right it was bout 3 months after I boughtmine that HDMI appeared..... no warning no nothing. Oh well I'll hang on to what I have for as long as I can.
_________________
For every person with a spark of genius, there are a hundred with ignition trouble.

[chaotic646]

It doesnt matter how much encryption technology Sony or anyone else uses on their movies, someone will figure out a way around it. As far as the hdmi goes, yes a lot of people are going to be screwed but if you have a tv with hdmi you will be able to backup blu-ray's eventually.

You can already download blu-ray titles and play them with PowerDVD on your pc, and if you have the right set up also play them on your tv. (Or so Ive heard)

[1Bullet]

now for another twist: if you own one your blue-ray player is already obsolete.

Buyers Beware: Current Blu-ray Players Won't Correctly Play Future Discs

Blue-ray players were released to the market when in such a primitive state, manufacturers blamed the release of HD DVD and said it forced them to come to market too soon.

http://consumerist.com/344116/

screw the customer just to get your product to market. good reason to boycott blue-ray.

this is really setting up for real good class action lawsuit.

[blknight3]

Well now... Isn't that interesting. Just how the heck would early adopters know what they were getting into? Was there a warning that

"Hey we're going to be changing the format of these payers in a short time so you won;t be able to use this" attached?

The normal average consumer would have no idea .... Oh well at least this one wasn't me.
_________________
For every person with a spark of genius, there are a hundred with ignition trouble.

[DVDCoverArt]

[terryk]

The first and second generation blu-ray players can't be firmware upgraded to play the FEATURES on the new 1.1 profile disc (whenever they actually become available) but they SHOULD -- no -- BETTER -- still be able to play the movie. They don't have the necessary internal hardware. Already it takes up to 3 minutes (or more) to load up some of the newer Disney and Fox titles on my Samsung blu-ray player because of all the useless java content and security. You even get a warning screen on Disney movies that basically say "go get a cup of coffee 'cause this is gonna take a while". The only current standalone player I know of that is profile 1.1 is the Panasonic BD30. It retails for $499 and even it will be replaced by a newer model shortly (still without the features HD-DVD already has). Playstation 3's are upgradable to profile 1.1. I see a consumer backlash on the horizon when mom and dad have to listen to little Johnny and Mary screaming because the stupid game on their new Disney blu-ray won't play and they find out the player they just bought at Christmas has to be replaced with a newer model. You can bet the salesman never mentioned anything about "profiles" when the sale was made. They sure didn't mention it when I bought my player. At least with HD-DVD the standard is complete. Even with the Warner news I think the"war" is far from over. BTW -- there is yet another HD format just hitting the US market. It's called HD VMD. I think it's already available in Europe. Maybe it will be the "winner".

[1Bullet]

I am willing to bet on a winner!
What ever format the p/or/n industry chooses will be the winner!

looks like the lawsuits are beginning:

Samsung sued over "defective" first-gen Blu-ray players

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080211-samsung-sued-over-defective-first-gen-blu-ray-players.html