"Blu-ray Disc" vs. "HD DVD": Neither Is Winning

[ND66]

I'm sure Sony had good notes from last time on format war and why they lost.


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[Tjalfe]

Sure he is right, it will just take a loooong time before everyone has teh bandwitdth to make this possible. till such time, disk media will win.

[Claymonkey]

You know... Blu-ray/HD-DVD really does feel like a MiniDisc redux (also a Sony tech). Honestly, you actually sit on the other end of a room a screen sized properly for that space will make the difference between DVD/HD hard to see. Mind you if DVD was at 480 instead of 720 I might argue that but it isn't.

I'm not saying ignore more detail or 720 FTW forever but I personally don't see why I'd replace any of my DVD's with Blu-Ray/HD-DVD. Special features on the DVD's get watched MAYBE once and then never again so MORE features is a mixed blessing.

[ND66]

After reading this one:

Betamax’s revenge

Published: January 7 2008 | Last updated: January 7 2008

A format war in consumer electronics is like the US presidential primaries: victory requires momentum. That is certainly the case with high definition DVDs. Consumers are indifferent between the Blu-ray standard championed by Sony and Toshiba’s HD-DVD – they are similar in capability if not in design – but they do not want to buy the loser and find it obsolete within a year. It now looks, however, as if this war has been won.

In DVDs, the critical momentum-building contests are not Iowa and New Hampshire, but Paramount, Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox. Without their support there are no DVDs to play. Warner’s announcement that, henceforth, its high definition releases will be exclusive to Blu-ray means that the Sony format is now backed by a majority of Hollywood’s players.

To the victor will go the spoils. The Blu-ray consortium will earn royalties on every drive and disc sold that uses their technology. Once their dominance is established, they may even be able to put the price of Blu-ray up: format wars are bitterly fought because, in the end, the winner is left with a monopoly. For Sony, loser of the most famous format war of all with its Betamax video tape, that victory will be especially sweet.

Even a Blu-ray triumph, however, will leave the industry worse off than if there had been no such battle at all. First, the costs of Blu-ray’s fight for market share will probably be recouped through higher fees, while HD-DVD’s backers have lost a fortune. Second, and more important, consumer acceptance and uptake of high capacity DVDs has suffered a setback.

That matters because the new discs are a marginal technology anyway. Basic DVD only became a mass market technology relatively recently and consumers may not be willing to pay again for a sharper picture and more storage space. If the industry is to promote new standards it must be united.

Barring surprises, or a few billion dollars in sweeteners for the Hollywood studios, HD-DVD has lost and Blu-ray has won. But rather than another video cassette or DVD, the industry may have found another MiniDisc. That format was a detour on music’s route from cassette to compact disc. Blu-ray, too, may be but a footnote to video’s move to downloads from today’s DVDs.

I’m just waiting for Jerry to chime in with his famous “Death as Disco” craze.....or not?!

Maybe Jerry is right?!


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[ND66]

The end is near. Maybe that will mean an end to this thread too

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...-declared-dead

Looks like it is. Too bad.

Paramount in HD DVD blow

By Matthew Garrahan and Mariko Sanchanta in Las Vegas

Published: January 8 2008 | Last updated: January 8 2008

Paramount is poised to drop its support of HD DVD after Warner Brothers’ recent backing of Sony’s Blu-ray technology, in a move that will sound the death knell of HD DVD and bring the home entertainment format war to a definitive end.

Paramount and DreamWorks Animation, which makes the Shrek films, came out in support of HD DVD last summer, joining General Electric’s Universal Studios as the main backers of the Toshiba format.

However, Paramount, which is owned by Viacom, is understood to have a clause in its contract with the HD DVD camp that would allow it to switch sides in the event of Warner Bros backing Blu-ray, according to people familiar with the situation.

Paramount is set to have a bumper 2008 with several likely blockbusters, including the latest instalment in the Indiana Jones franchise.

Paramount joining the Blu-ray camp would leave HD DVD likely to suffer the same fate as Sony’s now obsolete Betamax video technology, which lost out to VHS in a similar format war in the 1980s.

Warners decision last week to throw its weight behind Blu-ray saw it join Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as backers of the Sony format.

The Warners move gives Blu-ray about 70 per cent of Hollywood’s output, although the format’s grip on film content will increase further when Paramount comes aboard.

It is unclear whether DreamWorks Animation has the same get-out clause in its contract with the HD DVD camp.

However, Paramount and DreamWorks have a close relationship, with Paramount distributing DreamWorks Animation films. The two companies also signed their HD DVD contracts at the same time. Meanwhile, Universal has declined to comment on its next-generation DVD plans since the Warners move.

Sir Howard Stringer, chief executive of Sony, on Monday held out an olive branch, saying the company would be “open to dialogue” with the HD DVD camp to “grow the market”. The move came as new figures showed that Blu-ray had opened up a decisive lead over the rival home entertainment format.

Sir Howard said: “We are not going to push people around. We’ll talk to anyone ... we have a lot of work to do to grow the market. We’ll be systematic and open to dialogue at all times.”

He added that Sony still had “a lot of work” to do to get Blu-ray “widely accepted” among American consumers.

“With Warner’s support you saw billboards going up in different places and you saw television commercials getting more and more sophisticated and that’s what we’ll continue doing,” said Sir Howard.

The Financial Times Limited 2008

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dc409afa-bd75-11dc-b7e6-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

[Mehen]

The end is near. Maybe that will mean an end to this thread too

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/08/hd-dvd-declared-dead

Another nail hangs over HD-DVD's coffin
Paramount poised to jump ship

By Dean Pullen: Tuesday, 08 January 2008, 9:24 AM


A REPORT in the Financial Times declares that Paramount has a clause in its HD-DVD exclusivity contract allowing the company to bail from HD-DVD if Warner defected to Blu-ray, and that Paramount is 'poised' to do so.
...

[paulw]

Paul,

That is interesting I never knew why people were always concerned about region free. I think HD-DVD will hang around for quite a while since they are cheaper to press and quite a few movies are already on that format. Plus with dual format players the format is becoming a mute point.

You could always use AnyDVD HD to play HD discs from any region right?

Most likley but that would involve buying a PC Blu-ray drive which at present cost more here that a BD DVD player.. But then who wants to watch movies on a PC??

[Jerry Jones]

That's easy.

Wal-Mart retreated from downloads because Wal-Mart wasn't doing it correctly.

Apple is doing it correctly.

Watch for news on the Apple iTunes front in the days ahead.



Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Hulk]

Jerry,

Is that why Walmart cancelled it's download service?

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSN2726104120071228?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

[Jerry Jones]

You, me and millions of other consumers have already decided to take ourselves out of the high definition DVD "scene" for various reasons.

For me, the reason is that I seek an advanced technology experience.

Optical discs -- even high definition optical discs -- are a legacy technology.

The new paradigm is hard disks, flash disks, and wireless streaming.

Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD have both lost.

They're both as dead as DISC-o.

(They just don't know it, yet.)



Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

If BD does win then I'm out of the Hidef DVD scene until region free players at $500 or less hit the market here. I spent $750 on my first DVD player but I waited until they were region free off the shelf. In the US region coding means nothing as you can buy movies at the same price as they are now but outside the US we pay a premium at present for Hidef stuff and Amazon is about half price of the local product. I bet the BoGoF will dry up very quickly now at the likes of Amazon..

[Hulk]

Paul,

That is interesting I never knew why people were always concerned about region free. I think HD-DVD will hang around for quite a while since they are cheaper to press and quite a few movies are already on that format. Plus with dual format players the format is becoming a mute point.

You could always use AnyDVD HD to play HD discs from any region right?

[paulw]

If BD does win then I'm out of the Hidef DVD scene until region free players at $500 or less hit the market here. I spent $750 on my first DVD player but I waited until they were region free off the shelf. In the US region coding means nothing as you can buy movies at the same price as they are now but outside the US we pay a premium at present for Hidef stuff and Amazon is about half price of the local product. I bet the BoGoF will dry up very quickly now at the likes of Amazon..

[Hulk]

More bad news for HD-DVD fans.

Looks like the writing is on the wall.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10234

[paulw]

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-01-04-warner-brothers-blu-ray_N.htm

This doesn't look good for the HD DVD camp.. WB going Blu-ray

[Jerry Jones]

Brand new New York Times article:

http://tinyurl.com/2vkwqk

In the DVD War Over High Definition, Most Buyers Are Sitting It Out
By ERIC A. TAUB
Published: December 31, 2007
What if nobody wins the high-definition DVD format wars? That increasingly looks to be the situation for the next-generation DVD technology, which is available to consumers in two incompatible formats.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net