Thread: HD Format War "News"

Originally Posted by go

Before, I said old media will be fine if they embrace the new age. Their business models will change however.

Unfliltered - you say you are holding my ideals to heart yet you laugh at what I am saying.

Dgrycan - what I do with it is my products are my concern. Not yours. If I want to exercise my rights then who are you to tell me I can't.

Kids are growing up with broadband and computers. The fake business of scarcity will be run over. DRM doesn't work and just keeps honest people at bay.

About Bluray vs HD-DVD - still way too early to call it either way or to say either won't even be a niche market like LD for video and audio enthusiasts.

Prices are still too high and the selection is too low.

Unfiltered was saying that you hold it close to your heart not his.

Also, downloading movies is just as much of a niche as you say HD-DVD and Blu-ray are. Not everybody does it and if that's all we wanted to do when it came to watching movies, the internet would need to be a lot faster than it is and people would have to upgrade. As it is right now, it takes forever to download a movie (with DSL, let alone dial-up), not everyone has the space (audio takes up a lot less space than video, let alone 2 hours of an HD signal), the quality isn't nearly as good (even though some don't care about that), there would be a ton of restrictions if it went mainstream, etc.

Edit: Forgot to mention that the companies putting their movies online would need a ton of space as well if they wanted to put their entire catalog online. This isn't going to happen anytime soon.

Originally Posted by go

Before, I said old media will be fine if they embrace the new age. Their business models will change however.

The business model of protecting your intellectual property will never change.

Originally Posted by DRice

The business model of protecting your intellectual property will never change.

Like the VCR and the cassette player before. Technology changes business models.

Originally Posted by go

Unfliltered - you say you are holding my ideals to heart yet you laugh at what I am saying.

Originally Posted by NastiMarvasti

Unfiltered was saying that you hold it close to your heart not his.

I can see how he read it the other way. My wording wasn't as clear as it could have been. But thanks for having my back.

Originally Posted by go

About Bluray vs HD-DVD - still way too early to call it either way or to say either won't even be a niche market like LD for video and audio enthusiasts.

Prices are still too high and the selection is too low.

I have said several times already. Between BR and HD-DVD, BR has the advantage and HD-DVD is probably going to fall by the wayside. I also said that BR may not get to the level of DVD, though I think it will.

With talk of prices and selection, we are exactly where we were in 1998: 12 months into a "format war/format introduction" with player prices and the limited software.

Back then, it was Divx (what a ****ing farce THAT was) and DVD. The least expensive players at this point (1998) were exactly at the price point they're at now (2007). Titles were somewhat of an issue due to the fact that a couple of BIG STUDIO players (Disney, Fox, and Paramount) and were EXCLUSIVELY Divx and not making ANY DVD titles.

We the consumer are in the same position we were back then: waiting for one of these formats to come out the winner. There are a few differences this time.

This time, we're only waiting for ONE studio (Universal) to stop being so nearsighted.

This time, the home video jagernaut that is Disney has a nice selection of "hardware selling" titles coming out in 2 weeks, and through the end of the year. They wouldn't have put out Pirates or Cars 10 years ago. They have a confidence in the format.

This time, software is selling at a higher rate on both NEW platforms than they did in 1998.

As NM pointed, there many more factors/roadblocks in the way of making downloads a success than there are for HD-DVD/Blu-ray.

Originally Posted by go

Like the VCR and the cassette player before. Technology changes business models.

You are correct. Well, you have it half right. Thats why they came up with DRM. That was the change brought on by technology.

Let me ask you this. Do you photocopy every book you buy? After all, you DO have kids in the house.

dgrycan (and others that give a ****)

I've been lamenting about studio support for some time. I've been under the guise that the Weinstein Company is HD DVD exclusive.

If that is true, why is the Weinstein Company co-releasing the Stranglehold/Hard Boiled game/movie combo Blu-ray? Wouldn't that technically be breaking their stance of being exclusive to HD DVD? Funny thing is, there is a 360 version of Stranglehold coming out but it doesn't include an HD DVD of Hard Boiled.


Oh, and another thing, I was digging around some PR material here at work, and I came across a silly thing: Universal Music supports Blu-ray but Universal Home Video does not.


Weird.

Originally Posted by Unfiltered

If that is true, why is the Weinstein Company co-releasing the Stranglehold/Hard Boiled game/movie combo Blu-ray? Wouldn't that technically be breaking their stance of being exclusive to HD DVD? Funny thing is, there is a 360 version of Stranglehold coming out but it doesn't include an HD DVD of Hard Boiled..

Yeah . . . Weinstein certainly has been in the middle of some interesting scenerio's, especially since they have an exclusive rental agreement with Blockbuster.

I'm starting to develop some theories on the Universal/HD-DVD relationship. Either Toshiba is fronting Universal a fair amount of cash to remain exclusive in a 40% market share camp, or Universal agreed to something early that they'd like to get out of. Judging by the amount (and crappy quality) of their recent catalog releases, it's almost as if Universal promised HD-DVD a certain number of exclusive releases. I get the sense that they are rushing these out in order to hit some sort of trigger.

It's all speculation on my part, but for a company like Universal to offer such a crappy product on a format that they are trying to champion as "the better choice", there has to be something going on behind the scenes.

Originally Posted by dgrycan

Yeah . . . Weinstein certainly has been in the middle of some interesting scenerio's, especially since they have an exclusive rental agreement with Blockbuster.

I'm starting to develop some theories on the Universal/HD-DVD relationship. Either Toshiba is fronting Universal a fair amount of cash to remain exclusive in a 40% market share camp, or Universal agreed to something early that they'd like to get out of. Judging by the amount (and crappy quality) of their recent catalog releases, it's almost as if Universal promised HD-DVD a certain number of exclusive releases. I get the sense that they are rushing these out in order to hit some sort of trigger.

It's all speculation on my part, but for a company like Universal to offer such a crappy product on a format that they are trying to champion as "the better choice", there has to be something going on behind the scenes.

As far as the Stranglehold/Hard Boiled disc, there have been a variety of sources that say HB will be in SD, not HD like reports haves stated. I'm kind of indifferent about this title being in HD for the sake of being in HD. I'm more interested in this title being in HD on Blu-ray for what it means in "the war."

To add to what you guys are saying, looks like you're right about Universal throwing a ton of movies out there. The writer of the article says that it's good for HD DVD but it seems more like a panic move to bring that many titles out in one week. Even still, Blu-ray has more titles all together.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/06/25...une-26th-2007/