I heard one news story and then found another that confirms that Warner Bros is going to be a BluRay exclusive studio by the end of the year. This is huge because they release about 20% of the movies on the market. Also, they were the biggest studio supporting both formats. This is pretty big news and will probably put an end to the format war.
What do you guys think about this?
Wow, that is huge. Now would be a great time to buy a PS3. I agree with your assesment. The Hi Def DVD war will be won by Blu Ray if they are able to snag WB. The next thing is for them to lower the price of their stand alone players. What major studios are left for HD? Dreamworks and who else?
The first article says that Paramount and NBC Universal also support HD-DVD. The problem is think about how many HD-DVD players and discs were bought this past Christmas. Now, pretty much that format will be dead in about a year. Also, without the competition, what’s the point of lowering the prices on the players and the discs for BluRay? Prices aren’t going to come down until mainstream adoption is inevitable and seriously, BluRay and HD-DVD aren’t enough of an upgrade over regular DVD for most people to justify upgrading within the next year or two. VHS vs. DVD was a huge success, but this is just an evolution and not a revolution of the DVD format.
CNET is reporting that the change will happen in May '08.
I know. The first article also says that as well. Once WB stops making HD-DVD, how long before Paramount and NBC Universal stop producing in a format that will at that point have a decent percentage of players, but an ever decreasing percentage of titles released?
Fine by me - I made the gamble/educated decision and jumped on the Blu-ray wagon. Partly because of PS3, partly because the Blu-ray format is superior to HD-DVD (although so was Beta vs. VHS). Obviously, who signs on would be the ultimate determinator - and this was a BIG blow. Should be over now.
I read somewhere that one of the biggest factors for Beta v VHS (and ultimately DVD v BluRay) was what way the porn film industry went. Anyone know if “Debbie does Dallas” is out on HD-DVD yet? 
…, BluRay and HD-DVD aren’t enough of an upgrade over regular DVD for most people to justify upgrading within the next year or two. …
I do not agree with that. Most people are being sold on the large LCD screens with blu-ray feeds and will be highly disappointed with their poor picture quality when they play the DVD movie on their HD display. Most DVD players have very poor scalers and most TVs scalers are not much better either. The upscaled DVD picture looks horrible on most sets. I was in the same camp thinking no need to upgrade and I am a video hardware design engineer until I saw the latest Pirates movie playing on a blu-ray player on a Samsung 120Hz LCD display.
I will never ever watch DVD again. The picture was awesome. It looked better than film and probably was.
Blue Ray won due to the data market, not the movie market. I have a few clients who are going to BlueRay WORM for their year end data backups for compliance. BlueRay holds about 200% more data than HD DVD, and has a WORM option.
WORM - Wright Once, Read Many. It is about the only format that is acceptable for HIPPA, KN and many other regulatory mandates. It is like a pdf of the data world - once it is there it cant be changed.
I read somewhere that one of the biggest factors for Beta v VHS (and ultimately DVD v BluRay) was what way the porn film industry went. Anyone know if “Debbie does Dallas” is out on HD-DVD yet?
Porn went the HD-DVD path…too bad for them most porn is no longer on the TV but on the PC.
Blue Ray is amazing
The WOW factor has made Blue ray players the same as the first VHS machines ( $40 worth of electronics ) that sell for $400 -$1100 . People will be saying I paid $900 for that POS last year , now its $199 on Ebay.
YOU think it is amazing because YOU know what to look for regarding picture quality and all of the techno mumbo jumbo behind it. My mom thinks that both of them look pretty and will never have a clue why a 120Hz display is better than the current displays. People in the know can easily tell the difference but I bet your mom really can’t tell the difference in most cases.
I’d say in the long run neither will win. I truly believe a download model will win out with companies like VuDu leading the way.
Steve
Probably - but in another 5+ years. Besides, I hate compression and what it does to video (let alone audio)
I’d say in the long run neither will win. I truly believe a download model will win out with companies like VuDu leading the way.
Steve
That will not happen until everyone has fiber coming into the home. Too much compression on the current method.
True, but broadband is improving quickly as are streaming/delivery methods. I’ll see if I can dig up the study by the CEA that shows their take on it.
Steve
I keep hearing between 2012 and 2015. Interestingly enough I find downloaded high def that looks good to be easier to find than downloaded audio that sounds good. Then again most people are purchasing at least a moderate quality TV but few people seem to have even moderate audio systems.
Granted glass has for a long while supported Gig and DWDM. However we are now doing 10,000 on Cat5e…sure is neat to think that just two years ago Gig over copper was ‘neato’. It is very rare anymore to run glass unless there are distance issues.
THANK GOD
I am so tired of saying H-DEE-DEE-VEE-DEE… omfg what an obnoxious mouthful.
Damn. Just bought HD.