Universal seen clear of obligations to HD DVD, may switch to Blu-ray

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 79
    banchobancho Posts: 1,517member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solsun View Post


    The format wars.



    1. VHS vs. Beta-Max

    2. DVD vs. Laser DIsc

    3. HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray



    If I'm not mistaken, I believe laser disc was also a Sony format.. Yeah, they deserve a win!





    You *are* mistaken with regard to Laserdisc.



    I'm fairly certain that Pioneer had far more to do with it than Sony, though Sony did release content in that format.



    It was not a Sony owned format. It was also mainly a competitor with VHS (as it was released back in 1978), but mainly for video enthusiasts. When DVD was released it was superior in quality, and of course size to Laserdisc.
  • Reply 42 of 79
    banchobancho Posts: 1,517member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Nicnac View Post


    listen to all the happy optimism as if Sony is going to play nice once they have the 'monopoly.' Remember that in saying you are glad Microsoft has lost this battle, you are somehow happy the just-as-bad Sony has won. Also, don't forget, Sony is still 'improving' the BD specs. That means, now that they have the go-ahead, they can implement all kinds of format-breaking DRM, restrictions, and hoops that they want, and to hell with the customer.

    Good luck with that.



    Yes, because they just want to be assholes about this. Toshiba and the rest of the HD DVD posse is clean as the driven snow and would never allow such things to ever besmirch the good name of HD DVD.



    Remember kids, in the world of FUD**, there is only *one* company with any say in where Blu Ray goes. That's Sony, and we *must* hate and fear them.



    There's a lot more to fear from stupid federal laws dictating how you manage purchased content than Sony's shenannigans.



    **Seriously, there are 18 board members for the BDA (65 contributors and a whole bunch of members too) and it doesn't look like they list a position of "King of Blu Ray" with Sony holding that position. For the record, I think it is stupid to blame MS for HD DVD's nonsense as well, regardless of their agenda.
  • Reply 43 of 79
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by caliminius View Post


    I'll let you know when I finally have one of those. 50 discs later, and still no playback issues.



    I think most of the issues are because of Samsung's crap. PS3 v2.0 did have some issues with the Pixar Collection, I think it's been fixed.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    I think HD-DVD would have won had MS used HD-DVD in every 360. By the time Blu-ray came on the scene HD-DVD would have been to prevalent to allow Blu-ray to take hold.



    I don't know if that would have been feasible from the beginning, I think it would have had as much trouble as the PS3 did. But I think that the "Elite" model should have had an HD DVD drive.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solsun View Post


    The format wars.



    1. VHS vs. Beta-Max

    2. DVD vs. Laser DIsc

    3. HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray



    If I'm not mistaken, I believe laser disc was also a Sony format.. Yeah, they deserve a win!



    LD was MCA, though it seemed like Pioneer took over the mantel. LD predates DVD by two to four decades, depending on how you look at it. It really wasn't a format war, LD was just older and due for a replacement. At first, LD was fine and a good one was good as or better than the first DVDs, but that changed in a year or two, except maybe for audio, most LDs at the time had digital stereo PCM, most DVD settled on using lossy codecs that allowed for discrete surround. The HD formats offer lossless discrete surround, the best of both worlds.
  • Reply 44 of 79
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,425member
    Why is it when it comes to HD DVD and Blu-ray accuracy flies out the window?





    We're not even a week beyond "Macs to offer Blu-ray" and the misinformed debacle that was to now Universal or Paramount and their seemingly changing mindset on the hour.



    For a laugh I get Google Alerts and every other article is saying the opposite thing. Let's just face it...none of you know ANYTHING about whats going to happen. I may as well get one of those Magic 8 balls.
  • Reply 45 of 79
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Vulcan1 View Post


    5:00 pm ET January 10, 2008 -- Universal Studios has officially dispelled the rumors from Variety that it will drop HD DVD and switch to Blu-ray.

    "Contrary to unsubstantiated rumors from unnamed sources, Universal's current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format," said Ken Graffeo, executive vice president of HD strategic marketing for Universal Studios Home Entertainment and also co-president of the HD DVD Promotional Group.

    The response would have come sooner, but many HD DVD executives were on flights home from CES when the incorrect story from Variety broke.





    http://www.dvdtown.com/news/microsof...vd-format/5104



    According to gaming site kotaku.com Microsoft has made it clear that they remain dedicated to the HD DVD format. "There was a critical element of our comments missing from the story -- Microsoft currently has no plans at this time to consider Blu-ray as an option. We continue to believe that HD DVD is the best optical solution for consumers, since it's the only format today that delivers quality experiences at affordable prices." a MS spokesperson clarified.





    A bit more fuel to the fire



    That's all very much for the masses to hear, so they will continue to buy product, while BD production is contracted for, and ramping up.



    Anyone who actually believes that they, and Paramount, would stay with a format which will now fade from view (oh, a pun!), is pretty naive.



    I hope you are just being contrarian about this for the purpose of stimulating discussion.
  • Reply 46 of 79
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stompy View Post


    The best they can muster are more "current" - "currently" statements? If you haven't seen this picture of the HD DVD booth (snapped by engadget), that says more to me than the combined marketing and spokesperson quotes from the "current" HD DVD companies.



    Sore eyes indeed!
  • Reply 47 of 79
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SDW2001 View Post


    Let's hope they are being that coy. Otherwise, they may be planning to go scorched earth with this thing. Perhaps Toshiba, M$ and Universal just wish to let this become a war of attrition, so that no clear winner emerges. In other words, "us losing is better than our opponent winning." I mean, they've already ignored two solid years of sales data. They've already pulled all the stops, dropping players to as low as $99, paying off Paramount to pick their losing format, etc. One has to wonder.



    They really can't do that. They don't have enough product.



    The talk already is that stores will remove HD-DVD products from their shelves. I believe that.



    This will force them to move. If they have few outlets for their products, what can they do?
  • Reply 48 of 79
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solsun View Post


    The format wars.



    1. VHS vs. Beta-Max

    2. DVD vs. Laser DIsc

    3. HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray



    If I'm not mistaken, I believe laser disc was also a Sony format.. Yeah, they deserve a win!



    You forgot CD vs. LP.
  • Reply 49 of 79
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Nicnac View Post


    listen to all the happy optimism as if Sony is going to play nice once they have the 'monopoly.' Remember that in saying you are glad Microsoft has lost this battle, you are somehow happy the just-as-bad Sony has won. Also, don't forget, Sony is still 'improving' the BD specs. That means, now that they have the go-ahead, they can implement all kinds of format-breaking DRM, restrictions, and hoops that they want, and to hell with the customer.

    Good luck with that.



    It's not just Sony. Don't you know?



    http://www.blu-raydisc.com/index.html
  • Reply 50 of 79
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    Why is it when it comes to HD DVD and Blu-ray accuracy flies out the window?





    We're not even a week beyond "Macs to offer Blu-ray" and the misinformed debacle that was to now Universal or Paramount and their seemingly changing mindset on the hour.



    For a laugh I get Google Alerts and every other article is saying the opposite thing. Let's just face it...none of you know ANYTHING about whats going to happen. I may as well get one of those Magic 8 balls.



    It should be pretty obvious as to what's going to happen, no matter what the final players have to say.



    What, do you really expect them to ride a rapidly obsolescent format?
  • Reply 51 of 79
    kolchakkolchak Posts: 1,398member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solsun View Post


    The format wars.



    1. VHS vs. Beta-Max

    2. DVD vs. Laser DIsc

    3. HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray



    If I'm not mistaken, I believe laser disc was also a Sony format.. Yeah, they deserve a win!



    Boy, are you mistaken. Sony was nothing more than one of the LD player manufacturers, and not even one of the early ones. Damn fool Sony haters like to heap every perceived failing on Sony, regardless of whether it's actually based on reality. Hey, wasn't Sony responsible for the 8-track tape in your little universe, too? How about global warming?



    Here's something for Toshiba/HD DVD lovers to chew on. You're probably too young to remember that Toshiba sold advanced CNC machinery to the Soviet Union, giving them the ability to churn out far quieter propellers for their submarines. Sure, the Soviet Union has collapsed since, but Russia's President (for life, if not in name, if he has anything to say about it) Putin doesn't instill me with a sense of beneficence.
  • Reply 52 of 79
    kolchakkolchak Posts: 1,398member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    Why is it when it comes to HD DVD and Blu-ray accuracy flies out the window?



    We're not even a week beyond "Macs to offer Blu-ray" and the misinformed debacle that was to now Universal or Paramount and their seemingly changing mindset on the hour.



    For a laugh I get Google Alerts and every other article is saying the opposite thing. Let's just face it...none of you know ANYTHING about whats going to happen. I may as well get one of those Magic 8 balls.



    HD DVD supporter to the bitter end. Not surprising. Wasn't it just a few months ago that you were trumpeting "GAME OVER!" in HD DVD's favor? And also claiming all through 2007 that the disc sales advantage would swing to HD DVD's side within a few weeks? Denial isn't just a river in Egypt. I guess pretty much every pundit at CES is dead wrong in calling the war nearly over. Yup, Fox is going to flip to HD DVD any minute now. Suuure, they will. Viacom and GE are going to sit idly back as their studios cling desperately to a fast-shrinking market share. (Or hasn't somebody been looking at the Amazon sales charts that show BR demolishing HD DVD in all categories? Oh, wait, that's right. The charts are only valid when HD DVD is winning.)



    I have to laugh when I search for your posts all through last year. You boast that you post 10x (or somesuch) more than somebody else on the forums, denigrating him as a know-nothing noob. 10x wrong is nothing to brag about.
  • Reply 53 of 79
    guarthoguartho Posts: 1,208member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kolchak View Post


    Hey, wasn't Sony responsible for the 8-track tape in your little universe, too? How about global warming?




    They probably haven't been doing all that manufacturing without releasing their fair share of greenhouse gasses.
  • Reply 54 of 79
    4metta4metta Posts: 365member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Galley View Post


    The Matrix trilogy on BD is in the works.







    What's taking so long? Do you have an idea when it will be out? I also remember that the HDDVD version of 300 had more extras than the BluRay. The PiP wasn't available either.



    I'm getting concerned that these things are related to the reason why a lot of the PS3 games really look the same if not worse than the Xbox360 version: it's much harder to code for Blue Ray according to game developers. I have also read that amateur filmmakers prefer using HDDVD for the same reason. So will we get stuck now with this technology that promises so much yet delivers much less when it comes to movies and gaming because of the difficulty of using the medium?
  • Reply 55 of 79
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 4metta View Post


    What's taking so long? Do you have an idea when it will be out? I also remember that the HDDVD version of 300 had more extras than the BluRay. The PiP wasn't available either.



    I'm getting concerned that these things are related to the reason why a lot of the PS3 games really look the same if not worse than the Xbox360 version: it's much harder to code for Blue Ray according to game developers. I have also read that amateur filmmakers prefer using HDDVD for the same reason. So will we get stuck now with this technology that promises so much yet delivers much less when it comes to movies and gaming because of the difficulty of using the medium?



    One thing has nothing to do with the other.



    Blu-Ray has nothing to do with PS3 programming.



    PIP is now available.



    Amateur filmmakers are often just that, amateur. It's no more difficult to prep a video for BD than it is for HD-DVD.
  • Reply 56 of 79
    galleygalley Posts: 971member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 4metta View Post


    What's taking so long? Do you have an idea when it will be out?



    Warner Bros. was waiting for the BD PIP support. They didn't want to release a half-assed product. I would expect it within six months.
  • Reply 57 of 79
    guarthoguartho Posts: 1,208member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    Amateur filmmakers are often just that, amateur. It's no more difficult to prep a video for BD than it is for HD-DVD.



    I'm not quite so pretentious enough to call myself a filmmaker, but I am a videographer and would really like to offer HD weddings because I think this is a good time to get good margins on HD work.



    As it is now I can burn HDDVD compatible 20 or 40 minute discs on regular 4 & 8 GB discs. While the format war was still undecided the lack of HDDVD burners was very annoying.



    On the Blu-ray side we've got burners but are short on authoring tools. If I really really had to I supposedly could buy Premiere Pro and get Adobe Encore in order to burn Blu-Ray video discs, but that's a lot of money when I only want the little side app and not the big one I'm paying for.



    Hopefully Steve will make an announcement tomorrow and give me some Blu-Ray authoring tools.



    This situation may be what 4metta has heard about.
  • Reply 58 of 79
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Guartho View Post


    I'm not quite so pretentious enough to call myself a filmmaker, but I am a videographer and would really like to offer HD weddings because I think this is a good time to get good margins on HD work.



    As it is now I can burn HDDVD compatible 20 or 40 minute discs on regular 4 & 8 GB discs. While the format war was still undecided the lack of HDDVD burners was very annoying.



    On the Blu-ray side we've got burners but are short on authoring tools. If I really really had to I supposedly could buy Premiere Pro and get Adobe Encore in order to burn Blu-Ray video discs, but that's a lot of money when I only want the little side app and not the big one I'm paying for.



    Hopefully Steve will make an announcement tomorrow and give me some Blu-Ray authoring tools.



    This situation may be what 4metta has heard about.



    These tools are not that expensive, if you're a professional, even if you're doing wedding work. I assume your accountant writes off the cost of your hardware and software. That brings the cost of these down over the three years it's done. Looking for the cheapest tools is not the way to go.
  • Reply 59 of 79
    guarthoguartho Posts: 1,208member
    Thanks for the lecture. I simply meant that Encore is the only option at the moment and that's frustrating for anybody small time that wants to be on Blu-ray.
  • Reply 60 of 79
    4metta4metta Posts: 365member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Galley View Post


    Warner Bros. was waiting for the BD PIP support. They didn't want to release a half-assed product. I would expect it within six months.



    Well this is my point. Why has it been just now that it was released as opposed to HDDVD movies which have had it for a while? Has HDDVD been out longer or what?





    I sure hope 300 gets rereleased on BR. I know I'll buy that as one of my firsts and I want all the features the HDDVD version had when it came out.
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