Warner Bros. Picks Blu-Ray Over HD-DVD

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Warner Bros. is going with Blu-ray exclusively, dropping all support for HD-DVD. Just two weeks ago the studio said something totally different.

"The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger," Barry Meyer, Warner Bros.' chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. "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," the statement said.
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Oh wow, that's surprising, especially after Warner's issues with the 300 Blu Ray which didn't have a lot of the features of the HD-DVD version, not to mention the push in release of The Matrix trilogy because BR (again) couldn't yet do a lot of the picture in picture and scripting features that HD-DVD could.

Either way, big big blow to HD-DVD.
 
Two companies a Hate with a passion. EA and Sony. I never buy any of their stuff.

Think I'll be skipping over this generation of HD and wait for the next one on Flash ROM media or something. 50BG disks are not even Next Gen to me..I want 1T portable media :)

There are going to be alot of pissed of HD-DVD, owners out there.
 
Game over. Now off to the HD-DVD bargain bin for titles I'd rather not pay $35+ a copy for on BR.
 
yeah i know this blow, i just got a nice HD DVD player for christmas and now this... sheesh.
 
Well I'm going to say this sucks for hd-dvd. Looks like I won't be buying an hd player any time soon then since I don't buy into sony's whole "it's more expensive so it must be better".
 
Big Lebowski said:
Two companies a Hate with a passion. EA and Sony. I never buy any of their stuff.

Think I'll be skipping over this generation of HD and wait for the next one on Flash ROM media or something. 50BG disks are not even Next Gen to me..I want 1T portable media :)

There are going to be alot of pissed of HD-DVD, owners out there.
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Come talk to me in five or more years with how that goes.
On the note of WB going exclusive with Blu-ray, this will be a hard blow to the HD-DVD campaign, but it may not be the final ending blow. Blu-ray still has to lower prices of their players before they will fully get mainstream or overtake HD-DVD 100%.
 
People buying into anything before it is decided are taking their own risks. I ALMOST bought an hd-dvd player, because I thought it would win. Look how wrong I could of been, and look at all that money I didn't waste.
 
you do know that in 2007 Blu-ray has outsold HD-DVD in the US every single week right?

Market share in the US is 2 BD to 1 HD, in Europe it's 3 to 1 and in Japan its 9 to 1. Thats with Warner selling on both formats and some titles only in HD-DVD. With all of Warner's titles going to BD exclusively... the market share for BD will just balloon up. I really dont think they need to catch up to HD-DVD.

as for PiP that is now out for BD as well with the recent firmware patch.

When I was looking into building my new PC I looked at both formats and I have never understood what HD-DVD had to offer that Blu-ray didnt out perform.

BTW BD is owned by Panasonic. I am glad that this stupid format war is over... I'm just waiting to hear when Universal will go Blu, I dont think Paramount/Dreamworks will renew their contract for HD-DVD.
 
This is a bit concerning though. The reason they haven't been big supporters of Blu-Ray so far is because the feature set of HD-DVD was better, this is also the reason some big Warner Movies haven't been released on Blu-Ray yet (ie. Batman Begins, Matrix, etc).

Warner apparently loved the IME (In Movie Experience) from HD-DVD and said they would support those features more in HD-DVD until something similar was available in Blu-Ray. Well Blu-Ray 1.1 is out now and movies like Resident Evil: Extinction and War are supporting Picture-in-Picture and other features similar to the HD-DVD IME. This is what worries me.

Warner will start doing thier movies with 1.1 feature set in mind, meaning everyone who bought a Blu-Ray player prior to Nov, 2007 (unless it was a PS3) will not be able to use these features. In fact other that players out now are still mostly 1.0 and don't work with these features and can't be upgraded.

I know people with Samsung and Sony players that can't use features off the Resident Evil: Extinction disc, so what this means is either you'll get great features that aren't being used by studios since most players can't use them, or you'll get movies with features your player won't support. That is stupid.

To me it seems like Sony half assed the Blu-Ray certification process, now they are adding new features and leaving old players in the cold. HD-DVD has required all the essential tools to do these things since day one and Sony could have done the same with Blu-Ray but opted not too. Sony was very short-sighted with their Blu-Ray standards and now the consumers will pay for it.

Not only that, the IME features I've seen from early HD-DVD's like Batman Begins still are much better than similar features in RE: Extinction.

I truly feel sorry for consumers at this point, I honestly perfer HD-DVD over Blu-Ray. Mostly for the features but I hate the idea of BD+ and regions. BD+ is evil for consumers and will have a major impact of how we view movies if used to its full potential. BD+ is also the reason why movie studios are picking Blu-Ray, showing they are in it for themselves 100% and not for the consumers at all.
 
Another loss for the consumer. Just what I want another DRM'd to the max file format that costs too much, with region coding. How about a file format that's more consumer friendly not the other way around.
 
FF8.jpg
 
Cool :)

I only own BR thus far, via my PS3, own probably 7-8 BR movies...

This is a big hit to HDDVD, where are all the fanboys now?
 
Does anyone remember another Sony folly called BETAMAX ? How about what ended up killing the format? Porn. Adult videos were widely available on VHS. That was the difference. Well it could happen to Blu-ray. Since Disney publishes to Blu-ray only, they are trying to keep all mastering / production facilities from producing adult material on Blu-ray. There are some facilities that will produce adult material Blu-ray discs, but very few because of this. HD-DVD has embraced the adult video industry and in the end that might be the difference.
 
kubicki2007 said:
Does anyone remember another Sony folly called BETAMAX ? How about what ended up killing the format? Porn. Adult videos were widely available on VHS. That was the difference. Well it could happen to Blu-ray. Since Disney publishes to Blu-ray only, they are trying to keep all mastering / production facilities from producing adult material on Blu-ray. There are some facilities that will produce adult material Blu-ray discs, but very few because of this. HD-DVD has embraced the adult video industry and in the end that might be the difference.
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Digital Playground: Pirates Blu-ray 'Selling Like Gangbusters'
 
Seriously, does anybody really care? I have maybe 20 HD-DVD's because of online specials and I prefer the iHD features. I have both the 360 add-on and an HD-A2 standalone. I recently bought a PS3 w/gift certificates and I'll probably buy a handful of BD titles. Ultimately, the sales of these next-gen discs is abyssmally low and not just because of slow adoption of HD equipment. I don't know, I'm just tired of all this back-and-forth nonsense as if which format "wins" really matters. By the time HD discs start to impact sales of DVD's, there will be another format to trump Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Maybe these studios and special interest groups on both sides will STFU when universal players become economical.

Meh. Buy whatever you can afford and whatever turns you on. /rant
 
BettiePage said:
you do know that in 2007 Blu-ray has outsold HD-DVD in the US every single week right?

Market share in the US is 2 BD to 1 HD, in Europe it's 3 to 1 and in Japan its 9 to 1. Thats with Warner selling on both formats and some titles only in HD-DVD. With all of Warner's titles going to BD exclusively... the market share for BD will just balloon up. I really dont think they need to catch up to HD-DVD.
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This argument doesn't mean much. We can't really compare the number of players sold because the PS3 gives an unfair advantage to Blu-Ray. The number of discs sold isn't an indication of anything either. Aren't PS3 games counted as Blu-Ray discs sold? And even if they weren't, all we could conclude from this is that Blu-Ray owners are richer and can afford to buy movies instead of renting them. I'm a huge fan of movies and I sometimes watch as many as 3 movies per week, but I NEVER buy movies. I always just rent them because I don't really think it's worth it to pay $30 for a movie, even a great movie. I could rent it like 30 times with that same amount of money lol.

BettiePage said:
as for PiP that is now out for BD as well with the recent firmware patch.
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The fact still remains that all BD movies up until recently don't have all of the extra content that HD-DVD has been enjoying from the beginning.

BettiePage said:
When I was looking into building my new PC I looked at both formats and I have never understood what HD-DVD had to offer that Blu-ray didnt out perform.
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What does Blu-Ray offer over HD-DVD other than more space per disc? Please enlighten me. I know Blu-Ray doesn't outperform HD-DVD in picture quality, amount of extra features, or price.

BettiePage said:
BTW BD is owned by Panasonic. I am glad that this stupid format war is over... I'm just waiting to hear when Universal will go Blu, I dont think Paramount/Dreamworks will renew their contract for HD-DVD.
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Err... no. Panasonic is a member of the Blu-ray Disc Association, but Sony invented the format and is the closest company to "owning" it.
 
kubicki2007 said:
Does anyone remember another Sony folly called BETAMAX ? How about what ended up killing the format? Porn. Adult videos were widely available on VHS. That was the difference. Well it could happen to Blu-ray. Since Disney publishes to Blu-ray only, they are trying to keep all mastering / production facilities from producing adult material on Blu-ray. There are some facilities that will produce adult material Blu-ray discs, but very few because of this. HD-DVD has embraced the adult video industry and in the end that might be the difference.
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Do you remember that thing you are using right now called the internet? Ya :p

HD has been behind all 2007. Hopefully they will decide a format soon so the burners will drop in price and media as well.
 
jmackay said:
Do you remember that thing you are using right now called the internet? Ya :p

HD has been behind all 2007. Hopefully they will decide a format soon so the burners will drop in price and media as well.
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You really think prices will go down if BD wins? Wow. Sony, lowering prices?
 
I could care less. I'm to poor to afford either, let alone the 30$ discs. I'll just keep watching movies on my computer until I can at least get a cheap blue-ray burner. AARRRRRGGGHHH! ;)
 
I'de like to throw this out there for all of the HD-DVD haters...

Even if HD-DVD does tank in the end, it won't matter to me as an HD-DVD player owner because I only paid $98 to buy the thing. With all of the HD-DVDs I've already watched on it and will watch in the coming year, I definitely feel like I'm getting my money's worth. Now if I had spent $400 on a player I'de probably go nuts if the format tanked, but that isn't the case.

Just sayin'.
 
It's always funny to me when companies try and justify greedy moves by saying it's better for the consumer. When is exclusivity ever a benefit to the consumers? How does this benefit people who already have or plan to buy HD DVD players?
 
gtg465x said:
I'de like to throw this out there for all of the HD-DVD haters...

Even if HD-DVD does tank in the end, it won't matter to me as an HD-DVD player owner because I only paid $98 to buy the thing. With all of the HD-DVDs I've already watched on it and will watch in the coming year, I definitely feel like I'm getting my money's worth. Now if I had spent $400 on a player I'de probably go nuts if the format tanked, but that isn't the case.

Just sayin'.
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Exactly...I got a great deal on my 360 HD DVD add on, and have thoroughly the free HD DVDs that I got from it, as well as, those we have rented from Blockbuster...If HD DVD tanks in the next year, does that diminish the enjoyment we have had with HD DVD so far? The only thing this changes is, I hold off on buying more HD content until things are more clear. Funny thing, my 360 add on will not magically stop working when/if Toshiba pulls the plug on HD DVD.
 
What he meant to say was, "Sony paid us a huge chunk of money to go with Blu-Ray"
 
Well done Big Lebowski I think you nailed it. I have both an HD-DVD and a Blu-Ray player and although the sound and picture is identical I still prefer HD-DVD. They basically had their act together since day one where Blu-Ray is still changing/adding things and that equates to ongoing firmware updates, premature obsolescence for players etc..

Oh well....
 
People defend what they already own.

For the rest of us, we're waiting on dual format players or one of the formats to truly win. Even then, the movie studios will be pretty disappointed in their sales if the HD media doesn't come down to the same price as traditional DVD's. Very few people are willing to pay twice as much for a movie they'll only watch once or twice anyway.

My HD TV is mostly used for watching sports. I buy 1 or 2 movies a month on regular DVD format at $15 each and enjoy them on my cheap up-converting player. I'd maybe buy 4 or 5 movies a year if they stayed $30 each, because I'd only buy ones I knew I'd watch multiple times.
 
I've always maintained that whichever format does Starwars AND LotR first (only?) is my chosen platform.

Fox (StarWars) is already behind Blu-Ray and New Line (LotR) is a division of Time Warner...
 
You can thank me for purchasing an HD-DVD player.. I have the touch of death when it comes to bleeding edge competing technologies. :rolleyes:

After going shopping for some titles, it was apparant warner was REALLY proping up the title offerings, so this is not good for HD-DVD. Which is unfortunate, because it's a nice format with most of it's issues sorted out and no region locking (YAY!). With BR, you have at LEAST 3 flavors of players and discs to mix and match and they might or might not work. Your average consumer won't like that in the least and won't like the hassle of downloadable content. Which means the future of high-def just got put on hold.

The BR camp (read sony) doesn't seem to understand you can't go to market with an unfinished spec and beta hardware, which is where we are still at with BR.

BR realy doesn't have anything going for it besides capacity, which is meaningless as both formats can hold movies longer than your butt wants to sit on the couch for. HD has a less buggy, more finished, feature set, and is easier to manufacture.

Maybe warner wants to know where their $100M dollaras is.
 
Some of you may not agree with me but I honestly think HD DVD could have won if Microsoft and Toshiba played their cards right from the start.

Since Sony had the upper hand on their PS3 + BR DVD, Microsoft should have included a built in HD DVD player into their systems as well. If PS3 took some of the consumers on just the BR sales then Microsoft and Toshiba should have done a little adjustments to their system. The adjustment, HD DVD player built into the Xbox 360. I know this sounds a bit difficult with new skus and other issues with existing users with older version of the XBOX but now it looks like the scale has tipped over the the BR side.

Even though Sony had Media content from the start I believe that Toshiba could have easily done that by getting the users to own a player first then forcing them to start buying the media. When this happens film companies have no choice but to jump ship.
 
raz-0 said:
The BR camp (read sony) doesn't seem to understand you can't go to market with an unfinished spec and beta hardware, which is where we are still at with BR.
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Ever heard of firmware update?:confused:;)
 
raz-0 said:
You can thank me for purchasing an HD-DVD player.. I have the touch of death when it comes to bleeding edge competing technologies. :rolleyes:

After going shopping for some titles, it was apparant warner was REALLY proping up the title offerings, so this is not good for HD-DVD. Which is unfortunate, because it's a nice format with most of it's issues sorted out and no region locking (YAY!). With BR, you have at LEAST 3 flavors of players and discs to mix and match and they might or might not work. Your average consumer won't like that in the least and won't like the hassle of downloadable content. Which means the future of high-def just got put on hold.

The BR camp (read sony) doesn't seem to understand you can't go to market with an unfinished spec and beta hardware, which is where we are still at with BR.

BR realy doesn't have anything going for it besides capacity, which is meaningless as both formats can hold movies longer than your butt wants to sit on the couch for. HD has a less buggy, more finished, feature set, and is easier to manufacture.

Maybe warner wants to know where their $100M dollaras is.
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Rebel44 said:
Ever heard of firmware update?:confused:;)
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teenk said:
Ever had your mom try to do it?
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deeznuts said:
That same mom that can figure out PiP can figure out a firmware update. Without the firmware update the movie plays just fine.
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Not in this context.
 
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