Blu-ray stuff: Warner backing Blu-ray exclusively

LookingFor

Probably most Blu-ray buyers are also PS3 owners right now, so thought I'd drop this in here. Hopefully this helps hasten an end to this stupid format war.

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN0432340820080104

Time Warner Inc's (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Warner Bros studio on Friday said it would exclusively release high-definition DVDs in Sony Corp's (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) Blu-ray format, dealing a big blow to Toshiba Corp's (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research) rival HD DVD technology.

"The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. 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," Warner Bros Chairman and Chief Executive Barry Meyer said in a statement.

I can't imagine Universal will be far from supporting Blu-ray. Paramount will be back once their contract with Toshiba expires.

savemejebus

Just read that a few minutes ago myself. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next week or so at CES. This would definitely have an impact on the console scene, if it leads to blu-ray winning, making the ps3 a really good choice as not just an entry-level but mid- level blu-ray player.

It could also mean a re-think for the rumoured xbox 360 Ultimate (actually posted on that thread at the exact same time you posted this - weird).

311

Will this mean transformers will be available ,I wonder?

justfortherecor

This is all trivial though if Blu-Ray doesn't sell well enough either though. At the moment, there seems to be no major shift to these new formats by consumers. I bought 2 blu-ray discs online for cheap, but to be honest, the difference in quality from a DVD wouldn't make me willing to pay the price premium at the moment.

Perfectly happy with DVDs at the moment.

savemejebus

_Brian_ wrote: »

Will this mean transformers will be available ,I wonder?

not for a while as that is put out by paramount, who are under contract to toshiba, but this means that blu-ray now has 70% exclusivity over the major hollywood studios so it's looking like it's only a matter of time before paramount and universal produce in blu-ray.

311

justfortherecor wrote: »

This is all trivial though if Blu-Ray doesn't sell well enough either though. At the moment, there seems to be no major shift to these new formats by consumers. I bought 2 blu-ray discs online for cheap, but to be honest, the difference in quality from a DVD wouldn't make me willing to pay the price premium at the moment.

Perfectly happy with DVDs at the moment.

I think the same myself ,the ps3 does a great job of upscaling dvd's .
Probably only newly made movies will benefit from blu-ray ,if they shoot the movies with blu-ray in mind.

savemejebus

It all depends on the movie, but it's not just new movies that benefit from being seen in HD. Blade Runner looks amazing, as does close encounters and i'm betting star wars will look great too.

311

It's probably just a cost cutting thing ,rather than just a vote for blu-ray.
If a movie doesn't sell ,there's no point in having both formats lying around

LookingFor

Some of you need specs if you can't see a good difference between DVD and BD/HD-DVD on any reasonably sized screen. Even my mother, a techphobe if ever there was one, has commented on the clarity of them and it's plain as day if you walk into any electronic store, and see side by side the TVs running HD material and those running SD material.

But this isn't the thread to talk about that, really.

Guy:Incognito

The first Blu-Ray I bought was Planet earth. I was blown away. It looks absolutely ****ing fantastic on my 50".


I have a PS3 and a 360 and haveing compared both for movies I personally prefer BR. So the only HD-DVD'd I'll be buying are exclusives that I really want (so far that only amounts to Transformers.Even if I do already have it on DVD twice )

steviec

On a 26" HDTV the difference of Blu Ray wasn't really noticeable, that is thanks to the PS3 doing some really good upscaling though.

On a 32" HDTV I found it was noticeable, but not to the extent that it made a big difference. Within 5 minutes of the movie starting you forget about it.

Vyse

steviec wrote: »

On a 32" HDTV I found it was noticeable, but not to the extent that it made a big difference. Within 5 minutes of the movie starting you forget about it.

Couldn't agree more. Have both and just don't think they add too much to the whole experience.

xanthor

_Brian_ wrote: »

Will this mean transformers will be available ,I wonder?

I was inclined to think it will be announced after the exclusivity deal expires. Only time will tell however.

Ciaran500

This thread should be in here surely

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=113

LookingFor

savemejebus wrote: »

Just read that a few minutes ago myself. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next week or so at CES.

Well, for starters, HD-DVD have postponed/cancelled their CES press conference.

http://wesleytech.com/ces-hd-dvd-event-canceled-due-to-warner-announcement/483/

“Based on the timing of the Warner Home Video announcement today, we have decided to postpone our CES 2008 press conference scheduled for Sunday, January 6th at 8:30 p.m. in the Wynn Hotel. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

We are currently discussing the potential impact of this announcement with the other HD DVD partner companies and evaluating next steps.“Based on the timing of the Warner Home Video announcement today, we have decided to postpone our CES 2008 press conference scheduled for Sunday, January 6th at 8:30 p.m. in the Wynn Hotel. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

We are currently discussing the potential impact of this announcement with the other HD DVD partner companies and evaluating next steps.

I hope this means they're evaluating whether to call it a day or not.

steviec wrote: »

On a 26" HDTV the difference of Blu Ray wasn't really noticeable, that is thanks to the PS3 doing some really good upscaling though.

On a 32" HDTV I found it was noticeable, but not to the extent that it made a big difference. Within 5 minutes of the movie starting you forget about it.

Our senses are all more sensitive to contrast and change. They do indeed adjust to current circumstances, so that's why you come to forget about it. If you put a TV running a DVD beside your HDTV running a BD, your sight would immediately see the difference again and you'd remember What I'm saying is, because you get used to it, that doesn't mean there isn't a quantitative difference in quality.

innisfree

Unless you have a tv capable of a full 1080 display (not just a tv capable of accepting the signal) and probably a minimum of 40", I wouldn't be making judgements on the your perception between DVDs and Blu-ray. I had a friend claiming Blu-ray was a load of hype and that his upscaled DVDs looked nearly as good. He even claimed his tv did the full 1080. On checking it out, we found out his tv had a far smaller resolution (even though it had a 1080p badge on it - misleading!).

Anything below 1080 is taking the Blu-Ray and removing detail - that applies whether your tv is 26", 32" or 48".

Ciaran500

innisfree wrote: »

Unless you have a tv capable of a full 1080 display (not just a tv capable of accepting the signal) and probably a minimum of 40", I wouldn't be making judgements on the your perception between DVDs and Blu-ray. I had a friend claiming Blu-ray was a load of hype and that his upscaled DVDs looked nearly as good. He even claimed his tv did the full 1080. On checking it out, we found out his tv had a far smaller resolution (even though it had a 1080p badge on it - misleading!).

Anything below 1080 is taking the Blu-Ray and removing detail - that applies whether your tv is 26", 32" or 48".

I've seen Blu-ray on a 1080p screen and like everyone else has said its nice but I wouldn't be paying a premium for it over DVD.

LookingFor

Ciaran500 wrote: »

I've seen Blu-ray on a 1080p screen and like everyone else has said its nice but I wouldn't be paying a premium for it over DVD.

Well you don't have to, buying online you can get good deals. I don't buy DVDs any more because it's difficult to go back to, so there goes your 'everyone else' theory!!

But look, this thread is not about BD vs DVD perception or worthwhileness, that case has been argued (and IMO, shut) on countless occasions across the web with side by side comparisons and so forth.

This thread is about Warner switching to Blu-ray exclusively and its ramifications, let's try to get back on topic please.

Skyuser

I hope they all choose blu-ray because a few times i've found the movie I wanted to buy is only on HD-DVD so I had to get just DVD. And there IS a difference. The clarity of the picture is much sharper. Our house was watching Casino Royale on Christmas day on Sky Movies. Started on Premiere in SD picture but I played it from Sky Anytime which was HD and they couldn't believe how much better the picture was.

Mossy Monk

Ciaran500 wrote: »

I've seen Blu-ray on a 1080p screen and like everyone else has said its nice but I wouldn't be paying a premium for it over DVD.

Anyone paying the prices found in shops deserves to be ripped off. Buy the discs online.

_Brian_

_Brian_ wrote: »

I think the same myself ,the ps3 does a great job of upscaling dvd's .
Probably only newly made movies will benefit from blu-ray ,if they shoot the movies with blu-ray in mind.

Take a look at Bladerunner. An old film that looks incredible. The blu ray version of First Blood looks awesome too for such an old film.

Beelzebub

I eagerly await Toshiba and Microsoft's responses to this.

Beelzebub

Ciaran500 wrote: »

This thread should be in here surely

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=113

I agree.

innisfree

_Brian_ wrote: »

I think the same myself ,the ps3 does a great job of upscaling dvd's .
Probably only newly made movies will benefit from blu-ray ,if they shoot the movies with blu-ray in mind.

Not at all. Any film shot on 35mm film is actually losing detail when being put onto blu-ray (and a lot moreso when put on dvd). The original films are capable of bigger and more detailed pictures. The majority of cinema over the decades has been shot on 35mm so all the classics are quite suited to hi-definition formats like blu-ray.

I saw someone commenting once that they hoped that cinemas would become hi-definition following the release release of blu-ray and hd-dvd, which made me smile.

savemejebus

Beelzebub wrote: »

I eagerly await Toshiba and Microsoft's responses to this.

Here's toshiba's response anyway

TOKYO, Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Toshiba is quite surprised by Warner Bros.' decision to abandon HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray, despite the fact that there are various contracts in place between our companies concerning the support of HD DVD. As central members of the DVD Forum, we have long maintained a close partnership with Warner Bros. We worked closely together to help standardize the first-generation DVD format as well as to define and shape HD DVD as its next-generation successor.

We were particularly disappointed that this decision was made in spite of the significant momentum HD DVD has gained in the US market as well as other regions in 2007. HD DVD players and PCs have outsold Blu-ray in the US market in 2007.

We will assess the potential impact of this announcement with the other HD DVD partner companies and evaluate potential next steps. We remain firm in our belief that HD DVD is the format best suited to the wants and needs of the consumer.

And as was posted earlier the HD-DVD promo group has cancelled their CES press conference

Super Sidious

U can get blu rays for same price as dvds on amazon...especially wit their buy 1 get one free at the mo!

50euro for Departed-BR in HMV is a ****in disgrace, 37euro for 300 is also crazy...20dollars on amazon which is like 14euro plus buy 1 get 1 free too...

Majority of blu ray are region free certainly departed/300/goodfellas must hav movies...

blu ray will win out its enevitable, plus the p0rn industry have picked blu ray so thats how DVD won last time as they were up against another type of format just like HD vs Blu ray!

311

innisfree wrote: »

Not at all. Any film shot on 35mm film is actually losing detail when being put onto blu-ray (and a lot moreso when put on dvd). The original films are capable of bigger and more detailed pictures. The majority of cinema over the decades has been shot on 35mm so all the classics are quite suited to hi-definition formats like blu-ray.

I saw someone commenting once that they hoped that cinemas would become hi-definition following the release release of blu-ray and hd-dvd, which made me smile.

Can you clarify for me and anyone else willing to spend money on Blu-ray discs.
Does Blu-ray automatically make a movie better ,than it would have been on DVD?

LookingFor

_Brian_ wrote: »

Can you clarify for me and anyone else willing to spend money on Blu-ray discs.
Does Blu-ray automatically make a movie better ,than it would have been on DVD?

It makes the audio/visual experience much better. Film is fundamentally an audio/visual experience. It brings you as close to master quality as you can get right now, perhaps as close as needs to be for home use.

(Re. cinema, there are advantages to cinemas switching to digital, even though film effectively has 'infinite' resolution. For one, films distributed to cinemas, particularly here in Ireland, are usually copies of copies of copies, and often have visual artefacts and have lost colour fidelity. My blu-rays often have much better colours than I can remember from seeing the same film in cinemas, and of course, no artefacts/blips/smudges etc.)

Anyway, this is still off-topic. CES should be interesting, to see if there's any comment out of Universal or Paramount.

311

LookingFor wrote: »

It makes the audio/visual experience much better. Film is fundamentally an audio/visual experience. It brings you as close to master quality as you can get right now, perhaps as close as needs to be for home use.

(Re. cinema, there are advantages to cinemas switching to digital, even though film effectively has 'infinite' resolution. For one, films distributed to cinemas, particularly here in Ireland, are usually copies of copies of copies, and often have visual artefacts and have lost colour fidelity. My blu-rays often have much better colours than I can remember from seeing the same film in cinemas, and of course, no artefacts/blips/smudges etc.)

Anyway, this is still off-topic. CES should be interesting, to see if there's any comment out of Universal or Paramount.

That reply was a complete waste of time ,everyone knows why blu-ray is better than DVD ,theoretically:rolleyes:

A lot of people have blu-ray editions now ,it's no longer a minority verdict.

innisfree

LookingFor wrote: »

(Re. cinema, there are advantages to cinemas switching to digital, even though film effectively has 'infinite' resolution. For one, films distributed to cinemas, particularly here in Ireland, are usually copies of copies of copies, and often have visual artefacts and have lost colour fidelity. My blu-rays often have much better colours than I can remember from seeing the same film in cinemas, and of course, no artefacts/blips/smudges etc.)

Anyway, this is still off-topic. CES should be interesting, to see if there's any comment out of Universal or Paramount.

Forgive me for doubting this, but can you back this up? I've always been quite sure in my understanding that films get a certain allocation of reels made up, usually proportionate to the budget of the film.

With budgets so large these days, a far greater number of reels are being produced initially (simultaneously, not copying through several generations of film). This is why we see so many large films released simultaneously in the US and here. However, the smaller budget films have fewer reels and don't get widespread international release dates. The film you end up seeing in Ireland isn't a later copy of a previous reel, it's the same reel after it's finished its showing period in the first country. All the scratches etc. are wear and tear, not artefacts from copying.

This is also why the visual quality of cinema in Ireland was so bad a few years ago as nearly every film arriving in the screens here had been shown previously elsewhere and been through the wars.

Does Blu-ray automatically make a movie better ,than it would have been on DVD?

If you count more detailed pictures and sound as better, then yes it does. Think of it like buying a poster. Would you want the smaller A4 size or the bigger A2 size? I presume it'd be the A2.
Now, you might point out that your tv is a fixed size. Well, if you can imagine the A2 poster covering the entire screen and then the A4 poster covering only one corner. To get the A4 to fit the whole screen you'll have to stretch it up. But you can't make up detail that isn't there, so the stretched A4 picture will be blurred and unsharp. On a smaller screen, you wouldn't notice this so much. You also wouldn't notice this so much sitting far away, which is something to keep in mind if you happen to watch tv from the other side of the room.

Sorry for spiralling off-topic, I'll try and shutup now.

311

innisfree wrote: »

If you count more detailed pictures and sound as better, then yes it does. Think of it like buying a poster. Would you want the smaller A4 size or the bigger A2 size? I presume it'd be the A2.
Now, you might point out that your tv is a fixed size. Well, if you can imagine the A2 poster covering the entire screen and then the A4 poster covering only one corner. To get the A4 to fit the whole screen you'll have to stretch it up. But you can't make up detail that isn't there, so the stretched A4 picture will be blurred and unsharp. On a smaller screen, you wouldn't notice this so much. You also wouldn't notice this so much sitting far away, which is something to keep in mind if you happen to watch tv from the other side of the room.

Sorry for spiralling off-topic, I'll try and shutup now.

Innisfree ,I know exactly how it works ok. It's just not all movies fully benefit from this process .
There is review sites specifically for conversions and not all movies are worth the extra cost of buying on Blu-ray.
Maybe it's because the conversion wasn't done properly or from a smaller source.

Thats really all I was trying to get accross ,I wasn't looking for an argument or discussion about it.

innisfree

_Brian_ wrote: »

Innisfree ,I know exactly how it works ok. It's just not all movies fully benefit from this process .
There is review sites specifically for conversions and not all movies are worth the extra cost of buying on Blu-ray.
Maybe it's because the conversion wasn't done properly or from a smaller source.

Thats really all I was trying to get accross ,I wasn't looking for an argument or discussion about it.

Apologies Brian, I wasn't sure what your understanding of it was so I went through everything just incase.

As to what you've brought up, what I said still applies. However, there's two immediate factors that could cause a lack of sharpness. 1/ A bad conversion. This could crop up once or twice in the beginning of Blu-ray as companies get to grips with transferring films. It really shouldn't, and should be very infrequent, but I imagine the few bad eggs will disappear as the technology matures and companies get more confident with it.

2/ Focus. Some films are shot very 'soft' due to lenses used, settings on the lens, or a slight lack of focus. It's nothing that will take away from a film in the cinema because it's not exactly blurred or anything too degrading to the visual quality. However, if you look at the blu-ray (or the film projection if you happened to run a cinema) up close you'd notice a lack of sharpness if you studied the picture up close. The smaller you shrink an image, the sharper it gets, hence why it's not as apparent on DVD.

In either case, I'd still argue the Blu-ray quality is far better quality with either of these two flaws over DVD. Though you won't be getting the full benefit of the technology.

AtomicHorror

_Brian_ wrote: »

Innisfree ,I know exactly how it works ok. It's just not all movies fully benefit from this process .
There is review sites specifically for conversions and not all movies are worth the extra cost of buying on Blu-ray.
Maybe it's because the conversion wasn't done properly or from a smaller source.

Thats really all I was trying to get accross ,I wasn't looking for an argument or discussion about it.

When DVD became standard for home video, transfer quality became less of an issue in reviews as it was the only choice. For the time being, anyone buying a Blu Ray would be well advised to read reviews, especially given the current prices! Some day in the next few years one of these formats is going to be standard.

LookingFor

_Brian_ wrote: »

That reply was a complete waste of time ,everyone knows why blu-ray is better than DVD ,theoretically:rolleyes:

I'm confused then Why were you asking if you knew? If you're asking if it fundamentally makes a movie any better..well, if you think not, it's like saying watching a movie on a mobile phone doesn't degrade the experience because it's still the same movie, whatever about the AV quality!

innisfree wrote: »

Forgive me for doubting this, but can you back this up? I've always been quite sure in my understanding that films get a certain allocation of reels made up, usually proportionate to the budget of the film.

With budgets so large these days, a far greater number of reels are being produced initially (simultaneously, not copying through several generations of film). This is why we see so many large films released simultaneously in the US and here. However, the smaller budget films have fewer reels and don't get widespread international release dates. The film you end up seeing in Ireland isn't a later copy of a previous reel, it's the same reel after it's finished its showing period in the first country.

Sorry, this is predominantly what I meant - that they're "second/third/fourth" hand movies that don't play as well as they did in the first cinema in america or whatever.

I definitely stick by the colour comment, though - but this may be down to smaller screens at home boosting colour resolution per square inch or whatever. Colours seemed much better on Casino Royale blu-ray vs what I remembered from the cinema.

E@gle.

looks like paramount are going blu-ray too,

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dc409afa-bd75-11dc-b7e6-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=e8477cc4-c820-11db-b0dc-000b5df10621.html

AtomicHorror

E@gle. wrote: »

looks like paramount are going blu-ray too,

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dc409afa-bd75-11dc-b7e6-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=e8477cc4-c820-11db-b0dc-000b5df10621.html

If that's true, it would be the final nail in the coffin really.

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.

AnCapaillMor

Thats them dead and buried, so anyone want to buy Batman returns, v for vendetta and Riddick on hd-dvd?

Kev_ps3

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

Thats them dead and buried, so anyone want to buy Batman returns, v for vendetta and Riddick on hd-dvd?

It hasnt been confirmed yet!

Vyse

Paramount have denied this. Still, I have the two HD-DVDs I want, Transformers and Heroes Season 1. Only the one blu-ray though (Spiderman 3) and tbh never bothered watching it as it is a terrible film:rolleyes:

AnCapaillMor

Would love to know what the blu-ray camp were offering to warner, hd-dvd did'nt keep their deals secret.

Paramount are sticking with HD DVD.

mathias

Still not definite , it depends on the source your reading , this one for instance says they are going back to blu ray ,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jan/09/sony.digitalmedia

Vyse

mathias wrote: »

Still not definite , it depends on the source your reading , this one for instance says they are going back to blu ray ,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jan/09/sony.digitalmedia

"Paramount could become the latest movie studio to withdraw its support for Toshiba's HD-DVD format, dealing a mortal blow to its hopes of becoming the next generation of home video"

How does this state that they are going back to Blu-Ray? Seems like there is a lot of coulds, ifs and maybes!!

mathias

Seems like there is a lot of coulds, ifs and maybes!!

Exactly , no definite response yet from paramount , they are all however , one or the other , so if they withdraw from one , then its a given they are going back to the other.

LookingFor

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

Would love to know what the blu-ray camp were offering to warner, hd-dvd did'nt keep their deals secret.

Higher sales, and an easier route to a single standard that they could start promoting seriously. They've alternately denied or refused to comment on questions of any money being involved, but as they rightly point out, any pay-off would be a drop in the ocean compared to what a healthy single HD standard would be worth to them annually.

As for Paramount, they've said their current plan still involves HD-DVD. That doesn't stop them from changing their plans in the morning, or even just going neutral. According to numerous reports and some insider bloggers, one who is even traditionally HD-DVD biased, they're preparing to support Blu-ray again and it'll be announced as soon as details are finalised. Similarly, apparently Universal has not renewed an exclusivity contract with the HD-DVD group, and has been under major retailer pressure at CES to switch to Blu-ray now.

According to another report in the british times yesterday, up to 20 other companies in the HD DVD promotion group are in the process of defecting, mostly all the Japanese companies in the group.

AnCapaillMor

Paramount could still turn around and do both. To be honest i hope they go blu-ray, i just sold my 360 with hd-dvd add-on and could save myself some cash if indiana jones went blu-ray(i was looking for a stand alone hd-dvd player).

HBO and New Line are going Blu Ray exclusive. That means the lord of the ring series on blu ray only.
HBO/New Line

Batman Begins and the Matrix Trilogy coming tut on Blu Ray soon.

Mossy Monk

Not surprising about HBO and New Line. They are both under the Warner umbrella