Warner are going Blu-Ray Exclusive

Snake Plisken

Damn just read this and its a sad day for HD-DVD, Warner did some great HD-DVD releases like The Matrix trilogy & the recent Blade Runner, I just hope they keep their BD's region Free. This is a major blow for HD-DVD and could be one final nail in its coffin of the format

Full statement below

(January 4, 2008 – Burbank, CA) – In response to consumer demand, Warner Bros. Entertainment will release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group.

“Warner Bros.’ move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want,” said Meyer. “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 Home Video will continue to release its titles in standard DVD format and Blu-ray. After a short window following their standard DVD and Blu-ray releases, all new titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until the end of May 2008.

“Warner Bros. has produced in both high-definition formats in an effort to provide consumer choice, foster mainstream adoption and drive down hardware prices,” said Jeff Bewkes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner Inc., the parent company of Warner Bros. Entertainment. “Today’s decision by Warner Bros. to distribute in a single format comes at the right time and is the best decision both for consumers and Time Warner.”

“A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption and becoming the important revenue stream that it can be for the industry,” said Tsujihara. “Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience. Warner Bros. has worked very closely with the Toshiba Corporation in promoting high definition media and we have enormous respect for their efforts. We look forward to working with them on other projects in the future.”

Drag00n79

That's a major blow to the HD-DVD format alright. Warner Bros is the biggest DVD producer globally and account for one in every five DVDs bought in the U.S. Another reason for me to get a PS3 now.

CyberGhost

I'm glad, I don't much care about the video itself but from a data storage point of view(the only thing I care about), I prefer Blu Ray to win.

Good news. Hopefully we will get Batman Begins on Blu ray soon.

Mossy Monk

Good news for Playstation 3 owners

Snake Plisken

Bad news for competition, BD players are more expensive, discs are more expensive and will go up now they don't have to compete with the cheaper HD-DVD discs, we here in Europe will have to pay higher prices due to the regional coding implemented by Blu-Ray so not a good day for HiDef supporters!

Mossy Monk

Much like how DVD prices are through the roof. Oh wait, they're not.

Snake Plisken

Mossy Monk wrote: »

Much like how DVD prices are through the roof. Oh wait, they're not.

Oh yeah how many years did we have to wait for the drop 8 years of paying over the top for DVD purchases, its only in the last 2 years that prices have dropped significantly, mostly on back order catalog titles.

I suppose PS3 fanboys will be happy and gloat for the moment:rolleyes:

mayto

it's only because of blu ray and hd-dvd that dvd's are so cheap at the moment. They were robbery before the ps3 came out.

Shops dont want to be stuck with all these dvd's that they mightn't sell as HD becomes more popular.

I dont think we'll be seeing any of these buy 1 get 1 free offers once hd-dvd gives up. Hopefully the LG Blu ray burner/hd-dvd player pc drive goes down in price for the fact it plays hd-dvds!

FunkZ

Ah so there goes the joys of buying DVD's in HMV I suppose?

unreggd

Blu-Ray and Male Lead exclusive....

talk about cuttin your odds!

el dude

I have a ps3 and a HDDVD player. Yet to buy a movie for either tbh. Kinda wished HDDVD would win out. Maybe it still can? If Microsoft sticks with it, if only to piss Sony off. It might still survive.

iMax

So who's left supporting HD-DVD now ?

There's only two studios left I think. Warners own newline (and others) also so it won't be them.

At least it's an end to the war (probably). Gonna wait another year & then get a player, I was going to get the samsung dual format this year, but it's probably worth waiting now. As for buying movies, I generally don't but would probably replace some of the disney ones I have, just want to be sure of the settling format now.

sharkDawg

Still supporting HD-DVD are Paramount Pictures, Universal and DreamWorks but it's only a matter of time now before they jump ship

Jello

Can't say I'm disappointed (only because I own a PS3) but hopefully there'll be a few decent titles released on Blu-Ray over the next while, because right now there's a pretty crap selection.

Snake Plisken

Jello wrote: »

Can't say I'm disappointed (only because I own a PS3) but hopefully there'll be a few decent titles released on Blu-Ray over the next while, because right now there's a pretty crap selection.

Yeah and you'll be paying over the odds for any new release as they will start to lock down regional coding, so no more buying cheap BOGOF deals in Amazon and we'll probably see Warner region coding their future releases once they shut off HD-DVD. I for one will be looking to import a US PS3 (if they ever sort out the DTS-HD decoding) or more likely a Panasonic BD30.

el dude

Can Microsoft make the choice that if they don't want Blu Ray, decide to have Windows HDDVD exclusive? Not likely i know but could they do it?

Snake Plisken

el dude wrote: »

Can Microsoft make the choice that if they don't want Blu Ray, decide to have Windows HDDVD exclusive? Not likely i know but could they do it?

I doubt it there would always be third party software to support Blu-Ray, I suppose they could stick a HD-DVD drive into the 360 and if they could do that without adding any cost to the unit it might drive some additional demand. Who knows what Microsoft might plan? A studio buyout maybe?

robby^5

I don't see the big deal tbh, both of the formats of dvd's are more expensive than regular dvd's and it costs a lot to get a HD setup, dunno why people are so eager to have that... HD Downloads seem like a better alternative imo, Microsoft soft know this and it's probably why they didn't risk putting a HD-DVD drive into the 360.

I don't see regular DVD's being replaced any time soon, the big thing with hd dvd's is that you'll need a hd tv/player to get the full benefit of them, otherwise whats the point in spending the extra money on them?

Also is it just me, or are the boxes for HD-DVDs and BLU RAY ****e? I'd hate having a shelf full of those Ruby/Blue boxes :P

IamBeowulf

robby^5 wrote: »

I don't see the big deal tbh, both of the formats of dvd's are more expensive than regular dvd's and it costs a lot to get a HD setup, dunno why people are so eager to have that... HD Downloads seem like a better alternative imo, Microsoft soft know this and it's probably why they didn't risk putting a HD-DVD drive into the 360.

I don't see regular DVD's being replaced any time soon, the big thing with hd dvd's is that you'll need a hd tv/player to get the full benefit of them, otherwise whats the point in spending the extra money on them?

Also is it just me, or are the boxes for HD-DVDs and BLU RAY ****e? I'd hate having a shelf full of those Ruby/Blue boxes :P

Yes the boxes are sh1te---why spend lots on an innovative design when no-one knew which format would win out? If either? Personally I belive in ten years time we'll be carrying around media-vidplayers with memsticks---we stick the mems into devices in HMV/etc and pay by Cred Card and the movie is transferred from the in-house server to our sticks.
Yes they're more expensive than DVD. They cost more money and time to design and make. The discs, not the boxes.
We fell for the scam. Everyone was on the same side. The war was a hoax. If Blu-Ray had been less popular, then Soy would have offered 5 free movies with every ps3. Then, they would have made double their money selling their movies on HD-DVD. Alas, it went the other way. We were scammed, face it. Hell, both formats use the same codecs. Doesn't that seem a little coincidental? They were on the same...side! And we were the suckers that bought both (not me, but I know a large amount)

FunkZ

That is a crap buzz. I can even see my DVD collection in front of me, wasted... Bye bye.

iMax

Paramount poised to drop HD DVD

According to the Financial Times, in a story that broke only a few hours ago, Paramount 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 backing Blu-ray.

Paramount and DreamWorks Animation came out in support of HD DVD last summer, joining Universal Studios as the main supporters of the Toshiba format.

Warner's decision last week to exclusively back Blu-ray saw it join Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox and MGM Studios as backers of the Sony format. The recent move gives Blu-ray about 70 per cent of Hollywood's output. Universal meanwhile, has declined to comment on its next-generation DVD plans and speculation is rife that an announcement at CES by Bill Gates unveiling an Ultimate Xbox 360 with a built-in HD DVD player was cancelled at the last minute following the move by Warner.


Source: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/01/08/paramount_poised_to_drop_hd_dvd/

Mitch Connor

FunkZ wrote: »

That is a crap buzz. I can even see my DVD collection in front of me, wasted... Bye bye.

what? Why would your DVD collection be wasted? How does the Warner announcement make any difference at all?

Maximilian

Rumour has it WB were paid $500m to switch sides.

Probably doesn't make a difference in the long run anyway. I reckon in a few years the majority of players will read both formats anyway, much as with the DVD+/-R(w), if digital downloads haven't killed the format that is.

robby^5

Maximilian wrote: »

Rumour has it WB were paid $500m to switch sides.

Wheres that rumour from?

So HD-DVD is dead, big whoop. I cant see the new Blu Ray format over taking DVD anytime soon. I'm going to stick with Digital Distribution as the winner in the long term.

Otacon

robby^5 wrote:

So HD-DVD is dead, big whoop.

...Wanna fight about it! *apologies

robby^5 wrote:

I cant see the new Blu Ray format over taking DVD anytime soon. I'm going to stick with Digital Distribution as the winner in the long term.

Personally I can see Blu-Ray being around for at least the next 6-8 years before downloads become commonplace. As PS3 becomes more popular, more Blu-Rays will be sold. Also, as downloads increase, physical media will become more competative too.

Of course, it will eventually happen, but at least in my view, not for a while...

Maximilian

robby^5 wrote: »

Wheres that rumour from?

So HD-DVD is dead, big whoop. I cant see the new Blu Ray format over taking DVD anytime soon. I'm going to stick with Digital Distribution as the winner in the long term.

Take your pick

Only problem with digital downloads is the size of the downloads. No doubt that will change.

Paramount are sticking with HD DVD

A somewhat foolish decision in my opinion. I don't think they have any shot of beating blu ray now, so why stick with HD DVD?

Snake Plisken

Deleted User wrote: »

Paramount are sticking with HD DVD

A somewhat foolish decision in my opinion. I don't think they have any shot of beating blu ray now, so why stick with HD DVD?

Well you'll be happy it might be wrong then Nialler see link http://digitalbits.com/#mytwocents lots of rumours are floating around but I would say from what I read on various forums that its just a question of when they move, if they look at sales they will lose loads of BD potential sales so money talks!

Beelzebub

Snake Plisken wrote: »

Well you'll be happy it might be wrong then Nialler see link http://digitalbits.com/#mytwocents lots of rumours are floating around but I would say from what I read on various forums that its just a question of when they move, if they look at sales they will lose loads of BD potential sales so money talks!

Not rumours any more and Universal will be following suit:


The Financial Times
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dc409afa-bd75-11dc-b7e6-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1
and
Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/blogBurst/investing?type=hotStocksNews&w1=B7ovpm21IaDoL40ZFnNfGe&w2=B7pJeHult9GszE37UXlSpmUm&src=blogBurst_investingNews&bbPostId=Cz9HPOi9E6FgBB8u2b6abvAt8CzBKr3KgnV9YWCzE2v2mO92Hng&bbParentWidgetId=B7gSUbux1hpbz8uOa7TWsLnV

the_syco

Maximilian wrote: »

Take your pick

Only problem with digital downloads is the size of the downloads. No doubt that will change.

Aye. Esp with x.264 and H.264 video's. Still, downloading 16GB's of data will still be off putting, and it also means you need a PC.

Snake Plisken

Beelzebub wrote: »

Not rumours any more and Universal will be following suit:


The Financial Times
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dc409afa-bd75-11dc-b7e6-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1
and
Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/blogBurst/investing?type=hotStocksNews&w1=B7ovpm21IaDoL40ZFnNfGe&w2=B7pJeHult9GszE37UXlSpmUm&src=blogBurst_investingNews&bbPostId=Cz9HPOi9E6FgBB8u2b6abvAt8CzBKr3KgnV9YWCzE2v2mO92Hng&bbParentWidgetId=B7gSUbux1hpbz8uOa7TWsLnV

Their still rumours from this morning as are everything else until there is an official announcement from Paramount.

Also it was a very close call by Warner both Warner and Fox nearly went HD-DVD exclusive in the last couple of weeks but Fox chickened out http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/08/hd-dvd-declared-dead

mathias

Aye. Esp with x.264 and H.264 video's. Still, downloading 16GB's of data will still be off putting, and it also means you need a PC.

Some interesting new things at CES in the states , among them were Panasonics 150 inch Digital 4K plasma , I expected to see a digital 2K set first , but there you go.

Among the companies touting their new HD download services , Panasonic demo'd some sets with broadband capabilites built in , so you may not need a PC after all ! Interesting times ahead indeed.

http://www.panasonic.com/cesshow/index.html

http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/01/06/pana.viera.and.sc.bt100/

Also demo'd with the aforementioned 150 inch plasma , was a 4K movie on a 4 layer blue ray disc .... apparently you can fit 3.5 hours of 4K footage on a 4 layer blue ray , I did not know that , I thought they still had a ways to go with actually fitting a full 4K feature onto any disc .....this being the case it becomes clearer still why the movie companies are jumping to blu ray , because digital distribution will save them a huge amount of money.

Beelzebub

Snake Plisken wrote: »

Their still rumours from this morning as are everything else until there is an official announcement from Paramount.

Also it was a very close call by Warner both Warner and Fox nearly went HD-DVD exclusive in the last couple of weeks but Fox chickened out http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/08/hd-dvd-declared-dead

Nearly doesn't count!

There's absolutely no reason for Paramount to stay HDDVD now.
I really cannot see them not using their get out clause.
It's only a matter of time and I believe that they will capitulate very soon.
I'll believe the FT and Reuters before I'll give much credibility to theinquirer.

HBO and New Line ditch HD DVD

Batman Begins and The Matrix Trilogy coming to Blu Ray soon.

Fantastic news for Blu Ray owners.

Jello

Deleted User wrote: »

HBO and New Line ditch HD DVD

Batman Begins and The Matrix Trilogy coming to Blu Ray soon.

Fantastic news for Blu Ray owners.

Great news, hopefully we'll get a few more decent titles along with those!

unreggd

The Elite 360 shoulda had a built-in HD DVD drive

HD DVD is meant to be better

Blu-ray is dark, and theres lots of noise, looks like they photoshopped a normal DVD with a Sharpen filter!

Also, the ads say hi-definition is "the vision of perfect" or somethin like that, but they already have Ultra Hi-Def in development in Japan

Mossy Monk

unreggd wrote: »

Also, the ads say hi-definition is "the vision of perfect" or somethin like that, but they already have Ultra Hi-Def in development in Japan

Every new technology is great so they say. There are digital television channels with a worse picture than analogue television. Even the latest Surf will be the best possible until the next one comes out.

Snake Plisken

Beelzebub wrote: »

Nearly doesn't count!

There's absolutely no reason for Paramount to stay HDDVD now.
I really cannot see them not using their get out clause.
It's only a matter of time and I believe that they will capitulate very soon.
I'll believe the FT and Reuters before I'll give much credibility to theinquirer.

you obviously didn't read the story or the links in the story to AVS forums, we all know now that coffin lid is now on for HD-DVD, and the inquirer confirms the same thing, but if you had ever used AVS forums theres always a lot of studio insiders who post on there and they have been spot on before, so thats where it was a very close call on which format Warner and Fox went for!

Snake Plisken

unreggd wrote: »

The Elite 360 shoulda had a built-in HD DVD drive

HD DVD is meant to be better

Blu-ray is dark, and theres lots of noise, looks like they photoshopped a normal DVD with a Sharpen filter!

Also, the ads say hi-definition is "the vision of perfect" or somethin like that, but they already have Ultra Hi-Def in development in Japan

M$ should have given more support to Toshiba & the HD-DVD format, your right the should have released a version of the 360 with a HD-DVD drive and they should have had it ready to go up against the PS3 launch, but the fools didn't Well I'll laugh at M$ when they have to hand over licensing fee's for the BD addon to Sony whenever thats released!

As for the noise thats not noise its actually film grain that shows up, some of the studios that released HD-DVD used some noise reduction which can make the picture smoother looking but takes some of the detail away. I have both formats and can't say that I found Blu-Ray pictures darker then HD-DVD.
major advantage that HD-DVD had for me was they had the interactivity features sorted out long before Blu-Ray, I mean FFS they still haven't finalized the spec and we are currently on Profile 1.1 and we have profile 2.0 some months off, which will only make it equal to HD-DVD's current features.
Anyway its a shame HD-DVD never got killed off thanks to Warner, it means we are now left with one format which will have regional coding and also has dormant DRM controls which the studios will implement soon to only allow us to watch our Blu-Ray movies on one player, for the monment I'll be investigating importing a second Blu-Ray player so I can play the better spec'd and cheaper (for the moment) Region A (America) releases.

Maximilian

Snake Plisken wrote: »

M$ should have given more support to Toshiba & the HD-DVD format...

Some people (Michael Bay included) believe MS don't give a crap about HD-DVD and were actually trying to prolong the war to buy time for digital download technology to develop. The theory seems to fit the facts but there's no proof of course.

Edit: Also, just read this story. Pretty disgraceful I think and yet another example of Sony's arrogance and willingness to screw consumers. They knew what they were getting into?

Snake Plisken

Maximilian wrote: »

Edit: Also, just read this story. Pretty disgraceful I think and yet another example of Sony's arrogance and willingness to screw consumers. They knew what they were getting into?

Yeah typical Sony, shows how well developed that HD-DVD was before launching and were forced to the market with sub-par product, and its still a while off before we see profile 2.0 with ethernet connectivity on standalone BD players.

Maximilian

Basically, the only BD player you could possibly be recommended to buy is a PS3 and not just because its the cheapest. I don't think any of the stand alones even have ethernet ports to upgrade firmware. Profile 2.0 players won't even be out until later this year if I'm not mistaken.

I love their TV's but otherwise I think Sony just stink.

Beelzebub

Snake Plisken wrote: »

you obviously didn't read the story or the links in the story to AVS forums, we all know now that coffin lid is now on for HD-DVD, and the inquirer confirms the same thing, but if you had ever used AVS forums theres always a lot of studio insiders who post on there and they have been spot on before, so thats where it was a very close call on which format Warner and Fox went for!

I reiterate: Close calls don't count. It's academic now. They've gone Blue Ray and there's no changing that fact.

Beelzebub

This makes things a little more interesting:

http://www.betanews.com/article/HD_DVD_Universal_expected_to_deny_Bluray_rumors/1199974983

Peteee

Most important words: Current plan

The inquirer is a complete rag, but I've seen other source that confirm it was indeed a very close call.

As for Profile 2.0 players...wow, picture in picture and crappy online features!!!11eleventy!!

No one gives two tosses about these utterly useless features. I really cant see any upside to either of these features (Besides slightly upgraded directors commentary...and the people who listen to that are the same people who are knowledgeable about stuff like this in the first place. And possibly the ability to remotely update firmware to fix errors and the like, of which you should just be able to pop in an upgrade disc). And besides the PS3 is upgradeable anyway, of which the vast majority of Blu-Ray players are anyways.

Early adopters always get burned. 'Oh no, I paid $800 for this DVD player 7 years ago, and now your $30 one from the supermarket is better with its multiple outputs, DVD up scaling etc'

As for Microsoft and HD-DVD stalling tactics: http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2007/08/29/origins-of-the-blu-ray-vs-hd-dvd-war/ (Article is heavily Apple biased)

And frankly - 50GB > 30GB no matter what way you look at it! A single format is better for everyone.

Snake Plisken

Peteee wrote: »

No one gives two tosses about these utterly useless features. I really cant see any upside to either of these features (Besides slightly upgraded directors commentary...and the people who listen to that are the same people who are knowledgeable about stuff like this in the first place. And possibly the ability to remotely update firmware to fix errors and the like, of which you should just be able to pop in an upgrade disc). And besides the PS3 is upgradeable anyway, of which the vast majority of Blu-Ray players are anyways.

Early adopters always get burned. 'Oh no, I paid $800 for this DVD player 7 years ago, and now your $30 one from the supermarket is better with its multiple outputs, DVD up scaling etc'

As for Microsoft and HD-DVD stalling tactics: http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2007/08/29/origins-of-the-blu-ray-vs-hd-dvd-war/ (Article is heavily Apple biased)

And frankly - 50GB > 30GB no matter what way you look at it! A single format is better for everyone.

1) Quite a lot of us do give a crap about PIP and the extra features made available by HD-DVD and forced Fony etc to up their game, if you don't care about them fine your obviously not a big movie fan so I'll leave it there.

2) True about Early adopters, thats why they should have gotten behind the fully formed HD-DVD format. And its also why I won't be buying into Blu-Ray standalones until they finally reach 2.0 profile and then only if that is the final version for Blu-Ray

3)M$ didn't help HD-DVD enough true enough!

ztoical

Am I the only one amused by all this? I'm having flash backs to the beta vs VHS wars [opps showing age]

Someone said they were looking at their DVD collection and were saying goodbye...WTF? I still have around 2000 vhs tapes still in my attic and I still drag the odd one down to watch [granted its all the sad 80's films that no one could be bothered bringing a DVD out of ] I've a bunch of 16mm films and Laserdiscs hidden away somewhere as well [god I'm sad] Five years from now we'll be having the same discussion about something else.

Mossy Monk

Snake Plisken wrote: »

if you don't care about them fine your obviously not a big movie fan so I'll leave it there.

Rubbish. To be a fan of movies does not require one to look at the extras or to listen/watch a directors commentary.

Cokehead Mother

ztoical wrote: »

Am I the only one amused by all this? I'm having flash backs to the beta vs VHS wars [opps showing age]

Someone said they were looking at their DVD collection and were saying goodbye...WTF? I still have around 2000 vhs tapes still in my attic and I still drag the odd one down to watch [granted its all the sad 80's films that no one could be bothered bringing a DVD out of ] I've a bunch of 16mm films and Laserdiscs hidden away somewhere as well [god I'm sad] Five years from now we'll be having the same discussion about something else.

Blu-r Vs. Blu+r :rolleyes:

ztoical

Snake Plisken wrote: »

1) Quite a lot of us do give a crap about PIP and the extra features made available by HD-DVD and forced Fony etc to up their game, if you don't care about them fine your obviously not a big movie fan so I'll leave it there.

Rubbish, honey I know I am a big movie fan and I have a larger film collection then most people and I haven't watched 80% of the extras on the DVD's I have. Mainly cus the vast majority are rubbish add ons put on by the studio [there are few exceptions were the directors have enough pull that the studio won't censor them]. Most of the ones I have watched are the ones put out by the smaller studios who are less controlling over what the director/stars say [check the commentary of Street Trash for example] What extra bits are on a film has never effected if I buy it or not. Half the time the extras are only there to justify the over pricing of it.