Posted on 01/04/2008 1:20:53 PM PST by Yossarian
BOOST FOR BLU-RAY! Warner Bros Will Release High-Def Titles Exclusively In That Format
This is a huge development in the Blu-ray versus HD-DVD format war currently raging on. Warner Bros, which had been producing its high-def DVD titles in both formats, will start the Blu-ray exclusive later this year. The decision was made in response to stroing consumer preference for the Blu-Ray format, according to WB's announcement. I'd been hearing rumors for months that Warner Bros had been offered in the neighborhood of $250 million to go exclusively with HD-DVD. Less lavish but still big payments already had been offered and accepted by both Paramount and DreamWorks Animation to go HD-DVD exclusive. And yet director Michael Bay, whose Transformers was a big lure for the HD-DVD side, still has been publicly questioning the wisdom of choosing that format over Blu-ray. This Christmas, consumers were lobbied hard by both sides as dirt-cheap Toshiba HD-DVD players were advertised heavily by Wal-Mart while the higher priced Blu-ray players were also discounted by electronics retailers though not nearly as much.
Here's the Warner Bros news release:
(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.”
I do have a blu dog in this fight, because I just got an external Blu-ray writer and have a laptop with a Blu/Ray reader/DVD DL writer on order. I need high capacity archiving today, and Blu-ray supports 50 GB BD-R disks today. HD-DVD only has 30 GB now. Supposedly HD-DVD has agreed on a new exention of their "standard" to allow 51 GB triple layer disks, but how far out into the future is that?
No, it's more of an excremental change.
Got a link with that? IMO first one to sell a decent unit for under $100 will probably win.
Blu-ray’s price point is about 100 dollars higher. By summer it’ll match. By Christmas we’ll be seeing 150$ players easily.
It depends. Support for those type aren’t mandatory and some players have it disabled in firmware IIRC. Cut down on the possibility of piracy.
Probably because there are only 3 or 4 HD DVD players available for sale. 3 Toshiba’s and 1 Venturer. Blu-ray had won the war for CE makers a loooong time ago and had almost every major manufacturer except Toshiba on board.
I also vote for Blu Ray.
I don’t want to get stuck with second best in a new computer.
That's what I'm yodelin'!
But you say your Mini is plugged into the TV? Interesting. An internal Blu-Ray drive sells for about $200, add an enclosure for maybe $25. Get AnyDVD from SlySoft, do Boot Camp to run it in Windows, and rip the German Blu-Ray disk, removing the DRM and region encoding. Then play it back out to the TV. Unfortunately, a writer to re-write the unregioned movie back to Blu-Ray still costs over $400.
It's amazing what you have to go through these days just to watch a movie you purchased.
I eagerly await all this heading to MacTheRipper on the Mac side...
There are so many affordable 1080P (yes P) upscaling standard-def DVD players on the market it made me just shun away from anything in the HD-BR camp. I have a 1080P Toshiba DLP that is the best looking picture I have ever seen, and I compared it showing regular DVD upscaled to 1080P and an HD-DVD and there was practically no video difference, the HD does have some more options but no breath-taking leap in visuals, my suggestion for those that have like me hundreds on regular DVS(mine are all widescreen) to just get an upscaling DVD player to 1080P (not I) and stay there for another year, do invest in a really good TV though.
I believe AnyDVD can crack even the latest Blu-Ray encryption. But they’re not telling anyone how they did it, so don’t expect it to get to MTR any time soon.
I bought one of the cheap Toshiba HD A3's in early December. I was stunned by the HD picture quality, but almost equally stunned by the upconversion of standard DVDs. Sony may have a tougher battle ahead of them when they try to knock off standard DVD.
I think Sony won the HD war, but I seriously doubt that the DVD war will be as easy a win. Joe Six-Pack thinks his standard DVDs on an HD set ARE HD.
Wow, this was a surprise. I’d agreed with a FReeper who joked that, whichever format Sony chose would be the loser, as usual. ;’) Of course, in the long run, it may still be true, given the probable plummet in price for high capacity flash memory. Thanks LVD.
So Toshiba gets nailed by the scum that put rootkits on millions of their customers’ computers.
Nice.
This would seem to be a tipping point for Blu-Ray.
And change the game console battle simultaneously. Sony was shooting for a lot more than gaming with the PS3. The PS3 was held up because of Blu-Ray and MS got a big jump on them. Now the worm has turned and MS will need to convert to Blu-Ray on the XBOX 360 to stay relevant. Sony also recently threw in the towel on DRM on music and will join Amazon to distribute their music DRM free. I got the kids a PS3 for X-Mas and have watched several Blu-Ray movies on it with no problems. The bottom line is that the consumers are the winners on both movies and music. These times they are a changing ...
Sony: Blu-ray-HD DVD War Is ‘Stalemate’
(Howard Stringer-CEO of SONY, says a “difficult fight.”)
tvpredictions.com | November 9, 2007 | Phillip Swann
Posted on 11/10/2007 6:10:38 AM EST by Las Vegas Dave
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1923730/posts
DRM Officially Dead: Last Major Label Sony BMG to Drop DRM
gizmodo / Business Week | 1-4-8
Posted on 01/04/2008 8:54:10 PM EST by Petronski
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1948550/posts
HD-DVD VHS was DOA before the battle began.. BETA wins (1977)
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