Comments on Hi-Def DVD Empire: Will Warner Bros. Go HD DVD Exclusive?

WB will likely remain in both camps with the form...

2007-12-18T07:36:00.000-08:00

WB will likely remain in both camps with the format on each side, and if they eventually choose one side my wager is on hd. Cheaper to make, and recent hd sales increase in player sales over blu-ray(ps3) aside. But at this point it no longer matters. 90% of dvd hardware sales currently are still regular dvd players. I was burnt buying beta. I was burnt buying minidisc. It may have taken me two tries to finally figure it out. I decided I will not buy anything until there is a clear winner, or until they're cheap enough to not care if one bites it. So, that said, with players on both sides available sub $300 I'll likely buy one sometime soon, so eventually down the road I'll never be out more than 3 bills, and whatever movies I may get. At least the hd-dvd will play on the old format. Seeing that HD is the least expensive to purchase I'm leaning that way, and Ill bet that those who will jump onto it now, will go that way. But again at this point and at this price who cares? A decade from now when whatever next technology burys' both formats the only ones really crying will be the poor shmucks' who laid out $700 or more guessing. Been there, done that, not again.
If everyone had held off buying these things for the first couple of years, we would probably have one format by now. One thing is for sure, don't go selling off your old dvd collection anytime soon.

I can't wait to see when HD DVD wins this war and ...

2007-11-09T02:50:00.000-08:00

I can't wait to see when HD DVD wins this war and Clayton has to buy a HD DVD player...... lmao!!!!

His Sony fanboyness is some of the worse I've ever seen. He just refuses to admit anything that Sony has done..... i.e. failed previous formats. You go ahead and boast about BluGay all day, we'll be racking up more and more free movies from Toshiba while you sit there with your $500 paperweight!

I didn't mean pirate stuff. I meant there is litt...

2007-09-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

I didn't mean pirate stuff. I meant there is litterally tons of free porn on the internet. There's litterally no reason to spend $50+ on a porno on Blu-Ray. If you want to then by all means go for it. I am just saying most people probably wont. As for pirating films or music, I never, EVER suggested that. I have never downloaded a movie and I listen to film scores. So if I started pirating my music I listen to it'd probably take a huge toll on score releases... But seriously, if you're thinking about downloading these movies, DON'T! IF you start doing that, companies (ahem... Fox) will stop releasing movies all together. These formats are super fragile right now, and doing something like downloading the movies will hurt everyone in the long (and short) run.

The more I thought of the previous commenters post...

2007-09-20T02:52:00.000-07:00

The more I thought of the previous commenters post," It's called the internet, most people use it for FREE porn everyday." the more it wore on me. I guess none of us have to worry over the format war, HD DVD or Blu Ray, It will all be available to us all FREE soon. Porn, DVDs, Divx, Music, mp3s,and all the Hi-Def stuff on the internet for FREE and for those who have half a concience, half price from China. Its the idea that we DESERVE something for FREE that created this Format war over who could best protect movie industries Media. If any of you like one format or the other, help your chosen one and BUY a Blu Ray or HD DVD movie.

There are so many errors in the long post there. ...

2007-09-17T09:02:00.000-07:00

There are so many errors in the long post there. First, it's VC-1, not AC-1. Second, probably 90% of the Blu-Rays coming out now are AVC on 50gb discs. And VC-1 is NOT sharper than AVC or mpeg2. It depends on the source and badnwidth and max bitrate. Third, Universal does NOT own 75% of the movies out there. Fourth, what are the hundreds of companies that make HD-DVD's and then the 3 that make Blu-Rays? And which hundreds of companies want HD-DVD to win? You know they don't have to change the HD-DVD factories to Blu-Ray ones, don't you? I lost count as to where I was, but again, the difference in production values is pennies. HD-DVD discs are less per disc, but more per gigabyte (and the opposite for Blu-Ray). As for being scratch resistant, Blu-Rays have a protective scratch resistant layer that HD-DVD doesn't. In fact I think WB and Universal just went through a bunch of problems with lasers not being able to read discs because the coating was to thick in some spots and to thin in others, but that's another story. As for rental stores, one word, Blockbuster. As for your player not playing discs, have you thought your player might be more sensitive because it's a dual format one? As for the HD-DVD/DVD combos, I've heard nothing but complaints from people about them because they're more money (and, surprise surprise, cost more to make). And the porn argument is soooo stupid. First off, there are porn titles for both formats, so there goes that entire argument. But even if HD-DVD only had porn, that wouldn't mean it would win. It's called the internet, most people use it for FREE porn everyday. So porn will have NO play in this format war. As for the person who's talking about Sony's past failing formats, I believe Sony was one of the only companies that supported beta, so there goes your whole argument right there. Past format wars don't apply here. We are seeing companies bought now. Sales don't seem to matter anymore. Oh, and I almost forgot, it was Fox that wanted more copy protection, not Disney. And they got it, it's called BD+ and should be here by the end of the year. Hope this helps with some of the confusion around here!

let's see, sony had beta, Failed, sony had mini di...

2007-09-15T01:46:00.000-07:00

let's see, sony had beta, Failed, sony had mini disc, Failed, I believe sony also had laser disc, failed also.

Well, Lets start at the begining. If you remember ...

2007-09-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

Well, Lets start at the begining. If you remember Toshiba invented the dvd we know and use today,
When dvds were first introduced LASER DISC was the thing of the future, Those 12" Lp record looking
discs that Pioneer was behind. We all know that Toshiba's dvd sunk laser disc. Second lets not forget
that Microsoft (Bill Gates) is backing HD DVD, with their xbox gaming system and superior software,
a company that could buy and sell sony if they wanted. Third while Blu Ray has, soon to be had, more companies
on their side, several of them make movies for hd dvd also like Paramount and Warner,who both it seems will be
exclusive to HD, but most important HD DVD has Universal on their side alone, a company that owns about 75%
of all the movies out there, so when they stop concentrating on the new movies and start putting the older stuff
on HD, HD DVD will have thousands more movies than Blu Ray, Fourth,Blu Ray uses the old mpg2 encoding while HD DVD
uses the new AC1 encoding, Side by side HD DVD has a sharper picture because of that. Fifth There are 3 companies
that produce blu ray vs hundreds of companies that produce dvds, The technology is the same to produce a dvd as a
HD DVD, the Blu Ray is completely different, meaning that any company interested in staying in business if blu ray
wins will have to retool their factory if HD DVD wins they dont, So you know that Hundreds of companies are hoping
HD DVD wins and will help to see that it happens even if they have to cut the cost to studios for production to do
it, making HD DVD cheaper to produce,Its not so much the per dvd cost is the cost to retool for Blu Ray, big bucks
some say they could not retool and compete with the new Blu ray Factories. The Price of a HD DVD is already slightly
cheaper than Blu Ray already. Sixth, remember only three companies produce blu Ray, and while they so far have kept
up with demand, unlike about everything else Sony promotes " Did you see a over supply of PS3 game systems, nope,
lines and lines of people that bought the Xbox because Sony created more of a demand for their produce than they
could fill, So while it seems like Sony is keeping up with the demand for Hi-Def movies Consider that all of the
Hype you here is based on 1% of the dvd market, thats right, so when you hear One or the other has sold 60% of
the Hi-Def market, They are talking about 60% of 1% of the market. It is still very early with all of this. If
HD DVD wins ,Hi-Def will probably sink regular dvds in about 7 years, If Blu Ray Wins I suspect dvds will always
be around, 2 reasons 1- Blu Ray is a higher technology the regular dvd or hd dvd and much more vunerable to damage.
The information on the disc is burnt .1 millimeter deep 1/10. Regular dvds AND hd dvds are .6 millimeters deep 6/10, six times as
deep,If you can see a cratch on a Blu Ray disc.Its cratched deeper then its burn. Blu Ray is much more likely to be
damaged by a scratch and your not going to have the depth to repair it. I wouldnt buy any Blu Ray that had been buffed out.
Which would you rather give to your kid to play in the player. Video store rentals are the same, when they
discover that the Blu Ray are vertually unrepairable Blockbuster will kick themselves for trying to rent them, but as
we know Blockbuster has been full of new things that didnt fly with customers, HD DVD will be what rental sain store owners
hope for as well. Another plus for rental stores is that many HD DVDs have Double formats, DVD on one side
and HD DVD on the other They only have to buy one movie to meet the needs of 2 customers the DVD and the HD DVD guys
. Blu Ray doesnt do this ever. Nearly Doubleing the cost for stores per movie, until dvd disappears if ever. The
Great thing for us with the HD DVD double format it will play on any dvd player but Blu Ray, if you buy a movie in
Blu ray and take to a friends or loan it to a friend if they don't have a blu Ray palyer they're out of luck.
If they have a regular dvd and the HD DVD is one of the many Double formats you can enjoy it on anyones player,
as well as Hi-Def a home.Like i said earlier, Blu Ray is a higher Technology,You've heard it can hold more information than
a HD DVD ECT. The reason for this is what i said earlier, About how deep the disc is burnt and how close
the lines of information is on the disc and to the laser. Blu Ray gets more on the disc because the laser is closer to the disc
allowing the line to be closer together and as i said easier to damage, I have a LG player that plays both and
have some Blu Ray that only come on Blu Ray, I got a finger print on it and it wouldnt play right, It artifacted,
"Scirbbled up square looking stuff". I tried to clean it with a cleaning cloth. The Super soft ones for dvds, It
put tiny scratches all over it. So some technology even if it might be better in some ways ie. holds more gigs
of imformation per disc,they need to be user friendly, Your Hard Drives in your computer Hold alot more than a
Blu Ray discs but there is a very good reason you cant take the disc out of the hard drive. They are made in Dust
Free factories with people in space looking suits because just dust from the air will contaminate the imformation
on the discs. Dont ever open one unless you are in what they call a clean room or you will never see what was on
the drive again, trust me it did it and lost everything because of room dust and supidity. Sony is coating thier disc
will a hard coating to help protect the Blu Ray discs and are being sued by a California company for violating thier
patient for the coating . """ This Is the reason Why you are seeing companies jump to HD , Resently hackers
Cracked HDs encryption and Sony had sold companies like Disney at the start, That Blu Rays encryption was uncrackable
No worries about pirates anymore, for the movie industry thats BIGGG. It did give the hackers some trouble, Blu Ray encrpytion
fell a month later, So there isnt any big reason to stay with Blu Ray now "". Just who makes the best deal to the studio.
If That deal mean throwing money around like the Paramount Deal, Well I guess Bill Gates deep Pockets are good for something.
Once any Sony rips defeat from the jaws of victory.
Last if it is important to you, Many say that the adult industries picking VHS to put there movies on is what finally sunk
Beta years ago, I Know that some adult companies adult titles out on
HD DVD and that Sony wants no Part of it, Refusing to Licence any of the 3 companys or any other to make them, additionally
Disney Has contracts with 2 of the three companies to burn their movies and will not allow Disney movie
to be made at any plant that does manufactures adult material, Im sure they don't want any mix ups with the Dumbos and Bimbos,
Well, Thats all i have time to say for now ,
Hope it helps

The difference in production costs is litterally p...

2007-09-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

The difference in production costs is litterally pennies. So that argument (started by Toshiba) is kind of false.

Blu-Ray may be selling more copies but due to the ...

2007-09-14T03:38:00.000-07:00

Blu-Ray may be selling more copies but due to the higher production costs of the format HD DVD is making more money for the studios with lower disc sales and a turn like this could potentially swing the numbers round pretty quickly and earn them even more than they currently get being neutral.

In an interview done at this years CEDIA Expo in D...

2007-09-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

In an interview done at this years CEDIA Expo in Denver Ron Sanders from Warner Bros. talked with TWICE about HD neutrality.

Highlights include "We´re concerned that as the only one publishing on it, it would be hard to make it go. We´re still looking at, though. We´re still talking to retail, but it´s kind of on hold right now." when asked about TotalHD.

"It will be really pivotal what Toshiba does this fourth quarter in hardware. If they sell through everything they ship, and it´s a big number at the price points that are coming out, then I think [HD DVD] will be around for a long time. If they don´t, then it could go Blu-ray´s way." when asked about how this fall would fall out.

On format neutrality he said "...the consumer is still kind of divided, and we still believe that we should offer the content in both formats. Now, we will watch the marketplace very closely, and see how it plays out, but for now we are supporting both."

latest news from warner is that they will remain o...

2007-09-13T05:29:00.000-07:00

latest news from warner is that they will remain on both formats until the end of q4 then reasses, assuming huge bags of cash from toshiba havent been given over then they would most likely ditch the lower selling format(read HDDVD)and concentrate on BD, but you never know, money can do funny things, just look at paramount...

This is a rumor started on web blogs like this one...

2007-09-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

This is a rumor started on web blogs like this one. WB has stated many times in the past that they will remain neutral and infact are the only studio working on a way to make blu ray and HD dvd's that are playable in both machines.

Paramount's decision was because they accepted a bride. That is a desperate move on Toshibas part to keep their failing format alive. As is extending the 5 free movie deal until next year. If HD was as popular and successful as Toshiba would want you to believe would they really have to bride studios to sell movies in their format and extend free movie deals to consumers? ask yourself that.

Blu ray is between 67 to 70% of the High Def sales in the US (depending on the month). 70% in Europe and 90% in Japan.

No, WB is not going HD-DVD exclusive. The deal th...

2007-09-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

No, WB is not going HD-DVD exclusive. The deal that the Times mentioned was from when Toshiba bought off Paramount and DreamWorks. WB turned them down.