REUTERS - WB to Announce Blu Only
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My first DVD player was the PS2. DVD stanalones were over $500 at the time and I could not afford one. Within a year I bought my first DVD player - a Toshiba for $379 after saving for one for 6 months. You could thank Sony for dropping prices on DVD standalones because of the PS2. My how times have changed.
My first player was a DVD drive on my AMD k6 computer.
Had it hooked up via svideo to my Toshiba 32 inch CRT. LOL, Favorite game that year Unreal.
My first DVD player was a refurb Mitsubishi DVD I bought for $30 at Fry's in Fremont, CA.
Honestly, if Dish didn't macroblock like crazy I probably never would've gotten into HDM.
Honestly, if Dish didn't macroblock like crazy I probably never would've gotten into HDM.
Your HD DVD disc investment? Investment??
Is there a "I am laughing so hard I am peeing my pants smiley I can use here.......
Investment....... damn, that was a good one V.
Any hard facts on Sony/Blu-ray paying 500 million?
Look at yourself doing the same thing:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/blu-ray-forum/120083-ces-2008-sony-showcases-2-bd-live-players.html
Bottom line is, Warner wanted this war to end.
My first player was the add-on for the original Xbox. A Sony changer followed about 6 months later (for about $225). That would have been in early 2002. I had a lot invested in Laserdisc (still do), so I wasn't anxious to update.
I think everybody forgets that VHS still ruled for J6P well into the current decade. Further, I don't think the quality argument won that war. The first factor was the $100 player, but the biggest thing seems to have been when the rental stores started dumping VHS. I know a lot of people who didn't buy a DVD player until the day they couldn't rent the new movies from Blockbuster. That came a lot later, like early 2005.
I don't see that happening with BD for years to come, if ever. The quality doesn't seem to the the issue, players are still too pricey and Blockbuster is too busy trying to stay afloat. I had hopes for HD-DVD if they would have promoted it as a better quality DVD player that could also do high def.
I think everybody forgets that VHS still ruled for J6P well into the current decade. Further, I don't think the quality argument won that war. The first factor was the $100 player, but the biggest thing seems to have been when the rental stores started dumping VHS. I know a lot of people who didn't buy a DVD player until the day they couldn't rent the new movies from Blockbuster. That came a lot later, like early 2005.
I don't see that happening with BD for years to come, if ever. The quality doesn't seem to the the issue, players are still too pricey and Blockbuster is too busy trying to stay afloat. I had hopes for HD-DVD if they would have promoted it as a better quality DVD player that could also do high def.
HD DVD did a poor job of advertising. Mental is everyting. Eveythough WB selected HD DVD over Blu-ray it did not want a war so it caved in.
Bottom line, WB freaked when they saw the reports that many were sitting out the format wars AND slowing down their regular DVD purchases as well fearing obsolescence.
If anyone did a true poll of consumers, I think the majority would prefer the HD DVD camp's advantages. Unfortunately, the gun to the head of consumers that withheld their titles unless they chose BluRay never gave many that chance.
At this point, we've got the format war at the metaphorical equivalent of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam..... The war is unwinnable for HD DVD at this point. I expect that Paramount now realizes this as well as is weeks away from announcing their abondonment of the format. Luckily, most of my HD DVDs are combo discs so I can still watch them. But my purchases of new titles just slammed to a halt unless I can get my hands on reasonable priced combo player. I hear rumors about a $600 player in the spring. Still too high, but I don't know how long the XBox 360 HD DVD will be supported, ....
If anyone did a true poll of consumers, I think the majority would prefer the HD DVD camp's advantages. Unfortunately, the gun to the head of consumers that withheld their titles unless they chose BluRay never gave many that chance.
At this point, we've got the format war at the metaphorical equivalent of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam..... The war is unwinnable for HD DVD at this point. I expect that Paramount now realizes this as well as is weeks away from announcing their abondonment of the format. Luckily, most of my HD DVDs are combo discs so I can still watch them. But my purchases of new titles just slammed to a halt unless I can get my hands on reasonable priced combo player. I hear rumors about a $600 player in the spring. Still too high, but I don't know how long the XBox 360 HD DVD will be supported, ....
The end might be near.
TECHNOLOGY | January 10, 2008
Bits: HD DVDs Fall Like Dominoes
Saul Hansell
A report says that the last two studios to back Toshiba's HD DVD format -- NBC Universal and Paramount -- are backing away from their exclusive commitment in the wake of Warner Brothers' endorsement of the rival Blu-ray format. Still unclear is whether anyone needs high definition discs at all.
HD DVDs Fall Like Dominoes - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog
HD DVDs Fall Like Dominoes
By Saul Hansell
Tags: Blu ray, HD DVD, movies, video
Nothing has been announced, but Variety is reporting that the last two major studios backing HD DVD — NBC Universal and Paramount — are opening the door for a switch to Blu-ray. These studios have commitments to release some discs this year in HD DVD, but both have ended their exclusive commitment to that format, which is backed by a group led by Toshiba.
This comes after Warner Brothers, which had been issuing movies in both formats, decided to go exclusively with Sony’s Blu-ray format. Variety also reports that retailers may also put pressure on Universal and Paramount to back Blu-ray. Last summer, Blockbuster decided to go with Blu-ray only.
So what appeared to be a stalemate may, with one relatively small move by Warner, now turn out to be a quick victory for Sony. The fight between the systems has hurt studios, electronics makers and consumers. And I suspect a winner — any winner — will be welcomed by all sides (except Toshiba and Microsoft, a key partner).
Of course, one reason for the standoff is that there are real merits to both sides, as many of the comments to our post on Warner’s move expressed.
Loosely speaking, Blu-ray discs can hold more data, while HD DVD discs and players are less expensive to make. Also, several readers who have used both say they prefer the menu system on the current batch of HD DVD players. My take on this is that once the format wars are over, the normal process of engineering improvements will work through many of the kinks in Blu-ray. Costs for this sort of thing just go down, and they fall faster with volume. Menus are software and can be fixed. Again, everybody benefits from a standard.
The other interesting discussion is whether we really need a high-definition disc at all. Some people suggested that the latest round of “upconverting” DVD players can turn the 480 lines of resolution on DVDs into a very nice picture on a 720 or 1080 line HD set.
I don’t have a personal view on this. The Hansell household is currently served by a 20-year-old, 13-inch Hitachi set that is particularly well suited to foggy dream sequences. But I do know that in electronics shops, big numbers sell. Look at the people who raced to buy cameras with far more megapixels than they ever would need for 4-by-6 prints. (I know those are fighting words to some.) If a high-definition player and disc was just a tiny bit more money than a standard one, lots of people would say, why not go for it?
But do we need discs at all? With Comcast promising high-definition downloads in 4 minutes and prices of flash memory falling like a rock, maybe we will jump right to a world where video simply lives as a file on a hard drive or flash disk.
There’s logic to that, of course, at least in an engineering sort of way. Why spend all the money and time to stamp out discs and distribute them through stores, when the information on them can be simply zapped over a network to someone’s television?
I wouldn’t bet against this vision in the long run at all. But I also suspect there will be enough demand for physical discs over the next decade to justify the industry’s moves. Consumers have a practical rationality and they understand that discs give them simplicity and control that is elusive for now in an all-digital environment. Instead of relying on some sort of software system to find a movie, you simply pull one off your shelf, out of your pile or from under the bed — however you like to keep your movies.
And it is still not clear what you get when you buy a movie download. Consider Wal-Mart’s shuttered movie download service. People who bought movies from the service cannot move them onto new computers to play because of the digital-rights management scheme used.
As with the disc technology, all these problems with downloads will get worked through over the coming years.
But for now, if you actually want a copy of a movie that you can count on playing in the future, it’s rational to buy one in a format supported by all the players in the industry, and one that exists in three dimensions. The seeming triumph of Blu-ray only makes that easier and safer
TECHNOLOGY | January 10, 2008
Bits: HD DVDs Fall Like Dominoes
Saul Hansell
A report says that the last two studios to back Toshiba's HD DVD format -- NBC Universal and Paramount -- are backing away from their exclusive commitment in the wake of Warner Brothers' endorsement of the rival Blu-ray format. Still unclear is whether anyone needs high definition discs at all.
HD DVDs Fall Like Dominoes - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog
HD DVDs Fall Like Dominoes
By Saul Hansell
Tags: Blu ray, HD DVD, movies, video
Nothing has been announced, but Variety is reporting that the last two major studios backing HD DVD — NBC Universal and Paramount — are opening the door for a switch to Blu-ray. These studios have commitments to release some discs this year in HD DVD, but both have ended their exclusive commitment to that format, which is backed by a group led by Toshiba.
This comes after Warner Brothers, which had been issuing movies in both formats, decided to go exclusively with Sony’s Blu-ray format. Variety also reports that retailers may also put pressure on Universal and Paramount to back Blu-ray. Last summer, Blockbuster decided to go with Blu-ray only.
So what appeared to be a stalemate may, with one relatively small move by Warner, now turn out to be a quick victory for Sony. The fight between the systems has hurt studios, electronics makers and consumers. And I suspect a winner — any winner — will be welcomed by all sides (except Toshiba and Microsoft, a key partner).
Of course, one reason for the standoff is that there are real merits to both sides, as many of the comments to our post on Warner’s move expressed.
Loosely speaking, Blu-ray discs can hold more data, while HD DVD discs and players are less expensive to make. Also, several readers who have used both say they prefer the menu system on the current batch of HD DVD players. My take on this is that once the format wars are over, the normal process of engineering improvements will work through many of the kinks in Blu-ray. Costs for this sort of thing just go down, and they fall faster with volume. Menus are software and can be fixed. Again, everybody benefits from a standard.
The other interesting discussion is whether we really need a high-definition disc at all. Some people suggested that the latest round of “upconverting” DVD players can turn the 480 lines of resolution on DVDs into a very nice picture on a 720 or 1080 line HD set.
I don’t have a personal view on this. The Hansell household is currently served by a 20-year-old, 13-inch Hitachi set that is particularly well suited to foggy dream sequences. But I do know that in electronics shops, big numbers sell. Look at the people who raced to buy cameras with far more megapixels than they ever would need for 4-by-6 prints. (I know those are fighting words to some.) If a high-definition player and disc was just a tiny bit more money than a standard one, lots of people would say, why not go for it?
But do we need discs at all? With Comcast promising high-definition downloads in 4 minutes and prices of flash memory falling like a rock, maybe we will jump right to a world where video simply lives as a file on a hard drive or flash disk.
There’s logic to that, of course, at least in an engineering sort of way. Why spend all the money and time to stamp out discs and distribute them through stores, when the information on them can be simply zapped over a network to someone’s television?
I wouldn’t bet against this vision in the long run at all. But I also suspect there will be enough demand for physical discs over the next decade to justify the industry’s moves. Consumers have a practical rationality and they understand that discs give them simplicity and control that is elusive for now in an all-digital environment. Instead of relying on some sort of software system to find a movie, you simply pull one off your shelf, out of your pile or from under the bed — however you like to keep your movies.
And it is still not clear what you get when you buy a movie download. Consider Wal-Mart’s shuttered movie download service. People who bought movies from the service cannot move them onto new computers to play because of the digital-rights management scheme used.
As with the disc technology, all these problems with downloads will get worked through over the coming years.
But for now, if you actually want a copy of a movie that you can count on playing in the future, it’s rational to buy one in a format supported by all the players in the industry, and one that exists in three dimensions. The seeming triumph of Blu-ray only makes that easier and safer
Repeated for emphasis:
"And it is still not clear what you get when you buy a movie download. Consider Wal-Mart’s shuttered movie download service. People who bought movies from the service cannot move them onto new computers to play because of the digital-rights management scheme used."
"And it is still not clear what you get when you buy a movie download. Consider Wal-Mart’s shuttered movie download service. People who bought movies from the service cannot move them onto new computers to play because of the digital-rights management scheme used."
And right there is the crux of the matter. The studios have been trying for twenty years to ram a PPV model down the throats of the consumers. They have tried 1 play VHS tapes, DIVX, even suing SONY for the very existance of the VCR. It looks to me that they may finally succeed with downloadable content.
I wonder why so many people on this board and others seem to be anxiously awaiting a download strategy when they have so strongly resisted PPV strategies in the past.
It isn't about cost to me, it is about choice and flexibility. I don't know what the final PPV cost will be, but it probably isn't lower than the current $3-6. The problem is that I lose the ability to choose the content I want, when I want it. My cable system is currently listing about 250 choices on their video on demand service. Half of that is for premium channels that I need to subscribe in order to receive the content. Half of what is left is adult content. The remainder is a mix of current hot seller movies, tv reruns and simulcasts of cable programs. I couldn't watch a classic movie under any conditions. That may be OK for some, but it doesn't suit my style and if we go PPV, my purchasing of anything will probably drop off to nothing.
