Blu-Ray has won the Hi-Def war!

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » November 20th, 2007, 12:57 am

And caked-on makeup and papier machete props are part of the reason why I'm staying clear of the whole Star Trek HD mess.

Who needs to see the seams on Nimoy's ears? Half the puppets that DO have strings have obvious strings on the restored episodes in STANDARD format! Trek and most other TV shows were NEVER meant to be seen in hi-def at any rate! It's just a dumb proposal to do this and ultimately just like shooting yourself in the foot. Not everything ought to be remastered for hi-def.

To wit, Paramount/Viacom has also seen fit to release the HD Trek in the atrocious HD-DVD/DVD Combo disc format which inevitably leads to higher percentages of defective discs that just don't read well and just aren't what collectors wanted in the first place!

Seriously, TheDigitalBits.com crew has repeated high percentages of their review HD-DVD/DVD Combo discs have been defective (9/13 -- unreal!) and that a lot of people who own HD-DVD players have been e-mailing in their own complaints as well.

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » November 20th, 2007, 1:10 am

Tying into high-def animation since I'd rather NOT start another subject---

Wal-Mart has a great deal going on Black Friday (November 23rd, the day AFTER Thanksgiving) for people who DON'T have a PS3 and are on the fence about getting one.

IF you buy an 80GB PS3 on Black Friday, you get 10 FREE Blu-Ray discs with the system! Quantities are limited to what's available in store I believe.

(The 80 GB PS3s are software-compatible with 80% of the existing PS2 titles. 60 GB PS3 models such as what I and Droosan have are compatible with 95% of the PS2 games out there through hardware compatibility. The major difference between the two models really comes down to the PS2 chipset included in the 60 GB PS3 model otherwise they're basically the same other the difference in hard drives.)

Full details at http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/2167.html ... This link courtesy of TheDigitalBits.com

Animation available on Blu-Ray this year includes Cars, Ratatouille, Pixar Shorts, The Royal Space Force/Wings of Honneamise, and the soon-to-be-released Paprika (Sony) and Jin-Roh (Bandai Visual USA) Region A/1 Blu-Ray discs.

P.S. -- The 5 free Blu-Ray disc deal is STILL in effect with Buena Vista Home Video so you can technically get 15 free Blu-Ray discs, period.

Post by **ShyViolet** » December 8th, 2007, 9:59 pm

Another interesting article on the format wars:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/199939f2-a467 ... ck_check=1

Post by **James** » December 10th, 2007, 12:20 pm

And another: Warner Bros, the only studio to support both formats, might be closer to dropping HD-DVD in part to try to finally end this format war by giving Blu-ray 70% of the movie on disc titles available.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/co ... exclusives

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » December 10th, 2007, 6:31 pm

Yeah, that's the rumor Digital Bits reported on about a week ago.

I don't imagine though that a final decision on which format to back exclusively would be made by WB until after January next year... They've already announced dual HD format support for JL: The New Frontier for goodness' sake!

They definitely can't win with the HD-DVD crowd no matter what the real world numbers are telling retailers.

No question Blu-Ray is doing better world-wide..

Post by **James** » December 10th, 2007, 8:15 pm

I love this stat that keeps getting thrown around, including in that article:

"So far Toshiba has eked out a lead. According to industry tracker Adams Media Research, by the end of this year as many as 578,000 U.S. households will own HD DVD players, compared with 370,000 that have Blu-ray players."

Those numbers are for standalone players only. According to them my PS3, which is used almost exclusively as a BD Player, isn't counted - and I'm sure I'm not the only one that does that. They do mention the PS3's in the next part, but by not including them in that above stat it leaves the wrong impression in some peoples' minds.

"Adams also estimates there are 300,000 more HD DVD players in circulation as an external add-on to Microsoft Xbox game consoles. But that still pales in comparison to the estimated 2.3 million Blu-ray-equipped Sony PlayStation 3 consoles sold through November in the U.S."

So the real numbers of actual players in homes is 878,000 for HD-DVD and 2,670,000 for Blu-ray.

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » December 10th, 2007, 10:20 pm

Simply amazing they're not including PS3 figures!

PS2 was definitely a factor in DVD sales in BOTH this country and especially Japan where it was the cheapest DVD player in that market for quite a while. I'd say it's fair to say that the PS2 IS the best-selling DVD player brand in the world by virtue of 120 million plus consoles sold through the end of this year. Don't say that people don't use game systems for DVD playback because that simply isn't true.

High-end users and people that know better will use a dedicated DVD player to watch movies, but there are many, many people who DON'T want to buy a dedicated DVD player who are happy with the PS2 as it is. (Frankly, I NEVER liked using the PS2 as a DVD player and felt it was mediocre as a DVD player, but that's me.)

See, that's the major problem with statistics. They're so easy to manipulate if people aren't aware of the standards you're using and what your sampling methodology is.

Just by eliminating a whole category of Blu-Ray capable player -- the PS3 --, the HD-DVD competition makes it look like they're winning the hardware war!

Yeah, it's BS not only for the hardware number manipulation but also for the fact that the study neglects the SOFTWARE side of things. So far, with an exception of a few weeks here and there, Blu-Ray has outsold HD-DVD in software for the year in total. That's the figure the home video companies are going to care about most. If they have even a clue about the PS3 sales and what impact that has on Hi-Def as well, that has to be making the decision for many companies that much easier, too.

Prediction: WB will make a final decision on dual Hi-Def support by Quarter Two next year. The decision could be as early as the end of Quarter One if sales are that definite for the high-definition formats this holiday season.

So far, all you hear HD-DVD supporters crowing about are sales of discontinued early-generation (in other words, CRAPPY) HD-DVD players for $99. I just wonder how much money dumping things off the market like that is costing Toshiba???

The software sales will definitely push companies toward a common hi-def format. I'm still banking on that format being Blu-Ray.

With the $400 40GB PS3s and at least two $300 Blu-Ray players on the market, it'll be easier for a lot of people to empty their wallets for a Blu-Ray player this year. It boggles my mind that any informed customer would still go ahead with HD-DVD when the writing appears to be more obviously on the wall for that format. You can't just buy something because it's cheaper than the other brand name...

Post by **droosan** » December 11th, 2007, 9:48 am

Count me in as yet another PS3 owner who uses it 'exclusively' as a blu-ray player ..

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And the possibility of Warner Bros' going exclusively 'blu' seems all the more 'astounding' when you consider the (completely-unrelated) fact that they've only just recently, finally, stopped releasing DVD titles in their proprietary 'cardboard-sleeve' packaging! Compared to that change, WB's switch to 'blu' would be coming at the speed of light!

Post by **Ben** » December 11th, 2007, 1:40 pm

You've got me umming about just getting the standard def Blade Runner again now!

If WB announced they're going Blu, I'd jump right in and grab the player the next day. I've been holding off so far because having just got the DVD-R and having my eyes done, money isn't tight, but I shouldn't be throwing it around so easily. So I don't want to bet on the wrong horse, and while I'm <I>personally</I> interested in Blu-Ray over HD-DVD for sure (as in, I'm either buying Blade Runner on DVD or BR and not even considering HD), I was wary of remaining open on this until WB made a jump one way or other, since they've so far said they're "watching sales" this holiday season to make a final decision.

Once they go Blu, HD really is dead in the water and I'll jump. Paramount will go back to neutral or exclusively Blu once their three years in Microsoft's pocket is up anyway...they're just hemorrhaging cash at the moment.

Post by **Daniel** » January 4th, 2008, 9:01 pm

Just saw this... Woo-hoo!

Warner is finally jumping on the Blu waggon, by exclusively supporting the format.

I'm beyond happy with this news! I've been a supporter of Blu since this lame war started, so its nice they're getting another advantage. Now with this, there's really no doubt that HD-DVD is dead and will likely become a niche format, at best. My prediction; Blu-ray will win once the year is over.

Now all I have to do is buy player, which I'll do, by oh, 2010!

Post by **James** » January 5th, 2008, 12:24 am

Ben wrote:...If WB announced they're going Blu, I'd jump right in and grab the player the next day...

So which model are you getting today?

Post by **Randall** » January 5th, 2008, 2:14 am

I don't remember if I posted this yet, but I bought a PS3 before Christmas, to complement the HD DVD player I bought a year earlier. I'm not a gamer at all, but it seemed the PS3 was the best choice for a Blu-ray player, certainly at the best price. Anyone buying a cheaper Blu player is a sucker if that player can't be upgraded to the newer profiles.

So, I now have both HD DVD and Blu-ray players, and whether or not Warner made their Blu-only decision made little difference to me in the short term. But, for the future, their choice of Blu-ray exclusivity is a good thing. It should help to end the format war and guarantee the future health of the HD-on-disc business. (I have no faith in the "download dream". As a collector myself, I love to buy product that comes packaged and ready for my shelf.)

Lastly, I have no regrets about jumping on the HD DVD bandwagon. I always said that Blu would likely win in the end, but it was too expensive initally to get into, and HD DVD had many titles I wanted. Once the PS3 got a lower-priced model, and Disney began releasing their Pixar films, going Blu became more tempting. But, even having the PS3 now, I bought the Harry Potter films on HD DVD, because I wanted the extra Picture-in-Picture commentary tracks on the last two films. I even bought Blade Runner on HD DVD just because I liked the red case better with the artwork. The point is, these discs will still work, and I will continue to enjoy these discs for years to come. I can also enjoy King Kong, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, Stardust, Batman Begins, and The Mummy in HD RIGHT NOW.

Anyhow, Warner's decision is good news. I'm just hoping there will be some HD DVD fire sales in the future.

Post by **James** » January 5th, 2008, 2:22 am

I'm glad that the format I started with looks to be the probable winner so I don't have to re-buy anything. But if, before this announcement, almost every studio announced they were switching to HD-DVD I would have been thrilled. Either way it went, this format war had to end as soon as possible

Post by **Josh** » January 5th, 2008, 8:41 am

Here's an interesting update: HD DVD Camp Reacts to WB's Blu-ray Announcement.

Post by **Ben** » January 6th, 2008, 9:02 am

James wrote:So which model are you getting today?

Which do you recommend?

Okay...now I have to start seriously looking at this. As I understand it, HD video doesn't have the same PAL speedup issues, so I could theoretically go out and buy genuine UK discs and get the same playback performance as importing US discs, right?

But then it's still often cheaper to import US discs! How does region coding work with BR again? And does it look to be bypassed?

I'm leaning toward whichever flagship third gen deck comes out from Sony themselves (unlike James and Rand I don't think I have a need for a PS3) and I may go for an imported US model and stick with my US discs.

It won't be for a month or two though...what with buying a lot of stuff pre-Christmas (DVD-R, treadmill, etc) and laying out a few grand to have my eyes lasered I need to hold off another big purchase, especially since we're looking at a new house and car!

I'll probably stick to my plan...I'm promised a dedicated theater room in a new house and will use the opportunity to re-build from the ground up with new amps, projector and playback decks. I'm keeping my genuine Harkness-Hall theater grade 12' screen though!!