The one major battle in the Hi-Def DVD wars may be coming to an end soon and after the dust settles, Blue-ray could be the only format left standing.
The entertainment trade paper, Variety, has confirmed that two of the studio hold-outs will soon be jumping on the Blue-ray train. Universal has just ended its commitment to stay true to the HD DVD format and Paramount is looking to invoke its built-in HD DVD escape clause.
The big question hinges on if Toshiba, the main provider of HD DVD players, is ready to succumb to the pressure being exerted on it from Blue-ray. The answer, at least for the moment, appears to be a big NO! At the recent Consumer Electronics Show Toshiba stated that it is commited to the HD DVD format, but how long that comittment can stand will depend on whether are not studios will continue their effort to support it with DVD releases in the format.
Also under consideration is the heavy hand from retailers, which have tended to support Blue-ray over HD DVD, citing better sales from the Blue-ray product. It makes good financial sense that they will want to dedicate important retail space to a product that sells the best. Some retailers offer Blue-ray exclusively.
The battle could be over as early as May and August of this year once the Warner and Paramount/DreamWorks, the last two major studios producing both Blue-ray and HD DVD, committments are fulfilled. If they opt to not renew and go with Blue-ray exclusively, Toshiba will be forced to discontinue producing the HD DVD players and the HD wars will be finally over.
GO SONY! GO SONY! WOOOT!
Funny, Paramount denied all this yesterday.
This is a bad move – if you really look at the differences between the format HD-DVD is a much better choice for a number of reasons:
No region coding: (one production run for all and you could buy all those cool BBC shows when they come out instead of waiting for a US release). Of course, the studios don’t want that because they can’t control the markets as they see fit – to the detriment of the consumer.
Combo disks: One disk can play in ANY player whether it be HD or not – makes it cheaper for those who have portable DVD players or additional non-hd players in their homes and/or cars. Read as “The studios want you to buy multiple copies of the movie to make up for the poor job they are doing making good films.”
Standards: Every HD player has the ability to do everything right out of the gate. I pity the Bluray owner who has a player that can’t be upgraded as Sony continues to try to get the format to offer the interactive elements that HD-DVD has had from the get-go. Instant hardware obsolescence will do nothing more that tick off the public and further push and hi-def format to the background as people stick with upconverting regular dvd and turning to digital downloads.
Content, content, content: HD-DVD is far superior at offering an immersive viewing experience and features that Bluray is scrambling to catch up with.
Picture and sound quality differences are negilible. The ONLY technical advantage to Bluray is capacity – and it’s not even being leveraged at this point because no studio is going to fill the disks with that many extras to make it an issue.
So, once again, Hollywood is trying to screw the consumer. And Sony along with them. If only both sides had worked together……..
I say we put the ceo’s in a paintball arean and let them fight it out. Last team standing wins.
Can an HD DVD player play a regular DVD? If so, then I think that HD DVD should win for compatability reasons. If HD DVDs can be played in standard players, as MR says, then I assume the reverse is true, and I’d vote for HD DVD over Blue-ray. Typical Sony, they always try to push AGAINST the rest of the market.
Yes an HD-DVD will upconvert a regular DVD to near-HD quality (so will Bluray for that matter) using an HDMI cable. To clarify – not all HD-DVD’s are published as a combo disk to allow it to play in a normal DVD player. Why the studios aren’t making that the standard is beyond me since it speaks to the format’s strengths and appeals to consumers.
For example, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a combo disk, but the previous four films are not. Superman Returns is, but Batman Begins isn’t.
Who the hell cares?
Both formats are pretty much obsolete already. The studios are trying to get another quick squeeze of extra cash out the consumers before they are stuck with Digital Downloads which will probably be the last format needed.
Downloads already work as proven by BitTorrent, buy a Blu-Ray player at your peril.
@MR – people have heard all this. What’s the real point? PS3 RULES!!! WOOO! Ha.
Ummm….yeah Indiana Jim, spoken like a typical Sony sheep….