Warner goes Blu-ray exclusive >> R.I.P HD-DVD

[DigitalDude]

Warner goes Blu-ray exclusive

We've all been wondering what to make of those whispers that Warner (owned by Time Warner, which also owns Engadget's parent companies) was indeed going Blu-ray exclusive, and apparently, those rumblings are true. Based on a breaking release, Warner Bros. Entertainment will be releasing its high-definition titles "exclusively in the Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year." According to Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, the move is a "strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want," and he also noted that "the window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger." Notably, Warner will continue to release on both HD DVD and Blu-ray until May 2008, but after that, it's BD for life for this studio. Oh, and while there's nothing official mentioning any sort of payoff, we're hearing that quite a sum was dished out to make this happen.

lol after lot of format screwups Sony may breathe a sigh of relief over this one.

R.I.P HD-DVD


Full Press Release in the Source Article:
Source: Engadget

Another Related News: HD-DVD Group Cancels CES Press Conference



P.S. related previous thread in DIGIT Forums:
Warner may Go Blu-Ray Xclusive at CES !!!!


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[praka123]

isnt blu-ray technically superior?hd-dvd gets attention due to M$ backing!

[Batistabomb]

SO NOW IT'S TIME FOR ALL TO TUNE FOR blue-ray ROM'S

[Who]

praka123@ no its not, well not any more anway a MS fan will explain you more about HD-DVD.

[DigitalDude]

MS != HD-DVD

Toshiba = HD-DVD

and yeah its just a part of the Group.


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[naveen_reloaded]

Originally Posted by praka123

isnt blu-ray technically superior?hd-dvd gets attention due to M$ backing!

yes true...

now the balance has finally tilted..

i p.s like bluray... its superior and a sony`s product...

[The_Devil_Himself]

yep blu-ray is technologically superior afaik,but it is costlier than hd-dvd.


blu-ray FTW!.Cos ps3 supports blu-ray and ps3 kicks a&&.

[Who]

well x-360 supports HD-DVD on 1080P too...

[DigitalDude]

^^^

for xbox its an add-on.. but PS3 has built-in Bluray.. MS is clever, they know this might happen thats why they didnt include it in the console itself



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[Who]

well x360 is the 2nd most sold console after wii also blue ray is costiler so this may help PS 3 i mean disney is already in side of blue ray.

[goobimama]

Well, Paramount is still on HD DVD exclusive. But I think Blu ray is ultimately going to win.

[naveen_reloaded]

its all coz of ms we have had such loooooooooooong war....


hope they would juiced enough money to compensate thier developmental losses...

[praka123]

I read that the cost of making HD-DVD is less as the machinaries needs few upgradation from normal DVD ones.while blu-ray is completely different and may be Revolutionary!

[goobimama]

^^ What's your point?

First of all there's nothing "Revolutionary" about bluray that wasn't there in HD DVD. Maybe the BD+ DRM, but I don't think anyone here wants that. Space wasn't an issue due to VC-1 encoding. HD DVDs could go up to three layers (not available for public) making them 51GB vs the 50GB of Bluray (DL).

And why is everyone blaming MS for this? What have they done that was so bad?

[DigitalDude]

^^^
not everyone

and yeah nothing revolutionery about bluray.. its all marketing and products in market (sony brought out so-many gadgets using bluray like HD camcorder PS3 etc etc).. this time Sony is very aggressive and careful not to relive their betamax era.

both formats can accomplish a lot in paper... but wat the consumers see in their hands and eys is only going to win. and Sony is also showing signs of shying away or atleast weakening its DRM stance. so I wish it all turns out good in the end.


anyway nothing to worry for us DVD FTW! haha


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[Who]

goobimama proves my point completely there no big diffrence in blue ray & HD it just sony & MS trying hard to get their format well known , since WB has taken sides of Blue-ray , HD will have a some what hard time now , well i don't care who ever wins though.

[praka123]

what i meant is AFAIK a standard Blu-ray DVD can contain 25GB of data and a standard HD-DVD can only 15GB's.correct me if i am wrong.

BTW,HD-DVD format is known much for its support by M$ than Toshiba

[goobimama]

So what's the problem with 15GB per layer? Like I said, triple layer HD DVD is as much as a dual layer Blu ray so space was never an issue. Even with 1080p movies plus some soundtracks, a 30GB HD DVD was more than enough. H.264 compresses really well.

Blu ray:
- Expensive media. Entire production lines had to be changed
- Expensive players. HD DVD players have always been half the cost of Blu ray players
- BD+. Yep. DRM at it's best...

[Ankur Gupta]

Yes Goobi has explained it well in the last post..
Blu-Ray was based on a new technology so its production cost was much higher...
HD-DVD was cheaper which is what matters to consumers in the end as they are getting almost same space on each disk.

[rockthegod]

This was already predicted before... the best news is for us customers.... I don't simply care who wins or who loses.... I want to see one format win and this meaningless war comes to an end.. and now Warner and New Line going Blu-ray xclusive.... I will just wait until the price of Blu Ray drives for PC gets below $100 (which will be soon now I suppose)... and I simply can't wait for Matrix and Lord of the Rings trilogy on 1080p HD Blu-ray discs.... !!!!

[goobimama]

Matrix does look good in HD. Me too waiting for LOTR HD DVD/Blu ray...

[Voldy]

The Media QUALITY and capacity of blu-ray is still now much more better than HD-DVD so thats why most of companies have now made their way towards the Blu-ray format

[Zeeshan Quireshi]

The only point is Cheap Media . The same reason why dual-layer DVD isn't poplular .

Lets say that a 15GB HD-DVD Costs Rs 45 and a 25 GB Blu-Ray costs 150 Bucks(sony's media is ALWAYS overprices , look at memory stick ) so everyone will buy 15GB HD-DVD's n burn 3 of em to get 45 GB for the same price .

And btw , BD uses java for it's interactive environment , whereas HDi uses ECMAScript(pretty much javascript) as it's scripting language .

We all know Java has a penchant for low-performance(yes , C# is faster) and over-complicating things(Java EE , JSF , EJB , the whole sun enterprise-framework thing with it's numerous components ) so i think HDi has an upper hand here too as Web-Developers can readily apply their knowledge of Javascript n XML to author HD-DVD content .

[goobimama]

Originally Posted by Vicky333

The Media QUALITY and capacity of blu-ray is still now much more better than HD-DVD so thats why most of companies have now made their way towards the Blu-ray format

One of the stupidest arguments I've read so far. What makes you say HD DVD has inferior media quality? Warner has only moved to Blu ray because it had to choose one format to end the format war. Sure there's more space on Blu ray, but as of now, it is not needed at all. And in future, HD DVD will/could support it by adding in more layers (upto 8 layered have been demo'ed I think)

[naveen_reloaded]

Yesterday Warner Bros., the last "on the fence" studio, announced its decision to drop HD-DVD at the of end of May and focus on Blu-ray only. Fallout, as well as some crowing, and even some veiled threats, has begun.

First the HD-DVD Group issued a short, terse press release in response to the announcement. It didn't really say much, more of a rah-rah one-paragraph statement.
"While Warner's decision is a setback for HD DVD, the consumer has benefited from HD DVD's commitment to quality and affordability -- a bar that is critical for the mainstream success of any format. We believe widespread adoption of a next generation format will ultimately be determined by the consumer."
That may be true, but one of the reasons many people have stayed on the sidelines is not wanting to get stuck with another Betamax. This just pushes the decision further along, although as long as big studios continue to support HD-DVD (and Paramount had some big pics this year, such as Transformers) it won't die easily.

Of course, while that was rah-rah, what happened later was not. I received an email about the HD-DVD group's CES press conference / party planned for Sunday night. Cancelled. Whoops.
"Based on the timing of the Warner Home Video announcement today, we have decided to postpone our CES 2008 press conference. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We are currently discussing the potential impact of this announcement with the other HD DVD partner companies and evaluating next steps. We believe the consumer continues to benefit from HD DVD's commitment to quality and affordability--a bar that is critical for the mainstream success of any format."
Hmmm. The party's over, literally, I guess.

Toshiba, the "main man" behind HD-DVD, also issued a press release, expressing "disappointment" at Warner Bros. decision. Check out the "there are contracts in place" statement. Ooops. Also, notice the mirroring of the last paragraph with the email above.
Toshiba is quite surprised by Warner Bros.' decision to abandon HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray, despite the fact that there are various contracts in place between our companies concerning the support of HD DVD. As central members of the DVD Forum, we have long maintained a close partnership with Warner Bros. We worked closely together to help standardize the first-generation DVD format as well as to define and shape HD DVD as its next-generation successor.

We were particularly disappointed that this decision was made in spite of the significant momentum HD DVD has gained in the US market as well as other regions in 2007. HD DVD players and PCs have outsold Blu-ray in the US market in 2007.

We will assess the potential impact of this announcement with the other HD DVD partner companies and evaluate potential next steps. We remain firm in our belief that HD DVD is the format best suited to the wants and needs of the consumer.
That statement over "contracts" could be a sign of legal action. Certainly not as aggressive as the OLPC Foundation's statement about Intel yesterday, however.

Meaning the crowing from the other side of the aisle has begun, as the Blu-ray Group announced the "Best Booth of All-Time." Also known, in that same press release, as the "HOTTEST BOOTH" (caps theirs). Of course, it's not like their boasting or anything, right?

Obviously more to come, but where's a consumer look right now for hi-def? I still stay on the sidelines, personally. The Warner Bros. decision actually would make me lean toward Blu-ray, but Transformers alone makes me lean toward HD-DVD and Paramount. And let's not forget:

just founf this one net...

vice read...

[krazzy]

How much does a movie on HD-DVD and BD cost in India?

[NucleusKore]

Originally Posted by praka123

isnt blu-ray technically superior?hd-dvd gets attention due to M$ backing!

Not just Microsoft, the porn industry too. Strange bedfellows

[naveen_reloaded]

actually the porn industry is another major reason ....

their decision is crucial and important ...

[DigitalDude]

^^^^

it was during the VHS tape times... not nowadays

Internets and Torrents rule



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[Voldy]

Originally Posted by goobimama

One of the stupidest arguments I've read so far. What makes you say HD DVD has inferior media quality? Warner has only moved to Blu ray because it had to choose one format to end the format war. Sure there's more space on Blu ray, but as of now, it is not needed at all. And in future, HD DVD will/could support it by adding in more layers (upto 8 layered have been demo'ed I think)

Iam sorry dude abt my comments did i conclude something wrong i know HD-DVD too has better media but some how sony's blu ray has some upperhand on the media Quality and in near future HD-DVD will be coming on head to head with blu-ray in terms of media.i dont mean to critize HD-DVD its great in its place too