Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

[Pared]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

I went ahead and bought an HD-DVD add on because I could get it for a little over 100 bucks. Also because even if i buy a ton of HD-DVD's now and Bluray wins the war, I can always just keep my addon or just buy a combo player once it gets under 500 bucks.

But how long are you willing to keep that add-on for just those movies?

That's exactly my point. I don't want to purchase the HD-DVD add-on and buy HD-DVD's only to find out later down the road this is the only way I can now watch these movies.

Hell, there are even Blu-Ray burners coming out for PC's... where are the HD-DVD models? Something like this indicates where the industry is shifting but all it takes is a large sum of money.

Hell, what investment does MS even have in HD-DVD?? It's owned by Toshiba, correct? So they're doing it to spite Sony and their PS3? It can't be to further the marketplace unless they use HD-DVD codecs for their XBL movies.

I'm sure they're getting a great transfer of Transformers for XBL out of this deal.

[aholbert32]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

But how long are you willing to keep that add-on for just those movies?

That's exactly my point. I don't want to purchase the HD-DVD add-on and buy HD-DVD's only to find out later down the road this is the only way I can now watch these movies.

Hell, there are even Blu-Ray burners coming out for PC's... where are the HD-DVD models? Something like this indicates where the industry is shifting but all it takes is a large sum of money.

Hell, what investment does MS even have in HD-DVD?? It's owned by Toshiba, correct? So they're doing it to spite Sony and their PS3? It can't be to further the marketplace unless they use HD-DVD codecs for their XBL movies.

I'm sure they're getting a great transfer of Transformers for XBL out of this deal.

Buy a combo player. I'm willing to buy one if one becomes obsolete and I promise you Toshiba will be quick to create one the minute HD-DVD goes kaput. This war was almost over but Paramount just saved HD-DVD. By the time the war is over I'm willing to bet that combo players will be under 500.

[triplej96]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh..._Uncertain/878

Well sure hope Close Encounters makes its way to HD DVD.

[Pared]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Buy a combo player. I'm willing to buy one if one becomes obsolete and I promise you Toshiba will be quick to create one the minute HD-DVD goes kaput. This war was almost over but Paramount just saved HD-DVD. By the time the war is over I'm willing to bet that combo players will be under 500.

Do you have any experience with them? It's two drives, right? Much like the DVD and VHS combo drives...?

I'm not willing to go that route just yet. I'm going to keep doing what I bet a majority of people I've talked to are doing: Just keep buying movies that become available for Blu-Ray that I want. I already bought the PS3 so that's good enough for me. It's pretty much the most amazing piece of hardware I've had for optical digital video media and it continues to get better with firmware updates.

If the 360 ever gets a built-in HD-DVD (yeah right) then I'll most likely make that jump. But the add-on thing is silly.

With that said, where did you get the add-on for $100? At that price, I'm pretty sure I would go home with on an impulse buy if I saw it. At $179 it's still more than I think it's worth even with the 5 free HD-DVD's. The ones you have to choose from are terrible.

[Skerik]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Hell, what investment does MS even have in HD-DVD?? It's owned by Toshiba, correct? So they're doing it to spite Sony and their PS3? It can't be to further the marketplace unless they use HD-DVD codecs for their XBL movies.

Per The Digital Bits....

By the way, a quick side comment here. A number of HD-DVD fans have e-mailed us to cry fowl over our issue with Microsoft offering financial incentives to studios to go HD-DVD only, when (they say) Sony must surely be doing the same thing on the Blu-ray Disc side. Here's the difference, and it's why we continue to flag it: Sony pumping money to various studios and parties to promote Blu-ray Disc make logical sense to us. Toshiba doing the same thing to promote HD-DVD, that makes logical sense too. Sony was involved in creating Blu-ray and has a financial stake in it. Likewise, Toshiba created HD-DVD and has a financial stake there. Where does Microsoft's interests lie? Microsoft did not create HD-DVD. Until not so very long ago (prior to these formats coming to market), as they themselves acknowledge, they actually supported both formats. So why are they putting so much money into HD-DVD now? Not only are they putting money into HD-DVD, they're basically the only party that's keeping the format alive. Left to their own financial means, we find it hard to believe that Toshiba would be able to keep pricing its hardware so low - especially given the fact that they've had to adjust their sales projections for the format downward in recent months. And without the "financial incentives" offered by Microsoft, would ANY of the HD-DVD exclusive studios still be HD-DVD exclusive? We doubt it.

So what does Microsoft have to gain from all this? That's the question that keeps sticking in our minds. By making these deals with the studios, aren't they getting exclusive access to new high-def transfers that they'll be able to turn around and offer on Xbox Live - transfers that they themselves are encoding in VC-1 for the studios at a discounted rate or even for free? And as we've said many times now, doesn't Microsoft's download service stand to gain if this format war continues long enough to discourage most consumers from adopting high-def discs at all? That's the difference between Sony and Microsoft - Sony is heavily supporting their own format for obvious reasons. Microsoft is heavily supporting someone else's format for their own reasons, some of which are obvious (VC-1, HDi) and some not so much.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents

[aholbert32]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Do you have any experience with them? It's two drives, right? Much like the DVD and VHS combo drives...?

I'm not willing to go that route just yet. I'm going to keep doing what I bet a majority of people I've talked to are doing: Just keep buying movies that become available for Blu-Ray that I want. I already bought the PS3 so that's good enough for me. It's pretty much the most amazing piece of hardware I've had for optical digital video media and it continues to get better with firmware updates.

If the 360 ever gets a built-in HD-DVD (yeah right) then I'll most likely make that jump. But the add-on thing is silly.

With that said, where did you get the add-on for $100? At that price, I'm pretty sure I would go home with on an impulse buy if I saw it. At $179 it's still more than I think it's worth even with the 5 free HD-DVD's. The ones you have to choose from are terrible.

The Dual Player is just one drive. It just recognizes both formats. It looks like a slightly bigger DVD player.

I got it for 110 bucks because I purchased it with the proceeds I made from selling a ps3 earlier this year.

On another note I just read in the NY times that Toshiba paid Paramount 150 million to go exclusive.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

The Dual Player is just one drive. It just recognizes both formats. It looks like a slightly bigger DVD player.

I got it for 110 bucks because I purchased it with the proceeds I made from selling a ps3 earlier this year.

On another note I just read in the NY times that Toshiba paid Paramount 150 million to go exclusive.

aholbert, did you buy the LG player at that price? Nice deal.

[Pared]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Per The Digital Bits....

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents

Thanks. It's funny because it's almost as if the person writing that article read my mind.

The Dual Player is just one drive. It just recognizes both formats. It looks like a slightly bigger DVD player.

I got it for 110 bucks because I purchased it with the proceeds I made from selling a ps3 earlier this year.

On another note I just read in the NY times that Toshiba paid Paramount 150 million to go exclusive.

One drive is very cool.

So now that makes sense about the add-on. Do you still have a PS3?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/te...gy&oref=slogin

I just read that... is that the same article? It doesn't mention anything about Toshiba. A Microsoft rep. goes on record saying they didn't provide any check writing... still doesn't mean there are incentives there somewhere.

[aholbert32]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

aholbert, did you buy the LG player at that price? Nice deal.

Sorry for the confusion Candyman. I was talking about the HD add on. I saw the LG player open box for 799 at bestbuy but I heard the LG player doesnt allow you to access all of the HD-DVD features so I'll wait for the Samsung player this fall.

[aholbert32]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Thanks. It's funny because it's almost as if the person writing that article read my mind.


One drive is very cool.

So now that makes sense about the add-on. Do you still have a PS3?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/te...gy&oref=slogin

I just read that... is that the same article? It doesn't mention anything about Toshiba. A Microsoft rep. goes on record saying they didn't provide any check writing... still doesn't mean there are incentives there somewhere.

No ps3 for me. I just play sports games and the PS3 doesnt have any games that make me want to buy it. I'm not a big baseball fan so the Show doesnt matter.

I thought Toshiba was the main company backing HDDVD. If that's right, then its safe to assume they are ponying up the 150. Here is the quote I saw:

Paramount and DreamWorks Animation together will receive about $150 million in financial incentives for their commitment to HD DVD, according to two Viacom executives with knowledge of the deal but who asked not to be identified.

"The incentives will come in a combination of cash and promotional guarantees. Toshiba, for instance, will use the release of ''Shrek the Third'' as part of an HD DVD marketing campaign."

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Sorry for the confusion Candyman. I was talking about the HD add on. I saw the LG player open box for 799 at bestbuy but I heard the LG player doesnt allow you to access all of the HD-DVD features so I'll wait for the Samsung player this fall.

Yeah, that was one of the drawbacks of that player.

If somehow the BluRay players could come down to the $250-$300 range, I would get one for sure so my PS3 wasn't used for mainly watching movies. Hopefully the dual players will come down in price soon enough as it would be nice to have just one player that plays both formats.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

No ps3 for me. I just play sports games and the PS3 doesnt have any games that make me want to buy it. I'm not a big baseball fan so the Show doesnt matter.

I thought Toshiba was the main company backing HDDVD. If that's right, then its safe to assume they are ponying up the 150. Here is the quote I saw:

Paramount and DreamWorks Animation together will receive about $150 million in financial incentives for their commitment to HD DVD, according to two Viacom executives with knowledge of the deal but who asked not to be identified.

"The incentives will come in a combination of cash and promotional guarantees. Toshiba, for instance, will use the release of ''Shrek the Third'' as part of an HD DVD marketing campaign."

Plus the big rumor going around right now is that Toshiba will package "Shrek the Third" for free with their HD-DVD players when the movie releases. So that might have something to also do with this deal.

I still wouldn't doubt MS having their hands in this deal. For them it only helps with putting a bit of a stop to BluRay's momentum since their gaming consoles are competing. Also, some people tend to forget or not mention in the articles as to why Target, etc. have gone BluRay exclusive........Sony purchased space.

[JohnnytheSkin]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Well I just got back with my A20...so far so good. Trying to update the firmware off the internet via an ISO file, but in the meantime I popped in 'King Kong' and it looks GREAT at 1080p.

Also tried out 'Mulan' and the lack of macroblocking that I saw on my Oppo 981 makes the picture "pop" that much more. Sure it's a basic animated movie, but I'm impressed.

Time to go play around some more...

[bigfnjoe96]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Per The Digital Bits....

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents

Washington, D.C. (August 20, 2007) -- Paramount announced today that it's dropping Blu-ray to back HD DVD exclusively in the high-def disc format war.

Soon after the announcement, GCI Group, a Los Angeles-based public relations firm, began calling reporters (including this one) to tell them that a Hollywood news blog was reporting that HD DVD supporters gave Paramount $100 million in "promotional considerations" to dump Blu-ray.

GCI Group represents Sony, the leading supporter of the Blu-ray format, and jointly issues press releases on its behalf on Blu-ray issues. (The PR firm has also issued press releases on behalf of other Blu-ray affiliated companies.)

The blog, "Deadline Hollywood Daily," is written by Nikki Finke of the LA Weekly. Finke also wrote that DreamWorks Animation, which today said it would also support HD DVD exclusively, got $50 million in "promotional considerations."

Finke did not name her sources, say how many they were or even characterize them as coming from a specific company or industry.

Her blog item, which was posted shortly after today's Paramount announcement, also did not elaborate on the "promotional considerations."

It did quote the "sources" as saying the alleged payoff was "really out of desperation" by HD DVD supporters and "a cash grab" by the studios (Paramount and DreamWorks.) Toshiba and Microsoft are the leading supporters of the HD DVD format.

In response to the blog item, the web site Gizmodo asked Paramount for a response and here it is:

"The reason we made this decision is simple. After a year of fully experiencing and exploring both formats, we decided to exclusively support HD DVD because of the quality, value and potential the format offers. Beyond that, whenever we conduct co-marketing, production deals or other agreements, we never discuss business terms."

Update: The New York Times today also reported that Paramount and DreamWorks received millions in financial incentives for backing HD DVD. The newspaper quoted anonymous sources at Viacom, the parent company of Paramount.

http://www.tvpredictions.com/bluraypay082007.htm

Again this pay-off is simply speculation & not FACT....

[SLAYER]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread


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