Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

[mjb2124]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

I received my A3 this week, but I forgot one thing.......yeah, cables. Stupid me. I actually thought I had an HDMI cable laying around, but I didn't. So I ordered from monoprice last night. Now I have to wait until sometime next week to hook this thing up.

[SLAYER]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

I guess no one peeped the 2008 theatrical releases.

HD DVD has less movies overall, but much bigger hitters. Blu-ray has a swarm of movies, with very few shoe-in blockbusters. It also notes the importance of WB going format exclusive, as a WB or New Line jump to either would really tip the scales on new releases.

Report: HD DVD Standalone Player Sales Nearing 500,000 Milestone

Format backers say the total number of standalone HD DVD players sold is poised to hit the 500,000 mark by late November.

That's according to a report published late Thursday by Home Media Magazine, which places the current total household penetration for HD DVD standalones at about 420,000 units.

This news comes on the heels of reports earlier this week that roughly 90,000 HD DVD standalones were sold last weekend alone, following highly-publicized price drops for Toshiba's HD-A2 HD DVD player.

While passing the 500,000 unit mark would certainly seem to cement the HD DVD camp's overall lead in standalone player sales, it still pales in comparison to the installed base of Sony's PlayStation 3 game console, which comes with a built-in Blu-ray player. (According to the website vgchartz.com, over 2.2 million PS3s have been sold in the US to date).

Of course, as HD DVD backers will be quick to point out, the majority of PS3 owners are said to not use the console as a Blu-ray player.

What effect all of this may (or may not) have on next-gen disc sales remains to seen. As we've previously reported, year-to-date figures from Home Media Research gave Blu-ray a 1.85:1 disc sales advantage for the first nine months of 2007.

Paramount Reveals 'Stardust' HD DVD Specs, Cover Art

Warner Plans 'The Invasion' For Blu-ray, HD DVD

Disney's Direct-to-Video 'Tinkerbell' Bound For Blu-ray

Sony's Stringer: Blu-ray vs. HD DVD battle a "stalemate"

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

I received my A3 this week, but I forgot one thing.......yeah, cables. Stupid me. I actually thought I had an HDMI cable laying around, but I didn't. So I ordered from monoprice last night. Now I have to wait until sometime next week to hook this thing up.

mjb, you get any audio issues with the A3 based off of the 1.0 firmware, make sure that you update the FW to 1.1 the latest version. I was getting audio problems with the A3 and when I updated the FW it works fine so far.

I guess no one peeped the 2008 theatrical releases.

HD DVD has less movies overall, but much bigger hitters. Blu-ray has a swarm of movies, with very few shoe-in blockbusters. It also notes the importance of WB going format exclusive, as a WB or New Line jump to either would really tip the scales on new releases.

Report: HD DVD Standalone Player Sales Nearing 500,000 Milestone

Paramount Reveals 'Stardust' HD DVD Specs, Cover Art

Warner Plans 'The Invasion' For Blu-ray, HD DVD

Disney's Direct-to-Video 'Tinkerbell' Bound For Blu-ray

Slayer, do you think that Warner could be the studio to shift the tide in this battle if they went to either side? Rumors speculate that their going HD-DVD one day and BD the other. It seems like many are worried they might be going HD-DVD since they haven't released any of the exclusives from HD-DVD that have the HD-i on BD yet, except for T3 which is coming in December, but no announcement for the rest.

I saw that list over at HighDefDigest with the '08 theatrical releases and it should get rather interesting how all this pans out based on that and I think that catalog releases will play a big part in this battle. Universal really needs to start tapping into some of their goldmines like Scarface or the Jurassic Park movies. If they can get Paramount to do the same with Godfather, Gladiator, the Shrek titles it could help them out tremendously, especially that they have a lower price point.

"We are coming back up again," Stringer said. The company aims to sell 10 million PS3s by the end of its fiscal year in March. Nintendo has already sold 13.2 million Wiis.

Right there alone I would be a bit worried if I were strictly a BD owner exclusively. Sony continues with the mentality that the PS3 is going to usher the High Def DVD era. Sony continues to put all their eggs in one basket. I think that this dude forgets that the DVD era didn't usher in completely until the DVD players started hitting the $100 price point and it even took some for it to hit the $50-$70 price point before people started jumping on. Let's see, when the consumer goes to the store for Hi Def DVD tech, do I spend $400 for a BD player or $99-$199 for a HD-DVD which both techs are very comparable?

The PS3 attachment rate to movies hasn't been that great either considering the amount of players that are out there between the PS3 and stand alone. Only 130,000 Spiderman 3 movies sold the first week. With as many PS3's out there, this movie should have done much better than that even though many thought it was pure crap.

Don't get me wrong, I like both technologies and own quite a bit of BD movies, but I've really jumped more on the HD-DVD bandwagon (like it isn't apparent already) because of some of the stupid things Sony continues to do and the snotty remarks.

[mjb2124]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

mjb, you get any audio issues with the A3 based off of the 1.0 firmware, make sure that you update the FW to 1.1 the latest version. I was getting audio problems with the A3 and when I updated the FW it works fine so far.

Thanks! Updating the firmware is the first thing I'm going to do once I hook it up (already filled out the form to have the firmware update mailed to me...might download it off the net if it doesn't arrive before the cables). Gotta have the latest and greatest.

[Pared]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

They closed the forum? It was THAT serious?

Unbelievable.

[SLAYER]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Slayer, do you think that Warner could be the studio to shift the tide in this battle if they went to either side? Rumors speculate that their going HD-DVD one day and BD the other. It seems like many are worried they might be going HD-DVD since they haven't released any of the exclusives from HD-DVD that have the HD-i on BD yet, except for T3 which is coming in December, but no announcement for the rest.

I saw that list over at HighDefDigest with the '08 theatrical releases and it should get rather interesting how all this pans out based on that and I think that catalog releases will play a big part in this battle. Universal really needs to start tapping into some of their goldmines like Scarface or the Jurassic Park movies. If they can get Paramount to do the same with Godfather, Gladiator, the Shrek titles it could help them out tremendously, especially that they have a lower price point.

Right there alone I would be a bit worried if I were strictly a BD owner exclusively. Sony continues with the mentality that the PS3 is going to usher the High Def DVD era. Sony continues to put all their eggs in one basket. I think that this dude forgets that the DVD era didn't usher in completely until the DVD players started hitting the $100 price point and it even took some for it to hit the $50-$70 price point before people started jumping on. Let's see, when the consumer goes to the store for Hi Def DVD tech, do I spend $400 for a BD player or $99-$199 for a HD-DVD which both techs are very comparable?

The PS3 attachment rate to movies hasn't been that great either considering the amount of players that are out there between the PS3 and stand alone. Only 130,000 Spiderman 3 movies sold the first week. With as many PS3's out there, this movie should have done much better than that even though many thought it was pure crap.

Don't get me wrong, I like both technologies and own quite a bit of BD movies, but I've really jumped more on the HD-DVD bandwagon (like it isn't apparent already) because of some of the stupid things Sony continues to do and the snotty remarks.

Don't leave out New Line. The Lord of the Rings is still a big franchise, and with New Line's release schedule catering to blu-ray, a move from them would still be big.

Warner Brothers has leaned HD DVD in the past, but who knows about the future. Harry Potter, Blade Runner (despite recent flip-flopping), The Shining, and other new WB releases are all selling better on blu-ray than HD DVD. I think T3 is a bad test of the waters, since it was an underwhelming sequel. We all see how that worked out for Spiderman 3.

I agree 100% about catalog releases. I don't care what format, I want the heavy hitters in HD. Another wildcard is TV shows, but that's another mess. For example, Weeds will always be a blu-ray exclusive since it's produced by Lionsgate, even if all of Viacom (who owns Showtime) follows Paramount to HD DVD.

As far as the price point deal, I'll give it time. With Toshiba undercutting themselves on the A2 & A3, I think those cheap Chinese HD DVD players need to get here sooner than later. HD DVD was backed into this philosophy. BDA went after the studios, securing retailers, etc. The HD DVD group focused on its small support & hardware, since its pretty much Toshiba manufacturing players.

They want to pump out cheap players to gain market share, and make a case to convert studios with that. Even the 20% of U.S. PS3s is a decent market share in the context of this "niche" format. So, I think HD DVD needs to move more units. The PS3 doesn't matter to the HD DVD camp until software numbers are brought up, and then the excuses are piped in.

The PS3 attach rate is terrible, yes, hence the new ads taking note of blu-ray movies. That magical 20% of PS3s will grow, as will awareness for both formats.

The fact still remains, when somebody buys a cheap HD DVD player, did he pick the format with the most studio, computer, and retailer support? No.

HD DVD profits in ignorance with these cheap players, but it's smart business. For $99-$199, who wouldn't settle?

If HD DVD is doing what it takes to bring millions of people in, then I say blu-ray isn't doing enough to pull away.

Hence this "war" going on for no less than another year.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Don't leave out New Line. The Lord of the Rings is still a big franchise, and with New Line's release schedule catering to blu-ray, a move from them would still be big.

New Line is actually format neutral. If LOTR came out, it'd be on both formats at the same time. The issue with their movies that are recent releases being BD only at first is that HD-DVD is not region coded. Therefore, every movie they have releasing are either still out or coming out in foreign countries. It'll hurt their bottom line if say "Hairspray" releases in Europe on HD-DVD the same week it hits theaters there. Know what I mean?

[SLAYER]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

New Line is actually format neutral. If LOTR came out, it'd be on both formats at the same time. The issue with their movies that are recent releases being BD only at first is that HD-DVD is not region coded. Therefore, every movie they have releasing are either still out or coming out in foreign countries. It'll hurt their bottom line if say "Hairspray" releases in Europe on HD-DVD the same week it hits theaters there. Know what I mean?

Never said they were blu-ray exclusive, just that the release schedule favors blu-ray.

If these early releases do well enough, I wouldn't be surprised if New Line Cinema is the next contestant on the "Who's Going Blu/Red" rumor mill.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Never said they were blu-ray exclusive, just that the release schedule favors blu-ray.

If these early releases do well enough, I wouldn't be surprised if New Line Cinema is the next contestant on the "Who's Going Blu/Red" rumor mill.

Ahh gotcha.

I actually thought they were going to go BD anyway, and basically still could.

[RockyTop1]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Deepdiscount.com is having their semi-annual 20% off every DVD sale. DVDTALK is one of the codes you can use, but there are a ton out there. It started today and ends 11/25/07. I just ordered the Dave Matthews/Tim Reynolds Live at Radio City Bluray for $15.XX. I was hoping to see the Ocean's Trilogy on there, but it's not up yet. Hopefully it will show up before the sale ends.

Edit: More Codes

USATODAY
NYTIMES
SUPERSALE
LATIMES
ESPN
YAHOO
JIM
WGN
XM

[SLAYER]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Nice find, RockyTop.

The best BD deals are on the Starz/Anchor Bay stuff.

Just nabbed Halloween & Dawn of the Dead for $28.96.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Thanks! Updating the firmware is the first thing I'm going to do once I hook it up (already filled out the form to have the firmware update mailed to me...might download it off the net if it doesn't arrive before the cables). Gotta have the latest and greatest.

It’s kind of funny, I could never get the A2 connected to my network no matter what I tried so I used the ISO’s to update. Now with the A3, it took me less than 2 minutes to get the darn thing connected to my network. LOL!

If the update hasn’t arrived by next week, let me know and I can help you get it updated, but I bet you probably already know how anyways. 

They closed the forum? It was THAT serious?

Unbelievable.

Yup, death threats and people calling the police due to the death threats. They are a wild bunch over there and always has been. It’s too large of a community.

I'm glad that we could talk here without that crap.

Don't leave out New Line. The Lord of the Rings is still a big franchise, and with New Line's release schedule catering to blu-ray, a move from them would still be big.

Warner Brothers has leaned HD DVD in the past, but who knows about the future. Harry Potter, Blade Runner (despite recent flip-flopping), The Shining, and other new WB releases are all selling better on blu-ray than HD DVD. I think T3 is a bad test of the waters, since it was an underwhelming sequel. We all see how that worked out for Spiderman 3.

I agree 100% about catalog releases. I don't care what format, I want the heavy hitters in HD. Another wildcard is TV shows, but that's another mess. For example, Weeds will always be a blu-ray exclusive since it's produced by Lionsgate, even if all of Viacom (who owns Showtime) follows Paramount to HD DVD.

As far as the price point deal, I'll give it time. With Toshiba undercutting themselves on the A2 & A3, I think those cheap Chinese HD DVD players need to get here sooner than later. HD DVD was backed into this philosophy. BDA went after the studios, securing retailers, etc. The HD DVD group focused on its small support & hardware, since its pretty much Toshiba manufacturing players.

They want to pump out cheap players to gain market share, and make a case to convert studios with that. Even the 20% of U.S. PS3s is a decent market share in the context of this "niche" format. So, I think HD DVD needs to move more units. The PS3 doesn't matter to the HD DVD camp until software numbers are brought up, and then the excuses are piped in.

The PS3 attach rate is terrible, yes, hence the new ads taking note of blu-ray movies. That magical 20% of PS3s will grow, as will awareness for both formats.

The fact still remains, when somebody buys a cheap HD DVD player, did he pick the format with the most studio, computer, and retailer support? No.

HD DVD profits in ignorance with these cheap players, but it's smart business. For $99-$199, who wouldn't settle?

If HD DVD is doing what it takes to bring millions of people in, then I say blu-ray isn't doing enough to pull away.

Hence this "war" going on for no less than another year.

Salyer, you make some very good points. I didn’t forget about New Line, but they look to be favoring the color Blue no matter how we look at it. But with them releasing Hairspray as their first title, that is no movie to be testing out no matter how good it was. LOL!

Do you have a site that you view numbers for these Hi Def DVD sales?

Another thing that I blame Universal for is that they have been slow on getting their TV Shows out on HD-DVD. I think a show like The Office would get people interested very fast and as much as at times I say that software isn’t always the key, it could be the one-two punch needed here with cheap players + some bigger title releases. If the HD-DVD camp can now get their software down, it will help tremendously, but I don’t think they can really afford to bring down the player and software prices at the same time. Money needs to be made from one of those two areas if the other is to drop. By dropping the hardware, it is enough to bring people in even though the software is $10+ more than SD-DVD.

Extreme also made a good point with certain movies being released over in Europe, Asia, Etc. that are available in HD-DVD. Just looking at some of the HiDef DVD forums, and more people seem to be ordering imports of Blu movies on HD-DVD from overseas. While the discs are running them anywhere from $30-$40+, I guess they don’t care, its all about supporting their format.

I hate to continue saying this, but Sony is resting their laurels that the PS3 is going to be the hardware that brings in the BluRay sales. While yes it is helping them, in the end when dedicated stand alone players with software attachment rates are beating you when you think of it from that aspect, might not still be enough to win.

Either the cheap Chinese players need to get here soon or Toshiba needs to use the A2 (if there are any left) or A3 as their low end machines and plan the attack.

I think that maybe I’m starting to realize that we really need this war over with and have one of these formats to win. Some of you guys were saying this earlier and with the Paramount deal it only lengthened this war, I agree that it needs to end soon.

The thing is that these two groups were so close to combining technologies at one point before the release of HD-DVD and it all fell apart. We could have had the best of both worlds by having just 1 format.

If Microsoft wanted to play a bigger role here to help trounce their videogame competition even further, I would think they would have had a larger presence with HD-DVD. Granted MS is more interested in their digital distribution front, combating BluRay would be a benefit to them. Who knows what role their really playing here.

Rumor has it the Microsoft HD-DVD player is going to see a price drop to $149.99 and is going to be released in Black, White, and another color.

Deepdiscount.com is having their semi-annual 20% off every DVD sale. DVDTALK is one of the codes you can use, but there are a ton out there. It started today and ends 11/25/07. I just ordered the Dave Matthews/Tim Reynolds Live at Radio City Bluray for $15.XX. I was hoping to see the Ocean's Trilogy on there, but it's not up yet. Hopefully it will show up before the sale ends.

Edit: More Codes

USATODAY
NYTIMES
SUPERSALE
LATIMES
ESPN
YAHOO
JIM
WGN
XM

Thanks Rocky

[SLAYER]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Salyer, you make some very good points. I didn’t forget about New Line, but they look to be favoring the color Blue no matter how we look at it. But with them releasing Hairspray as their first title, that is no movie to be testing out no matter how good it was. LOL!

Do you have a site that you view numbers for these Hi Def DVD sales?

Another thing that I blame Universal for is that they have been slow on getting their TV Shows out on HD-DVD. I think a show like The Office would get people interested very fast and as much as at times I say that software isn’t always the key, it could be the one-two punch needed here with cheap players + some bigger title releases. If the HD-DVD camp can now get their software down, it will help tremendously, but I don’t think they can really afford to bring down the player and software prices at the same time. Money needs to be made from one of those two areas if the other is to drop. By dropping the hardware, it is enough to bring people in even though the software is $10+ more than SD-DVD.

Extreme also made a good point with certain movies being released over in Europe, Asia, Etc. that are available in HD-DVD. Just looking at some of the HiDef DVD forums, and more people seem to be ordering imports of Blu movies on HD-DVD from overseas. While the discs are running them anywhere from $30-$40+, I guess they don’t care, its all about supporting their format.

I hate to continue saying this, but Sony is resting their laurels that the PS3 is going to be the hardware that brings in the BluRay sales. While yes it is helping them, in the end when dedicated stand alone players with software attachment rates are beating you when you think of it from that aspect, might not still be enough to win.

Either the cheap Chinese players need to get here soon or Toshiba needs to use the A2 (if there are any left) or A3 as their low end machines and plan the attack.

I think that maybe I’m starting to realize that we really need this war over with and have one of these formats to win. Some of you guys were saying this earlier and with the Paramount deal it only lengthened this war, I agree that it needs to end soon.

The thing is that these two groups were so close to combining technologies at one point before the release of HD-DVD and it all fell apart. We could have had the best of both worlds by having just 1 format.

If Microsoft wanted to play a bigger role here to help trounce their videogame competition even further, I would think they would have had a larger presence with HD-DVD. Granted MS is more interested in their digital distribution front, combating BluRay would be a benefit to them. Who knows what role their really playing here.

Rumor has it the Microsoft HD-DVD player is going to see a price drop to $149.99 and is going to be released in Black, White, and another color.

Hairspray is an odd choice, but Rush Hour 3 makes up for it.

I occasionally browse buy.com, the chart feature at High Def Digest, which tracks Amazon, and a few other sites. There's also a thread at the HDD forums that does a decent job tracking figures (NPD, press releases, etc.).

I guess the reason why big shows & movies aren't coming out are due to profitability. Which is a double-edged sword, in that companies are waiting for both formats to expand when the formats need said product to do so.

I think B&M needs to throw HDM, period, a bone by releasing titles at online-esque prices.

If HD DVDs and blu-rays are for enthusiasts, cut a fifth of those people, and you have how many import HD DVDs and blu-rays. In the big picture, people who import are a pretty small minority for both formats. Remember, most of Asia & the U.S. are in the same blu-ray region. So, blu-ray supporters also "import".

MS has never been sold on these formats (read back through the thread, I've posted at least five stories of MS reps and officials favoring digital distribution), and it shows. Of course, they'll support the HD DVD add-on. Why not? XBLM is on every internet-connected 360, so I think MS could care less about the add-on moving well. They have what they want.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

WOW WOW WOW Our first 5 star overall BD

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1048/ratatouille.html

EDIT - FYI, I got both Cars and Ratatouille yesterday, popped in Rat for a few minutes, it looks 3-D. I mean, absolutely incredible, best looking movie easily on either format.

[Pared]

Re: Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread

Damn it now I have to go out and get it.

That's ok I'm not that upset. I love Pixar.

Bring on Toy Story/Finding Nemo/Incredibles!