HD DVD and Blu-ray releases on July 24th, 2007
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Jul 23rd 2007 4:33PM
posted Jul 23rd 2007 4:33PM
Once again this week Universal takes it to the Blu-ray camp and releases a slew of titles, which brings their camp to within ten of the competition. Sure, most of them are catalog titles, but if they keep this up they'll regain the lead. So much for Blu-ray's superior studio support -- that's right FOX, we're talking to you. The Contract seems to be the hottest titles this week, but none of them compare to next week's big title: 300. HD DVD 257 vs Blu-ray 267.
Blu-ray
- The Host (Magnolia)
- Out for Justice (Warner)
- Purple Rain (Warner)
- Weeds: Season Two (Lionsgate)
- The Bourne Identity (Universal)
- The Contract (First Look)
- Deep Purple: Live at Montreux 2006 (Rhino)
- The Host (Magnolia)
- In Good Company (Universal)
- The Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps (Universal)
- Out for Justice (Warner)
- Purple Rain (Warner)
- Santana: Hymns for Peace - Live at Montreux 2004 (Rhino)
- Scent of a Woman (Universal)
- Streets of Fire (Universal)
- Yes: Live at Montreux (Rhino)
as an owner of niehter blu-ray or hd-dvd Im gonna shout "Go HD-DVD". The less Sony stuff we have in life the better. If only blu-ray was not sony made, I might be interested in it.
@mike
No offense, but if you had actual reasoning for preferring HD DVD over Blu-Ray I would respect your opinion. However, as it appears your opinion is cemented in a blind hatred of Sony products I have no respect for your opinion.
As for the releases, yeah the summer offerings for Blu-Ray are pretty bare compared to HD DVD. This whole BD+ issue has greatly thinned Blu-Rays summer offerings. However, it appears releases will ramp-up just in time for the holidays so there's still room for strong growth for Blu-Ray in the holidays.
Hmm. Sounds like it's still trendy to bash Sony.
Wow, so pretty much nothing from both sides. Why are all these unimportant things coming out on both sides? Where the hell is Star Wars? Jurrasic Park? Pulp Fiction? Et cetera... No one cares about Yes live ...
The Bourne Identity...WOOT!
I think it's interesting that even though HD-DVD doesn't have as many supporting studios, it has almost as many titles. So Fox, and the other should jump to the plate if they wanna win this.
Polly, it's weird, as the 2nd Bourne film is already out.
paloooz, Star Wars won't come out in HD until there is a clear winner.
If you wanted to see Star Wars in HD you should have been a Cinemax/HBO subscriber .
@paloooz
Perhaps not, but as more acts bring their performances to an HD format, I think people will start paying attention. Watching concerts on HDNET feels like you're there. It's just a matter of time before rock/pop gods like U2, Prince, Genesis, The Police, etc. follow suit. I happen to think that watching true musical talents like Deep Purple, Santana and Yes in high definition would be awesome; it's not just about films.
Well both companys have missed the greatest marketing opportunity. I think they should have had 300 discs out when 300 is launched. Looks like both camps will be missing that one. To bad Zilch and Nada didn't count to their numbers they'd be way passed the 300 mark.
mike your a tool
blu-ray isent sony its BDA over 12 companis made blu-ray were hd dvd was made by toshiba and microsoft
and look at teh quality for titles on both sides bourn identaty only good 1
@ julian: Get your facts straight. A simple glance at Wiki will show that there are over 170 companies involved in HD DVD, not 2.
Back on Topic: So much for the “Summer of Blu”, BD was supposed to trash HD DVD in releases this summer and instead HD DVD has closed the North American content gap. BD had almost a 30 release advantage in April, now that lead is only 10 films. Then consider the fact that BD is region coded and HD DVD is not; that means that about 280 world-wide BDs will play on North American BD devices while over 500 HD DVDs (including BD “Exclusives like Underworld, The Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, et al) will play on North American HD DVD players.
BD talks a big game, but they deliver inferior disks (no IME, no U Control, et al), with less capacity (95% of HD DVDs are HD30s while over 60% of BDs are BD25s), at a higher price (Blu-ray is consistently more expensive than HD DVD in both hardware and software) with more DRM. Blu-ray is the “studio’s choice” not the consumer’s choice. Add to that the fact that the BD spec isn’t even final and I’m amazed that any educated consumer would even bother with BD.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll get a BD Player, but I’ll do it after October when BD 1.1 is out and I’ll make sure that my BD device has not only the 1.1 profile, but also an Ethernet port, which profile 1.1 does not make mandatory. Some day BD will catch HD DVD in technology, but it won’t be this year and anyone that says otherwise is just buying into the Sony/BD FUD/Hype machine; the same people that told you HD DVD was dead in January.
well i have an hd dvd player and i think both formats are doing well and i still think theres room in the market for both formats to co exist for awhile and the movie i would love to see on hd dvd would be scarface and the movie that would make me by blu ray would be star wars
@fistofsouth: RIGHT ON
its funny people seem to always love saying bluray is better because its bigger but they seem to neglect to realize the actual disc sizes used on both sides... ya bluray CAN BE bigger, but in reality the discs being used are mostly smaller... not to mention the better codecs being used on the hddvd side :)
The whole 1.1 thing and complete lack of features, not to mention the entire BD+ fiasco is rediculous....
as for the guy above bashing the first poster for saying he doesnt like BD because its sony... why is that bad on his part? considering 99% of people hate products "because its microsoft" so he cant hate sony but its ok to hate microsoft?
Star Wars and such isn't coming out till there are 50 million players...they could care less if there is a winner...it would probably more profitable to have 2 different versions of SW that has features only able to do on HD DVD and one that has features only BD can do ..then hope for some fans to buy both versions and have higher profit.
@fistofsouth
there's a difference between being in someones corner, and actually being on of the fighters. one you look at it that way, it really is just universal, toshiba and microsoft. You brought up a point that HD DVD is not region encoded, whereas blu ray is...totally true. But the thing is, how many people actually give two shits about this? To be honest, this is mostly going to be a gripe for European americans, who still have strong ties w/ a lot of people in europe, or still watch a lot of europeans movies (This by itself is a small %). The reason why i say its mostly going to be europeans, well... North America, Central and America, Japan, North and South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia are all in the same region. Another question would be, how many of these people would be wanting to buy a foreign flick on a next gen dvd platform (even smaller %)?
and i think you for one hit the lack of recent blu ray flicks right on the head. OCTOBER, OCTOBER, OCTOBER and...and the release of BD 1.1. Fox, Disney, MGM, Lionsgate...they've all be curbin their released in anticipation of this date, that's been no secret.
I'm not much of a fanboy, as many people would like to think. But the sheer capacity of blu ray for PC storage is one of the reasons i would much rather see this as a replacement to DVD than HD DVD. Some people are boasting that HD DVD has already come out w/ a 51 GB prototype disc...thats great, but didn't TDK make an 8 layer 200 gig disk. I would love to backup all the tv shows, movies (not porn) and music from my 750 gig baracuda on three simple discs in the future. The thought of that is lovely.
As an added bonus, i've always liked being able to choose w/ manufactuer you like, rather than you can have any one you want...as long as its a toshiba. I've never been much a fan of their products to be quite honest.
can't they both exist?? seems to me that, if your a studio that your really losing money if your not in both camps...i mean really what is the point of only supporting one camp if you can make both camps happy..in the end you make money on both fronts. I don't like or dislike either format i just think that this "war" should have been fought about 3 years ago IMO, with cable adding more and more in HD and movies on demand in HD i'm really not in a rush to go out and buy either format really. The only thing that i don't understand is why blu-ray with all it's support has roughly the same amount of releases that the HD camps has?? if i ran a studio i'd support both til the end it really doesn't make sense not to.
Blu-ray is blowing it. They should have twice as many DVD in Hi Def out. But they don't. I'm starting to think Blu-ray will lose to HD-DVD.
Jeff, just watch, HD DVD will be the winner, I have no doubt about that. It's very simple, BD gives us THEORETICAL superiority that is YET to be finalized and not really available, while HD DVD gives us MORE for LESS right now.
People seem to forget that having lower prices, already stable platform, it's much easier for HD DVD Group to actually improve on the existing things. All HD DVD group needs to do is increase size on the discs. That's IT! Everything else has been working perfectly from day one as the format was thought out properly, deliver proper and strict specification and even users who bought 1st gen HD DVD stand-alone players can play today's HD DVD content. Let's see how many Blu-Ray titles and players play together.
People are truly delusional if they think that Blu-Ray will win. Sure, Sony is using brute force and is really ONLY major Blu-Ray supporter. I'm just curious to see how long Pioneer and Panasonic will push a format that they make absolutely NO money on. Actually they lose quite a bit cause their stand-alone sales are miserable.
I mean I understand people intensively defending Blu-Ray, when they paid $600+ for the player or PS3 and bit into the Sony hype, but this is not going to change the fact that HD DVD is just starting NOW. Sure PS3 is a great value, and people will play, but the war is never won by hybrid players. Having a gaming console and Blu-Ray player is great and definitely, as we've already seen, give a Blu-Ray a huge boost. However as time passes by, people who own PS3 will be split between buying movies and buying games. It's logical and already proven that people buying Blu-Ray movies for their PS3 will dedicate a certain amount of their budget to games too. This will cut into Blu-ray movie sales, there's absolutely no doubt about that.
Why is everyone saying that stand-alone players should be counted. It's very simple, it's not because they are all afraid how cool and powerful PS3, no, it's because the numbers will always favor format dedicated exclusively to watching movies.
This means, even now, the number of movies an HD DVD owner has is 5+, at least, while every 4th Blu-Ray owner has 1. Sure, there's potentially huge amount of PS3 players out there, but people seem to forget that HD DVD standalone players don't have to match the number of PS3s, they just need to be in ratio 1:5 and HD DVD wins. This number will be even higher as time and HD DVD prices fall. What I'm trying to say is simple logical math:
Let's take these numbers with some flexbility, but the ratio should be close to rational.
3.5 million PS3s = 1 million titles
300k HD DVD units = 1 million titles
Just by this, 300k HD DVD units is enough to fight existing 3.5 million PS3s with title sales. Forget about movie support and all that hype talk. These numbers are what's important. Of course, PS3 users MIGHT decide to buy titles and increase the ratio, but let's not forget that the situation we are looking at right now, is reality. These numbers have been pretty much stable for a while now. So it's safe to say that ratios are pretty much close to final.
Now, who has a chance to increase customer base here, what do you think? HD DVD of course. With $250 players and potentially even lower price we are looking at most likely twice the increase in HD DVD numbers of hardware and this of course translates into bigger title sales.
So let's say, the holiday season comes, PS3 at $500 at least, needs to sell 600k units at least to match 200k units sold by Toshiba for example. And we are not even talking about PC sales which let's face it will have a huge impact on what user decides to buy as their hi-def content playback device at home. Let's say you buy a laptop and it has an HD DVD drive, like most laptop manufacturers include today. This means that the person who has an HD DVD in a laptop will most likely buy a cheap HD DVD player for their home, just for convenience of having the ability to watch movies both at home and on laptop.
I personally wouldn't mind having Blu-Ray as storage medium, while HD DVD stays for hi-def content delivery. Obviously Blu-Ray has more POTENTIAL for bigger data storage, however I'm not really willing to put all my money on their "promises" how everything WILL BE resolved and offered, that they so often break, especially Sony. This is the strategy they've been utilizing for a while now, in competition they simply lie and overpromise, and later when there's simply no competition, they are just not motivated to continue having PROGRESS in these areas. They have a track record for this. You can't blame them though, once enough suckers gets on the bandwagon and buys their BS, once they close the circle of hardawre and software manufacturing + accessories, they have absolutely no reason to improve as they OWN the market and will milk everyone for the last cent.
People don't seem to understand, but one of the users here on Engadget put it BEAUTIFULLY. HD DVD Group is NOT Toshiba. This is an official ORGANIZATION that is fully supported by DVD Forum and is almost completely independent from studios and hollywood in general. This means A LOT for a consumer. It is a very dangerous game to support a format that will allow Sony and Matsushita to own pretty much every aspect of what you will need to buy and pay for anything Blu-Ray "if" the format won.
The biggest beneficiary will be Sony of course, because they will be a corporation that holds the WHOLE circle of hardware, software and licensing for the format. This makes me very uncomfortable. On top of this, the format does not give me anything better over HD DVD. If anyone can tell me that they see that, they lie. If anything, Blu-Ray has MUCH more titles that are awful quality, grainy. This is not what I call future. Pretty much all my HDDVD titles unlike BD titles I also own are incredible quality.
HD DVD coming on top was just matter of time. Hype and dirty marketing that BDA has been playing by owning media outlets, paying sites like Engadget even High-Def Digest to stand on Blu-Ray side do not change the fact that HD DVD is simply RIGHT NOW a much better format. Again, Much of BDs superiority is still on paper and unproven, while HD DVD gives us absolutely everything. This is very obvious as movie studios, even neutral ones are coming out with much better, more interactive and immersive titles on HDDVD as opposed to Blu-Ray.
Again, for the record, I do look at this very objectively. Unlike many supporters or one or the other format, I actually have BOTH technologies and have invested a lot of money into both and even more on Blu-Ray. They are all connected to the state of the art video/audio equipment like Pioneer Elite series of audio and video components.
HD DVD is going nowhere but up.
I have an HD-A2 HD-DVD player and think it's great. It up converts like crazy and HD discs look amazing.
http://www.valueelectronics.com/htf.htm 199.99 for the A2 you mine as well jump on and get the sweet 300 for the features. :-)
So Nfinity,
I respect that you have strong views on the issue, but a lot of what you said to support your opinions consists of incredibly simplistic and misleading statements about the BDA and BD and conspiracy theories. One particular example is how you denounce people who say that HD DVD is only Toshiba and MS, but (somehow without the hypocrisy alarm going off in your head, apparently) flat out say that Sony is the only company behind BD. Wha?
Also, Sony and Matsushita out to control content in an evil bid to control the world? Come on. They're businesses. Of course they want the maximum profit they can get, but if Toshiba could do the same thing, they would (in fact, they are). Besides the fact that if it came to it (IF -- big if -- HD DVD went the way of Beta and the Dodo), Toshiba could always just make BD players and make profit that way. Money is money. This is not some holy war.
Lastly, rather than writing your whole thesis, save your energy and just go out and purchase whatever the hell you want to purchase. It's a much more meaningful way to express your belief in a format's potential for success than typing all this stuff out on engadget's comments. If you must, try limiting it to only a few pertinent comments on blogs. You can then devote the time you saved to family and friends and stuff. Cheers. 8^)
I was at Bestbuy this weekend talking to a worker. He said they already have a SKU for a Blu-ray drive for the XBOX360 in the computer. He also said based on distributors he talks to that in most peoples opinion the war is already over and it's just a matter of time before HD DVD is dead.
Size is one thing, but Blu-ray also has a higher Max. bit rate for audio and video.
The peak A/V mux rate for HD DVD is 30Mb/s.
The peak A/V mux rate for Blu-ray is 48Mb/s(40Mb/s for video).
I will admit Blu-ray isn't Done yet, but it will be sad if HD DVD did win this war given it is the inferior format unless you want to pirate HD disc content.
Please note, I am not against Fair use, but I can understand that to these companies a format that allows easy and totally unrestricted access to the content on the discs they sell isn't seen by them as "Fair".
Someday we will likely have secure yet movable digital content that allows fair use without depriving these companies of millions of dollars(perhaps Billions) in revenue, and yet still allow you to lend your content to others if that content is in physical storage media.
Till that time, I'm not sure how "Fair" it is to demand fair use from the unsecured formats we have now.
Mr_Fizzlepop, I've been reading your "a friend told me" information for a while now. Dude, you have to stop spreading rumors and completely false information.
Microsoft HAS stated that HAS no plans of supporting Blu-Ray.
"Microsoft have finally laid rest to rumours suggesting a Blu-ray add on may be coming to the 360. Rumours began back in January when Peter Moore suggested in an interview that Microsoft would be willing to adapt to consumers needs. Coupled with that remark, and flagging sales of the HD-DVD format it would seem the simple solution to add a choice of Blu-ray.
“We firmly stand behind the HD-DVD format as the best choice for consumers. Current reports indicating that Microsoft has a back-up plan which includes Blu-ray support are incorrect,” detailed the company."
http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2006/01/16/513447.aspx
And stop posting theoretical numbers for each format that Sony keeps highlighting that have no baring on actual visual and audio performance. When I actually SEE the difference and inferiority of HD DVD in day-to-day usage I will start giving those facts relevance, so far I've seen nothing but better quality on my HDDVD over my Blu-Ray titles.
That's odd..I was at a Best Buy tonight and a worker friend of mine said they are getting Sony HD DVD players this September.... and for $179
Just wish I knew which best buy guy was right.
@fistofsouth
The Host,Out for Justice, and Purple Rain which are available in both formats, are the same price for both formats.
I don't know what makes you think that the Software prices for Blu-ray are more than HD DVD, in many cases, like when you can only get the combo version if you want HD DVD, Blu-ray is less.
For blank Discs it's not as easy to price check since Blu-ray is already up to 2x and HD DVD is still 1X. The closest I found in a quick search was 15.00 for 1x HD DVD and 20.00 for 2x Blu-ray. with the HD DVD storing 60% of what the Blu-ray can, for 75% of the price.
Once you consider the overall cost of both the Discs you'll buy along with the player it's really not that big of a difference between the 2 formats.
Speaking of HD DVD players prices..you can find on deal sites how CC has the HD A2 on sale for $239 and there are $40 coupons on sale at ebay for a dollar that bring the player to $199...plus the 5 movies.
Go to Bestbuy and just ask, and it wasn't a friend, just a worker I was talking to when I was there with my brother.
Nfinity, the numbers are Real. Just because there aren't Dev kits for blu-ray that the studios can use to make a better version YET doesn't mean the numbers are wrong or the potential for better future content isn't there.
As the HD DVD steaming locomotive picks up speed and lowers prices..the blue ray fan boys make up more and more misleading information to try and stop it. They spread a bunch when the price was $299..and now it is down to $199...bluu is scared.
*laugh* Now the BD camp is trusting "some guy at Best Buy." When was the last time a Best Buy drone knew what the hell they were talking about? When people were buying HD DVD players there, the sales drones were saying "Blu Ray is better. Why? Because it does 1080p!" *laugh*
Thanks for the morning laugh, I appreciate it! :)
This format war is going to last a long long time. I don't see either side giving up within the next year. Maybe by Christmas 2010. But I wouldn't even bet it would be settled by then.
Oh Man, i saw the best buy said this and that comment and ahd to add my two cents. I was in best buy the other day trying to set my dad up with some gear to get ready for his FIOS install (lucky SOB) well the "FIOS expert" at BB told me that there were absolutely NO High Def sources, not even FIOS, available today except Bluray. WOW!! Not only am i an engineer, but i also work for Verizon. what about OTA HD, HD-DVD, Xbox 360, D-VHS, upconverting DVD players, etc? NEVER trust Best Buy people, you might as well go to your local high school dumpster and ask the stoners what they recommend, because that is who they are... No offense to stoners.
The one thing that bothers me is Blu-ray has more studio backers, thus they should have twice as many movies out in Hi Def as HD-DVD. But they don't. It's pretty even.
Why? Why are studios like Fox and Disney release so few movies in Blu-ray? It's great to say you have all these exclusive studios but unless they release a lot of movies it doesn't mean much. Why are studios like Fox so tepid about releasing Hi-Def movies?
==
" I respect that you have strong views on the issue, but a lot of what you said to support your opinions consists of incredibly simplistic and misleading statements about the BDA and BD and conspiracy theories. One particular example is how you denounce people who say that HD DVD is only Toshiba and MS, but (somehow without the hypocrisy alarm going off in your head, apparently) flat out say that Sony is the only company behind BD. Wha?"
You see, it does sound like that doesn't it, indeed I am against any company holding all the ropes in any aspect of market. The reason why I say that Toshiba is not the only one behind HD DVD is because there's MUCH more companies behind HD DVD than it is behind Blu-Ray. In fact, the companies behind Blu-Ray are behind it simply because Sony and PS3. This was the major reason that most of them decided to go with it. The same cannot be said for HD DVD. HD DVD Group doesn't involve Toshiba as the main beneficiary although it does seem that way with Blu-Ray, Sony tends to make the most money and hold pretty much large chunk of licensing, not to mention hardware/sofware/accessories circle - all in-house.
For HD DVD, we have independent studio support for the format and Toshiba manufacturing major chunk of hardware equipment. This is just because others felt they would be faster rewarded with cash on Blu-Ray side simply because PS3 would saturate the market, Samsung, Panasonic, Pioneer would make a lot of money with the prices of players that were and are even now, read bigger margins. Major thing to note here is that, Toshiba is just cashing in on their dedication to the format and production of hardware and that's where their gain ends.
The conspiracy exists with BDA, let's not fool ourselves here and time will show. From marketing and dirty payoffs to individual authors on web sites to even more reputable sites is disgraceful to say the least. I know this as I work with a lot of BDA companies and I know exactly how they think and operate. Hollywood in Hi-Def site for example was supposed to be "OBJECTIVE" site about everything hi-def, but was suppose to sway and mislead consumers to blu-ray. I call this dirty tactics. The 3 studios (Fox, Sony and Disney) changed their opinions and decided to go with Blu-Ray in the description of the site because they just couldn't hide this fact as they had to have legal notices and registration info by law and they had to disclose this information thus revealing the truth behind the site. The connection between media, studios and Sony is completely anti-consumer oriented and PURELY out to create a money wormhole for the regular person.
===
"Also, Sony and Matsushita out to control content in an evil bid to control the world? Come on. They're businesses. Of course they want the maximum profit they can get, but if Toshiba could do the same thing, they would (in fact, they are). Besides the fact that if it came to it (IF -- big if -- HD DVD went the way of Beta and the Dodo), Toshiba could always just make BD players and make profit that way. Money is money. This is not some holy war."
Sure, the only thing that's flawed here is that Blu-Ray is most likely going the way of Beta and not HD DVD. Again, it would a huge loss for consumers if Blu-Ray won. Who doesn't see this, obviously never spent their own money for Sony exclusive products. This will definitely be the case with BD. If by any miracle Blu-Ray wins, the price lowering will stop and we will pay through our noses for all the loss that BDA had during this format war. In reality all of the initiatives we've seen so far was pro-consumer and in support of content delivery for authors. Just look at the Indie initiative. A wonderful support that will benefit EVERYONE. No regional coding for HD DVD, who benefits from that? Of course, consumer..etc etc. The list keeps going on.
"Lastly, rather than writing your whole thesis, save your energy and just go out and purchase whatever the hell you want to purchase. It's a much more meaningful way to express your belief in a format's potential for success than typing all this stuff out on engadget's comments. If you must, try limiting it to only a few pertinent comments on blogs. You can then devote the time you saved to family and friends and stuff. Cheers. 8^)"
I already made my purchases my friend. I have everything. That's not the point. I'm trying to show people who are either still undecided or are mislead what we can look forward to if Blu-Ray wins. This is really a no-brainer and a lot of people realizes this. It's not like I'm saying anything super smart, I'm just showing logic, that's all. The reason why I invest this much energy is because I'm sick and tired of web sites and blogs posting misleading and hyped up information straight from Sony's mouth. Engadget is no exception. This has to be revealed. You can see how much of this is happening. You can't say you are an objective blog or news source or whatever and on the other had get paid by one side to report how much better one format is over the other. You know, I wouldn't comment on this if it was true. But as of now HD DVD still holds superiority both in picture and sound quality and not to mention features and interactivity of the titles. It's simply disguisting to see hi-def digest reviews of Blu-Ray movies get high ratings for video quality when I personally have some of those movies and this is just WRONG. Most of them are grainy and poorly encoded. And as I said I'm not watching this on a 15" TV either.
Take it as you may I guess. My comments were not targeted towards individual like you, you already probably have your mind set. Cheers.
Above comment was meant for MasterCKO.
again, why not support both camps?? seems like a stupid idea to only support one camp if your in the business to make money then do so! Why release one copy of a movie if you can release two? By chosing sides now your killing your profits IMO "ALL" studios should support both until the end. In the end they are both great formats and i love HD in any flavor..just seems like a dumb move to limit yourself. I just hate this popularity contest that is in this "HD" battle....in the words of rodney king.."can't we all just get along??"..the only thing that really sucks is that by chosing one side over the other..your limiting your movie selection...it's sad IMO, i'm just hoping that in a year combo drives are really cheap so i don't have to play this fucking pepsi challenge type of shit!
"again, why not support both camps??"
Because Sony will never support both camps. If Universal went neutral, Blu-Ray wins, and Sony controls the hardware, format, and movies (ie: they have control of all three). That's not good for consumers.
Toshiba isn't a movie company. Universal isn't a hardware company. Sony is both, and they want to get a stranglehold on the whole cycle.
As consumers, we shouldn't let that happen. Unfortunately, most consumers are ignorant lemmings and fiddled while Rome burned...
@36...yeah, i know sony, owns more than one and i think if i'm not mistaken 3 movies studio's so yeah it's a mess on that end , but there are other movie studios involved with blu-ray too...they IMO should offer their support to HD. Like FOX ,Paramount,Lionsgate,and disney. But i do agree with the fact that sony does want to control the market..much like Microsoft with pc's. And yes if Universal went neutral on it's own..the war would be all but over, but if some of the parties over in the blu-ray camp jumped into HD's side too...it makes you wonder how it would really turn out? just a thought,but if the studio's that could go neutral did, i really wonder how the "sales" figures would look like?
Seriously. Conspiracy theories about how much more evil one company is than another are about the most ridiculous thing that I've read in a while.
AXIOM: NO COMPANY IS ENTIRELY ALTRUISTIC.
Ponder that for a second. No one is doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. Once more, this is not a holy war between the forces of Good and Evil. These are all multi-million dollar companies out to make a buck by selling something to somebody.
Your (Xyzzy and Nfinity and others) constant characterizations of Sony as evil Machiavellian demon company that devilishly tricked victim companies into its wicked thrall and Toshiba as heroic corporation of lore that valiantly won ally companies to its great cause are getting tired.
@ Mr_Fizzlepop:
That's what makes HD-DVD much more better is that you can get a high quality 1080p picture without the high bit-rate. Why you want the high bit-rate is beyond me.
"Your (Xyzzy and Nfinity and others) constant characterizations of Sony as evil Machiavellian demon company that devilishly tricked victim companies into its wicked thrall and Toshiba as heroic corporation of lore that valiantly won ally companies to its great cause are getting tired."
I've never said Sony is an evil company - I realize companies are out to make money. However as consumers, our job is to help OURSELVES not the companies! How does it help the consumer to have one company control the entire movie triad (hardware, format, movies)? If they control all three, they can basically set whatever price they want and impose whatever restrictions they want, and consumers will be the ones hurt by it. (and I don't want to hear the tired argument that "Sony != BD" -- look at the release chart, Sony's released over 40% of the movies currently on Blu-Ray. That's NOT a coincidence.
Why would any informed consumer support that for a few extra gig per disk and some extra theoretical bandwidth (that can easily be fixed on HD DVD with a faster drive - similar to CD-ROM drives that increased in speed as time went on)? Don't just give a company the keys to the kingdom, it's not in our best interest.
Couldn't have said it better.
This is not about Sony being an EVIL corporation, but our personal freedom of choice as consumers. I will not allow that ONE company controls pretty much everything in the entertainment segment.
MasterCKO, you are trying to discredit everything I say as something that a crazy conspiracy theorist would say, which can't be further from the truth. The FACT is that some companies supporting Blu-Ray are PLAYING much more dirty then anyone else on HD DVD side. There's a reason why legal institution have their doubts about anti-trust initiative again Blu-Ray camp. Of course there's something wrong here. They are all working together hard to suck in all of uninformed and apathetic consumers.
I've already told you that I'm already CONNECTED with these people and I know EXACTLY what and how they think and operate. Fox, Disney, Sony and Panasonic have come up on more then one ocassion with such disgusting strategies that makes me understand what the future holds if Blu-Ray wins. This is WHY most hardware companies supported Blu-Ray from the start. They saw that once Blu-Ray wins, they'll be ripping our wallets open without any alternative. This is why I support HD DVD in addition to better visual and audio quality. I'm not saying Toshiba are SAINTS, they do this for the money, but in this equation Toshiba, Universal and Microsoft ARE indeed good guys as they are pushing a FORMAT that is MUCH better for a consumer.
IN OTHER NEWS:
MICROSOFT LOWERS XBOX360 ADD-ON PRICE TO $179 and GIVE 5 FREE HD DVDs
===
Thursday July 26, 3:01 am ET
SAN DIEGO, July 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today at Comic-Con International 2007, Microsoft Corp. announced it will lower the price of the popular Xbox 360™ HD DVD Player from $199 to $179 ERP (United States only) starting Aug. 1, 2007, and will add five free HD DVD movies for anyone purchasing an Xbox 360 HD DVD Player between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30. In addition, Microsoft further solidified the Xbox 360 as the ultimate high-definition (HD) entertainment platform, with key announcements around the HD DVD launches of "300" from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group and "Heroes: Season 1" from Universal Studios.
To promote the HD DVD versions of "300" and "Heroes: Season 1," Microsoft unveiled exclusive content for Xbox LIVE® Marketplace. Xbox LIVE will offer "300" on demand in HD starting Aug. 14, and is working with Warner Bros. at Comic-Con on a Bringing It Home campaign featuring "300" and other Warner Bros. properties. In advance of the street date for the "Heroes: Season 1" HD DVD boxed set, Xbox LIVE members will be able to download for free the show's pilot episode in high definition for a limited time. Members will also be able to download trailers, teaser scenes and other promotional materials highlighting the "Heroes: Season 1" boxed set on HD DVD.
Already the most affordable high-definition player available, the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player is the best solution for movie lovers seeking HD content in the highest possible resolution. The player's price reduction to $179 (U.S. ERP) continues to set the bar for value, making the Xbox 360 platform the most affordable solution for consumers seeking the broadest, most compelling selection of next-generation gaming and HD video experiences.
"With the price reduction to $179, the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player continues to be the most affordable way to enjoy high definition," said Jeff Bell, corporate vice president of Global Marketing, Interactive Entertainment Business, Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. "From the beginning, we set out to offer Xbox 360 owners an unrivaled high-definition experience, with a choice of optical discs on the HD DVD format and digital downloads through Xbox LIVE Marketplace -- both of which have a selection of the best content Hollywood has to offer. Today's announcements around '300' and 'Heroes: Season 1' are great examples of how we believe HD content can be offered to consumers."
In addition to the price drop, Microsoft is extending Toshiba's highly successful "Perfect Offer" of five free HD DVD discs to Xbox 360 consumers. Previously exclusive to Toshiba HD DVD Players, with the purchase of an Xbox 360 HD DVD Player at the new low price of $179 ERP, consumers can choose five HD DVD titles for free from a selection of 15 popular titles through a mail-in offer. With a retail value of over $140 (U.S.), this promotion makes the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player one of the most compelling offerings for consumers looking to make the leap into HD this holiday season.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070726/aqth069.html?.v=15