Warner goes Blu-ray exclusive
By Darren Murph 
posted January 4th 2008 3:47PM
posted January 4th 2008 3:47PM
[Via Deadline Hollywood Daily, thanks Todd]
(January 4, 2008 – Burbank, CA) – In response to consumer demand, Warner Bros. Entertainment will release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group.
"Warner Bros.' move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want," said Meyer. "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers."
Warner Home Video will continue to release its titles in standard DVD format and Blu-ray. After a short window following their standard DVD and Blu-ray releases, all new titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until the end of May 2008.
"Warner Bros. has produced in both high-definition formats in an effort to provide consumer choice, foster mainstream adoption and drive down hardware prices," said Jeff Bewkes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner Inc., the parent company of Warner Bros. Entertainment. "Today's decision by Warner Bros. to distribute in a single format comes at the right time and is the best decision both for consumers and Time Warner."
"A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption and becoming the important revenue stream that it can be for the industry," said Tsujihara. "Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience. Warner Bros. has worked very closely with the Toshiba Corporation in promoting high definition media and we have enormous respect for their efforts. We look forward to working with them on other projects in the future."
yea but you watched transformers in 1080i not 1080p. Those players didnt go FullHD. and there IS a difference between 1080i and 1080p.
What the hell are you talking about? You claim BD is the downfall of HDM yet cite no reason why except that you don't want a PS3. And using the word "crapanese" is definitely the mark of an idiot, seeing as not only HD-DVD, but nearly all electronics technology is developed and/or manufactured there.
bought it.
@Lamerz:
Don't get me wrong, yes the Xbox360 has a better collection of games, currently...But that's all changing with almost all games coming out for both systems. And believe me when I tell you, I'm one of the biggest Gears of Wars freaks out there, but Uncharted:Drake's Fortune OWNS that game. It does everything GOW can do, but adds so much more. Add to the fact Rumble is back, yes I already have my Dualshock 3...and that there's no such thing as RROD on a PS3(My first Xbox360 fell victim to that bs, I'm on my second one now)...The PS3 is a WAAAAYYY better investment. But do know, I own both, cause there will always be exclusives.
@Mogg:
Why, because people always complain when they have no one to blame but themselves. If people adopted early, guess what, too bad. Just like those annoying iphone babies that bitched about the price-drop. I never got any money back for adopting early on the PS3, then it had a massive price drop. Did I ever bitch? No, that's the risk you take in being the first to own "the next best thing."
Why are you comparing a brand-new PS3 game (that's probably pretty darn good, I haven't had an opportunity to play it yet) to the 360's top-of-the-line LAST YEAR game?
That's like me saying "Bioshock just one-ups R: FOM every step of the way." Of course it does; it came out later and has learned from previous FPS games.
\\Why, because people always complain when they have no one to blame but themselves. If people adopted early, guess what, too bad. Just like those annoying iphone babies that bitched about the price-drop. I never got any money back for adopting early on the PS3, then it had a massive price drop. Did I ever bitch? No, that's the risk you take in being the first to own "the next best thing."\\
EXACTLY!
100% percent agree with you there.
This was never a fair fight.
Too many studios were backing Blu-ray from the beginning.
And even when HD-DVD had the best compression and video quality at the begginging, all sony had to do was quote the figures on the size of the disk and the fancy new name.
The only way it would have been fair is if all studios had supported both formats.
'Consumer demand'? Is that something that Sony paid extra for them to add in the press kit?
If BLU-RAY does end up winning Microsoft have always said they would be open to releasing a BLU-RAY add-on.
As the formats are so similar and the add-on is mostly software driven, would they not be able to just write new software for the current drives?
What i am going to miss though is being able to buy discs from USA before they come out in the UK.
Charlie Brown says it best when he shouts ",Ugh!" I hated this damn format war and fanboyism from the beginning, but I was definitely rooting for HD-DVD. The region free discs and low prices on the standalone players was my bait. What drove me away from BluRay was the standalone prices, early discs with poor mpeg2 quality, unfinished spec, BD+... you get the idea. But what I did like about BD was the storage capacity, and some other details I'm currently too tired to mention.
At this point I just want one good, finished, solid format. I don't care who it is. It's a good thing my wife loves me and bought me a PS3 for Christmas. I know the PS3 isn't perfect BD player, which is why I prefer a standalone, but I will hold out until red is officially dead and prices are around the $100 - $150 ("finished profile, and upgradeable firmware?"). Meh, blu ftw... I guess?
Ask yourself, would you have posted such a text in defence of those who bought Blu if Warner had gone excusively Red? Exactly, no effing way.
Congratulations, you are the pathetic "fanboy" defined most succinctly.
Laserdisc FTW in 2008!
Soon enough we will have cheap hd dvd burners, and i will just download the ripped blu ray discs and burn them to HD DVD and watch them, how about that for your format war
Did you complain when MS was throwing the money at Paramount to stay red?
Awe, dammit!
Why don't the posts always appear under the one you've replied to!!
The biggest thing that irritates me in this whole thing is that vary rarely what Sony markets is best for consumers. They have a history of marketing a seperate standard, with the hopes that it catches, so that they solely own the IP and licensing rights. Sometimes it flies (Trinitron, Bravia, Walkman) and sometimes it tanks (UMD, Betamax, Minidisc), but in either case Sony's ownership of the IP almost always leads to inflated prices. As always, I knew Sony had a chance of taking this one, but it still disappoints me because in the end Sony's tendency to markup may end up keeping most consumers from being interested in a physical HD format. I guess we'll end up gettin stuck waiting until the kinks are worked out of digital HD distribution for mass consumer adoption.
You trying to tell us that Sony is evil? We knew that all along :P
Crap and I just bought my 360 HD-DVD player, now The Dark Knight is going to be on Blu-ray while Batman Begins is on HD-DVD *siiigh*
a war does not end instantly. it will go through a prolongued existence of being a distant second in sales which will prompt the studios to jump ship for less then anyone else was paid. money will be lost and finally bankruptcy after the majority of stock holders sell off the assets. at this point blu-ray will buy off all the assets at a super cheap price and somehow convert or utilize its technology for their own gain.
\\Davsot
@ Jan 4th 2008 8:05PM
yea but you watched transformers in 1080i not 1080p. Those players didnt go FullHD. and there IS a difference between 1080i and 1080p.
\\
Dude dont even try to preach with HD, i know EVERYTHING there is on HD.
Further, if you didnt notice, i got the HD-DVD addon which means if i plug that puppy in my xbox 360 elite that has HDMI, guess what? thats 1080p!, now lets say it its 1080i, guess what? my tv deinterlaces and makes it 1080p
either way i have 1080p.
\\Rick
'Consumer demand'? Is that something that Sony paid extra for them to add in the press kit?\\
Yes, actually you can buy demand: its called buying the companies that release the movies that are in demand. You think it was something small when microsoft bought paramount? i didnt think so.
Game over, HD-DVD. This sucks because I got my folks an HD-A3 for Christmas. It's going back, and I'm going to exchange the HD-DVD version of Blue Planet for the Blu-Ray version.
Sorry guys. I wanted to see you win, I really did. Time to throw in the towel.
Why should us consumers support either format. Just buy a couple 500gb hard drives and download the movies for free. The movie industry, the music industry, are a bunch of money hungry a holes who could care less about the consumer.
This doesn't boad well for HD-DVD, true, but my question is the whole HD format in general. Don't get me wrong, I have a 56" 1080P television, and I LOVE HD, but the one thing this format war has done is make me get an Oppo DVD player that upconverts until all the smoke clears. I'm glad that this maddness "seems" to be coming to an end, but in the end, isn't the true war HD DVD's vs. standard DVD? Because as long as HD format disks and players are as expensive as they are, how profitable is it vs. standard def disks? The majority of the people who visit engadget and other blogs, etc. , have already been converted to HD. We're SO outnumbered by the Joe six packs out there, and you can't convince them that a blue disk is a better value for their shiny new HDTV than the bootleg they pick up for $10 at the barber shop. This whole thing initially reminded me of the DVD Audio vs. Super Audio CD debacle. The thing that killed them was you HAD to purchase new, more expensive hardware to take advantage of them. Blue may win, but silver (or whatever color you want to call the standard def disks) is going to run it for quite some time to come ...
Freddy C
That is sad. Anybody who has tried HD-DVD knows it is the superior format for MOVIES - better integration, overall flow, compatibility - and its CHEAPER.
I do not deny that Blu-Ray is better for PC uses - storage, games and the like, but that's purely because Blu-Ray holds more data and movie menus and that kind of stuff doesn't apply.
Is it too late for the, "There can only be one" quote?
If not, I have dibs on it.
YES! The sooner blu-ray wins this war, the sooner we can put the whole thing behind us.
Does this mean we finally get long-awaited Warner movies on blu-ray? (The Matrix, Batman Begins, etc...) ???
I was in bestbuy with a gift certificate and wanted to get a hi def movie. I couldn't decide. I have a PS3, but many of the hd dvds are dvds on 1 side and high def on the other. I couldnt figure who would win and didn't want to buy a dvd that becomes a coaster. I hate this war, and it still isn't quite over but it looks like we can see the end. I was invested in either side even with a PS3 because I wasn't sure of the outcome. I dont wanna buy bluray just because I can, I want to buy the format thats gonna be around for the next 10 - 15 years.
And i want to re buy a bunch of classic films like the godfather and goodfellas on a hi def format as well.
I dont think either format will ever take root due to the fact that there is no true advantage other that higher res. over DVD..it is the same size disc, is no more integrated to the pc than a standard dvd and can easily be dwarfed by the next generation of laser storage technology.. Why not bypass this stop gap and skip str8 to true on demand high definition formats that are discless and more openly transferable to convergence devices such as portables,vehicles, and home theater. Focusing on bring more titles direct to distribution bypassing the theater and letting us use our home theaters.Anyways that is just my 2 cents.. I love my 360(for gaming) and I will probably get a PS3 once GT5 is available(for gaming), but HD content delivery thus far depresses me.
That's already happened, in a way. My DVD player has a USB plug so DivX goes straight on the USB stick. Media hard drives and AppleTV do the same thing. What we need is a small step away, we are almost there: An Apple-TV like device - e.g. supreme usability - that plays HD DivX.
"That's already happened, in a way. My DVD player has a USB plug so DivX goes straight on the USB stick. Media hard drives and AppleTV do the same thing. What we need is a small step away, we are almost there: An Apple-TV like device - e.g. supreme usability - that plays HD DivX."
Both Xbox 360 and PS3 can play HD content from a USB stick already. As far as I know, both can also play media from your home network, PS3 being somewhat more versatile in that respect.
Yay!
=D
HD DVD, You Fail.
undeniably, HD DVD just got shot in the leg. poor Toshiba :-( .... lol .... long live Blu Ray!
I'm elated by this news and I'm an HD-DVD owner. This news means the Format War is finaly over and, all I need to do is wait for a reasonably priced Bluray writer to show up this year and we can get back to watching major releases from studios and cheaper media prices.
What if there was an HD-DVD format war and no one came?
I download HD onto my media hard drive. No need for a $1000 player, no need to decide between BR/HDDVD, no disks, and it all can be backed up on a secondary drive. AppleTV and media hard drives/players is the way to go, it's just so much more convenient than DVDs, be they HD or not.
The window for HD DVD has come and gone.
Whew - I still use DVDs exclusively. Call me when this whole mess is ironed out and everybody is on one format and HDTV's cost $200 US - like 2010!
Thank god, we're progressing somewhere towards the end of this stupid format war. I chose Blu-ray because I think it will win and I'm happy I'm correct. =)
Personally I think this whole debate is BS since I don't see large sales of a physical storage media happening anymore. It's all going to the internet baby and DVD will be around for a long long time.
I love hearing the "sheep" say how excited they are that the format war will soon be over, and how prices will finally drop for players and movies. Are you kidding me! If you think that the companies that have been in the Blu-ray camp from the start will lower prices now that they will have zero competition, you are an idiot! We all should have been cheering for HD-DVD, which was the first to lower prices! I own both players. Operationally, HD-DVD is better. Oh...and cheaper!
I couldn't agree more! To Hell with Sony's second attempt at World Format Domination!
Aww crap, wonder if I still have the receipt for my HD-DVD addon...
Was really hoping for the other guy
It's a no brainier when it comes down to a computer storage device.
Blu-Ray is the clear choice.
Sony and Pioneer are major OEM's of mechanisms.
Nice try with the pay-off rumor. Too bad WB says it's not true.
To the HD DVD Group:
1. Produce a cheap IDE based HD DVD burn/rewrite drive with no copy protection, after all with most of the studios moving to blue ray, You no longer owe them anything as far a content protection is concerned.
2. Do a deal with as many computer manufacturers as possible to make sure the drive is fitted as standard to computers worldwide.
3. Flood the market with cheap recordable HD DVD blanks worldwide.
4. Licence the technology to third parties at a very cheap rate for points 1 and 3, to make this happen and make sure they follow the specs and quality guidelines correctly, after all we don't want constant errors when burning data) .
That should get things moving on your side.
By the way I don't hate Sony just in case you ask.
I bought a Blu-ray player on the news. No more sitting on the sidelines waiting!
as a owner of the Xbox360 HD-DVD Drive im sadden by this news.
"Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray"... I didn't! I much prefer the Xbox and HD DVDs!
*No Fanboyism intended*
Blu-Ray and HD DVD should either join together to make one superior format, or all of these Studios should make movies on BOTH formats. But that's never going to happen because it's the most sensible option.
Dammit, I always bet on the Losing Horse...