Warner Bros. going Blu-Ray exclusive / HD-DVD CES conference cancelled

[dg]

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."

Source. (http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/boost-for-blu-ray-warner-bros-will-release-high-def-titles-exclusively-in-that-format/)


Notice of CES Press Conference Cancellation by North American HD DVD Promotion Group

Based on the timing of the Warner Home Video announcement today, we have decided to postpone our CES 2008 press conference scheduled for Sunday, January 6th at 8:30 p.m. in the Wynn Hotel. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

We are currently discussing the potential impact of this announcement with the other HD DVD partner companies and evaluating next steps. We believe the consumer continues to benefit from HD DVD's commitment to quality and affordability – a bar that is critical for the mainstream success of any format.

We'll continue to keep you updated on new developments around HD DVD.

Source. (http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/04/hd-dvd-group-cancels-ces-press-conference-in-wake-of-warner-anno/)

Wow. It's a rough life for HD-DVD right now. Honestly, I could care less about what wins because I don't see either of the formats worth upgrading my TV to HD for anyway. I just hope that the victor is clear and prices will lower so consumers, as a whole, will be happier.

[Zeph]

That's fucking ridiculous. HD-DVD looks much better than Blu Ray.

[Xetsuei]

That's fucking ridiculous. HD-DVD looks much better than Blu Ray.

iawtp. Plus with the new 3rd layer they've added, it can store 51gb as apposed to blu-rays 50gb.

[TPE]

I want to cut my self right now.

[Kornman00]

That's fucking ridiculous. HD-DVD looks much better than Blu Ray.
plus no sony D:

[Patrickssj6]

plus no sony D:
Haha yes, same here, that is obviously the ONLY reason they did it in the first place. :D

[PenGuin1362]

never used either but from what i've heard hd is better (and cheaper) so what's with the shitty sony stuff now >:|.

however i'm quite content with my 360/laptop as a dvd player for now. super high quality isn't a major concern of mine atm

[dg]

Well, New Line just announced (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117978461.html?categoryid=1009&cs=1) that they too are going Blu-ray exclusive. The ending of this "war" is coming closer!

[Bad Waffle]

This is more fucking retarded than the "holy crap" thread i posted. Argh.

[TheGhost]

Looks like my HD DVD player and HD DVDs will be worthless in about a hour. Blah. I hate this paying off shit that Sony is doing, the HD DVD format should have won.

[Bodzilla]

thats just fucking stupid.

[Tweek]

i don't really have any opinion on this, i just hate sony, so ftl i guess.

[Mr Buckshot]

I have both a PS3 and the X360 HD DVD player, so I can play both Blu-rays and HD DVDs.

I agree, HD DVD is cheaper and more reliable, but I don't see why Sony should be flamed for this. To be honest, I support Sony more than I support Microsoft.

[Zeph]

I have both a PS3 and the X360 HD DVD player, so I can play both Blu-rays and HD DVDs.

I agree, HD DVD is cheaper and more reliable, but I don't see why Sony should be flamed for this. To be honest, I support Sony more than I support Microsoft.

Blu-Ray is a great platform for storage. That means it's great for video games and is a perfect choice for the PS3; that is of course assuming you disregard the fact that current games dont use anywhere near that amount of storage. For Blu-Ray movies though, it uses an inferior codec compared to HD-DVD and costs more as well.

I dislike Sony more than Microsoft due to the developer environments both produce, but that has nothing to do compared to my arguments with Blu-Ray/HD-DVD.

[Xetsuei]

Blu-Ray is a great platform for storage. That means it's great for video games and is a perfect choice for the PS3

HD DVD can store more now. Plus both and hd dvd blu-ray reads at 1x or 2x speed, way to slow for video games.

[Mr Buckshot]

Xetsuei™;208209']HD DVD can store more now. Plus both and hd dvd blu-ray reads at 1x or 2x speed, way to slow for video games.

That's why most PS3 games install cache files onto the hard drive to reduce loading times. Dunno if the same happens for Xbox 360 games.

Anyway, the size of games is expanding, guys. Even dual-layered DVDs just aren't enough anymore - Motorstorm is 18 GB large when compressed.

back on topic: I guess it's not really a good thing that these studios have switched to Blu-ray. But I always grab my high-def movies from Movie central (our equivalent of HBO/Starz) or Pay-Per-View. However, I honestly doubt we actually buy movie discs that often, even for standard DVDs, unless we really like the movie that much. I don't think the cost of renting a Blu-ray or a HD DVD will be more than it is for a tape or a standard DVD.

[Zeph]

Xetsuei™;208209']HD DVD can store more now. Plus both and hd dvd blu-ray reads at 1x or 2x speed, way to slow for video games.
I dont mean everything can natively be read off the disk for immediate play. The larger amounts of storage just lets the developers not waste as much time trying to package it all into something that will both read all the info needed for a scene and fit in the disk. Loading times aren't a priority for all developers. Still, it is possible if you work at it. Take a look at Halo 3 :p. Their bsp switching and pre-loading techniques which they developed years ago still work perfectly fine.

[jngrow]

What do you expect? I've seen maybe two HD-DVD ads in the past month, and 100+ blu-ray. And half of 360 owners have no clue about the HD-DVD add-on.

[StankBacon]

god damit >:(

[TPE]

I told my dad about this since he remembers the VHS and betamax wars. He was pretty much a sad panda.

All our new sony products have already started to die. Our home theater system has something messed up with the laser and you can see pixels moving. My TV (CRT) has already started to show the hue start to get messed up in the corner and is very annoying in Halo 3.

New sony products=shit
Old sony products=the shit

[ExAm]

Fuck.

[dg]

I am truly surprised to see so many negative responses! I am glad that a format is being chosen so that way we won't have to worry about this happening again. Is it because Blu-ray equals Sony? Is that necessarily a bad thing?

[Flyboy]

I am truly surprised to see so many negative responses! I am glad that a format is being chosen so that way we won't have to worry about this happening again. Is it because Blu-ray equals Sony? Is that necessarily a bad thing?
Jesus thank you. I love how everyone here is always insulting Microsoft for all the shit you claim they shove down your throat. However sony (who in my opinion is much better. I own both a Ps3 and 360 and sony's machine, though doesn't offer as many games, is a much MUCH higher end piece of hardware. 2 tereflops, come on, who else can match that for the price) automatically has a bad stamp even though most of you don't even own sony products.

Everyone here is more of a marketing guinea pig than you realize.

[Zeph]

Is it because Blu-ray equals Sony? Is that necessarily a bad thing?

No, it's because HD-DVD is better quality than Blu-Ray. I'm sad because the publicity of a crappy console has turned the tide of the way for producers to support something inferior.


Jesus thank you. I love how everyone here is always insulting Microsoft for all the shit you claim they shove down your throat. However sony (who in my opinion is much better. I own both a Ps3 and 360 and sony's machine, though doesn't offer as many games, is a much MUCH higher end piece of hardware. 2 tereflops, come on, who else can match that for the price) automatically has a bad stamp even though most of you don't even own sony products.

Everyone here is more of a marketing guinea pig than you realize.
Having strong processing ability doesn't matter if it greatly outreaches what the graphical processor can display. Also, the developer environment Sony creates for their developers is shit compared to what Microsoft provides for 360 developers.

Do all the PS3 developers even have a PS3 dev-kit yet?

[jahrain]

No, it's because HD-DVD is better quality than Blu-Ray. I'm sad because the publicity of a crappy console has turned the tide of the way for producers to support something inferior.
This is a huge misunderstanding. There is no way what so ever that HD-DVD, or Bluray have better quality than the other or visa-versa. The difference between the 2 disk formats or the only way you could compare them is by their data storage size. It is true however, for movies, that HD-DVD players currently uses a better quality video codec, but that has nothing to do with the disk its stored on. A movie encoded for an HD-DVD can be burned onto a Blu-Ray disk and keep the same video quality, but I don't think the HD movie player would like that very much. That could still change if newer codecs are used for blu-ray movies in the future.

[Zeph]

This is a huge misunderstanding. There is no way what so ever that HD-DVD, or Bluray have better quality than the other or visa-versa. The difference between the 2 disk formats or the only way you could compare them is by their data storage size. It is true however, for movies, that HD-DVD players currently uses a better quality video codec, but that has nothing to do with the disk its stored on. A movie encoded for an HD-DVD can be burned onto a Blu-Ray disk and keep the same video quality, but I don't think the HD movie player would like that very much. That could still change if newer codecs are used for blu-ray movies in the future.

Blu-Ray is limited to the codec it's used since the beginning. The Blu-Ray players aren't set up to have their firmware updated. So no, you cant just scoop an HD-DVD onto a Blu-Ray disk and play it. You'd have to decode it and recode it into the proper codec. My understanding of it tells me you wouldn't be able to play the movie's menus/etc because Blu-Ray uses a form of Java while HD-DVD uses something proprietary to Microsoft.

I cant find anything about it right now, but from what I remember HD-DVD players must have a source to the internet or something else for firmware upgrades/etc. If that's right, then HD-DVD could even be updated to something better and still use the same disk in the future. Seeing how Sony had terrible problems with their Blu-Ray firmware that horrendously affected the early adopters, HD-DVD's update abilities made it even more appealing to me over Blu-Ray.
Anyone have anything to confirm this or did it get dropped before HD-DVD went retail?

[jahrain]

I'm not saying its practical, but I'm sure someone could firmware mod a hybrid HD-DVD/Blu-Ray player to read Blu-Ray disks as HD-DVD disks. Then it would be possible to play HD-DVD encoded video on a blu-ray disk. It would be the equivalence of burning audio data from a CD to a DVD, and playing it in a modded DVD player to think its a Audio CD to play the music. they are both formats that can store raw digital data, so its completely possible, just not practical.

The point mainly is to show that the quality of the codecs really has nothing to do with the actual disk format in one being better than the other. Its more just the poor decision to use old codecs as the standard format for blu-ray that is at fault, but not so much the actual format itself. As of now, blu-ray is being used for games, and data storage purposes, so I don't know why anyone would give a crap about codecs for being the fail of blu-ray.

To me, both formats are pretty much the same, just one has more space than the other, the other is cheaper to get.

[Phopojijo]

Xetsuei™;208209']HD DVD can store more now. Plus both and hd dvd blu-ray reads at 1x or 2x speed, way to slow for video games.That's 1x/2x speed for HD-DVD.

1x HD-DVD = ~4x DVD. So that's basically an 7x DVD-ROM which is fast enough for gaming (maybe ~28x CD-ROM)

[jahrain]

The 1x, or 2x is the actual rotation speed of the physical disk. Since the bit density on blu-ray and hd-dvd is much greater than CDs, or DVDs, its equivelent in the actual amount of data transfer speed as 4x and 8x DVDs, and 24x and 48x in cds.

[Mr Buckshot]

Jesus thank you. I love how everyone here is always insulting Microsoft for all the shit you claim they shove down your throat. However sony (who in my opinion is much better. I own both a Ps3 and 360 and sony's machine, though doesn't offer as many games, is a much MUCH higher end piece of hardware. 2 tereflops, come on, who else can match that for the price) automatically has a bad stamp even though most of you don't even own sony products.

Everyone here is more of a marketing guinea pig than you realize.

I agree that with the exception of games, the PS3 does offer more console per dollar, far more than the X360 does. However, you are being a fanboy here. And you could make a console that's 20 times more powerful than the PS3, but if it's plagued with the same problems, that power goes to waste. I own both a PS3 and a 360 and I like both, but I'm not a fanboy of either.

HD DVD has the better codec, yes. But a codec is a frigging piece of software - it can be improved for the Blu-rays. And with games (especially RPGs) becoming more detailed and advanced, a dual-layer DVD just isn't enough any more, and so Blu-ray is a good medium for data storage.

And guys, a slow drive read speed doesn't mean slow gaming performance - it just means slow load times. The PS1 had a very slow CD player in comparison to the 52x CD-ROM drives in modern PCs, and the games didn't take long to load. I have had no trouble with loading times for any of my PS3 games - in fact, some of them load faster than X360 games do thanks to fact that they install 900MB+ cache files on the hard drive.