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Blu-ray still doesn't get it.
Posted on 14/06/07 15:12 by chas0039
Even though Blu-ray has the global lead, largely due to the sales of the PS3, they have managed to do everything possible to blow the lead. First, there is the drastic price cut from Toshiba dropping their machines to cost at $399. Sony counters with an upcoming player at $499. Not very competitive.
Then there is the issue of titles, which of course, is the reason to get the player in the first place. Summer is a hot time for releases but Blu-ray studios have slowed to a trickle. The best titles are dual format and studios such as Sony, MGM, Disney and Fox are holding back the quality films. Warner delayed release of Batman Begins and the Matrix trilogy due to production problems and Fox and MGM won't release anything due to the fact that the copy protection was hacked.
Anyone looking to buy at this time will certainly be looking hard at a dual format machine and that will not be good for Sony in the long run. Can you say "Beta"?
Of course, HD of some type will eventually be the status quo. But with progress like this it will be a while before the average consumer feels safe with a purchase and the longer regular DVDs are still made, the less likely HD hardware will actually be used for HD films on any but the best, and there are very few that actually merit HD prices.
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Abit pathetic that they wont release due to the copy protection being hacked - do they think DVD hasn't been hacked or something??
Do they think it's not always going to be hacked?
They're so worried about piracy they're just completely not even taking into account the people who might actually buy their stuff. Dont they realise that even with piracy, a Blu-Ray disk is over a 20Gb download and so few people are likely to download it??
It's not downloading piracy that they're worried about... it's the pirate replication plants that they're worried about.If they keep holding back because people are hacking the newest encryptions, they will surely never release anything...because there will always be hackers no matter how hard they try to avoid it.
By
elec (guest),
Thursday 14 June 2007 19:01
if a company isn't releasing for blu-ray because of a copy protection being hacked, then they won't release for hd-dvd cause it was hacked first, and worse. blu-ray has a second copy protection that hasn't been hacked yet, hd-dvd doesn't.
also, 80% of the movie studios are behind blu-ray, and they're just off to a slow start with movies, why would you even think of buying anything else, just because the movie you want isn't released yet? thats no reason, you won't EVER get that movie if you switch formats and its one of the majority that is blu-ray only.
article is just an opinion and shouldn't have been posted.
By
mraerosmith (guest),
Thursday 14 June 2007 22:31
80% of studios behind blu-ray, you living in a dream world last i heard blu-ray was well behind in studio support, any evidence to justify your 80% Claim, other than evidence provided by sony Fan boys
It depends on how you look at it. HD DVD has a lot of catalogue titles thanks to Universal. Blu-Ray has more day and date releases. If you bothered to look up how many top grossing movies in the last 2 years came from which studios, you would see that Universal is not a big player, and that it's only Blu-Ray exclusive and format neutral companies making the big movies now.
So 80% of studio support probably refers to having: Sony, Fox, Disney, MGM, Lionsgate, Warner Brothers, and Paramount,
HD DVD has Universal, Warner Brothers, and Paramount. Weinstein could be argued also, but they have very few movies to add.
So 7 out of 9 studios is 77.777777% (close to 80%), whereas HD DVD has 3 out of 9, which is 33.333333%. But that's just the one way of looking at it.
In terms of Blockbuster hits in the last few years, Blu-Ray has access to a much larger percentage (rough estimate of >90%). In terms over over all movie titles, since Universal has a pretty good stock of very very old movies, it's probably closer to 65%-70% Blu-Ray to 30%-35% HD DVD. But that's a pure guess, since I haven't run the numbers on that one (it's incredibly hard to find out how many titles each studio owns the rights to).
What I *CAN* say is, that Neilsen Videoscan ratings show us that most catalogue titles aren't selling so well, especially if they are more then a few years old. The Matrix is an exception, there are a few other exceptions also.By
Mia (guest),
Friday 15 June 2007 01:23
mraerosmith, I hope your information was not from the HD DVD PR people (or Fanboys). 
By
mraerosmith (guest),
Friday 15 June 2007 08:38
HD DVD does have more studio support worldwide, especially in Europe, if u have a look here ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_DVD) under corporate and industry support it becomes quite clear why, its the market for adult film that will quite likely sort this war out, in addition i live in england and when i walk into my local asda store i only see HD DVD available to buy no bluray, asda being the closest to your walmart but only carrying the one format is a fairly good indicator in my book, however for all i know the situation maybe completley different over the pond, but everything i see and read makes me think HD dvd is gonna win this one.
However for people who want to compare here is the link to the bluray equavilaent plus additional articles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-Ray)
By
BurnMaster (guest),
Friday 15 June 2007 10:59
The point with Piracy is a dud one, at least for the moment anyway, Piracy only counts when blank media and recorders are dirt cheap. At present this isn't the case, both media and recorders are pricey. Making home piracy or factory based piracy not very viable. This will change in time of course for Blu-ray andor HD-DVD. But for now not releasing discs because of Piracy cuts no ice.
Well, this certainly seems like a bit of a rant from a HD supporter?
I really don't care who wins this so called battle, what I do know is that if there is a stalemate, there will simply be player that do everything. Look at DVD-R and +R. There was a silly stage like this where people were wondering who would win and what would happen.
Now look at it, there's pretty much zero difference between the two, almost all big manufacturers make both formats, EVERY single new writer supports both formats also.
Same thing will happen with HD DVD and Blu ray unless one of them simply sucks ass for some reason.
We are probably going to walk into a rental store in a few years time and there will be a huge wall of HDVD titles and opposite that a huge wall of Blu Ray and everyone is going to have players that support both formats. Then all will wonder why the hell there was even a stupid war in the first place.
Oh and BTW, if PS3 starts kicking the crap out of Xbox once it's price goes down, everyone is going to start automatically having blu ray players, whether they want one or not. This message was edited at: 15-06-2007 12:09
By
Wise (guest),
Friday 15 June 2007 12:42
I will never buy Sony again, after the music cd copy protection trojen. !!!! HD DVD all the way!!
By
mraerosmith (guest),
Friday 15 June 2007 13:10
A rant from a HD supporter, thats an interesting opinion considering i have both formats at home, however i am offering my opinion on the matter as i see it, in an ideal world players that play both disks ala DVD +- would be lovely, but just dont seem likely at the moment, i just cant get blu-ray disks easily over here whereas hd-dvd i can just walk into the supermarket and pick them up with my weekly food shop, until blu-ray is as convinient as hd-dvd its not going to thrive. 
By
Dunc (guest),
Friday 15 June 2007 17:05
Another "article" from the I have HD so Blu Ray is crap brigade. Its getting old, let it go you sad sad people. There are much more important things to worry about in the world. Blu Ray and HD can happily co exist and if a "winner" does emerge then so be it. We don't need this inane rubbish posted every week.
I don't think either side gets it. The majority of people want one format for HD and a smooth transition. This has been anything but that smooth transition.
with all the money at stake with the very definition of HD formats in question, this war will drag on for quite some time. And I'm not sinking money into either one.
cd pirate said: "Oh and BTW, if PS3 starts kicking the crap out of Xbox once it's price goes down, everyone is going to start automatically having blu ray players, whether they want one or not."
Well, I would prefer an HD DVD player, but I hope you're correct cause I'd rather get a free Blu Ray player than have to pay for an HD DVD. So this will be automatic? How will they get my address? DMV records? IRS??
Btw, my opinion is the "war" keeps happening due to the fact that these companies are run by males, i.e. the old "mine is bigger than yours" syndrome. 
^You don't get a free Blu-ray player when you buy a PS3. Blu-ray is the reason the price of the PS3 is so high in the first place. You're DEFINITELY paying for it.
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