Warner Backs Blu-Ray. End Times For HD-DVD?

[wraggster]

The NY Times reports: In addition to Apple, Warner Brothers is now going to throw its weight behind the Blu-ray format for high-definition disks. Warner has been the only major studio to publish its movies in both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats. Today, the studio announced that from now on, it would only issue movies in Blu-ray. Richard Greenfield, the media analyst with Pali Research, wrote that this marks the end of the format wars: "We expect HD DVD to 'die' a quick death."

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/05/1337258

[Keitaro Urashima]

Traitor... They cant do this to HD-DVD. HD-DVD is one who win the wars, not Blu-Ray. HD-DVD Player is much cheaper than Blu-Ray Player. I got both HD-DVD (XBox 360) & Blu-Ray (PS3). I have been buying HD-DVD Movie quiet sometimes now.

[Gizmo356]

Traitor... They cant do this to HD-DVD. HD-DVD is one who win the wars, not Blu-Ray. HD-DVD Player is much cheaper than Blu-Ray Player. I got both HD-DVD (XBox 360) & Blu-Ray (PS3). I have been buying HD-DVD Movie quiet sometimes now.

Its not whats cheaper its whats going to make them more money and since blu ray is more expensive but still out sells HD DVD it makes more sensd to go with blu ray

[DPyro]

The discs them self are actually less expensive if you look at it like this: HD-DVD 30GB Blu-ray 50GB

[F9zDark]

Traitor... They cant do this to HD-DVD. HD-DVD is one who win the wars, not Blu-Ray. HD-DVD Player is much cheaper than Blu-Ray Player. I got both HD-DVD (XBox 360) & Blu-Ray (PS3). I have been buying HD-DVD Movie quiet sometimes now.

This is why the format war is stupid. Format Wars only hurt the consumer in the end. Honestly, if you knew from the beginning which format was gonna win, would you had even bothered supporting the losing format?

In my opinion its just wasted money, with no hope of getting it back.

[JKKDARK]

This is why the format war is stupid. Format Wars only hurt the consumer in the end. Honestly, if you knew from the beginning which format was gonna win, would you had even bothered supporting the losing format?

In my opinion its just wasted money, with no hope of getting it back.

Xbox 360 sales > PS3 sales

enough said

[Accordion]

Xbox 360 sales > PS3 sales

enough said

i really hope you are joking.

Blu-ray sales at least double that of HD-DVD. that is what matters

[DPyro]

Xbox 360 sales > PS3 sales

enough said

How does that have anything to do with Blu-ray/HD-DVD?

[JKKDARK]

How does that have anything to do with Blu-ray/HD-DVD?

The news was posted in the PS3 News section, PS3 has Blu-Ray.

[DPyro]

The news was posted in the PS3 News section, PS3 has Blu-Ray.

Yes, but 360 sales have little to nothing to do with Blu-ray or HD-DVD. There is about a 3% margin of people who would actually buy that HD-DVD add-on.

[F9zDark]

Xbox 360 sales > PS3 sales

enough said

Would you shut the f|_|ck up already? Really, how old are you, 5? Because thats how old you act. Seriously, we have shown to you time and again that the sales of the 360 have no bearing on the format war.

Now go back to the sandbox and play with the other kindergarten students.

[Gizmo356]

Would you shut the f|_|ck up already? Really, how old are you, 5? Because thats how old you act. Seriously, we have shown to you time and again that the sales of the 360 have no bearing on the format war.

Now go back to the sandbox and play with the other kindergarten students.

Dont pay attention to him he is a n00b and just trys to flame bait all the time

[DPyro]

Dont pay attention to him he is a n00b and just trys to flame bait all the time

Problem is we shouldn't have this kind of crap on our site.

[Gizmo356]

Problem is we shouldn't have this kind of crap on our site.

Yeah but apparently people with authority can't do anything about it =s

[Shadowblind]

Problem is we shouldn't have this kind of crap on our site.

Normally I'm pro-Xbox and not to fond of the PS3...but I agree with you, this is going too far. JKK, you have 3 problems with what your saying:

1: This is the PS3 forum. You don't post that in the PS3 forum. I used to do that, and it made me look like a total ass.

2: If your gonna argue, at least put some reason into your posts.

3: I appreciate how dedicated you are to the Wii and 360, but really, this topic has little to nothing to do with the console wars between PS3 and 360. So...WTF?

I do find it interesting that if I recall, JKK has been like this for a while now, but she--er, he--um...[UNDETERMINED] is only getting noticed for this when pertaining to PS3. Well, whatever.

[JKKDARK]

2: If your gonna argue, at least put some reason into your posts.
so insulting members and calling them "miserable bitchs" for not having a PS3 is a reason? That's what F9zDark said.

Good try, Shadowblind. Thanks, again, for trying.

[Gizmo356]

so insulting members and calling them "miserable bitchs" for not having a PS3 is a reason? That's what F9zDark said.

Good try, Shadowblind. Thanks, again, for trying.

You were acting like an asshole before he called you that =/

[DPyro]

Regardless of whatever people called anyone else, I'm gonna start handing out infractions if the off topic comments continue.

[F9zDark]

so insulting members and calling them "miserable bitchs" for not having a PS3 is a reason? That's what F9zDark said.

Good try, Shadowblind. Thanks, again, for trying.

Well lets take a step back, for about as long as I can remember you have bad mouthed the PS3 and PSP, for really no reason.

Then you come on here, and in what seems to be desperation, try and "argue" Warner Brother's going to Blu-Ray based on "console sales". Sure the PS3 undoubtedly helped Blu-Ray, massively. The Xbox360 DID NOT. Who in their right mind would buy the 360 on the premise that "its cheaper than a PS3" then buy an addon that would make it MORE EXPENSIVE than the PS3?

I am just so sick of it by now. Don't like a system fine, whatever. Want to come on here and DEBATE INTELLIGENTLY the merits of a system over the other, fine, I am happy with that. But to come on here and be as ignorant as a drunken 5 year old who smoked a gram of pot, and post flamebait after flamebait for no rhyme or reason; then yes I have a problem with that.

[Shadowblind]

so insulting members and calling them "miserable bitchs" for not having a PS3 is a reason? That's what F9zDark said.

Good try, Shadowblind. Thanks, again, for trying.

I guess I just kinda mean that we all need to act grown up. This goes for the others in this topic too; I do know I have no right to say this but it still stands as common decency.

Now as Sniper says, back on topic. I don't want to get my first infraction trying to prevent a flame war :o

Warner leaving HDDVD certainly doesn't mean the end of it, what with the rich companies backing it, but this means we probably won't see the Looney Toons collection come out on HDDVD anytime soon. As for personal experience, I've never really seen much of a difference between Blu-Ray and HDDVDs quality. I believe that the PS3 is the main source of the Blu-Ray movies sales, however.

[DPyro]

Problem is, not only did Warner go Blu but so did New Line Cinema.

[MicroNut]

The news was posted in the PS3 News section, PS3 has Blu-Ray.
Where else is this going to be posted on DCEMU?
The Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD section?

Any chance you get you post something negative about the PS3.
M$ vs. $ony fanboy crap is so lame.
Get over it.
Move on.

Microsoft made the right choice by not binding their console to any potentially dead format.
Now they can support both with any political fallout.

Toshiba's only hope to make anymore money on HD-DVD is for Microsoft to license the 360 platform to them.

So far its Paramount and DreamWorks remaining in the left corner.
I don't think they stand a chance.
Its only a matter of time... 05/08

[The Hombrew Hunter]

So they're committing sales suicide?

Think about it. BluRay players are insanely expensive and most average movie buyers have HDDVD as it's the cheaper solution.

Switching to only Blu-Ray is just dropping sales insanely.

[Accordion]

So they're committing sales suicide?

Think about it. BluRay players are insanely expensive and most average movie buyers have HDDVD as it's the cheaper solution.

Switching to only Blu-Ray is just dropping sales insanely.

…
…
what?

BLu-ray is outselling HD-DVD even with the higher price of players. If that doesn't show an investor there is a problem something is very wrong. Even with $100 HD-DVD players Blu-ray outsold it.

[bah]

I dont know about movie sales, but in terms of player stats that I've seen it was always the PS3 that pushed Blu-ray well ahead of HD-DVD.

Using that as a guide is just stupid as how many people used their ps2 to play DVDs?
The standalone market for the winning format will dwarf the console-with-drive market in time, I dont think either format is doing all that well as most people are sticking with DVD. Much of DVDs popularity came after players reached very cheap prices, and most people who buy DVDs watch them on low-mid range players.

Personally I'm just pissed because I wanted the format with less DRM and cheaper blank media to win. :(

EDIT:
"Sony recently announced that Blu-ray was outselling HD DVD by a 3-to-1 margin in Europe, which is a reversal of previous trends. That shift, of course, is entirely due to the fact that the PS3 was released recently in Europe.

The PS3 accounts for over 95% of all Blu-ray playback devices, which means Blu-ray’s fortunes are tightly linked with the success of the PS3 as a game console." - Link. (http://blogs.zdnet.com/carroll/?p=1772)

[The Hombrew Hunter]

Whatever.

Well, as long as there's still normal DVD format I have no problem with it.

HD is overrated.

[F9zDark]

Thanks to DCErgo for providing this:

http://i12.tinypic.com/8ggsd1u.gif

Clearly Blu-Ray has beaten HD-DVD for the entirety of the past year. This isn't just from the PS3...

Added:

Also, from Wikipedia:

Blockbuster, the largest U.S. movie rental company, offers Blu-ray exclusively in 1450 stores. Previously, the company test-marketed both competing formats at 250 stores and found that more than 70% of high definition rentals were Blu-ray discs. They continue to offer both formats at those initial 250 stores, as well as on its online rental service.

[JKKDARK]

Well lets take a step back, for about as long as I can remember you have bad mouthed the PS3 and PSP, for really no reason.
so the quality games, the console price and the backward compatibility issues are not "reasons" for you. Fantastic, or probably you didn't read my posts correctly.




I am just so sick of it by now. Don't like a system fine, whatever. Want to come on here and DEBATE INTELLIGENTLY the merits of a system over the other, fine, I am happy with that. But to come on here and be as ignorant as a drunken 5 year old who smoked a gram of pot, and post flamebait after flamebait for no rhyme or reason; then yes I have a problem with that.
Yes, but insulting members doesn't mean you are debating "intelligently".


Where else is this going to be posted on DCEMU?
The Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD section?
We have a section called DCEmu Blog (http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=125), if you didn't notice.

[Cloudhunter]

so the quality games, the console price and the backward compatibility issues are not "reasons" for you. Fantastic, or probably you didn't read my posts correctly.

...Here we go again. Take a hint from the moderators and stop, lest you get an infraction. Heaven knows how you got newsposter status here.

Anyway, back on-topic - it can't be argued that PS3 has helped Blu-Ray - XBox 360 hasn't helped HD-DVD on the other hand. Maybe if it had had HDMI and HD-DVD built in, the story may have been different.

Either way, I don't think HD-DVD is dead yet - but it isn't looking good.

Cloudy

[F9zDark]

...Here we go again. Take a hint from the moderators and stop, lest you get an infraction. Heaven knows how you got newsposter status here.

Anyway, back on-topic - it can't be argued that PS3 has helped Blu-Ray - XBox 360 hasn't helped HD-DVD on the other hand. Maybe if it had had HDMI and HD-DVD built in, the story may have been different.

Either way, I don't think HD-DVD is dead yet - but it isn't looking good.

Cloudy

Not dead yet, but damn close. Really Paramount and Dreamworks are the last companies supporting HD-DVD that are "important" to Hollywood.

[bah]

Neither format is well established and the PS3 makes up the vast majority of Blu-ray players sold.

Whichever format wins, those ps3 sales will be nothing compared to mass uptake of cheap players.

Of course if there are more PS3s out there than there are HD-DVD or Blu-ray standalone players, then Blu ray is going to look like its well ahead in both player sales and movie rental/sales.

Using that early lead as the deciding factor doesn't seem to make much sense to me. I think it has more to do with BD+.

[F9zDark]

Neither format is well established and the PS3 makes up the vast majority of Blu-ray players sold.

Whichever format wins, those ps3 sales will be nothing compared to mass uptake of cheap players.

Of course if there are more PS3s out there than there are HD-DVD or Blu-ray standalone players, then Blu ray is going to look like its well ahead in both player sales and movie rental/sales.

Using that early lead as the deciding factor doesn't seem to make much sense to me. I think it has more to do with BD+.

I don't know, but this post seems to indicate that Blu-Ray is well established. And those are standalone sales.

http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=81072

[Shrygue]

Here's something, I went to the shopping centre and I walked into a store selling films in BD and HD-DVD disks. I look at the shelves and see that the films in BD format are almost gone the other shelf with the HD-DVDs still had many disks on it. I go to 10 other stores on that day and see the same result from the first one, Blu-Ray disks are selling more than HD-DVDs.

So there's my cut on this, Blu-Ray is beating HD-DVD senseless in sales.

[bah]

I don't know, but this post seems to indicate that Blu-Ray is well established. And those are standalone sales.

http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=81072

By standalone I guess you dont mean 'not including PS3 sales'.

TO quote your linked article:

"Like the HD DVD camp’s recent claims, the figure encompasses both Blu-ray-capable gaming devices and Blu-ray set-top players."

"Still, the 2.7 million sold is a clear achievement over the HD DVD side, which pushed its installment base to 750,000 units following widespread holiday retail sales, notably including $99-priced players at Wal-Mart and Best Buy"

And an article that it links to:

"Although clearly enjoying a sales surge, HD DVD players still trail Blu-ray hardware sales, as the Blu-ray-capable PlayStation 3 has sold 2 million units in North America."

Meaning not including the PS3, HD-DVD has sold 50,000 units more....?

When standalone (non gaming console with movie playback) sales are taken into account the playing figures seem more balanced.

I'm 1/2 playing devils advocate here and half just wanting cheaper burnable media and a format with less DRM.

I don't own either and probably wont for a fair while, high capacity burnable media would lead me to buy a burner though.

Sony threw a large chunk of their financial fortunes behind Blu-ray, the fact that the ps3 with all its gaming hardware was the cheapest BR player for a long time proves that. The fact that there are more BR playback devices at this point shouldn't be surprising nor re-assuring for the BR camp.

I still feel that at a point where a gaming console holds the majority of a video medium's market share (and only one side of the format 'war' has that force/advantage behind it), judging a winner based on the sales of its media is premature/unwise.
Especially when more studios are releasing more movies for BR.

I accept it looks like HD-DVD will now die, I'm just saying as an impartial observer it seems that it's not due to the merits of each format to the consumer.
What else is new I guess.

EDIT (Just have this compulsion to play devils advocate): Better data protection also?: "The structure of HD-DVDs is similar to traditional DVDs, with the data layer protected by layers of substrate of each side. The structure of Blu-ray discs is more similar to CDs, with the information stored directly beneath the surface. Early Blu-ray discs were easily damaged, but a protective layer was developed and made Blu-ray discs more reliable." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_media_preservation

[F9zDark]

All I know, from the evidence, is that Blu-Ray has sold far more movies than HD-DVD and has much better support in Hollywood and elsewhere than HD-DVD.

Whether or not its because one is better than the other, who knows. People slate Blu-Ray as the next Beta-Max, however, truth be told, Beta-Max was superior than VHS, but VHS has much better support from the companies that mattered (and had support from the Porn industry, which isn't such a factor now with downloadable movies, often, for much cheaper than buying a disc.)

If HD-DVD does last another year, maybe things will look up for it. But in all honesty I hope not. As I have said since the dawn of this format war, the consumers are the ones that screwed in the end.

Lets for a second, imagine that all Xbox360 owners bought the HD-DVD addon and bought 2 movies each. Thats 300 dollars buying into HD-DVD per person (roughly). At 12 million consoles thats 3,600,000,000 dollars spent on HD-DVD. Assuming that HD-DVD does fail, thats alot of money earned by the HD-DVD camp that none of those people will ever see again or even get their money's worth.

[Shadowblind]

All I know, from the evidence, is that Blu-Ray has sold far more movies than HD-DVD and has much better support in Hollywood and elsewhere than HD-DVD.

Whether or not its because one is better than the other, who knows. People slate Blu-Ray as the next Beta-Max, however, truth be told, Beta-Max was superior than VHS, but VHS has much better support from the companies that mattered (and had support from the Porn industry, which isn't such a factor now with downloadable movies, often, for much cheaper than buying a disc.)

If HD-DVD does last another year, maybe things will look up for it. But in all honesty I hope not. As I have said since the dawn of this format war, the consumers are the ones that screwed in the end.

Lets for a second, imagine that all Xbox360 owners bought the HD-DVD addon and bought 2 movies each. Thats 300 dollars buying into HD-DVD per person (roughly). At 12 million consoles thats 3,600,000,000 dollars spent on HD-DVD. Assuming that HD-DVD does fail, thats alot of money earned by the HD-DVD camp that none of those people will ever see again or even get their money's worth.
When it comes to stand alone players, there really isn't much difference in sales. Neither are selling well in the least. But the PS3 plays a major role in Blu-Ray too, which, from a gaming standpoint may not be selling so great, but from a Hi-Def player standpoint its selling amazingly.

PS: There are about 18 million 360 owners out there :p

[Accordion]

The latest chart from Toshiba showed a very slight advantage for stand alone HD-DVD players when compared to stand alone Blu-Ray players. Unfortunately Toshiba seemed proud of reaching nearly 1 million units sold[USA… i think]

Of course the PS3 was not included in these figures, which is very odd when anyone with interest in supporting Blu-ray will know that the PS3 is the best player you can buy and also completely future proof in terms of Blu-ray specification [it has a hard drive, internet access, etc]

[DCergo]

The latest chart from Toshiba showed a very slight advantage for stand alone HD-DVD players when compared to stand alone Blu-Ray players. Unfortunately Toshiba seemed proud of reaching nearly 1 million units sold[USA… i think]

Of course the PS3 was not included in these figures, which is very odd when anyone with interest in supporting Blu-ray will know that the PS3 is the best player you can buy and also completely future proof in terms of Blu-ray specification [it has a hard drive, internet access, etc]

Toshiba is spinning (as usual) their press release in their favor. Their figures include a razor thin advantage only up to December 22. It completely falls apart December 22 - January 1st where standalone sales of Blu-ray players pulled ahead significantly. They don't want you to know this :)

And of course, they never figure the PS3s in their sales comparisons, but are happy to include the 360 addons and consumer drives (laptops, etc) in their figures.

[jamotto]

It completely falls apart December 22 - January 1st where standalone sales of Blu-ray players pulled ahead significantly.

Do you have the link where it says that?

In other news engadgethd has posted this.


The Financial Times is reporting that Paramount is preparing to use a get out clause in its HD DVD exclusivity deal, and go back to Blu-ray

Paramount following Warner out the HD DVD door? (http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/07/paramount-following-warner-out-the-hd-dvd-door)

[irongiant]

HDDVD is dead, end of story.

Paramount are strongly rumoured to be announcing dropping HDDVD and moving to Blu Ray, they have a get out clause in their deal with HDDVD and it appears Dreamworks have the same. Which will leave just Universal and there's no way their shareholders will allow them to stay HDDVD exclusive, in fact their deal allows them to release on Blu Ray at anytime.

It's no coincidence that during the Microsoft conference at CES there was no mention whatsoever of HDDVD, apparently before the Warner decision they had around 30% of their presentation dedicated to HDDVD and it's relationship with the 360. The format not getting a mention whatsoever is another nail in it's coffin.

Target stores across the US are now quietly increasing their Blu Ray displays and minimizing the HDDVD sections. As for all the comments about the PS3 being the main reason for Blu Ray sales, so what, do you think the movie studios could care less? Even with the dirt cheap HDDVD players on the shelves the latest sales data shows Blu Ray standalone players outselling them. Anyone who doesn't realise that the PS2 gave the DVD format a big boost, especially in Japan, is niave to say the least.

[turnerl]

my local blockbuster here in australia stocked blueray and hddvd up until 2 weeks ago. Now the hddvd shelf has gone missing? and now they have a large plasma on display with Blueray promos all around it playing movies.

[F9zDark]

The blockbuster by me doesn't carry HD-DVD either.

Heres something interesting I found in the original post:


The NY Times reports: In addition to Apple, Warner Brothers is now going to throw its weight behind the Blu-ray format for high-definition disks.

Apple has supported Blu-Ray and has been part of the Board of Directors for the Blu-Ray Disc Association since 2005...