“Just when it seemed that the Blu-ray Disc had gained the upper hand in the high-definition video disc battle, HD DVD has recruited two studios, Paramount and DreamWorks,” Mike Snider reports for USA Today.
“The availability of lower-cost HD DVD players led to the studios pulling their support from Blu-ray. Toshiba currently has players in stores for less than $300,” Snider reports.
“Rival Blu-ray, which counts studios Sony, Disney and Fox as supporters, had been gaining market momentum in recent months. Blockbuster and Target announced they’ll carry Blu-ray exclusively, and Blu-ray discs have been outselling HD DVDs about 2-to-1 this year. However, HD DVD releases (81) have outpaced Blu-ray’s (55) in the past three months, according to DVD Release Report,” Snider reports.
Full article here.
The deal covers all of Paramount’s properties, but does not include films directed by Steven Spielberg as his films are not exclusive to either format, according to the Viacom (parent of Paramount) press release.
Full press release here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “JadisOne” for the heads up.]
I wonder if the $500 million dollar investment in DreamWorks from Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen has anything to do with this.
Naaah. Probably not.
I hate it when inferior technology wins…
I wonder if the studios and electronic manufacturers ever care about consumers and the fact that they don’t want to choose from 2 incompatible formats. Didn’t they learn anything about the VHS Betamax V2000 war ?
For a great opinion piece on this whole thing… http://www.digitalbits.com/
These two formats will keep on fighting, meanwhile the immense majority of consumers will simply keep on watch from the sidelines. On-line downloads will become feasible by the time this thing sorts out, and both formats will be dead.
Willie G’s comment is worth repeating:
I hate it when inferior technology wins.
But, I do hipe this puts a fire under the other studios’ butts and the hardware manufacturers’ butts to bring BD to the masses.
Didn’t they learn anything about the VHS Betamax V2000 war ?
^ Amen!
Let’s settle this quickly the American way.
Put the studio heads in an ultimate fighting cage match.
The survivor picks the format.
I wonder just how much money went under the table this time. M$ can win anything they want by losing a few nickels of their billions in cash reserve…Apple has been smart to hold out…but once again, inferiority and low price win while the rest of the world passes us by as we stagnate. Thanks yet again, Micro$oft.
Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD — The Winner? Downloadable HD Content.
If I had to choose today I’d go with HD-DVD for a few reasons…
1) I can add one for $179 to my XBOX 360 (yes I have a Microsoft product… and yes… I actually like it)
2) I’ve been burned by Sony’s formats before.
3) see #2
Apple is really with both camps so they’ll just go with whatever. While the Blu-Ray format has more storage, HD-DVD offers better outlines on requiring the players to have uncompressed audio – and some other features that I don’t feel like writing about.
Inferior? they both are.
Umm, Paul Allen has been divesting his investment in Dreamworks, so do we really think that his association has played that much of a role in this at this point? (perhaps in the past it shaped the directions MS and DW went with the new formats. It’s funny how MS picked the technically inferior technology again.)
Personally, I prefer a mutli-format player – and won’t buy anything until the prices come down to < $300/machine & <= $20/disc. I’m not falling for the crap I did when I bought DVDs early on – only to see players fall to 20% the price I paid, and the discs I bought fall to < 50% the prices I paid early on. Not to mention having to re-purchase some movies (e.g. Bladerunner) because the original is a poor mastering.
I’m also not impressed with the level of DRM either (as I’m already being affected by region coding, having moved continents.) That’s just a load of $#@!.
@ Get a clue ?
You forgot CED and Laserdisc
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Too bad. Bonehead move.
I agree that both formats may be dead when download movies are sorted out. However, as a video producer, I need to deliver HD projects to clients on some kind of media.
I prefer BD.
Why?
Because of the studios that do support it? – no
Because it’s a Sony product? – definitely no
Because most manufacturers support it? – no
Because Microsoft doesn’t support it? – no
Because Apple leans more toward it? – no
I prefer BD for the same reason I went with VHS… more storage capacity than the competition.
As far as a home unit? I’ll probably hold off until I can buy some cheap, “no-name” Chinese unit that will play all formats. (as long as it doesn’t blow-up or poison me)
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AMERICA
Where mediocrity is king!!!!
Meanwhile Foz and MGM are pushing Blu-Ray.
There ARE hybrid players that handle BOTH formats. I still think that Blu-Ray will ultimately win, because of the storage capacity.
Sony inadvertantly killed the Mini-Disk by NOT selling them as storage devices. This was in the days when delicate and unreliable 100MB Zip disks ruled the computer storage world. Mini_Disks were essentially magneto-optical disks… much more storage capacity and virtually bomb-proof physical media.
I think they learned their lesson. 50GB of storage on a $20 Blu-Ray disk is a pretty good deal. More and more computers are shipping with Blu-Ray… so where’s Apple in this? maybe waiting for hybrid burners that’ll fit in a Macbook Pro? Maybe…
Yeah. I wonder of the “investment” in both Paramount and Dreamworks in the amount of $150MM by the HD DVD association (lobby) has anything to do with this?
Why the hell is this about America?
Companies across the world are involved in this……what an idiot.
DVDs = RIP
iDVD = Who cares
SUPERDRIVE = Will die soon
HD DVD also features a nice ability to use your regular DVD movies on HDTVs. Has the BlueRay disk drives done this yet, they never advertise this ability?
A lot of lessons were learned with the old betamax/vhs wars.
The least expensive format the gives the highest perceived quality for the money wins.
Back in the 70’s even though betamax was the better quality format you had to own a studio color monitor to see the difference. There was still a large presence of black and white sets and if you just wanted something to record “Dark Shadows” the black and white TV with the crappy vhs format made the special effects of a hackneyed vampire soap opera seem more compelling. Cable was still in it’s infancy and most broadcast were still off air. This battle between between BluRay and HDDVD will most likely be won by BluRay. In this computing intensive era more capacity put you ahead of the competition by allowing you flexibility. Along with a movie in the highest resolution your can implement target marketing, co-market games, perhaps manufacture special limited R/W sections that can embed powerful tools that will allow for the ultimate in the home entertainment interactive experience with special virtual reality head sets. Picture Nintendo WII on steroids. Exercise videos like train on the Tour De France circuit. Games where you can compete against legends of the past. Blu Ray will have the ultimate advantage to provide a better quality experience in all of these areas. We have not even approached training videos and simulations yet. Plus the ultimate BluRay player will be able to play both formats. I would pay an extra $50 for that feature.
Mediocrities everywhere! I Absolve you all!
I don’t think Apple has a dog in this fight. In Steve Jobs first reign at Apple and at NeXT, he made some disasterous technology choices on losing technology — the variable speed floppy (too expensive and non standard) and the optical drive (too expensive, non standard and buggy). He has since learned the difference between the bleeding edge and the leading edge.
Face it. If Apple backed HDDVD. Some here would think a lot higher than they do.
I love how people are quick to assume it’s all Microsoft’s fault.
Just when I thought it was going to be safe to buy a blu-ray player… this crap happens. I think I will end up buying a PS3 and get the dual use (Madden 08 Player and Blu-Ray player). Though I really like my Xbox…. guess I will have to visit some friends with the PS3 and 360 and see what system I like more.
The Dude abides.
HD will win. BD suck! Sony sucks! I will never buy anything from sony…. do you really need 60GB for HD movies or even games. wasting space…. if you not going to use all 60GB…. why waste it. HDDVD will win because they are cheaper to make, the player are cheaper than BD player. it about making money….