Gigi M. wrote:"the visual quality of the two formats is practically identical."
I think the "identical" statement was HD DVD vs. BD, not SD DVD vs. Blu-ray, as in the linked screenshots.
That being said, apparently we have different definitions of "identical" quality, as I find the BD to be a much more detailed image, much like the Departed caps from a few weeks back. (I'll leave it up to each individual to decide whether seeing Johnny Depp's nose pores is worth an upgrade.)
First reaction: Wow, these are (mostly) crappy titles. Second, cynical, reaction: BDA must be looking for a way to keep up the number of discs sold in the coming month when Universal puts out a slew of HD DVD exclusives.
Most interesting part is that the PS3 is an eligible player for the promotion, which probably says something about how Sony sees its market positioning.
Those titles are still better than the ones I got free with my DVD player (Stepmom, Lost In Space, Six Days Seven Nights...I can't even remember if there were more).
HD DVD is fighting back with web-enabled features. Toshiba has released a firmware update for its players that improves network connectivity for downloading web-enabled network content
Web-enabled network content became available on June 26 with the launch of Bandai Visual's anime title "Freedom" volume 1. This title is the first HD DVD anime title available in the United States, the first web-enabled network content disc and the first "twin format" disc (featuring both HD DVD and DVD on one side of the disc).
BusinessWeek reported that the HD DVD version of "300" will allow users to re-edit the movie, selecting and ordering the scenes as they see fit, and upload their edit to a server hosted by the studio, Warner Bros. The edit will be accessible to other users, who can download it to their players and see the movie in its new form.
I wasn't planning on getting 300 in HD, but I probably will now to check this out.
As mentioned on the Seventh Seal thread, Tartan UK will be releasing the restored print of this classic on Blu-ray disc. Hopefully it won't be region-coded.
Also, for those of you who've been considering getting a PS3 for Blu-ray playback, strong rumors indicate the console is slated for a $100 price reduction starting next week. Source.
So when they find out how much corporate thuggery Sony is involved in, what are the possible outcomes? the article seems pro HD-DVD to me, but I'm not sure how anti-trust laws work and what the ramifications are...
SncDthMnky wrote:So when they find out how much corporate thuggery Sony is involved in, what are the possible outcomes?
HD suddenly reverses the current trend and MS wins!
All things considered by the time this "case" produces any concrete results I expect the war to be over. Should be an interesting Christmas to say the least.
The Digital Bits weighs in on the HD-BR anti-trust battle in Europe:
Here's an indication of just how bitterly this high-def format war is being fought (and how desperate the HD-DVD camp is becoming in battling Blu-ray Disc). The Wall Street Journal today has a story on how the European Union's European Commission is investigating the HD format war. Specifically, Microsoft and Toshiba have asked the EU to investigate the Blu-ray camp for anti-trust violations (a tactic they've tried unsuccessfully here in the U.S. in the past as well). Here's the relevant text from the story: "The HD DVD camp has been lobbying the commission to draw attention to Blu-ray's tactics in the movie capital in a bid to force more studios to put their product on HD DVD, according to people familiar with the situation." In other words, the HD-DVD camp can't seem to win this war based on consumer sales alone, even after slashing their hardware prices, so now they're trying other measures to try to force the many Blu-ray exclusive Hollywood studios to support their format too.
This is what you need to know: The Christmas shopping season this year is almost certainly going to make or break HD-DVD. The HD-DVD camp knows this as well as anyone. (We suspect that this is one of the reasons Warner has delayed their TotalHD combo plans until early next year - after the holidays to see how things play out.) The HD-DVD camp's media rhetoric seems to have shifted dramatically in recent months from how they're going to win to how they're going to survive. They must know that if software sales trends continue the way they have so far this year in favor of Blu-ray, many other retailers are going to follow Blockbuster in favoring that format alone. So the HD-DVD camp is doing everything they can just to stay in the game, from additional hardware price cuts, to announcements like "HD-DVD gets 1000 movies from Amazon" (except not really because they haven't been made yet and the deal - according to Amazon - is non-exclusive and open to Blu-ray as well) and on and on. But here is the reality: According to Tom Adams, president of Adams Media (from the WSJ story), 105,000 stand-alone Blu-ray players have sold to date compared to about 150,000 HD-DVD players. However, 1.5 million PlayStation 3s are in the hands of consumers (which can all play Blu-ray movies) compared to 160,000 who have purchased HD-DVD add-on drives for the Xbox 360. So the market right now is roughly 1.6 million Blu-ray capable machines compared to 310,000 HD-DVD machines. Even if only a small fraction of PS3 owners are watching movies (and given the 2 or 3 to 1 Blu-ray software sales edge despite the smaller number of stand-alone Blu-ray machines in the market, at least some MUST be), there's still no contest. Compounding the HD-DVD camp's problems, their stand-alone hardware sales forecasts are being downgraded even despite dramatic hardware price cuts, while Blu-ray stand-alone hardware prices are slowly but steadily dropping too. In other words, price is the only advantage the HD-DVD camp has left... and by this time next year that advantage is likely to largely evaporate. (Though we wouldn't be shocked to see Toshiba cut their player prices to $199 or even lower for the holidays in a last ditch attempt to move large numbers of units.)
What all this means to you, is that Blu-ray is rapidly becoming the clear choice. In our opinion, there's just no chance that HD-DVD is going to win this format war, and the HD-DVD camp's increasingly desperate moves now should make that obvious to all. With Blu-ray hardware prices dropping, and with Fox and MGM about to start adding their catalog titles to the BD exclusive title slate of Disney, Sony, Lionsgate and now Anchor Bay/Starz (not to mention all the great BD titles coming from Warner and Paramount), if you've been thinking about getting into high-def discs, now's a great time to jump in with Blu-ray. And if you'd rather wait a little longer for lower prices and greater hardware and software selection... there's still nothing wrong with existing DVD in the meantime. Regardless, we've said from the very beginning that this HD format war wasn't going to be good for anyone. But the writing seems to be on the wall at this point and, with a little luck, we'll see the last gasps of this skirmish play out by Christmas. At this rate, the CES convention in January 2008 is likely to be VERY interesting indeed.
Yep, with the $100 pricecut on the PS3 along with the 5 free movies (most crap, but hey, Last Waltz!), I'll probably be stepping into the HD realm this summer... and not on the side I thought I would. It really depends on whether there's a shocking announcement of MGS4 going multi-platform at E3.
"The HD DVD camp has been lobbying the commission to draw attention to Blu-ray's tactics in the movie capital in a bid to force more studios to put their product on HD DVD, according to people familiar with the situation."
This could be an interesting case. Boycotts/conserted refusal to deal is a notoriously squishy area of American antitrust law. (My gut reaction is that the case it wouldn't get very far here.) But in the EU, who knows?
The big question is what relief Toshiba et al. could get. I don't know that the EC could compel studios to release titles on HD DVD. At best, I would think, exclusivity agreements would be nullified, but that wouldn't mean that anyone would have to release HD DVD titles. Unless the EC digs up documents showing that the BDA is paying off studios to be BD exclusive, there probably isn't much "there" there, the WSJ's breathless lede notwithstanding.
A hundred is a lot, but still not enough to qualify a perchase, still needs goods games.
Exactly. And I believe that the XBox 360 is also planning a price cut in the fall as well. They are still going to be cheaper console with the hottest game (Grand Theft Auto IV) for the Christmas season.
Not to turn this into Videogames Thread 2.0, but GTA IV is not exclusive (although future downloadable content will be, as MS paid off Rockstar with one hell of a giant bag of money) and there are plenty of flagship titles arriving this fall for the PS3 that I'm legit excited about.
I've held off getting one this long because I knew a price cut was coming and because almost all games so far have been multiplatform. But with the enticement of the Blu-Ray 5 free deal hovering, and the knowledge that a further price cut beyond the $100 is far from likely before the holiday season, I may just end up getting one very soon and having it on hand for when the good stuff drops.
I have denied myself the pleasure of Underworld: Evolution in full digital glory for far too long!
davebert wrote:Not to turn this into Videogames Thread 2.0, but GTA IV is not exclusive (although future downloadable content will be, as MS paid off Rockstar with one hell of a giant bag of money)
Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that XBox 360 had exclusive for the title. But I think for many people who don't have the next-gen console yet, the fact that XBox 360 will be cheaper and that they will be able to download new GTA IV episodes will be a big deciding factor. Well, for me it will be for sure.
Antoine Doinel wrote:And I believe that the XBox 360 is also planning a price cut in the fall as well.
Microsoft will have to do something to combat this bad news.
Yeah, their hardware problems are a huge issue. That said, neither XBox 360 or PS3 are expected to turn profit anytime soon or for that matter - ever. I think where they are expecting to make money is on online content.
Hardware issues suprisingly usually seem to not have an effect on sales unless they are monumental. And as I remember, the PS2 went through a couple of revisions to work out their hardware problems as well.
