Just because something isn't forced on you doesn't mean that it isn't a scam. Certainly, the format war is scam in some degree, and the E and CE industry does hold some responsibly for creating a stable market for consumers to purchase their goods. I really tire of the industry getting the free pass for evey actions, while the consumer gets all the blame.

 

YAY! I want Batman Begins and The Matix on Blu. Not to mention the inevitable Paramount switch that will bring Transformers.

 

Universal Still only Supports HD-DVD. The Last Starfighter came out and I can't get it   .

I wonder if Warner was paid to make exclusive like Paramount was, or if they just chose.

 

Indeed true
[OLDMANRANT]THEY SURE DON'T MAKE THEN LIKE THEY USE TO[/OLDMANRANT]

although, after my brand new Superbad disk stopped the brand new $180 dvd player...I'm wondereing if the disks are getting cheaper?

 

GREETINGS STARFIGHTER!

 

Want it.

 

This will be a big plus for the Blueray side as all the Harry potter and DC comic movies will be part of this deal. Lets not forget that Disney is already backing Blue ray and that big name stores have made their picks on Blue Ray(best buy, target, circuit city)

 

Shoddy disc authoring and replication isn't anything new, althougth I have had marginally more cases of it recently.

I won't dispute that the format war is bad, but I fail to the point in denying HD media to the people who are willing and able to take advantage of it just to make a marginally more friendly shopping enviromnent for people sticking with DVD who arn't getting screwed in the first place. If everybody had the attitude that technolgy and competition should be stifled for the sake of indefinatly keeping an unecessary status quo, we'd be connecting our 286s to usenet with 1200 bit modems to discuss VHS instead.

 

    

Sig worthy stuff bro!

 

How is it a scam? High resolution video, actual 7.1 channel audio. The people who are willing to pay for it don't see it as a scam. The people who don't want to pay for it probably don't care. A lot of folks still fall into the category I mentioned earlier, of people who have no idea what a tv resolution is and think everything is good since it says "hd" on it without doing any configuration.

And it's certainly not like companies stopped making regular dvd's just to sell blu-ray and/or hd-dvd. The consumer electronics industry can only do so much, they can't force users to RTFM for their new plasma tv and ps3.

 

I have been dying to upgrade my dvd player for awhile now, so I can't wait for this war to be over. Sooner a format has been decided, the sooner the prices can drop on the players and discs.

 

I'm no saying any status quo should be kept, but there is such a thing has too much competition to the detriment of the consumer. Lets face it, its easy to say Buyer beware for those of us that are informed, but the advance of entertainment technology is progressing so quickly that its starting to become near impossible for many to keep up. You certainly can't depend on salesmen at the big stores trying to unload product on you.

Though speaking of unnecessary status quos, look at all the exclusive HDTV deals that local channels have with local cable providers so you can't get your local channels in HD unless you are with that subscriber, or in the US how higher speed internet service like parts of Asia get isn't bein introduced because the ISP big wigs want to milk the consumer a few more years.

I guess for me, its the feeling of I spent years building up a VHS collection, and then DVD comes along. I invest into DVD building a huge collection, and then HDDVD comes along. Its market designed on the basis that people will reinvest everytime a new format is discovered. Just another distraction for us to waste our money on lol.

 

But it's not like your blu-ray, hd-dvd, uber-vision, or whatever other player 15 years down the road won't be able to play those dvd's. The consumer electronics industry DID learn that lesson this time around. It's not as if your could pop a vhs into your dvd player(unless you bought one of those combo units), and a dvd sitting on the shelf isn't going to get destroyed if someone waves a magnet past it, or the magnetic data just simply fades over time.

The switch from dvd to whatever new format, is nothing like the switch from vhs to dvd. I have no intention of buying a new higher res version of every movie I own on dvd, as there's no point for a lot of them(I'd do it for some of the more eye candy and action oriented flicks).

Heck, movies can only be re-mastered so many times before there's no real improvement anyway. I'm sure a Casa Blanca DVD looks a hell of a lot better than the VHS(this is just a random example of a movie that is indeed popular, and gone through format changes), but do you really think an uber high-def version of it will make a difference? Heck no. So there's no reason to "upgrade" your copy of that movie.

 

Very true, and I don't really that offense with having to upgrade. I'll embrace the HD DVDS whenever the price is right and the BS has subsided. The change is just part of progress and improvement, but its the method that the industry has gonna about it this time that unnerves me.

I do give credit that its not a total upgrade that requires complete investment like the switch from VHS to DVD has been.

 

Both formats were smart enough to play standard DVD's and even upscale them on most players.

I have no personal vendetta against HD DVD, I just happened to get a Blu-Ray player when I bought a PS3. But, I have been impressed with the picture. And I think Paramounts move was transparent and most definately in the interest of the consumer as they would like us to believe.

I hope Warner's move does end the silliness of the "format war" and look foward to more movies on BD.

 

Oh yes! I love it! This is payback to Paramount and their bullshit move that screwed us Blu-ray owners. Now, I truly feel bad for HDDVD owners, since this same thing happened to the Blu-ray with Paramount, and as such I do not own Transformers in HD. But this is awesome news for us who bought into blu-ray/PS3. It means that the HD format wars may soon be over. The last major pillar to fall will be Universal, and there were some rumors of them going dual format before the Paramount switch, so maybe this switch by Warner will turn the tide. I would really love to see some of Universal's movies on Blu-ray (aka, Serenity).

That said, about this war in general, there are things that I hate. I hate not being able to screencap, but I suppose we may be able to down the road as blu-ray drivers become more affordable. I hate when the films don't look as good as they should (actually, Ive seen some Warner titles that fill this description). And I HATE, HATE the prices. I flat out refuse to pay $30 for a movie. I may bite at $25, $20, and am most likely to buy a movie at $15 or less. Movie prices need to drop.

Anyway, bring on my Blu-ray Batman Begins and the Matrix!!

 

I know the news is older than the current one, but did anybody see this in the NY Times?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/business/31dvd.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

 

Well, that is why this move from Warner is so significant. This is a large blow to HDDVD, and just makes the large exclusive studio support for bluray even larger. Now if Universal goes Blu or format-neutral, HDDVD is sunk for good.

 

I have been trying to decide between these two since TF was released and was going to go HD DVD because of it. However, I have found that unless you have at least a 40"+ HDTV using full 1080p, you probably wouldn't notice a difference using a $30 upconvert. Since I have a 32" 1080i set, I'll go the upconvert route.

 

HD is a scam -- a PRICING scam.

Every time a so-called "new" format comes out, it's priced higher than the current format. Then, when the current format gets phased out, the new format stays AT THE SAME PRICE -- with the usual garbage justifications for the premium.

This has happened time and time again -- with the switchover from cassettes to CD's, with the new $60 price point for "next gen" (spit) videogames, and I predict it will happen when Blu-Ray becomes the only game in town. Ending the format war merely accelerates the timeline. $30 shitty movies, here we come. Don't believe me? Exactly how many years did that ridiculous $18.98 MSRP for CD's last?!

If you're really cynical, you might think such a move will be timed to coincidence with other Hollywood-scripted events ... like, say, the death of analog broadcasting in 2009. It's HD day, hooray! Now give us your damn wallet.

-XCN-

 

They both use a blue laser it simply comes down to there are more blue ray players out there then hd-dvd players way way way more. Sony got ballsy and took the hit in their game departemnt to make sure they would get serious bank in royalties from the BR format. The success of BR ensures that sony won't have to pay huge sums of money in royalties for high def optical storage in any of their lines in the future. The format war is all but over now who know maybe the Super Wii and X-box 720 will use BR for storage.