Warner's Total HD cripples HD DVD (temporarily) and Blu-ray (permanently) (1 Viewer)

[Juan C]

From Home Media Magazine:


Firstly, it must be known that any Total HD releases between June and August will be single-layer for both formats.

However, it is even more serious for Blu-ray owners: the Cinram exec gives no timeframe for the readiness of an HD DVD 30GB/Blu-ray 50GB, so going from that, all Total HD releases going forward will be single-layer Blu-ray.



[Note: yes, I'm Grubert at avs and elsewhere ]

 

[Cees Alons]

Which titles? If they don't need double layers, nothing is "crippled". There are many one-layer HD DVDs and BDs out already, I don't consider them "cripples" either.

And only between June and August? You would want them to start with TotalHD in August instead?

I seriously consider this a non-issue.


Cees

 

[Juan C]

Because if they did it in August, they wouldn't be able to toot their horns at CEDIA in September.

 

[Cees Alons]

Not at all.
If all that's said is true, it just isn't being used for a period of 3 months (or perhaps 2 months and half).

And the other question remains: would the releases they bring out in that period need it?


Cees

 

[Juan C]

That's a difficult question to answer, considering we don't know the Warner summer slate. But the titles rumored (Natural Born Killers, LA Confidential, Blade Runner) all would exceed 15GB for sure.

 

[Wet1]

I am not going to support two formats and I will not support the more expensive and half-azz Total HD products either.

It's becoming pretty clear the market is going forward with BR so that's where their support should be prioritized. That's great if they further choose to support HD-DVD or any other second fiddle format, but their efforts should be focused on where the market is, BR... This means full 50GB discs for BR w/o the Total HD prices.

 

[MarekM]

This is big issue if they will not use BD50,
as mentioned, all titles over 2hours using HD30/BD50

do you want to get many more MOVIES out without ANY BONUSES ???
or they will remove any advanced AUDIO due SPACE ?

come on Cees this is not acceptable...

Marek

 

[Wet1]

I personally don't care about 'bonus' material (although I know some do), but I do what the excellent PCM I've come to expect from BR titles as I much prefer it over some of the compressed Dolby formats. I suspect PCM would get axed on these half-azz Total HD discs.

 

[Juan C]

There's another interesting repercussion.

Warner has been using the same encodes and contents (except for audio specs) for BD and HD DVD. They are always under 30 GB. When the title ends up under 25 GB then the BD is single-layer (Lady in the Water); when it's over 25 GB then the BD is dual-layer (Bullitt).

However, what happens when you're limited to 25GB on the BD side? Are they going to reencode for 30GB for the HD DVD side? I doubt it. So they will probably end up doing a 25/25 disc.

 

[Wet1]

Good point...

 

[Bob Black]

For all intents & purposes, both formats have been locked in a virtual dead-heat in overall sales. And this is with the fact that Blu-Ray has been discounting and giving away discs with numerous BOGO and 50%-off sales, rebate forms in PS3's, and such! Not to mention the fact that the recent sales disparity comes at a time when there were little to no new HD-DVD releases in the market. As od March 27th, that scenario changes dramatically.

The format war is only "over" in the minds of Sony and anyone stupid enough to believe their BS! HD-DVD has shown steady growth since launch. An industry report that surfaced just a week ago projected HD-DVD player sales to reach 1.7 million by the end of 2007! The format is here to stay, and numbers like that will undoubtedly recruit more studio support.

 

[MarekM]

I wonder how they are going to reach 1.7mil players...

do you know number of HD DVD players and how much they have to sell to reach that number ?

Marek

 

[Shawn Perron]

What a horrible move. If past experience is any guide, they will use the same encode for both sides. In this case each disc will be either the same as a 15/15 disc or a 25/25 disc. So instead of getting the best of either format, we get some mediocre compromise that limits the movie to the least common denominator. So much for the format war "pushing" companies to release better product. Anyone here want Warner to release Matrix or New Line to release Lord of the Rinds as a single layer HD-DVD 15? Didn't think so.

 

[Cees Alons]

What "many more"? Perhaps even none will come out during those two months and a half.... That would indeed be totally acceptable to me.


Cees

 

[Juan C]

Cees, you're not looking at the long-term effects. See Shawn's post just above yours...

 

[Bob Black]

The report had both formats selling approximately the same number of players by the end of 2007. It projected HD-DVD hardware sales as 1.2 million stand-alone players & 500,000 HD-DVD add-ons for the XBox 360.

It's comparable figures for Blu-Ray factored the PS3 at 22% of owners buying BD movies consistently, based on current sales trends.

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6422896.html

 

[Cees Alons]

Juan,

That's a different problem: already discussed when and where we discussed the combo. As long as the two formats differ they either have to make the two "sides" different, or choose the least of the two supported possibilities to make them equal.

It has nothing, or hardly anything, to do with the fact that they may only bring out single-sided discs for a limited period of time.

In fact, I think that the moment they press a 30Gb HD DVD (filled above 25Gb), they will also need to use a double-sided BD, given their policy of making the two sides equivalent. That's why I'm not specifically concerned about this "news".

The combo itself, that's another matter, but for the sake of this forum's clarity, let's not blur each and every thread that's vaguely about a particular subject with the same (slightly different) discussions again.


Cees

 

[MarekM]

hey I thought, that you will ever reply on my messages lol

I will be OK if NONE will come out...., but as mentioned I don;t want MATRIX on some crippled HD DVD or BD :frowning:

Marek

 

[MarekM]

like BD players will stop sell after february ? and that 52:48 for HD DVD were from january I think....

Marek

 

[Cees Alons]

BTW, even when it's not a combo, BD versions of movies that are also on HD DVD tend to have the same specs. So it's certainly not a "new" issue!


(Marek,

Agreed, I would never buy the crippled version.


Cees