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Ouch at HD-DVD not even being able to win a week from Blu-Ray when Transformers came out.

Is anyone seriously thinking of buying one of these Ventura units? A friend of mine bought one of their DVD players from Canadian Tire and that was crap. I think the bigger problem with getting these "cheap skate" consumers to buy into either HD format is convincing them to $5-$10 more for a...

Wasn't it his wife that filmed a large part of this doc? That's pretty insane if true, but I guess movie sets have a way of driving people nuts.

I'm pretty certain Sony never cared for the DiVX model at all. The format they were developing with Philips was called the the MultiMedia Compact Disc disc (MMCD). Toshiba was working on another format called the Super Density disc (SD disc). They eventually agreed to compromise this format...

I've been meaning to get around to renting that but I keep forgetting. I definitely will check it out though. I was watching the Godfather docs the other day. The story about Coppolla in the washroom hearing his own crew rip on his directing was hillarious.

This is true, however, Microsoft's monopolistic policies are pretty well documented. Hell, they were even investigated by the US government for it. I kinda feel like Microsoft is the Palpatine in this whole situation. Sony definitely over-exerted themselves here, but to be fair for the...

Have you watched the American Zoetrope doc on the THX 1138 DVD? If not, I'd highly reccomend it.

I don't understand the specifics of Java, all I know is that Java is most definitely something MS would dearly love to kill along with Blu-Ray.

Well I think back in the 60s/70s that was magnified 100x because there were no "kid" directors really. Everyone in the Hollywood system back then was like in their 50s/60s etc. I think they all knew each other because they all knew Francis Ford Coppolla, who was really the first one to get a...

There's so many people that have worked for Corman I guess it was practically inevitable that some would "make it" in the system. The thing that always sort of blows me away is that Spielberg, Lucas, Coppola, Scorsese, DePalma, etc. all knew each other growing up. It's kinda like Superman...

From what I understand though even Microsoft really does not give a crap about video games. They entered the game market as a last resort, they tried desperately to get Nintendo to side with them and even tried a full buyout. They had an agreement with Sega that put the Windows OS on the...

I think from MS' P.O.V. the end game is this -- if HD-DVD takes off fine. It's a "MS approved" format and doesn't have that filthy Java app on it nor does it help Sony's Playstation 3 (which also is on Microsoft's hit list). But lets say HD-DVD doesn't take off, then I think Microsoft is...

Just a little more on Sony/Microsoft there's basically been an ongoing feud between the two companies for a while now. As best as I can gather it started in the late 90s when Microsoft began to grow concerned about Sony's burgeoning Playstation empire. They viewed it as a threat to their own...

The studio also pushed it very hard through video rental stores. I remember we got a ton of posters for it and even a black leather jacket with the Terminator logo on the back, similar to the one Arnold wears in the movie, and sunglasses to go with it. It was pretty neat. I wish I had...

Well I think he is saying pretty clearly there that MS is trying to bribe Warner. I'm not sure if their sources on that are accurate, but it wouldn't be surprising. This is going to get interesting because Sony and Microsoft have been entangled in some pretty bitter exclusivity duels in the...

Yeah I was watching the supplimental material on T1 the other day and they did say the movie really found its legs on home video. There's not too many movies like that nowadays. I think Austin Powers is another one that gained a very large audience mostly through video/DVD.

I remember E.T. coming out on VHS was this huge, huge deal, anyone else remember that? I now realize this is because Spielberg had at the time insisted the movie never come out on home video and then reneged. Also for some reason I keep remembering the Terminator on VHS became this huge...

I think that had more to do with the fact that they kept releasing the theaterical cut, which he did not like, and wanted to do his director's cut. I swear there's like 50 different cuts of this movie so who knows, but that was probably his beef with the Laser Disc versions. As for Beta, as...

I'm not really sure what there would be there to "screw up" though. The main attraction for the Close Encounters Blu-Ray release is obviously the feature mastered in HD, and I'm pretty sure they can do without Spielberg having to be involved or give his thumbs up on it.

Yup. As a consumer format though I think they were all but dead by the late 80s. I actually liked Beta tapes better because they were more compact and apparently higher quality than VHS.

I have to think Spielberg probably does favor Blu-Ray. He won't allow Paramount or Universal to release any of his films on the HD-DVD format (and I'm sure they've asked), but Close Encounters on Blu-Ray-only he's OK with.

I honestly don't remember ever seeing a Selectavision ever, though granted from the sounds of it, I'm a few years younger than some of the posters in this thread, heh. I definitely remember Beta/VHS though.

I wish they had used the name DiscoVision though, I seriously would probably pick one up for the novelty. EDIT: Return of the Jedi actually came out on the Spectavision ... err ... Selectavision, and is apparently a collector's item these days (the other two Star Wars OTs are available too...

This is Wikipedia's bit on Selctavision: Introduced in 1981, the CED system was widely seen as a technological success which was able to increase the density of a long playing record by two orders of magnitude.[2] However, the CED system fell victim to poor planning, conflicts within RCA, and...

But Hunt was right about the payoff. Good on him for calling them out on it. Microsoft quite honestly needs to stay out this period. Unlike IBM which played a vital role in bringing all the electronic companies together with the DVD format, Microsoft has done nothing but to breed division and...

You get the point though.

Or how Laser Disc replaced VHS ... err ... wait a tick ;) At least Laser Disc was a pretty straight forward unified format to boot. It wasn't like there was a competeing Laser-VHS format as well. I think the other hurdle here is not just the price of the player. I think people will really...

LOL, sounds like you're leaving some pretty pertinent information. Everyone I've talked to when I get to the part where I have to explain (the truth) about neither format getting titles from all the movie studios ... that usually is where they lose pretty much any interest they had...

The impression I get is they're confused as hell about both formats, which is being driven by the fact that there's two of them. You have to sit down with them and explain the differences, and also explain to them why they can't watch movie X on player Y. By which time, they've just...

I think it's more likely that consumers will just choose neither. They want the movies that they want to watch, when they want to watch them, and Sony/Toshiba/Microsoft are not going to tell them otherwise. I think honestly what Toshiba and Sony are really hoping for is that they can...