HD-DVD Titles Announced for 4th Qtr Release- (1 Viewer)

[Rob Tomlin]

Again, I really have to disagree with this.

Like another poster said, Star Wars isn't "all that" anymore. In fact, many teenagers today thing Star Wars is a bit hokey compared to the incredible CGI images they are use to today.

Saying that Lucas could end the format war by saying his trilogy will be released on a certain format is giving him and Star Wars a little too much credit.

What if Warner/New Line announce that The Lord of the Rings trilogy will be released on HD-DVD (which they will do eventually, no doubt)? Isn't that a pretty good counter to Star Wars?

You have to realize this isn't about what the public wants, it's about money. And Toshiba, Warner et al aren't about to just roll over...even if the almighty Lucas says Star Wars will be released on Blu Ray.

 

[GlennH]

I don't think it's accurate to assume a significant shortfall in quality of the first generation of HD discs based on the history of DVD. Early DVD releases were usually based on horrible old transfers from the LD days or worse. That will not be the case with HD formats, which will be using High-Def transfers from the beginning.

Sure, there will no doubt be improvements as they learn better compression techniques or what have you, but it should be nowhere near as significant as it has been with DVD. I hope.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Well, I'm going to wait. Quite a while, I hope. Maybe if enough of us "early adopters" wait, we'll always still have std DVD.

I mean, I'm 43 and am sick of upgrading (nobody's forcing me to, I know - at least not yet!). I never had LDs, but I had VHS and now all these standard DVDs. And these current DVD discs already look quite good. VHS needed tweaking, but DVD does not, IMO. What's after Blu-Ray? Brown or Polka Dot-Ray? After HD, what's next? "Super-Duper HDDDD?"

Hey, I'm not a snob about new technology; I bought my first DVD player at launch in March 1997.... and I loved it and had to convince many LD collectors that their days were numbered. But I mean, really ... we all want an excellent picture and sound to blow us away... but what about watching the movies?

 

[Jim Barg]

I simply have no money to even consider this right now (perhaps after I get my master's degree in 2007), so I'm grateful. Either one format falls by the wayside or dual players become the norm by then. It'll take a couple of years before those are affordable anyway, so I'm not worried.

Like others have said, I'm afraid that studios will discontinue the SE trend for those of us with regular players and throw everything on HD. I'd be quite miffed if titles like Dune and Batman Begins (or put your favorites here instead) got deluxe treatment on HD, while their SD counterparts got very little in the way of extras. Not that I don't expect WB to give Batman a featureless release, but it'd miff me if all Dune got was a 16x9 reissue (it's needed, but I'd like to get a few extras too).

 

[Al (alweho)]

Why, HD Barcaoungers - of course.

 

[Jim_K]

I was planning on using the wait & see strategy for 6-12 months anyway (like I did for DVD back in 97) but with these duel formats........ forget it.

I'll be sitting out this format war.

I'd imagine this announcement really is the death knell of DVD as we know it today.

I can't see the major studios putting much effort into their DVD product once they start the push for HD-DVD, Blue-ray or whatever. This really is unfortunate.

 

[Aaron Thorne]

My thoughts exactly... I'm quite content with my DVD's for now and hope HD-DVD/Blu-Ray is a niche market for at least 4-5 years.

 

[george kaplan]

I don't know about ending a format war, but I do know that there's only 1 man who could get me to buy into either format as long as there is a format war. I don't know his name, but it's whoever has it in his power to greenlight a Robert Harris completely restored full roadshow version of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. For that I buy which ever player it's on immediately. Without that, I'll be waiting for the format war to end.

 

[Jon Mercer]

I personally can't see the first players being so expensive cause Blu-ray is in the P3 and when first issued isn't that going to be around half that?
Imagine how the format war would go then if Blu-ray players are half the price...
Still waiting to hear which way the Xbox 2 will swing - I think that will have another major impact on it - and as far as I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that Microsoft has stakes in both camps.

What if the Fox studio decides to release in both formats? Talk about a long drawn out battle then...
Joe Sixpack (if he cares enough to upgrade) might be uninformed enough to pick up the first player that comes out just to be the first on the block - even that will tip some scales.

What a shame that they are going to find that alot of us home enthusists are going to be waiting to see who wins this one. Talk about lackluster sales in a new format that needs people like us to get behind and push.

 

[GlennH]

I can't see being a very early adopter. Not enough money to get the player and new HDMI-equipped TV, and too much uncertainty. However, I can see where it may start to make me hesitate to buy as many DVDs.

Right now we can buy DVDs and at least have the satisfaction of knowing its the best available version available (save the few D-VHS titles, but that's not a consideration for many of us).

But if they start issuing HD versions in parallel I may be more reluctant to buy DVDs and will just rent more while waiting till I take the plunge. If there are enough like me then their new product launches may actually depress DVD sales in the short term. Probably not enough to notice though.

 

[John H Ross]

Unless, of course, HD crashes at the first hurdle (which is looking increasingly likely).

I think the average consumer has now gotten so used to extras-packed DVDs that there'd be a public outcry if they suddenly dried up in favour of HD-only special editions. Besides which you still have the international market to consider.

Take the UK for instance. There are no HDTV broadcasts here at the moment (that I'm aware of) so very few people (if any) have true HDTV sets (or HD projector capacity, whatever). So if I wanted to buy a couple of these newly announced titles I'd have to buy a HD set (about... what, £4000?) and a HD-DVD player (about £1000?) and decent cables, etc. just to watch a couple of movies that I own already! Hell, I'd probably need to buy a new house in which to put this new, gigantic screen!

It ain't gonna happen. Therefore special edition DVDs will continue to come out here in R2 as though nothing had changed. Can you imagine what would happen if R1 SEs were released purely onto HD? The R1 crowd would start importing their regular DVDs from Amazon.co.uk and Hollywood ain't gonna like that!

I have a sneaky suspicion that HD discs will be marketed purely as some sort of "Ultra Superbit". Not necessarily a replacement for SD-DVD but a companion to it. Hey, what a fabulous idea! That way they can sell 2 copies of every movie to the suckers who must have both the film in HD and the extras from the SD edition! Cool...

I still can't get over the fact that in the 8 years that DVD has been with us, there's not been one single "perfect" player produced and only a fraction of the discs have actually lived up to the true potential of the format (with regards to basic picture and sound quality). And now they're moving onto something else, and we're expected to believe it'll be perfect from day 1. Is it just me, or...?

John

 

[Paul_Scott]

maybe they will go the way of Gillette and offer the players incredibly cheap and then revive the rental industry thru rental pricing ($50 and up per title)?

 

[RISUG]

Interesting times.

 

[Heinz W]

I am fortunate that I just bought my first HDTV in October, and it has an HDMI input and a built-in ATSC tuner. So my display is capable. I'm not sure I'll be able to NOT buy in. I love HD, my DVD's have definately lost their luster because of it.

If, say, Fox were to announce "True Lies" as an initial title I might dive when push comes shove (i.e., I see a demo at BB or CC! ) or because I'm still waiting for a 16x9 DVD of that movie. I must admit that in all likelyhood I will buy both, depending on BluRay's launch titles (Lawrence of Arabia? Dive, dive!) of course. Isn't that awful?

I don't expect either format's hardware to be $1000 only, surely a $700 model will be available at the least. This format change will be more subtle than the last, the technology isn't as radically different going from DVD(digital) to HD-DVD(digital) as it is going from VHS(analog) to DVD. The changeover should be less expensive, right? The media is the same (or very similar). I expect software to be priced very similar to SD-DVDs. Just a hunch. I also think prices will drop quick on the hardware.

Here's the worst part. I'm actually looking forward to starting what I'd like to think of as my REAL collection!

Bring it on!

 

[Chris Will]

I want to no more about this HDMI thing. I see this as a dumb move on Hollywood part. I just bought a new Samsung DLP TV about 4 months ago and it only has a DVI input. Can you use a HDMI to DVI cable and still watch HD-DVDs? This TV was $3000 and I can't afford to buy a new TV just for a new DVD format. Hell, I've just started paying the thing off, it will be years before it is paid off if ever. Too late to return it and if Samsung doesn't offer some free upgrade to add a HDMI input then I don't think I'll ever buy one of the formats. At least it will be 5 to 8 years when I might be ready for a new TV. This sucks b/c I was actually getting excited about the formats but now it is a no go for me. It is pointless to buy a HD-DVD player for 1k and have the signal down graded to SD-DVD quality. I already get that now. Hollywood can kiss my a$$. I hope both formats crash and burn like divx and beta did.

 

[DeeF]

The Music Man!

I think these things could exist side by side, like DVD-audio and SACD. Machines will be built that will handle any disk fed them.

The Music Man?!

I bless the ground George Feltenstein walks on every day.

 

[Roger Rollins]

I had the good fortune to catch Warner Bros. new HD transfer of THE MUSIC MAN on HD Net movies.

It is nothing short of astounding.

The current DVD is certainly "nice", but the HD broadcast was amazing, seemingly restored directly from the TECHNIRAMA negative.

I have it saved on the hard drive of my HD Tivo, and show it to people as a demonstration of how amazing HD can be.

I'm thrilled that it will be in the HD-DVD inaugural list of titles.

It makes sense for the studios to select films that will take advantage of the significant improvement HD-DVD will offer, and based on the HD broadcast, those 'early adopters' who choose to purchase this title will be in for an amazing experience.

..and yes, count me in to be on line to get the first HD DVD machine I can get my hands on. I'm quite enthusiastic to see the great titles PAR, WB, & UNI have announced.

To me, this is superb news.

 

[Ernest Rister]

Yes, but what if your saved version of The Music Man (a personal favorite of mine - and now my young niece and nephew) has better video quality than the "HD DVD" version being offered?

The proof is going to be in the pudding and I fear that the letters "HD DVD" are going to fool many people into choosing Time Warner's hybrid format as opposed to Blu-Ray.

The Music Man in Blu-Ray, with lossless audio and true High Definition video...that should be the Grail we all seek.

 

[Jon Mercer]

I was under the assumption that the HDMI and DVI input were the same thing... am I wrong??

 

[CRyan]

They are differnt entities. That was a valid question just before. I wonder if a HDMI-DVI cable would work. Anyone know the specs enough to know if this would be impossible?

Looks as though I am going to have to go away from standalone players altogether. HTPC all the way I suppose. However, as I said in another thread, I am sure cracks will be needed to get this the way we want it. I really wonder how all this will work. I mean how are they going to demand HDMI output on a PC? It was in another thread were someone posted a link to the first CD/DVD/HD-DVD/BlueRay combo drive for the PC. This is the item that is on my wish list.

It will be interesting. But in reality, unless studios start giving solid support one way of the other, these will be niche products only taking up only one set of shelves in the local Best Buy for years to come. Similar to SACD and DVD-Audio, they will be hidden by the massive numbers of DVD's.


C. Ryan