Toshiba Wins Support for HD DVD from 4 Film Studios (1 Viewer)

[Jerome Grate]

Well, this something that will probably sort itself out by the time purchase can be done on a large scale. I don't anticipate going into this probably until 2006. Unfortunately the thing that I think is keeping this up in the air is recording.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

And the price will stay up due to 2 factors:
1) not enough early adopters building a critical mass of players, keeping it in niche status longer; and
2) dual format means twice as much royalties to the greedy patentholders.
I'll wait till the loser is deader than Betamax, unless dOc wants to spring for a player for me (hardy har har har!).

 

[Sean A]

Format wars pretty much killed DVD-Audio and SACD, which (quality issues aside), pretty much non-starters with most consumers . Now that there are universal players commonly available, nobody is even interested anymore

 

[rich_d]

This battle / chessmatch has a long way to go.

No matter what the 4 studios say endorsing/backing the HD DVD format means nothing until they have to really do something (provide content).

The same could be said for Blu-Ray's line up of all those computer and consumer electric companies. Since when do they matter? Stated another way, content is king and always will be. If the studios provide content for one format and not the other those companies "Commitment" to Blu-Ray will be the newest vaporwear.

As far as the importance of Playstation 3 ... today's paper mentions that the new chip has not even been manufactured nor test lines even created for the chip. Bottom line, later in 2005 for the chipset to be finalized. Thus, when will game producers actually pound code that takes advantage of the new chip set or Blu-Ray itself? ... minimum 2006 would seem to be a good guess.

Hopefully after all the postering the two groups will come together and compromise. But don't expect anything to happen until the last hour (whatever that is). The first thing you learn in negotiation is never give up anything meaningful until you risk more by not agreeing.

So even if DVD HD players hit the shelf for Christmas 2005 (for early adopters) it (easily) might be 2006 before either group feels the need to compromise.

And if they do compromise and that compromise is not just financial but involves format compromises (thus effecting patents and their worth) guess where that will leave those early adopters ...

 

[Marc Colella]

I disagree.

Were there only one hi-rez format, it would still do poorly. In a time where people are willing to sacrifice sound quality for convenience (ie. MP3) - it's obvious that people don't care about the extra resolution (if they would even notice).

I hope the Blu-Ray goup isn't hinging their hopes on the format based on the PS3. Sony states that they'll show a prototype of the PS3 at E3 in May 2005. You can bet the final product won't hit store shelves until late 2006 (barring any unforseen issues).

 

[Wes]

DVD and SACD have not succeeded because of the format war, they are failing because of lack of advertising, customer awareness and no 5.1 acceptance in Automobile Sound manufacturing. (little off topic) What I don’t understand is that most all cars and trucks come stock with 4 speakers positioned prefect for 4.0 sound. Why don't they (car audio manufacturers) take a 5.1 DVD-A or SACD, mix the center channel into the front L/R (no center) and put out Multichannel head units. If DVD-A and SACD was into cars then it would also increase in home setups.

I'm sure there are many other DVD player manufactures that have no problem putting both HiDef formats into their machines. Let Sony and Toshiba only build their own formats, they will lose out when universal players start selling more units then theirs.
If universal players come out as fast as single format players the different formats would be a non issue.

 

[Mark Bendiksen]

Hey, there's a fun idea. Perhaps Circuity City will be the first major retailer to get behind HD-DIVX.

Link Removed

 

[David Coleman]

What I find interesting about this whole scenario is the perception that HD-DVD is a somehow lesser product??? What is true about HD-DVD over BD is that it holds less space!!! This will certainly be a factor in so far as running time available on one disc. However the fact is that quality-wise it should provide same/better quality as BD. It has the most advanced codecs (VC1, H.264 DD+, DTS-HD and MLP).

It has been HD-DVD that has raised the bar and BD has been mostly a reactionary participant!

 

[David Coleman]

I can envision that a typical HD-DVD release will have a DD+ track, DTS-HD track (will allow lossless yet be compatable with your current DTS decoder) and possible MLP stereo track along with DD for other languages. In truth, it wouldn't even require a DD+ track, because you could only go for the DTS-HD and it would satisfy the requirement. I think you'll see VC-1 as the de facto video codec!

 

[Maurice McCone]

...and let us pause, and never forget the great sacrifice and struggle that others gave so that we have one format :frowning:

 

[Shane Martin]

I'm pretty certain this will be a pipedream.

I'm playing the waiting game myself. I just want one format.

 

[Yohan Pamudji]

What do you want to bet that the 4 studios are backing HD-DVD instead of Blu-Ray precisely because Blu-Ray has the potential for lossless or less lossy compression? IIRC Hollywood was behind HDMI and all of these digitally encrypted AV connections because they don't want people to be able to stream perfect copies of their movies onto computers where they can get pirated. Why then would they pick a format where the potential copy is even more perfect? Yeah, I know that's probably not the reason for this announcement, but it makes you think a little, doesn't it?

I have to believe that the people who are saying this format split will be a good thing haven't really paid attention to every format war that has occurred in the history of AV. The only thing format wars ever do is confuse and frustrate customers, causing them to sit on the sidelines while the war sorts itself out. To think otherwise is just misguided optimism that isn't based on any precedent we've seen before. I'd love to be wrong, though.

 

[Steve Holland]

Unfortunately not, Mike! The current Blu-ray recorders from Sony, Panasonic and Sharp are not compatible with the new BD ROM format to be used for pre-recorded discs.

Steve

 

[Andy Patrizio]

I suspect that the choice of AACS for HD's copy protection will be its undoing. What good is a glorified CSS when CSS was cracked like an egg? Blu-ray's encryption is far more secure.

Disney is in a position to be a king-maker, isn't it? Whatever side it takes will be the odds on favorite.

 

[Brent M]

No way I'm getting on board early with either of these formats! I'd love to have high definition versions of my favorite films as much as anyone else on this board, but I'm not going to go out and invest in TWO new expensive players in addition to replacing my 200+ DVDs just because they'll look and sound a little bit better. My Pioneer Elite DV-59AVi w/ HDMI makes my DVDS look pretty damn good as it is and I can definitely live with my current set-up for a few more years until the format war gets settled. When one format wins out or a universal player is brought to the market that's when I'll upgrade, but I have absolutely NO plans to be an early adopter. Screw the greedy studios and the endless milking of their customers!

 

[DaveBB]

This f*cking drives me nuts. I went through this as a kid when my dad bought a Beta VCR. The same thing happened again when I bought a DVD player the first month they came out and watched while we suffered through the open DVD vs.DIVX crap.

I'm not buying anything until there's one format or dual-format players come out.

Retailers can't be happy about this either. This issue could quickly be solved if places like Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Amazon protest.

 

[Brent M]

The thing that really sucks is the fact that one universal format for HD content would probably be a decent success at roll-out time. Sure, it wouldn't be anywhere near the critical mass of DVD, but a lot of HT enthusiasts(like myself) would probably get on board. It would be an especially stong selling point if you could get movies like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, LOTR, The Matrix, The Terminator, Spider-Man, James Bond films, etc. on a single universal HD format. As it stands, though, some movies will only be available on HD-DVD and others will be exclusive to Blu-Ray which means you're looking at another VHS/Betamax or DVD-Audio/SACD type of war. Both sides are shooting themselves in the foot and as far as I'm concerned, I hope they both fail. Until there's a universal format or a universal player that will play all the titles, I will not get on board. DVD might not look or sound as perfect as HD-DVD/Blu-Ray, but it will have to suffice until this BS format war is over. OK, I'm done ranting now.

 

[TheLongshot]

I think the general public was never really interested because they have a format that is "good enough". Most people don't have the equipment to take full advantage of it.

I think a similar thing is going to happen with HD-DVD and Blu-ray. Most people don't have the equipment to do DVD full justice, much less anything more. Unless they settle on one format, and discontinue DVDs, it will be a hard go of it.

Jason

 

[Brent M]

I totally agree, Jason. The two new formats will be such a niche market that I don't see any way for them to be successful. Like I said before, it would be a much easier sell if all the studios offered titles on one format or the electronics companies made a universal player that would play both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs. Unfortunately, they're all too greedy and stupid to do the right thing so hopefully it comes back to bite them.

 

[Jerome Grate]

Well, one thing for sure, D-VHS will be the front runner for HD Pre-recorded movies. D-VHS is looking better and better. D-VHS player/recorders are a bit cheaper, and I thought for sure HD-DVD would have bought down the price even more, but this ridiculous war between the two formats will just keep the price up on D-VHS.