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

[Brent M]

Jerome,

I seriously doubt an impending format war will drive D-VHS prices up or even keep them at their current level. There are way too few titles available(only about 15-20 I'd even consider buying) and a tape format is still a big step backwards IMHO. While I do think HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are a big improvement technology-wise, all of that is likely to be lost in the shuffle because of the petty war between the two sides.

 

[RobD]

I'll jump on board as soon as I see a reasonable number of titles being released. I wont expect whichever format I buy to win a war but as long as I can get 50-100+ titles I really want over its life cycle I'll be happy enough and if another format wins I'll look out for a dual format player later. Alot of peoples opinions seem to wreak of the "Wating for New Tech" excuse which IMHO isnt worth doing.

 

[John Milton]

One word: Exclusives!

If studios release select popular movies on Blu-ray and HD-DVD, but not on DVD, it'll drive the sales. Of course, they'd have to wait until the HD disc formats have some market penetration. They certainly couldn't pull that trick at product launch. The same could be said for supplemental features. What if Spider-Man 3 was on Blu-ray with tons of extras but the DVD was barebones?

While I would have liked only one format to survive, I will gladly be buying movies in both formats at launch. I've waited long enough to see my favorite movies in HD.

 

[rich_d]

Gladly?

 

[Brent M]

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Really? You're going to buy 2 machines to cover both formats? Wow! Good for you!

Most of the planet can't handle that. $$$! What would scare me is if Spidy 3 comes out on HD, and that is it. Of course, other good titles will come out on Blu-ray. That is the really sucky part. Would they play dirty enough to force sales of both?

Also, and I mentioned this ages ago, there won't be much of a difference between current DVD players and the HD ones. I have a feeling that the 'extra' parts that will make it work will cost less than $50 more. ...and the new sets will sell for??? $1000.00? Just wait and see.

Glenn

 

[Marc Colella]

I can't see any titles being HD exclusive.

I really doubt any studios would pass up on the revenue generated from DVD (huge revenues for mainstream films) just to push people to a new format.

The only exclusives you'll see is between the High Definition DVD formats.

 

[Glen C]

the monitor you're reading this on is more likely to burst into flames than HD-DVD/Bluray getting EXCLUSIVE releases instead of DVD anytime in the next several years.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

AAAAAAUGH! MY EYES! MY EYES!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Julian Lalor]

D-VHS is all but dead. Releasing 6 films a month (optimistically) is not going to keep this format alive for much longer. HD-DVD/Blu-Ray will kill it instantly.

 

[Sean*O]

It's obvious that these studios are giving their 'support' to HD-DVD just to throw people into a format war panic, and slow the adoption of Blu-Ray players and software.

It would serve Warner's best interests in many ways to keep Blu-ray at bay as long as possible. As for the other studios like Disney? Maybe they want to milk DVD to the last drop before they migrate to Blu-Ray, and they don't want to be forced into it before they have maximized their DVD format profits?

I bet HD-DVD would be a loooong way off if not for the Blu-Ray format forcing the issue.

 

[Craig W]

Money talks and Bullsh!t walks!

If you want a unified standard then vote with your wallets. Let both of these proprietary formats sit on the shelf for a long time.

As far as Spidy 3 being on only one format, same attitude, let the f'ing thing collect dust at the retailers.

 

[Sean*O]

Eventually I think one standard will either win out, or studios will make their product available across both platforms, similar to the game industry with PC,PS2,XBOX,GC,etc.

Letting the hardware sit on the shelves is not the answer in my opinion. Without the installed user base, there will be no reason for the studios to release product. I hope their is enough interest, because I want to be able to get everything in HD.

 

[Brent M]

Craig,

I couldn't agree more. I hope there is a backlash against both sides for trying to stick the consumers in the middle of a format war. Hopefully enough people will vote NO with their wallets to show both sides that the customer is tired of being "milked" by the greedy studios.

 

[Craig W]

It would not surprise me if the studios really don't want a HD disc format to succeed. They all have these pipe dreams of making us pay each time we watch something and that already failed where a physical disc was involved.

Studios are very fearful of giving us digital copies of their properties. Anyone who watched DVD develop between 1995 and 1999 will remember that. Some fought tooth and nail against a 720x480 low-res format(by today's standard). I don't honestly believe that the studios are already ready to give up 1280x720 or 1920x1080 copies of their properties.

Also look at the quality of the product put out today by some of the studios. Some of the crap they give us is so heavily filtered that in my opinion it doesn't have much more detail compared to a VHS version. DVD is still a great format if studios utilize it to its potential. Some well mastered DVDs look downright great on a large screen while others are horrendous.

I will upgrade when there is single unified free-use standard. Until then, Sony, Toshiba and all the other consumer electronic giants pull your heads out of your arses and get this ironed out before hardware and software hits the shelves. You reached compromises before so please do it again for the sake of not sticking consumers with another betamax.

 

[Tony S]

Maybe I shouldn't be giving the studios any ideas, but if they really want to make as much money as possible, they should:

First, milk dvd for all it's worth.
Second, support HD-DVD and milk it for all it's worth.
Third, support Blu-ray as "DVD version 3.0" and milk it for all it's worth.
Fourth, support the next format for all it's worth.

The sad thing is I could actually see this happening.

 

[Paul.S]

Andy Patrizio:

Always nice to see you drop in on a thread. I'm sure I'm not alone in enjoying your contributions to IGN.

So, what with Disney's announcement of Blu-ray support, do you really think that Blu-ray is now an "odds on favorite" with Fox still on the fence and Warner, U and Par supporting HD DVD?

-p

 

[Jerome Grate]

Well base on Paul.S post with the link in reference to Disney, now we wait and see.

 

[DanR]

I think Fox will go Blu-Ray shortly.

I really don't see a problem from an "enthusiast" standpoint. We know what we're doing when it comes to A/V and all the formats; we'll have machines that play both right away.

The people I feel bad for are the "soccer moms" trying to buy these things in Best Buy on Tuesdays. They won't know the difference and/or will be all confused.

So will confusion slow adoption? Maybe.

Regards,
Dan