So paramount and dreamworks go drop Bluray

[bober]

What do you guys think really happened there? And what do you think will happen next in this format war?

The whole war is really useless IMHO, but this is a message board and I think its an interesting topic. What are your assumptions?

 

[theWB]

I'm holding out to see what happens. Maybe someday I'll pick up a player that does both.
But by that time DVD's may be obsolete and we will be downloading, ripping movies to hard drive storage like many of us do with our music.

 

[Rich]

I think the only reasonable thing to do is to buy neither, and save money by buying regular dvd's at cut-rate prices. That way, both new formats lose and the idiots in charge of these companies might just learn something about serving the customer base. Of course, few of us will be able to do this because we are early-adopters by nature. So the next best solution is to buy a player that plays both formats and spread your wealth between each. I guess these companies think movies are like video games, and there is room for two or even three competing formats in the marketplace. I got a playstation 3, so I am buying blu-ray discs right now, but I fully expect to invest in a dual-format player in the next year or two.

 

[tonyc]

Rich, I sometimes feel the same way as you, but that kind of thinking has already cost us two formats that I think sound better than CD (DVDA/SACD). I bought both a Blu Ray and an HD DVD and will probably buy a combi player at some point. I frankly do not care which format "wins"-they both look fabulous. What I want is for one or both of these formats to begin issuing 24/96 0r 24/192 PCM MUSIC!

 

[JonFo]

Rich, I sometimes feel the same way as you, but that kind of thinking has already cost us two formats that I think sound better than CD (DVDA/SACD). I bought both a Blu Ray and an HD DVD and will probably buy a combi player at some point. I frankly do not care which format "wins"-they both look fabulous. What I want is for one or both of these formats to begin issuing 24/96 0r 24/192 PCM MUSIC!

Tony, Amen to that!

I'm really looking forward to Lossless (Dolby TruHD and DTS-HD support lossless) multichannel music HD-DVD's as a progression from DVD-A/SACD.

As for format's I decided to back HD-DVD, as Sony just ticks me off with their incessant non-standards compliant approaches to media (MD, MemoryStick, etc.).
That and HD-DVD seems the winner from an economics standpoint. Cheaper media, cheaper players will win.

Eventually will have both, but delaying BR as long as humanly possible (for an early adopter )

 

[akm3]

I favor HD-DVD because the players like the XA2 play standard DVD's the best. Why not get a huge free upgrade to my video oh, and also be able to play HD-DVDs?

I think unfortunately BluRay will win the day, however

 

[STV]

Rich, I sometimes feel the same way as you, but that kind of thinking has already cost us two formats that I think sound better than CD (DVDA/SACD). I bought both a Blu Ray and an HD DVD and will probably buy a combi player at some point. I frankly do not care which format "wins"-they both look fabulous. What I want is for one or both of these formats to begin issuing 24/96 0r 24/192 PCM MUSIC!

I couldn't agree more. I also own both an HD DVD player (Toshiba HD-XA2) and a Blu-ray player (Sony BDP-S300), and they both rock!

 

[jfm]

what do you guys think about downloadable HD, how far are we from that technology?

the reason i ask is that i have decided to mend my ways and stop being an early adopter.

even if i go neutral, i am wary of ending up with two obsolete formats!

 

[JonFo]

what do you guys think about downloadable HD, how far are we from that technology?

the reason i ask is that i have decided to mend my ways and stop being an early adopter.

even if i go neutral, i am wary of ending up with two obsolete formats!

Downloaded HD is still years off. The only people who can reliably do it are FIOS customers (Fiber to the house >8Mbps rates)

I believe we are probably doomed to two more formats to deal with. Luckily, just like SACD/DVD-A, universal players will allow us to consolidate the playback devices.

 

[Rich]

Downloaded HD is still years off. The only people who can reliably do it are FIOS customers (Fiber to the house >8Mbps rates)

Just to clarify . . . downloading HD movies to your computer over the internet is maybe years off. But you can download HD movies right now to your HD cable box over the cable line. You don't own the movie, just "rent" it for a period of time, but it is a great way to see a movie in HD if you want to watch it but don't care to own it.

 

[JonFo]

Just to clarify . . . downloading HD movies to your computer over the internet is maybe years off. But you can download HD movies right now to your HD cable box over the cable line. You don't own the movie, just "rent" it for a period of time, but it is a great way to see a movie in HD if you want to watch it but don't care to own it.

Rich, right you are.

Cable and Sat DVR's can get PPV content in HD, which is a form of non-media based rental.

I guess I think of download as involving a computer (of course, any DVR IS a computer, but that aside...) and some central media repository in the home that is then accessed by devices like Apple TV.

The lines around all these distinctions will to blur as time goes on. TiVo’s can download UnBox content from Amazon over the Internet now. So a DVR is now doing network based downloads, as well as Cable or Sat downloads.

However, none of the downloaded or PPV content has the high bit-rates of a true physical media. Therefore, if you have a large, high quality display device, discs are going to be the reference std for a while.

 

[Rich]

However, none of the downloaded or PPV content has the high bit-rates of a true physical media. Therefore, if you have a large, high quality display device, discs are going to be the reference std for a while.

So true. The picture quality of cable downloaded HD movies is pretty darn good, but it's not Blu-Ray / HDDVD quality.

Personally, I'm a little wary of giving up my discs anyway for purely downloaded content, be it music or movies. I know I have been through a lot of cd players, dvd players, and computer hard drives in the past fifteen years, but I still have c.d.'s I bought in the early eighties and they still sound great.

I'm looking forward to flash-based chip storage media for music and movies. When we get to the point where we can store high resolution files on a small, easily storable chip, with no moving parts in the chip or player and no chance of bit loss during playback, then we will have arrived.

 

[HsvToolFool]

Say what they will about "quality", but Hollywood's only
concern is copyright protection. But the film studios
aren't the only player in this game, just the biggest.

Affordable HDV camcorders will drive a new hobby in home
video. Computers with enough resources for HDV editing
are becoming more affordable too. When it comes down to
it, I'd much rather have a 50GB BD burner next to my PC
than a 30GB HD-DVD burner.

Moore's Law affects this format war where it was a non-
issue back in the VHS/BetaMax days. 10-bit and 12-bit
displays are just around the corner. It will be interesting to
see if 30GB will be adequate for 1080p/12-bpp/uncompressed
audio without excessive MPEG compression being used.
Perhaps 30GB is enough space; perhaps nobody would
notice anyway. We'll see.

 

[Charliemike]

I couldn't agree more. I also own both an HD DVD player (Toshiba HD-XA2) and a Blu-ray player (Sony BDP-S300), and they both rock!

:rocker:

I do too. And if one wins out over the other, so be it. I'll just give it to my folks as a SD DVD player

 

[HsvToolFool]

Blue Ray maker responds to Paramount

Blue Ray Technologies Responds Strongly to Controversial Paramount/HD-DVD Deal

"The New York Times and other media said Paramount and DreamWorks Animation together will receive about $150 million in financial incentives for their commitment to HD DVD, quoting two executives from Paramount parent Viacom, with knowledge of the deal but who asked not to be identified."

One wonders if Disney/Pixar accepted a similar deal from
Sony.

 

[STV]

One wonders if Disney/Pixar accepted a similar deal from Sony.

That wouldn't surprise me.