fitprod

Between fryingpan1's post a few pages back, and ILikeDVD's recent post, this could possibly blow up in Paramount's face.

Hollywood is all about egos, on many levels, and you don't want to step on them. An important key for Paramount/Dreamworks is not to piss off the talent that works for them.

Speilberg and Bay have already express displeaure with Parmount/Dreamworks decision. Theoretically, what if other directors, say Coppala, Ridley Scott and Mel Gibson begin to hammer management about HD DVD exclusivity? Would you even see their films in an HD disc format until the whole war is decided one way or the other?

fitprod

oldchuckles

With Bill Gates on your team, you are guaranteed all the financial backers you need. I would rather place my money on Bill Gates rather than Rupert Murdoch (who owns Fox) and his shill Bill Hunt over at thedigitalbits!

Ocelot

No, it doesn't... but technology-wise, more space is better... Currently, i can only fit 30 minutes or so HD video on a dvd disc (personal videos filmed from HD camcorder), which is a pain for long events.

See, i disagree with most of you about studios and what nots... HD movies/shows are one thing i value, but to me, the player should be able to play home made HD videos too. At this point, i don't think the HD-DVD player can do that...

Just think about it... say i filmed a wedding in HD, if the couple's HD player can't even play it, what's the value of the wedding footage in HD?

ILikeDVD

im sure that there are industry insiders who dont feel the same as you do. I mean fan of Mr. Gates. Actors and producers, etc. Im just saying it would be much better and a safer bet to have two or more supersstars on ur team than just soley one superstar, no matter how rich.
And this Bill Hunt guy and his site? He doesnt factor in on this one bit. Thats my two cents. All i've done was visited his site in the past to look at upcoming cover art and dates.

mzupeman2

I think it's funny that people beg for studios to choose a side and now one has changed their gameplan and people are acting like raving lunatics. I mentioned this elsewhere but Bay can't really complain about anything being exclusive as there are titles on Blu-Ray we can't see on HD-DVD. What a tool.

I'm more in favor of HD-DVD at the moment but I also can't deny that Blu-Ray has some really strong backers in their corner. Kinda worries me. Lots of strong titles to be had just by FOX and Disney alone. This announcement in no way 'saves HD-DVD' as has just been said a few posts back. It helps, but come on. Both formats are doing just fine thus far, both formats have their own exclusives, and companies have and will be the key in the end to what format survives (if one does eventually die that is). Companies are going to be bound to make some change-ups over time.

Microsoft or Toshiba or whoever, footing a bill in order to secure exclusivity rights is no different than Sony shelling out the dough for all the major retailers to advertise Blu-Ray more than HD-DVD.

GreenMonkey

Duh....what?

HD-DVD-R media

http://www.engadget.com/tag/HD%20DVD-R/

Ocelot

Because 1. the $200 player doens't output 1080p 2. doesn't play game 3. questionable dvd upscaling 4. can't play home made HD videos 5. don't have a HDD

mzupeman2

Blu-Ray players don't play games either. The PS3 does and it's a Blu-Ray player second, not first.

ILikeDVD

No 1080p output = No Sale.

Im just kidding. Well some enthusiasts i guess dont care bout that.

Ocelot

you do know that your $600 PS3 can play AVCHD files (off mem cards or HDD) or discs (burn from blank DVD discs)?

GreenMonkey

Secrets tests had the PS3 as an awful deinterlacer at first. I hear updates have fixed that, but I haven't seen a repeat secrets test. It seems to be one of the best software-based players now and likely on par with a non-Faroudja Oppo. The lower-end Toshiba units are rated about the same as those Oppos which is why I replaced my Oppo with the A2. They are excellent deinterlacing/upscaling players and there is no evidence otherwise.

You don't need gaming or HDD to play BD. Those are irrelevant to the discussion of blu-ray and do nothing for blu-ray. This isn't about how great the all-in-one PS3 is.

1080i vs 1080p matters little to many of us as most displays properly deinterlace it. Plenty of evidence on AVS that it is normally not an issue. If you are really hung up on 1080p you can spend an extra hundred bucks on an A20 or one of the other 1080p models.

Ocelot

GreenMonkey, thanks for pointing out the blank HD dvd-r discs and the $3000 laptop with the burner... while i can afford that, but that's the cost for me to go HD for personal videos? You kidding right? At least with the PS3, all i need is a HD camcorder and a PC with USB port...

Jason1

Christmas will decide which format wins.

There can only be 1 format. The public will not allow 2 formats!

If one format outsells another 2:1 or better, the war is over. Paramount will want to sell more movies and not get screwed into smaller format.

Someone at Universal will realize they sold 100,000 copies of a movie, when they could have sold 300,000 copies. If this is true for 50 movies a year, Universal will miss 10 million sales per year. If true for 200 movies a year, Universal will miss 40 million sales per year. If each movie is $20 then Universal is missing 800 million dollars in sales. Stock shareholders will not allow bad managment. Nothing Bill Gates says will matter when money is lost.

After Christmas is best time to buy high definition player. One format will outsell other. Many current $20-$30 movies will fall in price to $9.99. Players will be less expensive. Now is bad time to buy. Movies are still expensive, format war is not over.

I expect Blu Ray to win because disc has more room for data. This is the reason why high definition can not fit on DVD disc. Why make HD-DVD disc with less space than Blu Ray? 25/50 gigabytes is more futureproof than 15/30 gigabytes.

I wait on sidelines and watch sales. Six months is not long to wait.

GreenMonkey

??

If an HD camcorder and a PC = HD home videos where does the PS3 fit in? I thought you were talking about burnable Blu-ray discs?

Ocelot

Not true... home made HD films are HD regardless... Would like to see your daughter's wedding in HD? Baby's first steps in HD? Son's talent show in HD? How's that not enjoyable than watching HD movies/shows?

vaporware

@Jason1

Yeah right.

This format war could last years.

Ocelot

you upload the files to the PS3 and it plays w/o any conversion... No, you don't need a BR burner, that's why HDD is pretty important (either that or mem cards, dvd discs)

GreenMonkey

What does a game console with a hard disk and playing games have to do with home videos on blu-ray being better? I don't understand anything you're saying.

edit:
Oh. I see. That doesn't have ANYTHING to do with blu-ray. Seriously. You seem to think this is a PS3 thread. This thread is about blu-ray and HD-DVD. This has nothing to do with blu-ray.

Ocelot

GreenMonkey, why this has nothing to with BD??? Isn't the PS3 a BD player? If people can see it as a personal HD machine, don't you think people want to buy it if they're into it? Once they got a BD player, do you think they want another HD player?

mzupeman2

But you're talking about a PS3 and the ability to upload high def content to it on the HARD DRIVE, and play it off of the PS3. That has nothing to do with the Blu-Ray player. It only has to do with the capabilities of using a hard drive, and for that matter, I could just use my PC in the home theater instead of wasting more money on another machine.

By your logic, may as well just use some sort of digital recording cable box as opposed to the PS3.

Ocelot

it's alright, like LiverandOnion said, i have a circular way of discussing things...

no, gaming is not needed for BD vs HD-dvd format war, but hey, if the player can play HD games, why not?

as to HDD, i think it's wise to have it in the player... there are tons of practical applications for it, like book marking favorite frames (cool quotes, or nude scenes

Ocelot

but you can't do that with the $200 player

that's the point i'm trying to point out!

Jason1

I doubt format war will go beyond Christmas.

How long will movie studio stick with format if less customers available? Executives will look at sales and want to sell to bigger crowd.

In January I expect studio executives to hit head on brick wall and think "If we picked Blu Ray our sales could have been 50% higher". This is when light will go off inside head and HD-DVD will die.

Today stakes are small. But when price of plasma and LCD falls the next major purchase is high definition player. Stakes will be much higher as market is saturated with high definition displays.

Right now it is a poker game with a $100,000 buy in. Tomorrow it is a poker game with a $5,000,000 buy in. What movie studio tolerates today, will be too risky tomorrow. #1 job of movie studio is to make movies. Money from high definition disc sales can buy Tom Cruise contract and big budget special effects film. Loser gets Tom Arnold and photoshop guy.

mzupeman2

The hard drive is there though because it's a gaming machine and they probably eventually would like to compete with the 360 as far as acting as a digital cable box itself though. Go buy a Blu-Ray player stand-alone on the market and it won't do that, I don't think at least anyway. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Ocelot

true... but anyone want a BD player, most likely gonna end up with a PS3 (if not, oh well). Even if you got a stand-alone BD player, it can play AVCHD discs (it's a supported format for Sony). Which means, burning home made HD videos on a dvd disc, the standalone BD player can still play it...