Warner Total HD Presser: Nice surprises, including a certain series!

[zombieflanders]

News from Warner's TotalHD press conference:

• Plays on current players (apparently) and on LG SuperMulti. No glitches during the demo!
• Full capacity for both sides
• Not much more expensive than DVD production-wise
• No pricing or firm release other than 2nd half of 2007
• Licensing is HD DVD and BD, not Warner
• Warner, HBO, and New Line only so far
• Will move from both discs to just TotalHD
• Dual sided, same content for each
• LOTR! On TotalHD (only?) and "they are working on it now and are determining a release date"
• Works on current replicators

Interestingly enough, their projections seem to show more confidence in Blu-ray (2.5 Million HD DVD devices vs 6.2 million Blu-ray devices, "HD DVD 600 Million in 2007 and 4000 Million for Blu-ray", dollars I presume).

This got even more interesting.

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by zombieflanders

This got even more interesting.

Yeah, sounds like great news! If they could win over more studios and if production is not all that more than DVD, then we could all be winners.

[StingerNLG]

Ok, so the earlier report of single sided discs is out then? It is confirmed these are flipper discs?

[zombieflanders]

From the event:

The floor is open for Q&A
What is the capacity for each side. They have the full capacity of both HD DVD and Blu-ray and dual layer on both discs.

How will the player know which format to play on a dual format player?
It is a dual sided disc, so you have to put it in the correct way.
They plan to have the same content on both sides.

[enigma]

Originally Posted by StingerNLG

Ok, so the earlier report of single sided discs is out then? It is confirmed these are flipper discs?

Sounds like it and also sounds like there is nothing inherit that would prevent them from expanding to HD51 / BD200 in the future.

[StingerNLG]

No, certainly not. Now the only thing left to talk about is cost.

[imdaly]

Am I the only one who really hates the idea of these discs? I mean, I can understand the need for flipper discs when it comes to HD DVD/DVD combo discs because that actually benefits me. But having a Blu-ray side (or HD DVD side for those with only BD players) is not going to help me one bit, and give all of my WB discs flipper discs.

The cover design is ugly as hell

I don't know about you, but I am not looking forward to my LOTR boxes being framed in that ugly design.


And I can see it right now with the way retail stores typically push BD over HD DVD: these discs will sit in the BD section and not in the HD DVD section.


I seriously don't think I can see myself buying any of those discs once they start rolling out.

[enigma]

Yes, thats ugly as hell. It will stick out like a wart in either collection.

[MichaelHDDVD]

Why Superman Returns? Isn't that the one High Definition title which everyone already owns? I'm not going to buy it again, lol

[imdaly]

Originally Posted by MichaelHDDVD

Why Superman Returns? Isn't that the one High Definition title which everyone already owns? I'm not going to buy it again, lol

My guess is that they chose to show off the cover design with the movie who's cover would clash least with the red/blue boarder.

I mean, sure it doesn't look too terrible when the prominent colors of the "poster" part of the box are red and blue, but what about all the other movies (like Matrix or LOTR) who's color scheme is anything BUT bright red/blue? It's gonna look awful!

[rick240]

Unfortunately dual format discs just make no sense at all.

If a studio is format neutral then there are enough players of both types to justify production runs of both BD and HD-DVD (or at least certainly will be over the next few months); and those discs will certainly be WAY cheaper than a combo-disc. Everybody wins.

For those studios that are exclusive, and intend to remain so for either political reasons (we hate ---- , insert Sony or Toshiba), then they won't use THD so why bother. These will only be viewable by one side, or those who wait for dual-format players.

Dual format is smart - but in the player, not the disc!

[imdaly]

Just some quick mock-ups I did to show how much uglier this will look when using a movie who's cover is not prominantly blue/red in the first place:





Again, these are just mock-ups so don't go running around yelling "Woohoo! First sighting of the LOTR and Matrix box arts!"

But I hope my point is made clear here: the TotalHD is TotalBS IMO.

[jackinbox]

If a studio is format neutral then there are enough players of both types to justify production runs of both BD and HD-DVD (or at least certainly will be over the next few months); and those discs will certainly be WAY cheaper than a combo-disc. Everybody wins.

I think this is all about stores being able to stock only a single SKU for a given title. That's probably the biggest reason they're doing this.

[MichaelHDDVD]

It would be better if the THD boxes keep the same HD DVD/Blu-Ray design but were Violet instead of Red or Blue. Just keep in mind that some violets/purples can be very ugly but some can work very well.

[Blurry]

Originally Posted by jackinbox

I think this is all about stores being able to stock only a single SKU for a given title. That's probably the biggest reason they're doing this.

Even as a consumer it makes sense, I am future proofed for whichever format wins. For the studios it makes sense, they only need to make as many items as they need for the total HD market, stock is interchangable for both formats.

I am all for it.