Blu-ray Fumbles Chance In HDTV DVD War

[diabolo]

Blu-ray Fumbles Chance In HDTV DVD War


By Mitch Davis
HD Observer

Washington, D.C. (June 13, 2007) -- With several million PlayStation 3 consoles sold, one would think that Blu-Ray would be on the road to defeating HD DVD by now, but this is far from reality.

With its back against the wall, Toshiba threw a Hail Mary pass by selling (HD DVD players) at or below cost with drastic price reductions that make HD DVD attractive to mass consumers. This is working well. Who would have guessed that affordable pricing means more people will buy HD? (maybe Swanni did).

Universal has been backing HD DVD with large amounts of popular catalog titles coming out after a drought of releases. Not to mention Warner Bros. and Paramount have also been releasing their quality titles on both formats.

So what has the Blu-Ray team been up to?

Hardware releases from multiple companies with expensive pricing and a recent slowdown of exclusive titles hasn't helped. Sony is coming soon with a very
nice new BR player at $499 list, which hopefully the price will come down when on sale. Let's hope other manufacturers follow suit fast.

Additionally, Blu-Ray exclusive studios have slowed down releases recently. Over the summer there is now very limited list of exclusive b-list releases. The more exciting titles are coming from Warner and Paramount as dual format releases.

Studio' like Sony, MGM, Fox and Disney are just not releasing their quality movies. Also, even more depressing to BR is the fact that Fox/MGM has stopped releases entirely. Warner has held back catalog
titles like Batman Begins and Matrix trilogy from BR because BD-J on BR the interactive format isn't finalized. Also, disc manufacturing for BR is an issue as they can't make enough discs to meet demand.

Fox and MGM haven't publicly said they haven't released titles due to the fact that HD copy protection was hacked. Instead they cancelled releases sometimes on the day they were due out leading to consumer frustration and confusion.

No one knows how this format war will go, but I can say that Team Blu-Ray is fumbling their lead and this could lead to more dual format machines in the future and possibly even losing this format war.

[Balian]

Blu-ray Fumbles Chance In HDTV DVD War

The title speaks volume about the author ...clueless.

[marine92104]

The title speaks volume about the author ...clueless.

The title made all the points in the article untrue?

I'm not sure I've heard that one before. The title of an article discredits the author & means he doesn't know anything.

If you want to go thru the article & point out the mistakes that would be more believeable.

The points he makes are the problem I have with Blu-ray right now. Thank goodness for Sony, Paramount & Warner.

[vertebra]

I agree with the article. Sony's own catalog of releases are dismal.

[divian]

Mr. Davis is right,
Some sectors of this industry ( Bill Hunt for example) are being very proctective and condecendent with Fox all this time.
It has been weeks and months since they decided to stop releasing movies and they barely opened their mouth to give an explanation. They sent their housekeeping lady from the third floor to deliver the message instead of confronting their consumers with a known face.

The excuse they gave blu ray supporters is a pathetic old story that still today nobody can buy since they can release catalogue titles that are already on DVD and nobody will steal from them.

I am glad to see that there are people informing others about the poor advance the PS3 did for the format.

[Kenshiro]

Also, disc manufacturing for BR is an issue as they can't make enough discs to meet demand.

They are fumbling the lead, but yet they can't make enough discs to meet the demand. I guess things can't be as bad as this article makes it sound. Oh yeah, it's BD, not BR. Disc sales don't suggest a lead fumbling at all, so there is no substance here.

[BluDemon]

I am glad to see that there are people informing others about the poor advance the PS3 did for the format.

Poor advance? Are you kidding me? PS3 has done more towards the advanement of Blu-ray than standalone players, so far. Why do you think Blu-ray disc sales have gradually blown past HD DVD sales since PS3's debut?

[marine92104]

They are fumbling the lead, but yet they can't make enough discs to meet the demand. I guess things can't be as bad as this article makes it sound. Oh yeah, it's BD, not BR. Disc sales don't suggest a lead fumbling at all, so there is no substance here.

So do you disagree with him about Disney & Fox & MGM? And Blu-ray needing to lower the prices of players?

[WellInformed]

First, saying Universal is backing to format with large amounts of "popular catalog titles" is a relative statement. Personally, I think Sony is releasing popular titles (not the most popular, but popular none the less). Titles like Closer, Donnie Brasco, Secret Window, Identity, Big Fish, Layer Cake, etc are popular catalog titles to me.

Secondly, "expensive" players is relative. If you are buying two players that can't do what 1 player can do, I call that expensive. My PS3 was a 1 time purchase. I will be able to do everything in the Blu-ray specs with this player. No other HD player can claim that except maybe the Pioneer Elite. Current HD DVD players can't and won't be able to do HD PiP and window swaps or DTS-HD.

I'm typing on the PS3, so I might need 2 posts for this. Another thing, Warner is just using BD-J 1.1 (PiP) as an excuse. They released Blood Diamond w/ LPCM (that's all most BD fans care about FOR THE MOMENT). So, I call BS on that.

[WellInformed]

^^ Blu-ray is disc manufacturing is beyond demand from what I understand. That is why Sony said 80% of their releases will be on 50GB discs. No problem there.

Plus, studios slowing or stopping releases due to AACS being hacked should be an indicator that there is no way in Hell they would release titles on HD DVD with it's compromised security. That was one of the main reasons they chose Blu-ray in the first place. And when BD+ has been implemented (should be very soon now), HD DVD will feel the full weight of 5 exclusive studios. Remember they may be slowing releases, but they are not slowing the encoding process.

[Kenshiro]

So do you disagree with him about Disney & Fox & MGM? And Blu-ray needing to lower the prices of players?

I never said I disagreed with everything he said. I dislike delays as much as anyone else. I wish that all studios would have their entire catalog released in the first year with 5 star video and audio, but thats not realistic. I just don't think that Blu-ray is fumbling the lead like he states in the title.

[messin18]

The title speaks volume about the author ...clueless.

Typical fanboy drivel. The author is right on in every aspect. Can you argue or discredit any part of it?

[polyh3dron]

I never said I disagreed with everything he said. I dislike delays as much as anyone else. I wish that all studios would have their entire catalog released in the first year with 5 star video and audio, but thats not realistic. I just don't think that Blu-ray is fumbling the lead like he states in the title.

Blu-Ray may not be exactly fumbling the lead, but it should be much further ahead of HD DVD than it is and mistakes have been made such as Fox's apparent withdrawal and the delay in finalizing BD-J that have hindered BD's progress.

Universal, Warner, Paramount and Sony have all been very aggressive with their releasing of HiDef discs but Fox and Lionsgate have been pretty quiet as of late and Disney is getting quieter.

We must remember however, that Universal was just as quiet in the beginning of the year however and they are now opening the catalog title floodgates. I expect to hear some big BD announcements from the BD exclusive studios very soon, probably coinciding with the finalization of BD+.

[marine92104]

Blu-Ray may not be exactly fumbling the lead, but it should be much further ahead of HD DVD than it is and mistakes have been made such as Fox's apparent withdrawal and the delay in finalizing BD-J that have hindered BD's progress.

Universal, Warner, Paramount and Sony have all been very aggressive with their releasing of HiDef discs but Fox and Lionsgate have been pretty quiet as of late and Disney is getting quieter.

We must remember however, that Universal was just as quiet in the beginning of the year however and they are now opening the catalog title floodgates. I expect to hear some big BD announcements from the BD exclusive studios very soon, probably coinciding with the finalization of BD+.

I hope you're right about that but please don't be using beatboy as the source that BD+ is closed to being finished. He's not even in the movie industry & has been wrong so many times.

And thanks for being honest about the other points & not giving the typical fanboy answers.

I agree with you Blu-ray is still selling more but they should be further ahead considering the studios that signed up & the technology being ready.

I don't expect all the studios to release all their movies the 1st year but you have to agree that Warner, Paramount, Universal & even Sony has done a better job than Disney & Fox is currently releasing.

Disney & Fox started off strong the 1st of the year now Disney is fading & Fox is not being heard from.

[polyh3dron]

I highly doubt we'll be seeing any of the BD exclusive studios going neutral though. Do you have any idea how heartbreaking it must be to the HD DVD studios that any bittorrent savvy computer user can download their HD titles and not even need to purchase a player to enjoy them in all of their 1080p glory, and there is nothing that can be done for HD DVD in the future to fix that?? The BD exclusive studios are waiting for BD+ to finalize before they open their floodgates for that reason. At least BD still has a chance of having a non-piratable format.

BD+ may get cracked, and it may not get cracked, but it's more of a chance than HD DVD has.