All Hollywood studios now lined up behind Blu-Ray Options

[Xbox-Scene]

All Hollywood studios now lined up behind Blu-Ray Posted by XanTium | February 21 21:40 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From reuters.com: [QUOTE] All six major Hollywood studios are now in the Blu-ray DVD camp, a day after Toshiba pulled the plug on HD DVD and Blu-ray became effectively the only next-generation game in town. Paramount Home Entertainment quietly came onboard via a statement issued Wednesday to The Hollywood Reporter: "We are pleased that the industry is moving to a single high-definition format, as we believe it is in the best interest of the consumer," the statement read. "As we look to (begin) releasing our titles on Blu-ray, we will monitor consumer adoption and determine our release plans accordingly." Universal Studios Home Entertainment, in contrast, cast its lot with Blu-ray within hours of Toshiba's announcement Tuesday morning that it was ending the format war by ceasing the development, manufacture and marketing of HD DVD players by the end of March. [/QUOTE] Full Story: reuters.com

[warmaster_670]

this is news?

like any of the companies were going to continue releasing movies on a dead format

[kowrip]

I wonder if HD-DVD will develop any underground movement. I don't know much about the HD-DVD recordable media or burners, but it would be cool if the format could remain useful in some way.

[mat82284]

Either way i look at it, im not buying a Blue ray player in till it hits $100 other wise they can kiss my little **** ASS. I won't ever buy a ps3 because it just sucks period, only good game will be metal gear and im sure it'll be out on xbox eventually. Now that HD-dvd is over this is actually a very bad thing, no longer is there a format war meaning, Sony will be either raising prices, or keeping them still for a long long time to make up for there lost money. Now Sony has control of the market. You always need competition to drive down prices without them were screwed. Without the xbox360 the ps3 would still be $600 competition has broken that down to $400. I love how the consumer thinks its a good thing the format war is over, but yet its actually not. Now its a war between the consumer and Sony. You either stick with dvd or pay $400 to help sony cope there big debt.

[kowrip]

Either way i look at it, im not buying a Blue ray player in till it hits $100 other wise they can kiss my little **** ASS. I won't ever buy a ps3 because it just sucks period, only good game will be metal gear and im sure it'll be out on xbox eventually. Now that HD-dvd is over this is actually a very bad thing, no longer is there a format war meaning, Sony will be either raising prices, or keeping them still for a long long time to make up for there lost money. Now Sony has control of the market. You always need competition to drive down prices without them were screwed. Without the xbox360 the ps3 would still be $600 competition has broken that down to $400. I love how the consumer thinks its a good thing the format war is over, but yet its actually not. Now its a war between the consumer and Sony. You either stick with dvd or pay $400 to help sony cope there big debt.

I think prices will drop. It's not just Sony behind Blu-Ray. It's many companies. Now, they don't have to worry about becoming obsolete. They can focus on just increasing production of hardware to lower cost and get it into more homes. As far as the PS3 goes, I've owned only Xbox consoles but the PS3 is definitely a nice piece of hardware. My wife won a free 60GB PS3 in a poker tournament, so we're all set for high-definition movies and even games if there is any big exclusive hit that we want. The 360 has the better selection of games, but truthfully a lot of the big hits are/will be available on both platforms anyway. With the dreaded RROD, the PS3 certainly looks like a decent choice for a console ... and you get the BR player as a bonus.

[Ranger72]

Either way i look at it, im not buying a Blue ray player in till it hits $100 other wise they can kiss my little **** ASS. I won't ever buy a ps3 because it just sucks period, only good game will be metal gear and im sure it'll be out on xbox eventually. Now that HD-dvd is over this is actually a very bad thing, no longer is there a format war meaning, Sony will be either raising prices, or keeping them still for a long long time to make up for there lost money. Now Sony has control of the market. You always need competition to drive down prices without them were screwed. Without the xbox360 the ps3 would still be $600 competition has broken that down to $400. I love how the consumer thinks its a good thing the format war is over, but yet its actually not. Now its a war between the consumer and Sony. You either stick with dvd or pay $400 to help sony cope there big debt.

So you are backing a company that has made billions on the same principles you are accusing Sony of doing? believe me when I say that Microsoft is by no means innocent when using a monopoly to over price and force consumers into directions that may not be ideal for the masses just to force people into paying a higher price for something than it is worth. These two companies are two side to the same coin and blind loyalty to any one of them is bad for the consumer.

Saying that I do believe that one format is the best for the consumer. And now that Blu-Ray is the one format that will take us into the future it can only lead to cheaper players for all. Now ALL manufacturers will be producing Blu-Ray players and I am sure you will be seeing your $99 Blu-Ray player by the end of the year or sooner. Toshiba will probably be making Blu-Ray players along with Wal-Mart branded players for the low end budget.

All this blind loyalty crap that people speak about for any one company is a joke and does no good for anybody. If you want to be blind loyal to something then make it your favorite sports team and leave the monopolizing companies out of it.

[mat82284]

So you are backing a company that has made billions on the same principles you are accusing Sony of doing? believe me when I say that Microsoft is by no means innocent when using a monopoly to over price and force consumers into directions that may not be ideal for the masses just to force people into paying a higher price for something than it is worth. These two companies are two side to the same coin and blind loyalty to any one of them is bad for the consumer.

Saying that I do believe that one format is the best for the consumer. And now that Blu-Ray is the one format that will take us into the future it can only lead to cheaper players for all. Now ALL manufacturers will be producing Blu-Ray players and I am sure you will be seeing your $99 Blu-Ray player by the end of the year or sooner. Toshiba will probably be making Blu-Ray players along with Wal-Mart branded players for the low end budget.

All this blind loyalty crap that people speak about for any one company is a joke and does no good for anybody. If you want to be blind loyal to something then make it your favorite sports team and leave the monopolizing companies out of it.

First off i never said anything about microsoft. I know microsoft has dont bad things as well, It wasnt about them at all its about Sony. I dont backup microsoft either, the only reason i bought there system was because of the games, and that the fact i got a 360 for only $200 2 years back. I don't like any company that monopolizes anything. I like competition, now in the format war i to wanted one to end, but that doesnt mean ill pay the $400 there asking for. I don't think a $99 player wont be out for at least 2 years. Walmart will have there $379 player while frys has there $390 player and circuit city has there $400 player. Either way its a step to the future, but if sony stupes to microsofts level then there just as bad as them.

[ChrisF]

I am sure you will be seeing your $99 Blu-Ray player by the end of the year or sooner.

Won't happen by end of 2008. Especially with no competition on players. I don't disagree with the rest of your post, but you won't see this pricing by year end.

[FUCKMICROSOFT]

biggest competitor for blueray is standard dvd. now that next gen hd formats are unified, the wars now between making standard dvds obsolete by forcing bluray and hd video down the throat of us consumers. and if we are smart we'll make it clear to the industry we shouldn't have to pay any premium for a higher definition title.

what a dream, this won't happen. I'm going to stick with standard dvds and upconvert till i cant bare it anymore in about 3 years. and i hope by then prices will be affordable for hd media

[Zod5000]

If bluray doesn't get competitive with DVD, then it runs the risk of staying a niche product, IE more akin to the popularity of laserdisc, opposed to say VHS.

If they want widespread adoption they'll have to bring prices down. I still think its pretty lame that standalones are pretty much the same price as a ps3, you'd think they'd be considerably cheaper.

If bluray players stay too high, it just won't catch on with the majority of the public, it also needs the majority of the public to buy hdtv's, which is something that wasn't required when dvd came out.

[Chancer]

Sony will be either raising prices, or keeping them still for a long long time to make up for there lost money. Now Sony has control of the market. You always need competition to drive down prices without them were screwed.

Unbelieveable how many times this comes up.
It would only have control of the market if it was the only optical format and they were the only company producing players. Competition between manufacturers to get out cheap players will drive the market not Sony.
The cheap Chinese made DVd players forced prices down and the same will happen with BR

[jesterrace777]

Thing is though that the entry line Blu-Ray players (V1.0 spec) were as low as $270 (The Samsung BDP-1400 and the Sony S300) just prior to the warner announcement and came with 5 free movies. The cheapest new V1.0 spec players now run $340 or more from any reputable site and the BDA has discontinued the 5 free offer.
Anything that supports higher specs will run you a bare minimum of $400. It seems to me if they truly intended to make this a format that was truly a competitor to standard DVD that they would need to at least be pushing the $300 mark on the lower end players at this point instead of just sitting around. We keep hearing about cheap chinese players but are they going to be like the Venturer which barely made any kind of a showing?

This post has been edited by jesterrace777: Feb 22 2008, 11:57 AM

[Chancer]

Thing is though that the entry line Blu-Ray players (V1.0 spec) were as low as $270 (The Samsung BDP-1400 and the Sony S300) just prior to the warner announcement and came with 5 free movies. The cheapest new V1.0 spec players now run $340 or more from any reputable site and the BDA has discontinued the 5 free offer.
Anything that supports higher specs will run you a bare minimum of $400. It seems to me if they truly intended to make this a format that was truly a competitor to standard DVD that they would need to at least be pushing the $300 mark on the lower end players at this point instead of just sitting around. We keep hearing about cheap chinese players but are they going to be like the Venturer which barely made any kind of a showing?

That is to be expected at this time. Companies now know which way this format thing has gone and will now have the confidence to design and bring in players knowing they are not mass marketing a system which could be defunct in a few months.
You surely don't expect the players to have been ready for release immediately an announcement was made?
DVD was the same. the cheaper brands only appeared when the format became stable from a marketing point.
The only reason HD DVD players are cheap and the prices reduced to such an extent is the fact that the format will be all but extinct soon, so the stock was sold off. I don't expect to see the real competition between the manufacturers until the last quarter of this year.
The 5 free film offer was only ever valid until Feb 29 . It was brought back after an initial success in the first promo between July and Sept last year

This post has been edited by Chancer: Feb 22 2008, 04:15 PM

[88 Ecko Unltd 88]

y would they stay behind and go with a dead format

[0794]

this continues to be good news overall with one unified optical format for the consumer and prices will continue to be driven down overall for BR players. this format success may even save sony (overall as a company - not just the gaming or entertainment division) with their recent struggles over the past few years.

it will be interesting to see how quickly HD DVD fades into the sunset or if there will be another use that will sustain the media in the coming years (i still have a SparQ and Zip drive lying around somewhere...)