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[NekoFever]

Is it homevideo, or dvd? Because I think the ads were always about dvd specificly.

They've always vaulted the films for ten years after the last release, whatever the format. That's why they didn't even start releasing most of their big classics (they'd done some of the smallers ones as token support for DVD) until Snow White came out in 2001, four years after DVD came out. So far only ten of them have had Platinum editions out of what? 30?

Admittedly they caved some and started releasing two classics on DVD each year instead of one, so there is some hope. Every time I put on Cars or Ratatouille and see that little tease of Circle of Life in HD I get a tear

I'm going to stop before I identify myself as a Disney nerd anymore.

 

[Totobeni]

Its amusing that the inferior format will win this stupid war.

:|

 

[Wollan]

hahahah, the lines of resolution have been with us for nearly 50 years! they're not even the best that we could be displaying. just look at our comptuer screens -- they do a hell of a lot better job displaying than TVs do. Technology that isn't updated for that long is just too old to keep around.

television technology has been stagnant until they started going into HD.

not to mention that there will be no such thing as NTSC or PAL or SECAM or any of those other shitty resolutions once the HD standard takes hold.

HD is staying, there is no way around it.

 

[Kafel]

They stop releasing movies on HD DVDs in May, and continue releasing on blu ray and dvd only.

I've never understood why this "DVD / HD-DVD forum" (consortium?) couldn't have the power to say : "you release your movies on HD-DVD or else you won't be allowed to release them on DVD anymore".

 

[Raistlin]

Its amusing that the inferior format will win this stupid war.

:lol

WHAT!?!?


From a tech-spec view, BD has ALWAYS been superior to HD DVD. From a feature standpoint, it is now equivalent, and will likely offer more in the future.


Nice FUD!!!

 

[BboyDubC]

I hope MS doesn't release a BD player. I hope they release a 150 dollar hybrid HD/BD player. I don't want to rebuy my HD-DVD movies on Blu Ray and I don't want to have two drives plugged into the 360. Think about all of us that bought the first one MS!

 

[JCBossman]

Its amusing that the inferior format will win this stupid war.

Wouldn't be the first time, just ask Sony in the 80's

 

[TheWolf]

i see this as having very little impact on PS3 sales.

 

[Geek]

I knew it was McWhertor after reading the first sentence. That dude never has anything positive to say about Sony. It's always insults and jabs and fanboy call outs.

Hahahaha! :lol You have created quite the little world for yourself! I'm amazed that this little post is generating so many fanboy accusations based on a throwaway Catwoman reference.

For the record, you really ought to have your fanboy detector serviced.

 

[LowParry]

I hope MS doesn't release a BD player. I hope they release a 150 dollar hybrid HD/BD player. I don't want to rebuy my HD-DVD movies on Blu Ray and I don't want to have two drives plugged into the 360. Think about all of us that bought the first one MS!

Don't you just love early adaption?

 

[itsgreen]

Really...?
Inferior in what way exactly?

Spec is quite fixed, future HDDVD titles should work full featured on generation 1 players. (ie. multiple decoders for PIP).

Also the DRM system is a lot looser. It allows you to stream stuff from a network drive (I believe).

 

[Raistlin]

I hope MS doesn't release a BD player. I hope they release a 150 dollar hybrid HD/BD player. I don't want to rebuy my HD-DVD movies on Blu Ray and I don't want to have two drives plugged into the 360. Think about all of us that bought the first one MS!

That ain't gonna happen a couple of reasons. Firstly, MS got the price down because Toshiba was eating some of the cost (or at least selling at cost). Secondly, BD drive manufactures probably won't feel the need to offer their tech at cost or lower, and Toshiba will NOT continue to subsidize HD DVD drives. If HD DVD really is going out ... Toshiba is not going to decide to just eat more losses.


I just don't see a combo player at that price for a bit. The combo players will see (if any) will be boutique, high-end A/V units.


The advantage of something like a 360 add-on is that it is just a drive. There are some cheap laser pick-ups becoming available that support both formats. However, it will be a while before those are cheap enough ... along with MS having the SW up and running for the decoding (Toshiba obviously helped subsidize the cost of the SW for the 360 add-on ... I don't see BDA doing the same ).

 

[TEH-CJ]

Is there any HD DVD vs BLU ray comparison pics yet?

and no I'm not joking...I'm just really curious to see the difference compared to HD DVD ( never seen a HD DVD movie before...)

 

[itsgreen]

Is there any HD DVD vs BLU ray comparison pics yet?

and no I'm not joking...I'm just really curious to see the difference compared to HD DVD ( never seen a HD DVD movie before...)

Basicly none in terms of pure picture quality.

 

[Ezduo]

Hopefully this means the format war is almost over and we can go back to regular DVD cases instead of these ugly Blu-ray and HD-DVD cases.

 

[Beer Monkey]

From a tech-spec view, BD has ALWAYS been superior to HD DVD.

After HD-DVD forced Blu-Ray to adopt advanced codecs.

Still, ultimately I wish that there had only been one format actually released, after BD was forced to embrace new technology other than storage.

 

[Nizz]

I hope MS doesn't release a BD player. I hope they release a 150 dollar hybrid HD/BD player. I don't want to rebuy my HD-DVD movies on Blu Ray and I don't want to have two drives plugged into the 360. Think about all of us that bought the first one MS!

This is exactly why there never should have been two formats to begin with. Let's say the writing's on the wall for HD-DVD, now people who have invested a bit in the HD-DVD format are left with a limited collection of films, and no future support. Sucks to be an early adopter. I've wanted to make the jump to a high-def disc format, but I always wanted this little tug of war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD to be over. S**t, I've had a PS3 since June and I have yet to buy a movie on Blu-ray. One, the discs are still pretty expensive and two, the uncertainty of which format would really take off. But I'll tell you what, I'm beginning to feel pretty secure now in starting to get Blu-ray movies.

 

[Raistlin]

Is there any HD DVD vs BLU ray comparison pics yet?

and no I'm not joking...I'm just really curious to see the difference compared to HD DVD ( never seen a HD DVD movie before...)

Technically, BD can produce better A/V quality and/or better/more extras due to its higher bitrate (both sustained, and especially peak - which is important of image quality) ... as well as yield longer releases.

However, there really isn't much to directly compare, since most mutiformat releases use the same encode. However, a number of multiplatform BD releases do in fact contain better audio than the HD DVD counterpart.



If BD does take over though, it will be a situation where the lowest common denominator no longer needs to be met. Studios will then begin to compete against each other, much as they did with DVD.

 

[Raistlin]

After HD-DVD forced Blu-Ray to adopt advanced codecs.

AVC was always going to be part of the spec iirc.

 

[koam]

Actually, I'd rather set up a PayPal donation fund for you, because it's quite obvious you need some Lasik eye surgery.

I kinda feel sorry that you have such bad eye sight.

This is 100% true. I've noticed that people who's eyesight isn't perfect don't notice the difference as much as others. It's probably due to the blurriness of their vision.

 

[itsgreen]

AVC was always going to be part of the spec iirc.

Can't remember for sure, but I seem to recall Bluray tried to walk silently away with only MPEG2.

 

[Narcosis]

Hopefully this means the format war is almost over and we can go back to regular DVD cases instead of these ugly Blu-ray and HD-DVD cases.

I kinda like the smaller size of the HD format cases, even if the big Blu ray and HD-DVD logos at the top are tacky

 

[Decado]

Yes!!! Thanks for teh news sonycowboy!!!111!!!

...

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!111!!! Batman Teh Dark Knight on Bluray ftmfw!!!111!!!

Will we finally friggin' well see Batman Begins on Blu-Ray now?

 

[neojubei]

Will we finally friggin' well see Batman Begins on Blu-Ray now?

Yes finally.

 

[DeadGzuz]

Can't remember for sure, but I seem to recall Bluray tried to walk silently away with only MPEG2.

The BD-ROM specification mandates certain codec compatibilities for both hardware decoders (players) and the movie-software (content). For video, all players are required to support MPEG-2, H.264/AVC, and SMPTE VC-1. MPEG-2 is the codec used on regular DVDs, which allows backwards compatibility. H.264/AVC was developed by MPEG and VCEG as a modern successor of MPEG-2. VC-1 is another MPEG-4 derivative codec mostly developed by Microsoft. BD-ROM titles with video must store video using one of the three mandatory codecs. Multiple codecs on a single title are allowed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc#Codecs

Funny thing is if it were not for Blu-ray HD-DVD would have ended up being a red laser, you think 30GB DL is small...

The DVD Forum (which was chaired by Toshiba) was deeply split over whether to go with the more expensive blue lasers or not. In addition, the proposed Blu-ray disc with its protective caddy was both expensive and physically different from DVD, posing several problems.[10] In March 2002, the forum voted to approve a proposal endorsed by Warner Bros. and other motion picture studios that involved compressing HD content onto dual-layer DVD-9 discs.[11][12] However, in spite of this decision, the DVD Forum's Steering Committee announced in April that it was pursuing its own blue-laser high-definition solution.[13] In August, Toshiba and NEC announced their competing standard Advanced Optical Disc.[14] It was finally adopted by the DVD forum and renamed to HD DVD the next year,[15] after being voted down twice by Blu-ray Disc Association members, prompting the U.S. Department of Justice to make preliminary investigations into the situation[16][17]. Three new members had to be invited and the voting rules changed before the vote finally passed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_DVD#Origins_and_competition_from_Blu-ray_Disc

 

[smurfx]

Can't remember for sure, but I seem to recall Bluray tried to walk silently away with only MPEG2.

no that was sony who made several mpeg-2 coded movies.

 

[topsyturvy]

i see this as having very little impact on PS3 sales.

.

 

[MercuryLS]

Goos shit, maybe I'll start building a Blu Ray collection now.

 

[Gattsu25]

wow...I was expecting them to remain neutral

 

[TEH-CJ]

Technically, BD can produce better A/V quality and/or better/more extras due to its higher bitrate (both sustained, and especially peak - which is important of image quality) ... as well as yield longer releases.

However, there really isn't much to directly compare, since most mutiformat releases use the same encode. However, a number of multiplatform BD releases do in fact contain better audio than the HD DVD counterpart.



If BD does take over though, it will be a situation where the lowest common denominator no longer needs to be met. Studios will then begin to compete against each other, much as they did with DVD.

Ah i see thanks for the explanation there dude

 

[Scottlarock]

I donot like this news. I like the 360 HDDVD add-on being intergrated into the 360, being able to see friends online while watching HD movies, messages, chatting, I now hope they release a blu-ray add on.

 

[Scottlarock]

.

it wont help PS3 games sales too much, but it will help ps3 sales overall and bluray movie sales.

 

[typhonsentra]

Huge news, but the gaming connection is the loosest I've seen here in a while now.

 

[Arkham]

While Spidey is hanging there, can he ask Sony to quit using that lame font aimed at 13 year olds?

...he says, with a cartoon avatar.

 

[battleMAUS]

i see this as having very little impact on PS3 sales.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=224444

I've decided to finally plump and pick up the last of the three consoles (for me), a PS3. I've been on the fence for a while - very much always intending to buy one, just waiting for the right moment. The Blu-Ray announcement has now pushed me to doing it sooner rather than later.

 

[XonoX]

I think if Bill Gates wants to leave the world with a shock at CES, he should announce the new Elite version with an internal Blu-Ray player !

Peter Moore said it would be ok while he was at MS, so why should Bill be closed to the idea ?


http://au.gamespot.com/pages/news/story.php?sid=6142137

 

[Arkham]

i see this as having very little impact on PS3 sales.

I see you being wrong and kinda trolly.

 

[battleMAUS]

in reply to xono:

i remember reading a joke post somewhere (here or maybe HDdigest) that the big microsoft megaton announcement would be a xbox blu-ray add-on. just imagine it, lmfao. imagine a microsoft rep getting up to the podium holding a fucking blu ray drive above his head, yelling BLU is the future...

 

[Truespeed]

I've never understood why this "DVD / HD-DVD forum" (consortium?) couldn't have the power to say : "you release your movies on HD-DVD or else you won't be allowed to release them on DVD anymore".

Well, first of all you need to understand that Content is king. Not to mention that the HD DVD stipulation would never hold up in a court of law in any country.

 

[Lagaff]

i see this as having very little impact on PS3 sales.

You can see it ? :lol

 

[Norml]

wow...I was expecting them to remain neutral

Here is why they did it.

Tsujihara said that, not including WB's blockbuster Planet Earth release, the company had already been selling 60 percent of its high-def titles in Blu-ray format in the U.S. But that figure was 70%-plus in Europe and 90%-plus in Japan.

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/63608

 

[Chiggs]

Spec is quite fixed, future HDDVD titles should work full featured on generation 1 players. (ie. multiple decoders for PIP).

Also the DRM system is a lot looser. It allows you to stream stuff from a network drive (I believe).

Gee, care to touch on Blu-ray's storage and bandwidth advantages? Guess those mean nothing, right?

 

[Beer Monkey]

AVC was always going to be part of the spec iirc.

You recall incorrectly. Blu-Ray was all about MPEG-2 and it was the only video format in their early draft specs until HD-DVD really turned up the heat. If BD had been released unchallenged, all indications are that they really weren't interested in anything better than MPEG-2. This early competition is actually really good for the consumer, it's just too bad that the competing formats didn't work things out (as DVD did with Super Density Disc) and come up with a single unified format for launch.

Even after Blu-Ray announced that they would support VC-1 and AVC, Sony Pictures announced that they were all about using MPEG-2! Thankfully competition sorts everything out over time.

Content makers have a choice of three video compression systems to choose from on Blu-ray Disc, including MPEG2, which is used on current DVDs, and the newer VC1 and MPEG4 AVC formats. Sony will employ the MPEG2 system because it can provide a better picture, said Feingold.

“The new codecs are interesting but unproven,” he said.

 

[avaya]

You recall incorrectly. Blu-Ray was all about MPEG-2 and it was the only video format in their early draft specs until HD-DVD really turned up the heat. If BD had been released unchallenged, all indications are that they really weren't interested in anything better than MPEG-2. This early competition is actually really good for the consumer, it's just too bad that the competing formats didn't work things out (as DVD did with Super Density Disc) and come up with a single unified format for launch.

Even after Blu-Ray announced that they would support VC-1 and AVC, Sony Pictures announced that they were all about using MPEG-2! Thankfully competition sorts everything out over time.

Feingold was doing damage control becuase Sony and Panasonic were hella late on their AVC encoding tools. Paidgeek has gone over this many times.

 

[Riddick]

You recall incorrectly. Blu-Ray was all about MPEG-2 and it was the only video format in their early draft specs until HD-DVD really turned up the heat. If BD had been released unchallenged, all indications are that they really weren't interested in anything better than MPEG-2. This early competition is actually really good for the consumer, it's just too bad that the competing formats didn't work things out (as DVD did with Super Density Disc) and come up with a single unified format for launch.

Even after Blu-Ray announced that they would support VC-1 and AVC, Sony Pictures announced that they were all about using MPEG-2! Thankfully competition sorts everything out over time.

Wrong. AVC had been announced long before BD's launch. The only problem was that it was unfinished and that was the reason the movie studios used MPEG2 at first. The quoted text was the the damage control on Sony's side but they always intended to use AVC.

EDIT - beaten

 

[JCBossman]

The one thing I am not so certain about is the hard coating on BD's, sure it seems to work well now, but "Simulated wear" isn't actual wear and it is possible the coating fails after a while. I am just making this up, but I always get worried when there is a serious problem(Blu-Rays REQUIRING a hard coating) and a "quick" fix to the caddies, Magically Appears in the nick of time.Wouldn't this "Hard Coating" benefit ALL Optical discs? Wasen't scratching a problem on ALL media since CD'S? So for Decades Manufacturer's tried to make better coatings but couldn't, SUDDENLY a fix is found to SAVE Blu?

 

[squatingyeti]

Oh please, half of this forum would be pissing and moaning or dead silent if Warner went HD DVD. If you believe otherwise, I have a nice bridge here I'd like to sell you.

This hasn't been said enough.

 

[itsgreen]

...he says, with a cartoon avatar.

That is fucking Speedy Cerviche from the Samurai Pizza Cats!

Respect the Cats. "They're sniffing out crime, and you know that ain't balony"

Gee, care to touch on Blu-ray's storage and bandwidth advantages? Guess those mean nothing, right?

He asked inferior in what way, I presented it. And again overall storage capacity isn't really a problem here, neither is bitrate. Just point at a single movie that is crap on HDDVD and isnt on Bluray because of a higher bitrate. (The comeback for this is: What HDDVD movies, there aren't that many!)

Now again I am planning to skip the whole HDDVD/Bluray buying thing, because I find that collecting movies is quite an expensive hobby. But I would prefer a medium that can store a little less, and is more consumer friendly above something that has a larger capacity.

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

I am just making this up

No way

 

[Gattsu25]

You recall incorrectly. Blu-Ray was all about MPEG-2 and it was the only video format in their early draft specs until HD-DVD really turned up the heat. If BD had been released unchallenged, all indications are that they really weren't interested in anything better than MPEG-2. This early competition is actually really good for the consumer, it's just too bad that the competing formats didn't work things out (as DVD did with Super Density Disc) and come up with a single unified format for launch.

Even after Blu-Ray announced that they would support VC-1 and AVC, Sony Pictures announced that they were all about using MPEG-2! Thankfully competition sorts everything out over time.

Good memory of old history...any relevence to the topic, at hand?