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[captive]

No problem ... debate ended. I simply do not want to see the same 1080p argument get started when its been gone over so many times before.

Quiter.

Whats the word on your Pre/pro?
My Pioneer 5080 hopefully this weekend.
And my 705 is getting closer to reality.

 

[Petrarca]

This is from someone who attended EMA

Well, I just left this particular panel. One thing is for certain: Ken Griffeo is wavering a bit on his support of HD DVD. He even went so far as to mention the daily pressure he is under from GE to go neutral. It's only a matter of time.

Zohn continued to spew complete disinformation about his support of HD DVD. He went so far as to say this:

"At my company we are neutral - - we support both formats. However, the reason we favor HD DVD..."

Uh... someone needs to look up the definition of "neutral".

He also went so far as to call the people at Sony: "A bunch of jerks... they are just terrible people"

He labeled them as such because he says they don't return his phone calls.

There will be a full video of this event posted on HTF in the next few days. I think you'll all enjoy Bill Hunt jumping down Griffeo's throat for a solid 30 minutes. Griffeo even made an early exit from the panel... I think the pressure got to him.

 

[Raistlin]

Quiter.

>_<

Whats the word on your Pre/pro?
My Pioneer 5080 hopefully this weekend.
And my 705 is getting closer to reality.

Should be shipping around the end of the month. I epect it beginning of August.

Unfortunately, I'll be gone most of the month

 

[Raistlin]

This is from someone who attended EMA

lolololololololol

 

[bbyybb]

Is value electronics that big of a company? I thought they just wholesale electronic goods to brick and morter?

 

[bigmakstudios]

Did laserdisc amass just as much support as Blu-ray has? just wondering.

 

[Superman00]

Did laserdisc amass just as much support as Blu-ray has? just wondering.

Uh what? Not even close. Blu-ray has the support of the majority of the big studio except Universal.

 

[bigmakstudios]

Uh what? Not even close. Blu-ray has the support of the majority of the big studio except Universal.

ok dude relax. >_> I only asked because I know that the original Star Wars trilogy was released for laserdisc.

 

[mollipen]

Uh what? Not even close. Blu-ray has the support of the majority of the big studio except Universal.

You sure? There were a lot of major releases for Laserdisc, even though it wasn't a format you'd find in a whole lot of stores. Trying to think off of the top of my head, I think Fox, Universal, Warner Bros, and Disney were for sure releasing LDs. I came into the format pretty late, though, so I'm not exactly sure on who all supported it.

 

[Superman00]

You sure? There were a lot of major releases for Laserdisc, even though it wasn't a format you'd find in a whole lot of stores. Trying to think off of the top of my head, I think Fox, Universal, Warner Bros, and Disney were for sure releasing LDs. I came into the format pretty late, though, so I'm not exactly sure on who all supported it.

During the early years, MCA also manufactured discs for other companies including Paramount, Disney and Warner Brothers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laserdisk#Laserdisc_vs._VHS

The only thing I found.

 

[antipode]

Uh what? Not even close. Blu-ray has the support of the majority of the big studio except Universal.

Didn't every studio release laserdiscs?

Since inception there have been at least 43,000 barcoded laserdisc releases:
www.lddb.com

Since inception there have been at least 120,000 barcoded DVD releases:
www.hometheaterinfo.com/dvdlist.htm

Blu-ray and HD-DVD are both below 300 I believe.

 

[Andy787]

This is from someone who attended EMA

Someone has to post the video of this whenever it's put up.

 

[The Main Event]

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6461381.html

JULY 18 | LAS VEGAS—Universal Studios Home Entertainment is adamant about exclusively offering HD DVD titles, despite protests by enthusiasts during the Home Media Expo here that it should work to end the high-definition format war.

Starting with the first season release of Heroes on HD DVD on Aug. 28, all new releases in the format from Universal will contain Web-enabled features. The interactivity is intended to underscore HD DVD advantages over Blu-ray Disc, whose studio backers have not yet starting offering Web-enabled Blu-ray titles. Most available Blu-ray players do not feature Internet connectivity.

With Heroes, consumers who buy the HD DVD will be immersed in the show’s official Web site, but officials declined to share details, which will be publicly announced during an NBC-Universal session at Comic-Con in San Diego, Calif., later this month.

“We are targeting the MySpace generation,” said Ken Graffeo, Universal executive VP of marketing and head of high-definition. “We are developing that same community. With Heroes, producer Tim Kring is very involved in letting HD DVD users exclusively participate in the Heroes community.”

Blu-ray players “don’t have the consistency in their machines to be able to handle this,” Graffeo added.

During a Wednesday session for Home Theater Forum members, Microsoft HD DVD evangelist Kevin Collins gave Home Theater Forum members the first public look at Heroes scenes and showed off some included picture-in-picture interactivity, another feature not yet offered on Blu-ray discs.

During a Q&A session with Collins later in the day, HTF members seemed grateful to hear about the format’s plans. But many still seemed angry over Universal’s HD DVD-only decision.

“I have Blu-ray. When are you going to go Blu-ray?” asked exasperated HTF member Dan Deganis, who recently purchased a Blu-ray-capable PlayStation 3.

Graffeo, Collins and other panelists acknowledged that PS3 owners far outweigh HD DVD player owners. But they argued that Toshiba and Hewlett-Packard are soon releasing a slew of HD DVD drives for notebooks and PCs.

“I don’t watch movies on my computer,” shot back Deganis, which was met with cheers from the audience.

Digital Bits Web site founder Bill Hunt told the panelists about a family friend who bought a Toshiba player quickly after the company reduced prices to $299. The machine was just as quickly returned to the store after the friend’s wife mistakenly bought Blu-ray titles Ice Age and Pirates of the Caribbean, not realizing they were incompatible with the new player.

“The average consumer is just sitting out on the sidelines,” said Hunt, adding that a lot of people are enjoying the advanced quality on upscaling DVD players, not feeling it’s necessary to also buy true high-def players. “How can this ever be a mass market?”

Digital Bits Web site founder Bill Hunt and HTF members also questioned Universal’s and Microsoft’s stance that interactivity gives HD DVD a serious leg up over Blu-ray.

With picture-in-picture, HTF’s Sam Posten bemoaned the complexity, saying “I can’t even explain this stuff to my mom. It makes it harder to get to the actual [film] feature. Who is going to sit through a movie three times to hopefully see a bug in the corner of the screen?”

Hunt chimed in, “And who is to say that a year from now, Blu-ray won’t be able to add these things anyway?”

Graffeo consistently defended Universal’s position, pointing out that outside of the U.S. HD DVD is far more pervasive than Blu-ray. Some Blu-ray studios do not have the international distribution rights to titles, which then are delivered by indie companies to non-U.S. retailers. Many of these indies, including Studio Canal, are choosing to produce in the cheaper-to-replicate HD DVD format.

“In Europe, 80% of the high-def content is HD vs. Blu-ray,” said Graffeo. “We need to look at this business on a global basis.”

I'm sure Mr. Hunt felt really special after that moment :rolleyes

 

[Crayon Shinchan]

Hahaha... HD-DVD is far more pervasive outside the US?

 

[mollipen]

Wow, so the sales pitch of HD-DVD now is that it'll be able to provide a Myspace-like "community" when what I really want to do is just watch the damn movie or TV series? Why the f**k do I want to take part in a community over my TV? Am I going to text-chat with HeroesFangirl54 with my HD-DVD remote?

I'd swear they're trying to make me NOT want to buy HD-DVD.

 

[The Main Event]

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6461370.html

Formats focus on consumers, not retailers

ULY 18 | LAS VEGAS—Industry leaders have been pressing retailers this week to look to high-definition DVD as the future as sales of standard DVD stall.

But the two high-def camps battling for retail space and consumer pocketbooks have been largely missing from this year’s show as far as retailers are concerned.

There are no panels or sessions focused on high-def sales, no Sony Blu-ray Café to demo movies on the format as there was last year and little presence from HD DVD backers.

Sources say HD DVD execs had agreed to take part in a panel to discuss the format war with the other side, but Blu-ray execs declined to take part.

One industry source from the Blu-ray camp said the group didn’t take part in this year’s show because there is a question as to how relevant the show is. Another studio source said that retailers at the show aren’t yet an important component of the high-def business because the format is in the earliest phase of adoption.

HD DVD execs agreeing to talk about the format war, but not Blu-ray backers. The irony.

Consumers still confused about Blu-ray, HD DVD

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6461382.html

JULY 18 | LAS VEGAS—Both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc will have a place in home entertainment’s future and a big one at that, according to research presented at Wednesday panel “The Future of Retail and Home Entertainment” at the Home Media Expo here.

By 2012, high-definition DVD will reach $10 billion in annual sales, surpassing DVD sales, which are expected at $8 billion, according to Adams Media Research projections. Adams believes that high-def sales will be split equally between HD DVD and Blu-ray.

Firm principal Tom Adams said the industry is “slowly getting used to the idea that Toshiba’s not going away.”

But high-def DVD won’t grow as fast as standard DVD did. Part of the problem is a lack of consumer high-def knowledge.

“Consumers are entirely confused,” said Russ Crupnick, NPD movies and music analyst. NPD research shows that 10% of consumers think they already have a high-def player, while research says that closer to 1% actually do.

One of the complaints of consumers is that they don’t understand why they should upgrade to high-def. “More than price, people don’t see a big difference,” he said.

Entire articles at the links.

 

[Crayon Shinchan]

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6461370.html

Formats focus on consumers, not retailers





HD DVD execs agreeing to talk about the format war, but not Blu-ray backers. The irony.

Consumers still confused about Blu-ray, HD DVD

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6461382.html



Entire articles at the links.

Dealing with IT issues all day long, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that, too many people in this day and age, simply don't have the cognitive resources (and more specifically, the patience/time/energy to devote those cognitive resources) to figure out the differences between two seemingly similar formats.

For those people... they may have the money, even the desire to see better pictures; but this format war is making what is an already pretty confusing market, even more confusing for those people.

What little desirability there is for a format war as a driver of low prices is completely offset by the number of people that it confuses and that it pushes away from adoption.

And what point is there to bickering about format war now at a panel? It's far past the point where talks could resolve anything; the only thing left to do for BD guys is to win this damn thing and spare the rest of us the confusion and the inconvenience of a split format.

 

[C.Dark.DN]

I need to enter a coma, wake up, and see a format winner.

 

[Days like these...]

Dealing with IT issues all day long, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that, too many people in this day and age, simply don't have the cognitive resources (and more specifically, the patience/time/energy to devote those cognitive resources) to figure out the differences between two seemingly similar formats.

For those people... they may have the money, even the desire to see better pictures; but this format war is making what is an already pretty confusing market, even more confusing for those people.

What little desirability there is for a format war as a driver of low prices is completely offset by the number of people that it confuses and that it pushes away from adoption.

And what point is there to bickering about format war now at a panel? It's far past the point where talks could resolve anything; the only thing left to do for BD guys is to win this damn thing and spare the rest of us the confusion and the inconvenience of a split format.

Crayon I think you've got it partially right about some people sitting on the fence till this thing pans out (not sure it will). I still think its the price and the lack of perceived value of both formats by your average joe. They just don't see the better PQ of HD being worth a $300-$500 player and movies that are $25-$35 a pop. Realize that GAF is not middle america

 

[thaivo]

I need to enter a coma, wake up, and see a format winner.

Well in my case, the format war has been pretty positive. I don't think there is a chance that I could have purchased and HD-DVD player for $250 so soon otherwise. BD people of course should also thank the war for the $499 BD player Sony released recently. Last year BD players were upwards of $1300!!

 

[Crayon Shinchan]

Well in my case, the format war has been pretty positive. I don't think there is a chance that I could have purchased and HD-DVD player for $250 so soon otherwise. BD people of course should also thank the war for the $499 BD player Sony released recently. Last year BD players were upwards of $1300!!

Yeah. BD manufacturers would've used their oligopoly to keep player prices artificially high and shut out a burgeoning market.

The rolleyes. They do not come big enough.

 

[Superman00]

Well in my case, the format war has been pretty positive. I don't think there is a chance that I could have purchased and HD-DVD player for $250 so soon otherwise. BD people of course should also thank the war for the $499 BD player Sony released recently. Last year BD players were upwards of $1300!!

Actually even without HD-DVD you can still get a BD player for $500, they just called it PS3 :lol. You can thank Nintendo instead.

 

[thaivo]

Yeah. BD manufacturers would've used their oligopoly to keep player prices artificially high and shut out a burgeoning market.

The rolleyes. They do not come big enough.

Okay... where did I say anything about artificially high prices. I only said the war has been positive due to the fact that I was able to buy an HD player for a reasonable price...

They sure don't come "big enough"...

 

[XMonkey]

HD DVD execs agreeing to talk about the format war, but not Blu-ray backers. The irony.

Who cares? Nothing conclusive would have happened anyway. We know where people stand, we're just waiting for it to shake down.

 

[thaivo]

Who cares? Nothing conclusive would have happened anyway. We know where people stand, we're just waiting for it to shake down.

I agree mostly, it wouldn't have served any purpose.... other than it would have been pretty damn entertaining.

 

[Superman00]

I agree mostly, it wouldn't have served any purpose.... other than it would have been pretty damn entertaining.

They tried that last year and nothing came out of it. There is no point now, BD has the momentum now, why compromise.

 

[Crayon Shinchan]

Okay... where did I say anything about artificially high prices. I only said the war has been positive due to the fact that I was able to buy an HD player for a reasonable price...

They sure don't come "big enough"...

Your post read as though you were implying that price drops occurred only due to the format war.

Yeah, it's great news if you're one of the people that actually pick up a HD only player, and don't give a toss about what movies you can play on it (just that you can play something on it).

 

[Petrarca]

'Cars' Drives to Blu-ray this November

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/s...ents/Cars_Drives_to_Blu-ray_this_November/785

Walt Disney Home Entertainment is reportedly planning to bring the Pixar blockbuster 'Cars' to Blu-ray this November in a feature-loaded special edition.

Hollywood in Hi-Def has the early details, quoting a Disney exec as saying the studio plans to debut the first-ever Pixar release on high-def November 6.
ADVERTISEMENT

The Blu-ray version is expected to include all of the same supplements as the standard-def DVD release (which hit stores last fall), plus two new extras, exclusive to the Blu-ray edition. In addition to a new deleted scene, "Traffic," the 'Cars' Blu-ray is also set to feature a BD-Java enhanced "Car Finder," which will allow users to search for the more than 200 different cars featured in the movie, and even "race the clock" to find a specific car in a frozen frame of film.

The 'Cars' Blu-ray was originally expected to debut this past June, but the studio eventually delayed those plans, citing additional involvement from Pixar.

Disney has not officially confirmed the November 6 street date for 'Cars,' but as they have already announced, the studio does plan to offer demos of the 'Cars' Blu-ray and its bonus features during their eighteen-city road show that begins in August. So the signs definitely look good that 'Cars' will finally be revving up on Blu-ray this holiday season.

We've updated our listing for 'Cars' in our Blu-ray Release Schedule, now placing the title under November 6. We'll certainly keep you posted as soon as Disney officially announces the title. Stay tuned!

 

[rubso]

Petrarca:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7096430&postcount=6550

 

[wasting]

:lol

 

[Petrarca]

Anyone watch Jay Leno last night?


Apparently blu-ray got some 30 seconds promotion from Leno when he interviewed Sandra Bullock. He held up each copy of Premonition DVD and Blu-ray. When Sandra asked Leno what blu-ray was. Leno said that blu-ray is a cool tech and that it's a step above HD

Good job Leno!!!

 

[gkryhewy]

Petrarca:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7096430&postcount=6550

:lol :lol

 

[Forsete]

Cars? Awe-suhm.. The Incredibles next?

 

[Oni Jazar]

When Little Nemo hits then I'll bite one of Pixar's releases.

And I don't blame Sony for not wanting to go head to head with HD DVD guys. They said they won the format war already so what's to debate?

 

[sullyj]

oops, posted already

 

[kaching]

I'm sure Mr. Hunt felt really special after that moment :rolleyes

He can't feel more special than Graffeo does for continuing to shun potential customers.

And Mr. Hunt wasn't exactly alone in his sentiments either.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Yet more about Univeral under pressure. Seriously, that's BD FUD. If I've been complaining about HD DVD FUD, it's only fair to point this out as well.

Meanwhile, they seem to be seriously pushing the interactive features. That ties with something I read yesterday that said that market research showed that people don't want to re-buy movies for picture quality, but might for features. Since Uni doesn't have big new releases, they need to count on people re-buying old movies. There's the content/features argument in a nutshell. I don't see it as a winning strategy. Catalog titles are never going to as big a driver as new releases-- catalog titles ride the coattails and provide bonus income to the studios.

 

[jjasper]

Cars was easily my least favorite Pixar movie this side of A Bug's Life, bring me Ratatouille and the other ones.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Cars is easily my least-favorite Pixar film altogether.

I like it, but not anywhere near as much as their best films.

Interestingly, the worst two Pixar movies (Cars and A Bug's Life) are the two with the most derivative storylines.

 

[Sanjuro]

I brought home "The Host" on BluRay the other day. I had already seen the film in theaters. before but the quality on the disc is phenomenal. If you have never seen the movie before or wanting to see it for the first time, I cannot recommend it enough.

 

[rubso]

I brought home "The Host" on BluRay the other day. I had already seen the film in theaters. before but the quality on the disc is phenomenal. If you have never seen the movie before or wanting to see it for the first time, I cannot recommend it enough.

wait, The Host is coming out in July 24th on HD-DVD/Blu-ray, how did you get your copy? ( Import ?! )

 

[kaching]

Yet more about Univeral under pressure. Seriously, that's BD FUD. If I've been complaining about HD DVD FUD, it's only fair to point this out as well.

I know you like to try to be as even-handed as possible about this format war, but the videobusiness link is merely reporting on what transpired at this conference, in which Universal was queried by multiple panel members about their lack of support for BD. Where is the FUD in that exactly?

 

[Sanjuro]

wait, The Host is coming out in July 24th on HD-DVD/Blu-ray, how did you get your copy? ( Import ?! )

Work at video store. The copy came in the following day of my PS3 purchase.

 

[krypt0nian]

I know you like to try to be as even-handed as possible about this format war, but the videobusiness link is merely reporting on what transpired at this conference, in which Universal was queried by multiple panel members about their lack of support for BD. Where is the FUD in that exactly?

I saw no FUD unless they were outright lying. Wasn't video of this supposed to be released?

 

[rubso]

Work at video store. The copy came in the following day of my PS3 purchase.

cool o.o

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Kaching: There was a story a couple of days ago about it, too. It's not really headline worthy to say that Kenny G gets asked a lot of questions about going format-neutral. If he had replied any way other than the very consistent line he's taken all along, *that* would be news.

 

[StoOgE]

I call shenanigans on Bill Hunts story about the family friend returning the HDDVD player.

I mean, I could see it happening, but Bill Hunt is a guy with an agenda that just happens to have this anecdotal evidence that supports a cause he has been passionate about for over a year. :lol

 

[kaching]

Ignatz, the headline of the actual article seems to succinctly encapsulate what's reported in the article itself, both Universal talking about connectivity for their HD-DVD titles and the queries about BD support. It doesn't seem to be an attempt to sensationalize one thing or another but simply to accurately describe what the article itself is about.

 

[Raistlin]

Hahaha... HD-DVD is far more pervasive outside the US?

The stats are from pre-PS3 Euro launch.


I would expect BD is gaining momementum quickly now.

 

[The Main Event]

Yet more about Univeral under pressure. Seriously, that's BD FUD. If I've been complaining about HD DVD FUD, it's only fair to point this out as well.

All those "GE pressuring Universal to turn neutral" and "Ken Graffeo exiting the panel early" rumor talks (that I think came from the blu-ray.com forum), Adam on the HTF actually explains what really happened.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/showpost.php?p=3196248&postcount=19

There was no argument, there was no "tirade". There was a discussion where we were stalling for time. There were two people with two very different opinions who supported two formats. It lasted 2-3 minutes, and both of them were shut down so we could move on. I too wish you all could have been there to see what a non-issue this was. I also wish you could have been there when people were asked which format they preferred as a prelude to this. It was pretty much a 50/50 split between the two formats.

I can't believe that ANYONE that was at this would consider Ken to be wavering. Is he under daily pressure to go neutral? Yes! just read the Digitalbits, and HTF! Everyday people are asking (some screaming) for Universal to go neutral. Is he under daily pressure from GE? He never said that. He said he ultimately reports to GE (and I'm sure he and other Universal executives have had to justify their stance to GE), but this is taken way out of context by drsiebling. When the video posts (give Ron a chance to get home and catch his breath) you all can judge for yourself. The general point is no one from either side is wavering yet!

That said, can't wait to see the video :lol