Support NeoGAF

[The Main Event]

Where you been man? You missed the megaton.

:lol :lol :lol

Been pretty busy all day, just saw the news :lol

Holy shit, that was unexpected.

*Buys more HD DVDs*

 

[thaivo]

someone has too. And until someone ponies up, DD is a dream. Don't get me wrong, I'll be 1st in line to get it when it finaly comes to my little hick town, but I am not holding my breath :lol

DD is probably most likely in places like Japan, where fiber is actually common. They have download speeds in the 100Mbps.. It's of course much easier for Japan, since it's only the size of California.

 

[thaivo]

:lol :lol :lol

Been pretty busy all day, just saw the news :lol

Holy shit, that was unexpected.

*Buys more HD DVDs*

Your avatar seems to match the general reaction to the announcement

:lol :lol

I actually picked up Batman Begins today from Fry's I was so giddy.

 

[cvxfreak]

How popular has Pay Per View/On Demand been? Technically we've had digital distribution for over a decade, just not with our computers until recently.

...sure we don't get to keep the movie, but still. Unless you have a recorder.

 

[favouriteflavour]

I dont doubt that digital distribution will be a valid proposition by 2015. Thats 8 years, its a heck of a long time. The uptake of the internet is rapid and its quickly integrating into everyday living. I would be suprised if digital distribution of movies wasnt common by 2015. I mean we would be well into the next console cycle by then and we already have complete games being availiable for download now over steam and via PSN like warhawk.

 

[thaivo]

My brother-in-law works for Cox Cable, and it's definitely lucrative. Although I think it is very convenient, and will actually take some sales away from disc media, the quality certainly isn't as good. I mean who buys a great hdtv and wants to watch heavily compressed video when you can see it in pristine condition?

 

[cvxfreak]

My brother-in-law works for Cox Cable, and it's definitely lucrative. Although I think it is very convenient, and will actually take some sales away from disc media, the quality certainly isn't as good. I mean who buys a great hdtv and wants to watch heavily compressed video when you can see it in pristine condition?

For what it's worth, we do live in the age of YouTube...

Even the AppleTV supports Youtube now.

 

[brocke]

My brother-in-law works for Cox Cable, and it's definitely lucrative. Although I think it is very convenient, and will actually take some sales away from disc media, the quality certainly isn't as good. I mean who buys a great hdtv and wants to watch heavily compressed video when you can see it in pristine condition?

the common consumer. let's face it, this format war is pointless because in the short future disc's will most likely go the way of the dodo.

 

[Pristine_Condition]

Here's another argument. Once BD failed at getting to the market on time, they should have folded for the better of the future of High-def Disc. We could have had one format if those idiots hadn't created the format war.

Is this what I believe? Not exactly. But it's as valid of a crybaby whine as some of the others in this thread.

In truth, Blu-ray launched much closer to it's targeted date than HD DVD did. HD DVD was almost an entire year late.

 

[SRG01]

To give you guys some perspective, the TelComs already messed up the high capacity lines back in the 90s that was supposed to give us video on demand and high capacity bandwidth. All of that got progressively downgraded until we were left with the current twisted copper-pair ADSL implementation.

In short, all of the money that was supposed to give us superior infrastucture disappeared and they left us (the consumers) with a service that is whole orders worse. There are a lot of articles about this whole fiasco.

Moreover, even when counting the amount of dark fiber that's out there, we couldn't possibly get the throughput needed for DD to be fast and reliable.

 

[Flo_Evans]

the common consumer. let's face it, this format war is pointless because in the short future disc's will most likely go the way of the dodo.

Might be true, but I really can't see the upside for us consumers. I can right now pay $25 for a near master quality copy of a movie... or pay $6.95 every time I want to watch it and hope my net connection doesn't go down

 

[thaivo]

For what it's worth, we do live in the age of YouTube...

Even the AppleTV supports Youtube now.

True, I watch you tube videos on my Wii once in awhile.... but most people would not watch feature length films that way. I checked out AppleTV at the Apple store in the local mall. It's kind of an abomination...especially considering it's HDMI and component only.. :lol hopefully AppleTV 2 goes at least to 720p.

the common consumer. let's face it, this format war is pointless because in the short future disc's will most likely go the way of the dodo.

Don't want to get into a protracted discussion of DD overcoming HDM, because those saying DD will dominate are a little too optimistic about present technologies. Perhaps in ten years.

 

[Mifune]

I can't understand why anyone would be "giddy" about this news. HD was always getting Paramount and Dreamworks support. Now HD is still getting the support, Bluray is not.

Some people hate Sony just that much, I guess.

 

[DCharlie]

Stop deluding yourself. The last 8 years have only manage to bring the average Internet user from a 56kbps connection to something like a 500-1000kbps connection, and even then it's only half the population. By 2015 (8 years from now), the average user would have probably something like a 10 Mbps connection with half still stuck on 1Mbps or so, and even then the network itself is only capable of handling a small percentage of the population going at that speed. So there's absolutely no way it could happen by 2015, and probably won't happen till well after 2020.

why assume that rate of progress is going to remain constant?! Other tech will help out with broad band adoption - with the internet now way more mainstream and accepted by most people, the need for fatter connections will drive things on.

Regardless, DD has started NOW... today... it`s already beginning and i don`t see it going away. Ipod has proved that it is possible to seperate customers from physical product, it`ll be interesting to see if that proves the same with movies...

 

[MobiusPigeon]

My brother-in-law works for Cox Cable, and it's definitely lucrative. Although I think it is very convenient, and will actually take some sales away from disc media, the quality certainly isn't as good. I mean who buys a great hdtv and wants to watch heavily compressed video when you can see it in pristine condition?

hmmm...$5 for a hd download/on demand view vs $200-500 for a player. thats atleast 40 movies i can watch while this stupid war is finished.

 

[HyperionX]

why assume that rate of progress is going to remain constant?! Other tech will help out with broad band adoption - with the internet now way more mainstream and accepted by most people, the need for fatter connections will drive things on.

You're right, it could get even slower. There's another absolutely humongous upgrade we need to do to the internet in the next 10 years: IPv6. With how quickly IP addresses are being used up, this $75 billion dollar upgrade (and it could get even more expensive by the time we actually try to implement it) has the potential to easily derail bandwidth upgrade plans, among many other plans for the internet.

Regardless, DD has started NOW... today... it`s already beginning and i don`t see it going away. Ipod has proved that it is possible to seperate customers from physical product, it`ll be interesting to see if that proves the same with movies...

Not so fast either. If the ISPs start to heavily use stuff like packet shaping and bandwidth throttling then DD could easily become even less usable than it is today.

In short, supporters of DD are ask for a multi-hundred billion dollar investment by the ISPs and service providers. For the foreseeable future, this is nothing but a daydream.

 

[cvxfreak]

why assume that rate of progress is going to remain constant?! Other tech will help out with broad band adoption - with the internet now way more mainstream and accepted by most people, the need for fatter connections will drive things on.

Regardless, DD has started NOW... today... it`s already beginning and i don`t see it going away. Ipod has proved that it is possible to seperate customers from physical product, it`ll be interesting to see if that proves the same with movies...

It's also important how much faster broadband is in certain countries like Japan and Korea. Given the outrageous prices for movies in Japan, and the lack of space, I can see them opening up to the idea of digital downloads. It's certainly not the technology stopping them, but the negotiations regarding distribution of movies. Apple has yet to offer movies on the Japanese iTunes store and it took them forever to open the music store.

 

[thaivo]

I can't understand why anyone would be "giddy" about this news. HD was always getting Paramount and Dreamworks support. Now HD is still getting the support, Bluray is not.

Some people hate Sony just that much, I guess.

Well, I own a Toshiba HD-D2, and no BD player. The news is good for HD-DVD, therefore the giddiness. That and I actually do have a dislike for Sony.

 

[MobiusPigeon]

Not so fast either. If the ISPs start to heavily use stuff like packet shaping and bandwidth throttling then DD could easily become even less usable than it is today.

or MORE usable. i'd say telcos will have deals with studios/networks where pay stuff gets priority.

 

[thaivo]

hmmm...$5 for a hd download/on demand view vs $200-500 for a player. thats atleast 40 movies i can watch while this stupid war is finished.

Most of the HD-DVD's I bought are around $15-$20, so I think that's a better deal than $5 for a 24 hour period to watch a movie. I'd prefer to rent from BB Online than do digital download.

 

[Pristine_Condition]

DIRECT FROM PARAMOUNT - SPIELBERG'S FILMS WILL BE ON BOTH FORMATS - NOT EXCLUSIVE TO "BLU" or HD-DVD. ON BOTH FORMATS. NEUTRAL.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33722

I then asked when the INDIANA JONES set would hit and if it would be exclusive to HD. Rob responded that on the films that Steven directs, he wants the titles to be available in both formats - so those will be cross-platform titles. However, the rest of Dreamworks, Viacom/Paramount's world... those will be HD DVD exclusive for the next few years at least. Can you imagine BLOCKBUSTER not letting people rent TRANSFORMERS, SHREK THE THIRD, etc? Me Either. This format war is a fascinating chess game, isn't it?

Rob responded that on the films that Steven directs, he wants the titles to be available in both formats - so those will be cross-platform titles.

Rob responded that on the films that Steven directs, he wants the titles to be available in both formats - so those will be cross-platform titles.

Suck on that Bill "Spielberg is Blu" Hunt.

I noticed something strange here, ManaByte.

Here's the actual quote from aintitcool:

I then asked when the INDIANA JONES set would hit and if it would be exclusive to HD. Rob responded that on the films that Spielberg, however, is a huge supporter of Blu-Ray and always has been and wants the titles to be available in both formats - so those will be cross-platform titles. However, the rest of Dreamworks, Viacom/Paramount's world... those will be HD DVD exclusive for the next few years at least. Can you imagine BLOCKBUSTER not letting people rent TRANSFORMERS, SHREK THE THIRD, etc? Me Either. This format war is a fascinating chess game, isn't it?

Notice something STRANGE? Notice something different from your quote above?

Here, let me bold it for you...

I then asked when the INDIANA JONES set would hit and if it would be exclusive to HD. Rob responded that on the films that Spielberg, however, is a huge supporter of Blu-Ray and always has been and wants the titles to be available in both formats - so those will be cross-platform titles. However, the rest of Dreamworks, Viacom/Paramount's world... those will be HD DVD exclusive for the next few years at least. Can you imagine BLOCKBUSTER not letting people rent TRANSFORMERS, SHREK THE THIRD, etc? Me Either. This format war is a fascinating chess game, isn't it?

...Strange how you supposedly quoted that story, and yet, in your your "quote" the whole part about "Spielberg, however, is a huge supporter of Blu-Ray and always has been" magically DISAPPEARED from your quote box!

 

[mrklaw]

why assume that rate of progress is going to remain constant?! Other tech will help out with broad band adoption - with the internet now way more mainstream and accepted by most people, the need for fatter connections will drive things on.

Regardless, DD has started NOW... today... it`s already beginning and i don`t see it going away. Ipod has proved that it is possible to seperate customers from physical product, it`ll be interesting to see if that proves the same with movies...

I'm not against digital distribution. However I am against distribution that waters down my movies. If they compress them too much to fit down the pipe, if they drop lossless soundtracks, perhaps go 720p instead of 1080p.

Look at ipod and mp3. Music went down in quality since the launch of CD 25 years ago, to accommodate convenience. I don't want that for movies in my home.




this is a stupid stupid move by paramount. Don't care which wins, just do it quickly. I'd hoped bluray would win early next year with perhaps Universal moving across if numbers were bad. But now its likely to drag on another year, slowing adoption generally.

Its just so fucked up...

 

[MobiusPigeon]

Most of the HD-DVD's I bought are around $15-$20, so I think that's a better deal than $5 for a 24 hour period to watch a movie. I'd prefer to rent from BB Online than do digital download.

its 24 hrs from the time you start the movie. 2 weeks period to start it. who watches movies multiple times in a rental? maybe big families but i could see something coming along where as LIVE grows they'll address that.

Look at ipod and mp3. Music went down in quality since the launch of CD 25 years ago, to accommodate convenience. I don't want that for movies in my home

just how is anything being dragged down when its all better than DVD? itunes is a step backward while ANYTHING HD, compressed or not is a step forward and thats exactly why it still does well.

 

[mrklaw]

That and I actually do have a dislike for Sony.

you might want to read up on the IPR of Bluray. Then maybe you and others will stop harping on about how this is personally hurting Sony so much, and how Sony are such bad people for pushing their format.

 

[Warm Machine]

So is Universal still going neutral any day now or is that and always was made up FUD?

 

[Crayon Shinchan]

I noticed something strange here, ManaByte.

...Strange how you supposedly quoted that story, and yet, in your your "quote" the whole part about "Spielberg, however, is a huge supporter of Blu-Ray and always has been" magically DISAPPEARED from your quote box!

This will not stir a single reaction from Manabyte. He's the type that simply chooses to respond to what is convenient. Despite his BD purchases, in his heart of hearts, he's feeling a shameful regret over having bought them, and wishes ever so dearly that HD-DVD would be the one true format. I just wish there was one true HD format.

 

[thaivo]

its 24 hrs from the time you start the movie. 2 weeks period to start it. who watches movies multiple times in a rental? maybe big families but i could see something coming along where as LIVE grows they'll address that.

It's rare, but some movies are so good, I end up watching them two to three times. Depending on the circumstances (i.e., bring it over to the in-laws).

I don't see them making such an accommodation, as they could simply charge you again for the next viewing.

 

[Killthee]

I noticed something strange here, ManaByte.

Here's the actual quote from aintitcool:



Notice something STRANGE? Notice something different from your quote above?

Here, let me bold it for you...



...Strange how you supposedly quoted that story, and yet, in your your "quote" the whole part about "Spielberg, however, is a huge supporter of Blu-Ray and always has been" magically DISAPPEARED from your quote box!

:lol :lol :lol

I love this thread!

 

[thaivo]

you might want to read up on the IPR of Bluray. Then maybe you and others will stop harping on about how this is personally hurting Sony so much, and how Sony are such bad people for pushing their format.

I don't know where I've said that this is "personally hurting Sony so much..." :lol

Although I've made no secret about my distaste for Sony, as Sony is the dominant proponent of the BD format, I simply don't support it.

 

[TheJesusFactor]

wow, I guess I"m picking up one of those $200 HD-DVD players now.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

I noticed something strange here, ManaByte.

Here's the actual quote from aintitcool:



Notice something STRANGE? Notice something different from your quote above?

Here, let me bold it for you...



...Strange how you supposedly quoted that story, and yet, in your your "quote" the whole part about "Spielberg, however, is a huge supporter of Blu-Ray and always has been" magically DISAPPEARED from your quote box!

Can i pleaaassseee say it?

can i?

Can i?




here i goes:




HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

 

[Snah]

the common consumer. let's face it, this format war is pointless because in the short future disc's will most likely go the way of the dodo.

That's like saying that investing in DVD is 'pointless' because it will eventually be usurped.

That's an absurd, and downright stupid, proposition. While digital distribution may be the future, in no way is it the future now or even 7-10 years from now. So, if you're not willing to wait that long, then buying HD content on discs is certainly NOT pointless.

 

[thaivo]

Can i pleaaassseee say it?

can i?

Can i?

here i goes:

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

What was it that you actually "said" ?

 

[Days like these...]

The blu ray fanboys are breaking down. Spectacularly. Melt downs if you will.

Who's next?!

I was asleep during the megaton (3rd shift sucks)

lol the bitter tears man! It's like I'm dancing in the rain. Special shou out to my good friends chemo, captive, kryptonian and mouse.

 

[Crayon Shinchan]

I was asleep during the megaton (3rd shift sucks)

lol the bitter tears man! It's like I'm dancing in the rain. Special shou out to my good friends chemo, captive, kryptonian and mouse.

Heh. Let's see how the formats do during Christmas.

The bitterest tears are still to come!

In practice, all this means to me is I miss out on Transformers... the rest of paramount/DW line up... I can't even name!

 

[mrklaw]

So is Universal still going neutral any day now or is that and always was made up FUD?

this doens't affect that at all.

It'd be funny to see Universal go neutral soon, especially after this Paramount announcement.

 

[Kinan]

wtf, Paramaunt, what an average consumer is supposed to do now? No way in hell I'm buying 2 different HD players for both of my TVs, no way. It really starts to look like DVD-A/SACD situation now, with both format failing to get a consumer support at the end.

On the other hand, I can understand why Toshiba&co are refusing to give up, that would be not understandable from business point of view after all those investments. It was a very strong move from their side and thats what they needed to be able to stop the negative dynamics this year.

However I'm afraid they are still amateurs in moneyhat business, while Sony is a pro. They gonna counter within 2 month, and it will not be pretty for HD DVD.

 

[Crayon Shinchan]

this doens't affect that at all.

It'd be funny to see Universal go neutral soon, especially after this Paramount announcement.

Well, Universal would be wanting to watch the sales numbers.

But if it doesn't change, it doesn't change them going neutral. Unless someone else wants to money hat them for another 150mio.

 

[Crayon Shinchan]

wtf, Paramaunt, what an average consumer is supposed to do now? No way in hell I'm buying 2 different HD players for both of my TVs, no way. It really starts to look like DVD-A/SACD situation now, with both format failing to get a consumer support at the end.

On the other hand, I can understand why Toshiba&co are refusing to give up, that would be not understandable from business point of view after all those investments. It was a very strong move from their side and thats what they needed to be able to stop the negative dynamics this year.

However I'm afraid they are still amateurs in moneyhat business, while Sony is a pro. They gonna counter within 2 month, and it will not be pretty for HD DVD.

I don't see why Sony would bother money hatting anybody. Set the PS3 to 450 for the 80G SKU before black friday and watch HD-DVD get wasted.

 

[Brofist]

It's also important how much faster broadband is in certain countries like Japan and Korea. Given the outrageous prices for movies in Japan, and the lack of space, I can see them opening up to the idea of digital downloads. It's certainly not the technology stopping them, but the negotiations regarding distribution of movies. Apple has yet to offer movies on the Japanese iTunes store and it took them forever to open the music store.

It's a big assumption to think that DD movies would be offered at any real bargain in Japan. Probably would still be almost the same cost for a movie download.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

14 pages since I last checked? damn.

and welcome me to team purple. pre-ordering Heroes tomorrow (well, later today). God Bless financial aid checks for 2x what tuition actually costs.

 

[cvxfreak]

It's a big assumption to think that DD movies would be offered at any real bargain in Japan. Probably would still be almost the same cost for a movie download.

It is, you're right. Still, I can't imagine a movie costing more than 2500 Yen. Music downloads at 150 and 200 Yen are reasonably close to the rates charged elsewhere.

 

[DCharlie]

It's a big assumption to think that DD movies would be offered at any real bargain in Japan. Probably would still be almost the same cost for a movie download.

lol - see Sony Connect - where the e-book versions of books cost more than the hardback version...

and then they were all surprised as to why their bookreader died a death.

 

[HyperionX]

Well, Universal would be wanting to watch the sales numbers.

But if it doesn't change, it doesn't change them going neutral. Unless someone else wants to money hat them for another 150mio.

Actually, Universal has to know that they're getting the short end of the stick right about now, seeing how Paramount's exclusivity nets them 150M and their exclusivity gets them jack shit.

 

[Brofist]

lol - see Sony Connect - where the e-book versions of books cost more than the hardback version...

and then they were all surprised as to why their bookreader died a death.

yeah pretty much

 

[Captain N]

Hey sony where is my copy of Marie Antoinette?

 

[max-pain]

Fuck the format war

 

[YYZ]

I remember the days when it was cool to hate companies...


Anyway, DD doesn't allow for that collection to grow and for now, there are no extras or commentaries or anything so what's the point of buying it? I guess it's great for casuals, but the true enthusiasts actually listen to commentaries and look through all the extras. I am very hesitant in buying any disc that doesn't have a commentary track and at least a few decent extras.

 

[Fafalada]

where the e-book versions of books cost more than the hardback version...

TBH - for various technical/reference books(and those are already much higher priced then other stuff anyway) I'd be willing to pay more for electronic version simply on the fact that hardback versions are borderline useless in comparison. Or if they prefer, I'd gladly pay extra for the hardcover if they gave me electronic copy with it.
That said - it's not like we're even getting a choice - so long as publishers refuse to touch electronic distribution we have to continue living in dark ages.

 

[The Bookerman]

The Only thing that pisses me off is that I got a PS3 knowing that it had Blu-ray and that I could own Batman Begins on BR. Sure it wasn't the only reason why I bought the damn ps3 but it's a damn sure good one.

But anyway, now APPARENTLY Batman Begins will never appear on Blu Ray?

WTF.

I don't want to BUY another player just so I can watch my favorite movie.