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[StoOgE]

Im just glad I dont have to wait for BDJ to get the Matrix movies on HDDVD. That had been the rumor going that WB was holding up all releases with interactive content on HDDVD until the oft delayed BDJ was ready to roll on Blu Ray...

now if the Potter movies would just release in the states.. since its allready out in Europe.

 

[Mrbob]

TheDigitalBits called Toshiba a hypocrite....well kinda

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents

Right on the money. Universal needs to end this foolishness soon.

If Sony, Fox, and Disney jumps onto the HD DVD bandwagon tommorrow I wouldn't care as long as the format war is done. But this isn't going to happen because they are backing Blu Ray and it is currently the winning format. Universal is the only one who needs to bow down on the HD DVD side, and all this format war talk could be done.

 

[djkimothy]

Im just glad I dont have to wait for BDJ to get the Matrix movies on HDDVD. That had been the rumor going that WB was holding up all releases with interactive content on HDDVD until the oft delayed BDJ was ready to roll on Blu Ray...
now if the Potter movies would just release in the states.. since its allready out in Europe.

Does anyone know the story on that? What is taking so long to finalize it? Is it a technical hurdle? I would think the BDA would pool their resources to finally finish this to get Warner (and others?) off their laurels and release their movies. Which is a lame excuse anyways to hold back these releases.

If Sony, Fox, and Disney jumps onto the HD DVD bandwagon tommorrow I wouldn't care as long as the format war is done. But this isn't going to happen because they are backing Blu Ray and it is currently the winning format. Universal is the only one who needs to bow down on the HD DVD side, and all this format war talk could be done.

Tell me about it. This could all be over quickly if they just went neutral.

 

[Frankfurter]

Right on the money. Universal needs to end this foolishness soon.

If Sony, Fox, and Disney jumps onto the HD DVD bandwagon tommorrow I wouldn't care as long as the format war is done. But this isn't going to happen because they are backing Blu Ray and it is currently the winning format. Universal is the only one who needs to bow down on the HD DVD side, and all this format war talk could be done.

I think you forgot about Weinstein and probably about a dozen european and asian companies.

 

[Suikoguy]

I think you forgot about Weinstein and probably about a dozen european and asian companies.

Are you actually being serious? :lol

 

[Frankfurter]

Are you actually being serious? :lol

Of course I am.

 

[Warm Machine]

Tell me about it. This could all be over quickly if they just went neutral.

Toshiba has a duty to its customers who have bought in and Uni has a duty to their customers. We are talking billions of dollars of investment for a swing at the ball for Toshiba and I doubt they and their partners will just shut down because Bill Hunt is cranky.

Yeah the software side of Blu-Ray is great right now in terms of titles but in terms of players, features, and encoding they simply don't deserve the will all praise that is being heaved upon them.

 

[acabado]

It's Time For HD DVD To Rally The Troops
Another month has gone by, and Blu-ray has outsold HD DVD once again - this time by an almost 2 to 1 margin.
But what's really behind Blu-ray's recent dominance? Is it really the PS3? Is it really that more people have been converted to the Blu-ray format?
Well both those reasons certainly hold some weight, but the biggest reason HD DVD has been falling behind is because of the releases themselves. While Blu-ray studios have been throwing out releases left and right, many of them "day and date" with the standard release, the HD DVD studios have been lacking...with only a sprinkling of releases and not much on the horizon, either.
Blu-ray owners have reason to be excited, with titles like Casino Royale, Rocky Balboa, Eragon, The Pursuit Of Happyness, and Happy Feet all being due for release in March.
What do HD DVD owners have to look forward to in March? Happy Feet and Children Of Men. Those aren't just a couple of big releases...they're the only big releases for HD DVD, aside from a few smaller titles from the likes of small studios Ryko Distribution and DVD International.
Meanwhile, Blu-ray owners will not only be treated to the "day and date" titles listed above in March, but hot catalog titles such as Big Fish, Chicken Little, Finding Neverland and March Of The Penguins.

If HD DVD does indeed lose this format war, they will have no one to blame but themselves. Since before Christmas, they have offered next to nothing for their adopters to get excited about.

http://hidefdvdempire.blogspot.com/2007/03/its-time-for-hd-dvd-to-rally-troops.html

 

[Emowii]

It's Time For HD DVD To Rally The Troops
Another month has gone by, and Blu-ray has outsold HD DVD once again - this time by an almost 2 to 1 margin.
But what's really behind Blu-ray's recent dominance? Is it really the PS3? Is it really that more people have been converted to the Blu-ray format?
Well both those reasons certainly hold some weight, but the biggest reason HD DVD has been falling behind is because of the releases themselves. While Blu-ray studios have been throwing out releases left and right, many of them "day and date" with the standard release, the HD DVD studios have been lacking...with only a sprinkling of releases and not much on the horizon, either.
Blu-ray owners have reason to be excited, with titles like Casino Royale, Rocky Balboa, Eragon, The Pursuit Of Happyness, and Happy Feet all being due for release in March.
What do HD DVD owners have to look forward to in March? Happy Feet and Children Of Men. Those aren't just a couple of big releases...they're the only big releases for HD DVD, aside from a few smaller titles from the likes of small studios Ryko Distribution and DVD International.
Meanwhile, Blu-ray owners will not only be treated to the "day and date" titles listed above in March, but hot catalog titles such as Big Fish, Chicken Little, Finding Neverland and March Of The Penguins.

If HD DVD does indeed lose this format war, they will have no one to blame but themselves. Since before Christmas, they have offered next to nothing for their adopters to get excited about.

http://hidefdvdempire.blogspot.com/2007/03/its-time-for-hd-dvd-to-rally-troops.html

Correct me if i'm wrong, but seeing as Bluray has more studios on it's side already, isn't it really not suprising that they're selling far better?

 

[captive]

Do they own Sony stock or sth.? That has to be one of the most biased news stories I have ever read.

Why because hes calling PR on their bullshit? Or its because his view(which he backs up with links to other sources) disagrees with yours?
So you think its ok for Toshiba to claim blu-ray sales are better because of vouchers, but they get to include 5 FREE hd dvds in the sales data when you purchase a player?

 

[Oni Jazar]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but seeing as Bluray has more studios on it's side already, isn't it really not suprising that they're selling far better?

No it's not surprising and it will never change. What is surprising is that Toshiba and Universal insist on continuing this format war.

 

[Frankfurter]

Why because hes calling PR on their bullshit? Or its because his view(which he backs up with links to other sources) disagrees with yours?
So you think its ok for Toshiba to claim blu-ray sales are better because of vouchers, but they get to include 5 FREE hd dvds in the sales data when you purchase a player?

Nope, it's because this article doesn't read like it's from an independent source but rather just like another PR bullshit article.
For example the author of the article obviously doesn't think that it is neccessary to explain how many PS3s have been sold vs. how many HD-DVD players and X360 HD-DVD addons have been sold.
Now I'm absolutely not buying this whole PR bullshit from Universal, Toshiba or from whoever that Blu Ray should actually outsell HD-DVD by a far wider margin because far more PS3s have been sold (that's actually one of the worst PR spins I have ever read, sounds like 'At the moment we are losing this battle pretty hard, but ... we should actually look even worse, TAKE THAT!" Seriously, wtf!?), but fact of the matter is that sth. like 500k (sth. along these lines afair) PS3s got a free movie bundled to it (or you get it sent from Sony, whatever) which is most likely far more than the relatively few movies the HD-DVD camp has been given out (due to much less players being sold).

 

[ghostmind]

BDJ will be completed this summer, at which time this talking point can go away...

 

[gigapower]

BDJ will be completed this summer, at which time this talking point can go away...

BDJ 1.1 is supposed to be ratified this summer, there is still player testing that will need to be done. Also rumors are starting to buble that BDJ 1.1 ratification might slip.

 

[djkimothy]

Why because hes calling PR on their bullshit? Or its because his view(which he backs up with links to other sources) disagrees with yours?
So you think its ok for Toshiba to claim blu-ray sales are better because of vouchers, but they get to include 5 FREE hd dvds in the sales data when you purchase a player?

No wonder the attach rate for HDDVD discs are so high. 5 Free movies!?!? If you had that with a purchase of a Blu-ray purchase I'm sure the attach rate would be similar.

 

[captive]

Nope, it's because this article doesn't read like it's from an independent source but rather just like another PR bullshit article.

Theres a reason why his page is called my two cents.

 

[el Diablo]

BDJ = Duke Nukem Forever?

 

[Petrarca]

MS starts positioning themselves to support blu-ray

http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=15568

If Blu-ray Wins Microsoft Will Support It

Microsoft will continue to be a strong supporter of the new HD DVD format, but if the format does indeed lose to Blu-ray (Blu-ray has been outselling it lately), it would be "highly likely" that the company would offer a Blu-ray solution, U.K. Xbox head Neil Thompson said.

 

[BlueTsunami]

BD 360 Addon confirmed? :lol

 

[Kleegamefan]

BDJ = Duke Nukem Forever?

try harder....

 

[el Diablo]

try harder....

No point, much like DNF i couldn't care less when they finish development on it. Especially since Warner seems to be the only studio making an issue out of it. I'll care alot more once Warner starts consistantly releasing lossless audio tracks to match their HDDVD counterparts.

 

[Petrarca]

Bill Hunt from the DigitalBits

e-mailed Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits about the Matrix on HD DVD and why Warner had chosen to release it on HD DVD first. He had some VERY interesting things to say about this and other subjects. Here is his reply. *****"Well... from my understanding, the Matrix films have been ready to go for a long time. Warner has wanted to release them simultaneously, but it's taking the BD-Java authoring tool sets and player compatibility longer to catch up. Warner wants to release all their titles with the same features on both formats. Which is why we haven't seen Batman Begins or V for Vendetta yet either on BD. I talk with people almost daily within the company, who I've known for years now, who swear to me that they're trying to support both formats equally. The Matrix release decision was apparently VERY controversial within the company and there's a TON of debate going on today. You may yet see the BD version on the same day as the HD, whether it has IME or not. The other interesting thing that's going on right now, is that friends who work at authoring facilities around town have been e-mailing me to say that Universal reps have been stopping by investigating Blu-ray authoring pretty seriously in the last couple of weeks. From what a lot of people I trust in the trenches are telling me, the writing is starting to be on the wall for HD-DVD. The Casino Royale sales numbers, coupled with the fact that Sony claims they'll have shipped 6 million PS3s worldwide by the end of this month, AND apparently promises by at least 4 major BD player manufacturers that they'll have players for under $400 available by the end of the year - all of those things have really changed a lot of minds around town in the last few weeks. As far as Warner wanting to sell out their HD-DVDs before the format dies, I think the feeling internally at the studio is that any profits they'd make by doing that are offset by the extra costs of having to author both formats. As I said, there's a lot of debate going on at Warner right now over all this.

 

[wasting]

always a good laugh :lol :lol

 

[DarkJediKnight]

always a good laugh :lol :lol

He's definately sugarcoating it, but there's probably some truth to it as well. He was the first to announce that no one will switch at CES, and first (only) to leak Universal's titles.

Bill Hunt is privy to a lot of info others aren't so while you may take his words with a grain of salt, know that he's been right on the money before.

 

[acabado]

MS starts positioning themselves to support blu-ray

http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=15568

jump in.

 

[DarkJediKnight]

Just say this at themanroom.

They still have the half moon thingy, but the new cover design looks nice!

 

[Pachinko]

Was there a 2 pack edition of pirates so someone like me could just buy both in HD ? Strongly considering a PS3 purchase in the next couple weeks thanks to some decent deals at the local EBgames.

 

[mrklaw]

since when did studios suddenly become all caring about what we get? Why don't warner just jump in with a basic BD release (with uncompressed audio please!) and let us double dip for a fancy BDJ interactive version later on?

Just get the bloody movies out - these owners are early adopters so you don't need interactivity to sell them.

 

[Kleegamefan]

MS starts positioning themselves to support blu-ray

http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=15568

 

[The Main Event]

No wonder the attach rate for HDDVD discs are so high. 5 Free movies!?!? If you had that with a purchase of a Blu-ray purchase I'm sure the attach rate would be similar.

The attach rate for Blu-ray movies are for both BD standalones and PS3 vs the HD DVD add-on and standalone HD players, and since they have sold many more PS3s (and the fact that maybe around 20% of them buy and view BD movies) than HD DVD players, the attach rate will of course be lower for BD.

It must be hard to calculate the actual ratio for BD since you can't really calculate the exact amount of owners that are actually watching movies on it, while each HD players sold have at least one movie that goes along with it.

 

[Argyle]

It must be hard to calculate the actual ratio for BD since you can't really calculate the exact amount of owners that are actually watching movies on it, while each HD players sold have at least one movie that goes along with it.

Well, if you consider that Toshiba throws 5 free movies at you with your HD DVD player, and you can rent all the HD DVDs from Netflix that you can watch for < $20/mo, I wouldn't say that every HD DVD player has sold one movie along with it is a foregone conclusion.

 

[The Main Event]

Well, if you consider that Toshiba throws 5 free movies at you with your HD DVD player, and you can rent all the HD DVDs from Netflix that you can watch for < $20/mo, I wouldn't say that every HD DVD player has sold one movie along with it is a foregone conclusion.

It takes about 3-4 months before having the 5 (or 3 before March) free movies to arrive, unless you took advantage of the Best Buy deal where they gave you an additional 3-4 in-store (which was ran by the store itself, not Toshiba).

 

[Mrbob]

Balllllllllllllin.

Numbers from week ending March 18 out:

Week ended March 18, 2007

YTD BD 100.00 HD DVD 44.44
SI BD 100.00 HD DVD 84.07

Top 5 BD
1. Casino Royale 100.00
2. The Departed 10.83
3. The Prestige 6.02
4. The Holiday 5.20
5. Layer Cake 4.26

Top 5 HD DVD
1. The Departed 100.00
2. Batman Begins 55.96
3. Babel 50.75
4. Clerks II 43.33
5. Troy 38.36

Disney just put out an interesting graph too showcasing sales of HD DVD and Blu Ray over the months.

 

[djkimothy]

I'm really interested to see the Feb. and Mar. sales. And wow and the relative Casino Royale sales.

 

[BlueTsunami]

So HDDVD peaked at Christmas? and BD just kept on going.

 

[distantmantra]

Balllllllllllllin.

Numbers from week ending March 18 out:

Week ended March 18, 2007

YTD BD 100.00 HD DVD 44.44
SI BD 100.00 HD DVD 84.07

Top 5 BD
1. Casino Royale 100.00
2. The Departed 10.83
3. The Prestige 6.02
4. The Holiday 5.20
5. Layer Cake 4.26

Top 5 HD DVD
1. The Departed 100.00
2. Batman Begins 55.96
3. Babel 50.75
4. Clerks II 43.33
5. Troy 38.36

I'm sorry if I'm an idiot, but could someone explain this to me? Are these ratios/proportions? It makes it appear as if the HD-DVD titles sold better.

 

[QVT]

Don't forget that Sony just sold at least 500,000(thats a low estimate, i hope) blu-ray players today.

I just sold my HD DVD drive to Gamestop for a cool 120 bucks. I only bought it for Serenity and figuring it'd win. But Serenity was worth it

 

[djkimothy]

I'm sorry if I'm an idiot, but could someone explain this to me? Are these ratios/proportions? It makes it appear as if the HD-DVD titles sold better.

I think they mean that for every 100 units sold, the others sold x amount.

The top selling title is just normalized to 100

 

[Suikoguy]

Don't forget that Sony just sold at least 500,000(thats a low estimate, i hope) blu-ray players today.

I just sold my HD DVD drive to Gamestop for a cool 120 bucks. I only bought it for Serenity and figuring it'd win. But Serenity was worth it

Wow, typically gamestop gives crap, but 120 is pretty close to the going ebay rate.

 

[distantmantra]

I think they mean that for every 100 units sold, the others sold x amount.

The top selling title is just normalized to 100

Ok, that's what I thought it meant. That would suggest that those HD-DVD titles sold better, which is why it confused me.

 

[pxleyes]

Just say this at themanroom.

They still have the half moon thingy, but the new cover design looks nice!

MUCH better. I want this as the standard. It would also separate itself more from the HDDDVD cases which are eerily similar to the current Blu Ray ones.

 

[Mrbob]

Ok, that's what I thought it meant. That would suggest that those HD-DVD titles sold better, which is why it confused me.

The ratio is relative to each format.

Blu Ray outsold HD DVD nearly 4 to 1 during the week.

 

[Frankfurter]

I think it's worth mentioning that a few days ago Blu Ray began to start outselling HD-DVD @amazon.de (obviously due to the PS3 release). At the moment the sales ratings are like 298 for the first and 1061 for the fifth HD DVD versus 115 for the first and 562 for the fifth Blu Ray.

 

[djkimothy]

The ratio is relative to each format.

Blu Ray outsold HD DVD nearl 4 to 1 during the week.

What he said. It would be interesting to see how Casino Royale did compared to everything else. Just to see how it fares with others. Even DVD titles.

 

[Mrbob]

What he said. It would be interesting to see how Casino Royale did compared to everything else. Just to see how it fares with others. Even DVD titles.

Casino Royale probably made up the bulk of the Blu Ray sales for the week. Not surprising though. First HD title to have a big breakout in terms of sales. I wouldn't be surprised if Casino Royale was > 50 percent all HD movie sales for the week.

HD DVD should bounce back somewhat with Children of Men out soon. But the format needs more titles and it just won't get them the way things are going.

 

[djkimothy]

Casino Royale probably makes up the bulk of the Blu Ray sales for the week. Not surprised though. First HD title to have a big breakout in terms of sales.

HD DVD should bounce back somewhat with Children of Men out soon. But the format needs more titles and it just won't get them the way things are going.

Definitely, I think things will eventually level off. HDDVD sales should also take off in May once Matrix comes out and should provide competition with Pirates 1&2.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

damnit... where is Batman Begins on Blu-Ray?

 

[Mrbob]

I don't know if the matrix box set will have that big of impact. If it were just the first movie, I bet the sales would be huge. But since you have to buy the whole package and it starts at 100 bucks (with the complete package at 120) I don't see it moving huge numbers. Especially since the second and third movies are universally panned.

damnit... where is Batman Begins on Blu-Ray?

Waiting for the Blu Ray Java issues to be filtered out. Hopefully over the summer.

 

[djkimothy]

I don't know if the matrix box set will have that big of impact. If it were just the first movie, I bet the sales would be huge. But since you have to buy the whole package and it starts at 100 bucks (with the complete package at 120) I don't see it moving huge numbers. Especially since the second and third movies are universally panned.

Well, I'd buy it again if it were released on Blu-Ray. I'm big on boxed sets. Even of 2/3's the trilogy sucked... Plus I liked the Animatrix.

 

[BlueTsunami]

Yeah, I view selling the Matrix Trilogy as one package ($100) as Warner shooting themselves in the foot. It would be much more logical to sell them individually but I guess they figure since enthusiast are buying into the format first...they don't mind plunking down $100 in one shot.