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PR: 20th Century Fox officially backs Blu-Ray

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acklame

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Twentieth Century Fox to Support Blu-ray Disc Format; Studio to Release Wide Range of New Products and Titles from Its Vast Film and Television Library

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 29, 2005--Twentieth Century Fox, a member of the Board of Directors of the Blu-ray Disc Association since October 2004, announced today that it will release content on the new high definition Blu-ray Disc format through its subsidiary Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC. The company will begin releasing new films, TV programming and other titles from Fox's vast celebrated library of best-selling film and television programming when Blu-ray hardware launches in North America, Japan, and Europe.


Fox's film library includes films ranging from the ALIEN, DIE-HARD and X-MEN series, I, ROBOT, SOMETHING ABOUT MARY and MOULIN ROUGE to SOUND OF MUSIC, ALL ABOUT EVE, LAURA and GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT. The equally vast television library ranges from such shows as THE SIMPSONS, FAMILY GUY, 24 and X-FILES to MASH, LOST IN SPACE, IN LIVING COLOR and MARY TYLER MOORE.

Fox's commitment to emerging technologies is dedicated to enhancing the consumer experience of its products and providing for backward compatibility with their existing home entertainment libraries while also aggressively protecting its intellectual property from piracy. The Blu-ray companies fully embrace the Studio's steadfast commitment to the fight against piracy and the preservation of the integrity of its properties. In fact, Fox's commitment to publish on Blu-ray is a direct result of the organization's recent adoption of copyright protection measures, including renewable security, that address the needs and concerns of the studio and the entire Hollywood community.

"We are in creative collaboration with some of the best filmmakers in the business and the most important thing to the studio is that we continue to provide the best possible presentation of our films," commented Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman, Chairmen, Fox Filmed Entertainment. "Creative advances in movie-making technology have consistently helped raise the bar in films today and with the Blu-ray Disc the bar has now been raised for the home viewing experience. We will take full advantage of all the creative possibilities it offers."

"Blu-ray is a superior high definition technology that is a full step forward in the evolution of consumer packaged media," added Mike Dunn, President Worldwide, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. "For consumers, the release of our films on Blu-ray will provide in-home entertainment beyond anything they have imagined. On the business side, the advanced functionality, picture quality and data capacity at a competitive manufacturing cost along with 'room for growth' as new consumer usage options are developed, fully realizes the promise of a next generation format and represents the future of home entertainment."

Blu-ray Disc is a next generation optical disc format developed for high-definition video and high-capacity software applications. A single-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25 gigabytes of data and a dual-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data. This greater storage capacity enables the Blu-ray Disc to store over five times the amount of content than is possible with current DVDs, and is particularly well-suited for high definition feature films with extended levels of additional bonus and interactive material. Blu-ray also features the most advanced copy protection, backward compatibility with the current DVD format (meaning Blu-ray players will play existing DVDs), connectivity and advanced interactivity.

About the Blu-ray Disc Association:

The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) is responsible for establishing format standards and promoting and further developing business opportunities for Blu-ray Disc -- the next-generation optical disc for storing high-definition movies, photos and other digital content. The BDA has more than 130 members. Its Board of Directors consists of Apple Computer, Inc.; Dell Inc.; Hewlett Packard Company; Hitachi, Ltd.; LG Electronics Inc.; Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; Panasonic (Matsushita Electric); Pioneer Corporation; Royal Philips Electronics; Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.; Sharp Corporation; Sony Corporation; TDK Corporation; Thomson; Twentieth Century Fox; and Walt Disney Pictures and Television.

About Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC:

A recognized global industry leader, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC is the worldwide marketing, sales and distribution company for all Fox film and television programming on VHS and DVD as well as video acquisitions and original productions. Each year the Company introduces hundreds of new and newly enhanced products, which it services to retail outlets -- from mass merchants and warehouse clubs to specialty stores and e-commerce - throughout the world. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC is a subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, a News Corporation company.
 
http://www.idealink.org/Resource.phx/vsda/resources/hi-def-dvd/hi-def-criteria.htx

As consumer electronic manufacturers, duplicators, and motion picture studios prepare for the launch of a DVD format capable of storing high definition video, retailers are carefully evaluating their merchandising alternatives.

As of this writing, two formats, each capable of storing high definition movies on DVD, are planned for release into the market. Retailers uniformly agree that the concurrent distribution of more than one format is likely unsustainable, and that the launch of a single format is preferable to a format war which could confuse the public and lead to reluctance to embrace either format.

The Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) believes that consumers, retailers, consumer electronic developers, and content providers would benefit from clarification of the baseline criteria needed for a high definition DVD format to gain acceptance and widespread support among the broadest spectrum of market participants, especially consumers.

For these reasons, VSDA presents the following list of criteria, with the expectation that it will facilitate discussion and fulfillment of these requirements and therefore assist retailer and consumer acceptance of the next generation of DVD.
 
Izzy said:
Wow - they were big HD-DVD supporters. This is HUGE.
They hadn't committed to a platform yet, though they were consulting on both boards iirc.

Now essentially, Hollywood is evenly split between BD and HD-DVD.

BD aligned
-Sony/Columbia/MGM~ 17.9%
-Buena Vista/Disney~ 16.2%
-Fox~ 13.2%
BD Total~ 47.3%

HD-DVD aligned
-Warner Bros~ 20.2%
-Universal~ 14.7%
-Paramount/Dreamworks~ 9.4%
HD-DVD Total~ 44.3%

Unaccounted for
-LG~ 4%
-Other~ 4.5%
TBA Total~ 9.5%
 
Wow!!! Good to see them making movies on Blu-ray. Now I can watch X-men 3 on my PS3 in Hi-def (When it comes out of course)
 
Izzy said:
Wow - they were big HD-DVD supporters. This is HUGE.

Not that I ever heard of. They made a big splash when the joined the Blu-Ray board, but at the time didn't commit to movie releases on any format.
 
This part is interesting:

Fox said its execs were persuaded to endorse Blu-ray as a "direct result" of the group's decision to adopt a form of renewable copy protection.

The studio also has been part of a copy-protection committee of the DVD Forum, which backs rival HD DVD format and had urged the organization to adopt the same renewable protection system as part of HD DVD specifications. But some within the HD DVD camp regard the system as unnecessary and expensive.

I was under the assumption that they had chosen the exact same copy protection format, AACS. Are there derivations of AACS, that would cause this splinter, or did one side not really adopt it?
 
Homer_Simpson.jpg

WOO HOO!

peterthumbsup.gif

Freakin' Sweet!
 
Kleegamefan said:
Star Wars here I cum

George will never do it in the first years of a format, but...


Can you imagine the 1 or 2 disc (dual layered) that holds all 6 movies in HD for say $99

I'd drop dead. :D
 
sonycowboy said:
George will never do it in the first years of a format, but...


Can you imagine the 1 or 2 disc (dual layered) that holds all 6 movies in HD for say $99

I'd drop dead. :D

Only 3 movies are necessary. :)
 
WTF? Where's the announced HVD support? Come on now, blue lasers are the past, holograms are the future!
 
All the other announcements backing one format or the other generally included language to the effect that the support wasn't exclusive. I don't see anything like that here and it doesn't take much to read into this a few jabs at HD DVD.
 
kaching said:
All the other announcements backing one format or the other generally included language to the effect that the support wasn't exclusive. I don't see anything like that here and it doesn't take much to read into this a few jabs at HD DVD.

That and, at last report, HD-DVD was launching in November 2005. They'd have to have made a comment if the planned on supporting it meaningfully in the short term, but they've already committed to the Blu-Ray format that won't be out til sometime early next year.
 
Sony realesed UMD movies for the psp and look how they are doing. I mean come on UMD movies no one thought it was going to do good and then it takes off. It just shows how much power sony has with their consoles. There will be an even bigger user-base for the ps3 and we can expect them to jump on the blu-ray wagon. Its all over for HD-DVD
 
Paladin69 said:
i hope blu-ray doesn't force the HDCP crap like Toshiba is doing with HD-DVD.

actually, it looks like it's going to be stronger:

Fox said its execs were persuaded to endorse Blu-ray as a "direct result" of the group's decision to adopt a form of renewable copy protection.

The studio also has been part of a copy-protection committee of the DVD Forum, which backs rival HD DVD format and had urged the organization to adopt the same renewable protection system as part of HD DVD specifications. But some within the HD DVD camp regard the system as unnecessary and expensive.

Hooray for consumer rights!

Anyways, I think any talk of either format "winning" is premature. It's more likely we'll see a DVD-R/+R resolution inevitably where both formats are combined with some form of revenue sharing. The market is going to stagnate without that.
 
Blu-ray has it in the bag.

It's superior to HD-DVD in a technical sense, AND it's going to be standard in every PS3. A stand alone HD-DVD player itself is probably going to be around PS3's price range.

Betamax this is not.

If only Warner Bros. and Universal joined the camp...
 
Insertia said:
If only Warner Bros. and Universal joined the camp...

They will,it's just a matter of time.
All the major studios decided to support a small proprietary format like UMD once they've realized they could make money on it,so there's no way they can ignore a format so heavily supported as Blu Ray if sales are good.
I bet everyone will be on the Blu Ray ship a few months after the PS3 launch.
 
Elios83 said:
They will,it's just a matter of time.
All the major studios decided to support a small proprietary format like UMD once they've realized they could make money on it,so there's no way they can ignore a format so heavily supported as Blu Ray if sales are good.
I bet everyone will be on the Blu Ray ship a few months after the PS3 launch.

Warner will be a tough cookie. They've got an investment and huge monetary stake in HD-DVD from a license holder standpoint. It would be a huge concession for them to go to Blu-Ray.

Which sucks since they've got so many damn good movies, along with New Line.
 
Paladin69 said:
i hope blu-ray doesn't force the HDCP crap like Toshiba is doing with HD-DVD.


This is more of a movie studio thing than a BRD/HD-DVD thing....

All HD content will have DRM schemes on both BRD and HD-DVD.....

Most likely, you will never be able to view HD content over component (un-encrypted) inputs with either of these formats...

I know its sucks but that is what we are looking at, it seems....

If only Warner Bros. and Universal joined the camp...

Warner will absolutely, positively only support BRD as a last resort.....

It would not surprise me if they stopped support of HD content entirely, if BRD does win the format war (which it will)

More than any other company, I blame Warner for this format war...

I blame them even more than Toshiba......belee dat...
 
Studios aren't loyal. They will support the victor, be it HD-DVD or BR. That said, HD-DVD doesn't stand a chance. But does BR really have a chance against DVD??? PEACE.
 
This is not news. By the time both formats hit the market, anyone not on crack will be supporting both formats.
 
Zeo said:
Hardly.

More likely != fact.

You'll notice HD-DVD still has good support.

It's not about support, it's simple: next-gen DVD as a format in worldwide terms will not be even close as big and fast as current DVD. Because people (again, in worldwide terms) do not have TVs to enjoy the difference. PS3 is going to be huge anyway. HD-camp will have HD-DVD-players on the market and HD-DVDs. BR camp will have BR-DVDs, BR-DVD-players AND PS3. People will have the hardware and they will use it. BR-DVDs will sell much more copies and everybody will turn Blu-Ray. Toshiba should have negotiated.
 
Kleegamefan said:
When Warner supports BRD, that is the day the format war is over...

Notice Warner is the only holdout left with UMDs...

Time Warner already supports UMDs. HBO and NewLine Cinema are pushing out UMDs already.
 
The reason Fox picked BD is pretty much that they managed to force BD into shoe-horning some even more draconian DRM stuff into the BD spec than AACS. Oh well.
 
Kleegamefan said:
Oh...my bad....


That's the thing with TW. If there is no business loss with them not supporting BR, they won't. But when its clear that BRD is going to win, the divisions will break rank and support - guaranteed. Since TW doesn't make any hardware, its far more likely for them to end up shifted over to BRD than going down the toilet to support HD-DVD. Any sizeable grouping of BR players means that they can't sell their brand if the don't support it - that's not going to happen.
 
Pimpwerx said:
Studios aren't loyal. They will support the victor, be it HD-DVD or BR. That said, HD-DVD doesn't stand a chance. But does BR really have a chance against DVD??? PEACE.

HD-DVD is actually more of a Warner format than anything else, here's a bit of history:

HD DVD has been in development since 2000, when then-Warner Home Video president Warren Lieberfarb, the father of DVD, learned Sony was quietly working on a high-definition successor to DVD and asked Toshiba to intercede. The resulting HD DVD format is based more closely on current DVD standards for which Toshiba and Warner, among others, have copyrights and patents.

It was Lieberfarb's contention at the time that a completely new technology would be too expensive for Hollywood to swallow, and that remains a key issue behind the wave of support today for HD DVD.
With patents and royalties at stake, Warner won't be back down...
 
I hope both formats are just a stepping stone and last less than a year.. before a real successor comes out. VHS->DVD this is not..
 
Excellent. :)

I really hope the rest of the studios join Blu-Ray. It is just so obviously better, and I would really like it if my PS3 could double as my primary HD movie player, at least until more able standalone players become cheap.
 
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