More Blu-ray titles and region-coding
by Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Oct 7th 2006 at 10:37AM
Ever since CES last year we have expected Blu-ray to have more titles than HD DVD, but here we are now in the 4th Quarter and HD DVD still has a sizable lead in the content category. Sure Disney just got started and Fox gets started next month. Last week was one of the first weeks with any mentionable releases for either format, which indicates some inconsistency considering the record number of titles released the week before. We're sure Blu-ray wants to have more titles available than HD DVD by Christmas and it apears things are already starting to heat up as new Blu-ray titles are announced almost constantly, including The Descent from Paramount, The Devil Wears Prada and Transporter 2 from Fox, all in December around Christmas. And in January We Were Soldiers and The Manchurian Candidate also from Paramount. These titles continue the Day and Date release trend we all love. It's not all good news as the BDA also starts to roll out Region-coding, the regions are bigger than on DVD, but still. Luckily for those Anime fans Japan and the US are in the same region. Blu-ray Release Calendar
HD DVD Release Calendar
Read: The Descent
Read: Soldiers and Manchurian
Read: Devil, Transporter2
Read: Region-coding [Via High-Def Digest]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
a2 @ Oct 7th 2006 7:04PM
The timing seems to coincide with the release of the PS3, which will be available in limited quantities this year, but perhaps despite that, is still a much larger number than current Blu-Ray player sales.
But you have to wonder... will those in the target audience who purchase a PS3, also purchase Blu-Ray movies? Also, will those who purchase PS3, have an HD TV?
I think sales of both HD DVD and Blu-Ray will be slow no matter what for the foreseeable future. We're still in the early adopter phase.
Pamela Ray @ Oct 7th 2006 7:51PM
Ghost whisper
Fruition @ Oct 8th 2006 1:00AM
I have an HD TV and am going to buy either a PS3 or BD player, so I'll be buying BD movies.
And anyone who buys a PS3 and has an HD TV (which are becoming more common these days) will certainly buy BD movies, at least in my opinion. Why not? How could anyone settle for less when they've got a perfectly operational BD player at their disposal.
Ben Hobbs @ Oct 8th 2006 4:32AM
Well the Samsung is a pretty poor High Def DVD player at $1,000 so I'm doubting that one tacked onto a gaming system is going to be far superior. From what I've seen The Blu-Ray titles look only marginally better than some of the better DVD's out there.
Add in regional encoding used to lock out getting cheaper blu-ray content from other countries and Europe not getting the PS3 till next year and I'd give HD DVD the lead in at least Europe.
I'm curious if anyone has yet seen a blu-ray movie playing on teh PS3, Seeing as its only a month away from release. If not is that because Sony doesn't want to show it or because people are just not interested in the PS3's Blu-Ray playback.
Dave @ Oct 8th 2006 6:30AM
Excelent! I wish all new movies to come on a Blu_ray media also from now on :)
Ben Drawbaugh @ Oct 8th 2006 10:06AM
Ben,
That is a good point, but I think it is important to note that the worst HD DVD or Blu-ray still looks better than the best DVD, even if only marginally better. Since most DVDs don't look that good the difference is even more drastic. Of course most people won't care about the difference until the players cost the same price, but until then those who care can enjoy the better formats.
Ben Hobbs @ Oct 8th 2006 1:18PM
I'm not so sure its about the players cost or the software - People are willing to pay for HD TV's, and an extra 30-40% on a High Def DVD player to make the most of it isn't all that much.
However I think people dont appreciate the extra cost of the discs, We all know how little they cost to manufacture (especially compared to the hardware on which some/most electronics are taking a loss).
If a Blu-Ray or HD DVD disc costs even three times as much as a normal DVD to produce then why doesnt it just add $1-$2 to the price. It just feels to the average consumer that its CD vs Tapes all over again, a reason for the movie/music companies to rape us on cost.
All other technology costs tend to go down as time goes on (i'm typing this on a US $300 computer thats ten times as powerful as a US$3000 computer was 10 years ago). Whilst High Def DVD's whic are mastered from the same film source as normal DVD's are 2x the price.