Germany's Constantin Film AG drops HD DVD, goes Blu-ray only
by Richard Lawler 
posted Jan 11th 2008 at 2:35PM
Since Warner announced it is ending support for HD DVD and going Blu-ray only, there has been endless rumor mongering over who would be next out the door. Surprisingly, none of those unnamed industry insiders named Constantin Film AG -- which calls itself Germany's leading independent film production and distribution company with 11 of the 25 most successful German theatrical films of the last ten years -- a company that has been releasing in both formats until now, but announced its movies will be released in Blu-ray only beginning March 1st. Citing Warner's shift and a desire to see the format war end, Constantin's Home Entertainment Director said it is "following the international trend." Obviously someone hasn't heard of International VMD Day.[Via heise online]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MidnightDT @ Jan 11th 2008 2:44PM
oh no, clearly this changes everything
DEEZNUTZ @ Jan 11th 2008 3:00PM
Perhaps not on their own, but I can guarantee they would not have dropped HD-DVD if it wasn't for Warners move. Warner already changed everything.
pete @ Jan 11th 2008 3:05PM
Isn't this exactly the sort of movie company that people were championing HD-DVD for? Arguably, lack of region coding provides the opportunity to see more of the less mainstream movies from around the world. But it seems from the sarcastic tone of the article (and your subsequent comment) that the "opportunity" is, in actual fact, irrelevant.
pete @ Jan 11th 2008 2:48PM
Fantastic news, looking forward to seeing Der Untergang (aka Downfall) out on BD
TonyD @ Jan 11th 2008 7:41PM
Great movie!
DrXym @ Jan 12th 2008 7:56AM
That movie is pretty awesome. By coincidence Gizmodo made funny use of it in this thread gizmodo.com/343730/universal-wont-support-hd-dvd-exclusively-blu+ray-victory-imminent-says-variety
roger_huston @ Jan 11th 2008 3:03PM
I buy DVD's by the 100 on a spool and rent movies. I could careless which format won the movie war, I cared greatly about which one won the storage war.
It came down to one question for me. Which format holds the most data? If I buy 100 of those shiny round disks, which one can I store the most stuff on?
As a Geek, which do you own more of? Blank CDs / DVD or store bought DVD movies? In the end, which format had the most impact to the average geek at home?
- Roger
hemmy @ Jan 11th 2008 3:36PM
If you could care less which format won the movie war, it means you have room to care more, or simply, you do actually care.
You probably mean you *couldn't* care less, or simply, you don't give a shit which format won the war.
Matthew Berg @ Jan 11th 2008 6:24PM
@ roger_huston
Store bought movies, by a wide wide margin. My most recent optical purchase was ten pack of RW discs a couple years back.
For the most part I think the salad days of optical media as an archival data format are mostly over. External drives are dirt cheap, much faster, higher capacity, far more convienent and more compatible (anything sold in the last decade will have a USB port, only a handful of machines have Blu-ray). And for smaller applications, flash drives are also dirt cheap, faster, more convienent and more compatible.
Are there some people who will want or need high capacity removable storage? Sure, but they'll be a minority. Are there more people who will want a writer to master home movies? Sure, but given the output of camcorders (even HD), a single layer of either format (or even DVD-9) would more than suffice for most people. Unless you happen to be an aspiring director shooting your home movies with lossless nine channel audio or something. :)
Gordon Werner @ Jan 11th 2008 7:52PM
here is a list of some if not most of the movies that they have been involved with
http://www.imdb.com/company/co0074863/
Gus @ Jan 11th 2008 9:57PM
Who???
DEEZNUTZ @ Jan 12th 2008 11:08AM
Just one more domino in HD-DVD's dead format that has come to see the light of WB's move. Clear enough for you?
Eddie @ Jan 14th 2008 7:01PM
One more domino, huh?
Then I might ask, who the hell are you? I've never heard of you, oh wise one.