Germany's Senator Entertainment follows Constantin, goes Blu-ray only
If you were wondering just how long you'd have to wait until the next domino fell, wonder no more. Germany's own Senator Home Entertainment is reportedly following in the footsteps of Constantin Film AG and will stop supporting HD DVD. Notably, any films that were already scheduled to arrive on HD DVD will supposedly still ship, but after March 1, 2008, the studio will be supporting Blu-ray exclusively. Another one bites the dust, we suppose.[Thanks, Khattab]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Gus @ Jan 16th 2008 11:02PM
I wonder how much sony is paying them to keep the anti consumer monopoly going!
mntwister @ Jan 16th 2008 11:09PM
Oh please.....this comment has run it's course and are now in the vomit stage. Do we need to hear that for the 100,001 time?
dammenion @ Jan 16th 2008 11:33PM
As if the alternative having M$ behind it is pro-consumer.
Sam Winter @ Jan 17th 2008 5:19AM
HAVING ONE FORMAT IS NOT A MONOPOLY! You need to at least get a fucking clue about what you are talking about before you go around spewing bullshit.
That said, the irony is that had HD-DVD won the format war, Toshiba would be the lone hardware manufacturer, and THAT my friend is the monopoly.
I didn't really care who won, but I hated the HD-DVD excuse of being "cheaper". We all know how consumer electronics pricing perpetually drops, so price was not really the issue once the format war was over. This has already been shown to be true as Blu-ray hardware is now down to under $300.
I am glad that Blu-ray won for the fact that if we are to be stuck with a format for the next 5-10 years, I sure want the one with the best technical specs. 48mbps audio/video bitrate compared to 30mbps for HD-DVD, 25GB per layer vs 15GB, etc. Now we just need disc prices to come down....
JD @ Jan 17th 2008 3:25PM
Eight hundred billion dollars.
DrXym @ Jan 19th 2008 1:14PM
Repeat after me - standards are a good thing. Or maybe you're upset that VHS, Audio CD and DVD are also "monopolies"?
Gus @ Jan 16th 2008 11:15PM
As i keep telling the blu ray thugs (and I'm not saying you are one) but it's my opinion and I will keep voicing it.... something to do with a little thing called "Democracy"
JimC @ Jan 16th 2008 11:23PM
Any comment on HDDVD paying off Paramount and Dreamworks? If not then you're a hypocrite...
Gus @ Jan 16th 2008 11:42PM
@JimC
No doubt they were paid just like Warner and everyone else in this dirty war, but this war was started by sony and everything else since is a matter of survival.
Knowing that you are a big BR supporter and it looks like your side has won, unfortunately, but look in your heart of hearts Jimmy and see if you can tell me truthfully that BR has done nothing anti consumer, and that the legitimate consumer friendly product has won as it should have been,without deception or corruption for the OVERALL best result for the consumer.
If you can genuinely say that, then to quote your words, " you're a hypocrite..." :)
av8or @ Jan 16th 2008 11:57PM
for the 80billionth time, there was no payment for warner, they've explicitly denied it
Gus @ Jan 17th 2008 12:05AM
@AV8OR
Hahahahahha, wow, I've fired up the blu hord today.:)
Now come on AV, please, be real now, they also said they weren't dropping HD DVD, so put a cork in it!
If you believe that, you also believe in Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, and Charles Manson was a good bloke!
Matt @ Jan 17th 2008 1:13AM
bluray is backed by a bunch of the Japanese electronic manufacturers, not just Sony. HD-DVD is only backed by Toshiba. If they would have cooperated with all the others, this war would have never happened. Toshiba caused the anti consumer problem.
all of these companies are after their unfair share of profit. some are better at it than others. save your heart of hearts soliloquy and defending your democracy for a topic more worthy. you have the right to say what you want and we have the right to refute you. :)
Gus @ Jan 17th 2008 1:33AM
Well said Mat, yes you do have the right to refute me as i have a right to express my opinion.
it does fire me up when some of the blu thugs who post here try to stand over and intimidate some of the posters with aggressive and pathetic behavior, a refreshing change, all though you are completely wrong with your statement about Toshiba, HD DVD has many backers. If your statement is to be believed , it would mean Sony is the only backer of BR (god help us all if that were true!) BR has more backers then HD DVD, but that does not make any difference at all.
EQC @ Jan 17th 2008 3:20AM
Sony started the war? You might want to look into that Gus. Check out, for example, the "History" section of the HD-DVD Wikipedia article.
BluRay existed first. It was proposed as a standard. The DVD forum said "nah, we're going to try to figure out how to get HD content on regular DVD's." A month later, they realized that was 'tarded and decided to make their own standard -- thus, the beginning of HD-DVD.
I honestly don't care either way...but people should realize: Just because HD-DVD hit the market first doesn't mean it was the first HD format.
Format wars and "opinions" are one thing -- but if you're going to state something as fact, you might want to make sure it's correct. (And yes, I realize Wikipedia isn't necessarily accurate...but until I hear otherwise about this point, I'll stick with it.)
Matt @ Jan 17th 2008 9:26AM
yes, there are some blu thugs, and there are hddvd/bluray fanatics. and now that bluray is "winning" some people think it proves bluray is a better standard which isnt true.
I live in Japan, so I see Hitachi, Pioneer, Panasonic, Sony all cooperating on one standard and I see Toshiba in the other corner all alone trying to do its own thing and be king of the formats all by itself.
I also own both players and for me, my bluray player(ps3) works way smoother than my HDDVD for menu navigation and starting up. my ps3 starts right up and the menu is ultra crisp, letters easy to see and the navigation menu fast and intuitive. I dont know if it is the Java feature or if I have a bad HDDVD player(HD-A20). Like getting subtitles to come up on a movie like V for Vendetta needs to be done from the pop up menu, which is slow, it cannot be done from the "subtitle" button on the remote. If I had any non-fanatical HDDVD supporter over to watch a movie, none would disagree. On the other hand, HDDVD supporters who actually own both machines may have a better HDDVD player or a worse bluray player and could show me otherwise.
I would love to non emotionally compare HDDVD vs Bluray based on its features. I am really interested what HDDVD people(ones who actually have used bluray) like about their format but it usually becomes an emotional shout match.
halley @ Jan 16th 2008 11:56PM
who the hell is senator entertainment and why should i care? this "war" is being determined by who sells the most copies for studios. clearly, that's been blu. advanced features are not important to studios. why? because they can sell you a stripped down version of a blu ray and then in a couple of years--they can sell the interactive feature rich version. thus, making you buy the whole thing over again. they've done it for years on DVD. Keep on adding the features. but, ultimately, the studios will decide which one they support. so, blu wins out because of the higher bit rate, the 50 gig support that enables you to go next gen audio. it's all been said before. just pull your head out of your four point of contact and get with the program. 10 years from now you will be enjoying your movies on whatever version finally pulls it all off (blu probably) and has every studio locked in. you're feelings will eventually heal and you will join in with the rest of america and enjoy your 1080p happiness. despite your little hurt feelings----bbbbboooooooohooooooooo!
Paul Ford @ Jan 17th 2008 12:28AM
blu won't be around as long as DVD. DVD is the longest lasting media format we've had. Technology will surpass it in a few years that's why they are pushing so hard to close the market and sell some players. Digital distribution is right around the corner and they'll eliminate optical media eventually.
John Drinkwater @ Jan 17th 2008 9:05AM
Just because you havent heard of them, doesnt mean they dont matter in the scheme of things. There are many production companies in Europe that are happy to hear that they can finally adopt one standard for their future products, rather than having to support two for no reason.
Sean @ Jan 17th 2008 12:28AM
this is not good for HD-DVD
Sean @ Jan 17th 2008 12:30AM
dvd came out in 1997, its been a bit over 10 years. VHS was out since late 70s. It extinguished around 1999 maybe even later then that. So I think VHS is the longest home video format. Home video is headed towards gaming and PCs, upgrade it ASAP!
Elad @ Jan 17th 2008 1:18AM
I can't stand people bitching about the less consumer friendly product won. I like the sound as much as the video and Blu Ray clearly has better sound capabilities than HD DVD, and therefore BD is more consumer friendly to me. Clearly most people agree with the fact that BD is more consumer friendly because more people bought it. And don't pull any bullshit with studios supporting Blu Ray more giving them the advantage. The library for HD DVD was SOOO much better than Blu Ray's and yet BD still won. Transformers, The Matrix, and The Bourne series are all perfect movies for demonstrating the new formats capabilities (lots of explosions and effects) Pirates and Spiderman were shit movies to support Blu Ray. Pirates One is the only good one out of the trilogy (number 2, I needed to watch with subtitles, and 3, wtf happened with the whole attack of the 50 foot woman shit at the end?) and spiderman is the most thoroughly destroyed comic book adaptation since Batman and Robin. They were all shitty. PS3 had a Blu Ray player, and 360 (with the add on) had one, which when put into the entire cost pretty much matched the msrp of the PS3. This hold that people have on HD DVD is pathetic. The two formats are not that different REALLy, so stop pretending they are. I chose a format that provided better sound quality, and the ability to fit the full extended cut of LOTR on one disc without in anyway having to sacrifice quality, over a format that had a completed spec, and internet capability. This consumer friendly argument is bullshit. The people did chose, BD sold more movies, what can you say against that? Considering the shit put out by WB on BD, they were pretty much HD DVD exclusive before (with Batman Begins, the Matrix, and V for Vendetta) BD still outsold them with fairly even studio support if you (like I do) consider WB leaning to the red side in the past. Studio's didn't decide this war, consumers did. And because of the high cost of manufacturing two formats, one side had to be chosen eventually. They obviously couldn't wait for unanimous consumer choice to one format, so they had to make their decision based on the majority. Please, if anyone can, enlighten me as to why they are so inclined to stick with HDDVD. What is the difference between the formats that is making you just refuse to admit the end. And don't use that Sony anti-consumer shit, because Microsoft is just as bad, and Sony isn't the only company that has stake in Blu Ray. Both companies jobs are to make money, so don't act like Toshiba is this force sent by God to please each and every consumer. I look forward to hearing what you have to say.
Gus @ Jan 17th 2008 1:52AM
@ elad
But seriously, the previous comment was a bit of humor, for me it's very simple, I can not and will not support a company with an appalling anti consumer track record, sony.
Sony, a company that withholds content from consumers to create a monopoly, a company that puts viruses onto legitimately purchased CD's, a company that continually tries to monopolize with failed products over and over again, a company that tells it's BR fanbase to GF'D because you are an early adapter, a company with an appalling customer relations, anti consumer-hell yes!
M$ has it's evils agreed, but they look like Mother Theresa compared to sony.
Your happy to back them, I am not, sony and or BR will NEVER see 1$ of mine!
Leroy Vargas @ Jan 17th 2008 8:35PM
Replying to Gus:
I am VERY REALLY tired of hearing again and again this stupid fallacy that BLU-RAY is a SONY technology and that SONY is paying MONEY to movie studios to switch to BLU-RAY.
Go to Wikipedia, type Blu-ray, and look for Blu-ray Disc Association. It will say that it "was founded in May 2002 by nine leading electronic companies: Matsushita, Pioneer, Philips, Thomson, LG Electronics, Hitachi, Sharp, Samsung, and Sony." Which means that BLU-RAY was not invented by SONY alone, but that SONY was only one of NINE original supporters of the technology. It doesn't say who was first to come up with BLU-RAY, it only says that all nine companies agreed to develop this new technology known as BLU-RAY, and that all nine companies own patents pertaining BLU-RAY (although it doesn't state how many "Blu-patents" does each one of these nine companies hold.
So please stop this annoying horseshit that SONY is the one behind Blu-ray and that SONY is the one making BIG money with every Blu-ray player and title sold. There are nine big companies roughly making the same amount of money with Blu-ray, plus a few more that are making their own share of money.
Gus @ Jan 17th 2008 1:26AM
@elad
You are so full of shit your eyes are brown!! :)
Gus @ Jan 17th 2008 1:36AM
GEEZ, where'z the red army , I'm getting a flogging here boys, hopefully the Cavalry will be here shortly, ah never mind, I'll take the fight up on my own if I have to >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> :)
Devils Advocate @ Jan 17th 2008 2:06AM
Just what we needed:
Another Nfinity and Truth Teller.
Oh well, its your money to lose to support HD-DVD.
Till @ Jan 20th 2008 7:42AM
To Gus!
At the end of the day its bs
I don't support either i wait eagerly for the end of the war so i can by one format and not have to waste my hard earned $$ on a losing horse (which ever loses). for most logical consumers they don't care about the sony vs ms or backing or anything all they want is a device that will be supported in the future and not be a waste of money! in addition to this in Europe (i write to you from Germany but i study in Great britain) most average people are yet to own a HDTV and are happy with standard dvd to consider spending out on both a hdtv and a then an hd or blu player - until there is a larger uptake in Europe of HDTV's this format war is an irrelevant consumer confusing issue!!
EEL @ Jan 17th 2008 2:19AM
It's been awhile, Devils Advocate. Happy New Year.
Yep, us Red campers are watching the demise of this format in the U.S., all wondering what's the going rate for Paramount, Dreamworks and Universal to ride the Blu express.
HD4ME @ Jan 17th 2008 2:51AM
@Devils Avocado
Whats wrong with a man standing up and being passionate about what he believes in?!
Hell, Nfinity, Truth etc, say what you will, but they passionately support what they believe is right, yes, the odd comment like all of our comments, sometimes go over the top, but at lest they don't resort to thuggery like some of the blu bots who bash away day after day.
dammenion @ Jan 17th 2008 3:11AM
Honestly that really depends on where your sitting.
Both sides have stupid fans. How you choose to look at things distorts how you see them.
Someone who supports HD-DVD might think BD supporters are rude and constantly bashing them as they are alone in their personal struggle to help Microsoft win this format war and fight Sony.
Someone who supports BD might think HD-DVD are irrational paranoid conspiracy theorist who defy logic and bash BD and their supporters constantly.
If you only care about HDM then you think both sides are retarded but want the war over so one has a chance to win mass market support or both will become like the last HD audio format war and we take a step back in quality.
EQC @ Jan 17th 2008 3:23AM
Just a thought: with all these foreign companies going Blu, does that mean the HD-DVD argument of "importing HD-DVD versions of American Blu-Ray exclusives" is starting to fail? If more foreign studios go Blu, that closes the import market, right?
(I'm a good guy, don't own either format...I'm just asking the question to see how accurate it is.)
Anthony Pivac @ Jan 17th 2008 7:27AM
Actually Laserdisc is probably the longest running media it ran through the 70's to the 00's
Cheers.
1stGreg @ Jan 17th 2008 9:05AM
Being passionate about a format is one thing, spouting outright lies and FUD about this is another.
Fact: The BDA has -by far- the most CE makers and studios, that will be battling it out for market shares, thus ensuring consumer friendly situation.
Fact: one format has never been anti-consumer. cf VHS, CD, DVD. Having only one company behind a format is.
Fact: As per your "democracy", consumers voted in 2007 with their dollars. Blu Ray won.
Is there much more to say about this?
alienclays @ Jan 17th 2008 9:40AM
i wish the hd-dvd fanboys were so consice and logical with their arguements.
at least if warner is to be believed, than their move has done what they said it would do. start the begining of the end for the format war and cause everyone else to follow suit.
also, can anybody 'prove' anything about these so called payoffs? we know 150mil to paramount was real due to their contract but i don't know about the others. was that .5bil a value of the BDA marketing campaign that they would include warner in or a cash lump sum? that and if so, why? the monatary gains of ending the war far outweighs any payoff.
Truth Teller @ Jan 17th 2008 9:59AM
Good to see you Gus.
There are more than a few of us interested in something other than the one-sided torrent of Blu-BS we see here day-in day-out.
You know the Blu-thug element are only so pi$$ed off about all of this because they know (in their heart of hearts) that Blu-ray has actually won sweet FA as of right now.
They can see that the HD DVD fightback has not flopped (as the Amazon USA bestseller stats show)& they are also very distressed that neither Universal nor Paramount have budged despite all their tales of escape clauses & being out of contract.
Anything that runs contrary to the standard Blu-ray.com message gets their panties in a huge knot.
The tough life of the fanboy, huh? LMAO.
The truth is that studios proclaiming an affiliation (especially a post-dated one.......which may yet change if circumstances change or do not change sufficiently) doesn't mean Jack in terms of hardware or software sales.
The truth is that Blu-ray hardware & software sales remain low & deeply disappointing.
HD DVD are on the right track; getting players out there in huge numbers (forget about discs sales for now, they are still - for everyone - too tiny to really matter right now).
That's what Sony did with the PS3.
That's what HD DVD is now doing with the HD A3, HD A30 & HD A35 - which are currently the top 3 best selling DVD players Amazon USA sell.
That pool of owners can be tapped into later with BOGOs etc etc later, just like Sony did with the PS3.
Right now getting HD DVD units out there is the big deal (and they are doing it magnificently).
(.....and Blu-ray's great CE support?!
Please.
Their reliance on the PS3 game console was bad enough before all their profile 2.0 BS came out)
1stGreg @ Jan 17th 2008 10:59AM
I hate to break it to ya Lie Teller, but appart from that sponsored (wonder by who? wink wink) "Best Seller" list on Amazon, if you actually do what any average consumer does, which is go to electronics, Audio/Video, DVD players, and sort by "bestselling", you obtain -very- different results ;)
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st?rs=172514&page=1&rh=n%3A172282%2Cn%3A1065836%2Cn%3A172514&sort=pmrank
/gives hankerchief to Lie Teller.
Truth Teller @ Jan 17th 2008 12:24PM
BS
Right now the HD A3 is number 1; the HD A30 is number 2 and the HD
A35 is number 4.
Read it and weep Blu-ray fanboys.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/electronics/172514/ref=pd_ts_e_nav
The HD A3 is currently the 10th best selling electrical item in the
enitre Amazon USA catalogue (it was at 3 earlier in the week).
Read it an weep again fanboys.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/electronics/ref=sv_e_1/105-0387215-0970808
(which weird twisted conjunction of search do you use?
I just used best selling DVD players, I suspect most do)
1stGreg @ Jan 17th 2008 1:27PM
No, you went to their "best seller" section, which they supposedly "update" every 30 mins (not so). It's visibly a sponsored section.
If you click on Electronics, then DVD-Player (on the left), you'll find the listing I linked to, by default ordered in "Bestselling".
Is it that hard for you to use Amazon? lol.
http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link_18310001_2?ie=UTF8&node=172514&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=gp-left-1&pf_rd_r=0Y318BNJEBNXTJHPK5MB&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=333873101&pf_rd_i=172282
And again, if you think that a $150 crap 1080i HD DVD is outselling the $39 DVD players or Brand (Philips/Sony) $70 1080p DVD players, I have a Brain to sell you, it'll work better for you than a bridge in Spain I suspect ;)
BrokenFERN @ Jan 17th 2008 3:59PM
Blu 85% to HDDVD 15%....
Any day now Paramount and Universal and Toshiba....
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Industry_Trends/Disc_Sales/Blu-ray_Dominates_Disc_Sales_Chart_Post-Warner_Announcement/1383
How much more of this humiliation do you guys want to take?
Alex McKenna @ Jan 17th 2008 4:48PM
Really Gus!
Would you say your mates Microsoft and their Widows system is NOT constantly attempting all the "sins" you mention?
At least BLu-ray has numerous rival companies involved at the top level. Unlike Microsoft, which has never let the PC manufacturers get in on the act as far as Word, and Widows are concerned. I will never allow a Microsoft thing on my computer unless I can find a work-round. These days I seem to be Micro-free, which suits me perfectly. At least Sony have made original lovely things. With the help of Phillips. Many of them. Your Micro-friends have NOT