No need to sound the alarms. We definitely assumed that Warner would continue to release HD DVDs until May 31st -- even after the format completely
fell apart -- but thanks to
DVDTown, now we've got a nice cushion of confirmation. According to "studio sources" that spoke with the site, the outfit will indeed continue pushing out red flicks
as promised until June dawns, after which it will crank out Blu-ray Discs alone unless
demand necessitates any restocking of older HD DVD titles. Nothing new here, but nice to know Warner won't be ditching the failed format early.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DeadPlasmaCell @ Feb 20th 2008 2:48PM
Zombie HD-DVD FTW!!
/lulz
TrentD @ Feb 20th 2008 3:31PM
I wish the "Controversial Alternate Ending" was HD DVD winning instead of Blu-ray...*sigh*
I'll be picking up I am Legend on BD.
JimC @ Feb 20th 2008 2:50PM
Paramount not announcing Blu-ray support, Warner still releasing until June, I wonder if Toshiba is not playing nice and letting them out of their contracts....
BrokenFERN @ Feb 20th 2008 2:55PM
This makes sense. There still is a market (though, really really really small) for HDDVD consumers. Some money is to be made.
I guarantee you that they are only making about a 10th of HDDVD's in comparison to Bluray discs.
MI @ Feb 20th 2008 3:05PM
Plus they probably have already invested enough to at least make a run of them.
On the Toshiba Paramount Warner connection; it's an interesting thought, but I would wonder how Universal managed to get out. U wuld guess that Paramount is more trying to hammer down a real plan so they can give immediate release dates for the titles they already had packaged and shipped when they bailed on BD originally. Of course, I thought they'd announce before Toshiba so what do I know...
TrentD @ Feb 20th 2008 3:29PM
Every rumor I've seen shows that Toshiba's discontinued support releases Paramount and Universal from their agreements.
There's no reason to believe Toshiba would poison the well by holding these companies to a format they themselves have abandoned.
Nfinity @ Feb 20th 2008 3:08PM
HD DVD still not dead? Studios actually preferring it? LG continuing HD DVD support?
= LOL!
ProfWho @ Feb 20th 2008 3:12PM
Well I bet you cannot wait to be watching Dark Knight on that triple layer HD-DVD.
Mote @ Feb 20th 2008 3:14PM
...on your cheap chinese player.
ProfWho @ Feb 20th 2008 3:17PM
..which is the top seller on Amazon...
Jove @ Feb 20th 2008 3:35PM
...you again? give it up already and do something else with your life!
BrokenFERN @ Feb 20th 2008 3:41PM
HDDVD not dead? wow.
Reminds me of this story I read this morning from an anti-Bluray site Betanews. They are still trying to convince people that HDDVD is not obsolete.
http://www.betanews.com/article/For_13_million_HD_DVD_customers_whats_next/1203445412
XDragon @ Feb 20th 2008 3:46PM
No one preffers HD-DVD and its dead!
lol ha ha ha lol...blah blah
...damn, I thought I could feel good by being a dick with my comments but it didn't work for me but you just stick with it Nfinity.
If anything, you just make me laugh and realize that there are some pretty stupid people out there!
Maybe I can sell you my trash instead of me throwing it out every week? But seriously, my trash is worth $10 a bag Nfinity and cause you're such a moron, i'll give it to you for only $15 a bag. Maybe you'll find that broken condom that gave you life and you can frame it beside your HD-DVD collection.
DEEZNUTZ @ Feb 20th 2008 4:24PM
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: SUCCESSFULLY BAITED EVERYONE!
Man, you love the hate don't you?
qo_op @ Feb 20th 2008 7:30PM
arent you supposed to be at Truthtellers suicide funeral?
Michael @ Feb 20th 2008 8:06PM
XDragon you are a fucking ass! Why the hell are you calling everyone who invested in HD-DVD a stupid moron? That would include many of the top electronics magazine editors and columnists and quite a few other bright people in such a wide net. Instead, you choose to display your own ignorance and idiocy by insulting other consumers. Personally, I'm sure that most HD-DVD owners would call most BD owners foolish for investing in EXPENSIVE and INCOMPLETE hardware but you know, that is your choice just as it is ours for investing in hardware that at the very most cost me less than a comparable 1080i upscaling DVD player - which I would have bought anyway. FUCK YOU!!!
Brian @ Feb 20th 2008 3:15PM
It would be nice if they just released every HD DVD on BR on one day in the near future, but I know that it will just be a couple here and there.
There is still a long way to go before HDM becomes widely accepted. Pouring all Paramount titles on BR for release immediately will go a long way into making HDM become mainstream. Don't go thinking the Blu-ray is out of the woods yet.
TrentD @ Feb 20th 2008 3:28PM
While the video and audio can just be ported over, all the menus and special features will have to be re-written in BD-Java, I believe. That'll be the hold-up, especially on very advanced titles like Transformers.
jason w @ Feb 20th 2008 3:25PM
I have 2 WB disc on preorder. I am Legend and the Justice League hd dvd. They are both combo disc they both will upconvert just fine if my 2 systems die and they both will play in my PS3, HDDVD, Computer, Laptop and any other dvd player I have. If they continued to release on HDDVD combos at the same price as the br (they didnt do this until recently) I would continue to buy the one that will work on every player I own.
Now isnt there a BR combo somewhere in the works? I would love that for future releases.
aplen22 @ Feb 20th 2008 3:28PM
This is great because I don't mind that Blu won but I'm not buying a player until a Profile 2.0 standalone comes along at a decent rate. And I REFUSE to buy a PS3 because it only perpetuates the crap that sony puts out in the console market. In the mean time I will keep buying the HD DVD new releases because their in HD and I already have a player. I hope the studios keep releasing simply becuase of this reason because as long as no Profile 2.0 players are out, I'm not buying their Blu exclusive releases which means they don't make money off of me. And I'm sure a lot of other Red owners feel the same way.
Sy @ Feb 20th 2008 3:36PM
You are complaining about Sony releasing crap when it comes to game consoles??? Let me guess ...you are a xbox360 fan? ROFL
RRoD FTW I guess?
Mote @ Feb 20th 2008 3:44PM
How is a PS3 crap?
It certainly can't be because of it's failure rate. Or it's multi-format support. Or it's ability to progressively become better with each firmware upgrade.
jon.wiltzen @ Feb 20th 2008 9:54PM
"How is it crap?"
Let's go down the list shall we, and no I don't even own an Xbox360.
- Over priced, I got my Wii back in January 07 for $200 and I still had to wait 2 hrs in line at 8pm on a saturday because 3 months after launch date it was still extremely popular. PS3s were very much in stock on shelfs that day if I remember right, not one left the store. Hmm...
- As far as a console, the consumer has choses the Xbox and Wii as the next gen front runners. More GAMES will be developed for those consoles, wiki "supply vs. demand" and that should explain both this point and the previous.
- Sony marketed the PS3 originally as a game console that played Bluray titles, now its a Bluray player that just so happens to play games as well (come on!).
And just so you know, the PS3 will go down as the biggest disaster of Sony Computer Entertainment's history, Bluray saved it's butt a little though.
If you want me to continue, just let me know.
XDragon @ Feb 20th 2008 3:53PM
Relax guys, this is the new level of stupid that we'll have to deal with because they can't throw HD-DVD arguments at us anymore.
JohnB @ Feb 20th 2008 3:56PM
Have anyone seen this from Amazon.com. Apperently they just announced that they will be supporting blu as the digital form of choice.
http://www.dvdtown.com/news/amazoncom-to-support-blu-ray-as-the-digital-format-of-choice-for-customers/5265
LordZargon @ Feb 20th 2008 4:02PM
Weeee =], thanks Warner. Means my investment wasn't a complete waste!
Mr. E @ Feb 20th 2008 4:10PM
I'm actually a bit surprised at this. Warner already decided to delay the release of titles on HD DVD for three weeks. That was obviously intended to encourage their consumers to opt for the Blu-ray version, and give up on HD DVD. Now that there is no future for HD DVD, I'd think Warner would want to use the biggest carrot they have, by just cancelling the HD DVD versions altogether. The sooner they can get HD DVD consumers to switch to Blu-ray, the quicker they can build their future HD consumer base.
I suppose they're trying to miminize any potential ill will, or maybe they've just already started manufacturing on these titles. Anybody know what the lead time is for that?
XDragon @ Feb 20th 2008 4:21PM
I don't know for sure by any means but I believe that they are releasing the titles that
1. they have already put money into
2. titles that they feel are very big that they'd still want to make money off the people that are willing to still purchase HD-DVDs.
At the same time, they would like to avoid being black listed (even if only for a short period of time) by consumers who've invested a lot of money in HD-DVD.
It never hurts to be nice as long as you don't let people take advantage of it.
Michial @ Feb 20th 2008 4:15PM
That Nfinity guy is funny. Iam sure he's been pulling our leg and having a fun time. The alternative, if he actually believed what he's been saying, would be kinda of scary white coat material. Good on ya Nfinity for making us laugh. We find great humor in your posts. HDDVD has won-Its all a trick. Toshiba is handing it over to an unnamed company to take over production-Warner and Paramount are staying on with big incentives. I hear from unnamed sources all the blu studios are red with envy and will defect any day now. Its a great master plan. Everybody hates bluray. It sucks. All the sales figures are manipulted by SOny. It's a conspiracy I tell you. lol
Paul Fernandez @ Feb 20th 2008 4:39PM
This is why, as many have stated, it's positively silly to just discard whatever HD DVD player and movies you may own in light of Blu-ray's prominence. That's an A-list movie, from an A-list actor and studio up there. I don't expect my player to go kaput anytime soon, and Toshiba is not going to stop supporting the players they've manufactured. A few reps I've spoken to have told me to expect even more firmware updates; they've just released one that locks the framerate at 1080p/24
At least Warner is showing some class and releasing films on HD DVD until the very end and not completely dropping the ball like other companies have done in the last two weeks. I expected less after what they pulled at the January CES, but what's done is done.
DEEZNUTZ @ Feb 20th 2008 5:18PM
You know, initially I thought the same, but the more I look at my HD DVD player, the more I don't want it. Also, call me OCD, but I like arranging my movies alphabetically and it will irritate me to have red and blue cases scattered in my library.
I'm dumping my player and movies and just cutting my losses, which in the grand scheme aren't that much... Got 5 free movies at the store, bought about $120 worth of movies overall on top of that, plus $100 for the player. If I get $150 for the lot, I'll be happy, and I'll even give them the 5 free by mail when they come in.
FreeRange @ Feb 20th 2008 8:12PM
OCD, yes.
wreckedchevy @ Feb 20th 2008 5:25PM
if anyone is interested costco is selling hd-d3 for 79.99 with 7/free movies comes with boure identity and supremacy in the box and hdmi cable just grabbed one for a backup player
HDpurist @ Feb 20th 2008 5:37PM
LOL, finally (not really, rather old news and just revitalizing it) good news for the HD-DVD death bed.
KcufSonyDRM @ Feb 20th 2008 7:04PM
Analysts: Studios will gain from HD DVD's exit, but consumers' won't
By Jacqueline Emigh, BetaNews
February 20, 2008, 1:39 PM
Consumers would really have been better off right now with Toshiba's HD DVD format for high definition video than with Sony's Blu-ray approach, a principal analyst at ABI Research told BetaNews today.
Big film studios will gain from Toshiba's exit from the high definition (HD) disk market, although not as much as they'd like -- and consumers won't benefit at all, at least initially, according to analysts at market research firm ABI Research.
The format battle between Toshiba's HD DVD format and Sony's Blu-ray approach was causing major problems for 20th Century-Fox, Warner Bros., and other movie studios, noted ABI Principal Analyst Steve Wilson.
"Consumers spent [only] about $170 million on high-def DVD in 2007 and Fox, for one, is hoping that jumps to $10 billion in 2008," Wilson said, in a Q&A today with BetaNews.
Still, even industry standardization around Blu-ray won't boost sales as much as the movie studios want.
"They'll be lucky if they get to two-thirds [of the $10 billion]," the analyst remarked.
Wilson also suggested that consumers would really have been better off with the HD format than with Blu-ray.
"Storage capacity is the one area [where Blu-ray] can claim an advantage," he elaborated. But the outcome of the format war, which became official on Tuesday, "doesn't benefit anyone today and it comes at a cost. [Blu-ray] discs and players are both more expensive to manufacture. The DVD format was less expensive to implement and further along in its deployment. [Blu-ray] is twelve months behind in terms of its feature set."
To wrap a bit of historical perspective around the reactions of ABI and other observers, only a year or two ago, a lot of people would have been quite surprised by any notion that Blu-ray would prevail over HD. Back then, an independent market research group called Cymfony analyzed postings on message boards, blogs, and other Web pages to gauge the opinions of early adopters of blue-laser consoles, mainly among gamers and videophiles.
"Positive discussions about HD DVD are 46 percent higher than for Blu-ray, with over twice as many post authors being 'impressed with HD DVD' as 'impressed with Blu-ray,'" according to the results. (PDF available here) which covered the period between October 1 and November 23, 2006. Cymfony describes itself as "a market influence analytics company that sifts and interprets the millions of voices at the intersection of traditional and social media."
The Cymfony researchers further found that Sony and its Blu-ray format suffered from a "credibility gap" due to Sony's past failures with technologies such as Betamax and MiniDisc.
In addition, gamers at the time were found to have been unhappy that the PS3 console comes with a Blu-ray player. "Beyond the increased cost, they objected to Sony giving them no choice," according to the report. Ironically, based on their analysis of the Internet content studied, the Cymfony researchers posited "strong dislike for Blu-ray" as the the main reason why users have been hestitant to adopt HD drives.
"Mainstream media focus on the high cost of Blu-ray and the 'format war' as reasons consumers may be slow to embrace high definition video. But these aren't the biggest reasons currently discussed in social media," according to the study. "Post authors express a general dislike for Blu-ray, often based on doubt regarding Sony's credibility as a technology innovator and ability to succeed with a new platform."
In fairness, Blu-ray did suffer from some technical issues in 2006 that no longer exist. Most notably, studios have weaned themselves from MPEG-2 compression, which was often visibly noticeable and not nearly as efficient as H.264-based codecs such as MPEG-4. As a result, the first BD discs couldn't take full advantage of the huge space alloted for them. And the first BD discs off the block suffered from film transfer problems that early adopters initially attributed to faults with the format rather than the process.
Plus, early Blu-ray players suffered from bugs with noise cancellation and other features, resulting in disgruntled customers. But that anger became very public, thanks to the Internet, and it was that anger that may have helped taint the second wave of adopters -- those contacted by the Cymfony study.
In the end, though, it wasn't customers' likes or dislikes that powered the fatal blow in the format war, according to ABI. It was Warner Bros.' decision to switch allegiance to Blu-ray, along with subsequent moves to dump HD by major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Netflix and Blockbuster, that served as the key catalysts in the rather sudden industry migration to Blu-ray.
"Consumer spending on DVD sales and rentals was pretty flat in 2005 and 2006 at about $22 billion. It dropped last year for the first time, by about 3 percent," Wilson said today.
"The studios really need the new high-def format to catch on so they can drive revenues back
Michial @ Feb 20th 2008 7:21PM
Poor guy quoting all that. Crying over spilt milk wont change the past. Now is when disgruntled HDDVD folks will mock and hope bluray falls on its face. I thought people were on engadget because they enjoyed HDM. Blu is the future like it or not. Do you like movies and HD? Get behind whoever won and lets support the mission. I would say the same if Toshiba won and bluboys sat around and mocked and railed on the victor. I guess these folks were more in love with the company then the idea of HDM. Even if you dont get all the stuff right now with bluray that you had with HDDVD thats no reason to throw the babay out with the bathwater. Grow up and move forward. Reistance and denial will only afffect you-not those of us who are happy to see the HDM ball rolling and will go forth and support whichever format won and that happens to be bluray.
1stGreg @ Feb 20th 2008 7:25PM
Yeah Kcufsony ... "In the end, though, it wasn't customers' likes or dislikes that powered the fatal blow in the format war, according to ABI. It was Warner Bros.' decision to switch allegiance to Blu-ray"
It can't possibly have been 52+ weeks of dominanace by Blu Ray software, and including stronger player standalone sales in DEcember when the Warner anouncement was still a month away eh?
Get over it, despite the hype that Warner is what changed everything, Warner was only a consequence of the entire 2007 year domination, aka consumer chosing Blu Ray over HD DVD.
Gus @ Feb 20th 2008 10:55PM
No it wasn't,,,,,, it was sony witholding content from consumers and then paying off everyone else to go blu, warner was just the last act.
You know it, I know it, everyone knows it, corruption won the day for blu.
kcmurphy88 @ Feb 20th 2008 9:59PM
All it is is that the planned sell-by date was June, not March. Paramount and Universal and Warner all have stuff inthe pipeline that likely costs them as much NOT to make as to make. So they make it in some modest quantity and sell it best they can. And there will be buyers, especially if the price is below the BD price.
UnnDunn @ Feb 20th 2008 10:25PM
Gee, thanks for nothing, Warner.
doug @ Feb 20th 2008 10:45PM
well, don't look for these titles at your local Borders book store. I was at mine today and they pulled ALL the HDDVD titles to make room for more BRD stock. Not so much as a fire sale, dang it. Maybe they are shipping them off to Amazon for fulfillment in that half-price sale.
ProfWho @ Feb 20th 2008 11:32PM
I bet if you check Dollar General, the Dollar tree and Big Lots you will find those HD-DVDs.
Snowriderau @ Mar 2nd 2008 3:54PM
Does it really matter, So HD lost, and I have A HD player, and by next week I will have more than 50 titles on HD DVD cheaper than the cost of DVD;s. So my HD collection for my nice shiny Plasma is booming while all my friends laugh with their PS3, they'll be round mine to watch Matrix on my telly as their box set costs them still over $100 and mine I picked up for $30.
So hopefully with prices dropping to bargain basement prices on HD DVD, All the HD guys will have a nice healthy collection, and can get a Blu Ray player when they are finally under $100 and the disks under $20.
Then year later HD on demand will be the go and everyone will be thinking why did you need a disk in the first place?.
So do the math
50 titles @ $7 = $350 Dollars or a saving of over $1000 Wow..
Might even be worth getting a HD player aswell right now..
I just hope Warner drops their prices soon, obviously not shifting until nearer June when they stop producing. But nows a great time to get your self a nice big collection of HD films to wow everyone with on your big screen for peanuts...
And in 50 years, when Blu Ray is common as old vinyl you'll be holding some real collectors items that maybe worth as much as you paid for them.