Paramount officially Blu-ray (again)
by Richard Lawler 
posted Feb 21st 2008 at 3:17AM
Michael Bay can breathe easy, Paramount (Dreamworks included) has officially gone Blu-ray. Two and a half years after announcing itself purple, and exactly five months after becoming HD DVD exclusive, this move makes all six major Hollywood studios Blu. Don't make space for that Blu edition of Transformers in your DVD rack just yet, as the company plans to "monitor consumer adoption and determine our release plans accordingly", but with PS3 sales up and BD Live on the way, we can't imagine it will take very long. The Hollywood Reporter expects to see Universal and Paramount new releases hitting Blu-ray and DVD at the same time by late spring or early summer, when we can forget this whole thing ever happened -- unless of course you picked up an HD DVD player for Shrek, in which case we have a few ideas on what to do next.[Thanks to Robert and everyone who sent this in]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
chop @ Feb 21st 2008 3:23AM
bout time
Larry @ Feb 21st 2008 12:30PM
I bet Michael Bay will claim Tansformers looks better on Blu-Ray, even though it will have a bit-for-bit identical AVC encode to the HD-DVD.
Michael @ Feb 21st 2008 3:25AM
Thanks Buddha! It's about time! I was a fan of HD DVD, but am much happier with the war over!
Felix @ Feb 21st 2008 3:27AM
i expect some kind of apology from paramount for dumping us all last August.
Prey521 @ Feb 21st 2008 3:35AM
Apology LMAO
Denzelio @ Feb 21st 2008 3:35AM
The final nail has been hammered into the coffins of NFINITY and TRUTHTELLER... i mean HD DVD :D
Jove @ Feb 21st 2008 4:12AM
i hope to god that we wont ever, ever, ever, EVER see them again. they've been relatively quiet for a while now and i hope is for good. i dont want to see truth tellers comments anywhere else. not here or in afterdawn. the hell with them.
MegaZone @ Feb 21st 2008 4:31AM
Truth Teller is probably getting ready for a comeback as an HD VMD supporter. ;-)
Michael @ Feb 21st 2008 4:39AM
@Megazone
Nah, he's already started playing up HD Downloads! As if... what a waste of breathe.
Prey521 @ Feb 21st 2008 5:50AM
Its funny how people claim how pathetic TT and NF are...I think it's even more pathetic that people mention their names before they even post.
borland502 (SDF - Macross Ring) @ Feb 21st 2008 9:58AM
@Prey521
Er, so what does that make the person trailing the people that trail the trolls? You can't castigate people for railing against the dynamic troll duo when you're so massively off topic yourself. And calling someone pathetic in those circumstances has a delicious ironic twist to it.
Anyway, it's good to have all the studios marching to a common beat again.
Ryan @ Feb 21st 2008 12:21PM
The only reason those guys even stuck around is because of idiots like you.
Every bit of news was "oh man I can't wait to tell those two guys about this!". Then there was the incessant bitching about getting rid of them all within the same confines of the same people saying "I can't wait to see what their response to this is".
Seriously, you, and everyone else that responded below you posting the same and ranked up your comment, are nearly as big an idiot as those two morons.
DrXym @ Feb 21st 2008 11:58AM
I think there are two "Truth Tellers". One of them rants that Blu Ray doesn't have as many features as HD DVD, oh and PS3s don't count for reasons known only to him. The other rants that Blu Ray stands no chance because of VOD, even though VOD has no features at all and the same silly arguments could equally be applied to HD DVD.
Depending on the article / comment you'll get one or other of these "Truth Tellers". I find it hard to believe that a single person would be able to hold these two contradictory views.
Anthony Pivac @ Feb 21st 2008 6:04AM
If they include lossless audio on all releases, it will do alot to redeem themselves for dumping Blu-ray in the first place.
Spiza @ Feb 21st 2008 6:42AM
Paramount has come out like bandits in this whole thing. They probably kept most of the money they were giving due to an out clause if Toshiba canceled involvement in the format, and now they probably get to resell their biggest hit HD, Transformers. Sells for Transformers should be huge as soon as its released to the PS3 crowd. I know its on my own list instead of rent list. Not a great movie, but a great popcorn movie.
qo_op @ Feb 21st 2008 7:36AM
This could mean the end of HD-DVD.....
Jove @ Feb 21st 2008 2:02PM
LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alex @ Feb 21st 2008 9:39PM
Paramount has always had their head up their rear. Back in the good old DVD days they were one of the last to finally accept that anamorphic encoding of DVDs was a good idea. Plus they refused to do any DTS work because they couldn't tell a difference between it and DD5.1. Hopefully they'll up their game a bit and try to stay competitive. But likely they'll just re-release Star Trek movies and TV on Bluray for a substantial price increase. No one minds paying $129 a season...
morpheus73 @ Feb 21st 2008 12:12PM
Alex-
I agree. Of all the major studios Paramount is known for having it's head up it's ass more than the others. Putting out a $130 box set for one season of a 40 year old series as an enticement to adopt a format isn't too smart in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I want the Trek discs, but not at that price point. Paramount made two contributions to HD-DVD: Transformers and Shrek. Outside of that their support was lackluster at best.
Mr. E @ Feb 21st 2008 1:39PM
Yeah, I'm waiting until I can get a package of Star Trek, the complete series on Blu-ray for under $150. I expect it'll be around the 2010/2011 time frame. Sheesh.
I wonder if they'll have the fortitude to attempt a remastering of Star Trek:TNG? I guess they'd have to redo all effects shots for that as well, but they've already established that they're willing to do so with their TOS remasters. I'd think that would sell well too. It's my personal favorite of the Star Trek series.
JimC @ Feb 21st 2008 8:16AM
I'm waiting for Saving Private Ryan....now that Dreamworks is blu-ray, Spielberg should be getting this film ready for HD.
Galley @ Feb 21st 2008 8:25AM
Hey, if anything Truth Teller and Nfinity became Internet sensations. Now that they've got their 15 minutes of fame out of the way, they can fade into obscurity.
CassilineKnight @ Feb 21st 2008 9:26AM
One can hope...
However I'm afraid and pretty much resigned to the fact that both of those idiots will be bitching about DVD and/or downloads and how Bluray can't compete against them.
Although anyone with half a brain knows that the move from DVD to Bluray will take some time for the average consumer.
Things don't change overnight.
Mr. E @ Feb 21st 2008 9:29AM
This is a historic moment. It's the first time all studios have been supporting a single HD media format. It's about frickin' time. My wallet is going to take a pounding, especially this holiday season.
DrXym @ Feb 21st 2008 11:59AM
Except for DVD and VHS you mean.
DrXym @ Feb 21st 2008 11:59AM
Doh, stupid me, I should have read more closely. My bad.
Brian @ Feb 21st 2008 11:10AM
I'm really looking forward to Transformers on BD for sure, so hopefully Paramount won't take too long "monitoring consumer adoption". I'm not even sure what that means anyway. Consumer adoption drove HD-DVD out of the marketplace, what is there left to see? They can either start catering to all of us early adopters now and make money doing it, or they can not make money. Seems like a no-brainer.
Does anyone have any idea what kind of stock of BD titles Paramount might still have lingering around? I was really looking forward to Top Gun on BD when they pulled the rug out from under us. I think it was due out just over a month after the switch. Would they have already started pressing those when the switch occurred? Are they in a warehouse somewhere just waiting to be released or were they destroyed?
Mr. E @ Feb 21st 2008 1:36PM
I think that's just stall talk since they need some time to get the BD release pipeline back up and running again. I'd expect some specific release news from them within a few weeks.
RPGJock @ Feb 21st 2008 1:38PM
Wait, so does this means that EngagetHD gets to remove the asterisk from the weekly total of Blu Ray movies released in their weekly release calendar? Will added the movies back in or do they wait for new shipments of the previously leased movies to come back out?
I am just saying...
or asking in this case
false teller @ Feb 21st 2008 3:05PM
I wonder how much did they get this time :).
Probably less than Warner!!! ;)
Kevin-Mahalo @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:33PM
Fawk You Mike Bay! Just Fall InTo A Bay And R.I.P. (Rest In Pain)! I want HD-DVD and Blu-Ray Smashed UP All Together To Make SUPERBLU!!!