Warner just went Blu-ray exclusive

Boyd Ostroff · January 5th, 2008, 08:12 AM

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080104/dueli...mats.html?.v=7

Quote:

Still, one alarming trend Warner keyed on was that consumers didn't appear motivated by price reductions on high-definition disc players.

"When we saw that was not impacting sales in the level that it should have, and the consumer research that we did indicated that the consumers were holding back from buying either one of the two formats ... we thought it was the right time to act," Tsujihara said, noting that even sales of standard DVDs were affected because consumers appeared unsure over which format to go with.

"That was kind of the worst of all worlds for us," he said.

Bill Koehler · January 5th, 2008, 05:09 PM

From The Wall Street Journals Daily News Letter:

"Blu-ray Gets Boost
Warner Brothers Entertainment said it plans to release high-definition movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format, in a move that could tip the balance of power toward Blu-ray in a format war over the next generation of DVDs. The move means the rival HD DVD format, which is backed by Toshiba, will be left with support from just two major studios: Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures. Warner Bros., Sony, Walt Disney, and Twentieth Century Fox are now committed to Blu-ray exclusively. The two formats are incompatible, meaning that buyers of HD DVD players cannot play movies issued in Blu-ray, and vice versa."

For the full article (subscription needed):
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119948145087468431.html

Matt Vanecek · January 5th, 2008, 05:13 PM

I always sorta figured BD would win. When Disney started advertising all their movies on "DVD and Blu-Ray Disc", I felt even more that the "war" (slaughter?) was over. Some people on this board poo-pooed that, but now I feel vindicated. :)

Personally, I want one type of burner to burn with, and BD gives the highest capacity (which is important, because when I get one, I'm gonna start archiving my projects on optical disc). It would be a real pain to have one type of burner for archiving, and another type of burner for generating content....

In the end, these types of wars are never very good for the consumer, anyhow--if HD-DVD rides off into the sunset of obscurity (hmm, LaserDisc,anybody?) then there's a bunch of stuck consumers out there....

ciao,
Matt

Ash Greyson · January 5th, 2008, 08:00 PM

Most people looking at it objectively knew this would be the outcome. Truth is, HD-DVD is just the biggest loser, BD has hardly taken off. People care about convenience over quality once it gets "good enough."

BD was destined to win because of everything outside of movies, be it direct to BD cameras, video games, the PS3, etc. etc. etc.

The masses will no adopt HD movies until SD movies are pushed out of the marketplace. This is a different dynamic than the past, HD movies offer nothing over their SD counterparts but a few extra lines that most people could only decipher from an A/B comparison. CD offered much more than tapes/vinyl same with DVD over VHS.

ash =o)

Bob Hart · January 5th, 2008, 09:02 PM

It may just be that sell-through has finally moved through the novelty period.

People may have moved house since they started buying in all the favourite movies and cursed the whole business of packing them or giving them away.

People may have bought in all their favourite movies to hold and cherish for all time, only to find that all time means as long as the disks endure, which they don't and the playback devices endure to play them back, which they don't and if the sell end of the market has its way - won't.

So where does it get us? Billions of silver frisbees on the landfills, glistening like the scales of a fish?

Maybe another half-generation will have to pass before the population can be again cash-cowed with a manufactured obsolesence. Optical disks have been tried and found to be wanting. Maybe people are waiting to see where solid-state archiving goes.

The movie-rental outlets are probably about to go through another shake-up if on-line reticulation of content becomes affordably accessible.

Whatever or whenever, it boils down to choices being denied eventually.

Andy Wilkinson · January 7th, 2008, 02:12 PM

BBC's take on this....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technolog..._implodes.html

Dave Campbell · January 7th, 2008, 03:00 PM

I have always been an early adopter, and love toys. BUT, I do not have any HD player, and currently have no plans to buy one. I am tried of buying optical media as it changes over the year! What I want is the ability to download a movie I want to watch ONCE at a fair price. I know I am encoding all of my home movies to put on the web. Physical media is dead!

Dave

David Moody · January 7th, 2008, 03:48 PM

Most of what is available on the web right now is youtube variety.

Movie downloads for the most part have not even reached DVD level quality.

I think it will be a long time before high definition downloads will surpass Blu-ray media in quality.

Good high speed internet is limited.

Those that don't know what they are missing out on is a different matter than those that do. How many people that are used to watching HD movies would be content to go back to SD. (Planet Earth is a whole different experience in HD)

Dave Campbell · January 7th, 2008, 04:01 PM

Well, for me, I do not even watch TV anymore. Talk about a waste of my life!
I train about 15 hours a week with swimming, biking and running, which is a much better payback for my health. (At 50 I need all the help I can get)
Whatever each person reason is, HD SHOULD have been the gift everyone last christmas talked about. Instead, because of corporate greed, I heard NO ONE talk about it. Masses never want quality, as is proven time and time again with formats. They want convience and lost cost. MP3 gave this in Audio. DVD is fine for everyone I talk to. HD seems to be another corner case laser disc market.

So yes, it is not here today, but I am not going to waste money upgrading my collection. I bought VHS, then Laser disc, and now DVD. How many have I ever watched more than once. Basically none.

So I will wait.

Dave

Bill Rankin · January 7th, 2008, 05:33 PM

I will be in the market soon for new video cameras for weddings and events. Is there any consideration I should give to a particular 3 chip camera with the news of Blu-ray becoming the more dominant format? Or does it matter?

Once video is captured to a NLE system (Adobe, FCP, etc) then it is the NLE that will produce/compress the edited video so that the bluray burner will produce the blu-ray disc for the blu ray player to be played on a HD TV?

Am I straight on this?

Thanks

Bill Koehler · January 7th, 2008, 05:37 PM

Slowly lowering the boom on HD-DVD

http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_ro...ase/32521.html

Allen Plowman · January 7th, 2008, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Rankin

I will be in the market soon for new video cameras for weddings and events. Is there any consideration I should give to a particular 3 chip camera with the news of Blu-ray becoming the more dominant format? Or does it matter?

Once video is captured to a NLE system (Adobe, FCP, etc) then it is the NLE that will produce/compress the edited video so that the bluray burner will produce the blu-ray disc for the blu ray player to be played on a HD TV?

Am I straight on this?

Thanks

1) yes, you should consider an HD camera

2) are you going to only offer blu-ray? how many of your customers have bluray? you might consider also offering the industry standard format, dvd as well.

3) not really

Heath McKnight · January 7th, 2008, 05:45 PM

David Moody,

There's Vudu, DivX/www.stage6.com, Nero/My Nero and many others. Heck, you can upload HD movies to some of those sites, like Stage6.

Heath

Heath McKnight · January 7th, 2008, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Rankin

I will be in the market soon for new video cameras for weddings and events. Is there any consideration I should give to a particular 3 chip camera with the news of Blu-ray becoming the more dominant format? Or does it matter?

Once video is captured to a NLE system (Adobe, FCP, etc) then it is the NLE that will produce/compress the edited video so that the bluray burner will produce the blu-ray disc for the blu ray player to be played on a HD TV?

Am I straight on this?

Thanks

Bill,

Check out our other sections here that can answer these questions for you.

Heath

James Klatt · January 7th, 2008, 06:39 PM

I had my first bride in over a year ask if I produced high definition DVD's the other day. I asked her what format player she had, and she didn't know. She told me her dad has some sort of HD player. It turned out that he had an HDTV but no player.

Most people don't even know that HD players exist. They just know there are HDTV's. Anything beyond that and they are lost or guessing. It isn't like when VHS switched to DVD. There was a physical difference in how the media looked. It looked like progress to consumers, not to mention the economics of size in DVD's versus VHS.

Maybe things would be different if Blu Ray was the only offering, but I am not so sure.

January 5th, 2008, 09:02 PM	#20
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,476	It may just be that sell-through has finally moved through the novelty period. People may have moved house since they started buying in all the favourite movies and cursed the whole business of packing them or giving them away. People may have bought in all their favourite movies to hold and cherish for all time, only to find that all time means as long as the disks endure, which they don't and the playback devices endure to play them back, which they don't and if the sell end of the market has its way - won't. So where does it get us? Billions of silver frisbees on the landfills, glistening like the scales of a fish? Maybe another half-generation will have to pass before the population can be again cash-cowed with a manufactured obsolesence. Optical disks have been tried and found to be wanting. Maybe people are waiting to see where solid-state archiving goes. The movie-rental outlets are probably about to go through another shake-up if on-line reticulation of content becomes affordably accessible. Whatever or whenever, it boils down to choices being denied eventually. Last edited by Bob Hart; January 5th, 2008 at 09:06 PM. Reason: errors

January 7th, 2008, 02:12 PM	#21
Andy Wilkinson Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Cambridge UK Posts: 2,853	Loos like the end of HD DVD format (from this take....) BBC's take on this.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technolog..._implodes.html __________________ Andy K Wilkinson - https://www.shootingimage.co.uk Cambridge (UK) Corporate Video Production

January 7th, 2008, 05:33 PM	#25
Bill Rankin Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 430	I will be in the market soon for new video cameras for weddings and events. Is there any consideration I should give to a particular 3 chip camera with the news of Blu-ray becoming the more dominant format? Or does it matter? Once video is captured to a NLE system (Adobe, FCP, etc) then it is the NLE that will produce/compress the edited video so that the bluray burner will produce the blu-ray disc for the blu ray player to be played on a HD TV? Am I straight on this? Thanks __________________ Bill Rankin

January 7th, 2008, 05:45 PM	#28
Heath McKnight MPS Digital Studios Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Palm Beach County, Florida Posts: 8,531	David Moody, There's Vudu, DivX/www.stage6.com, Nero/My Nero and many others. Heck, you can upload HD movies to some of those sites, like Stage6. Heath __________________ My Final Cut Pro X blog

January 7th, 2008, 06:39 PM	#30
James Klatt Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Portland OR Posts: 132	I had my first bride in over a year ask if I produced high definition DVD's the other day. I asked her what format player she had, and she didn't know. She told me her dad has some sort of HD player. It turned out that he had an HDTV but no player. Most people don't even know that HD players exist. They just know there are HDTV's. Anything beyond that and they are lost or guessing. It isn't like when VHS switched to DVD. There was a physical difference in how the media looked. It looked like progress to consumers, not to mention the economics of size in DVD's versus VHS. Maybe things would be different if Blu Ray was the only offering, but I am not so sure. Last edited by James Klatt; January 7th, 2008 at 07:40 PM.

January 5th, 2008, 05:09 PM	#17
Bill Koehler Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: Alpharetta, Georgia, USA Posts: 760	From The Wall Street Journals Daily News Letter: "Blu-ray Gets Boost Warner Brothers Entertainment said it plans to release high-definition movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format, in a move that could tip the balance of power toward Blu-ray in a format war over the next generation of DVDs. The move means the rival HD DVD format, which is backed by Toshiba, will be left with support from just two major studios: Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures. Warner Bros., Sony, Walt Disney, and Twentieth Century Fox are now committed to Blu-ray exclusively. The two formats are incompatible, meaning that buyers of HD DVD players cannot play movies issued in Blu-ray, and vice versa." For the full article (subscription needed): http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119948145087468431.html

January 5th, 2008, 05:13 PM	#18
Matt Vanecek Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Denton, TX Posts: 334	I always sorta figured BD would win. When Disney started advertising all their movies on "DVD and Blu-Ray Disc", I felt even more that the "war" (slaughter?) was over. Some people on this board poo-pooed that, but now I feel vindicated. :) Personally, I want one type of burner to burn with, and BD gives the highest capacity (which is important, because when I get one, I'm gonna start archiving my projects on optical disc). It would be a real pain to have one type of burner for archiving, and another type of burner for generating content.... In the end, these types of wars are never very good for the consumer, anyhow--if HD-DVD rides off into the sunset of obscurity (hmm, LaserDisc,anybody?) then there's a bunch of stuck consumers out there.... ciao, Matt

January 5th, 2008, 08:00 PM	#19
Ash Greyson Trustee Join Date: May 2003 Location: Tulsa, OK Posts: 1,689	Most people looking at it objectively knew this would be the outcome. Truth is, HD-DVD is just the biggest loser, BD has hardly taken off. People care about convenience over quality once it gets "good enough." BD was destined to win because of everything outside of movies, be it direct to BD cameras, video games, the PS3, etc. etc. etc. The masses will no adopt HD movies until SD movies are pushed out of the marketplace. This is a different dynamic than the past, HD movies offer nothing over their SD counterparts but a few extra lines that most people could only decipher from an A/B comparison. CD offered much more than tapes/vinyl same with DVD over VHS. ash =o)

January 7th, 2008, 03:00 PM	#22
Dave Campbell Major Player Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 568	I have always been an early adopter, and love toys. BUT, I do not have any HD player, and currently have no plans to buy one. I am tried of buying optical media as it changes over the year! What I want is the ability to download a movie I want to watch ONCE at a fair price. I know I am encoding all of my home movies to put on the web. Physical media is dead! Dave

January 7th, 2008, 03:48 PM	#23
David Moody Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 86	Most of what is available on the web right now is youtube variety. Movie downloads for the most part have not even reached DVD level quality. I think it will be a long time before high definition downloads will surpass Blu-ray media in quality. Good high speed internet is limited. Those that don't know what they are missing out on is a different matter than those that do. How many people that are used to watching HD movies would be content to go back to SD. (Planet Earth is a whole different experience in HD)

January 7th, 2008, 04:01 PM	#24
Dave Campbell Major Player Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 568	Well, for me, I do not even watch TV anymore. Talk about a waste of my life! I train about 15 hours a week with swimming, biking and running, which is a much better payback for my health. (At 50 I need all the help I can get) Whatever each person reason is, HD SHOULD have been the gift everyone last christmas talked about. Instead, because of corporate greed, I heard NO ONE talk about it. Masses never want quality, as is proven time and time again with formats. They want convience and lost cost. MP3 gave this in Audio. DVD is fine for everyone I talk to. HD seems to be another corner case laser disc market. So yes, it is not here today, but I am not going to waste money upgrading my collection. I bought VHS, then Laser disc, and now DVD. How many have I ever watched more than once. Basically none. So I will wait. Dave

January 7th, 2008, 05:37 PM	#26
Bill Koehler Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: Alpharetta, Georgia, USA Posts: 760	Slowly lowering the boom on HD-DVD http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_ro...ase/32521.html