War's over folks.

http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1700383,00.html

In response to consumer demand, Warner Bros. Entertainment will release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group.

"Warner Bros.' move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want," said Meyer. "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers."

Warner Home Video will continue to release its titles in standard DVD format and Blu-ray. After a short window following their standard DVD and Blu-ray releases, all new titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until the end of May 2008.



Ouch. Well i'm glad my investment in HD DVD is under $1000. I'll still get use out of it but I'm going to miss the competition that netted a lot of great movie deals.

Bodyblow! wonder what the HD DVD response will be.

Bodyblow! wonder what the HD DVD response will be.

No doubt. That's a rib cracker. I can't see anything at CES that's going to offset this blow. I dont think they should have "hooked with a hooker" meaning the Paramount deal wasn't likely the right thing to do. The BDA knew they'd have to get Warner after that.

Someone's going to write a book about this battle someday.

I’m in the Azores right now and one of my cousins asked me if I want to use their computer to go on the net and I’m glad I didn’t have to ask her. Now I don’t have to worry about missing all the latest electronics news while I’m over here.

Ever since I found out that the PS3 will use a Blu-Ray drive and the known impact of AVCHD camcorders, I knew HD-DVD would never stand a chance to survive but there is a little rumor that started right before the unveiling of the X-Box 360 Elite that there would be a built in HD-DVD drive and although it didn’t happen, that rumor is running rampant again, so could we actually see Microsoft and Toshiba unveiling such a player at CES? There is also a rumor that Apple will indeed offer a Blu-Ray burner as a built to order option which puts one extra nail inside HD DVD’s coffin but the prospect of Microsoft releasing a new 360 would be an eye opener.

We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers.
Right, "most importantly, consumers". Let us not forget that Blu-Ray has more aggressive copy-protection scheme, that Sony is known for its spyware that monitors computer activity and prevents certain operations with DVDs, and that Blu-Ray uses the same stone-age region system that HD-DVD does not have. Surely, this is not about profits, this is just for ultimate benefit of consumers.

I don't think there will be a winner, despite the battles.

The longer this goes on, the more I think that it will be a luxury item
to own an HD player, rather than a replacement for standard DVD's.

Oh, there will be a winner, but how long will that winner be used and how much market penetration will it have as compared to the old fashioned DVD is still debatable. Don't forget the Netflix/LG set top box rumor that started this week. (was that a rumor or fact?)

was rooting for hd dvd as I am not too fond of the idea of having sony control the entire home theatre-movie foodchain.

I do agree that with this announcement, the war is over.

Blu-Ray did it with Warner Bros., as we all figured. Though we're still a couple of years out, movies over IP and downloads (make 'em like DVDs with special features, please?) is the future.

I'm going to CES Sunday and I'm meeting with a lot of companies that are pushing downloads and streaming. Big and small companies, btw.

Great news for my best friend and his Blu-Ray collection!

heath

Slightly older Hollywood Reporter story:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/features/film/e3i3b664324ba4ea5c03e0924ea906b3ecd?imw=Y

Deadline Hollywood Daily (http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/boost-for-blu-ray-warner-bros-will-release-high-def-titles-exclusively-in-that-format/) is saying HD DVD offered WB $250 million to go exclusively with them.

heath

Now the only question is whether BD will win, or if the market will move to combo players. The studio situation is 70/30 BD. But consumers want to play ALL of the movies.

If a major HD DVD studio defects, the rest will probably follow. If universal player prices drop before such a defection, that will be the path.

One thing for sure. HD DVD will not win outright.

I wouldn't be surprised if Universal goes BD/HD DVD, then BD. Just to test the waters before going 100% BD.

Heath

HD DVD cancels Sunday night CES big-time show:

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/hd-dvd-cancels-dog-cites-impact-of-warner-bros-going-blu-ray/

That's bad bad bad for HD DVD. Blu-Ray just won.

"We are currently discussing the potential impact of this announcement with the other HD DVD partner companies and evaluating next steps. We believe the consumer continues to benefit from HD DVD's commitment to quality and affordability -- a bar that is critical for the mainstream success of any format. We’ll continue to keep you updated on new developments around HD DVD.""

Heath

One can guess that the HD DVD camp was negotiating with Warner up to the last minute. Calling off the bash might be embarrassing, but you can't blame them. They need to figure out their next move before they talk to the press.

New York Times declares, "The high-definition DVD war is almost over."

Warner backs Blu-Ray, tilting DVD battle (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/technology/05disc.html)

Michael Jouraviev's tongue-in-cheek sarcasm in his post above ("This is just for ultimate benefit of consumers") slays me. DRM 1, consumers 0.

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

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.

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

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

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)

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.

BBC's take on this....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2008/01/hd_dvd_camp_implodes.html

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

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)

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

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

Slowly lowering the boom on HD-DVD

http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_room/consumer/computer_peripheral/dvd_cd_burners/release/32521.html

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

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

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

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.

From today's Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119966540102271113.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_marketplace

Many analysts believe that Sony's insistence on putting Blu-ray on its PlayStation 3 players gave it just enough extra consumers to help tilt next-generation DVD sales toward Blu-ray. Paul Erickson, analyst at the NPD Group's DisplaySearch research firm, calls it the "X factor" that "saved their Blu-ray fortunes." If Toshiba had underwritten the cost of putting HD DVD onto the rival Xbox 360 from Microsoft Corp., the reasoning goes, the battle might have swung another way.

Rumours posted on engadget (citing UK's FT as the source) say that Paramount is also preparing to go Blue Ray only....another nail in the coffin of HD DVD?

Edit: Found the article link

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dc409afa-bd75-11dc-b7e6-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article3153038.ece

Rumours posted on engadget (citing UK's FT as the source) say that Paramount is also preparing to go Blue Ray only....another nail in the coffin of HD DVD?

Paramount has officially denied those rumors. But then, I'd expect nothing less at this stage. Undoubtedly, Paramount and NBC/Universal have warehouses full of discs they'd like to unload before officially pulling the plug. I'd guess that they'd quietly end production of new discs when production contracts expire, sell off what they have, and then announce a format switch. I'd even go so far as to predict that this would all happen before the end of the year, possibly by summer, but then, that's pure speculation on my part. I have no inside information.

I spoke with Toshiba's HD DVD guy today and asked him if they had an "official statement." He responded that Toshiba is 100% behind the format, and that the other players (Microsoft, the HD DVD studios, etc) were preparing to also give 100% support. No surprises there.

The HD DVD group had canceled their event this weekend simply because they didn't have enough time to coordinate a group response.

In other words, no new news from the HD DVD camp.

Blu-Ray was packed Monday, not so with HD DVD. They had HD DVD players with movies at the NBC Universal, Toshiba and Microsoft events, here at CES.

heath

When will these greedy folks learn. It is better to have one larger pie, and lots get a big slice, than two tiny pies.

Dave

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10240

Rumors abound at Variety (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117978760.html?categoryid=20&cs=1) that Universal is backing Blu-Ray either exclusively or doing both. But they updated it and said Universal has a deal for at least a few more months.

But I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of the year, or at least the summer (when WB will cease HD DVD releases), that Universal makes a decision.

heath

I'm sure they'll switch eventually. Looking forward to Galactica in Blu-ray!