Warner Bros. has announced their decision to exclusively release all future High Definition editions of their films in the Blu-ray format DVDs, and no longer produce the HD DVD versions, starting later this year. The decision was reached, they say, “in response to consumer demand” as a “strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want.” WB also states that they ‘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.’ While not explicitly mentioned in the press release, it would seem, based on this decision, the future releases of ‘Harry Potter’ DVDs will not be in HD DVD.
It is not fair that WB only is choosing to make Blue Ray DVDs and regular DVDs.
My parents have an HD tv and at the moment HD is more practical. Blue Ray is just too expensive so to choose not to supply the middle man HD DVDs will probably be a huge mistake in the long run. Most people have HD and they will not go Blue Ray untill the prices go down so thats that.
I, myself, have a PS3 and am siding with Blu-Ray obviously, but I think the main benefits of Blu-Ray in the near future will be more useful to gaming than it will be to movies. As a result, it didn’t really matter to me that I chose a side early and might lose out, because at least my games have the potential to be bigger and better (without taking up several discs). I only wish PS3 would utilize this benefit a bit more and also that the PS3 was easier to code for (obviously there were issues, as shown by the lack of titles it launched with)
As for HP on blu-ray, I just bought it at Target. I got a $5 gift certificate for buying the Blu-Ray version, which was exactly $5 more than the comparable DVD version, so it would have been a bit of a waste to buy the DVD. Once one format wins, discs will saturate the market and become cheaper. DVDs have definitely come down in price in the last ten years. Anyway, I don’t blame anyone who wants to wait out to the battle. You could save a lot of money (but my hubby and I would have missed a lot of gaming time if we hadn’t bought in early).
Can anyone tell me if the HP blu-ray version has more BTS compare to the regular DVD, I got the PS3 and I want to know if it is worth to ge the HP blu-ray
Just to clear up some confusion (or to make things more confusing). First of all, Blu-ray and HD-DVD both produce an “HD” (High Definition) picture. Any High Definition TV will be able to display the output of either player. Second, the low-priced Toshiba player is an HD-DVD player, not a Blu-Ray (the least expensive Blu-ray player is still over $300). Third, technically, the picture from both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players will be the same. They both use the same codec to process video. While the Blu-ray holds more data, the actual movie portions of a Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs would be the same size, minimizing the importance of the extra storage space.
Clear as mud? That’s why I’m staying clear of both until a victor appears. Actually, neither may win. By the time this settles out, another format may take hold (like downloading content instead of having a physical disc).
Also, I was hoping HD-DVD would win, since Sony (the creator of Blu-ray) has a track record of implementing anti-consumer technologies (google “Sony” and “root-kit”).
To Herminny (and anyone else): I think there’s some confusion. HD TV’s can play whatever format of dvd is sent to it. It’s the format of the DVD player that determines what type of disk you need to buy. The current standard is DVD. The high-def choices are HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Either can be played on an HD TV (and nearly all tv’s sold today are HD compatible). Blu-Ray players right now run a bit more money than HD-DVD, but not buy much (and look into the PS3: it’s well priced and you get the added benefits a game player). The disks themselves are are priced about the same. Frankly, I think there’s no question at this point: Blu-Ray is winning. I bought myself a Blu-Ray player right before Christmas (the PS3), and this news today just confirms that I made the right choice.
Herminny, what kind of TV your parents have doesn’t matter, its the player that makes the difference.
And if you were to go research the numbers, more people have Blu-Ray as opposed to HD. The sale of actual Blu-Ray and HD players is neck and neck but then add all the people who have bought the PS3 with the Blu-Ray player built in and the number of people capable of playing Blu-Ray discs doubles.
I know that and I am sorry I did not make it clear that I meant DVD player for HD.
I can believe the race is neck and neck concidering gamers and the PS3 that can play Blue Ray DVDs but still for none gamers Blue Ray is still too high a price to pay and some people with sense can’t afford it and still want good picture quality it’s not fair.
Well luckily I haven’t bought a HD or blu-ray player yet. I was waiting to see which one would end up most popular. I don’t really care, but I was secretly hoping HD would win because blu-ray sounds such a stupid name. :P
the widespread rumor as to why WB is switching their allegiance, is that sony is paying WB a TON of money, like in the range of 450 million dollars. the BS about backing the “clear winner” or whatever the quote was, is a complete and utter lie.
A lot of the facts being said here bout the difference between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are quite out of date, the differences between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are almost completely non existent now days due to the fact that Blu-Ray discs did not end being able to hold 50 gigs like they were expected to, in fact HD-DVD are sometimes even thought to be superior to Blu-Ray now days because of certain encoding and disc creation methods used.
Check out the High Def forums at http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/ if you want to know more about the actual facts between the two formats and their respective players and discs.
1. Blu-ray is not better than HD-DVD in terms of picture quality. The encoding for most releases is the same, therefore the picture has to be the same. It’s a myth.
2. Blu-ray has high capacity and a few other benefits, but we’re only talking small potatoes.
3. This is not “better for the consumer” at all. It’s simply that Sony has slipped some money or agreements in WB’s direction and they’ve caved. That’s all it’s about. The best thing for the consumer is to have choices, and unless every company sides with Blu-ray it won’t end the war.
4. The thing that will more than likely decide the format war, is which one brings HD to the mass-market. When they start producing good HD players at mass-market prices and people really begin to pick sides, then we’ll find out. It’ll probably come down to price. Company decisions like this determine very little unless they become extremely unbalanced and for the moment there is plenty of backing for HD-DVD to keep it afloat. The PS3 is the thing that’s made the biggest difference in the story so far, and that’s because of the number of people who bought it- closing in on the mass market.
From my point of view this is a particular pain in the bum because we’ve just bought a HD-DVD player. I didn’t care too much if I had to switch to blu-ray in the end, but this basically means I’m going to be wanting a blu-ray player when HBP comes out… I was hoping we wouldn’t have to switch for at least a few years. Damn them.
"I mean, the rest of us know it doesn't make any difference at all. Look at Neville Longbottom -- he's pure-blood and he can hardly stand a cauldron the right way up."
It is not fair that WB only is choosing to make Blue Ray DVDs and regular DVDs. My parents have an HD tv and at the moment HD is more practical. Blue Ray is just too expensive so to choose not to supply the middle man HD DVDs will probably be a huge mistake in the long run. Most people have HD and they will not go Blue Ray untill the prices go down so thats that.