MGM Purchase Gives Sony An Edge In Disc Format War

Grump writes "The New York Times reports: 'The purchase of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by a group led by Sony will not only give the company an enormous film library but also considerable power in its fight to set the format for the next generation of digital video discs.' The article goes on to suggest that Sony is gearing up for another Betamax-style failure."

Comments

Bad news

[mirko]

I do not like the way all of these studios suddenly get aggregated by huge multinational companies...
If they decide to prevent a movie from reaching the theaters, it begins easier and easier...

Would "Clerks" still make a success in 2004 ?
In 10 years, will Fahrenheit 911 sequels ever reach the public ?

Re:Bad news

[Nos.]

Yes, it would. Independat film producers making it to the "big screen" is becoming more common, yes they are using the bigger companies like Tristar, Fox, etc for distribution, but these companies are trying to make money. If they see a movie with lots of potential from an independant (Farenheit 911, The Passion of The Christ) they are not going to turn it down. Controversy for something like a movie just makes it more popular.
Remeber that old movie, Exit to Eden? It was banned for a while here in Saskatchewan. It just made the movie more popular. It never hit the theatres, but when the ban was lifted and it came to video stores, it was impossible to keep it in stock, and it wasn't a great movie.

Re:Bad news

[Chess_the_cat]

I'd be very surprised to learn that movies are still distributed on a physical format in 10 years. Once all media is distributed over networks you won't have to worry about distributors and studios. If the movie is made it'll reach the public somehow.

Re:Bad news

[Portigui]

Crap like this wouldn't happen under a Democratic President.

You're right, major mergers would never happen under a Democratic president. In case those four don't fit your build because they are not entertainment driven, try this one.

These happen regardless of the president in the office at the time.

Re:Bad news

[shotfeel]

I'd be very surprised to learn that movies are still distributed on a physical format in 10 years.

I wouldn't. Considering that broadband use just passed dialup use in the U.S., and IIRC the majority of homes don't have internet access at all (while virtually all have a TV/VCR), I'd be very surprised if physical media isn't still the dominant method of delivery. OTOH the people with the most disposable income to buy movies are most likely to have a broadband connection.

more and more

[sosuke]

it seems like these format wars between companies will end up making the cu lose out, haveing to buy more players, does anyone else think that dvds are just fine? HD content would be nice, but i dont think that its fair to the cu for all of us to have to buy two players, mabye they will make dual format players, and then no one will win or finalize anything, grr

Re:more and more

[BlueTooth]

First you say that DVDs are fine. Then you say you want HD. Of course you do. We all know how this works, the tech keeps marching on.

Format wars are a result of incremental progress. DVDs were so long overdue (i.e. soo much better than VHS) that the battles all occured pre-consumer (and there were many battles, just not much in the way of products produced before these things were resolved). CD audio saw a similar success (DAT doesn't count, its a pro format, which, incidentaly, Betamax has become (or stayed, really))

Then there was DVD-A vs. SACD...why the format war? Because the industry wasn't dying for an upgrade. Sometimes it makes sense for everyone to just shut up and agree on something rather than trying to get the best possible result. In the case of the next digital video format, there isn't much of a percieved need to improvment. People are buying DVDs in droves. All a studio needs to do to generate some extra cash is release a 30 year old TV show on $50 / season box sets. Early adopters are used to format wars, it comes with the teritory.

You also mention that we could end up with two standards both of which are supported by all players (a.la DVD(+|-)R[W] ). If that is the final result, who cares? If one studio releases everything on a 16 layered red-laser disc and another releases their stuff on a 2 layered blue-laser disc, but the player you got in your box of Cherios can play both happily, who really gives a crap?

Sony vs Microsoft

[frankthechicken]

With Microsoft supporting the NEC and Toshiba blue ray format. And Sony, with its huge movie, and technology back up, who is more likely to win the war of the formats?

Hopefully, the consumers.

Never mind that, what about The Hobbit?

[FunWithHeadlines]

The sale of MGM was of interest to fans of LOTR since if Time Warner had bought MGM it would have meant a fast track for filming of The Hobbit with Peter Jackson et al. MGM has the filming rights for the story, and New Line (owned by Time Warner) has been trying to negotiate to get the rights to do the film. Had TW bought MGM, presumably this would have smoothed the way for the film to proceed. Now with Sony owning, what is going to happen next? Will they negotiate with TW to work something out that should be quite a lucrative venture? Or will they dig in their heels?

Geeks everywhere want to know!

Says Who?

[justkarl]

"It further tips scales that were already tipped toward Blu-ray," said Ross Rubin, a consumer electronics analyst at the NPD Group.

I don't know about all of you, but I certainly don't favor expensive new technology to proven successes. DVD may skip a frame now and then, and yes, there's still the chance that the disc may scratch, but for the most part, it's more than value-priced technology. That is, the price is fair given the failure rate.

Re:Says Who?

[hrm]

Yes, but the capacity on current DVDs is simply not sufficient for HD signals. And HD is where we're headed...

This is also the reason I favour the Blu-Ray format; it has 25 GB where HD-DVD offers 15 (I think both numbers are per layer, could be wrong).

Going from 4.5 to 15 per layer does not seem worth the effort, from 4.5 to 25 just might be. Also, I think the HD-DVD camp is making the very common mistake of overestimating *practical* video compression technology. Theoretically 15 GB might just be enough for 3 hours HD movie at 1920x1080i. However, the current DVD market shows most studios can't tell their arse from a good mpeg encoder.

Video compression is a bit like compiler technology; when Intel launches a new pentium it's like "well it won't work faster than the old one right away, but with a smart compiler it'll really fly"... however, that new compiler never materializes, or simply isn't used by your software vendor. So your shiny new processer won't fly after all.

Therefore, in CPUs and DVD storage capacity alike, over-engineer where you can! Vote blu-ray.

Once bitten, twice shy

[tod_miller]

Oh Sony, first betamax, and your memory stick (ok it is cute).

I wrote you a haiku to make you feel better

lets buy MGM
why not it'll be fun, come on
hail our new disc format

ok it isn't that good but whatever.

I can imagine a new Blu-ray player with memory stick input and built in ps3! :-0

In fact, will PS3 use the new disc format? or PS4?

I say good luck to em. As long as I can write my XVid movies to 'em :-) :-) :-)

*come on that is the real need here!*

Sony PlayStation Portable

[tepples]

I guess this merger also means we'll see more films than just Columbia Tristar Home Video's limited selection on the UMD format used in Sony's PlayStation Portable handheld system.

Re:should that be...

[sifi]

DVD officially stands for nothing.

From wikipedia

"DVD" was originally an acronym for "digital versatile disc"; some members of the DVD Forum believe that it should stand for "digital video disc", due to the fact that most members of the public believe that DVD does stand for that. Toshiba, which maintains the official DVD Forum site, adheres to the interpretation of "digital versatile disc." The DVD Forum never reached a consensus on the matter, however, and so today the official name of the format is simply "DVD"; the letters do not 'officially' stand for anything.

So now we know...

Nothing Compelling

[Mr. Arbusto]

Seriously, people just bought DVD's. Heck, most of my collection is in DVD format. Which is as good as I need and probably as good as it gets for the next 20 years. From DVD there is no real compelling reason for the consumer to upgrade. It is already high digtial, the market already enjoys the Value Added features. Making a release in another format would be like Sony Max all over again.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

The succeeding standard will be...

[Anonymous Writer]

... the first one used to distribute porn! The adult industry has a much greater influence on technology than the industry cares to admit.

Who cares

[Alizarin Erythrosin]

Both formats will probably have a ton of DRM in it anyways. It's all just a money making ploy to get us to buy new "special edition" disc sets... "Now with 15 seconds of additional footage and some interview with one of the extras!" That and new players of course.

And isn't DVD already in 480p?

What bad track record?

[tepples]

PlayStation. PlayStation 2. Compact Disc itself, co-developed with Philips.

True, Betamax the format is dead, but Betacam the format and Betamax the copyright precedent live on for now.

The Format of the Future

[Anonymous Coward]

I think there really should only be one 'format':
The file. We should be moving to a future where all our music and films live on media with a filesystem.

So many DVD players today read CD/DVD-ROMs with MP3 files and there are even some now that can read DivX files.

Of course it won't happen because the big companies want us to keep buying our films and music again and again in new formats. But a file created today can be with us forever. I actually think that's the main reason behind DRM. Not to prevent illegal copying but to wring revenue far into the future by licencing the decoder to hardware manufacturers.

Sony will win the format war

[bludstone]

Because the ps3 will have blue-ray.

Assuming the ps3 follows the popularity of the ps1 and the ps2, a high percentage of households will already have a blue-ray player. (over 50 million ps2s have been sold)

Frankly, I dont see much advantage of these disks over DVDs, and Ive _got_ an hdtv.