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No HD-DVD Movies Until April
Jed from Pan and Scan writes "It's official: when the first HD-DVD players are released on March 28, there will be no movie titles available in the new high-def format for at least another three weeks, and far fewer than initially announced. Warner, the only studio that was planning on having HD-DVD movies to accompany the format's much ballyhooed debut, will now release just three initial HD-DVD titles -- and not until April 18."
If this fails, then Warner simply records this down as a lost. However, if it succeeds, these movie titles will be the most successful rentals!
The Last Samurai, Million Dollar Baby and Phantom of the Opera? Did they just have a monkey throw a dart at the board for those picks?
I can understand Million Dollar Baby and I'm glad The Last Samurai was picked, as that was a very underrated film. I'm still surprised they chose that instead of say, a blockbuster, or a major academy award winner. But Phantom of the Freakin' Opera?! WTF?
...the format's much ballyhooed debut...
If it was during the full moon on April 13th, it wouldn't be ballyhoo but skullduggery.
But... no releases for three weeks? That's three weeks of wasted advertising, shelf space, and cost to retailers, and while the first three movies are all great movies, how many people will pay over a hundred bucks for a new player and another thirty to watch a movie they probably own already in marginally better quality?
What, me? Never.
At least according to the article we should get 'Batman Begins,' 'The Matrix' and 'Constantine,' on HD-DVD. Personally I think those are excellent choices. Maybe on this version of Batman Begins we can actually get some extra features.
Your sig(k) has been stolen. There is a puff of smoke!
What I want is a blue laser DVD burner so I can get the HD I record off of my hard drive without having to use a whole spindle of DVD-R or RW. I don't think that will be affordable if even availabe this year. I'm not concerned with the upcoming rehash of DVD vs Beta at the video store.
The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
a lot of chickens. No one wants to buy the player until there are movies, and no one wants to make movies until people buy the player. Gentlemen, we have reached an impasse.
Not only "land of the free" but "land of the lawyers" who love a good old 1st amendment smackdown. Shihar 153932
You can get HD content right now, with no added cost to yourself. I am sure there are a torrent of options that could be found with a bit of searching.
Since I do not own my DVDs and have already paid a license fee for the content and intellectual property, what fee structure is available for those of us that just want to upgrade to the additional content? Obviously that is not worth re-licensing what we already have, right?
Because people who got burned in VHS vs. Beta are going to sit this one out until a format "wins."
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
am i the only one who sees the transition to HDDVD as being unnecessary? VHS was a standard for much longer and when the transition to DVD did come, there was a clear difference between the two both in quality and level of technology. HDDVD and BluRay seem to me like things which are being forced on us by cotent and hardware companies. I guess like CDs they will eventually be popular, but i dont see it happening any time soon.
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
I always loved the fact that older consoles came with a game (Made playing the original Gameboy with someone rather easy since everyone had Tetris). Even in the newest Generations, I still think they should at least include a demo disc, since when Johnny with his part-time job gets his PS3, he might not be able to afford a game. I think it's not that different in this situation, maybe including a HD-DVD (Or even DVD depending on how many trailers it could hold and if it could support high-def stuff) of teasier trailers and such just so people can say "See? This is what I got... Looks great, eh? You want one, don't you?"
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
I am sick and tired of these format wars. Consumers suffer the brunt of the cycle of corporate fighting. Beta vs. VHS anyone?
Like Richard Pryor, I choose "None of the above!"
"No matter where you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai
Sounds like deliberate sabotage to me
I did it with DVD and LaserDisc
Don't buy in to the new standard until it gets as common as the old one. (therefore I bought zero laserdiscs)
I am not a whore for quality, but I do own like 400 movies in VHS and DVD. Honestly I could care less about HD-DVD (even though my projector is capable of better than DVD quality).
It suprises me that marketing would have me think that the average consumer cares about practically inperceptable differences in picture and sound quality. I noticed the jump from VHS to DVD, but honestly I cannot even tell the difference between the picture quality (not size) at the movie theater and at my home theater with DVDs on an 8 foot projection, and lets face it, an 8 foot projection is pretty much the limit for a home theater.
I just don't think there will be much difference to the average consumer besides branding and price.
Sorry, there is no such thing as HD-DVD - APRIL FOOLS!
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Stop saying that, that's the most overused phraze EVAR, ORLY.
It's official Condi is running for prez.
I'm as big a movie fan and geek as anyone. I've got my HD-ready 55" widescreen TV that is aching to take advantage of 720p or 1080i in native resolution, not scaled-up DVD resolution. But frankly I am in no rush for either format to come out for several reasons, not the least of which is the DRM that they're trying to push.
Could it be that perhaps Warner is worried about falling into the same trap that Microsoft fell into by rushing the Xbox 360 to market? Any failings during the official release HD-DVD will be fodder for Sony. If Warner releases their movies and HD-DVD bombs, that's obviously their lost money. They're feeling the water of HD-DVD because, let's face it, Blu-Ray appears to have the most popularity from both a technical and exposure perspective. Sony's recent statement that they will no longer force analog down-converting also helps to bolster their high-def DVD position.
What I'm surprised at is that Warner is releasing movies that really should not be on the forefront of high-def showcasing. If you want a format to succeed, you support it with movies that not only show off what the format can do but also are what have a large fan base! Warner is not doing HD-DVD any service with the titles they're releasing. Million Dollar Baby? The Last Samurai? Phantom of the Opera? Oh my f**king God!!! What the HELL is Warner thinking?!
The people who would buy HD-DVD are those who are movie aficionados, technical geeks, or both. The Matrix should be first and foremost one of the top three HD-DVD releases if Warner really wants to help to push the HD-DVD format into people's homes! Come on! Warner owns New Line Cinema! Why for the love of Pete is the Lord of the Rings trilogy not one of the first releases!
Warner might be delaying to feel the HD-DVD water before taking a dive, but with movies like those three, that's water's going to be REALLY cold, and they're obviously not helping to warm it up! With the movies they're releasing, they're not going to convince anyone to spend the money for HD-DVD.
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
It'll be pretty hard with those unlimited Blockbuster and Netflix rentals with only 3 titles!
I don't care what features come out on HD-DVD, or Blue Ray, or anything else; theres a sniper trapped in my TV, and I daren't watch it. I daren't even go in my front room, in case he shots me in the eyes. He's from the war!
...as the typical Slashdot crowd says how unnecessary HD-DVD and Blu-ray are, and how only a small fringe group of people really care about it, and then go back to saying how OGG support should be in everything.
As a Blu-ray supporter, anything that helps HD-DVD stumble is okay in my book.
.. realizes that these new formats are going to flop.
They won't save you if you're down.
They won't make bad movies good; they won't even make ok movies good.
They'll make money off enthusiasts that'll buy a movie they already own in 2-3 formats who just -have- to buy it again.
They won't get people to respect you for a devistatingly lackluster year of movie.
They won't wash the bad taste out of my mouth for putting unskipable anti-priating ads on the DVDs I PAID FOR.
Bye!
The lack of (movie) content support with HD-DVD is going to be its downfall. If Warner would release classic movies that people actually want to see it might help. I think for HD-DVD to survive it needs to concentrate on the backup to writable media now, by releasing blank disks (at a lose if they have to) at an affordable price. That might intice people to purchase for their computers. But I don't see that happening..
...(a lost battle around here, I suppose), but what about pr0n? That industry always seems to be out on the cutting edge.
I ask purely for information, of course. No, seriously.
You need to read the article more closely.
The studio will now release just three initial HD-DVD titles on April 18: Clint Eastwood's Best Pic Oscar winner 'Million Dollar Baby,' the Tom Cruise starrer 'The Last Samurai' and the big-budget screen update of 'The Phantom of the Opera.' Each title will have a retail list price of $28.98.
The three that you mention are supposed to be available "in the coming weeks" but "no street date has been set". Don't count on anything coming out until you get the official press release. And don't be surprised that those movies are not released for a long time if HD-DVD acceptance is lukewarm or colder.
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
There is already an HD-DVD available as a matter of fact. The adult film "Pirates" included an HD-DVD in it. Of all of the things to have that included in it I thought it odd. But it is in fact in there.
...early adopters. Yet another lead balloon that the sheeple bought into.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
Based on how few people I'm aware of who have spent the cash on a new HDTV set, I predict that HD-DVD will be a failure in the USA, at least for the next few years.
Similarly, when the HDTV broadcast deadline rears its ugly head, I think you'll see the cable companies offering digital to analog converters to allow their subscriberts (those who haven't upgraded their TV's) to continue getting their television, which means that their current DVD players will continue to meet their needs.
Don't get me wrong... I think HDTV's great, but there hasn't been a compelling reason to upgrade to it, and based on HDTV sales, at least here in Michigan, I think most people are in the same boat.
The economy's in the tank, jobs are scarce (particularly in my neck of the woods thanks for the ineptitude of GM, and their multiple plant closings), and people are understandably hesitent to spend a grand or more to replace e television that's still serving them well.
Add in the higher media costs, the lack of uses, the lack of pre-recorded content, and the lack of players for the media, and it all spells doom for the format. If it's still around in a few years when more people have upgraded to HDTV (assuming old TV's continue to die, and the economy begins a turnaround some day), maybe it'll have a chance at becoming a standard then. For now, it's a waste of money for most people.
The Matrix should be first and foremost one of the top three HD-DVD releases if Warner really wants to help to push the HD-DVD format into people's homes!
Guy, step back from geek culture for just a second and look around; for the most part The Matrix series started strong and got limp fast. Even the more hardcore fans from the first one seem to have lost their interest in the film looking back. I've seen stacks of the Matrix box sets sitting around Best Buys and the like for months.
But I do agree that the idea of three releases in insane and they could have done better. I don't know all what titles Warner has under it's coat but aside from maybe Million Dollar Baby I really don't see these flying off the shelf.
But I guess that's what it is with the fringe formats and thats what this is; a fringe format. For now most of the people who can justify this technology just want it to flaunt it. It's not as much about the actual films. I remember when SuperCD came out; you could buy some Roger Waters live show on SCD before you could buy Dark Side of the Moon. Does it sound insane? Sure. But it was about having something to show off your new technology more than really enjoying the new technology. (disclaimer: before I get flamed, I actually own a few Roger Water albums but, be honest, Pink Floyd was better than any of the solo stuff from any of the members)
Have heart tho, I'm sure they'll have Gigli, the Dukes of Hazzard and Who Fingered Freddie out before long.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Um ... The Star Wars franchise is owned by 20th Century Fox, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Warner Brothers is owned by Time Warner.
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
Congratulations! You are the first poster of what will no doubt be many to mention "DRM." You see, in any article about movies, you are required by law to mention DRM. Even though people are just repeating themselves, you will get modded up anyway by fellow pirates who hate DRM and want the freedom to make sure people don't get paid for their work.
Instead of discussing HD-DVD's compression quality, or the films they chose, or Microsoft's backing, or its smaller size compared to Blu-ray, the discussion will instead become protracted DRM discussions for the ten millionth time.
In other words, nothing new will be said in this discussion. Just giving you the heads up!
"Sufferin' succotash."
Million Dollar Baby? The Last Samurai? Phantom of the Opera? Oh my f**king God!!! What the HELL is Warner thinking?!
/.'ers like to take a "we're smarter than those industry idiots" attitude, it's obvious to even the thickest of skulls that having titles like LOTR or Matrix could sell big, and if there was a way to push those titles out in time, I'm sure they'd be doing it. It's not like there's some Warner exec saying "what, I didn't realize the LOTR would sell better than POTO!".
I think the bottom line answer is simply that those are the three titles that will actually be ready in time. If Warner is faced with releasing three mediocre titles within three weeks of player shipment, or three great titles three months after player shipment, might as well have something rather than nothing. Early adopters will want SOMETHING HD to watch when they purchase their new players, and lets face it, usually it's exactly that thinking that goes into purchasing the titles anyway (i.e. people will purchase the titles out of curiosity vs quality or interest).
As much as most
my father-in-law a DVD, the other day, of a George Jones concert to play in the dvd player, I gave him a few Christmas's ago. He called me the next day complaining that the disk would not play in his player. I stopped by his house later to see what was up. He walked me to his pickup truck and began fiddling with the CD player. The reality of this latest technology is that 80% of people don't know or care what HD or BluRay is. The other 20% knows what it is, but most likely won't be able to afford it until the price hits the gutter. The example I saw on /. the other day about a guy who bought a $5000 Plasma TV and a new DVD player, but refused to buy a $50 DVI or Component cable is the reality for the bulk of people. The NEED for the product doesn't exist. Most people are still in shock from the effects of DVD.
The studio will now release just three initial HD-DVD titles on April 18: .... and the big-budget screen update of 'The Phantom of the Opera.'
So, this is equivalent to being stuck with WaveRace when the N64 first came out?
They call me the wookie man, I guess that's what I am
We all know how the Movie Studios will make these new formats win in the marketplace. They will pick certain movies and ONLY release them in Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. No normal DVD release. Of course, this means they need a blockbuster movie that many people will WANT to own... (Good luck on that one studios) The studios will force the consumer to switch to by reducing and eventually eliminating normal DVD sales of movies. They did the same thing with VHS.
As the old saying goes, "People tend to overestimate what can be done in one year and to underestimate what can be done in ten years." I think that applies very nicely here. It took much longer for HDTV to take off than was originally believed. When I bought my first rear projection TV back in 1993 the salesman said "you should hold off and buy an HDTV-ready TV - everyone will be replacing their TVs by 1995 when HDTV broadcasting begins". I ignored his advice and, last year as I was replacing that old klunker I bought a 57" HDTV-ready widescreen. Personally, I believe HD-DVD will probably catch on, but it will take some time.
The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
Oh, please.
HD-DVD has been coming out for a long time now, and when I last checked Warner owns the largest CD and DVD manufacturing plant in the United States, located just outside of Scranton, PA. Assuming that they do still own that facility, they could very well have done whatever is necessary to get more product out if they really wanted to.
Additionally, I can't imagine that anyone would spend the money to purchase equipment with movies that they very likely will not want just for the sake of having that movie in HD, especially with a format war on the horizon. That attitude goes against the vast majority of early technology adopters. Bleeding-edge videophiles want something, yes, but they want something to show off their new technology. None of those movies would really be adequate to do that IMHO. Sci-fi, action, fantasy, and other movies that depend on richly-detailed and highly colorful visuals would be far more appropriate. Okay, perhaps The Last Samurai might fit that category, but I still don't think that that movie has a broad and fnaatical fan base to warrant people buying an HD-DVD player just for that one movie.
But Million Dollar Baby? Hell, they might as well release The NeverEnding Story!
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
Nice broad brush you've got there. So anyone who is against DRM is automatically a pirate. Wow. I guess that makes Slashdot a pirates' den. The clue meter is reading zero. How did you manage to get yourself to spout feces from that particular orafice, and what studio do you work for?
With the uncertainty whether Blue Ray or HD-DVD will grab the market, it seems like there should be plenty of people sitting on the fence to wait and see which wins. Nobody wants to end up with a bunch of HD-DVD discs if Blue Ray ends up being the dominant format or vice versus. Same story as VHS versus Beta, I should think. So what if the companies backing one format guaranteed they will replace your movies with the competing format if theirs flops? That way there's no reason not to buy that format (aside from the expected outrageous intructory costs), and it subsequently has a much greater chance of success. Of course, if the competing format followed suit with the same guarantee, then the advantage for the originating company is basically lost and it could cause sustained high prices in the long run. Hmmm...maybe it's not such a good idea.
I am shocked at the negeative acceptance this is getting. I for one can't wait for Blu-ray or HD-DVD to take off. My major reason for not owning an HDTV is lack of content, and this solves that problem. My cable provider dosn't do HDTV in my area yet, there are aparently too many trees for me to get satalite, and OTA is out of the question. I can't even receive standard def TV. Besides that the majority of TV I watch isn't available ATO. I suppose I could be the exception, but I can't believe there arn't a bunch of people in a simmilar situation as me.
"Don't count on anything coming out until you get the official press release. And don't be surprised that those movies are not released for a long time if HD-DVD acceptance is lukewarm or colder."
But if you're a movie studio, why not release on whatever platform anybody wants? It's not like Warner has to buy a pressing plant. What is the economic argument for not having lots of movies available in HDDVD, BlueRay, or whatever format somebody wants to sell?
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
The deadline is for broadcasts to be digital, not HD. HD is just a subset of digital broadcasts, there are also Standard Definition digital broadcasts.
Pedantic? Yes, thank you. Actually, the Star Wars franchise is owned by George Lucas and Lucasfilm, Ltd. 20th Century Fox has the distribution rights. :)
A supplier cannot do that to Wal-Mart without serious suffering. Missing a delivery date is considered very serious by Wal-Mart. Warner execs will be summoned to Bentonville for a serious chewing out and will probably be forced to give discounts.
Wal-Mart does not suck up to the content industries. They not only sell online music at $0.88/song, undercutting Apple, they actually sign a few bands themselves and put their music on line and on CDs. Just to remind the music industry that it can be replaced.
Congratulations! You can't argue my points, so you resort to a caps lock laden title ordering moderators to censor me because my opinion disagrees with yours. Baa!
I love how I simply must be working for a studio if I dare suggest that people get paid for their work. Baa! Baa!
"Sufferin' succotash."
Since I'm pretty sure there are no human beings on the planet that can tell the difference between a normal CD and a SACD or DVD-Audio in a blind test (apart from the additional channels, I suppose) this is not the same thing. The comparison between VGA and HD are night and day to a lot of people, so saying that the transition to HD is going to fail like the hd audio attempts is very specious reasoning.
I sometimes wonder if studios have got themselves into a pickle with special features and would actually like to stop making them but don't quite know how without being the first.
Perhaps this will allow them to do this without looking like cheap bastards.
HD = Highly Delayed
DVD = Da*n, Very Delayed
Why wasn't one of the first titles available that Penguins movie? Seems like that would have actually moved units. That and something cinematically georgous along the lines of "House of Flying Daggers" or "Hero".
Squirrel!
...that's why I and many others buy TV shows on iTunes. Why would our ilk bother with 1080i HD players?
Thanks a million. Push Start to replay.
they need the backing of the most influential video companies when it comes to pushing new technologies.
Porn companies.
Why do we care about this anymore? Why is this stuff that 'matters'!?
I'm just completely sick of all of this crap! Especially the movie business...
I put seven years of my life into visual effects and film making. (no I didn't want to be a writer/director/producer/actor) I worked as a technical director, systems engineer, manager and worked on some great movies...
But I'm glad I got the FSCK out when I did, enough of that nonsense. I ALMOST got suckered into working over at a large studio's Imaging Technology group. I said 'Sayonara Suckers' You can't pay me enough to go back and work for those vultures.
All my friends who still work in the biz, say how lucky I am to be out of the 'Biz'. I find very few who are actually happy. Besides it's going to hell in a handbasket anyways...
Sorry I wanted to vent.. so screw HD-DVD, BlueRay and all that crap that goes with it.
READ A BOOK!
Fair enough. :)
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
HVD has the compenents ready for shipment this year. Wouldn't you rather have 1TB?
First time I've seen this phrase. You should really apply to be a Bush/Cheney speechwriter. Its oxymoronic, the best way of making a no sound like yes that I've seen in years. Kudos.
I even forgive you for the spelling error :-)
I purchased an HDTV this year. I did a lot of research and listened to a lot of pitches and the American household rates that had an HD TV set, at the most boastful claim I heard, was about 15%. Most estimates I saw/heard were around 8%.
Your statement is spot on. When DVD came out *anyone* with a TV would get a big quality/usability boost with DVD. With HiDef DVD there are but a tiny amount of households that would have a TV to even make use of this. I suspect the adoption rates on this are going to be rather meager until there is a "wow" factor people can see at stores.
I do however, find it nice that the intro price for the player is $500 or less. Means the price should drop down rather fast as the adoption rate does begin to increase.
The movies studios finally found a way to protect thier copyright, by not releasing any media for a new format at all. In a brilliant move no one will ever see movies at a higher quality than DVD, because no movies will ever be released again. Idiots. DRM has been really slowing down and screwing up the adoption of these new technologies, and they have no one to blame but themselves.
Dan Mayer: my blog, essays, art, etc
http://www.piratesxxx.com/
I just ordered this movie (off cduniverse) and it ships with a DVD, a special features disc, and the movie in HD-DVD. If this movie doesn't hold you over for the three weeks after the player is released, nothing will.
$29!? What are they smoking? They must be letting the movie theaters set DVD prices these days.
Three years from now we'll be buying HD-DVD/BluRay/DVD/CD/SACD/DVD-A combo players for $79.95 out of a wire basket parked in the middle of the cold medicine aisle at RexAll Drugs. There's not going to be a winner or a loser, nor will there be a war or even a battle. Everything will just merge.
The only losers will be the fanboys. And they're already losers.
"Even though people are just repeating themselves, you will get modded up anyway by fellow pirates who hate DRM and want the freedom to make sure people don't get paid for their work."
Fellow pirates? It's nice to see you don't have to be a studio executive to have your head up your ass.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
I have been following the many stories on slashdot regarding HD-DVD/Blu-Ray with great interest. I am a huge film fan and am excited for the formats to shake out. The thing that totally surprises me is the posts from so many people. I'm not sure if you were all around or watching the launch of DVD but this current launch is looking exactly the same. Here are the posts I see repetedly:
:)
The $500 - $1000 hardware is ridiculously over-priced. When DVD launched, I remember salivating over the $1000 DVD players in the crutchfield catalog. DVD launched in 1997 (as I remember) and the hardware was expensive at first. My first player that I bought in 1998 wa $400. It took a couple years for prices to drop into the mainstream $100 level. This is the same thing that happens with every ne technology.
The choice of launch titles is stupid. My first DVDs (bought off a little spinning rack which contained the whole store's inventory) were Unforgiven and Ronin. These seem very similar to the launch titles of today - oscar winner (Unforgiven/Million Dollar Baby) and mid-level action (Ronin/Last Samurai). My guess is that these are good 'testing the waters' titles. They aren't so old that the sales volume would be low regardless and they aren't your heavy hitters (the Matrix, LOTR) that you want to promote heavily once player penetration is high enough that the money spent on marketing will help sell a lot of units.
The discs are way too expensive! This will get lower over time as well. Back in 98 there were no bargin bin $9.99 titles. The movies I bought were all around $25. It looks like the HD titles will be in the same ballpark. If the adoption is slow, expect them to stay there (basicall there will be consumer and videophile price levels) and if adoption is fast, watch them drop (to reach the widest consumer base).
The quality is not worth the upgrade. I would say seeing is believing on this one. Thats what it took for DVDs nearly 10 years ago. Granted DVD also had the side benefits of not being a tape mechanism and all the problems with that format. This was a real benefit that the new HD formats won't be able to use as a feature.
My DVDs work just fine! Do they expect me to re-buy my collection? While I'm sure the studios would love it if you did, no one is going to force you to. My interest mainly lies in new movies (why buy Superman Returns when it comes out on DVD instead of HD?) and replacing my absolute favorite films (LOTR will look amazing). I even read somewhere that films made before the 1970's used film stock that does not have enough resolution to make use of HD. I don't know if this is true but it is certainly possible.
Too much DRM! Thats valid. There is a lot of DRM with this round. But when DVD came out there was no DeCSS yet. Everyone lived with the copy protection. Most people just want to pop the disc into the player and watch anyway. I don't like the direction that all the DRM is going either but to say that this is any different from DVD is not accurate.
What this all boils down to is the same kind of launch that everything gets. The XBOX 360 is expensive and had somewhat marginal launch titles. I'm sure the PS3 will be the same and whatever the big thing is after that.
The big question is how successful will the HD format be (once someone wins the format war). I expect it to be something akin to Laser Disc for the next 5 years. It would be imediately popular with film lovers but everyone else will wait until it gets cheaper and they buy HDTVs. This may take 5 or more years. Eventually I think everyone will just buy an HD capable player becaue the prices will be equivalent, and it will play all your old DVDs. It won't be the massive shake-up that DVD was but it will eventually flow into the next generation pretty smoothly. Everyone will gradually switch over when their TVs support it and the player prices come down. Everyone wil start to have a mixed DVD/HD collection and nobody will really care.
Unless h.264 and massive broadband increases kill physical media first...
The VHS to DVD transition was something everyone could benefit from, and I mean EVERY household in the USA who owned a TV and rented/bought movies. That is a pretty dam big market. Going DVD got rid of rewinding, provided a massive boost in video and audio quality even on old 19" TV sets, and was something that very affordable and easy to do.
Going DVD to HDDVD/Blueray only benefits a very small group of mostly wealthy people. It doesn't solve a problem for anyone but that same very small group of people, and the problem it solves is one most people aren't even clamoring for, aka video improvements. Finally you have to have a recent expensive device to even take advantage of it. $50 DVD players will still be appealing in 5 years. $1000+ TV sets and $300+ HDDVD sets won't.
HD video is a solution to a problem that most people have zero interest in solving. You know how most gamers laugh at Quad SLI solutions because they know that for 1/4 of the price you can still do everything you want? Same thing.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
Hollywood shows me that their executives are just looking at the wrong direction.
I'm completely satisfied with my tv resolution. What I want is intelligent movies with a consisten end ingriging plot . The last one that I bought was Fight Club a long time ago.
What's the big deal with HD anything? I seriously don't get it and have been hearing the hype from my friends for years now. Personally, I've NEVER been watching TV and saying "Gee, I wish this picture was crisper, then my television experience would be so much better!" VHS was plenty good quality for me, though I appreciate the convenience in DVD's other features. I think this format stuff is just a silly marketing ploy. I watch movies/tv for the content not the quality of the image. Maybe I'm one of the few.
"I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability."-Oscar Wilde
OK, Pirates came with a High Definition movie on a regular old-fashioned DVD. (like grampa used to buy)
Not a HD-DVD, this new probably doomed format.
Man, you really need that seminar!
I honestly don't know why I'm even bothering to reply to an extremist like you, particularly since it won't mean a thing. But I really am fed up with extemists in the DRM argument -- on both sides. Both paint with huge brushes; both act like what the other side it doing is on par with genocide; both are incredibly narrow-minded in their views.
All of the audio CDs in my car are duplicates of CDs that I purchased so that I don't have to expose my originals to unnecessary risk, whether it's from temperature extremes in the car or from someone breaking into my car. My originals are safely tucked away in my CD rack at home. When I travel, I convert whatever movies I might want to watch to Divx, put them on a CD or DVD, and leave my originals at home - safe and sound. God forbid that I want to take the same care with the next generation of DVD.
Yet, thanks to arrogant extremists like you, the studios are convinced that the only reason for me to dislike obtrusive DRM is for piracy. Your incompetence really knows no bounds.
Between the unethical morons who refuse to pay for anything if they can download it and the unethical morons like you who auomatically equate any dislike towards DRM with a desire to pirate, it's no wonder that the people who only want to be able to use material that they purchased as they want for their personal use are the ones who keep getting screwed in the DRM battle.
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
Um ... economics. Don't spend money if you don't have to. Making DVDs is a lot more than just the cost of the glass master and replication. Distribution, packaging, marketing, middle-man mark-ups, not to mention remastering the disc contents themselves.
Too many people see the costs of manufacturing DVDs, and that's it. That's a fraction of the cost just to get the disc to the manufacturing phase.
That's all the more reason why Warner made bad choices. Those three movies will not get anywhere close to the returns that other movies, like those I mentioned, would have. For example, we all know fanatics who would rush to buy HD-DVD if The Lord of the Rings was the first movie on HD-DVD. How many fanatics do you know who will do the same thing for Million Dollar Baby?
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
How long will it be before someone like DVD Jon finds a workaround for the DRM?
uR iGn0ranc3, Their Power
Those putting down others probably don't realize that those others either don't have a large enough screen for the difference to be apparent enough to warrant, or sit back away from the screen far enough that they don't notice. Of course things like eyesight/correction could have an impact as well.
Those who say they don't see a difference also probably have not sat closer to a big honkin' screen, or may have poor eyesight and couldn't tell anyway.
It is unfortunate to see people being offensive to each other, especially since both sides are overlooking what may be going on.
Shawn's Tech Articles
Also not many people realize this, but 720p actually has more pixel information than 1080i due to having 60 frames per second at a full 720 lines, where 1080i has 60 frames per second at 540 lines alternating the even and odd lines (yes I know that should be obvious since it is interlaced), this means you only achieve the 1080 line resolution 30 times per second. This is one reason some broadcasters like 1080i, the numbers are larger for the marketing guys, and it requires less overall bandwidth.
Shawn's Tech Articles
If bush didnt invade iraq, he could have paid for
* 100million 42" HDTVs for every one (except the illegal 20m mexicans)
* 50million xbox360s
* 100million bluRay players
Ofcourse no american company makes HDTVs in america so all that cash would have been spent
in china paying sony.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
...those of us who find HD-anything unwatchable, due to a visual impairment?
I may have normal vision, but my wife does not. She's legally blind, in fact. Most of her center vision is gone, and she depends wholly on what's left in her peripherals. Also, her color sense works differently from someone with normal sight. Yellows appear green to her, as one example, under certain lighting conditions.
We've looked at HDTV's vs. regular sets, and neither one of us were impressed. The HD picture, while noticeably sharper to my sight, had very visible (and annoying) artifacts around the edges of objects.
As for my wife, the increased contrast and sharpness of the image was actually painful for her to look at. In fact, it started a migraine that lasted the rest of that day.
Who is to say that HD-DVD or BluRay will be any improvement?
Now, I will grant that there could have been other reasons why this particular side-by-side demo we looked at didn't work out. The HD set might have been misadjusted, or of questionable quality, or the source material used for the demo may have been compromised in some way.
However, the end result is the same. Unless BOTH of us can see a clear and immediate benefit to "upgrading," one that CLEARLY justifies the increased cost, we're not touching ANY of the HD technology with a 3.048 meter pole (or, for that matter, a 1.2 meter Italian).
We both grew up with regular TV, and VHS, and Laserdiscs (which I still have a whole shelf of), and regular DVDs. Though we're not watching VHS any more, except for the occasional home-movie type of thing, all of the above work perfectly well for us. We're HAPPY with what we have. Better yet, DirecTV has assured us that their receivers will continue to work with analog sets just fine.
The DRM (I think of it as Digital RESTRICTIONS management) is only one more reason for us not to be "early adopters." Once the new systems are "De-CSS'd" to the point where my Fair Use rights are not compromised, then (and ONLY then) will we consider the new format(s), whatever they may turn out to be, as an option.
If the day comes when the studios stop issuing movies on regular DVD, well, we may just stop buying movies if no other viable alternative presents itself.
Here's my challenge to the industry. Come up with something that doesn't give sight-impaired folk a headache, that doesn't require a second mortgage to buy, and that won't try to tell its owner what they can or cannot make backup copies of.
Until then, well... taking a lengthy stroll off a limited-length floating platform comes to mind.
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
I did say "should", didn't I? Man I love getting modded into oblivion.
Your sig(k) has been stolen. There is a puff of smoke!
Has anybody seen any statement from Netflix on if they will be distributing HD format discs when they come out?
http://www.highdefxxx.com/
And a good HDTV will upscale regular DVD to almost the same quality anyway under many circumstances. I recently bought a funky new Loewe box, and the most impressive thing about it is that the kind of films people have mentioned in this thread -- The Matrix or the Star Wars series, say -- look almost as good as any of the hi-def demos I saw while I was looking into which TV to get.
Sure, there are some circumstances where hi-def will give a much better picture than regular DVD, such as crowd scenes shot from some way away, where there simply isn't enough detail in lo-def for the TV to sharpen it up usefully. However, I do wonder how often they'll make a difference in practice.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
On every thread you take Microsoft's position.
I mean, it's OK to like DRM and all - but because Microsoft is backing it?
Also BluRay is getting a larger hardware base (because of PS3), is supported by more studios and has a larger capacity. But it's not from Microsoft, so "Overly Critical Guy" hates it.
"I just ordered this movie (off cduniverse) and it ships with a DVD, a special features disc, and the movie in HD-DVD. If this movie doesn't hold you over for the three weeks after the player is released, nothing will."
The explanation has been posted before, but you haven't read it. It's not an HD-DVD movie. It's a DRM-WMV-HD movie on a regular 1/2 layer DVD, like Terminator 2 on eXtreme DVD Edition.