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Blu-ray, HD DVD Target of EU Antitrust Probe
rfunches writes "The Wall Street Journal reports that EU antitrust regulators are turning up the heat on the Blu-ray and HD-DVD format consortiums. The European Commission has demanded evidence of Hollywood studios' communications and agreements on the new generation of DVD formats. From the article: 'The European Commission, the European Union's executive body, appears to be particularly interested in the activities of the Blu-ray group because of its dominance in Hollywood, according to people familiar with the situation. The commission is investigating whether improper tactics were used to suppress competition and persuade the studios to back their format.' The article points out that all of the major Hollywood studios except Universal are backing Blu-ray; Universal is backing HD-DVD. It also notes that while one industry watcher believes the first format to have an installed base of two million homes will come out on top, there were millions of Betamax units already sold when VHS won out in the format wars of the 80's."
Because standards are nice? Does your BT rip have sub-titles? Are they actually correct/present all the time? Is the video/audio quality consistent? etc...
I'd rather spend $9 on a movie [I buy them when they're in the bargain bins] than a day downloading a rip that MIGHT actually be done properly, only to find out I have to burn it to a disk to keep it [storing movies on a HD is annoying over the long run].
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
It is too bad that the winner will not be determined by the consumer. The victory could be through pricing, quality, useability ... whatever, but no, we will have the format decided through connections and power.
Wrong. The one that will win will be based on a different criteria.
HDV camcorders are dirt cheap now. The people buying these camcorders want to be able to send grandma a HD copy of little stevie banging his head on the concrete and trying to poke out the cat's eyes. Whatever format that makes this easy for Joe and Janet blow will win.
Right now Indie film makers are embracing the standard DVD players that support Divx 6 pro HD codecs. Giving you full 1080i HD pleasure on a standard DVD disc and on a player that costs around $99.00 and honestly does a fantastic job at it.
BluRay has no plans for supporting a consumer created Disk format. HDDVD can in theory be burned at home and played on standalone players but nobody has their hands on a HDDVD player yet to try it. All of these consortiums are intentionally ignoring the home and indie user and that is incredibly dangerous.
it leaves a giant window open for a 3rd party to come in and take control almost overnight from both of them. Free and open HDDVD standard with no royalties and high popularity? the studios would be all over it.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.