I know I talk about it all the time, but this situation makes it worth repeating. HD (the two major flavors of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray) will never get my business until there is 1 standard and common format. This week’s DVD charts highlights why.
The 2 top selling HD movies are Transformers and Ratatouille, two films I LOVED this year (Actually, I strongly believe Ratatouille should be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars this year… yes it’s that good). But here’s the rub…
If you want to watch either of these in HD, Transformers is only available on HD-DVD, and Ratatouille is only available on Blu-Ray. That means if I was an HD owner, I’d be completely out of luck for one or the other (unless of course you want to be a sheep for corporate america and buy both systems). I refuse to be a sheep, and I refuse to pick sides, and I refuse to risk getting screwed.
No my friends… until there is 1 standard universal HD format (like DVD) I won’t be wasting my money. And withholding money is the only language these corporations hear and understand from the consumers.
The trick is to get any affordable HD player you can and DON’T buy the movies…instead rent. You can get HD-DVD players “dirt” cheap right now and my Toshiba player has a superior quality upscaler built in that make my standard DVDs look fantastic. You can always use these players for standard DVDs and at less that $100 in some cases they are a great value. But if you buy the media and then one folds, that’s where the problem lays. It’s tough for me to spend $30 on the Big Lebowski and wonder if I just threw money at a format they may no longer be here a year from now. In the meantime, Netflix has a great selection of HD discs in both formats and once you’ve seen the Big Lebowski in HD, you’ll never go back!
Yeah I can see Disney pulling shit like that and it doesn’t surprise me. WB does the same thing on their DVDs – not allowing directors to put commentaries on there.
However, I don’t see any reason if Pixar REALLY cared about the TRUE movie fans why they couldn’t release a seperate commentary track or two online, completely seperate from the DVDs. They all have computers, all they need is a couple of 10 dollar microphones and a software recording program.
This is what the director of The Fountain was planning to do because WB wouldn’t let him record a commentary track.
TV that is.
I have a 56″ DLP 1080P and trust me you DEFINITELY see a difference with HD media.
I was totally with John on this one, refusing to budge until the Format Civil War was settled.
Until…
Last Sunday I walked into a Circuit City with my kids. There was a crowd around a 50″ plasma, so we walked over. They were playing Transformers on HD-DVD in 1080p.
GREATEST. PICTURE. EVER.
I was absolutely stunned. I own a high-def TV, with HD channels on cable. Hell, I used to sell home theater systems costing upwards of $100,000. But none of that compared to what I saw on that HD-DVD. And all I have to do is track down a $150 HD-DVD player? I’m there! I’ll stay away from Blu-ray until the players drop into the same price range.
Am I worried that one format will die, leaving me with a useless piece of equipment? No, since both players also play conventional DVD’s, of which I have hundreds. This guarantees that no matter what happens, I’ll get good use out of the hardware.
BTW, I’m on a 720p LCD projector with a computer driving the system. Since the PC automatically ‘upconverts’ the conventional DVDs, things look pretty good on my 100″ screen. Thus, no worries about upgrading DVD formats yet.
DarkKinger. Amen to that. I’m not moving anywhere until the players become Sub-$100, hell, even the computer ROM drives are too pricey for Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. (And I’m aware of that WalMart promotion selling for a limited time an HD-DVD player for $99. But well, I don’t like Walmart and don’t want to give them my business.)
Pretty soon one format will win out over t’other and I can bide my time until then.
“(unless of course you want to be a sheep for corporate america and buy both systems). I refuse to be a sheep…”
John, if you don’t like HD, which we all know, that’s fine. Please though, don’t resort to namecalling on a subject you clearly are not well-versed on. I’m a gamer, so I bought a PS3. It happens to double as a Blu-Ray player (which is all I use it for since the games on the PS3 are pretty dire at the moment…). You can buy an HD-DVD player for $100-$150 these days, I got mine on sale at Wal*Mart for just $98.
Am I sheep for owning both? Remember how much we all paid for our DVD players back when they came out? I know I paid a least as much as I paid for the new formats. I now have a player for hi-def in the home, and there is no way I could ever go back. It IS as big a jump from VHS to DVD, dare I say, it’s bigger.
I’m ranting a bit, yes, but it irks me that you have these assumptions about HD (or it’s buyers) when you aren’t speaking from any first-hand experience.
See, I am already satisfied with my DVD player. I can watch The Matrix AND Pirates of the Caribbean on one format instead of buying two formats for each movie.
While I agree on the dislike of having two formats, there is already a tried and true success story for having multiple formats in a medium. Video games. For almost the last two decades there have been multiple consoles that have exclusive games for each console. There are also games that are on all/most available consoles. This is I believe the 5th generation of video games (going by Nintendo consoles) that have had competition, and that market is doing better than ever. In a way the competition could prove good for the HD movie market, time will tell I believe. Plus considering I’m an avid gamer, getting both HD formats only cost me $180, the cost of the HD DVD add on for the XBox 360. Not really that high of a cost to get both HD formats when you think about it.
Now just a second you folks who think the Ratatouille DVD was skimpy with the extra features. There is a very unfortunate (for us) reason for it, and it has nothing to do with Brad Bird or Pixar. Read this:
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2007/11/02/a-special-toon-much-of-a-good-thing-edition-of-why-for.aspx
If you have a chance to peek at this John, i’d love your thoughts.
Transformers was beyond stupid…I actually felt embarrassed watching it in theaters.
I have the hardware for both, but I’m not buying any movies, just renting (yay Netflix!). It’s my view that eventually dual-format players will be so cheap and plentiful, the format war will be moot. It will be just like flash memory, you’re not going to care about which memory card format to support, you’re only going to care if it suits your purposes and you have the proper hardware to view it.
oops, the comment above was addressed to the Kristina and nbakid2000.
Huh? The ‘History of Rats’ with Remy and Emile short included on the disc is Comedy Gold! Even a bit Python-esque. That, and that Ratatouille was indeed one of the best Studio films released this year (for the record the others –thus far IMO– have been Zodiac and Gone Baby Gone)
Two great movies and I have the capability to play both.
Once you go HD you can never go back.
As for when I go to HD, I’ll be buying a dual-format player.
The Ratatouille DVD was crap, the lack of commentary (especially it being a PIXAR FILM) is inexcusable. Brad Bird should be ashamed of himself for pulling a Spielberg.
That’s right, John! Fight those corporate bastards!
Rata-who-gives-a-hooey is OVERRATED.
The Ratatouille DVD was kind of disappointing. I mean the movie is AMAZING, but hardly any special features on this DVD. It doesn’t even have commentary! Does this mean the blu-ray version got all the good stuff? So lame.
@1138
Maybe the industry did learn from the VHS/Beta War. What they learned is that you get sales from your early adopters, which right now is a decent amount. Then if you’re on the losing side of the battle, you repackage your films into the winning format and you sell it again. Think of it as DVD double dipping but in an extended time frame. Do movie studios have anything to lose really? When in the end they just ship out the same film on a different medium?
Couldn’t agree more John! Besides the prices being incredibly high, the formats themselves are splitting the industry in half making our lives more difficult! Blu ray this, HD that…make up your minds!!! So we can start enjoying the tech of true HD on our DVD players!! It’s frustrating and wouldn’t you think the movie and tech industries would have learned from the VHS Beta Wars!
DVD is my master!
I shall only obey it!!
Hallelujah! I couldn’t agree with you any more, two great movies.
To the companies: Make up your mind! we are not big pockets with money, we are not going to run and buy everything new technology you come up with!
I couldn’t agree with you any more, two great movies.
To the companies: Make up your mind! we are not big pockets with money, we are not going to run and buy everything new technology you come up with!