Last night I posted about Warner Bros switching exclusively to Blu-Ray in the HD format war. I commented that it now seems inevitable that Blu-Ray will now end up winning this HD civil war sooner rather than later. On top of that, if the new rumors I’ve been hearing are true… it’s the final nail in the coffin.
I’ve been hearing from a few movie blog readers, and reading on a few tech sites that Apple may be getting ready to announce that their desktop computer line-up will soon include Blu-Ray DVD players built in as a standard feature. No word if that includes IMacs or just the Mac Pro computers.
If this is indeed true, then Steve Jobs will not only be announcing the addition of a new feature on the Mac line ups… but essentially he’ll also (by extension) be informally announcing the end of the HD format war, because it will be game over. Not in 2 years. Not next year. Right now it will be over and I’d be surprised if more than 3 months pass before phase out announcements started coming from the HD DVD camp.
The ONLY thing at this point I can see turing this whole thing around for HD DVD, is if Microsoft and each of the major computer makers suddenly announced that from now on HD DVD players will be included in all new PC computers… but that’s obviously not going to happen (especially with Sony computers).
HD DVD will be in serious trouble with this turn to be true.
And is certain that microsoft will not get involved on this since they have their on agenda.
For me either way is good i just dont like the way things are now forcing you to wait the results to buy a new player.
Just discovered an even bigger nail:
Paramount poised to drop HD DVD format support -FT
Paramount studios is poised to drop its support of the high-definition DVD (HD DVD) format after Warner Bros studio said it would back the competing Blu-ray format, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
The loss of support from Paramount, which is owned by Viacom Inc (VIAb.N: Quote, Profile, Research), would likely deal the final blow to the HD DVD format backed by Toshiba Corp (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and put an end to the format war, the newspaper said on its Web site.
Time Warner Inc’s (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Warner Bros studio on Friday said it would exclusively release high-definition DVDs in Sony Corp’s (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) Blu-ray format, marking a major setback to the HD DVD camp. [ID:nN04446354]
Blu-ray discs outsold HD DVD by nearly two-to-one in the United States last year, but HD DVD had secured major allies in August when Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc said they would go exclusively with HD DVD.
But Paramount is understood to have a clause in its contract with the HD DVD camp that would allow it to change sides if Warner Bros backed Blu-ray, the Financial Times said, citing people familiar with the situation.
Go blu-ray!
Blu-Ray was never created NOT just by Sony but the ENTIRE Blu-Ray Disc association which includes aside from Sony: Matsushita, Pioneer, Philips, Thomson, LG Electronics, Hitachi, Sharp, and Samsung. You have to remember that Sony is not just a studio but first and foremost an electronics company.
I really hate it when people say that Blu-Ray sucks because it’s a Sony product. Most of their products may be overpriced and shitty BUT Sony wasn’t the only company making the product unlike their shit products like Minidisc or the ATRAC codec.
By comparison, HD-DVD was only created by two companies: Toshiba and NEC.
Blu-Ray also had the advantage of bigger capacity while HD-DVD had the advantage of no region coding.
And as for everyone saying that Porn decided the war between VHS and Beta, that’s just a myth. It was recording time that decided the war.
I am so disappointed in this news. I still prefer HD over Blue-Ray, and why would studios let another studio (Sony) have control of their product in that way. At least HD would have been an outside company. I ordered the HD Blade Runner set and was accidentally sent the Blue Ray version. Looks like I just better keep that.
RE: #1 Post
Yes, I meant to say Blu-Ray. My bad.
It was over when sony put blu-ray in the ps3 whether or not the ps3 is succesful as a game console it did want they wanted it too as a trojan horse for blu-ray.
Unless they can fit the blu-ray player inside the IPod I don’t think it’s over.
Ok guys reality check only an incredibly small percentage of people have the hdd space plus fast enough internet to D/L HD quality movies. Not to mention anything downloaded will be very compressed. Digital distribution wont be mainstream for at least 10 years, a physical format for HD is still the way to go and will be for a while. But i do agree that blu-ray wont be as successfull as dvd becuase downloads will slowly start to make an impact year by year.
Grave has a point about PC’s and HD-quality video. We’re reaching a point where videos can eventually be delivered to PC’s. It’s not like the 80’s when VHS/Beta Max were going to be the only way to deliver videos to your home. Now the internet can be used to deliver video without a real need for a physical medium. I understand that a ton of hard drive space will be needed but will Blu-Ray or HD-DVD really matter in a few years? Say Apple, MS, and we’ll throw in Amazon were to start selling and renting HD-quality movies through the web downloadable to a storage device whether it be your DVR or PC, at that point BR/HD-DVD would be a non-issue.
Oh come on John! Even if thats true its not going to be a huge win for Blue-Ray. Right now most newer PC can play HD quality videos and movies anyway so what diffrent does it make if in a year or two I can buy an HD re-writable disk and make my own HD DVDs. Also I like to point out to S.C. says that in a few years Blue-Ray will be 15-20$. While that maybe possible it still wouldnt beat normal DVDs because that means they be still cheaper than Blue-Ray. I have like 40-60 DVD now and I have no reservations about re-buying all them simply for better quality picture. Its consumerist BS! We dont need it.
^#1 misunderstood the post?
I doubt MS will put HD-DVD drives into new PCs because that would make the PCs a lot more expensive. All I’m waiting for is Transformers on Blu-ray.
Wow. Great info. Thanks John. I’m just glad it’s going to be over soon so I can finally invest in a HD DVD player.