BR/HD-DVD Thread

[one]

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1="Blu-ray"&word2="HD-DVD"

 

[PC-Engine]

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=Blu-ray&word2=HD+DVD

 

[London Geezer]

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=HD-DVD&word2=blue+ray 8)

 

[London Geezer]

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=london-boy&word2=PC-Engine


http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=london+boy&word2=PC-Engine

 

[hey69]

yup, london-boy won!

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=straight&word2=gay

hm, and xbox won
http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=playstation2&word2=xbox

 

[PC-Engine]

 

[London Geezer]

Guys i've opened a thread on the General Forums about this thing, first cause IT'S FUN, second cause this thread is gone off-topic BADLY.

 

[cthellis42]

Apple is a big player, good to see they chose a side, but is it an exclusive deal? Or are they open to HDDVD also?

Companies often have reason to "declare" one way, but you'll notice they never really tell you what ISN'T an option. No reason to shut doors or burn bridges.

At any rate, BR on the PC has pretty much been established. Hell, all they really needed was Dell looking their way and they'll have people crawling over themselves to get in thier machines.

 

[Nick Laslett]

News?

Apple CEO Steve Jobs issued this quote today: "Apple is pleased to join the Blu-ray Disc Association board as part of our efforts to drive consumer adoption of HD. Consumers are already creating stunning HD content with Apple's leading video editing applications like iMovie HD and are anxiously awaiting a way to burn their own high def DVDs."

 

[TEXAN]

Hollywood Market Share Figures For 2004

BD aligned
-Buena Vista/Disney~ 16.2%
-Sony/Columbia~ 12.6%
-MGM~ 5.3%

BD Total~ 34.1%

HD-DVD aligned
-Warner Bros~ 20.2%
-Universal~ 14.7%
-Paramount~ 9.4%
-LionsGate~ 4%

HD-DVD Total~ 48.3%

Unaccounted for
-Fox~ 13.2%
-Other~ 4.5%

TBA Total~ 17.7%

 

[cthellis42]

Now if only BR grabbed Fox and they split the "others" they could make it 50/50!

Regardless, there's no real tracking from this, as we can't gauge anyone's exclusivity, nor if their support of the HD formats will match (proportionately to the others, at least) the support of DVD, nor if the titles they pick will carry the same percentages into the next generation, nor when their support will begin and how quickly it will gain momentum, nor...

In regards to Hollywood, it's game we'll have to follow when the ball is in court.

 

[one]

Hollywood Market Share Figures For 2004

BD aligned
-Buena Vista/Disney~ 16.2%
-Sony/Columbia~ 12.6%
-MGM~ 5.3%

BD Total~ 34.1%

HD-DVD aligned
-Warner Bros~ 20.2%
-Universal~ 14.7%
-Paramount~ 9.4%
-LionsGate~ 4%

HD-DVD Total~ 48.3%

Unaccounted for
-Fox~ 13.2%
-Other~ 4.5%

TBA Total~ 17.7%

FOX is a member of the Blu-ray Disc Association.

 

[Carl B]

Hollywood Market Share Figures For 2004

BD aligned
-Buena Vista/Disney~ 16.2%
-Sony/Columbia~ 12.6%
-MGM~ 5.3%

BD Total~ 34.1%

HD-DVD aligned
-Warner Bros~ 20.2%
-Universal~ 14.7%
-Paramount~ 9.4%
-LionsGate~ 4%

HD-DVD Total~ 48.3%

Unaccounted for
-Fox~ 13.2%
-Other~ 4.5%

TBA Total~ 17.7%

These are interesting numbers. Still, with the way Hollywood is, I wonder if Apple's recent joining up with blu-ray may be making some people question their HD-DVD commitment. I swear it seems no one in the entertainment industry wants to be on the wrong side of 'Apple cool' these days.

 

[cthellis42]

[FOX is a member of the Blu-ray Disc Association.

Not a helluva endorsement considering they also say "We are not ready at this time to commit any of our content to this format." And yet another reason reading a straight percentage breakdown has no meaning... We don't know what any of the companies really represent in regards to next generation's content right now. Nor what they will in 2006, 2007, 2008...

 

[Wunderchu]

http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?id=27444&category=main

direct link: http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-chronicles-of-a-futile-battle-Blu-Ray-vs-HD-DVD.shtml

 

[Lumine]

Blarg. not more holographic disk crap. The press release linked to in that article announces they've done it for the first time. Until they can do it reliably and cheaply, I wouldn't hold my breath

 

[PC-Engine]

http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/03/24/bluray/index.php?lsrc=mcrss-0305

Top Sony exec hints at Blu-ray, HD-DVD detente
By Paul Kallender, IDG News Service

After more than a year of touting Blu-ray as the best technology to replace DVD for storing high-definition video and winning proponents including Apple, a top executive at Sony Corp., one of Blu-ray's major backers, has opened the door to the possibility of unifying the format with its arch rival, HD-DVD.

"Listening to the voice of the consumers, having two rival formats is disappointing and we haven't totally given up on the possibility of integration or compromise," Ryoji Chubachi, Sony's president-elect, said at a news conference Thursday in which he discussed the company's performance and future strategy.

The statement may surprise backers of the rival camps, who have assembled consortiums of major electronics companies, disc makers and Hollywood studios to promote the formats in a battle that echoes one fought a quarter of a century ago between Betamax and VHS.

HD-DVD backers, which include NEC Corp. and Toshiba Corp., say HD-DVDs can be produced for about the same price as DVDs and are backward-compatible with DVDs and CDs, making the format more convenient for both consumers and the industry. HD-DVD movie titles, PC drives and players are all due out by the end of the year.

Sony has steadfastly promoted Blu-ray as a technology that has greater capacity, saying this makes the format more useful because more content can be stored on a disc. The technology also has wider support in the technology industry, although release dates for movie titles have not yet been announced.

Chubachi's comments mark the second time that a Sony executive has signalled the possibility of a compromise between the two camps. In January, Ken Kutaragi, executive deputy president of Sony, said a format war was not in the public interest and that Sony had not ruled out the possibility of uniting the formats.

As Sony's future president, Chubachi's remarks Tuesday may carry more weight. Currently head of Sony's electronic components and manufacturing businesses, he will replace Kunitake Ando as Sony president on June 22 following the recent shake-up of Sony's top management. That shake-up saw Kutaragi step down from Sony's board, although he still heads its important gaming business.

Kutaragi also admitted in January that Sony, by supporting its proprietary audio encoding system and not the widely-supported MP3 format, had lost ground to competitors such as Apple Computer Inc. in the portable music player market, which Sony had once dominated with the Walkman.

While Sony's technological and engineering base is sound, the company must ensure that its products are aligned with the wants of consumers, Chubachi said on Tuesday. Sony's engineers have traditionally been regarded within the company as heroes and the creators of new markets, but recently their ideas have not always led to products that matched consumers' needs, he said.

 

[London Geezer]

It would be fantastic to only have one format. If Sony is serious about unification, it will be better for everyone. It all depends on what will be cut from BlueRay to unify it with HDDVD. I don't think Sony will let go of the bigger storage card.

 

[KnightBreed]

There have been comments about unification before, but in reality they both support the same codecs and have similar hardware features. The only difference right now is the storage and accompanying physical specifications.

There is no "unification". For them to merge, one will have to completely give up their disc specifications. Then what the hell would be the point? I want the extra capacity.

 

[London Geezer]

I still don't see the point in HDDVD's existance anyway but maybe that's just me...