Warner Exclusive Blu-ray= More PS3 sold?

[Silent]

My cousin (not a "hardcore" gamer) has bought one especially for the blu ray en dvd capabilities. And on other forums I have also seen other examples of such behaviour.

While it may not help them to win this "console war", i'm convinced that this certainly will sell some units.

 

[-tkf-]

Well Microsoft made the HD-DVD drive a plug in external to the XBox. So it would seem to me that if the need arises, we will have a Blu-ray box addin.

Personally, I represent the group of people that don't see it as increasing the value of the PS3 as I don't have any plans to get a console.

Heavy rumors have Microsoft revealing a HD-DVD enabled 360 at CES. Maybe this was a premature countermove to make them, either think twice or make them look stupid.

In any case, i know how the HD-DVD supporters are feeling, i was so disappointed with Paramount, i haven´t watched a single Paramount movie since (i dont watch DVD´s and more and i cant buy on BluRay ). So while i feel bad about the HD-DVD supporters i am really happy for the HiDef market, this is a step in a unified direction and away from the confusion. And it will also result in better Warner discs since they wont have to aim for the lowest common dominator with their encodes.

 

[Zassk]

HDM pricing just got set back by 2 years.

HDM in general needed a cheap mass-market player like the Ventura if it was to make any dent against DVD. The PS3 isn't scaling down in price fast enough to be a big factor IMO.

 

[Dave Baumann]

This article about the May 2007 update for 360 says it couldn't play the Black Hawk Down trailer that was distributed for PS3 while it could run other 1080p AVC files such as Spiderman 3 trailer. This video file has the 30Mbps peak bit rate with 10Mbps average.

Thats within the the HD DVD range already.

 

[-tkf-]

HDM pricing just got set back by 2 years.

HDM in general needed a cheap mass-market player like the Ventura if it was to make any dent against DVD. The PS3 isn't scaling down in price fast enough to be a big factor IMO.

There is plenty of Blu-Ray manufactures out there..

 

[one]

Thats within the the HD DVD range already.

Well I don't know if there exists an HD DVD AVC encode that doesn't play on the most popular HD DVD player!

 

[Dave Baumann]

The point being that you can already find HD DVD movies that meets those bitrates, and exceeds the average. Again, we appear to be having the same conversation that we've had before - don't assume that file playback is doing the same thing as HD DVD playback.

 

[one]

The point being that you can already find HD DVD movies that meets those bitrates, and exceeds the average.

Which title?

 

[Vic]

Great news for Sony I think. This looks like it should be the end of the war. I think many Blu-ray fans will already own the PS3, however this could help tip many over the edge.

If Sony can get some of these movie-types to purchase games aswell, more power to them.

 

[-tkf-]

Which title?

Several titles..

Natures journey being the one that really goes for the max with a CBR encode at 27mbits coupled with a 3Mbit audio track.

Still leaves a little room to the maximum off 36mbit.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Which title?

Take a look here, you can find numerous HD DVD AVC titles with average bitrates that are well in excess of 20Mbps; all have average video bitrates >14Mbps.

 

[one]

Several titles..

Natures journey being the one that really goes for the max with a CBR encode at 27mbits coupled with a 3Mbit audio track.

Still leaves a little room to the maximum off 36mbit.

Isn't Nature's Journey VC-1? What I'm talking about is AVC (H.264).

Take a look here, you can find numerous HD DVD AVC titles with average bitrates that are well in excess of 20Mbps; all have average video bitrates >14Mbps.

Thanks, but none reaches 30Mbps apparently, the highest one is The Warriors: Ultimate Director's Cut at 27.16.

 

[-tkf-]

Isn't Nature's Journey VC-1? What I'm talking about is AVC (H.264).

Ohh, well there is quite a healthy number of titles out that uses AVC..

http://www.hddvdstats.com/index.php

Getting stats on them is another thing..

 

[Dave Baumann]

Thanks, but none reaches 30Mbps apparently, the highest one is The Warriors: Ultimate Director's Cut at 27.16.

They are the average bitrates. If you've ever watched a bitrate counter during decode you'd know that there will be sections that almost certainly exceeds 30Mbps sometimes.

 

[one]

They are the average bitrates. If you've ever watched a bitrate counter during decode you'd know that there will be sections that almost certainly exceeds 30Mbps sometimes.

Ah OK, "total bitrate" for video + audio! Then that's cool. Anyway I found it really strange that file playback got a paternal hardcoded limit for the bitrate. Is it some kind of a security measure?

 

[-tkf-]

Ah OK, "total bitrate" for video + audio! Then that's cool. Anyway I found it really strange that file playback got a paternal hardcoded limit for the bitrate. Is it some kind of a security measure?

Sounds more like a encoding thing gone wrong.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Todays announcement that Warner is going blu-ray exclusive after May of 08. Does this propel the PS3 forward? How will this also effect MS X360 HD gameing stragety?

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSN0432340820080104

At best it could propel BR to the dominant format, causing MS to release an external BR drive for 360.

I doubt it will have any large impact on the market.

 

[BoardBonobo]

TOKYO, Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Toshiba is quite surprised by Warner Bros.' decision to abandon HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray, despite the fact that there are various contracts in place between our companies concerning the support of HD DVD. As central members of the DVD Forum, we have long maintained a close partnership with Warner Bros. We worked closely together to help standardize the first-generation DVD format as well as to define and shape HD DVD as its next-generation successor.

We were particularly disappointed that this decision was made in spite of the significant momentum HD DVD has gained in the US market as well as other regions in 2007. HD DVD players and PCs have outsold Blu-ray in the US market in 2007.

We will assess the potential impact of this announcement with the other HD DVD partner companies and evaluate potential next steps. We remain firm in our belief that HD DVD is the format best suited to the wants and needs of the consumer.

Toshiba seems to have been caught unawares by this decision.

 

[wco81]

I wanted this war to go on longer and help drive down the prices of both players. Blu-ray being the most expensive, might have got a nod to keep those high margins.

You think those $99 Toshiba deals represented a sustainable cost plus decent profit structure?

For the whole year, HD-DVD was saying there would be cheap Chinese players at Wal Mart in time for Xmas at $200 or less.

Toshiba had to do it themselves and no other consumer electronics company wanted a part of HD-DVD because there was no profit to be made.

Toshiba may have been dumping hardware at that price, in an effort to stave off loss of studio support and continuing share losses in software.

 

[Mythos]

Rumor...new line to join warner exclusive to the blue side.