The war's over, you can buy Blu-Ray now....
Scott McPherson
in Information technology, Politics and government
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7 Comments
Just a quick note on the eventual demise of the HD-DVD format. As you probably know, the high definition DVD market is plagued with two competing and non-compatible formats: Toshiba's HD-DVD, and Sony's Blu-Ray. HD-DVD is unbelievable, and Blu-Ray is equally awe-inspiring. The technology basically allows a thinner, more precise laser beam to put many times more information onto a DVD disc. Thus, you can get much richer video (more information stored on disc) and, in an increasing number of films, uncompressed audio. I own a Blu-Ray player and HDTV courtesy of my wife (well, we gave each other the stuff for Christmas), and this has directly affected my ability to churn out quality blogs in real time! In other words, I find myself sitting on my behind more often, watching things like "3:10 to Yuma" or "2001: A Space Odyssey" in Blu-Ray with my mouth and eyes wide open, amazed that I finally have motion picture quality exceeding that of a movie theatre in my own home.
But I digress. Sony, hurt badly several times by losses incurred (both moral and financial) due to bad strategery with formats in the past (recall the VHS vs. beta battle in the 1980s and other, more recent A/V muckups), wised up this time and got in step with their usual competitor, Philips. Thus was Blu-Ray DVD born, and the format is truly spectacular. Sony also lined up five major motion picture studios to back the product.
In contrast, Toshiba lined up Paramount and Universal to support HD-DVD. Universal was HD-DVD-specific.Paramount had been making hi-def DVDs in both formats, but last year decided to move to HD-DVD exclusively.
Bad decision.
Warner Brothers, whose films account for about 20% of all titles, had also been licensing in both formats. But, due in no small part to what they see as an inevitable recession with resulting timidity in the buying public, along with a recognition of superior marketing by Blu-Ray, announced several days ago that WB would be Blu-Ray-specific by mid-2008. This announcement was quickly followed by two business partners, New Line Cinema and HBO Films.
Universal's exclusive HD-DVD contract with Toshiba expired on New Years Day. It is anticipated that Universal will also jump on board the Blu-Ray bandwagon sometime this year and start releasing films in the format.
So here's what you can look for:
A long, slow roll to oblivion for HD-DVD. Dropping prices, coupled with frantic efforts to lure smaller boutique studios to their format. Probably won't happen, since those smaller studios desperately need cash, and Blu-Ray is the ticket. Also look for better and better bundles from HD-DVD and Toshiba.
Meanwhile, Sony is in the process of licensing Blu-Ray technology to more and more manufacturers (something they did NOT do in the VHS-Beta war). This will allow more players, which will cut prices, which will increase demand for movies in Blu-Ray.
The Blu-Ray Disc (BD) marketing people are also now smelling blood, and moving in for the kill with great sales and specials on titles. For example, Amazon has been running a buy one, get one free BD special on selected titles, and offering huge price cuts on BD discs as well. Best Buy has been selling AFI classics like Goodfellas and Deliverance for $14.99 on BD, and has been running its own Buy One, get One Free Blu-Ray specials online.
This, in turn, will put even more pressure on Toshiba to reduce prices. But the tide has officially turned, and unless Toshiba can come up with a huge innovation, or make HD-DVD movies as cheap to buy as standard DVD, the format is doomed.
But do not wait until then to get on the bandwagon for Blu-Ray. The format is so impressive, you are truly doing your eyes and ears a disservice by NOT moving to high-def now, today, absolutely this minute! I use two Websites to evaluate the auality of individual Blu-ray discs: http://www.blu-ray.com/ and http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/ . If a disc gets reviews for quality of video and audio with both of these sites' reviewers, I get the disc. That is not to say I would go out and splurge $30 on a Blu-Ray of Superbad, for example. But if I thought "McLovin" would be any funnier in HD, I might be tempted.
So get out there and move to Blu-Ray with confidence that your butt will be completely numb for months to come. Eye and ear candy of the highest magnitude.
Reader Comments (7)
Scott,
Great write up on Blue-ray, also for the folks out there that do not know, NetFlix now offers blue-ray disk, so if you do want to spend the money on buying those Blue-ray movies, rent them via NetFlix which you can try them at:
Try Netflix
Excellent point, Slawdog!
HD-DVD is dying! Lets all celebrate Sony's absolute control of our home entertainment experience. Root Kits for all!!! Yea!!!
Todd,
I don't disagree with you, and Sony has shown a proclivity for installing spyware which is unconscionable.
But I do think the war is over. However, as we have just seen with the price cuts on Toshina HD-DVD players, the HD-DVD insurgency is not over yet.
Just today, however, I did see a massive HD-DVD return being prepared at my local best Buy store. Almost an entire shopping cart of HD-DVDs was going back. There were some Blu-rays also going back, but not nearly as many. Calculating the available shelf space following the return, I would estimate that HD-DVD will have half the Best Buy shelf space of Blu-Ray by February 1, systemwide.
Mr. McPherson,
It looks like my response did not make it into the thread somehow. Did you see it?
I appreciated your ability to not engage my sarcasm and still argue your point. I would take issue with the wording "massive return", as a shopping cart does not have the space to hold what I would call a massive amount of anything the size of hd-dvds. I also have never been aware of BB accepting returns for dvd/cds/hd-dvds...ect for anything other than a replacement of a unreadable/flawed disk.
Have a great day,
Todd
Hey Todd,
I should clarify that the return I witnessed was of HD-DVDs going back to the manufacturer(s) en masse. I saw at least a hundred and fifty HD-DVDs being pulled off the shelf for a return by a Best Buy clerk, based on a list she was working through. In contrast, there were under twenty Blu-Ray discs going back. So BB is keeping HD-DVD product on the shelf, but I believe HD-DVD will lose half the display space, to be replaced by Blu-Ray. The only solution for HD-DVD is to price the software at levels comparable to standard DVD, which the studios do not want because it means less revenue for them.
Warners really cooked HD's goose with its move.
All this having been said: I am beginning to hunger for one of those cheaper Toshiba HD-DVD players, maybe the model 30, just for the bundle alone! And Universal and Paramount will doubtless continue to release HD titles, so I won't suffer. Even Warners titles like V for Vendetta are HD-specific, so there is ample justification for the unit. I just need a new receiver since I am out of HDMI inputs on my TV!
Scott,
I see what you are saying. Yes Im sure without somehow gaining back studio support that hd-dvd's goose will be cooked. I could still see why people woud still buy models like the A30 even as a upconvert dvd player. I noticed at my local Costco tonight that the A30 is $130 with a hdmi cable in the box and the five free movies. I'd say that's a bargin even if only for it's strong dvd upconversion capabilities compared to paying $230 for a Oppo DV-981HD upcoversion dvd player. Sorry to hear your out of hdmi inputs, I'm only have one of three left unused. At least you would have a good excuse to upgrade your receiver if you pick up an A30.