The format war is over...Warner goes BluRay exclusive!

[Irishman]

Marc said:

scotthm said:

Irishman said:
Who runs IE by choice these days?

Most people who surf the Internet.

---------------

More so due to the fact Internet explorer was is bundled as part of the operating system (which until netscape blew thier own foot off) was the only way IE managed to get ahead.

But Blu-ray vs HD-DVD is another in the long line (I.E vs anything else), VHS vs Beta where the consumer hasn't actually come out on top because the better product hasn't triumphed - it's more a case of money talking.

"Better" product hasn't triumphed? Please explain.

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

HD-DVD, Blue-Ray? I've only replaced two thirds of my TOS VHS collection, I still check out the VHS section of EBay for bargains, being poor is the best way to win a format war :thumbsup:

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

scotthm said:

Babaganoosh said:
All I care about is that the format war is over. The fact that it happens to be BluRay who won, is just icing on the cake.

I guess that depends on whose cake you're eating.

I personally haven't taken the plunge into either hi-def disc format yet, but the 'winner' came down to which company (Sony or Toshiba) was willing to pay out the most bribe money, and not on any technical merits or consumer decisions.

In a way, it sort of did rely on a consumer decision, as sales of both formats are, frankly, not that good. Studios saw that DVD sales were slipping but new formats weren't really taking off.

Consumers did speak, and their message was "we dont want two formats, make up your minds"

From what I've read, the lagging sales of both formats is one of the reasons Warners wanted to end the format war now.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Irishman said:
"Better" product hasn't triumphed? Please explain.

In BluRay vs. HD-DVD, there really was no "better" product. As far as the consumer was concerned, both were exactly the same.

The fact that BluRay won the format war wasn't an instance of the superior product losing, since neither format was 'superior' to the other in any way that mattered to the end user.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Babaganoosh said:

Irishman said:
"Better" product hasn't triumphed? Please explain.

In BluRay vs. HD-DVD, there really was no "better" product. As far as the consumer was concerned, both were exactly the same.

The fact that BluRay won the format war wasn't an instance of the superior product losing, since neither format was 'superior' to the other in any way that mattered to the end user.

In my opinion, HD-DVD is the "better" format, which has a feature that does matter to a lot of consumers, there is no regions locking on them.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

sithlord said:

Blu Ray is a lousy format that was born out of spite, still has frakking region coding (HD DVD never did,) and required another year AT LEAST of product development before its release. F*** Sony. Eventually yes, I'll get a blu ray player, but not until the price is reasonable and the hardware dependable. So, I'm gonna be waiting a while.

I find it odd that everyone focuses soley on Sony when it comes to Blu-Ray.

Blu-Ray was started by Hitachi, LG, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony. that's almost the entire electronics industry (if i recall, toshiba and NEC then jumped in with what would become hd-dvd).

Maybe it's just the name (HD-DVD) that gives people the mistaken impression that it was "supposed to be the next DVD until Sony butted in" but it's the other way around.

 

[Noname Given]

rType said:

I like Firefox, shitty memory holes notwithstanding

Firefox. It's a personal record.

In regards to the picture you linked...Horde or Alliance; PVP or PVE?

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Stone_Cold_Sisko said:

sithlord said:

Blu Ray is a lousy format that was born out of spite, still has frakking region coding (HD DVD never did,) and required another year AT LEAST of product development before its release. F*** Sony. Eventually yes, I'll get a blu ray player, but not until the price is reasonable and the hardware dependable. So, I'm gonna be waiting a while.

I find it odd that everyone focuses soley on Sony when it comes to Blu-Ray.

Blu-Ray was started by Hitachi, LG, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony. that's almost the entire electronics industry (if i recall, toshiba and NEC then jumped in with what would become hd-dvd).

Maybe it's just the name (HD-DVD) that gives people the mistaken impression that it was "supposed to be the next DVD until Sony butted in" but it's the other way around.

Well to be fair, HD-DVD was supposed to be the successor to DVD in the same way DVD-R was supposed to be the writeable version of DVD, but other companies jumped in with the +R standard. It is supposed to be HD-DVD because it is the format that was agreed upon by the DVD consortium/Forum.

That's not to say companies don't, or shouldn't come up with competing designs, it's just that when it comes to this sort of stuff, one standard is better for consumers, than 2, and would have been better for the corporations, in that they wouldn't have had consumers put off of their competing products.

 

[USS KG5]

Noname Given said:

rType said:

I like Firefox, shitty memory holes notwithstanding

Firefox. It's a personal record.

In regards to the picture you linked...Horde or Alliance; PVP or PVE?

That is one truly impressive use of memory there.

Apparently the beta for Firefox 3 is showing the same problems still - they need to fix it.

 

[Candlelight]

Bob The Skutter said:
Well to be fair, HD-DVD was supposed to be the successor to DVD in the same way DVD-R was supposed to be the writeable version of DVD, but other companies jumped in with the +R standard. It is supposed to be HD-DVD because it is the format that was agreed upon by the DVD consortium/Forum.

That's not to say companies don't, or shouldn't come up with competing designs, it's just that when it comes to this sort of stuff, one standard is better for consumers, than 2, and would have been better for the corporations, in that they wouldn't have had consumers put off of their competing products.

It's like HD in general superceding PAL & NTSC; before we only had basically two options (3 if you count SECAM), but now we have dozens! HD has way too many options.

 

[rType]

Noname Given said:

rType said:

I like Firefox, shitty memory holes notwithstanding

Firefox. It's a personal record.

In regards to the picture you linked...Horde or Alliance; PVP or PVE?

Most recently Horde on Emerald Dream (RPPVP).

 

[StarMan]

zenophite said:
i'll be happy with dvd's for a long time. I really don't feel any pressing need to buy the same old movie again just because i can now actually count the hairs in the actors nostrils.

Indeed. Hell, I'm still satisfied with my VHS collection.

 

[Ronald Held]

I just read that Paramount is trying to get out of it HD-DVD contract.

 

[Outpost4]

I read that, too, but so far it is just from a single source, the Financial Times. I'd imagine the back channel negotiations between Toshiba and Paramount are fierce right now.

Financial Times article

Here's my new Blu-ray player, the just announced Panasonic DMP-BD50.

new Panasoic Blu-ray player

The price hasn't been set but is expected to be somewhat above their BD30. A spring release is being talked about. Well see on both.

 

[Irishman]

Bob The Skutter said:

Babaganoosh said:

Irishman said:
"Better" product hasn't triumphed? Please explain.

In BluRay vs. HD-DVD, there really was no "better" product. As far as the consumer was concerned, both were exactly the same.

The fact that BluRay won the format war wasn't an instance of the superior product losing, since neither format was 'superior' to the other in any way that mattered to the end user.

In my opinion, HD-DVD is the "better" format, which has a feature that does matter to a lot of consumers, there is no regions locking on them.

That's a make-or-break for you???? What about SD-DVDs? They've always been region-encoded. Do you boycott them?

And, it's possible that the lack of region-encoding on HD-DVDs played a role in the format's demise. Content creators like copyright protection.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Irishman said:

Bob The Skutter said:

Babaganoosh said:

Irishman said:
"Better" product hasn't triumphed? Please explain.

In BluRay vs. HD-DVD, there really was no "better" product. As far as the consumer was concerned, both were exactly the same.

The fact that BluRay won the format war wasn't an instance of the superior product losing, since neither format was 'superior' to the other in any way that mattered to the end user.

In my opinion, HD-DVD is the "better" format, which has a feature that does matter to a lot of consumers, there is no regions locking on them.

That's a make-or-break for you???? What about SD-DVDs? They've always been region-encoded. Do you boycott them?

And, it's possible that the lack of region-encoding on HD-DVDs played a role in the format's demise. Content creators like copyright protection.

What does region encoding have to do with copyright protection? It's only there so studios can artificially inflate prices in particular markets, and release DVDs on different schedules internationally. I'm not sure what that has to do with copyright protection.

 

[Irishman]

It lets the studios control their content. Until they're forced (by outside forces like Apple, for example), they'll keep doing it.

I read Sony is releasing some new music that is DRM-free.

A good start.

 

[BCI]

You can burn HD movies on traditional DVDs. 4 GB is enough space for 720p or better when encoded with h264. Just look on the internet... it's a shame the industry always takes years to do what hobbyists do for free.

 

[Daedalus12]

BCI said:
You can burn HD movies on traditional DVDs. 4 GB is enough space for 720p or better when encoded with h264. Just look on the internet... it's a shame the industry always takes years to do what hobbyists do for free.

I should tell you that all Blu-Ray titles that are encoded using AVC are in fact encoded with "h264" but at a much higher bitrate to reduce as much video artifacts as possible.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Irishman said:

Bob The Skutter said:

Babaganoosh said:

Irishman said:
"Better" product hasn't triumphed? Please explain.

In BluRay vs. HD-DVD, there really was no "better" product. As far as the consumer was concerned, both were exactly the same.

The fact that BluRay won the format war wasn't an instance of the superior product losing, since neither format was 'superior' to the other in any way that mattered to the end user.

In my opinion, HD-DVD is the "better" format, which has a feature that does matter to a lot of consumers, there is no regions locking on them.

That's a make-or-break for you???? What about SD-DVDs? They've always been region-encoded. Do you boycott them?

And, it's possible that the lack of region-encoding on HD-DVDs played a role in the format's demise. Content creators like copyright protection.

I didn't say it was make or break, I said in my opinion it was better to not have region coding.
Yes DVDs have always been region coded, and I have always had a region free DVD player. If a DVD comes out in the US months and months before the UK, or is released in the UK but not the US (or vice versa), how does me (or anyone else) buying their produced harm their copyright?

ETA
Besides, if that was the reason HD-DVD failed, why is it a lot of titles aren't region encoded on Blu-Ray either?