Three Film studios snub Sonys Blu-Ray

[Vanhalen 0]

Three Hollywood studios have chosen to embrace next-generation DVD technology backed by Toshiba, snubbing a rival product promoted by Sony.

Paramount, Universal and Warner Brothers are to use a high definition DVD format backed by Toshiba and NEC.

 

Their decision is a setback for Sony which famously lost the battle to set a standard for video cassette recorders when its Betamax lost out to JVC's VHS.

 

Toshiba expects sales of HD-DVDs to hit 300bn yen ($2.9bn; £1.5bn) by 2010.

 

Clearer pictures

 

Next-generation DVDs can record an entire film in high definition format, ensuring sharper pictures. 

 

The technology is expected to become widely available from 2006 onwards.

 

The studios' decision to back the Toshiba backed product is hugely significant because along with New Line Cinema - a Warner sister company which is also supporting the HD format - they account for about 45% of packaged DVD content.

 

Sony has been banking on its Blu-ray Disc technology which has, to date, won support from Sony Pictures Entertainment and MGM Studios.

 

Universal is to release titles on Toshiba's HD-DVD format next year while Paramount said it would follow suit in 2006.

 

"We have done extensive research on Blu-ray and HD-DVD and we concluded finally that HD-DVD had several major advantages including in durability, reliability and manufacturing," Marsha King, general manager of Warner Home Video, told the Reuters news agency.

 

Competing formats

 

Sony also lost the most recent format war, when its DVD technology was snubbed by other Japanese equipment manufacturers.

 

This allowed Toshiba technology to become the current industry standard.

 

"We think this carries a great impact," said Yoshihide Fujii, a corporate senior vice president at Toshiba.

 

"There is strong desire in Hollywood for a single format."

 

Universal, Paramount and Warners said they would continue to work with the Blu-ray group, whose members also include Dell, Samsung and Matsushita.

 

Twentieth Century Fox said recently that it was evaluating both major formats.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

The important key is that HD-DVD is backwards compatible and the Blu-Ray isn't.

 

Blu Ray will inevitably go away regardless, because of compatibility and it will probably require more expensive players than HD-DVD.

[Dr. Tom 0]

I wonder if Blu Ray will find a niche market that lasts for years, like Betamax did.

[NoCalMike 0]

I think the problem right now though is that HD-TVs are still too expensive for the average family. Maybe in 2006 when this new technology is set to hit the markets, HD-TVs will be somewhat affordable, but right now, what good is an HD-DVD on a standard tv?

[bobobrazil1984 0]

Imagine the nightmare if half the studios release their movies on HD-DVD and the other half on blu-ray.

[Mole 0]

Will HD-DVDs catch on though?

 

Just about everyone has bought DVDs and when 2010 comes around, their collections are going to be huge.

 

I'm not going to want to get everything again.

[edotherocket 0]

I wonder what affect, if any, will Sony's decision to make the Playstation3 run on Bluray have on the eventual winner of the HDDVD/BluRay war.

 

But I'm with Mole too. I've got a whole bunch of DVDs over the past few years and I don't want to go out and buy them all over again. Fuck HDDVD *and* Bluray.

[AndrewTS 0]

I wonder what affect, if any, will Sony's decision to make the Playstation3 run on Bluray have on the eventual winner of the HDDVD/BluRay war.

Considering that PS2 expediated DVD acceptance, I'd say it will be significant, although it may not win it for Sony. If this means that PS3 won't be backward-compatible--laaame.

 

I know nothing about Blu-Ray, though...

 

Will Fox's decision be major, anyone think?

[Guest SP-1]

HD-DVD players should be backwards compatible, so your present DVD collections should still be useful.

 

It's also kind of sad that Betamax lost. It had superior picture quality.

[Guest TheLastBoyscout]

HD-DVD will not likely catch on, in my opinion. They just don't represent a giant leap foward from DVD, and it'll be a tough sell for the average renter to give up their DVD Player and buy an HD DVD player.

[Mole 0]

I wonder what affect, if any, will Sony's decision to make the Playstation3 run on Bluray have on the eventual winner of the HDDVD/BluRay war.

Isn't PS3 coming out in a few years? I thought that BluRay wouldn't be out until 2009 or whatever.

[AndrewTS 0]

I wonder what affect, if any, will Sony's decision to make the Playstation3 run on Bluray have on the eventual winner of the HDDVD/BluRay war.

Isn't PS3 coming out in a few years? I thought that BluRay wouldn't be out until 2009 or whatever.

Supposedly PS3 will be shown at one of the major press events in 2005, and will actually come out in 2006.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

HD-DVD will not likely catch on, in my opinion. They just don't represent a giant leap foward from DVD, and it'll be a tough sell for the average renter to give up their DVD Player and buy an HD DVD player.

I think it will catch on. They'll be able to fit entire seasons of TV shows onto 1 or 2 discs instead of 3-7 regular DVDs. And I would have to believe that would lower costs of the box sets because of less packaging and materials. It doesn't just apply to TV shows though.. Just imagine the entire Extended Edition Box Set of Lord of the Rings (coming December 12th) on just 3 discs instead of 12.

 

And people who have already spent the $1,000 + on an HDTV (like myself) probably won't have a problem spending another $700 on an HD-DVD player (when they first come out) to enjoy all their old DVDs as well as the new HD-DVD movies on their HDTVs.

[El Psycho Diablo 0]

The main reason for a higher-capacity format is the fact HD programming just dosen't fit well on DVD's. They need the greater space HD-DVD / Blu-Ray provide.

[Ced 0]

It'll run the normal cycle of technology. First it'll be where only the most hardcore of the hardcore people will run out and buy it, but then technology will get better and the prices will trickle down to the point where we'll buy them by the bushel and think nothing of it.

 

Whatever the next-gen media is, it better be backwards compatible with DVDs or people will be busting out the pitchforks and torches.

[Alro 0]

Disney Backs Blu-Ray Format for Its Movies

 

By GARY GENTILE, AP Business Writer

 

LOS ANGELES - The Walt Disney Co. plans to release its movies and other content in the Blu-Ray format, one of the two major contenders for next-generation DVDs that will deliver high-definition images to TV sets.

 

The studio said Wednesday that its agreement was non-exclusive and would begin as soon as companies start releasing Blu-Ray DVD players in North America and Japan.

 

Blu-Ray was developed by Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news) (news - web sites)., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes the Panasonic brand, and Philips Electronics NV. It has the support of Columbia Pictures, which is owned by Sony, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which was recently purchased by a group led by Sony.

 

Blu-Ray also has wide support among consumer electronics makers and computer giant Hewlett-Packard Co., which said it will start selling PCs with Blu-Ray disc drives late next year, coinciding with movie releases.

 

Disney also said Monday it will become a member of the board of the Blu-Ray Disc Association.

 

Last month, three other large studios announced they would release films in the competing HD-DVD format, which was developed by electronics makers Toshiba Corp. and NEC Corp.

 

Paramount Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros., which includes New Line Cinema and HBO, said they would start releasing films in the HD-DVD format in time for the holidays next year.

 

The other major studio, 20th Century Fox, has yet to say which format it would support.

 

Earlier Wednesday, Disney president Robert Iger said he hoped one of the two competing formats would emerge as a leader, eliminating the need to offer movies in two formats and potentially confusing consumers.

 

"It doesn't seem likely," Iger said while speaking at an investor conference.

 

Studios are hoping to avoid the confusion that slowed the early adoption of videocassette recorders when consumers were faced with choosing between Betamax and VHS.

 

Both of the competing next-generation DVD formats promise increased storage capacity and movie resolution superior enough to get the most out of high-definition TV sets. And both would contain stronger anti-piracy protection, a key factor in the studio's anxiousness to adopt a new format.

 

The software that protects current DVDs is easily circumvented.

 

Now the battle will be interesting. Three studios versus Disney with FOX still on the sidelines. Disney might be big enough to win this for Blu-Ray. Every parent is going to be buying their kid Disney movies. Plus they've got all their different distribution houses and that makes for a big library.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Disney is only doing it so they can re-release all the stuff thats been "locked away in their vault" again. Most people wouldn't see the need to buy them again if Disney re-released them on HD-DVD which is backwards compatible.