Comments on: Follow the Money if You Will, But It Did Not Come From Microsoft

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 19:56:44 +0000

We could take it to the next level & assume that they know if Blu-ray wins they could make a BR 360 add on & sell even more drives $$, another winning scenario.

Or consider the “conspiracy.” What if prolonging the format war sends more people to Xbox Live Marketplace for the downloadable HD films. The best way to do this would be to fund the underdog. In some ways it makes perfect sense in the grand scheme of things. Microsoft watched Apple take all with iTunes while Sony & Toshiba was in the format war between SACD & DVD_Audio. Maybe they want to be the next Apple but with home video. With all the Sony Toshiba mess we keep up on it’s pretty awesome to see how MS has positioned themselves in this mess.

By: Pravin

Pravin — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 19:24:39 +0000

Got it! They have no reason to prevent Blu-ray from doing well, because there’s even more licensing money to be made when both formats are using the code.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 19:16:36 +0000

The point I’m trying to make is that the fact that Vc-1 is in HD DVD & Blu-Ray is, I think, better proof that MS wouldn’t throw so much money into one format when they will win either way. I think that is more key than VC-1 not being mandatory in HD DVD as the article points out.

By: Pravin

Pravin — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:12:27 +0000

Yes, VC-1 is used on Blu-ray discs as well as HD DVD, however it is not one of those mandatory features like an ethernet port or Dolby True HD.

The most that I could see Microsoft doing in terms of VC-1 enticement is discounting the licensing fee for using it, but that form of “compensation” is not part of the $150M payoff that everybody’s talking about.

Edit: I’m just saying that for the “XYZ paid them off” theory to work, there needs to be something involved that the payee wouldn’t normally have done. In this case, people willingly use VC-1 on both sides.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 21:56:00 +0000

You’re missing something important…. VC-1 is in Blu-ray spec as well. Therefore they generate income from the VC-1 codec independent of which format it ends up on, disc or otherwise.

By: Rwarner174

Rwarner174 — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:52:34 +0000

I would argure that every HD-DVD purchased is a collectors item as opposed to paramount blurays.
Paramount blurays are a timed collector items.

By: OGSCORPION

OGSCORPION — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 14:28:18 +0000

I agree with Bret. Downloading movies is NOT a very cool idea. It does not come as close to the real thing. It does not produce the same video and sound quality as the DVD or HD media discs, not to mention it does not have the extras, commentary, etc. etc. Video download has still light years to improve before they even become close. Then again, by that time it catches up the actual entertainment media format have evolved to million times better so there is no way in any angle spect that downloading movies is the future and I can take that to the bank.

By: Chad

Chad — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 13:19:50 +0000

I agree with Bret wholeheartedly. I have a xbox 360 and hard drive space is always a concern. Having an actual disc gives much more data security. You can easily lose data when storing on hard drive. As mentioned when you have a hard drive your gonna be limited on space but with discs you can buy forever and not worry about upgrading.

By: Bret

Bret — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 21:49:28 +0000

I personally don’t like the idea of downloading movies…movies then won’t be able to be taken from house to house, but only played on a single player. Then, space also becomes a concern, needing to upgrade hard drives to have more space. If I buy a movie, I want to have it forever, and I don’t want to worry about having to delete movies if I run out of space.