Comments on: Paramount and DreamWorks Only on HD DVD!

By: benny and the Minx

benny and the Minx — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 09:32:30 +0000

There are two important point to consider.
WARNER and Paramount Blu-ray discs were region free.
That means that the discs played without problems in any Blu.ray player in the world. I know because I live in Europe and have a PS3. –

I think SONY would have been a bit peeved that these BIG Multimedia Giants weren’t respecting the SONY created borders!

Also if HD dies, Paramount would start producing the HD titles again in Blu-ray and sell the same titles twice to some buyers. I think this is a money- making scheme from the Board of Directors. Never Underestimate the greed of men. We consumers just want quality entertainment.

By: Pravin

Pravin — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 14:26:40 +0000

Onkyo’s high-end player is due in just over a month, and LG and Samsung have gotten into the combo-player business with more inexpensive models on the way this fall. Aside from that, HP offers an HD DVD drive for their computers, and don’t forget the Xbox 360 add-on player.

I’m not sure that Toshiba has chosen not to let anybody make HD DVD drives, but more that companies have chosen what formats they want to initially make. There’s a lot of risk and expense that goes along with being among the first manufacturers for something. Panasonic and Samsung are commonly available consumer electronics brands, and Samsung faced the heat by coming out with the first BD player.

When this kind of technology comes out, it’s usually just a few companies that make the guts of the device (NEC, Lite-On, Toshiba, and I don’t know who else), and others build the rest of the machine around those guts. Factories from the China, Inc. team are gearing up to make the basic HD DVD drive mechanism, and I think we’ll see the results in the months ahead with even “off-brand” HD DVD players.

By: julian paz

julian paz — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 13:51:10 +0000

Aside from who is taking what side, I would love to see some real experts tell me Why Toshiba hasn’t allowed other manufactures to produce HD-DVD players? Are there any prospects on FOX, Newline Cinema, and Touchstone/Disney making a jump to HD DVD? Honestly, I believe the HD format technologies are extremely similar and the clear edge blu-ray has is capacity, better marketing, and more industry back up. I walk into any electronics store and I see a Blu-ray a presentation, heck I go to the movies and on comes a blu-ray presentation that blasts you to the back of your seat, in comparison the HD-DVD marketing is boring and doesn’t get me excited to give a damn about the product. I own both and I like HD-DVD better due to the fact that both the player and the movies themselves are less expensive, as far as technology is concern, I don’t see a significant reason I should be paying more for Blu-ray. On the other hand my favorite movies are on Blu-ray. I honestly don’t see anything that makes blu-ray superior other than its more expensive. Also, for the PS3 fanatics, Sony has made horrible decisions with that system, lets see, non upgradeable hard drive, a format that may catch on or maybe not, architecture that is difficult for developers to work with, unappealing online interface, limited game availability nearly a year after its initial launch. Microsoft’s machine is both less expensive and well thought out for the masses, they got all the right ideas and hundreds of games that are up to par or exceed the quality of Sony’s machine and the quality of the blu-ray for movies is nothing to get excited about. Bottom line Toshiba is making Sony’s Betamax mistake by keeping it exclusive. Open the flood gates and we will see what happens than and please do something about your Marketing, the presentation is boring and geared towards old people, get some Hollywood flash going on there for pete sake. Don’t think I am right, compare look at what your competition is doing to present its product and do that instead.

By: oliver

oliver — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 03:26:53 +0000

here is another side of the medal,i actually sell elctronic equipment for a living and yes even for us it is difficult to really suggest either format to people.I have lived and sold both the vhs and beta and saw the war between these formats and was not too impressed with what happened .my personal take on this though is ,lets face it ,the better
and more stable product on the market is hd dvd players .I dont really see it as a war but mostly two formats that will co-exist together a bit like apple and ibm are in computers .I suggest to my customers to
buy the hd dvd players first since they will up convert any old dvd to the best image possible ,and lets face it ,what product is more available out there to view…… normal dvds obviously.the price of these units are extremely interesting too.I personally have both and believe that is where we are going to be going .when blu ray machines will be better and more stable ,then it will be time to compliment your home theater system with this format ,and then you do like me and enjoy any movie out there .I have both systems and can vouch that hd dvd is a better product at the moment.lets hope this move by dreamworks and paramount humbles sony a bit and maybe makes them want to improve their blu ray machines ……

By: Vin

Vin — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 13:10:25 +0000

Enough with the dramatics and mudslinging already. It seems massively hypoctrical of the BRD camp to start crying foul when the BR format was lagging behind until the PS3 came along and starting throwing BR movies at everyone. Of course they have the right to do as they please, but to then turn around and cry foul at Paramount for also doing as they please seems a lot like the pot calling the kettle black. At least with the Xbox you aren’t forced into buying an HD-DVD player if you don’t want one yet. And as far as MS “intentionally” stalling the market or whatever until downloadable content comes, I highly doubt it. This will happen eventually whether or not either format “wins”. People really need a heavy dose of reality.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 03:13:35 +0000

$150m is how much selling your soul goes for now days. Pathetic. It so bluntly obvious that it is a smack in the face to consumers. I realize corporations do things like this all the time but this is different how they publicly made such an obvious move. Bluray is increasingly becoming the chosen format and at HDDVD’s fading moments Paramount takes a bribe to keep them alive a little bit longer. Bluray owners lose titles that could be released and enjoyed by consumers, HDDVD owners lose, they spend more and more money on a format that will eventually not be here, and the corporate world loses, the format war could have been damn near over and more consuymers would jump on the high definition scene making all the corporations more profitable. Oh well, short term massive profit for Paramount is what meant the most for them. Their image is forever tarnished.

By: Rwarner174

Rwarner174 — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:26:45 +0000

Sorry that I view you people as a hinderance to the industry moving forward.
There is no senerio where HD-DVD can win. That window closed with the XBOX360 elite not having built in HD-DVD capablities.
If that would of happened, then HD-DVD could be dancing in the streets. Microsoft decided that the future was downloadable content not HD-DVD.

Microsoft doesn’t want HD-DVD to win. They are using it as a tool to stall the High Def market until downloadble content is ready to compete with it.
And I must give them credit, they are doing a new job. This should help HD-DVD limp along for 12 to 18 months.

This is what makes anyone that supports HD-DVD a counter productive force.
Only two things can happen, either Bluray and HD-DVD fail in lieu of on downloadable content or Bluray wins the market.
There is no other possible outcome when a principal backer of the technology doesn’t even want it to succeded.

No hardware manufacture in their right mind is going to produce and HD-DVD player when they have to compete with the 299 grabage model toshiba released.

You guys really havn’t though things through.

By: Pravin

Pravin — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:14:00 +0000

I’m gathering information on various reactions on forums and other sites before I make the next blog posting on anything. The silence isn’t because there’s nothing to say, but because it’s important to make all of your words count.

If you’re itching to talk trash about HD DVD, there are plenty of opportunities available at Blu-ray oriented sites and forums.

By: Rwarner174

Rwarner174 — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:06:22 +0000

I am on a heavy dose of reality.

Love how this blog is has nothing to say about Michael Bay’s latest comments or Steven Spielburg’s movies not being HD-DVD exclusive.
At best, this whole site is HD-DVD dribble.

Why in the name of god would I want an inferior product to win.

An what is sarcastic about saying that HD-DVD only has one hardware manufacturing making standalone players?
Is that some sort of lie or something?

This is great, HD-DVD tries to make a move and all they get is bad press.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 18:21:21 +0000

@ Rwarner174

What are you on?

I sincerely hope that your comment was pure sarcasm. Otherwise it is nothing but pure BDfanboy dribble at best.