DVD Category

HD DVD not going down without a fight

HighDefDigest has a series of articles on the ongoing HD-DVD vs Blu-ray saga. I have heard some consumer publications say that HD-DVD is dead and Blu-ray has won the war. This is completely misleading. HD-DVD has taken some heavy blows but it has not died yet. Microsoft has shown in the past that it is prepared to make a loss in order to increase the market share of inferior products.

HD-DVD is definitely not giving up the ghost here. Universal has confirmed that it has no plans to abandon the HD-DVD format, despite the escape clause in its contract.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the fence, Warner revealed that it plans to delay even more of its HD-DVD releases. The delays now encompass its catalog titles in addition to its new ones.

Retailers are supporting Warner's move as well. Retailers are becoming cautious about over-stocking HD-DVD titles and are dedicating more shelf space to Blu-ray discs.

Finally, an online petition has been set up, campaigning against the move to abandon HD-DVD. At the time of writing, it has received over 15,000 signatures. Recently, a counter-petition called "Let HD DVD Die" was set up. At the time of writing, it has over 6,000 signatures (including mine). Because the first petition has had a couple of weeks' head start, it's difficult to tell which one is actually "winning" right now, although it probably won't make much difference.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Tuesday January 22 2008 3:57 PM to Industry, Analysis, DVD
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More companies drop HD DVD

HBO announced yesterday that it will follow its parent company, Warner, in embracing Blu-ray exclusively. Warner has one more subsidiary, BBC Home Video, that has not yet announced its intentions but it is expected to follow suit.

Variety is now reporting that the two remaining studios in the HD DVD camp, Universal and Paramount, could switch sides soon as well.

They say that they can confirm that "Universal's commitment to backing HD DVD exclusively has ended" and that Paramount has an escape clause in its contract that will allow it to release films on Blu-ray after Warner embraced it exclusively. The two companies are not dropping support for the format but it is less attractive for them to remain exclusive to it.

I am certain that HD DVD will not go down without a fight, as Microsoft and Toshiba have invested a considerable amount of money into the format. Toshiba says it will remain faithful to the format but as a consumer, I would not be rushing out to buy an HD DVD player right now. If the remaining HD DVD-supporting studios choose to release their titles on both HD DVD and Blu-ray, the battle is already over. Why would you buy an HD DVD player that can play two studios' titles when you can buy a Blu-ray player that will play every company's discs? It's a no-brainer.

Update: Universal has issued a statement: "Contrary to unsubstantiated rumors from unnamed sources, Universal's current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format". Note that they did not use the word "exclusively" or say anything about not releasing titles on Blu-ray.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Thursday January 10 2008 1:29 PM to Industry, Analysis, DVD
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High Def DVD News

I've been a bit busy over the past few days and haven't had much time to post unfortunately, but there have been some very interesting developments in the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray.

Late last week, Warner Brothers announced that it would be dropping support for the HD DVD format in May and supporting Blu-ray exclusively.

This had a knock-on effect, causing the HD DVD Promo Group to cancel their press conference at CES, citing the "timing of Warner Brothers' announcement" as the reason. This in turn prompted Paramount to clarify its position that "Paramount's current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format", but they have canceled any HD DVD title announcements at CES. This doesn't sound to me like Paramount is 100% confident in the success of the HD DVD format.

There was some initial confusion as to whether Warner's subsidiaries would follow suit. New Line clarified its position but said that unlike its parent which was waiting until May 2008 to shelve HD DVD, its switch to Blu-ray would take place immediately. This would make Pan's Labyrinth the only New Line movie to have been released on HD DVD.

It would appear that the studios are getting tired of the confusion caused by the format war and the fact that most people are waiting for it to end before making a purchasing decision. In my opinion, Blu-ray is a superior format so I am glad it is achieving market penetration. HD DVDs have the advantage of being cheaper to produce but if Blu-ray becomes a standard, this issue will diminish with time.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Wednesday January 9 2008 4:05 AM to Industry, DVD
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Interesting Apple patents

Apple was recently granted several interesting patents.

The first one offers a method of analyzing video frames and working out their attributes such as if the footage is interlaced or progressive, and if pulldown has been applied or not. This would allow software such as Final Cut Pro to change project settings to match these attributes automatically without any user intervention. It would also allow software like Compressor to work out which fields in interlaced footage are duplicates and only rendering them once, thereby speeding up rendering times and reducing file sizes. I would imagine this is geared at ProRes, Apple's professional codec.

The second patent is for a DVD web system that provides a method of controlling - and being controlled by - internet content. Web content is currently available via next generation HD DVD and Blu-ray players but this patent specifically caters for two-way communication and control.

Their final patent covers color correction using an accelerated graphics card rather than the processor. My first thought was that it was a patent for the technology in Apple Color but further reading revealed that Apple proposes a playback system (such as QuickTime) where the original color space of the video (such as NTSC) could be converted to the current color space of the monitor to ensure accurate color reproduction.

It must be noted that Apple ultimately may not choose to implement these technologies into their products.

[via AppleInsider]

Posted by Jon Chappell on Saturday December 29 2007 11:50 AM to Apple, Software, DVD
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Saw IV Blu-ray DVD to feature web-enabled content

HighDefDigest is reporting that the Blu-ray release of Saw IV will feature web-enabled "MoLog" functionality. "MoLog" stands for "Movie Blog" and enables consumers to make blog posts and comments about the movie directly from their couch.

This will be the second Lionsgate title to feature web-connectivity, the first being War, which has a built-in multiplayer game that people can play over the internet. This news comes shortly after Warner announced a "Community Screening" feature on the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix HD-DVD that allows you to watch the movie at the same time as other people and chat with them in real-time.

I have to say that I don't know how popular or successful these features will ultimately turn out to be, but it will be interesting to see how the technology is used 2-3 years down the line when the novelty has worn off and distributors have a better idea of what consumers are looking for. The thing about technology is that no matter how flashy or innovative it is, its ultimate success depends on how useful it turns out to be for the end-user. I think web-enabled content has potential, but I think the potential lies in adding value long after the user has purchased the product, such as with TV spots, fan films, alternate endings, etc. This would maintain interest in the title and increase the potential financial reward for a sequel.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Thursday December 13 2007 3:15 PM to Analysis, DVD
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Harry Potter HD DVD contains "Community Screening" feature

High-Def Digest has an article about a new feature on the Order of the Phoenix HD DVD (not the Blu-ray version).

Live Community Screening allows you to play the movie at the same time as other people with the disc and talk to them about it via the text-based chat room.

One user starts the session and invites the other viewers to it. This user can control playback (play, pause, etc); no-one else can. It is unclear at this stage how you invite other people - presumably they must register with a central database.

I think this is an experiment more than anything else, which is why Warner released it without much fanfare. Voice-based interaction might make it more viable but it's simply more enjoyable to watch a movie with other people in the room.

However, with that said, it might be useful for people who are separated by long distances.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Monday November 26 2007 7:45 AM to Industry, Analysis, DVD
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Various high def DVD items

Best Buy has been named the top retailer of Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs "by a large margin", with Amazon at second place. Both companies attribute their leads to their informational approach to marketing, which aids consumer understanding of the technologies and the format war.

It is unsurprising that consumers are confused when the DVD Forum is close to approving a 51 GB HD-DVD disc. This would eliminate the main advantage of storage space that Blu-ray has over current HD-DVD discs. I prefer this to the HD-DVD group's previous competitive strategy of paying companies to use their product, as the consumer benefits greatly from this latest development.

Meanwhile, in the Blu-ray camp, they are giving away free Blu-ray discs with the purchase of a qualifying player. Once you buy the player you're pretty much locked to the format, and the studios know this. Universal has incorporated web-enabled HD-DVD features which extends HD-DVD's interactivity lead over Blu-ray and with higher capacity HD-DVD discs on the horizon, Blu-ray needs to fight with either marketing or technological advances. I'm hoping it will be the latter.

However, Sony is reporting that it has achieved high manufacturing yields nearing those of DVD. What that means is that there are fewer defects in the discs and so fewer discs have to be thrown away, resulting in lower manufacturing costs. The technological advances to HD-DVD could prove too confusing and expensive for the consumer so they may go with something cheaper and more reliable.

This war ain't over yet.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Saturday October 6 2007 9:35 AM to Industry, Hardware, DVD
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