HD DVD is dead. Warners goes Blu-ray exclusive!

[2099net]

From this news, its apparent HD DVD will be a niche format at best, more likely dead by the end of 2008.

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/id ... 0820080104

Seems odd that they announced this only a few days after Xmas (to get all those seasonal HD DVD sales) and actually before the CES. I suppose the news was in danger of "leaking" and they did prefer to announce at CES.

Personally I'm surprised that they've jumped so soon. I would have expected them to wait until Q3 or even Q4 this year before making a definitive choice.

My only concern is... will Warner still ignore region encoding allowing non-US customers to import their Blu-ray releases?

[kbehm29]

I knew it! I always had faith that Blu-ray would come out on top. I bet the person at Disney who made the ultimate decision to go Blu-ray exclusive is doing the happy dance right now.

Now I will finally buy a stand-alone Blu-ray player. I've been using my PS3, and that's annoying.

[Dottie]

Interesting decision, seing that Warner is one of the most powerful studios and releases some of the biggest blockbusters like the Harry Potter Series for example. Certainly a step towards the end of the format war that will raise Blu-Ray Player sales, again, as Warner releases lots of Blockbusters every year and has the rights to some of the most beloved classics in movie history.
However I wouldn't have thought they'd drop HDDVD so quickly, but apparently, and that's only me guessing, the sales of Blu-Ray were better (due to the PS3?), and Warner can "survive" supporting only one of the formats.
I'll still wait though until I have a better TV and the players become affordable.

[PatrickvD]

just saw the news.

Hopefully region coding will ultimately be similair to what we had with dvd's. I'd be pissed if I'd miss out on exclusive Blu-Ray Treasures or something. Because R2 has often been treated like crap. not just by Disney, but by all studios.

[Mr. Toad]

Dottie - only rumour but apparently the sales of Warner HD-DVDs were about half of their Blu Ray sales. And the ratio was increasing in favour of Blu Ray.

This seems to be all but over. Paramount's Board of Director's minutes seem to indicate that the Board is very unhappy with Paramount's management's decision to go HD-DVD. Insiders are expecting a switch to Blu Ray from Paramount in summer.

That will leave Universal and Dreamworks animation alone in th HD-DVD camp. Universal wont leave(or is it Fox) because of ownership ties to the HD-DVD camp but if it becomes 6-2 with one of the studios only having two releases a year the format war is over if it is not already.

[2099net]

Interesting decision, seing that Warner is one of the most powerful studios.

Warners are actually the No 1 studio for home video based on titles and turnover. It's no secret that by being neutral Warner was basically keeping HD DVD alive.

Hopefully region coding will ultimately be similair to what we had with dvd's. I'd be pissed if I'd miss out on exclusive Blu-Ray Treasures or something. Because R2 has often been treated like crap. not just by Disney, but by all studios.

If you click on my sig link you'll see that although being "neutral" I leaned to the red. Mainly because the format was region free. It's hard to give 100% support to a format which limits your choice - even if in reality only a fraction of the releases on Blu-ray were region locked. It's still an infinite percentage increase over no HD DVD releases at all being region locked.

I know from forum based conversations with Americans on other boards, the concept of region encoding and its real-world concequences in non-US regions is hard for Americans to understand. Especially as for some unknown region a lot of titles that are released as Region A only on Blu-ray are released as ABC over here - even if they are released over here first!

My main fear is Warners will start to phase in region encoding on their day and date Blu-ray releases - same for Universal too when they migrate to Blu-ray.

I'm not exactly bounding off the walls with happiness at this news, but I'm not exactly crying myself to sleep either. In the long run it's most likely better for the motion picture industry, even if its not exactly the result I personally wanted. I have invested somewhat heavily in HD DVD, but the discs I have still work.

[PatrickvD]

wow you do own quite a few HDDVD titles. do you own a blu-ray/hd dvd player? I noticed some were available around here for reasonable prices.

funny I was just a few days ago talking to my brother about it and he was all convinced the war was gonna last at least another year. But I kept telling him it was gonna end any day now. didn't expect it to be this soon though.

[2099net]

wow you do own quite a few HDDVD titles. do you own a blu-ray/hd dvd player? I noticed some were available around here for reasonable prices.

Well, I got an add-on for my 360 because it was cheap. I also got it before my PS3, thus a lot of the early titles I bought were HD DVD. I got a PS3 in a sort of "dare" with Deathie Mouse - a "I'll buy one if you buy one" deal.

I have probably bought more HD DVDs since my Ps3 purchase for two reasons:

[1] Believe it or not, despite having less studio support HD DVD has actually had more titles I actually wanted.
[2] If I have to buy a Region B Blu-ray disc (which I basically have for most - if not all - of the Blu-ray's marked as "[UK]" on my list), they inevitably cost a few pounds more, so I resent doing so.

I'd be lying if I said I had no regrets, but any I have are only minor. There's certainly other things much more important in the world to get me worried than movie formats. While region encoding may stop me from buying cheaper US imports on selected titles, who knows? Perhaps having one clear winner will encourage more Blu-ray sales, and more sales may encourage prices on Blu-ray media to fall?

funny I was just a few days ago talking to my brother about it and he was all convinced the war was gonna last at least another year. But I kept telling him it was gonna end any day now. didn't expect it to be this soon though.

And you were spot on. Demand your brother buys you a drink!

[PeterPanfan]

Yes! I'm saving up for a Blu-Ray player on Disney Movie Rewards,and this just adds another incentive to start racking up points!

[PatrickvD]

wow you do own quite a few HDDVD titles. do you own a blu-ray/hd dvd player? I noticed some were available around here for reasonable prices.

Well, I got an add-on for my 360 because it was cheap. I also got it before my PS3, thus a lot of the early titles I bought were HD DVD. I got a PS3 in a sort of "dare" with Deathie Mouse - a "I'll buy one if you buy one" deal.

I have probably bought more HD DVDs since my Ps3 purchase for two reasons:

[1] Believe it or not, despite having less studio support HD DVD has actually had more titles I actually wanted.
[2] If I have to buy a Region B Blu-ray disc (which I basically have for most - if not all - of the Blu-ray's marked as "[UK]" on my list), they inevitably cost a few pounds more, so I resent doing so.

I noticed as well HD DVD has great titles out. On Blue Ray I was really only interested in the Disney titles and a few others. But HD DVD has some great stuff out right now.

I was debating wether or not to get a PS3. There was this great Sony HD TV on sale a few weeks ago and it came with a free PS3. I ended up not getting it cause I already own a Wii and an Xbox 360 I did end up with a HD TV though. So I guess I'm ready for high definition.

funny I was just a few days ago talking to my brother about it and he was all convinced the war was gonna last at least another year. But I kept telling him it was gonna end any day now. didn't expect it to be this soon though.

And you were spot on. Demand your brother buys you a drink!

good thinking!

[DarthPrime]

I knew it! I always had faith that Blu-ray would come out on top. I bet the person at Disney who made the ultimate decision to go Blu-ray exclusive is doing the happy dance right now.

Now I will finally buy a stand-alone Blu-ray player. I've been using my PS3, and that's annoying.

Actually unless your having some issues with the PS3 keep it. Its still the best player because of the future upgrades. It was recently upgraded to Profile 1.1, and should be upgradeable to 2.0 later.

If you really want to pickup a stand alone Blu-ray player wait a few weeks/months until more Profile 1.1 players are out.

Anyway I didn't think it would happen this soon, so I am shocked by the recent announcement. I'm also a little sad that HD DVD will more than likely be officially dead.

This was a huge blow for HD DVD... a fatal blow more than likely.

I'm actually kind of glad I didn't go ahead and pickup a HD DVD player with all the recent sales. At least choosing a high def format will be a lot easier now.

Unless a great stand alone player comes out in the next few months it looks like I'll finally be picking up a PS3.

[Loomis]

I have to admit that this news does surprise me a bit. Although I am a "Blu-ray Boy" kind of by default (I bought a PS3), I had put some serious consideration into buying an HD DVD player this week, going so far as casing 5 major chains at my local shopping centre for prices. The clincher was always going to be CES, and I guess we have our answer now. I honestly thought this would drag on for at least another year, which was another reason I would have been willing to invest in HD.

Like 2099net, many of the HD DVD titles were actually more appealing to me at this point, although Disney being in a Blu camp meant that I was always going to favour that on some level for animation.

Oh well - the war is over. Long live the war.

I thought this was an interesting take on Endgadget, by the way:

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/04/th ... -went-blu/

and the other side:

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/news/sh ... u-ray/1327

[DarthPrime]

Although it will be denied I'm sure there was a payoff of some sort on the Warner deal, just like the Paramount one.

I was just thinking and I'm sure most people agree that HD DVDs time is over. However I wouldn't say they are dead yet. When Universal and Paramount/Dreamworks either go neutral, or drop HD DVD support for Blu-ray is when it will be over.

I know Paramount/Dreamworks are under a contract for the year, and no clue on Universal. I think both will either go neutral or Blu-ray exclusive this summer or fall. With only one format holiday 2008 could be big for high def movies.

UPDATE: Rumor or not I find this interesting. I've been reading that until almost the last minute Fox had been planning to go neutral but backed out. When they did that WB went Blu-ray exclusive. I guess if this is true and Fox did go neutral, WB might have rethought the Blu-ray exclusive move. Could have been very interesting. We could have either had HD DVD won, or the continued stalemate we have had.

[Ktrek]

Although it will be denied I'm sure there was a payoff of some sort on the Warner deal, just like the Paramount one.
I

I don't think so. Warner was actually offered $250,000,00.00 by Toshiba to go Blu-Ray but their decision was not based on incentives but consumer demand. This is not like the Beta/VHS wars of the 1980's. Today's consumers are a lot more tech savvy then we were back then. HD-DVD has a very limited growth potential and Blu-Ray has a much larger growth potential. I mean any executive can see the writing on the wall when Blu-Ray players are selling 3 to 1 over HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs 2 to 1.

It was time for a major decision to be made to end this stupid format war. Five of the seven major studios were already releasing exclusively on Blu-Ray and now with Warner on board that leaves only one studio in the battle and as far as I can see they have lost and will continue to lose because of their shortsightedness in signing an 18 month contract that keeps them locked in.

To tell you the truth I am glad this battle is coming to a close so Blu-ray can begin to be promoted and marketed properly and SD-DVD along with HD=DVD can go by the wayside. There is no need for multiple formats and you should be able to go into a BestBuy, Circuit City, or anywhere else, and not have to find the format isle.

As a side note I watched for almost two years before siding with any one format and about 6 months ago I sided with Blu-Ray and have never regretted it. I love my Samsung Blu-ray player. I'd be disappointed if the trend had gone the other way but I was pretty sure that it would not.

I commend Warner for having the kahunas to go with the best format there is!

Kevin

[MICKEYMOUSE]

I think many people know here that I am a fan of Blu-Ray (still don't own any movies, waiting for one format to win), but I think this is one small step for Blu-Ray to win. Now if Paramount, or Universal go neutral, that will be the end of HD-DVD. Once that happens, (when there is a clear winner) that is when I will invest in the newer format. I am still an avid DVD collector and will be until one format wins. Everyone is saying that it does not matter whoever wins this format war because in the end will all be downloading movies legal with the next 2 years. I don’t think that will happen that soon, and feel once one format wins, the format will be just as big as the DVD right now!

[DarthPrime]

I honestly hope the download thing never replace actual discs. I just don't see it working out in the long run. There are still several places that can only get dialup and some that may never get broadband. Downloads would be ok as an option, but as an actual replacement I hope it never happens.

I'm really on a HD kick tonight after hearing this announcement. I would love to get a Blu-ray stand alone player, but I keep leaning towards the PS3 since it might be able to do 2.0 with a update.

Are there any good Blu-ray players out now, or coming out in a few months under $400 that would be worth it over the PS3? I just don't know how much I would use the PS3 other than for movies. Seems like a waste to get a console if you want game on it much.

[Loomis]

Although it will be denied I'm sure there was a payoff of some sort on the Warner deal, just like the Paramount one.
I

I don't think so. Warner was actually offered $250,000,00.00 by Toshiba to go Blu-Ray but their decision was not based on incentives but consumer demand.

Toshiba is actually an HD DVD supporter, and one of the more prominent manufacturers of the players. I do agree with the latter part - I think it was based more on sales than incentives.

In other news...

Toshiba is said to be "disappointed" and the HD DVD people cancelled their conference at CES. I guess it might be dead after all...

[2099net]

I'm pretty sure Paramount/Dreamworks are looking to go Blu (or at least neutral) as soon as possible with the Warners news. Multi-Billion dollar companies who hire the most expensive lawyers don't sign major contracts unless there are "get out" clauses in there. There may be some incentives not to use them - most likely financial - but when both options are reviewed, I'm sure staying HD DVD will be the biggest money loser.
Personally, I'm sure that one of the "get out" clauses without any concequence would be that Paramount's exclusivity would be dependent on Warners and/or Universal continuing to publish on HD DVD.

Warners main concern is to eliminate confusion in the market place, but their actions aren't completely beneficial. First, to a layman in the street who has watched Paramount/Dreamworks turn red, followed by Warners turning blu the actual message may still be unreliable studio support for both formats. Ordinary people aren't constantly counting studio support and ratios. They see studios switching their support "without a pattern", because they don't study the news or market enough to see a pattern.

If Warners did go red, it would probably have sent a stronger message that HD DVD was the preferred format - even if technically Blu-ray still had more actual studio support; even without Warner Bros.

Also Blu-ray is still seen by many as the PS3 format. Worldwide 95% of all Blu-ray players are PS3s. That is still a problem, especially outside the United States, where stand alone Blu-ray players are much harder to find (and inevitably cost more or only a little less than a PS3 while offering fewer Blu-ray playback facilities). Certain people are still going to be reluctant to jump aboard a fomat which is known as "a games console format", regardless of Warners move.

But more positively Warners move gives retailers the incentive to cut down on HD DVD stock and displays, and ultimately phase them out. Once you can't buy HD DVD hardware or software, Blu-ray becomes not only the only choice, but a much more viable choice. It should, I would hope, result in more dedicated Blu-ray players being sold, and more Blu-ray dedicated players being sold should bring down the price of them. Hopefully it will encourage manufactuerers to come up with profile 2.0 players too in short order. Because with three different Blu-ray hardware profiles, there's consumer confusion inside the winning format.

[Loomis]

Just on the subject of consumer confusion, I thought this comment from Warner Home Entertainment president Kevin Tsujihara was very interesting:

"Both formats were having an impact that caused consumers to say, let's wait a bit to buy anything, even a standard-definition DVD. We were starting to see the worst of all worlds: No one was buying high-def and not buying standard-def either." Source: Link

Don't think I've seen the connection to SD DVDs made before...

[yamiiguy]

Really glad I bought a PS3 now, keeps getting better and it's meant to be the best Blu-Ray player on the market it's even got 1.1, I haven't actually bought any Blu-Ray's yet as I have no HD-TV but I did get Casino Royale free