M$'s CES press conference

Noct

Umm...yeah; that's an amazing grasp of simple math/the obvious you have there man. So, nothing has changed except that one major studio has jumped ship. This time last year we didn't have Paramount/Dreamworks , and I don't recall anyone in the BD camp suggesting it was all over when that switch happened...

Look, I'm not suggesting HD couldn't fail, and I don't really care to be perfectly honest with you. I'm thrilled with my HD library, and I will continue to expand it. If the format folds, I will get great discounts on the dozens of titles I haven't bought yet. Then I'll buy a BD player and I'll have both, no harm no foul. Besides, who knows where will be a year from now. For all we know one of the major BD studios could be considering DF or dumping HDM all together. Nobody has "won" this thing yet.

First of all, I did NOT say that Paramount is following BD, I said there are rumors floating around, and then I even emphasized that they were merely rumors. Paramount is publicly still saying they have no intentions on moving.
Hear, Hear. I couldn't care less what format gets these out, I just want them. Same with the Spielberg/Lucas libraries; if Jaws, Indy, Star Wars or Back to the Future came out on BD tomorrow, I would be first in line to buy one. I pretty much bought HD to get the Matrix & Harry Potter, and I would totally do it again.
I'm not suggesting that this wasn't a smart business plan or that I harbor some grudge to them taking a buyout, its capitalism at its finest, more power to them. My point was just that much like losing Dreamworks didn't break BD, this is not the end of HD.
Heh, why would I be offended, I'm not the inventor or an investor, and I'm also not one of these silly children who run around screaming about formats. I bought HD because it had titles I wanted, and I already had an X360.

I never said it was technologically superior, I said that I consider it to be the superior format. I base that mainly on cost (both of the hardware and the software), the lack of region coding (I have already imported a few titles myself, so this definately plays a role for me), the better standards/features (All HD movies have PiP, and any feature listed on a HD will work in ANY HD player), and the fact that HD offers combo disks (even though that doesn't seem to be panning out, it was a great idea IMO). Technologically, I'm honestly not all that well informed, but from what I have heard, BD has a higher bitrate and indeed offers some additonal space (that is largely underused), but it also reads much slower, is more expensive to produce, and has wildly diffferent standards depending on the player revision.
Great, I hope BD costs do come down, but that doesn't change the fact that a year ago BD drives were still close to a $1000, and I got a HD add-on with an included movie for $199. It was the wise move then, and I don't regret it one iota. My Matrix boxset isn't going to evaporate now that Warner is BD.
Well, I'll take MS execs word in print over a guy on a message board who clearly has an agenda any day. They said in no uncertain terms that BD was still an option for them. Personally, I don't see how they could NOT do it at this point. BD is one of the main reasons people are buying PS3s (We all know it isn't for the game library!), so why wouldn't MS want to get onboard that train?

Besides, downloads are a completely different animal, and IMO not targeted at the same audience that buys HD disks. The quality is not even remotely the same, the download times for full on HD material is still not fast enough to make it hugely succesful, and believe it or not, not everyone has broadband. Beyond that, there will always be a contignancy of consumers who want the shiny package a movie comes in and all the extra junk. (Myself included.)

I personally have no desire to rent movies, and I have even less desire to download a compressed HD film...

ChaosMan1014

BD supporters wouldn't suggest it was all over because Paramount/DW jumped to HD DVD not BD I think you're thinking HD DVD suporters.

And you'll be able to play both with your DF player and be happy, that's fine. Even though I think Warner tried this approach, I don't think most movie studios would invest in an HD DVD/BluRay dual format disk. That could become expensive. Some people just like having a movie label on one side of their disk and not having to worry about what side they are playing instead of two data surfaces. It's silly and a matter of perception but that, along with increased production costs, could be at least partially why the HD Combo disks didn't' take off as well as some may have thought they should have. I can't say for sure because I can't confirm the manufacturing cost of the HD DVD/DVD combo disks.


I was only commenting that your post implied Paramount and DreamWorks weren't connected, when Paramount owns DreamWorks. I just wanted to clarify it for others not necessarily to counter your comment.


Not many folks would be willing to do that. Commendable indeed.

You're right, there are still many great titles between Paramount and Universal. Even if Universal does not renew their exclusivity contract that ran out today, movies may still be released in both formats.

Yep. I got into HD for gaming and movies came along for the ride.

Technically you could have gotten a BD player for $599 last year if you count the PS3 (as you did later on for the reason people bought PS3's).

Daewoo/Daytec announced at CES that there will be a 199-299 selection of BD players, and SONY is releasing a 200 dollar PC BD drive this year which comes bundled with BD compatible movie viewing software.

Then I must be one of the very few who's PS3 game library exceeds their BD library BD movie playback is just a nice bonus to me.

I'm feel the same way you do on that note, however I do rent here and there.

(A conversation around here with opposing sides yet we can be civil? "Whoda thunkit?")

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