In This Section
TV Guide Spotlight
Also on TVGuide.com
|
« Commentary Track
Warner to go Blu-ray Exclusive in May, 2008
Here's a press release Warner Bros just sent out, announcing they are going to be releasing titles exclusively on Blu-ray in May, 2008:
WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT TO RELEASE ITS HIGH-DEFINITION DVD TITLES EXCLUSIVELY IN THE BLU-RAY DISC FORMAT BEGINNING LATER THIS YEAR
Decision Made in Response to Strong Consumer Preference for Format
(January 4, 2008 - Burbank, CA) - In response to consumer demand, Warner Bros. Entertainment will release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group.
"Warner Bros.' move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want," said Meyer. "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers."
Warner Home Video will continue to release its titles in standard DVD format and Blu-ray. After a short window following their standard DVD and Blu-ray releases, all new titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until the end of May 2008.
"Warner Bros. has produced in both high-definition formats in an effort to provide consumer choice, foster mainstream adoption and drive down hardware prices," said Jeff Bewkes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner Inc., the parent company of Warner Bros. Entertainment. "Today's decision by Warner Bros. to distribute in a single format comes at the right time and is the best decision both for consumers and Time Warner."
"A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption and becoming the important revenue stream that it can be for the industry," said Tsujihara. "Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience. Warner Bros. has worked very closely with the Toshiba Corporation in promoting high definition media and we have enormous respect for their efforts. We look forward to working with them on other projects in the future."
|
|
|
|
Jan 4, 2008 4:08 PM
|
I just bought a HD TV and vowed to wait until the HD-DVD/Blu-ray mess was sorted out before I bought a HD disc player. Looks like I may be able to buy one by the end of the year. Hooray!
One question: are there any technical reasons Bluray is outselling HD-DVD?
|
|
Jan 4, 2008 6:34 PM
|
The main reason Blu-ray is outselling HD DVD is due to the Playstation 3, since every PS3 sold counts as a Blu-ray player sold. HD DVD has sold more standalone players than Blu-ray, though those numbers are starting to shrink apparently as prices have fallen.
I first bought a Blu-ray player (the PS3) in July, since at that time only Universal wasn't on the format....then Paramount went HD DVD only, and in August a bought a player since the price was pretty cheap (near $200) and I got 3 free movies with it from Amazon...since then I have enjoyed all the best in both formats...now that Warner has chosen a definite side, it's not looking good for red anymore....this is really a much bigger blow to HD DVD than the Paramount move was to Blu-ray last year....I can't see them lasting too long on Paramount and Universal alone, though maybe they'll surprise me...whatever the case, I personally will continue to purchase the red exclusives "'til all are one"...
|
|
Jan 4, 2008 8:09 PM
|
The HD DVD group has just canceled their Sunday press conference due to the Warner announcement today.
So, any guesses as to who will be the first to switch to Blu-ray, Paramount, or Universal?
Gord
|
|
Jan 4, 2008 10:11 PM
|
And this is why I will not buy A HD are Blu-Ray DVD player. Way to much B.S. going on with this For-mat bit. And you watch in about 90 day some movie C.o. will say.We will only put out HD DVDS.
And the fight wll go on and on. Not me, you can keep your Blu-Ray and HD. I will just keep my RCA 5 disc job that I got for $68.00 at WAl Mart And my DVD's look just fine on my HD TV. No Way will pay $300.00 are more for a HD are a Blu-Ray player. And then $25 up for the disc. Keep it!!!!! ood old DVD's are just fine with me. And you know I still buy the 12" Laser Disc online if I find one I want.
|
|
Jan 4, 2008 11:13 PM
|
re: "And my DVD's look just fine on my HD TV."
Why go to the expense of buying a fast car, like a Ferrari, if you never intend to take it over 55 MPH?
Why get an HDTV if you only intend to use it for standard def video?
|
|
Jan 4, 2008 11:20 PM
|
|
This is probably a stupid question, but can Blu-Ray discs be played in regular DVD players? I am low-tech everything. I don't understand the need to see every pore on an actor's face.
|
|
Jan 5, 2008 1:46 AM
|
re: "This is probably a stupid question, but can Blu-Ray discs be played in regular DVD players?"
No, sorry, it's only "backwards-compatible".
Just like a CD will work in a DVD player with no probs, but a DVD won't go back and work in a regular CD player: the CD player doesn't have what's needed to read the DVD disc.
Same principle here: the DVD player doesn't have what's needed to read a Blu-ray (or an HD DVD) disc, but the new players can read the old discs just fine.
Of course, Blu-ray and HD DVD are competing formats, so they don't read each other's discs, either, except for the less-common (and more expensive) "combo" players built to recognize both formats.
re: "I don't understand the need to see every pore on an actor's face."
It's not about seeing all the pores on an actor's face. It's about seeing a picture on your home theater that is EVERY BIT AS GOOD as the picture you see in an actual theater. When you go to the cinema and you are near the front row in the middle of the pic (let's say you just came back from getting another popcorn), and that shot of a distant sky over mountains flashes up on the screen and you can make out every detail far in the distance under a beautiful sun. At home, on your 40-inch (or larger) screen, you get the regular DVD and that same scene comes up...and if you look, you don't see the same level of detail. Distant points are blurry and washed out. The crispness is gone.
But not with hi-def. It's EXACTLY every bit as good as the cinema picture. And the larger your screen, the more important that will be. I have friends - no Rockefellers, them, but they spent the money anyway - who have 100-inch screens in their home theaters. It becomes a pretty big deal to them to have some way to get that clarity. While you may not be among the many people who have set up a nice home theater at your house, it's becoming more and more common and continues to grow. For these people, hi-def at home becomes a priority about seeing the true cinematic scope and depth of picture the same way they would in a theater.
For a lot of these people, the "money shots" - special effects and action scenes in a big tentpole picture like the summer blockbusters - should not be seen at home any other way!
|
|
Jan 5, 2008 4:24 AM
|
re: Why go to the expense of buying a fast car, like a Ferrari, if you never intend to take it over 55 MPH?
Because you get excellence performance at lower speeds too.
re: Why get an HDTV if you only intend to use it for standard def video?
Because you can no longer purchase anything but HDTV sets in most (if not all) markets.
While I'm glad this format war is apparently entering the final phase, I'll still not purchase an HD playback device until prices for both hardware and media fall to prices competitive with current DVD technology. Even then, I'll not repurchase *any* title I already own just for the HD experience. There will have to be some sort of "value added" reason such as that with the current "Star Trek: TOS" HD remasters. Even then, the price will have to be reasonable which is something that seems to escape Paramount with any release having "Star Trek" in the name.
|
|
Jan 5, 2008 11:50 AM
|
Thanks Dave. That is rather depressing. Another dumb question-are my PS2s able to do what needs to be done? Actually they are my hubbies and kids. I do nothing with them except watch movies. I will get the PS3 in a few more years, probably when PS4 comes out! LOL I am also one of the few that has boring sized TVs. The one in my bedroom that I watch most things on is 19 inches. The living room's is 25". My sister was the type that always had everything as soon as it came out. I didn't even start getting CDs until I bought a car that had only a CD player in it. They were going to charge me an extra $600 to put in a cassette player. Granted it would have come with a "multi-player" cd player. I only owned 1 CD at the time, and I hadn't even bought it. My daughter won it in a screaming contest when she was 5. Anyway, as you can tell I'm a bit archaic. 
|
|
Jan 5, 2008 2:27 PM
|
The PS2 contains a DVD player, not a Blu-ray Disc player. You would have to get the PS3 machine to play the high-def discs.
All PS3 systems can play CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, and of course PS3 games. DVDs will be "upconverted" to look better on an HDTV.
The "40GB" version of the PS3s will NOT play older PS2 games, but the other models do. It will play PS1 games, though.
|
|
Jan 5, 2008 2:37 PM
|
BobO'Link, I agree with you completely. I don't yet have an HDTV, and I don't plan to get one until I have no choice in the matter, specifically when one my current ones dies and the only thing I can find/afford is an HDTV. The same goes for the HD players and the disks themselves.
It's just not worth it to me to pay those kinds of prices for something when I can spend the same amount of money, get more of a "lower quality" product, and still get the same amount of enjoyment. Or, even better, have the money available to buy something completely outside the video industry that I can enjoy just as much, if not more, than a video.
So, while it nice to see things sorting themselves out in this "format war," I can't say it's going to matter to me until the prices actually become reasonable. Until then, it's just entertaining to watch the chaos.
|
|
Jan 5, 2008 7:08 PM
|
|
To piggyback on what Dave said about PS3s upconverting regular DVDs for HDTVs: I bought an upconvert DVD player to hold me over until the format war is settled, and I love it. The quality is much better than a standard DVD player, and you can get a good up-convert player for less than $100, and an up-convert recorder for not much more than $100.
|
|
Jan 6, 2008 12:01 AM
|
|
|
