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Has Blu-ray Finally Beat HD DVD for Good?
The Sopranos - Season 6 Part 2 [Blu-ray] courtesy HBO Home Video
HBO has joined the parade to Blu-ray after Warner Bros, its distributor, announced on Friday that they were dropping HD-DVD in May 2008. The Warner Bros announcement could be the event that ends the war between high-definition formats. HD-DVD has the exclusive support of Universal and Paramount/DreamWorks, while Blu-ray has Fox/MGM, Warner Bros, Disney, Sony and Lionsgate. Warner Bros, which holds about 20 percent of the market, was a huge win for the Blu-ray group, and leaves Blu-ray with roughly 75 percent of the HD market. The Warner Bros decision has influenced New Line, along with HBO, to make the switch to Blu-ray, but BBC Home Video is bucking the trend and "will evaluate the marketplace before committing to one format" (according to the studio); the studio has four high-definition releases planned for 2008, available on both formats, and has sold more copies of Planet Earth on HD-DVD. Recent notable Blu-ray releases include The Simpsons (Fox), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Disney), 3:10 to Yuma (Lionsgate) and Resident Evil (Sony). TV releases on both formats include Planet Earth (HD-DVD, Blu-ray), Battlestar Galactica Season 1 (HD DVD), Star Trek: The Original Series Season 1 (HD-DVD), Heroes Season 1 (HD-DVD), Prison Break Season 1 (Blu-ray), Rescue Me Season 3 (Blu-ray), Weeds Seasons 1 and 2 (Blu-ray), Masters of Horror (Blu-ray), Nip/Tuck Season 4 (HD-DVD, Blu-ray), Smallville Seasons 5 and 6 (HD-DVD, Blu-ray — Season 5 HD-DVD only), and The Sopranos (HD-DVD, Blu-ray), though support for the Warner and HBO titles will be pulled in the near future.
Many consumers have been hesitant to jump into the HD market because they feared buying the "wrong" format, having flashbacks of choosing the failed Beta format over VHS in the '80s. Warner Bros cited consumer confusion as a major factor in their decision to join the Blu-ray group, and effectively kill HD-DVD. But is HD-DVD really dead? It still has the support of Universal Studios Home Entertainment, which has recently had success with The Bourne Ultimatum on HD-DVD, and Paramount/DreamWorks, which saw Transformers fly off store shelves. The studios have been adamant that they will continue to support HD-DVD, though rumors on the Internet could lead you to believe otherwise.
The Warner Bros announcement didn't magically render HD-DVD players inoperable (I checked mine, just to be sure), and fans of the format can still enjoy the many movies that will play on them, but the opportunity for the format to grow has been severely hampered by recent events, and the momentum is clearly with Blu-ray (which outsold HD-DVD every week in 2007). It's likely that sales of HD-DVD players will slow down, while sales of Blu-ray players (and the PS3, since it plays Blu-ray movies as well) will increase, but consumers with HD-DVD players shouldn't panic and sell off everything they have. The player still works, although the available titles for the format will shrink in the months to come. It's also unlikely that HD-VMD, a third HD format, will be able to get the support of the Hollywood studios.
What do you think? Will the decision by Warner Bros to drop HD-DVD and release exclusively on Blu-ray changed your attitude towards the HD formats? Are you more likely to buy a Blu-ray player now that the format has overwhelming support from the Hollywood studios? — Gord Lacey
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Jan 9, 2008 5:09 PM
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The battle is over, I think Blu-Ray has finally won the war. HD will exist but won't be relevant.
It's only a matter of time before a new technology knocks Blu-Ray off the throne; I say blu-ray dominates another 12 good years.
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Jan 9, 2008 6:03 PM
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Well crap. We just bought an XBOX 360 with the HD DVD drive 2 weeks ago. We were between that and the PS3 and DH said lets do XBOX. I knew we should have done the PS3. Oh well, we can get that next year.
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Jan 9, 2008 6:17 PM
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Well, it's made me thankful that I didn't buy an HD-DVD player when I was tempted by Toshiba's "Five free movies!" offer.
But then, this is the very reason that I didn't take advantage of that offer.
So, yes, I'm more likely to buy a Blu-Ray player, now, but I'm probably going to hold out until HD-DVD's defeat becomes certain. IF it becomes certain.
There seem to be a lot of zealots in both camps, triumphing one format over the other. Other than the slightly less draconian DRM and region coding on HD-DVD, I don't see a technical advantage to the format. Sure, it can do that cool "picture in picture" thing, but in a year's time, I'm sure all new Blu-Ray players will be able to, too. Once again, early adopters get bitten...
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Jan 9, 2008 6:28 PM
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JamesRC, you can get 5 free movies with Blu-ray players as well, and the "Profile 1.1" players include the ability to display Picture-in-Picture. The PS3, which is Profile 1.1, seems to be the favorite Blu-ray player, and you get a game system as well. One of the first Blu-ray movies with Picture-in-Picture came out today; Sunshine from Fox.
Gord
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Jan 10, 2008 1:46 AM
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I have become increasingly alarmed by the news that Blu Ray Disc is becoming the be all and end all of playback devices.
Years ago, when the mini-series CENTENNIAL was on, I taped (VHS) the entire series - But, of course, in those days I taped in SLP mode and, also of course, all of the original commercials were still on the tape.
A few years later, I noticed that there was a professionally recorded VHS set available. Even though the set was expensive, I purchased it because I wanted to see the episodes WITHOUT commercial interruptions.
Then the 'new technology' of DVD became all the rage. While visiting the electronics department of a local department store, I realized that the store was carrying fewer and fewer VCR's. And, about the only way I could be sure to get a VCR was to buy a new TV with a built-in VCR. And even those were being 'closed out' by the department store. It is now no longer to find ANY kind of VCR for sale at that particular department store!
I purchased a VHS to DVD recorder and began transferring everything I had on VHS to DVD so that I would at least be able to continue playing back my favorite movies and TV programs.
Of course, because of the copyright, I could NOT transfer the VERY expensive, professionally produced VHS copy of CENTENNIAL to DVD. But I COULD transfer my originally taped copies of the series to DVD - even though the original had been taped in SLP speed and was littered with commercials.
I felt like I had been had because I had made such an expensive outlay to have the professionally produced VHS set of CENTENNIAL - and, with every passing day, it became closer and closer to a time when it would be impossible for me to be able to find a VCR to be able to play back the professionally produced VHS set of CENTENNIAL.
More recently, I HAVE learned that the Big Wigs had FINALLY released CENTENNIAL on DVD. Naturally, of course, the DVD set is VERY expensive! But I am reluctant to fork over that much cash for yet another EXPENSIVE copy of CENTENNIAL if the DVD technology is going to become like the buggy whip -- AND, in a few years' time, the advance of technology would have made both the DVD AND the DVD player so obsolete that it would STILL not be possible to playback the CENTENNIAL episodes which I enjoyed MUCH more the first time around than I am currently enjoying all of the dark screens and talking heads from the networks who rarely, if ever, get a chance to take up space on my new 55-inch, HD ready TV.
TRUST me on this one - CENTENNIAL looks like Shakespeare compared to the lackluster drivel currently being shoveled by the network nitwits!
In the meantime, of course, we are barely noticing the strike of TV's so-called 'writers.'
Of course, I guess the UP-side of all of this is that, eventually, the entertainment industry will price itself OUT of the market. I still have a very NICE library stocked with VERY nice books and I do NOT need any expensive-but-soon-to-be-obsolete electronic devices in order to be able to READ the books. The library EVEN includes a very INEXPENSIVE copy of CENTENNIAL -- imagine that!
Sincerely, Estrelita
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Jan 10, 2008 2:03 AM
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Estrelita said, "More recently, I HAVE learned that the Big Wigs had FINALLY released CENTENNIAL on DVD. Naturally, of course, the DVD set is VERY expensive!"
I hate to tell you this, but Centennial has never been released on DVD. If you bought this mini-series on disc, then I'm sorry to say that you have almost certainly been misled into buying a counterfeit ("pirated") copy of it.
Universal Studios made a huge TV-to-DVD announcement back in 2004 that mentioned Centennial in their plans, but never has actually released. Not in the USA, and not anywhere else in the world to the very best of my knowledge.
A couple of items in that old announcement (Ironside and McHale's Navy) ended up getting sub-licensed out by Universal to another studio (Shout! Factory) for release. At least one - The Bionic Woman - was held up by legal issues.
Nobody seems to know why Centennial was never released by Universal, and fans of the mini-series are very vocal about how upset they are! Of course, that unfortunately also makes those fans a good group for DVD counterfeiters to target. Gord recently talked about that sort of thing here.
In Toronto a few weeks ago a Canadian police made a huge bust of one big group of these DVD pirates, and the Royal Mounties (yep, they're still called that!) are encouraging anyone - including those of us in the United States who are affected - to contact them if you think you've "been misled into purchasing a counterfeit DVD instead of an original copy". There's a toll-free number listed in that article, for people to call and report if they've been victims of this sort of thing.
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Jan 10, 2008 7:16 AM
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Estrella:
Technology changes with time. Sometimes it makes things obsolete. Sometimes it doesn't.
You were happy with your original Centennial VHS tapes. Then the show was released on VHS without commercials. You have to pay for that benefit. Now it's on DVD (if it really is on DVD) with (usually) an uprade in video and audio and maybe some special features. You have to pay for that as well.
It's your choice. Pay for the extra benefits of these "upgrades" or stay with the VHS tapes you had that you found perfectly satisfactory. And they are still usable. So there is no reason to feel "had".
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Jan 10, 2008 12:21 PM
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Well my Step-dad bought an HD-DVD player a couple of months back thinking that was going to be the "new it thing", but he is going to be so mad to hear that HD-DVD is not going to be the way to go. ANd that player was not cheap. He has also been buying HD-DVD's.
Peace!!
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Jan 10, 2008 1:13 PM
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If Bluray does win out, I sure hope they fix all the "issues" with that format. I'll wait until later to bother with a player.
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Jan 10, 2008 1:16 PM
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Even if you bought it on DVD, you could still play it in a Blu-Ray player or HD-DVD player as they have backwards compatibility
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Jan 10, 2008 1:41 PM
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@Dave Lambert:
A few items of misinformation in the last paragraph of your post need to be corrected.
1- The 800 number listed in the online article you reference and in various newspaper reports is that of the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association, not the RCMP. Canadian residents can dial the toll-free number to "verify the legitimacy of Web sites" before ordering a DVD online. However, that number is accessible only from certain U.S. regions. The Association does have a Web site of its own (www.cmpda.org) that anyone in the world can visit, but all it seems to offer as regards illegal activities is general info on its anti-piracy operations. If you surf around the site, you'll find a couple of e-mail addresses which may be worth a try.
2- In the news reports, readers who believed they had already purchased a pirated DVD were invited to call the RCMP at (514) 939-8307. That is the number of the Québec Division, headquartered in Montréal -- which, I'm ashamed to admit, is where the December raids were conducted and the counterfeit DVDs seized. (There are other cities in Canada besides Toronto -- although it is true that another major bust occurred there in August 2006.)
As far as I know, the RCMP does not have a toll-free number. Nor does it accept reports of crime via e-mail. Perhaps Americans who suspect they've been misled into purchasing counterfeit DVDs should contact the FBI's Cyber Division? Or, as suggested on the RCMP Web site, "if you live outside Canada, please contact your local police service and ask them to make a request for assistance from the appropriate Canadian law enforcement agency."
3- You can accuse me of nit-picking if you want, but locally the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is most often referred to as the RCMP, sometimes as simply "the Mounties." I had never heard or seen the agency called "the Royal Mounties" until I read your post. I suspect the latter nickname would be used primarily by non-Canadians.
Having said all that, I'm sure TVGuide.com readers will be grateful to you for the warning against counterfeit DVDs.
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Jan 10, 2008 1:44 PM
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Thanks for straightening me out, MamaFrog. Gord's the Canadian...as you guessed, I live in the USA. I'm sure Gord will be kidding me about that "Royal Mounties" phrase for years to come! 
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Jan 10, 2008 2:08 PM
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Does this mean that I will not be able to view all formats on my HDTV?
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Jan 13, 2008 4:38 AM
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Does this mean that I will not be able to view all formats on my HDTV?
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Jan 13, 2008 4:39 AM
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