Seems the war between Blu-Ray and HD is finally, officially over.

This is from today's edition of Nikke Finke's "Dateline:Hollywood" column:

"Wal-Mart announced today that its 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores and internet websites will move forward this year with just one hi-def movie and hardware format: Blu-ray. The change will take place quickly as the retailer phases out HD-DVD product and reorganizes shelf space by June. "We've listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases," said Gary Severson, senior vice president of Home Entertainment for Wal-Mart, U.S. Wal-Mart will continue to sell through remaining HD DVD product, but in less than 30 days customers will see a more predominant move toward Blu-ray in stores, clubs and online. As the nation's largest retailer, Wal-Mart is a hugely dominant force in selling entertainment product; how ironic that this past christmas the Arkansas behemoth sold all those super-cheap $99 Toshiba HD-DVD players only to render them virtually obsolete just months later. Warner's recent decision to choose the Blu-ray format sealed the deal in the format war because now four of the six major movie studios are making their high-def DVD titles only in the Sony-developed Blu-ray format.

Wal-Mart's decision follows similar announcements by Best Buy and Netflix. This week, Best Buy Co said that, beginning in early March, it will prominently showcase Blu-ray hardware and software products in its retail and online outlets in the United States. The company noted that it will continue to carry an assortment of HD-DVD products for customers who desire to purchase these products. But Brian Dunn, Best Buy’s president/COO, explained: “Best Buy has always believed that the customer will benefit from a widely-accepted single format that would offer advantages such as product compatibility and expanded content choices. Because we believe that Blu-ray is fast emerging as that single format, we have decided to focus on Blu-ray products.”

As for Netflix, the world's largest online movie rental service, it decided this week to move toward stocking high-def DVDs exclusively in the Blu-ray format. Netflix said that as of now it will purchase only Blu-ray discs and will phase out HD-DVD by year's end. Since the first hi-def DVDs came on the market in early 2006, Netflix has stocked both formats. "The prolonged period of competition between two formats has prevented clear communication to the consumer regarding the richness of the high-def experience versus standard definition," said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix. "We're now at the point where the industry can pursue the migration to a single format, bring clarity to the consumer and accelerate the adoption of high-def. Going forward, we expect that all of the studios will publish in the Blu-ray format and that the price points of high-def DVD players will come down significantly. These factors could well lead to another decade of disc-based movie watching as the consumer's preferred means."

Hello Blu-Ray markups

I don't think HD-DVD will truely ever go away. I have both types of players and discs, and there are movies that only available on "either or." Some movies are only released on Blu-Ray and others are only released on HD-DVD. That is why I had to end up buying both types of players. For example, when Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer was released, it was only available on Blu-ray and not HD-DVD. King Kong is just the opposite. Only available on HD-DVD. I am rambling, but the point is that I do not think that the formats will merge for quite some time. There is too much money to be made with two formats.

Great. Just what I need; another door stop. I'll eventually bronze my XBox 360 HD player and put it on a shelf next to my Panasonic 3DO game system.

I don't think HD-DVD will truely ever go away.

BetaMax anyone?

I don't think HD-DVD will truely ever go away. I have both types of players and discs, and there are movies that only available on "either or." Some movies are only released on Blu-Ray and others are only released on HD-DVD. That is why I had to end up buying both types of players. For example, when Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer was released, it was only available on Blu-ray and not HD-DVD. King Kong is just the opposite. Only available on HD-DVD. I am rambling, but the point is that I do not think that the formats will merge for quite some time. There is too much money to be made with two formats.

You had to buy a Blu-ray player because that's the only HD format the Fantastic Four movie was available on!? Dude! :eek:

You had to buy a Blu-ray player because that's the only HD format the Fantastic Four movie was available on!? Dude! :eek:

No, I knew I was going to get one eventually, so I broke down and bought the player. I already had the HD-DVD player and wanted that movie in HD. Since it was only on Blu-Ray and I knew that one day, it would take over, went ahead and bought it and the player. I didn't mean to make it sound like I spent all that money for a player just for that one movie. I have over 100 Blu-Ray movies now. Even more HD-DVDs as well. (Yes, I am well-off).

BetaMax anyone?
Yes, please. I still have tapes.

I For example, when Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer was released, it was only available on Blu-ray and not HD-DVD. King Kong is just the opposite. Only available on HD-DVD.

No, both were available on good ol' standard DVD, which is what I bought 'em on.

You know, I truly hate this kind of $hit (with a capital $).

I don't even remember when the industry started cramming CDs & CD players down our throats, but I refused to cave in even though they phased out LPs & cassettes. I never did buy a CD player. The ex gave me one for Christmas in '96. As the Borg point out, "Resistance is futile." I finally started replacing the music I couldn't do without maybe 5 years after that. Now, lo & behold, the audiophiles are claiming that there's no substitute for the "warmth" of an LP. Well, no $hit. I coulda told 'em that 15 years ago.

I still haven't gone to HD OR Blu-Ray. And I don't intend to for the forseeable future. Many folks I know are saying the better format has already lost out (much like Beta vs. VHS). Don't know & don't care either. As John pointed out, most things are still available on basic DVD while the pissing match between HD & Blu-Ray plays out.

I won't switch till there is no other option and HD/DVD is truly dead, gone & buried.

Any titles that were 'exclusive' to HD-DUD will no doubt be available on Blu-ray within a years' time. Warner has already announced that all of their previously HD-DUD-exclusive titles (including the Matrix trilogy, Batman Begins and Forbidden Planet) will be available by the third quarter. Paramount and Universal will be announcing their Blu-ray titles fairly soon (after they've dumped their existing HD-DUD disc inventory) and will obviously want to re-release a lot of their material in the surviving format, considering that their HD-DUD profits are now spiraling down the toilet.

No, I knew I was going to get one eventually, so I broke down and bought the player.
I'm surprised anyone would buy a stand alone Blu-Ray player instead of taking the same amount of cash and getting a PS 3, which has a Blu-Ray player already on board. Unless the person has no interest in gaming at all. That is until a Star Trek game or something comes out, then they'll have to pay another $400 to play it!

I'm surprised anyone would buy a stand alone Blu-Ray player instead of taking the same amount of cash and getting a PS 3, which has a Blu-Ray player already on board. Unless the person has no interest in gaming at all. That is until a Star Trek game or something comes out, then they'll have to pay another $400 to play it!

Oh, now you are REALLY going to hate me. I already had a PS3, but I didn't want to shorten it's life by using it to watch Blu-Ray movies. So, I bought a Blu-Ray player for the movies and use my PS3 for games only. I had the money, so it really wasn't a big deal from my perspective.

Oh, now you are REALLY going to hate me. I already had a PS3, but I didn't want to shorten it's life by using it to watch Blu-Ray movies. So, I bought a Blu-Ray player for the movies and use my PS3 for games only. I had the money, so it really wasn't a big deal from my perspective.

It's not the Blue-Ray player. It's that Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer was the impetus. ;)

Oh, now you are REALLY going to hate me. I already had a PS3, but I didn't want to shorten it's life by using it to watch Blu-Ray movies. So, I bought a Blu-Ray player for the movies and use my PS3 for games only. I had the money, so it really wasn't a big deal from my perspective.In the words of Trelane "I'll fix you!" (lol!). Understandable. I'm actually planning to get a PS 3 later, but I'm kinda waiting for their game library to expand a bit. The 360 has more selection at the moment, but when I do get the PS 3, I guess I'll also have a Blu-Ray player by default.

In the words of Trelane "I'll fix you!" (lol!). Understandable. I'm actually planning to get a PS 3 later, but I'm kinda waiting for their game library to expand a bit. The 360 has more selection at the moment, but when I do get the PS 3, I guess I'll also have a Blu-Ray player by default.

That's GENERAL Trelane (Ret.) You may refer to him as The Squire Of Gothos. "I sentence you to be hanged by the neck until you are DEAD...DEAD...DEAD!" Your quote bings up another point. I bought the first season of TOS on HD-DVD. Are they going to release the other 2 seasons on HD-DVD as well, or are they going to re-release the first season on Blu-Ray and do the next two that way as well. I wonder.

BetaMax anyone?

Mine still works pretty well actually.

. I bought the first season of TOS on HD-DVD. Are they going to release the other 2 seasons on HD-DVD as well, or are they going to re-release the first season on Blu-Ray and do the next two that way as well. I wonder.Good question. Not that I have any inside knowledge, but I would expect they'll eventually be made available on Blu-ray. Just seems to make sense to me.

Qapla'

SSB

Oh well, at least I have 2001, Blade Runner and several others on HD. 2001 looks spectacular. I believe they're going to release Battlestar Galactica in HD too, if it hasn't came out already.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/182/462351412_6aa9aba845.jpg

HD-DUD is soon to be HD-DED:

More retailers are following Best Buy and Wal Mart - going Blu-ray exclusive:

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa151.html#wmpr

Looks like Toshiba is about to call it. Paramount and Universal may not be far behind:

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents

"Shaka. When the walls fell."

http://gear.ign.com/articles/852/852769p1.html

"Shaka. When the walls fell."

"Darmak and Jillad at Tenagra"

Dharma and Greg use viagra...what?

I am losing my interest in owning films anymore. They keep changing formats. I think I'll just rent them from Netflix. I'll stick to DVD, although, my son has a PS3 now that I could start getting into Blue Ray. It's just too much money to spend. Life isn't all about entertainment.

Now, lo & behold, the audiophiles are claiming that there's no substitute for the "warmth" of an LP. Well, no $hit. I coulda told 'em that 15 years ago.

Most of the real audiophiles I know have always said that and maintained their turntables and vac-tube equipment right next to their new digital stuff. It's the poser audiophile wannabe sheep who you now hear waxing poetically about the smooth beauty of vinyl recordings ...oh ya, and they can buy mint vinyl LPs for fifty cents a disc from the local public library. Whatever.

John O.

I wonder how much of the 'records sound warmer' is just a psychological response. They should use a higher bit rate with digital. The only time I've heard digital sound like crap is when the tonally inept try to import a billion songs at 64 kbs. I used to love records too when that's all there was. I certainly don't miss that guy frying bacon in the background of all my songs anymore.

Now that Blu-ray has no more competition, what reason do they have to bring down the cost of their players and movies?

Supposedly, "the consumer has decided" (BS) so are the Consumers going to continue to decide that 29-39 bucks for a movie is a good price?

At least HD-DVD kept them on their toes.

BTW...it the better late than never dept. I finally got my Phaser remote from Toshiba yesterday. Guess what the first thing I "shot" with it was?:mad:

I wonder how much of the 'records sound warmer' is just a psychological response. They should use a higher bit rate with digital. The only time I've heard digital sound like crap is when the tonally inept try to import a billion songs at 64 kbs. I used to love records too when that's all there was. I certainly don't miss that guy frying bacon in the background of all my songs anymore.

I wonder about that as well.
But I'll tell ya, we went over to someones house (parents of a friend of our 5 year old) and he was quite the audiophile.
I saw stuff that I had no idea they made.
Audio cables that are 3in. wide and 1/8in. thick with only a nylon web shielding.
Connectors I've never seen before.
And a turntable with a ultra-heavy platter so that the inertia of the platter even-outs any discrepency in the speed of the motor.

And he belongs to a club where they get togather and try out new gear.

It's dead, Jim.

Looks like the fat lady may have sung her final note on HD-DUD: Toshiba is pulling the plug on the format, conceding defeat to the superior Blu-ray Disc format.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080216/bs_nm/toshiba_hd_dvd_exit_dc_1


http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/5521/churchsignsk2.jpg

And to think I ALMOST bought one of those $100 Toshie HD-DVD players at Christmas...

Now that Blu-ray has no more competition, what reason do they have to bring down the cost of their players and movies?

Supposedly, "the consumer has decided" (BS) so are the Consumers going to continue to decide that 29-39 bucks for a movie is a good price?

At least HD-DVD kept them on their toes.

BTW...it the better late than never dept. I finally got my Phaser remote from Toshiba yesterday. Guess what the first thing I "shot" with it was?:mad:

DVD didn't have any real competition for years, yet the prices of players and movies dropped steadily.

Lou, DVD didn't have any competition , nor did VHS in the long run. Just another product cycle until the next best thing. The prices will come down, just like they have for most consumer electronics.

Now that Blu-ray has no more competition, what reason do they have to bring down the cost of their players and movies?

Supposedly, "the consumer has decided" (BS) so are the Consumers going to continue to decide that 29-39 bucks for a movie is a good price?

At least HD-DVD kept them on their toes.

BTW...it the better late than never dept. I finally got my Phaser remote from Toshiba yesterday. Guess what the first thing I "shot" with it was?:mad:

I wonder about that as well.
But I'll tell ya, we went over to someones house (parents of a friend of our 5 year old) and he was quite the audiophile.
I saw stuff that I had no idea they made.
Audio cables that are 3in. wide and 1/8in. thick with only a nylon web shielding.
Connectors I've never seen before.
And a turntable with a ultra-heavy platter so that the inertia of the platter even-outs any discrepency in the speed of the motor.

And he belongs to a club where they get togather and try out new gear.Not saying that this is true for these people, but I've often ran across folks like that (and usually they just got into audio about ten minutes ago and are experts now!), and most of them are more into their equipment than the music that they play on it. They may as well listen to and brag about the lack of distortion in test tones.

I wonder how much of the 'records sound warmer' is just a psychological response. They should use a higher bit rate with digital. The only time I've heard digital sound like crap is when the tonally inept try to import a billion songs at 64 kbs. I used to love records too when that's all there was. I certainly don't miss that guy frying bacon in the background of all my songs anymore.

I've gotten used to the sound of CDs, but to me the telling point was last October. My nephew had bought a high end turn table and several LPs online. At the time I walked in, he had "Long Time" by Boston playing and I remarked on the sound (I assumed he'd bought a new amp & speakers). It's hard for me to quantify, but the sound was...expansive. Very dynamic. More than anything, I'd have to say it sounded "alive." Does that make any sense? I know this much...not having heard an LP in 15 - 18 years, the difference was immediately noticable.

Being a musician, I realize I'm in the minority and probably pay more attention to sound than the average consumer, but yes, there is something lacking in the sound of a CD.

The "sterility" that I've heard mentioned in reference to CDs seems an appropriate description to me. Perhaps it's the compression inherent to the digital recording format. Theoretically, the frequencies that are inaudible to the human ear are deleted, but taken as a whole, the recording sounds somewhat "flat."

Now in fairness, I have to admit with respect to video, I saw the improvement over VHS when DVD hit the shelves. And again, I can plainly see the superior visual quality of HD/Blu-Ray over DVD.

What makes the bile rise in my throat is that yet again, the format that most videophiles regard as the better of the two (not to mention less expensive) is being phased out in favor of the lesser, more expensive one...because the suits have decided for us, that's what we want to buy.

As George Carlin once astutely noted, "You don't get what you pay for...you get whatever they damned well feel like selling you."

the format that most videophiles regard as the better of the two (not to mention less expensive) is being phased out in favor of the lesser, more expensive oneIn most of what I've read from videophiles, both formats were about equally well-regarded in terms of the quality of the picture they produce. Sure, you can find those who claimed the superiority of one over the other, but it seemed to be about an equal split. They both used the same codecs and such.

Qapla'

SSB

The picture quality on my HD-DVD player is outstanding-even for being the $200 XBox add on. I think the main deal breaker was that Sony got a big jump on the market by already having one in their PS3's. For those owners, it made the choice a no brainer.

And that was the biggest criticism launched at the PS3!!! Turns out Sony played it exactly right.

The "sterility" that I've heard mentioned in reference to CDs seems an appropriate description to me. Perhaps it's the compression inherent to the digital recording format. Theoretically, the frequencies that are inaudible to the human ear are deleted, but taken as a whole, the recording sounds somewhat "flat."



Sounds like you are talking more about MP3s than actual WAV files.
My ears aren't that good when it comes to music, but I can usually spot an MP3 (even a high bitrate one) as compaired to a WAV file.
I am sure that the WAV format does not translate some frequencies as well as a record does. But no where near what MP3 does in just killing everything over (I think) 16 khz.
I think the 'warmth' that you hear from a vynil is the actual sound of the needle scratching across the vynil. It gives a little something in the quiet moments that CD doesn't have.
Which is why CDs generally sound 'steril' to me. It's like the music is played in a vaccum.
Then again, I much prefer a live performance to a studio one. I like the full range of hearing the crowd and everything else that goes along with the performance.

Sounds like you are talking more about MP3s than actual WAV files.
My ears aren't that good when it comes to music, but I can usually spot an MP3 (even a high bitrate one) as compaired to a WAV file.
I am sure that the WAV format does not translate some frequencies as well as a record does. But no where near what MP3 does in just killing everything over (I think) 16 khz.
I think the 'warmth' that you hear from a vynil is the actual sound of the needle scratching across the vynil. It gives a little something in the quiet moments that CD doesn't have.
Which is why CDs generally sound 'steril' to me. It's like the music is played in a vaccum.
Then again, I much prefer a live performance to a studio one. I like the full range of hearing the crowd and everything else that goes along with the performance.

No, I'm talking about "uncompressed" WAV. I've spent plenty of time in recording studios, besides all the recording software in my PC. What I'm talking about isn't technically compression, but is one of the inherent drawbacks to digital recording. When I record direct into the board (especially my old Hofner bass), the DI box takes the analog signal from the instrument and in the digital conversion process, discards frequencies above & below a certain range (bear in mind, this is NOT a user definable preset such as you would have access to when ripping Mp3 files, which only magnifies the issue). This prevents the generation of a digital file with sectors that can't be understood digitally. Were this not done, on playback, you'd get the digital equivalent of "wow & flutter" on the bass end, or really piercing noise on the treble end.

By the same token, The Beatles used to do a lot of studio experimentation that isn't possible today. Analog recording equipment can be fooled into doing things it wasn't designed to do. For example, on an analog tape, by physically pressing your finger along the edge of the tape spool, you create an effect known as "flanging." You can't do that digitally. Yes, software exists to simulate that effect, but it isn't really flanging.

The net result is that I've always regarded CDs as more or less a simulation of music. 95% of the population will hear a reasonably pleasant sound and they're happy enough to accept it as good enough. But what you hear is NOT what was played by the musician.

I still say 8-tracks sounded much better than cassettes!

Except for the annoying "KA-CHUNK!" when it changed programs.

I actually found reel-to-reel sounded warmer than cassette or 8-track. Of course, that was an audiophile system that I heard it connected to. Honestly, I never found cassette to have an entirely pleasing sound.

Now, for Blu-Ray to drop to an affordable range...

Auto reversing cassettes were horrible. When the head swung around it never was precisely where it needed to be, so one side always had cleaner treble than the other. Not to mention how bad tape was affected by temperature. Thank God those days are over at least!

but HD DOES have competition...Digital Downloads.
not much competition right now, but as it gets more practical to download, you'll see more folks doing it.

and unlike analog signals, this it the exact same ones and zeroes. no generational degradation.

I'm old school. I want a collection and boxes. I don't want my films to disintegrate because of a hard drive failure.

Jeff,
Oh, I'm right there with you. I want to be able to see what I'm spending my money on (even if I'm not watching it)

I'm completely unconcerned about digital downloads. They are too impractical for me.

When I purchase something, I want something tangible for my money. Even when I do download software and such, I make a hardcopy on a CD or DVD. I never let it just sit on a busy hard drive. Because, it's not IF it's going to fail, but WHEN.

I am glad this format war is finally coming to a close and we can get on with anxiously awaiting hi-def releases without worrying about what format it's going to be released on or what studio released it. We can just sit back in our home theaters and enjoy the experience.

Plus the other thing is I'm not sure if you get special features with digital downloads. The extras on DVD, Blu-Ray and HD DVD's are sometimes superb. And for guys like us that like to know all there is to a film and the processes involved, that stuff is a gold mine.

but HD DOES have competition...Digital Downloads.
not much competition right now, but as it gets more practical to download, you'll see more folks doing it.

and unlike analog signals, this it the exact same ones and zeroes. no generational degradation.

The main drawback to digital download is the compression I mentioned before. You can see the result on streaming video and to one degree or another, on downloaded video files.

MPEG 1 & MPEG 2 are the most commonly used (MPEG 1 for VCD & PC and MPEG 2 for DVD) for download. MPEG 1 is generally half the size of an MPEG 2 file and results in a picture roughly on a par with VHS.

MPEG 2, being larger, though of better quality (roughly that of standard DVD) is less commonly used for download due to the file size and download time.

Uncompressed AVI files are MASSIVE and not practical for download because
even on a 100 gig hard drive, you'll run out of storage space PDQ.

On the other end of the spectrum, RealMedia files are so compressed that they're essentially useless for anythig other than streaming media.

Then there's the issue of proprietary codecs which won't allow you to view them on anything other than your PC. Since these codecs are not available to the end user (some video downloads require you to install their codec specific media player in before you can play them), they can't be transferred to a disc.

There's always a catch...

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w145/columbine420/gameover.jpg


Game over, man! Game over!



Toshiba officially ends HD-DUD in press release from Tokyo today:

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/?epi_menuItemID=8529ea2ad8631dcd3bb97904c6908a0c&epi_menuID=887566059a3aedb6efaaa9e27a808a0c&epi_baseMenuID=384979e8cc48c441ef0130f5c6908a0c&ndmViewId=news_view&newsLang=en&newsId=20080219005651

heres a jump ball question (cuz I don't know the answer)

What does Disney call their Blu-Ray titles?

With standard def DVD and VHS, they attempted to "brand" them as "Disney DVD" and "Disney home video" as if they were the inventors or something.

I can't imagine their total arrogance and overinflated egos would would allow for "Disney Blu-Ray" cuz that might actually give credit to someone else.

Am I wrong?