[Rocketfan]

This could be a key determination in who wins this battle.......and its obvious some companies knew it was coming seeing as they were selling HD-DVD stuff at rock bottom prices over the holidays.....

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AFP) - HD DVD backers are reeling at the world's top consumer electronics show in the wake of a major blow by rival Blu-Ray in the battle to be the reigning format for high density DVDs.

Warner Brothers studio pulled out of an alliance with Toshiba's HD DVD camp and switched sides, announcing on Friday that Hollywood's largest distributor of DVDs will do so exclusively in Sony's Blu-Ray format.

HD DVD Promotion Group cancelled a press conference it had planned for the eve of Monday's formal start of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Warner Home Video executives were to have joined those from Toshiba, Microsoft, Intel, Universal Home Studios, and Paramount Home Entertainment at a press conference in the Wynn hotel and casino.

"Based on the timing of the Warner announcement, we decided to postpone our CES 2008 press conference" the promotion group said in an e-mail to news reporters.

Click Here for Full Story

[Fumblerooskies]

I guess this makes up for SONY'S BetaMax fiasco.

[RubberMallet]

it really looks like blu ray is going to pull this out...

hooray for ps3

[Sly Fox]

Wow! That'll burn more than a few bridges with a last second switch like that. Warner better hope Blu-Ray wins outs.

[blwall1416]

'Bout dang time...

[El Scorcho]

We've been talking about this already in another thread. In summary...

HD-DVD isn't dead yet, but I hope that Toshiba and Microsoft will just give up the fight soon. It's not likely, but that would really be the best thing at this point.

[belcherboy]

I heard that Blu-Ray paid something like $600 million to both Fox and Warner to switch exclusively to Blu-Ray. They better win if they spent over a billion dollars getting two labels to switch!!

It looks like the war may be over. I really don't like Sony being in charge (I hate the way they make things exclusive...memory stick among other things), but I think Blu-Ray is the best format.

I got a $99 HD DVD player in November. It upconverts regular dvd's, so it will not be a complete waste.

[flamesbball84]

is blu-ray the one with the bigger storage capacity?

[El Scorcho]

is blu-ray the one with the bigger storage capacity?

Yes. If anyone wants to compare specs, here's a handy dandy chart...

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-13817_7-64 ... ml?tag=nav

[belcherboy]

is blu-ray the one with the bigger storage capacity?

Blu-ray is all around better. I just hate the fact that Sony pulls the strings. I find Sony tries to monopolize it's stuff and force you to pay through the nose. At least that has been my experience. I think when they tried to stop people from ripping their CD's a few years ago and got sued, they may have changed their tune a little bit. We shall see.

My hope is the just like the CD, DVD's will become downloadable. That way we can download HD content and save money from not having to buy either HD DVD and Blu Ray. I like it On Demand so far, and would like to have a "Ipod" like unit that would work with HD or standard content (although it would need at least 200 gig to even be worth it....actually I don't think I would buy anything less than 500 gig). That way we could watch it on the go or just plug it into a HD television.

[LUconn]

Sony isn't the only one that's got a problem with ripping CDs. I just read an article last week about how laywers for the recording industry are saying that it may not be legal to copy music on your computer even if you own the CD. I doubt that would stand if challenged.

[flamesbball84]

is blu-ray the one with the bigger storage capacity?

Yes. If anyone wants to compare specs, here's a handy dandy chart...

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-13817_7-64 ... ml?tag=nav

good lord, blu-ray players cost $200 more

Do they have blu-ray recordable discs yet? They probably cost like 10-15 dollars each!

[El Scorcho]

Sony isn't the only one that's got a problem with ripping CDs. I just read an article last week about how laywers for the recording industry are saying that it may not be legal to copy music on your computer even if you own the CD. I doubt that would stand if challenged.

Yeah, after the trial was over (and the judge ruled in the RIAA's favor) the Sony lawyer said that she "misspoke". Considering that her misspeak may have had an influence of the outcome of the case, there's a big legal to do over this right now.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/0 ... -sher.html

[TDDance234]

Who do you want controlling the market? Sony or Microsoft? That one is easy for me...

[El Scorcho]

Who do you want controlling the market? Sony or Microsoft? That one is easy for me...

They've both done some extremely underhanded stuff, and neither has the consumer in mind when fighting this war, so I don't really care. I just want one format to win already.

[mrmacphisto]

My hope is the just like the CD, DVD's will become downloadable.

DVD movies are downloadable in the same way that "CD" music is. The iTunes store sells movies and TV episodes. Before you argue that the quality isn't the same, keep in mind that the music they sell is significantly compressed too.

You can actually download DVD images (and lossless CD copies, I imagine), thanks to the magic of torrents; it's just not the most legal thing to do. I doubt full-quality DVD images (especially in HD) will be sold in the near future, unless broadband becomes broader and the storage/burning process becomes cheaper and easier.

[belcherboy]

Sony isn't the only one that's got a problem with ripping CDs. I just read an article last week about how laywers for the recording industry are saying that it may not be legal to copy music on your computer even if you own the CD. I doubt that would stand if challenged.

They don't have the right to sneak software on your computer to keep you from doing it. At least that is what I thought they did.

[belcherboy]

My hope is the just like the CD, DVD's will become downloadable.

DVD movies are downloadable in the same way that "CD" music is. The iTunes store sells movies and TV episodes. Before you argue that the quality isn't the same, keep in mind that the music they sell is significantly compressed too.

You can actually download DVD images (and lossless CD copies, I imagine), thanks to the magic of torrents; it's just not the most legal thing to do. I doubt full-quality DVD images (especially in HD) will be sold in the near future, unless broadband becomes broader and the storage/burning process becomes cheaper and easier.

You can download music at the highest quality. At least I think I have (isn't the highest 360??)

When you can download HD video to put on a portable device that can then be played on the mini screen on the device, or plugged into a HD to be viewed (or burned on a Blu-Ray disc), it will be bad for Blu-Ray IMO. So far they have not created an "ipod" device to handle this (nor is there a downloadable site that offers HD video content), but I can guarantee that it is in the works. That would be pretty awesome IMO.

[mrmacphisto]

Sony isn't the only one that's got a problem with ripping CDs. I just read an article last week about how laywers for the recording industry are saying that it may not be legal to copy music on your computer even if you own the CD. I doubt that would stand if challenged.

They don't have the right to sneak software on your computer to keep you from doing it. At least that is what I thought they did.

I don't remember that, but I do remember Orrin Hatch saying that the RIAA and record companies have every right to hack into the computer/hard drive of anyone "illegally" downloading music and plant viruses.

[El Scorcho]

You can download music at the highest quality. At least I think I have (isn't the highest 360??)

No, it's not. 360kbps MP3's, AAC files, etc. are all still compressed. Compression works by discarding information. The highest quality would be lossless (uncompressed) material, which is offered by some online stores. Most lossless audio is encoded as FLAC files. The problem with lossless is that the files are huge. Some audiophiles don't really care though. Discarding any information from the original recordings is not acceptable to them. 192kbps VBR MP3 files should be about as good as anyone would need on the average system being used for playback (be that car stereo, home audio, etc.). The equivalent AAC file would be either 256kbps or 128kbps VBR.

So far they have not created an "ipod" device to handle this (nor is there a downloadable site that offers HD video content), but I can guarantee that it is in the works.

While I haven't seen a portable device with an HD screen (likely because squeezing that many pixels into a screen small enough to be portable would just be dumb), there are many places to download HD content online, and quite a few home devices that offer HD content playback. For example, the Xbox 360 Marketplace offers HD movie and TV content for download, and the 360 can play it all back. The same goes for the Apple TV device. It can output 720p over HDMI and playback HD content. iTunes doesn't currently sell any commercial HD content, but there are many really good video podcasts in HD as well as a variety of movie trailers. I have the feeling some announcements regarding HD content in the iTMS (not to mention movie rentals) are only a few days away.

[RubberMallet]

apparently paramount just dropped hddvd and has gone to blu ray..

[El Scorcho]

Yup...

Paramount poised to drop HD DVD format support
Tue Jan 8, 2008 2:05am EST

TOKYO, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Paramount studios is poised to drop its support of the high-definition DVD (HD DVD) format after Warner Bros studio said it would back the competing Blu-ray format, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

The loss of support from Paramount, which is owned by Viacom Inc would likely deal the final blow to the HD DVD format backed by Toshiba Corp and put an end to the format war, the newspaper said on its Web site.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssCons ... 1820080108

[LUconn]

The Warner Bros move was definately the beginning of the end.

[El Scorcho]

Oh but wait...it's not over!

Paramount Denies Report It Will Drop Toshiba's HD DVD

By Andy Fixmer and John Liu

Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures denied a newspaper report that the studio is poised to follow Time Warner Inc. in abandoning Toshiba Corp.'s HD DVD technology.

"Paramount's current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format,'' Brenda Ciccone, a spokeswoman for Paramount, said in an e-mail today.

Toshiba, the leading promoter of the HD DVD format for high- definition video discs, fell in Tokyo trading after the Financial Times reported Paramount is poised to adopt Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray format instead.

Paramount can defect because a clause in its contract with the HD DVD camp allows the studio to switch to Blu-ray if Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. dropped its support of Toshiba's standard, the newspaper reported today, citing unidentified people familiar with the plan. Warner Bros. said on Jan. 4 it would drop its support of HD DVD.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... efer=japan

[LUconn]

I just read that. You should read some stuff over on avsforums. Some of those HD DVD dudes that dropped some serious coin on the more expensive HD DVD units are about to commit suicide. It was their own dumb fault I guess. They knew the risks of choosing a side so early.