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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » The Afterlife   » Let the HD DVD format wars begin... (Page 4)

 
This topic comprises 8 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8   
Author Topic: Let the HD DVD format wars begin...
Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

- posted 04-22-2005 05:37 PM      Profile for Bobby Henderson   Email Bobby Henderson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I'm glad to see Toshiba is actually talking to Sony about this. A few days ago The Digital Bits website reported how Warner Bros. was dragging their feet, issuing a "don't bet it" scoff over a unified format.

Movie studios have not been known, at least lately, for having level-headed thinking. Combine that with the hair-brained nature of American-style business practices. One easily see how a next generation HD-disc format would be screwed up if left in the hands of American "suits" in entertainment companies. Not that I want to cheerlead for foreign companies, but Japanese corporations aren't known for journeymen CEOs, overpaid executives and painfully short-term business plans.

This move on the part of Sony and Toshiba seems to be more sanefully forward looking.

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Mike Heenan
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1896
From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

- posted 04-23-2005 04:47 PM      Profile for Mike Heenan   Email Mike Heenan   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Warner Brothers, or rather Warren Lieberfarb, is usually credited with the early pioneering of the DVD format. It would suck if there's a format war but hopefully it will all work out in the end.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

- posted 04-23-2005 05:28 PM      Profile for Bobby Henderson   Email Bobby Henderson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
AOL/Time Warner fired Lieberfarb late in 2002. Some think this happened because he was getting so powerful in the organization. Others didn't like how that looked in the management restructuring (with "AOL" getting knocked off the masthead). The last I heard, Lieberfarb was suing over the deal, claiming he was owed back royalties over DVD sales.

Whatever happens with the HD-DVD thing, and Warner trying to hold onto some hopes of exclusivity, Lieberfarb won't be involved in WB's dealings. Perhaps Sony and Toshiba might talk to the guy.

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Bill Gabel
Film God

Posts: 3873
From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
Registered: Jan 2002

- posted 05-05-2005 01:11 PM      Profile for Bill Gabel   Email Bill Gabel   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Another company has announced another HD DVD format.

New Medium Enterprises, Inc. unveils first full length Bollwood movie "Shabd", In stunning High-Definition, On it's red laser 20GB and 40GB Versatile MultiLayer disc (VMD).

New York, (May 2, 2005)--New Medium Enterprises Inc. today announced it will unveil its highly anticipated pre-industrial VMD (Versatile MultiLayer Disc) , the next generation HD Disc and drive containing 20GB of storage capacity on the current red laser technology platform, before investors and news media in the United States. The HD content will be shown in genuine HD formats (MPEG-2, 1920x1080 interlaced and progressive scan).

The company plans to launch production and sales of 20GB and 40GB discs and drives in the fourth quarter of 2005. The drives will be inherently backward compatible with existing pre-recorded and recordable DVD and CD formats.
New Medium demonstrated and described this revolutionary new technology before significant investment bankers in New York City on May 5th. 2005. VMD was recently demonstrated to enthusiastic groups of industry leaders in several countries and at CeBit in Hanover, Germany where it was hailed and embraced as a breakthrough and compelling solution for cost-effective High-Definition pre-recorded discs and players.

The pre-recorded VMD has four layers on one side for an initial capacity of 20 GB and is entirely based on the current red laser DVD industrial infrastructure. VMD is designed for viewing High-Definition content requiring high storage capacity and high bit rate (up to 40 Mbs), such as full motion pictures sport entertainment and other demanding video content and data. Pre-recoredVMDs are capable of playing next-generation, High Definition movies and other video content, catering to the vast consumer base of owners of HDTV television.

This is from the press release for the event.

New Medium Enterprises Inc.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

- posted 05-05-2005 02:08 PM      Profile for Joe Redifer   Author's Homepage   Email Joe Redifer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Oooooo! A real contender! Bollywood ownz us all.

40GB is nowhere near enough. The H.26354544534675673465756346564 codec (that just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?) that will be used is MUCH less efficient than MPEG2. A trailer for a movie like Batman Begins (which was a little over 2 minutes in length) ends up being about 145MB at 1080p. I dunno. Maybe that's about right what it should be. Nevermind.

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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!

Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000

- posted 06-13-2005 12:30 AM      Profile for Paul Mayer   Author's Homepage   Email Paul Mayer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
The BD/HD-DVD talks have collapsed. Looks like they'll let us decide. Let the games continue... [Mad]

quote:
Sony, Toshiba End DVD Talks

Talks between Japanese electronics giants Sony and Toshiba aimed at reaching an agreement on a unified next-generation disc format have collapsed, says SCE president Ken Kutaragi.

Speaking in a press conference, Kutaragi said: "There's very little chance that the negotiations will go through." This follows Toshiba's announcement last month that it would not agree to a unified format based around the Blu-ray disc.

Kutaragi went on to discuss Sony's decision to adopt Blu-ray for the PS3, claiming that "product planning" had forced the company to make a choice early on.

Both Blu-ray and HD-DVD, Toshiba's favoured format, use blue lasers rather than red to store data at higher densities. Companies already behind the Blu-ray format include Philips, Apple, Hitachi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung and LG.

HD-DVD supporters include NEC and Sanyo, and more than 80 films from studios such as Paramount, Warner Bros and Universal are slated for release on the format later this year.

Sony had been hoping to avoid a VHS vs. Betamax-style format war by opening talks with Toshiba back in February, but the two companies found it impossible to agree over storage.

Blu-ray discs can hold 50GB of data, while HD-TV discs only store 30GB. But the HD-TV camp argues that this is more than adequate, and that manufacturing costs are lower as the discs can be produced with current-gen machinery - making the format cheaper and therefore more appealing to consumers.

Blu-ray supporters say capacity should take priority over cost of production - adding that although such a large amount of storage might not be essential now, it will be required in the future as high-definition entertainment becomes increasingly popular.

The next generation of DVD players is expected to roll out to the mass market at the end of the year, and it now seems certain that both Blu-ray and HD TV products will be found on the shelves.

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Bruce Hansen
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 847
From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA
Registered: Dec 1999

- posted 06-13-2005 07:44 PM      Profile for Bruce Hansen   Email Bruce Hansen   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
When DVDs came out, they required new equipment to produce them. The equipment used to make CDs could not be used to make DVDs, and since "they" were not going to make fewer CDs in order to make DVDs, it makes sense. DVDs will be made for some time to come, so extra equipment will be needed to produce the new format anyway. So, the corporate "it's going to cost money" whine, just doesn't hold up.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

- posted 06-13-2005 09:31 PM      Profile for Bobby Henderson   Email Bobby Henderson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Y'know, I would be pretty excited about a new HD disc based format for watching movies -along with buying a "1080p" HDTV with native 1920 X 1080 pixel display.

However, I'm just a little more concerned about other events -such as the price of oil jumping $2 per barrel today. Housing prices are inflating out of control, and Alan Greenspan says there's no housing bubble. GM is laying off 25,000 workers and laying some of the blame on the huge amounts of money they have to spend on health insurance premiums.

I don't know. Some of this stuff makes me think it might be kind of stupid for me to run out and spend several thousand dollars on a cool HD home theater setup. I guess I'm kind of worried about the economy taking a sudden downturn. Several thousand in debt would be kind of a pain to deal with if your level disposable income evaporates down to next to nothing.

I think the electronics companies are strutting around with their competing formats absolutely convinced there's going to be a shit load of business just waiting for them. I don't think that's going to be the case. Record high prices for housing, education, health care and freaking gasoline has a lot of people wierded out. And then consumers just don't like format wars either. Who wants to gamble on one kind of player only to see it get bulldozed by the opposite format?

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

- posted 06-14-2005 09:05 AM      Profile for Steve Guttag   Email Steve Guttag   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
They better settle on one format...Bobby is absolutely correct...consumers can't stand multiple standards. It also doesn't work out very well for manufacturers...sooner or later, there will just be the one standard and if you lose, you lose big.

Video "on-demand" at HDTV rates might also make a dent in things...why bother storing your own library when you can just select from a massive library?

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

- posted 06-14-2005 12:26 PM      Profile for Bobby Henderson   Email Bobby Henderson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Video on demand services will eventually take up a huge stake of the video rental business. However, it will be at least a few more years before any workable infrastructure allows that to happen (along with pricing, digital rights management schemes, etc.).

I think video on demand will hit a "must have" point when viewers can hit a button on their remote and view just about any movie ever made instantly. View a new release for $4 or a classic movie for much less. I think such a resource would have to be controlled independently of any single movie studio.

People will still prefer to have their own tangible copy of a film to hold in their hands for a long time to come. It's nice to have the pretty packaging. The downside is a library of DVDs takes up more and more space. A gradual transition will occur over a period of perhaps a decade where viewers will eventually just download the movie and all the extra content they want to see online.

A good example of this transition is what has already taken place in print. Newspapers don't sell as many copies anymore. Same for magazines. More and more people are just hopping onto the Internet to get the same information, and do so at a faster pace. I don't subscribe to any newspapers or magazines anymore partly due to the Internet. The other factor is the space savings. I hate throwing things in the trash that cost me money, such as magazines. But damn. A few years worth a magazines stacked up on a shelf starts grabbing out a greedy footprint of space in your house.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

- posted 06-14-2005 05:37 PM      Profile for Joe Redifer   Author's Homepage   Email Joe Redifer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I hate video on demand. I hate the idea of paying each time I watch something. What a stupid idea! Worked out REALLY WELL for Divx.

I also hate the idea of subscribing to any kind of television service whatsoever. You are truly a sick individual when you like TV so much that you will actually pay for its programming. People like that should be shot in the face, have their left testicle snipped off, a needle poked into their right one, and then switch out their left eyeball with the previously removed left testicle.

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Jesse Skeen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1517
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Aug 2000

- posted 06-16-2005 02:00 AM      Profile for Jesse Skeen   Email Jesse Skeen   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
[beer] That is the coolest statement I've ever heard about cable TV that did not come from me!

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

- posted 06-16-2005 07:07 PM      Profile for Bobby Henderson   Email Bobby Henderson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Satellite TV is not vital for my survival at all. And my Dish Network service will be the first thing I'll sacrifice if I need to cut costs if hard times arrive.

Still, video on demand has its place. I'm not going to buy a copy of every movie I watch -or just wait for it to show up panned and scanned and all cut up to hell "for free" on broadcast TV. My time is worth more money to me than that.

Lots of movies are just not good enough to buy on DVD. I have a few DVDs in my collection that have not paid for themselves. For a DVD to pay for itself, it should be viewed at least 5 or 6 times. The formula can be lower if you're not single. Basically it is a lot cheaper to pay $2 to $4 (or a lot less) to watch a movie once than pay $15 to $25 for the DVD and have it sit dormant on your shelf after you watched it only once or twice.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

- posted 06-22-2005 10:37 PM      Profile for Joe Redifer   Author's Homepage   Email Joe Redifer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
So rent them on DVD. Or have John Pytlak send you a pirated copy from his vast collection!

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Jesse Skeen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1517
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Aug 2000

- posted 06-23-2005 02:31 AM      Profile for Jesse Skeen   Email Jesse Skeen   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
It looks like the talks to create a unified next-generation DVD format have fallen through, so we'll be treated to Beta Vs. VHS: The Sequel. This'll confuse even more people since they'll both use 5-inch discs that'll fit in any machine, but won't play in all of them. I'll be sitting it out until either one format dies, or if I can be convinced factually that one is superior to the other, or if someone makes a machine that can handle both (still using my Pioneer combo DVD/Laserdisc player right now.)
I've never rented a DVD BTW- I buy and keep all my movies, even the crappy ones.

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