Friday, February 1, 2008
For students trying to decide between the Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats, the decision just got easier.
Warner Brothers announced earlier this month that it would dump its HD-DVD collection and exclusively sell Blu-ray formatted DVDs.
It became the sixth major American film studio to venture down this path, following Disney, Fox, Lionsgate, MGM and Sony Pictures.
Blu-ray Disc Association controls two-thirds of the DVD market, giving it a substantial monopoly over the Toshiba-backed HD-DVD format, which continues to be supported by Paramount, Universal and DreamWorks.
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Blu-ray Disc Association controls two-thirds of the DVD market, giving it a substantial monopoly over the Toshiba-backed HD-DVD format, which continues to be supported by Paramount, Universal and DreamWorks.
Warner Brothers cited the strong consumer preference as the main reason for its decision.
According to Home Media Research, Blu-ray Disc movie titles outsold HD-DVD nearly 2-1 in the United States and Europe. Of all high-definition titles sold in 2007, Blu-ray discs made up 67 percent of those sales.
Miranda Smith, assistant manager of Hastings on 23rd and Iowa streets, said she recently noticed consumer trends reacting to the new monopoly.
“We’ve had a lot of people sell their HD-DVDs back,” Smith said. “Within about six months we should be getting a lot more Blu-ray formatted discs in.”
Erika Schmidt, assistant manager of Blockbuster on 23rd Street, said her store hopped on the trend a lot sooner.
“We’ve had Blu-ray discs since they first came out,” she said. “After Warner switched to Blu-ray, though, we started getting a lot more titles.”
Blockbuster received more than 25 DVD titles since Warner Brothers made its decision, Schmidt said.
Not all businesses are welcoming the new technology.
Doug Redding, manager of Liberty Hall, said the new monopoly was just another example of corporate bullying.
“I think a lot of people don’t want to buy a bunch of new crap to support this new technology,” Redding said. “We’re going to hold off on Blu-ray as long as possible.”
— Edited by Jared Duncan
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Comments
Warner Brothers switches to Blu-ray
Blu-ray has a lot of problems, it's not even a finished format. There are Profiles, 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0 which have various tech specs. For example while every single HD DVD player is required to have a second audio and video decoder, and ethernet port, Blu-ray has these optional and existing hardware does not support these features. Why does it matter? Well for starters, Blu-ray is beginning to offer new content such as web features and Picture-in-Picture commentary that existing hardware won't nor can ever support. Whereas with HD DVD, every player can enjoy every single feature and access all content. Besides the price issue, $127 for HD DVD versus $349 for Blu-ray, HD DVD is also the official format successor to DVD, created out of the 200 company strong DVD Forum.
Also there are only six major studios, Warner Bros, Disney, Sony, Fox, Universal and Paramount. MGM is a subsiadiary of Sony, and Lionsgate is not a major but a mini-major like The Weinstein Company, who notably backs HD DVD exclusively.
Finally, Hastings and Blockbuster, along with Target have all received incentives or compensation to give in-store preference to Blu-ray. This is indeed a monopoly, what consumer want the content developer, the hardware manufacturer, the media reporter and the software medium all handled by the same greedy corporation? I hope no one and supporting Sony's Blu-ray is effectively supporting this global media and hardware conglomerate.
HD DVD is cheaper, better, more stable and offers consumers advantages such as no DRM, no region coding - buy a movie anywhere in the world and it will play, streamlined experience and strong brand. Don't be fooled by the hardware vendors backing Blu-ray, for them it's all about money. Ask yourself, what is the point of all those hardware vendors when there is no price competition? They have a monopoly, a cartel on pricing and keep things consistent. Toshiba, NEC and RCA are competiting on price and value, Sony is too busy buying off retailers and now studios to give the illusion and perception they've won. All of the "wins" are marginal, Not one single Blu-ray title has ever sold more than 200,000 copies to date where most including some of their big flicks have sold under 50,000. And they say the consumer has chosen? Think again.
Warner Brothers switches to Blu-ray
Porn won't decide it, because during the VHS/Betamax days, there was only one medium for it. Now we have the web, which is huge for adult content. It won't decide the war, besides the porn industry has backed HD DVD since day one.
About transitioning, I agree. I think HD DVD has the better path, due to strong brand name awareness and low cost. $121 for an HD DVD player on Amazon, the financial barriers are gone. The HD players are just as inexpensive as a DVD player but with the added benefits of the HD DVD format.
I think it's unfortunate companies like Sony are trying to dictate the war for us, by buying studio support versus letting consumers decide.
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