Waterworld in high definition, what else is there to say? Head over to the HD DVD or Blu-Ray specials sections and start buyin’ – unless of course you’re planning on hooking yourself up with the new Apple TV service, which actually looks pretty nice. Incidentally, it seems Blu-Ray got the better overseas distributors; they’ve got The Host, Kung Fu Hustle, and Tekkon Kinkreet, all great foreign films from the last year or so. HD DVD has more classic stuff, I think, although I would hold off buying those things until they hit rock bottom in like six months. Amazon.com HD DVDs half-off Amazon.com Blu-Ray discs half-off → Read More
Luckily, this “Hitler railing against Flight Simulator/Quake/AMD” meme has been sufficiently subsumed that we can look past the obvious nastiness — Hitler — and enjoy the subtitles. via BB → Read More
Well, the Stevenote’s over and we got a new laptop, a wireless hard drive, and an iPhone update. Oh yeah — iTunes movie rentals. Individually each of these announcements aren’t very exciting. The Air looks pretty cool but it doesn’t have a removable battery. The iPhone update upsets the true fanbois because it’s not unlockable even after hackers laid hands on pre-launch software. And everyone can do movie rentals, right? Heck, even Netflix can do that! → Read More
Now that Paramount has assured us that they’re not abandoning HD DVD, Toshiba has announced a new marketing strategy for the HD format. Players are going to get cheaper, which is already evident from today’s previous coverage. On top of lower prices for players, the entry-model HD-A3 will be $149.99, the HD-A30, with 1080p output, $199.99, and the high-end HD-A35, $299.99, will be free HD DVDs to go along with the purchase of your new HD DVD player. They’re hoping the strong holiday push they had will trickle over into the new year. The feature sets that accompany each player are much better than that of Blu-ray players, but are cheaper prices and free discs enough to save the HD DVD camp? Paramount has great titles, but when the other camp has all the other studios in their back pocket what do you do? But now the porn industry is going the way of Blu-ray. Hmm. I’m stumped on this one. → Read More
The pornography industry, ever-delivering the deciding blow (pun intended) in video format wars, looks to be jumping mid-race from one pony to another. See first the industry picked the HD DVD pony. Then that pony stumbled and has currently commenced its falling-down sequence, so Porn jumped onto the Blu-ray pony as it was passing the HD DVD pony, which it started to do a couple of weeks ago. Whatever the case may be, the lifelike clarity of every bodily nook and cranny will make its way to a high definition disc format of some type and when all is said and done people will keep buying their smut online, rendering the whole HD DVD vs Blu-ray thing unimportant as it pertains to the porn industry. HD DVD suffers another defeat as porn companies switch sides in HD DVD vs Blu-ray war [Blorge.com] → Read More
Forget holiday shopping deals, many Toshiba HD DVD players are now selling for under $200 anyway. The HD-A3 and HD-A30 are going for $134.98 and $174.98 on Amazon, respectively. You’ll still get two free movies in the box (Bourne Identity and 300) plus five more by mail, too. These may very well be closeout prices, though. Often times, retailers will change the last two digits in the price of a product to reflect its status. Things ending in 99 cents are current while things ending in 98 cents signify that no new product will be filling the warehouses, for example. So if you’re looking for a great deal on a high definition DVD format that won’t get very many new movies released for it, now’s your chance. Amazon.com: Toshiba HD DVD via DailyTech → Read More
“Paramount’s current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format,” Brenda Ciccone, a spokeswoman for Paramount. Paramount Denies Report It Will Drop Toshiba’s HD DVD (Update2) [Bloomberg] → Read More
The Blu-ray camp can boast that their technology is superior, but HD DVD started off with local storage and a second video and audio decoder for PIP, which Blu-ray does not have. BD-R wanted to cut costs, but the last time I checked, HD DVD players were still much, much cheaper. What’s going to suck for BD-R owners is that when Profile 2.0 is released, those with Profile 1.0 or 1.1 won’t be able to watch the latest discs released to the public. Profile 2.0 brings Internet connectivity, which HD DVD has already had for a while now mind you. The Blu-ray disc Association will begin labeling discs according to which profile player you own. Those with Profile 1.1 should pay attention to discs labeled “Bonus View” while those with Profile 2.0 will want “BD Live”. It’s all going to be a buggy mess and Profile 1.0 players might not be powerful enough to even play discs that are released down the road. How is Blu-ray superior to HD DVD? Blu-ray: Early adopters knew what they were getting into [Beta News] → Read More
[photopress:vhddvd.jpg,full,center] HD DVD? What’s that? Universal has ended its HD DVD exclusivity arrangement and Paramount’s HD DVD contract has an escape clause. Should Paramount exercise that clause, and there’s no reason not to at this point, Blu-ray would have thoroughly won this silly “format war.” Now we can get back to the important business of arguing over more important things, like which gaming system is the best or why the Zune (or iPod) sucks so much. HD DVD’s fate more or less lies in Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart and other retailers’ hands now. If the retailers see momentum in the Blu-ray direction, they may opt to limit the amount of shelf space they give to HD DVD. That would only accelerate Universal and Paramount’s production of Blu-ray titles. To videophiles flush with money, the “winner” shouldn’t matter, so long as the studios author their discs properly (remember the abomination that was the first release of The Fifth Element on Blu-ray?). Pirates, on the other hand, are screwed if the BD+ copy protection doesn’t get cracked. Who knew Warner wielded so much power? Blu-ray could win high-def battle [Variety via Bits New York Times Blog] → Read More
[photopress:360hddvdnot.jpg,full,center] Photo via this woman’s Flickr account. Thanks, person! While Sony and its PS3 may benefit from Warner’s decision to support Blu-ray, Microsoft doesn’t think its HD DVD-playing Xbox 360 will take any significant hit. A Microsoft marketing manager said he doesn’t “think… this has a significant impact on Xbox 360 versus PlayStation 3.” The manager then reminded us that while DVD playback may have been an initial boon for the PS2 so many years ago, in the long-term, DVD playback wasn’t crucial to the console’s success. Back then, the PS2 was king, while the 360 seems to be this generation’s go-to system (aside from the entirely different Wii). This shouldn’t be surprising, given Bill Gates’ attitude toward high-def discs. (He thinks we’ll all eventually download our high-def content and that discs are strictly a temporary storage medium and delivery mechanism.) And for the gamer, none of that matters. Give me a solid library, which the 360 has, and I’m all set; Blu-ray/HD DVD/whatever is completely irrelevant. Microsoft: HD-DVD Not Critical to 360’s Success [Next-Gen] → Read More
Is there a doctor in the house? Can we declare HD-DVD officially dead now? I just walked by both the HD-DVD booth and the Blu-Ray booth on my way up to the Blounge (Blogger’s Lounge), and snapped these two shots. [photopress:hddvd.jpg,full,center] [photopress:bluray.jpg,full,center] In short, the HD-DVD booth felt like I was at my grandparents’ funeral, while the Blu-Ray camp felt more like a birthday party. → Read More
[photopress:apNERL07_Gadget_Show_00K9H.jpg,full,center] Thanks, AP Warner’s decision to exclusively back Blu-ray definitely hurts pirates and could, in the long run, hurt regular consumers, too. By all indications, right now, Blu-ray has the momentum to “win” the format war, especially if the reports suggesting Paramount will switch to it turn out to be true. That would leave Universal as the only major studio exclusively in the HD DVD camp. You can bet that won’t last long. Pirates should care about this because Blu-ray disc is harder to crack than HD DVD; BD+, the new copy protection that even gave dedicated Blu-ray players problems a few months ago, hasn’t been cracked yet. (Even if it were cracked, new discs would ship with another copy protection mechanism and the appropriate firmware to decode it on stand-alone players.) That means no more high-def rips of movies. That’s not good for pirates like me. Pay for a movie? Yeah, OK. → Read More
HD DVD’s booth at CES was a sad, sad sight to see. You could tell by the demeanor of everyone working the booth. They knew. Blu-ray’s booth was less than 20 yards away and they were rocking out and people were milling around trying to watch demos, take pictures with Captain Jack Sparrow and the Spartans from 300. Don’t get me wrong, I’m in HD DVD’s camp, but how are they going to recover from Warner Bros. departure? The Financial Times is reporting that Paramount has a purported clause in their contract that allows them to switch sides in the event Warner Bros. backs out of HD DVD. Why the two studios have anything to do with each other is beyond me, but that’s what ‘people familiar with the situation’ are claiming. Biggs says it’s not over because Samsung is still producing dual format players and apparently they have more say in the situation then one is to believe, but we’ll wait and see what Paramount does. Paramount in HD DVD blow [FT] → Read More
[photopress:BD_UP5500__1.jpg,full,center] Product Name: Samsung BD-UP5500 Description: A combination Blu-ray+HD DVD player that fully works with both formats Price: TBA In-store date: Second-half 2008 Site: Samsung Blu-ray Why it’s cool: Because it plays both high-def disc formats, hopefully leading to less confusion on the consumer’s part. It’s fully compatible with the new Blu-ray Bonus View, aka Profile 1.1. → Read More
Well, Toshi responded by saying that HD DVD is not dead and all that jazz. They’ll probably just stick to the porn industry to save the format. → Read More
Image ganked from UberGizmo Product Name: Toshiba Qosmio G45-AV690 Description: This 2.5-GHz Core 2 Duo laptop includes HD DVD playback, for what that’s worth these days. It plays back in full 1080p and includes a mini webcam and GeForce 8600M graphics card. It also supports HDMI-CEC out. → Read More
The companies of the HD DVD Promotional Group today issued a statement in response to the decision by Warner Home Video to exclusively back the Blu-ray format: While Warner’s decision is a setback for HD DVD, the consumer has benefited from HD DVD’s commitment to quality and affordability – a bar that is critical for the mainstream success of any format. We believe widespread adoption of a next generation format will ultimately be determined by the consumer. HD DVD ought to go on that Yo’ Mama show. Blu-Ray must still be reeling from the force of this shattering riposte from the HD DVD Promotional Group. → Read More
I am in utter shock right now. Warner Bros. just dropped a bomb. And that bomb is that they’ve given up on HD DVD. Is the format war over? This won’t go into effect until later this year, but this has to be the end, right? Anyone want to buy an HD DVD player and a boat load of movies? Heh. Seriously. Not really. Well, maybe. → Read More
Macworld 2008 is shaping up to be the hottest ticket this month. Quite possibly rivaling CES for press coverage. Why? Besides the announcement of a sub-notebook and/or multi-touch notebook, iTunes movie rentals, and HD video editing software we may see a shift in the format wars. Apple has remained quiet on the subject in terms of hardware by not picking one side of the other to support, though we know it would be Blu-ray for any number of reasons, but this Macworld may change that and possibly shift the war in favor of Blu-ray. If Shaw Wu, an analyst from American Technology Research, is to be believed along with his sources then Apple will announce that Macs will begin shipping with Blu-ray support. He attempts to step back from this claim and say they might throw in a combo drive, but I don’t see that happening. Apple supporting a Microsoft backed product? Nah. Who really knows, though? We’ll find out on the 15th. Apple set to ship Macs with Blu-ray support – report [Apple Insider] → Read More
This will truly be a sad and momentous CES for many. I’m not looking forward to my excursion in the desert and this will be my first CES. I may throw my glamorous career and life in the trash if nothing groundbreaking is announced or unveiled. Failing that, I may end up in a ditch or roaming the desert hopped up on peyote. I haven’t decided yet. It’s also Bill Gates’ last CES as the head of MS. I’m sure he’ll want to go out with a bang. So I hope this rumor of an Xbox with and internal HD DVD drive is true. It only makes sense considering the PS3 has an internal Blu-ray drive. The format war isn’t going to end anytime soon and consumers will not want to purchase an external drive, either. So, Mr. Gates, I hope you bow out of the limelight with something worth announcing on your last go around. If not, I’ll boo and throw stuff at the stage. If I get kicked out then my trip will be worth it. Visions of Gates’ keynote swan song [Seattle Times] → Read More
San Francisco, CA
