Paramount And DreamWorks Announce HD DVD Exclusivity
Just when you thought it was all over, it seems that HD DVD going to keep swinging. For a long time it seemed as though the format war between Bluray and HD DVD was all but won, largely due to the PlayStation 3. Apparently both DreamWorks and Paramount announced not just HD DVD support, but exclusivity to Toshiba’s format.
“The exclusive HD DVD commitment will include all movies distributed by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films, as well as movies from DreamWorks Animation, which are distributed exclusively by Paramount Home Entertainment.”
The reason for the sudden, and needed, support is the price of HD DVD. Both DreamWorks and Paramount wanted to reach a broader audience, such as families. As far as the format war goes, this is huge. Not only does this make both “Transformers” and “Shrek the Third” HD DVD exclusives, but this will also cause rental companies, especially Blockbuster, to reconsider the currently stronger support for Bluray. The advantage that the PS3 provided will also be challenged much more by the Xbox 360’s HD DVD player now that the newer Xbox 360s come with HDMI.
August 21st, 2007 at 12:37 am
As for consoles the Blu-Ray was inside PS3 while HD-DVD was simply an addon to XBox 360. Whatever… Blu-Ray has more space and you know how people tend to like huge space.
So IMO, Blu Ray wins. Hey what about the Hybrids?
August 21st, 2007 at 3:04 am
Well this just made Fox-MGM reaffirmed their commitment to Blu-ray only and that means tons of great sci-fi flicks will not be seeing the HD-DVD treatment.
August 21st, 2007 at 4:40 am
Frankly if dreamworks animation is exclusively for HD-DVD I’ll quite happily buy a Blue-Ray player. I don’t quite know how that will keep dreamworks animation away from Blue-Ray but I wouldn’t buy their crap even if it was available for it.
August 21st, 2007 at 4:41 am
I know one Sci-Fi flick which is on HD-DVD exclusively, The Matrix Trilogy
… the only HD-DVD movie I have. Thought of getting 300 but then I saw a regular DVD version… the movie is utter crap, a two hour music video, at best.
August 21st, 2007 at 4:44 am
SasukeX: Both Paramount and Dreamworks say the reason they switched was that HD-DVD was a “technology ahead of Blu-ray” and that it was cheaper, which has been known for a while.
More storage doesn’t mean it’s a better product.
August 21st, 2007 at 7:05 am
Right, thank god the PS3 had a blu-ray drive. Because that helped sales. So much. I think it’s better to offer an external upgrade for high-def formats. Why? Because plenty of young people will shell out the cash for a game system but might not have an HD television. And seriously, what’s the big deal about more storage space? Do you really need to be able to fit all twenty episodes of a tv show onto one disc? Honestly, if you’re seriously worried about how you’re going to store every season of all your favorite tv shows, then you watch too much tv.
August 21st, 2007 at 7:14 am
I didn’t say it is a better product but people like to have a lot of space.
I know that it has been said HD-DVD has better quality but it’s not that much difference.
But still Blu Ray has some other advantages which leaded into higher price:
The Blu-ray disc has a tighter track pitch, so it can hold more pits on the same size disc as HD DVD even with a laser of the same wavelength. Also Blu-ray has a much smaller 0.1mm layer than the 0.6mm layer of HD-DVD.
The surface layer makes the Blu-Ray cost more and the disc has less damage from fingers or dust. I am still on Blu-Ray side.
August 21st, 2007 at 7:18 am
Betamax lost to VHS in the past.. why? cuz betamax cost way to much and sony was greedy, they wanted most of the money. Now,I thought it was all over.. I thought with blu ray buying disney and such, they couldnt lose. I personally like the hd dvd now better.
WIth blu ray u cant have 2 versions of a movie. So, you go out and spend 30 bucks on a movie. You only get 1 movie, just a newer version of the movie..say “Top Gun”
Before,people had to replace all of their dvd’s from vhs. At the time everyone didnt care because vhs was dead technology basically. The sound sucked,the picture sucked, u couldnt skip chapters.. had to rw and ff and u had to rw to start the movie over.
With dvd’s, you had a sharper pic,better sound 5.1, chapters, no rw or ff.. unless u wanted to skip certain parts. To me dvds rocked hard! But, now hd is getting really really popular. Have u ever tried to play a pc game on really low resolution? It looks horrible, then u go to 1024×768 and it crushes the 800×600.. then u go higher, it’s smoother!
August 21st, 2007 at 7:21 am
SasukeX: Today it’s the simple and cheap technology that usually wins, look at the Wii. Or the iPod, when the iPod came out it had less features and cost more than other MP3 players.
On paper, Blu-ray sounds fantastic, it can scale up to 200GB on one disc. But the average consumer doesn’t need 200 GB on a single disc. You can fit an HD movie on a DVD (with a proper compression), or two discs. And how many movies ship with two DVD discs? A lot.
DVD should have been improved just a bit, and it could store HD movies. But the DVD copy protection is cracked, which is why a new format is really needed. If HD-DVD and Blu-ray had the same capacity as a regular DVD, they would still push them onto the market, because of the new DRM.
Wicker man: remember that Betamax was preferred by professionals because it had a better quality. Which is why the VHS/Betamax war went on for almost 10 years. The same will happen to HD-DVD/BD, there won’t be a winner, there will be a loser – the consumers.
August 21st, 2007 at 7:26 am
Pros about blu ray : Yeah, the disc can hold more space.. but honestly who cares? When video games needed a cd back in the day at 700mb.. they only used 100-400mb.. never used the full potential of the disc. Look at dvds for gaming too, on the xbox/ps2.. most games never nailed the 2-3 gb mark.
Yes, more space.. but no games ATM needs more than 7 gbs of space. hell, 360 games only need 7 gbs.. all my games showed only 7 gbs. When I took out the useless space, Just cause,rainbow six vegas and more of the pc titles only hit 3-4 gbs. Thats half what a dvd dl can hold.
So yes, it holds alot more.. I think it can go up to 200.. but u dont need atm..
Supposely, the blu ray can output 1080p.. this is what the guy at sound advice told me. Im not entirely sure, but the hd dvd can only output 1080i.
The cons : When u buy a movie, it’s only blu ray.. so all of the people like me have to start over again.. then I have to spend 15-25 dollars more to replace the movie if my blu ray player brakes down.
P.S… I was a long time blu ray supporter.
August 21st, 2007 at 7:26 am
Do you know who was one of the companies that popularised Toshiba’s DVD? It was SONY along with their PS2. Now with Sony supporting Blu-Ray I wonder how it will be.
August 21st, 2007 at 7:31 am
Oh and we’re not only talking only about games or movies at Blu-Ray. They sure influence the formats sales a lot but I’m talking even for e.g. blank Blu-Rays or HD-DVD.
August 21st, 2007 at 7:33 am
dude, in the end betamax lost. It never made it to the end like vhs. I never met someone with betamax, I never purchased betamax. Remember, vhs lasted nearly 20-30 years easy.
Why do I personally Like the Hd-dvd over the blu ray? Like I said and james said ” They can hold up to 200 gbs”
The disc are what 20 bucks a pop for 1 disc.. And, that’s only the lol 25 gb disc. I just dont need it.. dvd dl’s are still amazing to me.
This is why I like hd dvd over blu ray.
My friend came over with the move “300″, I saw he had a hd dvd movie.. im like travis ” I dont have a hd dvd player” He took out the disc and flipped it over, on the other side was a copy of the dvd movie. Im like wtf?! This sparked my interest in hd dvd movies. I still couldnt believe you’re getting 2 movies for 1 price. This is blu rays biggest fall…
I love options, options rock the house. If my hd dvd player brakes, no need to cry to my wife to spend 400-1000 bucks. LOL, I just flip over the movie and pop it in my dvd player. Either way u look at it, I go to the movies shop and buy a hd dvd movie. When the time comes I ll be ready to upgrade to a newer technology.
That’s just me… I think it’s cool u dont have to start over ur dvd collection ASAP.
August 21st, 2007 at 7:36 am
Dude, sony was hired to make a cd player for the Super NES. This was the only time nintendo and sony tried to work together. In the end nintendo didnt want it, so sony ended up making the PS1 later on for their technology.
Im not a sony hater, I just think people right now. They dont need that much space, it’s overkill lol
August 21st, 2007 at 7:41 am
The fact that on HD-DVD movies there are also DVDs for free doesn’t mean HD-DVD is better. Actually it has nothing to do with tehconolgy and such. It’s just an idea they came up to gain interest from consumers.
And what’s the NINTENDO and Sony all about?
August 21st, 2007 at 7:43 am
Oh and maybe you don’t care about storage but other people might like it just like I do.
You must consider that the fact that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray was released was due to the storage needs of HD Movies.
So storage is never useless, as you see.
August 21st, 2007 at 7:48 am
<p>Of course the storage is never useless, I can imagine people in the pro film/tv business will love having so much storage, but seriously, it’s gonna take hours and hours to copy 200GB from one disc, let alone burn a 200GB disc. Hardrives are so cheap these days and will be even cheaper when the 200GB blu-ray discs appear. </p>
<p>I don’t think future console will have disc players at all, just a massive harddrive with everything delivered through a series of tubes. </p>
August 21st, 2007 at 7:55 am
@ James: True… but hey what about Hybrid HD-DVD and Hybrid Blu-Ray. I remember I read a post about that here at DigitalBattle. If I remember well it said they have much more storage. Is is true?
August 21st, 2007 at 7:57 am
Yeah, I see why you would want more for storage.. But look at this way man. You can buy dvd’s at 4.7 gbs.. 100 pack for 30 dollars, where as a blu ray.. 20-25 dollars for 25 gbs of space. So for the same price you re only getting 25 gbs where as the dvd you’re getting 470 gb’s..
Don’t get me wrong, blu ray has awesome storage.. but something is already better than the blu ray. It depends man, if they come out with hd dvd blanks and if they can hold up 15 gbs ill be happy..
Im not cheap, but if I can buy a whole package for like 30 bucks.. instead of 20 for 1 disc.. Ill roll with the one in a package. ATM the blu rag burners are 500(cheapest One)… Average it’s 700-800 bucks..
For the future.. like james said, I think it’ll be a long brutal battle. Now it’s stuck at the half way point.. I thought blu ray rolled over hd dvd, but with these big companies signing with them to add to their arsenal I dont see a roll over anymore.
August 21st, 2007 at 8:01 am
xD Haha… but hey no I didn’t say only storage… I want quality too.
August 21st, 2007 at 8:17 am
They both have great quality.. I ve seen both movie formats on a hd dvd. I ve seen them both in 1080 resolution. A format basically is a format. Basically what blu ray has over hd dvd is it can max out more space. But, if hd dvd wanted to worry about maxing out storage I dont see why they couldnt do it later in the future. RIght now, they need to keep alive int he battle.
August 21st, 2007 at 8:20 am
Changing later is impossible. Why didn’t DVDs increase storage then… it was the main problem why they weren’t used for HD Movies.
Oh and having both formats it’s good. I don’t want to have only one choice this time.
August 21st, 2007 at 8:25 am
dude dvds did increase their storage from 4 to 8.7.. thats still plenty
August 21st, 2007 at 9:19 am
Yeah, there were plans of a triple layer DVD and quad layer, with some 13-16 GB of storage
August 21st, 2007 at 9:55 am
How many layers can a DVD have?
August 21st, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Just to make this clear … HD-DVD DOES indeed display in 1080p just like Blu-ray. I don’t know where Wickerman got the impression it was limited to 1080i. Now the HD-DVD add-on for the 360 could only do 1080p through the VGA connection because there was no HDMI option before the Elite came out (and now upcoming premiums will also have HDMI) but now 1080p is easy as pie just like any other stand alone HD-DVD player with an HDMI port.
August 21st, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Yeah a DVD with dual-layer on both sides can make it to 16 GB. That is the max I think just like 200 GB is the max of Blu-Ray and 60 GB is the max of HD-DVD.
August 21st, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Anuban, if u would read.. I said I wasnt sure.. amazing how people do that. They pick one thing out of a sentence and go at my throat. I said the guy at SOUND ADVICE.. it’s like a BESTBUY but only for dvd/blu ray/tvs/car systems/.. basically a rich mans store. He said that hd dvd can only get up to 1080i.. thats what He told me.. Thats what I said in the post..
Im not sure, but I didnt believe him. He had the blu ray player playing the movie and was trying to sell the player for his commission check. God, I hate salesman.. All of the sudden they re your best friend lol.
@Jams : lol u serious dude? that would be sick.. so far dvds are more than enough for me atm.
@ erich jurgen : as many as the company wants.. the blu ray is can tons of layers. The blu ray has 8 layers for the 200 gb blu ray.
I just thinkt his whole war is cool.. I mean look at floppy disk,then cds,then dvds,now blu ray/hd dvd.
LOL, I remember using floppy in the 4/5th grade. Then 6th no body had a cd burner but me. At the time it was cool but sucked. It took like 45 mins to burn a cd.. now it takes 1 mins and 30 secs lol.
August 21st, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Yeah, but CDs were a whole new medium from floppies or cartridges , DVD, HD DVD, and Bluray are all basically advanced versions of the CD. I’m waiting for a whole new storage medium.
August 21st, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Erich… lol the blu ray and hd dvd are the stronger medium.. dude look at what cd’s were. Only 700 mb’s, then dvd’s jump to 4.7 then a massive 8.5 gb jump. Now blu ray can jump to 200.. rumors of 500… Also, U can take a pizza clutter on the disc(blu ray) and itll still play. Thats impressive
August 21st, 2007 at 3:24 pm
I’m not arguing that Bluray and HD DVD are stronger, I’m arguing that they aren’t as new as they seem. I’m looking forward to the time when movies come in have a credit card sized medium that can hold all three Lord of the Rings Four disk special edition… In HD. Until then they’re just snazzier forms of disks.
August 21st, 2007 at 3:28 pm
basically you’re saying.. floppy and cd’s were a big format jump. Now, ur waiting for a new shape and form.. Yeah, I can see what u mean
August 21st, 2007 at 8:38 pm
If both formats survive equally, I think I would prefer HD-DVDs for movies, but Blu-Ray for file storage. That is, if it goes down in price for the discs and the burners.
Either way, since Blu-Ray is so sturdy, can store up to 200GB, I’d rather get that than have an external hard drive.
HD-DVD is nice because it means I don’t have to buy a player right away, but I’m sure that once high definition gets more popular they won’t have a DVD side.
I was talking to a guy at Best Buy once and he and I noticed the Blu-Ray discs and the burner and were amazed at the price (compared to DVD’s and burners now) and he said that he had heard about Blu-Ray back in the late 80’s, which surprised me because I thought it was something they just found out.
Both have their benefits and losses, and like someone said earlier, the companies don’t lose out, the consumers do, if their format goes obsolete.
August 21st, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Guy i have always been on HDDVD side quiety to tell you the truth i really think its better quailty sorry sony
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:50 am
@ Paul: Yes it has quality for movies but that’s definitely not everything to be the next gen format.
As I stated before Blu-Ray is more durable and has a 0.01mm surface layer.
I’m pretty sure it’s REALLY HARD for everyone to choose who will be the next gen format.
For me, I wish they could become both winners and then we would have 2 formats.
August 22nd, 2007 at 9:10 am
@ paul and Sasukex : How is it possible? It’s not like betamax and vhs.. before u could choose the same movie on either format. It’s different now.. Now, it’s what movie you want to buy.
Now blu ray owns certain movie companies.. And hd dvd owns there choice of companies. It’s basically split right down the middle, now.. We’re waiting on the companies to get better offers, knowing sony.. They will want the most money.. so yeah, this is how they lost in the betamax world.
SOny had the better product, but they wanted so much money it wasnt even funny. VHS, just wanted to get money.. and wasnt greedy.. does this make sense for any of you? It’ll be all about the money.. kinda like MS paying off rockstar/ubisoft and what not. I see a long brutal battle in this one..
Still, I think the format is way to advanced for gaming. PS3 owners are scared of the wii/360 owners. The 360, besides the overheating problems.. which most found out it was the ring of life. Really wasnt broke, is selling very well. Still for a console to sell 11 million in just 2 years is something..
Some say the MS made a bad choice on using dvd dl. Im not sure about that, look back in 00.. SOF was the graphic of the year game, 700 mb of storage.. The games in 0-1 were barely nailing 1-2 gbs.. Hell, the ps3 title ROFM was only 4.7 gbs big.. which can fit on 1 dvd5. r
August 22nd, 2007 at 9:17 am
I dont trust SONY at all.. Yeah I have a 360, but im more of a pc gamer. Why dont I trust sony? The ps3 copied so much of both consoles. The wii comes out and does the motion controller… then the ps3 tries to copy something like that. The xbox 360 has a home button, of course sony copied an idea like that too. Remember their first controller design? OMG.
I dont mean to bring this in the console front but this is how I stopped trusting them. What made me scared of buying a blu ray player/movies was of this.
I was at SEARS, and of course there was a hd tv with blu ray/dvd movie on. What made me sick was they were doing the split screen, u know how they do that on gametrailers “comparisons” They made the dvd look like utter crap. It was so blurry, out of focuse.. I couldnt even make out the people..
Right there, proved to me sony lies way to much to boost their sales on products. DVDS dont look that bad.. come on. I still think dvds look really good..
I do have to admit, for a dvd format(blu ray) to hold that much information is amazing.. I just want to feel more comfortable with a company then a company trying to lie to people all of the time.
They lied to ps3 owners, saying u needed a blu ray player to play games. I already proved must of their games can fit on a dvd5. Their top developers called them idiots.
Im a person of upgrades/options.. sell me something I need. I personally feel they tried to use the console gamers to promote their product.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
AND THATS WHY SONYS BLU- RAY WON BECOUSE STUPID PEOPLE DO STUPID THING LIKE BUY AN XBOX 1.5 OR A WII THOUGH I REALY DONT HAVE NOTHING AGAINST THE WII. MORE THEN HALF THE PEOPLE I KNOW WHO BOUGHT A 360 SUFFERED THE RED RING OF DEATH AND STILL HAVENT GOTTEN THEIR MONEY OR THEIR 360 BACK FROM MICROSOFT SSSSSSSSSSSAD