Warner extends HD DVD support

[admin]

Warner Home Video announced this week that it will continue to release titles on HD DVD for three weeks longer than it originally anticipated.

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/35741/98/

[BR7]

Form one of the insiders thread I read this is false hope for HD-DVD owners.Here was the explanation given

They pushed HD DVD Release by 3 weeks so they'll release less stuff, all HD DVD release are affected by this

The last HD DVD will be Twister witch come out may 5 on BluRay and may 27 on HD DVD.. after May 31 it's over

[admin]

I think it's an misinterpretation of another article, where it said that the 3 week delay applies to both new release and catalogue titles, rather than a 3 week extension.

Speaking of catalogue titles, somebody on AVS forum broke down the split by studios in terms of all available titles, the split is 57/43 in favour of Blu-ray:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=982323

So currently, 43% of all movies are exclusive to HD DVD - that's still quite a lot, although it depends on Paramount/Universal standing firm. It just shows how much HD DVD would have been ahead if Warner had moved the other way (while having 51% of all movies while Warner was neutral - of course, the new studios without extensive back catalogues now release new movies at the same rate of the other studios, so for new releases, Blu is ahead by quite a bit). But to be honest, catalogue release by all the studios have been disappointing to say the least. Where are the quality releases like LOTR or Indiana Jones (to coincide with the new movie)? Lot of these movies will look excellent in HD for the first time.

[NightTran]

I am waiting for saving private Ryan, dvd look ugly on my HDTV, I thought LOTR already in high DF ?

[admin]

The Matrix has been released on HD DVD. LOTR is the one everyone wants, but not yet on HD. I went through the top 10 movies (box office wise) on IMDb and these are not on HD yet (in order of box office):

1. Titanic (HD DVD)
2. Star Wars (Blu-ray)
3. Shrek 2 (HD DVD)
4. E.T (Spielberg)
5. Star Wars Ep.1 (Blu-ray)
...
8. Star Wars Ep. 3 (Blu-ray)
9. LotR: RotK (Blu-ray)

Going down the list, there's also: Jurassic Park (Speilberg title, so expect to wait years for the HD version), other LotR/Star Wars movies, Finding Nemo, Forrest Gump, The Lion King, The Sixth Sense, the original Shrek, Indiana Jones movies, X-Men movies, The Da Vinci Code, (and yes) Saving Private Ryan, Back to the Future, Godfather ... the list goes on

If studios are serious about promoting HD, they should release these titles as soon as possible. Forget about crap movies like Doom or Norbit, nobody wants these titles anyway.

[NightTran]

you mean in HDDVD but it already on bluray? (LOTR )

[BR7]

I know this a little off topic but it is a good rule of thumb.
The one lesson I learned from purchasing HD movies is that one should read the reviews FIRST before buying (even new releases).I got burned on Full Metal Jacket the transfer was horrible.The picture quality in the Full Metal Jacket: Deluxe Edition is very very good.The same went for the first release of The Fifth Element the PQ stank, but The Fifth Element (Remastered) release is absolutely gorgeous

Just look at it this way Night
For now any movies released from
Sony
Disney
MGM
HBO
Lionsgate
New Line
FOX
Warner(After May08)

are all Blu-ray exclusive

[admin]

you mean in HDDVD but it already on bluray? (LOTR )

When I say "HD" I mean both high def formats, so LOTR is not on either HD DVD or Blu-ray - I don't think it has even been announced yet.

I know this a little off topic but it is a good rule of thumb.
The one lesson I learned from purchasing HD movies is that one should read the reviews FIRST before buying (even new releases).I got burned on Full Metal Jacket the transfer was horrible.The picture quality in the Full Metal Jacket: Deluxe Edition is very very good.The same went for the first release of The Fifth Element the PQ stank, but The Fifth Element (Remastered) release is absolutely gorgeous

Just look at it this way Night
For now any movies released from
Sony
Disney
MGM
HBO
Lionsgate
New Line
FOX
Warner(After May08)

are all Blu-ray exclusive

I think the list should go more like this, with a breakdown of subsidiaries. So Blu-ray has 4 major studios (and subsidiaries), and one minor one (Lionsgate):

• Sony
  • Columbia/Tri-Stars
  • MGM (partly owned)
  • Screen Gems
  • Destination Films
• Disney/Buena Vista
  • Miramax
  • Hollywood Pictures
  • Touchstone Pictures
• Lionsgate
• Fox
  • Fox Searchlight
• Time/Warner
  • HBO
  • New Line Cinema
  • Castle Rock

And these are the HD DVD exclusive studios, 2 majors and 2 minors, although one haven't released anything worthwhile (but you can say that about HBO and a few other studios too), and the other is not strictly HD DVD exclusive, but have only released a single Blu-ray title in the past versus many HD DVD ones:

• NBC/Universal
  • Focus Features
  • Rogue Pictures
• Paramount
  • Nickelodeon Movies
  • MTV Films
  • DreamWorks Pictures
  • DreamWorks Animation
• The Weinstein Company
  • Dimension Films
• Studio Canal
  • Kinowelt

Studio Canal is a bit of a strange one. The majority of their releases, bar one, has been on HD DVD. I have to include this studio in the HD DVD list because since HD DVD is region-free, buying titles from them is quite pain free, as compared to buying from Blu-ray exclusive studios in Europe that uses region locking. Studio Canal (and the recently acquired Kinowelt) hold the distribution rights to quite a few movies, including Terminator 2, Total Recall, March Of The Penguins, Stargate, Rambo movies, Babel, The Pianist, Million Dollar Baby ...

There are still some minor studios that supports both formats, like BBC, First Look Studios, Discovery Channel, Magnolia Pictures ...

[admin]

And it's worth noting that with so many studios involved, only a paltry 800 titles are available in either HD format (including dual format releases and multiple editions, so the actual number of different titles is much less). I don't know how many DVD titles are available (100,000 is probably not a bad guess), but HD has a long way to go before it can replace DVDs (it if ever gets there).

[toomanycats]

I was looking at the Sony 1080P playing Blue Ray Pirates of the Caribbean, I couldn't believe the amount of artifacts. I believe the more special effects the more junk will be visible. That Tom Hanks movie "Castaway"? is a good example. It looks horrible on DVD viewed on at LCD projector. It looks like it was Photoshopped together ( a lousy Photoshop job).

[admin]

Earlier in the week, German HD DVD publisher Senator was said to be going Blu-ray exclusive by the BDA. But the BDA has since retracted that statement, since it was not true at all.

Apparently, Cinefacts, who first reported the false story, got the "news" direct from the Blu-ray Disc Association (the BDA), but have now retracted the announcement. So, once again, the BDA have been caught lying. Well I never! Unfortunately, whoever said that cheaters never prosper clearly never bore witness to a format war.

http://whiggles.landofwhimsy.com/archives/2008/01/not_so_import_proof_after_all.html

----

National Geographics has gone Blu-ray exclusive:

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/National_Geographic/Industry_Trends/National_Geographic_Makes_Move_to_Blu-ray_Exclusivity_(UPDATED)/1417

Of course, NG is a distribution partner of Warner, so the decision is not exactly a surprise. Also, NG have only release one movie on HD so far.