Paramount puts down HD DVD dump rumour

Hollywood-based Paramount Studios has denied claims that it will be dropping the HD DVD format and returning to Blu-ray Disc. In an email sent to Bloomberg, Paramount spokeswoman Brenda Ciccone said: "Paramount's current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format." The comment was a direct result of speculation that the …

[Anonymous Coward]

Cheap shot

"Porn label Digital Playground is to adopt Blu-ray exclusively despite initially choosing HD DVD"

Perhaps they've realised that many PS3 owners are wankers. :)

[Ian Ferguson]

Death throes

Personally I prefer the sound of HD-DVD, but I think it's doomed now. Purely because of the rumour mill. If they get bad press, deserved or not, customers will avoid them like the plague.

It's a shame the studios are locked in this pointless battle - especially as it's the last thing they should be doing in the face of declining physical format sales. I suspect the next- next- generation format will be a looooong time in coming, because the makers of these next-gen formats will want to recoup their losses before innovating any more :-(

[Morely Dotes]

But Blu-Ray is being dropped by Sony!

Well, maybe not. I don't support either camp, but I figure if the Blu-Ray whores want to start rumours, it's only fair for someone to start counter-rumours.

And it will be fun to see what the bogosphere (sic) does when they google my comment's title.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sony made a very good gamble...

...in putting a Blu-Ray player into the PS3. They knew the PS3 would sell, even if it was at a loss, and it didn't matter if it didn't sell more than the XBox 360 to start with - they were hitting two markets in one push, the gamer AND film buff. Stick a Blu-Ray player in all those gamers homes, and you're instantly creating a market for your Blu-Ray software to overtake HD-DVD software sales.

Very clever move since they'll now be raking it in with Blu-Ray licensing, AND probably sell more PS3's to people looking for a Blu-Ray player that can do more than just play games.

I wonder if Microsoft will bite the bullet and offer Blu-Ray support in future?

[Joe K]

Meh

Like has been mentioned here before, the old "porn makes a format" argument is outdated as the internet is the porn wonderland now.

There is no way that Paramount/Dreamworks can bear to miss out on the, already massive, blu-ray market.

Them losing the amount of sales from Transformers/Shrek/whatever blu-ray sales to PS3 owners must be gigantic enough.

They'll honour their contract to continue publishing on HDDVD, but to miss out on the Blu-ray market would be share price suicide.

[Anonymous Coward]

So the EXCLUSIVE HD DVD contract has ended then

"Paramount's current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format."

So in 3 months when they're selling BluRay discs, we come back to this sentence and they say:

1. We said we'd continue to support HD DVD, we didn't say we wouldn't continue to NOT support BluRay.

2. That was our CURRENT plan at the time of speaking, but the final decision wasn't take until the following afternoon.

Do you recall that the story they claimed originally:

"We believe the combination of this year's low-priced HD DVD players and the commitment to release a significant number of hit titles in the fall makes HD DVD the best way to view movies at home," said DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg in a statement.

[Greg]

Silly Buggers

They *should* move to Blu-Ray. Sticking with HD-DVD is only going to lose them money, prolong the format war and piss off fans of their shows/films.

[david gomm]

Sony couldn't afford to lose this one...

I wonder how much the PS3 price cut had to to with comparative sales vs the Xbox 360 and how much it was driven by the need to get a bunch more blu-ray players out there...

[Mal Franks]

My personal preference has been for HD-DVD

but only because the ones I've bought so far have come with a DVD layer too, so at least I'd be guaranteed to be able play them should HD-DVD die and hardware support disappeared at a later date, albeit in standard definition.

[Remon]

Anything that isn't Sony

I prefer not supporting the monopoly. Supporting Sony cannot be a good thing? Haven't they got a fat ego as it is?

[Anonymous Coward]

pay cheque

They are probably waiting for the next payday from the HD-DVD bribe foundation before they make the announcement, since I doubt they'll be getting any more afterwards... does anyone remember which day of the month the deal was signed on?

[Craig Collier]

the plot thickens

I really wasn't expecting Blu-Ray to win this. I fully understand and appreciate that it is the superior format, cost aside, but i really expected the lower production costs and ultimately, the more familiar and instantly recognisable name (HD-DVD vs BD) to win over consumers who don;'t read the small prints, but in the end, this one has worked out well, and the rumoured announcement that Microsoft may adopt Blu-Ray for Xbox 360s in the future surely is the nail in the coffin on this one.

Dual format wars were never going to end nicely, and someone was always going to lose out, in this case, i can safely say i'm pleased with bthe results, and look forward to buying a BD player when funds allow.

[Albert]

@Remon / @ Annonymous Coward

@Remon

Tech companies cross license all the time it's not a monopoly. Sony is the most vocal member of the Blu-Ray brigade, but it's not the only one.

Most tech hardware only existing due to the collaborative/competitive industry that it is.

Sometimes it’s zero sum, so nobody pays and they all provide their IP to each other for mutual gain, other times license fees are charged.

@ Anonymous Coward

This is the first time I have heard somebody state that Sony made the right decision putting Blu-Ray in the PS3. The world is turning.

[George Johnson]

Blu-Ray it is then!

That's that settles then! I believe the uptake of VHS was due in part to the fact that the cheaper hardware was available for a certain "entertainment industry" to increase it's profits and audience?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just a matter of time

I imagine this is just a firefighting exercise by the HD-DVD group aimed at stemming the tide of HD-DVD owners desperately flogging their cheapo players on Ebay.

aka delaying the inevitable.

[TeeCee]

@Albert

Actually MS made the right decision by not putting either in the Xbox and shipping an add-on (which can quite easily be in either format). Replacing the internal, bog DVD drive with a hi-def unit in a subsequent version once the dust has settled is a very simple proposition.

Sony's approach was damned stupid. If HD-DVD had won / still wins out then Sony would have been / will be right royally screwed and anyone with a current-gen PS3 would have been / will be taking the shaft along with them.

I reckon Sony's decision was entirely because they had to be seen to support BD unequivocably and corporate strategy beats sound commercial argument any day.

[Highlander]

TeeCee

Translation of your post: Sony put their money where their mouth was.

Really, that is what you are saying. You're also saying that Microsoft hedged their bets.

Great. So, both made a good business decision. Thanks for playing.

[Anonymous Coward]

Download, Download, Download

Who cares about Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD?!

The future is downloads. Whether that be movies, TV-shows, games or anything else.

Sony's *win* in this format war will be short lived.

If anything, downloads of movies have increased as a direct result of the format war.

Broadband is spreading; in the next 10-20 years we might even have Fibre (assuming BT pulls its finger out).

[J]

Commercials

Interesting. A few days ago I just noticed that HD DVD has some commercials on TV here in the US, featuring Shrek characters. I've never seen an ad for Blue-Ray, as far as I can remember -- although given my lack of attention for ads, I might have missed it.

Desperate measures?

[Highlander]

AC & broadband

By your own statement 'in the next 10-20 years'.

DVD has only been with us 10 years, was it short lived too? If Blu-Ray lasts as long as DVD, it will do just fine, and yet you expect it to take between 10 and 20 years for Broadband to penetrate sufficiently to replace optical discs?

OK.....

[Chad H.]

@teecee

no, I think Blu ray in the ps3 was a great idea...

Let's look at a hypothetical 2009 where Blu ray has lost... Xbox 360 games are coming on 3-4 discs as they use bog standard DVDs, ps3 games are still coming on 1 with more space for beter graphics.

[Jeff]

I for one...

...welcome our new Blu-ray overlords.

OK, that line is getting overused, but I wanted in on it before it got way overused.

[Chad H.]

@ hoghlander

Tried downloading a Bly ray disc on your adsl connection? I havent, but I know someone who has.... 16gb+ even on a 20mb connection isn't fun.

We're looking at 10-20 years to convince someone to lay a decent network that can support decent download rates for that much data.

[Highlander]

@chad

That, dear boy, is exactly what I have been saying.

BTW, it's HIGHLANDER as in 'There can be only ONE!'.

[Anonymous Coward]

me

Personally if i want to see a movie i want to see it now, here are the options.

1. wander down blockbuster and rent a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD/DVD. 1/2 hour to 2 hours (depending on where you live).

2. download a 4.7gb movie 5 hours to however high you can go.

Even 100mb broadband is gonna get slow when seven or eight people in your street decide they want to watch a movie.

[Anonymous Coward]

won't somebody think of the trees?

"1. wander down blockbuster and rent a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD/DVD. 1/2 hour to 2 hours (depending on where you live).

2. download a 4.7gb movie 5 hours to however high you can go."

Well, it takes ~11 minutes between deciding to watch a film to it playing on the screen (700 megabytes, 1 megaBYTE a second download on torrent with a decent broadband connection from a unthrottled ISP). Well, maybe add 30 seconds at the start to build up the speed and 20 seconds to decompress the file.

As for HD downloads, I couldn't care less, in fact I prefer lower density material since it uses less CPU to play, takes less power to transmit over the line, and is therefore more environmentally friendly or something... nothing worth watching these days anyway, bah!