Caught on camera: the Downfall of HD DVD Act 3. Scene 1. The enemy forces are moving ever closer. Trapped within the bunker, the minds behind a daring attempt to win world domination ponder their final downfall... Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com Hilarious. YouTube poster Sacolton, we salute you.
It appears that the early adopters of BluRay have got themselves a boat anchor. In the rush to get the format to market the specification was left incomplete and it appears that even players bought recently cannot be upgraded. In fact the only players that were mentioned as upgradeable were the ones in the PS3 (which figures).
(Source -- BBC.)
By now it must be obvious that BluRay is primarily driven by marketing, not technology or customer needs. That doesn't mean that its not going to be a winner, just that we shouldn't be rejoicing in screwing our customer base. Its the same sort of mindset that continues to push Vista at consumers even though everyone and their dog knows its a lemon. In the rareified world of marketing it doesn't matter if the stuff works, so long as you've got the power to ram the stuff down the consumer's throat (and get them to pay for it) that's all that matters.
The movie was good, though.
Downfall has been used extensivly for YouTube spoofs - many are football related - and a good series about the Xbox & Wii......
Sheffield Wednesday - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nh7gm4jj6c
Arsenal beat Spurs - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FVeMcgJs-U&feature=related
XBox 360 Banned - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYvZnTFpip0&feature=related
Hitler's Wii - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFoM0Y2DqL4&feature=related
Strangely enough I've found that the PS3 plays Blu-Ray in reverse order to what you would expect and probably what the studios would like!
So the film starts straight off, then once the film has finished the next chapters to come up are those really annoying piracy rubbish things in ever language under the sun! Then you get the actual menu... all a bit strange, but at least you dont have to sit through those damn piracy things to watch the film :)
Only stumbled over this by chance, as had just watched Die Hard4 and discussing how great it was and left it running, up came a menu with all the extra stuff :)
Strange, guess it will be "fixed" in the next firmware release..
Sorry Martin, but you are totally wrong. Existing Blu Ray players will continue to play new content for as long as the format exists whether they are profile 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 2.1 or whatever. You could buy a blu ray disk 10 years hence and it would play in your 1.0 player. You might not get certain extra features but the movie content, menus and everything else will work just fine.
Blu Ray does have more advanced profiles in the works that extra functionality such as network connectivity and local storage space, but nothing that affects playback. These functions are likely to be used mostly so the likes of Warner / Disney etc. to produce a few internet enabled minigames and online stores on their disks. Hardly killer features.
Anyway if you absolutely must have those things, then the PS3 is very affordable, will get profile 2.0 (BD-Live) in time and does a lot more than just play blu ray disks.
... but the part with those not owning a dedicated hd-dvd player being told to leave was funny. Blades of Glory!!! Glad I didn't have to have the sound up at work, although it may have covered up my laughing better.
This is a great movie to see on it's own, but this spoof was good.
What did Martin say that was incorrect? He did not say that existing players were useless, or that they would be unable to play the movies.
I'm just more surprised to find sheep trying to defend Blu-Ray on this. Why on earth would otherwise sensible people be trying to defend a more expensive product that offered less functionality and no future proofing?
Or put another way, what would you as a BR fanboy be saying right now if it was the HD-DVD camp that were screwing their early adopters in this way?
Blu-Ray is the superior format, despite the issues with the movie standard built on top of it. The fact is that when it boils down to it, its nothing more than a medium for holding bits of information. And the fact is that Blu-Ray holds a whole 40% more of those bits than HD-DVD ends the battle for me.
Physically the medium is superior, and over time the software issues will disappear (and are actually non existent for me and other PS3 and PC owners) , it will still remain a higher capacity storage medium than HD-DVD.
Thats including Movies and general storage for PCs/Macs/Linux etc etc etc. I for one look forward to Blu-Ray being the absolute norm recordable disk format of choice on PCs because of the 25Gb capacity, and that figure is per layer - didnt I hear about an 8 layer 200Gb version in the scientists lab some time back?
Microsoft can go screw themselves for choosing HD-DVD over it (At least on the Xbox).
For once the Betamax of the modern age actually wins over VHS!
But I suppose we should wait for that other film studio to jump ship before sucking each others dUcks shall we? ;-)
I'm still looking at the product labels in the shops to figure out if I'm really looking at hi-def or not. So are most other people I know.
When they produce something which stops me in my tracks and makes me go "Wow!" and I might care about this.
Four or five megapixels ought to do it.
Until then...
We do a lot of multimedia for trade shows and since the beginning of last year there has been a phenomenal demand for HD video. We thought we'd have a hell of a time with deciding if we will go for HD-DVD or BR but then we realized: hey! HD-DVD doesn't even have a burner out yet.
So that made decisions a lot easier.
"It appears that the early adopters of BluRay have got themselves a boat anchor. In the rush to get the format to market the specification was left incomplete and it appears that even players bought recently cannot be upgraded." - Martin's comments.
That kind of suggests older Blu-Ray players won't work and will be wholly incompatible with future releases - although it does not explicitly state this or anything else. A wonderful example of propaganda.
For my side, I think anyone who bought BD or HD-DVD to date is frankly a sucker, or burdened with sufficient money not to care if their purchase makes sense. As I'd like to think I'm neither, I'll be waiting some time yet before venturing down the cowpat-strewn path of HD content. Catch me being an early adopter.
Now I'm going to listen to my Creative Nomad DAP 4GB and watch TV on my 1998-vintage Fujitsu plasma screen...
"Blu-Ray is the superior format, despite the issues with the movie standard built on top of it."
Especially if you like being charged more for something 9 months later due to region locking preventing you importing and when you do get the movie find it's got BD+ on it which prevents it even working in some players.
Yeah, it's just a brilliant format, I can't wait for it to become mainstream.
The reason Bluray has all the studios is simple, it's the format best designed for raping consumer rights whilst simultaneously screwing them from a monetary perspective. HD DVDs biggest fault wasn't screwing the consumer enough it would seem.
OK, so you Martin didn't actually say anything about old BR players being unable to play discs?
No, existing BR standalones are just un-upgradeable and people who have them will be unable to access the premium features on future discs.
Why oh why does BR inspire such rabid fanboyism for a format that is region locked, more expensive, does less and screws its early adopters so eagerly
Maybe you missed the bit where he said "despite the issues with the movie standard built on top of it".
All your whines are regarding movies, whereas BluRay is the better format, for size and availability of storage. Sure you can buy a HD-DVDr now but unless you buy a new computer, you can't get a burner. Whereas you can get a BluRay burner now, for less than £200, with 50 GB DL discs going for less than £30. HD-DVD does 15 GB, with a 30 GB DL disc.
Given the way writable DVDs came down in price to less than 10p each it won't take that long for BD-R media to become cost effective.
'No, existing BR standalones are just un-upgradeable and people who have them will be unable to access the premium features on future discs'
And that's not really going to be a problem, given that the only people buying HD-disky things (HD-DVD or BluRay) are the early adopters, who will replace their kit as soon as the next new toy hits the shelves.
It seems, from what I've read so far, that BluRay is the superior physical format, at least from a capacity/datarate PoV.
it plays both bluray and HD-DVD.
The pc drive can be had for 259 at fry's and it also doubles as a cd/dvd reader / burner .
standalone unit runs 450 i believe.
game over , nothing to see here , moving on to the next questrion : when are we going to see bloody-ray recorders at affordable prices!
So import your PS3 from the US or Japan along with your movies, if that's where you want to get the discs from. It's cheaper than a UK one, and most UK disc releases are multi-region anyway.
Re: the LG multi-format drive, I've heard so many tales of woe from people trying to get the software to work reliably without blocking digital audio, blocking digital video, stuttering despite specs being well above the minimum, or just plain refusing to run at all, that there's no way I'd spend the money to go the PC route.
"2/There are only 2 players on the market that had trouble with BD+, and both were given firmware updates to fix them within a few days of the Fox title being released. Total non-issue"
I suppose this may be a non-issue for you, but it may be a big issue for lots of other people. My parents have no problem renting a DVD and playing it at home. However, if they had to perform a firmware update to allow the movie to play, they'd have to call me (or someone else) to come and do it for them. Maybe they're the only people in the world that don't have Internet access (or the desire to perform the firmware update), but I tend to think that this may be an issue for many people. And yes, there may not be many devices that require an update, but it's still early, and I'm sure there will be more to come in the future.
[Excised by Reg moderator.]
1) Yes, the disks are about the same price in the UK.
Of course with HD-DVD it is a much safer bet to import as they are all region-free. I have a number of import disks that came at much lower than UK prices.
But look at the cost of players. HD-DVD has always been much cheaper here, and it seems that Toshiba is determined to keep things that way. Thats the whole point of this article isn't it - if the cost isn't much more than a decent DVD player, why not pay the slight bit extra to get access to proper HD?
2) I have a standalone and a 360 add-on. Haven't come across any disks that don't play yet.
e.g. Children of Men plays fine on both, although I've read reports of problems.
But at least I know that any player I have will play all features of all disks.
But if we are talking about problem disks, why don't we mention Blu-Ray rot? Aha, thats why not. Because you are physically incapable of acknowledging that there may be any issues with Blu-Ray.
3) Region coding has not been implemented for HD-DVD. It is that simple. You can bitch and moan about what might have happened all you like, I like to stick to the facts.
And yes, I'm aware of the fact that BR disks are currently outselling HD-DVDs. Similarly, I am aware that HD-DVD standalones are selling much better than BR standalones. Mind, that is hardly surprising due to the planned obsolescence of so many of those BR standalones.
The thing I like about Format Wars is that they always end up proving what any sensible person already knows about war. "The only winning move is not to play" (Wargames!).
I'm staying well out of it until DVD itself starts to fade away. Whichever format wins the price will come down and when it's as cheap as DVDs, i'll buy.
Here is another thought. It's always possible that people will simply loose interest in HD stuff, of course. Once the people who just HAVE to have the latest thing have done their money the market, will the average person want to buy a whole new player to play the new disks, new TV to make the most of the HD player, new cables to make the most of the new TV, new Satellite box to get the new programs, new subscription to get he content for the box etc etc? we're headed into a recession at the moment (oh, yes we are!) - will people really buy a whole new AV suite at such a time?? especially when DVD is, frankly, pretty good and most people seem to have quite a bit of trouble telling the difference between a DVD and HD stuff.
I know the "techies" here can quote figures proving they're better, but subjectively the masses may yet judge HD to be a waste of their increasingly rarified money.
Both BD and HD-DVD are dead in the water already. One physical format too many when the internet is already demonstrating that it is the preferred means of obtaining your high resolution films (either illegally or legally). It's just a shame that the studios have to shoot themselves in the foot in this respect by imposing the most ridiculous limitations on buying or renting legal content, the worst of which is that you have to live in the US.
In terms of backup, Flash drives and hard disks are superior to both already.
Sorry Robby but this is a non-issue. It's a couple of players with firmware bugs. Bugs that were subsequently fixed. It doesn't indicate a fault with the underlying standards, it indicates a fault with the players implementation of those standards and the testing procedures that should have caught the bugs. Both Blu Ray and HD DVD are complex and with so many players from so many manufacturers it should be no surprise that there are some glitches.
HD DVD has had firmware issues too. Look up about the chroma bug that affects some Toshiba models.
Even DVD players had faults in their day too. My Pioneer 717 DVD Player (costing £600 a whopping at the time) had a very well known lipsync issue.
At least HD players can be updated with firmware.
I doubt very much that your parents would be affected by such issues. If they are the non-experts you claim they would not be early adopters and would not be bitten by this problem. By the time they bought a player, manufacturers would be able to test their systems with thousands of disks if they so chose and ensured they worked flawlessly.
The point I'm trying to get at is that it only takes one person in the entire world to have a problem. If that one person has a problem, then you can no longer us the term "non-issue". While it may not be a big deal to the vast majority of the population, it's far from a "non-issue". I can't count the number of computers, laptops, PDA's, etc... that simply need a firmware update to run more reliably, but the owner is either unable or unaware of how to do it.
But who knows, maybe I'm wrong. It's possible that every single person that ever owns an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player will be able to update the firmware with no problems, should the need ever arise.
By the way, I'm not ripping on Blu-Ray. I think this is just the new standard for electronics. Release a product as soon as you can, and we'll simply fix any bugs or glitches that come along with a new firmware update. As a technical person, I enjoy that option, but I certainly wouldn't call it a "non-issue".
I found this video to be the funniest adaptation (IMHO) of this movie, so even though it's been done before, I thought this was the funniest.
Unfortunately right as I emailed the link to several friends, it was pulled. Someone from the HD-DVD camp must have claimed copyright violation.
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