Paramount and Dreamworks Animation Each Declare Exclusive Su

[Shane]

Movies Distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment Including Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Animation SKG, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films to be Released Exclusively in HD DVD

Exclusive Program To Begin with Release of "Blades of Glory," Followed by "Transformers" and "Shrek the Third," Films Representing More Than $1.5 Billion in Combined Worldwide Box Office

[url=http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/news/2007/08/paramount_and_d.php]Read the Full Article[/url]

[zuuser1]

Does this mean the war is over? I would like to buy one for my 1080p but have been waiting for a clear winner.

[JustAsk]

Does this mean the war is over? I would like to buy one for my 1080p but have been waiting for a clear winner.

The war is not over. But a major victory today for the HD DVD Camp

[Richard]

Blu-ray better get their intro player pricing down or they just might lose...

[mahoneybill]

Agree on the price strategy.

Also Sony should market how well the PS3 unit upscales current DVD's

We watch a movie every night of the week, and are impressed by the noted step improvement in color, clarity.

My wife is a believer in Blu Ray as we also have rented (thru Blockbuster) several titles and are impressed by the color saturation, clarity, audio.

She is the one who points out it's benefits to friends who are in the learning stages.....

Maybe Sony should hire her................

[doug booth]

Dig a little deeper and you will find that a "promotional payment" of over 100 million bucks was made to Paramount/ Dreamworks before this 'HD announcement' was made. The HD camp bought the Paramount business and exclusive support in the short term. It has nothing to do with HD being the better format, it's all about the money. If and when Blu-ray wins out, Paramount/DW will re-introduce the Blu-ray format AND still have the 100+ million bucks in the bank! Not a bad deal for the studios!

[miller]

And when has anyone ever implied that this wasn't about money? If I was in the HD DVD group, I'd see this as a very good investment to help (if not ensure) my side wins.

And let's not pretend that no money has changed hands on the Blu-ray side. Who do you think supplies a large portion of the flat panels for Sony TVs? ... Samsung. You think maybe there were some contract guarantees or kick-backs there for Samsung chooseing the Blu-ray side?

Sony plays dirty pool in just about every way I can think of. They can have my money when there's no other option.

- Miller

[jcook01]

Yeah it is all about money, I look at it this way, that's one less Studio that I'll be supporting for the foreseeable future.

Did anyone read the press release on Fox's upcoming 28 new titles on Blu-Ray?

I know where my holiday spending is going.

[film11]

I read the upcoming Fox releases and nothing on that list is very exciting. I already have SPIDEY 1 & 2 in HD. (And the SPIDEY movies will not even have PCM tracks. They will include TrueHD but not all BD players are set-up for that!) I've seen the DIE HARD films in HD already and have no interest in the fourth installment (i.e. DIE HARD for kids). And if I did, I can get them on HD-DVD via import (a la GHOST RIDER). Personally, I'd rather have GRINDHOUSE, BOURNE, HOT FUZZ, NEXT, STAR TREK, CAT PEOPLE, DISTURBIA (maybe), BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, CASABLANCA, etc. Purely subjective preferences, of course

[doug booth]

Oops, so sorry, checked my sources about the studio 'payola'. Real number was not 100 million but in actual fact 150 million in 'promotional dollars' to Paramount/DW. For that sort of cash I would endorse VHS cassettes and vinyl LP's as the next big thing in A/V ! Cash payments of this magnitude are made because the company(s) writing the check can think of nothing to stem the negative tide other than to buy the business and support. This is not to say Sony and the rest of the Blu-ray camp are lilly white. I would not be supprised if the Blockbuster announcement to handle only Blu-ray titles may have received some 'promotional consideration' as well (my guess, no proof).
Ultimately the best technology wins out. This has always been the case going back to LP vs. CD, Beta vs. VHS, Laserdisc vs. DVD, and now HD vs. Blu'ray. Keep an open mind and remember there are no 'bad' or 'evil' companies in hardware and software, just a bunch of companies that want to make as much money as possible for as long as possible and sell people whatever they will buy reguardless of format.
This so called 'war' is only about royalities and nothing else. Being in the DVD replication business, my company pays out over 20cents PER DISC to the companies holding patent rights on CD/DVD technology. Multiply that by the billions and billions of discs sold to date and maybe you can understand what this so called war is all about. Blu-ray and HD both look great (if not identical) but their technology and applicable patents are different. The format that prevails (I don't use win since the Beta VHS thing went on for over 10 years) will get a piece or bigger piece of the royalty pie from us poor replicators, and that my friend is all that matters to both the Toshiba and Sony camp.
Reguarding your statement about Samsung, understand that all flat panel manufacturers around the world (and there are probably close to 100 brands out there) buy their panels from only 4 actual manufacturers based out of Korea, Taiwan, and China. Many of these companies are also in joint ventures with off shore manufacturers as well. Sony has a joint venture with Samsung, Samsung with a large Chinese manufacturer, Toshiba with Tiawan and China, the list goes on, so your kickback theory holds no water. Which way do you kick ?? Didn't mean to turn this into a novel, but I've been in all areas of the consumer electronics busiess for 35 years and have seen a lot of smelly stuff. This whole 'format war' is just about royalities, and thats just business. Get over it.