Warner has gone Blu-Ray Exclusive, HD-DVD owners enjoy anal sex. More at 11.

So, yeah. Warner has completely screwed all the people who went HD and supported them (Let's face it: Warner gave us tons of exclusives, only to screw us over.)

As much as I hate to say it, this may have killed HD-DVD. I was really expecting them to go HD exclusive too, with all their exclusives and Blu-Ray packaging fuckups (HP and Blade Runner box set fuckups with HD discs instead of BD's) Just to give you an idea, my HD selection is comprised of 24 movies, 15 of which are Warner flicks (A good number of those are HD exclusives such as Batman, The Matrix movies, and V for Vendetta.)

As a STAUNCH HD supporter, I hate having to think about buying a Blu-Ray player in the future. I hate everything about Blu-Ray: The ugly-ass blue packaging, the dumb name, Sony, the fuckup that is the PS3, the inferior features (Until a month ago or so), region protection bullshit, and stupid minimum requirements for players (Cheap BD players may not be able to decode Dolby TrueHD OR Dolby Digital Plus. There's no requirement. Want internet support? Not required either.)

While this could be used by me as an excuse to finally buy a damn PS3, there's a problem: Not only are there only 4 games I want for the PS3 (5 if you include my minor interest in The Eye of Judgement. And no, this number does not include future "Whenever the fuck they come out" games like MGS4), but I'm still pissed about the nerf of backwards compatibility in the cheapest PS3. I would have fucking bought a $400 PS3 if it had backwards compatibility, but NOOOOO, Sony gotta cut that shit. Here's Spider-Man for your screwing!

Anyway, whatever. Here's hoping for a ton of awesome HD sales soon to beef up my collection. Even if the format is "dying", these flicks are still in HD, and I'm sure they'll either have cheap full-featured players later this year (My current player is the 360 addon, which is great for my current situation, but I want a better featured player later down the road.)

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by guyinrubbersuit

Of course a way to circumvent this bullshit is to get a HD-DVD and Blu-Ray compatible player.

Those things are still pretty damn expensive. Like $800 expensive.

And I don't understand why everybody thinks digital distribution is the future. A lot of people, myself included, like having a physical product to purchase.

Perhaps when solid state HDD's get to the terabyte range and aren't anally-raping expensive things might get better, but until then, solid discs are the winner.

Of course, holographic discs might blow everything away in the future anyway. Entire TV seasons in HD on one disc, and later, entire SERIES. But that's like 10 years away.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by russ

So now that blu-ray's features are more competitive with those offered by hd-dvd, the other clear advantages that the blu-ray format has over hd-dvd, such as greater disc capacity {50 gig for blu-ray, 30 gig for hd-dvd} and greater bandwidth {48 mbit/s blu-ray, 30 mbit/s hd-dvd}, should bring you happily over to their side, right? You bring up a point about the audio standards on the players, but what point is it to have mandatory HD audio support on your player, when your flagship title doesn't feature HD audio. I mean correct me if I'm wrong, but Transformers didn't feature a lossless audio track due to space limitations, right?

It's just that hd-dvd was basically a half step forward from the standard dvd. The look and sound of pretty good, and whatnot.

WUT.

You obviously didn't hear about triple layer HD-DVDs, which do 51gb.

And Transformers is simply because they didn't want to. They had nearly all the special features in HD instead. The DD+ track is excellent.

And bandwidth? Both formats do full 1080p with lossless sound, and HD-DVD had been doing HDi features much earlier than Blu-Ray got their competition working.

So yeah, what improvements were that again?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by russ

Last I heard, they were having some trouble getting that to actually work in the players that were already on the market.


Transformers is already two disc release. Why not just have the movie, and a lossless audio track on the first disc, while putting all special features on the second disc? Or wait, wasn't the only thing on the first disc, other than the movie, the behind the scenes picture in picture stuff? So they just randomly decided to not have a lossless audio track? The DD+ track might sound excellent, but it is not perfect. The look and sound of perfect, except sometimes when we chose not to, not because of inability to fit it on the smaller disc, but because we totally didn't want to man.



I've seen several of my blu-rays go above 40 mbit/s during movies, and many of them consistently pass the 30 mbit/s that hd-dvd maxes out at. The fact is that more data being passed to the screen and audio receiver means greater level of detail {sharper picture}. Are you cool with being able to pass less data to your screen and audio receiver?

And yes, hd-dvd did their HDi stuff before blu-ray did their bd-j stuff. There is no arguing with that. I don't see why it matters, now that both are in place, which one came first though. But hey, now that it is in place for blu-ray, expect to see Batman Begins in a blue case right around the time that The Dark Knight hits theatres. Since that was the only thing keeping them from releasing that on blu-ray to begin with. That would be happening regardless of the Warner announcement.

That may be the case with Transformers, but Batman Begins is just as long and has an in-movie experience, Dolby TrueHD, and ALL of it's special features all on one disc, and Batman is one of the best looking HD-DVD's around. Granted, the special features aren't all in HD, but it's obvious the only reason Transformers doesn't have TrueHD is because Paramount didn't put it there.

And I haven't heard of a single reviewer actually say Blu-Ray releases look better than HD-DVD, bandwidth be damned.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Denicalis

And Blu-Ray massively outsells HD-DVD.

Well, actually...

I was speaking idiomatically.

Alright, you missed my point.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by kainlightwind

The gauntlet has been dropped. This is why it's best to wait for a clear answer in the end.

Um, all the facts pointed to an HD-DVD win. The only reason Sony is "winning" is because they like to hand out lots of moneyhats.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by kainlightwind

Ooookay buddy. Blu Ray has been outselling HD DVD 2:1 for quite some time. And what facts are you talking about? You're just mad because you're a Sony hater. It's way to obvious you want to see the company fail. As do many others. But suck it up and take a rest. Blu Ray's here to stay. After May, we'll be seeing the rest of the studios fully support Blu Ray and DVD.

HD-DVD reached 750,000 players sold. The State Of HD DVD: The State of HD DVD

HD-DVD standalone players outsold Blu. HD DVD players lead in HD sales - DVDTOWN.com

And there was a LOT of rumormongering that at CES, Warner was gonna go HD exclusive and Fox was gonna go neutral. Thank goodness Sony swooped in with their moneyhats and put a stop to all that nonsense.

And I certainly don't hate Sony. I have over 100 PS2 titles, more than I own for any other system. I just feel kinda kicked in the balls when they seem to claim that all those titles I bought earlier aren't worth playing in their precious PS3, as evidenced by the slow removal of backwards compatibility from their consoles.

(BTW, the word is that Warner costed over $600 million to grab for Blu. So yeah, that's one hell of a moneyhat.)

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by kainlightwind

It think it started at the very beginning. Read again carefully what he wrote. If he's into movies, he doesn't have to buy a PS3. And yet he had to mention it. So who's really to blame here?

Blu-ray standalones cost just as much as a damn PS3. It simply would be STUPID to not buy one.

And I just found this tidbit (Spider-Man 3 swings strong sales - 11/2/2007 - Video Business)

Transformers BROKE SALES RECORDS FOR HD (HDDVD.com - Your HD DVD Resource » Blog Archive » Transformers Sets HD Sales Record) and still beat Spider-Man 3 two weeks later (Spider-Man 3 swings strong sales - 11/2/2007 - Video Business)

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Aardark

Roll-fucking-eyes. It's clear that you hold a bias against either Blu-ray or Sony, or probably both. I mean, look at the reasons you listed for 'hating' an information storage medium. Dumb name? Dumb packaging? Hate the PS3? Holy shit, could you find something more irrelevant? The only semi-valid reason you listed is region protection, though even that is not going to affect more a tiny fraction of customers.

And please stop using the word 'moneyhats' to criticise a corporation if you want anyone to take you seriously.

Um, having crappy player requirements isn't a reason to dislike Blu-Ray? And most of that was a rant I wrote at 3 in the morning after the internet declares a winner is Blu-ray.

Originally Posted by Denicalis

Please tell me I don't need to explain to you the concept of one movie vs all movies in terms of sales. Please.

Originally Posted by russ

And what so called facts are you speaking of? The fact that there was not one single week during 2007 during which hd-dvd outsold blu-ray? Looks like a win for hd-dvd there. Hd-dvd didn't outsell blu-ray during Transformers week, or during Bourne week.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Diss

So in conclusion, JasonTerminator, as an HD-DVD owner, enjoys anal sex.

Who said receiving, buddy?

How ya doing, buddy?

Alright, HD-DVD wins the internet.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Elmoogle

Also, why is Megalith the only person in the world besides me who thinks HD DVD cases look sleek and professional while Blu Ray cases look like ass. Yeah yeah it's the movie that matters and all that. SHIT LOOKS LIKE ASS.

Um, I said that in the first post of the thread.

Yeah, WTF Blu-Ray.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Zeal

so the entire discussion of the superiority of one format over the other is really a moot point.

Um, region coding? Player requirements?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by SenorKaffee

Player requirements - that´s a problem of player manufacturers, isn´t it? I as a consumer require it to play what is on the disc, whatever it takes to do so. ^^

Also both systems support region coding - are there examples of different region locks in HD and BR releases?

HD-DVD doesn't have region coding.

HD-DVD has more minimum requirements for manufacturing a HD-DVD player. In other words, cheaper HD-DVD players are guaranteed to come with more features.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by kainlightwind

Agreed. The Warner merger is quite the obvious sign of who's going to win. By the end of May, we'll see what happens as a whole and more than likely, we'll hear more and more bitching and moaning from the HD DVD camp. I'm still waiting on investing on either side until a very clear winner is picked. So far, Blu Ray is looking like the chosen winner and it looks to continue to be so.

I love how you agree with the man, and then continue to be a fanboy.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Denicalis

Actually, he stated he hasn't picked a side yet. It's in there. In the middle. But my point is, we're rehashing the same arguments over and over again. Nothing new has been said in a long while, here.

His wording of his opinion on the situation is hardly neutral.

But yes, this bickering is pointless.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by russ

It's too bad that outputting 1080p is not one of the minimum requirements for an hd-dvd player.

As far as I know, it isn't one for Blu-ray either, so it's just a matter of time.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I'm sure BluRayFreak has the least possibly out of context pictures around.

Originally Posted by quazi

Are you even reading your own posts? I don't own either HD players as I'm living in a dorm room right now with no room for a decent TV, but it seems like Blu-Ray is definitely the favored media right now. As he is able to recognize that Warner's committing to Blu-Ray is an indication of the devices rising strength, kainlightwind is without a doubt a fanboy.

So lemme get this straight. Kain defends Blu-ray, he's not a fanboy. I defend HD-DVD, I am a fanboy?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Sounds good to me.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?