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What the end of format war means to me and other event producers

Posted by Martin:

Well it's been official for about week.  The format war is officially over, HD-DVD is not going to be supported anymore.

For us event producers means it will make it easier to sell high def projects.  Why?  Because now more people have Blu-Ray players in their homes, that number went up drastically since HD-DVD threw in the towel.

I use the Adobe Production Suite which allows Blu-Ray authoring in Encore CS3.

Do I make feature length movies yet? No.  But now if I did make an indie I can produce it in high def and send it out on Blu-Ray making the production look more professional.

The format war was not only hard on the movie watching community, but it was in some ways slowing the adoption of high-def for producers as well.

The end of the war is good for every one.

On the other hand if you Blu-Ray is just a small step til digital downloads take over, you can read here why I don't that is going to happen anytime soon.

Two more wins for Blu-Ray

Posted by Martin:

I noticed these two tidbits from Bill Hunt over at The Digital Bits.

1. Bestbuy is going to officially endorse Blu-Ray.
2. Netflix is dropping HD-DVD.

Ouch.

Put a fork in this format war, it is done.

Steve Jobs proves my point. Thank you very much!!

Posted by Martin:

I recently made a post about why I think the HD format war IS important and that downloads aren't all they are cracked up to be.

In the post I made the point that DRM just creates more formats than Blu-Ray or HD-DVD.  Itunes, Zune, Amazon, Netflix, all make HD downloads.

Well guess what...the HD downloads will only play on an Apple TV box.

So let me get this straight...

I will need an Apple TV for iTunes, an XBox for Microsoft, a cable box for Comcast, and who knows what is needed for Netflix and Amazon.

Yeah, downloads are sooo much better....

Thanks to Format War Central for the tip.

Digital Downloads versus Blu-Ray Disc and tangible media and why downloads are not ready for Primetime

Posted by Martin:

In my last post about NPR's report on the Blu-Ray gains in the market I got a comment about broadband downloads being the real future and that the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray war is pointless.

Here is why I disagree with that idea.

1.  DRM
    Looking at iTunes as a comparison DRM is a true pain in the butt to the customer.  I own an ipod and buy music off of itunes sometimes.  But it is a true pain that I can't copy my library to another computer or another ipod.  In order to share music my friends and family have to listen physically to my ipod.
    In terms of video, think of our current DVRs.  If I have recorded an HD broadcast of Star Wars that would be awesome.  But can I bring that movie to a party at another house, or put it on a laptop?  As of right now, nope.  If I download an HD movie it stays there in my DVR.  There is no sharing.  Unless of course I disconnect my DVR from my home theater, pack it in my car, and install it in my friends theater.  So much fun!

2. Broadband reach
    I have broadband and a lot of people do, but it maybe a surprise but not everyone in this country lives in a city or suburb with broadband access.  My own parents being an example, they bought their retirement home off in the mountains, and my father has a nice 55 inch Sony HDTV.  Downloads through satellite would be the only option.  Downloads through an Xbox or PS3 would not be an option.

3. Bitrate
    Currently Blu-Ray and disc media have a higher bit rate of info than does a broadcast through cable.  There is a reason why TV shows look better on DVD.  Some people believe that over the air HD broadcasts look better than cable or satellite broadcasts because there is less compression in over the air.  Same idea applies when comparing disc media verses downloads.
    50 GB would take HOURS, if not a couple days in some cases to download.  It would honestly be quicker to drive down the road to Blockbuster pick up a disc and drive back home, than it would be to download a movie.

4. Extras
    Right now when we watch HD movies on TV we get no cool extras.  No commentaries, no featurettes, no nothing.  Wasn't that part of the DVD revolution?  To me having a movie system without extras is big step backwards.

5. No one format of downloads
    DRM makes for more formats than Blu-Ray verses HD-DVD.  Take a current look at video.  iTunes, Amazon unBox, Netflix, Zune, and so on and so on...

    I would have The Godfather from iTunes, Psycho from UnBox, so my collection could quite possibly be spread out over several different programs and formats.  IWhy would I do this to myself to just say I downloaded these movies?

6. Getting Broadband video onto your TV

A lot of us have spent a lot money on a home theater.  Plasma, DLP, THX receiver, Polk speakers, and now I'm supposed to watch my HD movies on my computer, and four inch iPod screen?  I don't think so.

7. Collections
    Lastly, a lot of us like to collect things.  When people come to visit us people inevitably check out my DVD shelf in my office and make comments and offer critiques and praises.  Never had that happen with my iPod.  I like taking time to put my collection in a certain order, genre, year, or by director.  Yes, this point is emotional and not technical, but it is an important one.  People still collect vinyl and CDs in a world of Napstar and iTunes.

Will downloads be big some day?  Of course.  Will they eliminate disc media? Maybe.  In the next ten years?  I don't think so.  Broadband has to be expanded greatly for this to happen.

Having one type disc media is desired by customers.  Having Blu-Ray with such incredible momentum is nothing but a good thing for HD movie lovers.

Focusing simply on downloads I believe is more a love for technology and not really about watching movies in the best way possible.  True movie lovers care that their movies look great and beautiful, not necessarily about how it was delivered.  Broadband just can't compete with discs yet on that point.

NPR's take on the Format War-Their take-Buy Blu!

Posted by Martin:

NPR has done a quick piece of reporting from CES.  They take on a favorite topic of bloggers The Format War.

Their take Blu-Ray wins because of the amount of content.  I've been saying this for quite a while.

Take a listen here.

Thoughts on the Toshiba A3

Posted by Martin:

It is well known now that Toshiba has put out an HD-DVD player for less than a $100 at Walmart.  I have to admit than I've even considered purchasing one.  (If you are new to this blog I am a Blu-Ray supporter.)

As a business owner I couldn't imagine cutting the price of a new product or service this quickly.  Which is why I think this strategy will back fire on Toshiba. Why in the world would manufactures get on an already money losing campaign?

My current DVD player, a Denon 1910, cost more from Crutchfield, when I bought it, than does this Toshiba.  There is something in the consumer psyche I believe, that says if it is more expensive than it most be good, even if the product isn't. 

But on the other hand a product reduced to fire sale clearance prices doesn't make the product look great either. 

If you are looking for the latest and greatest are you really gonna purchase from the clearance rack?

Several New Blu-Ray players on the way.

Posted by Martin:

Here is a brief summary of new players that were announced at IFA.

Funai makes an affordable player.  (Has anyone here ever heard of Funai?)

Pioneer sends us the BD-LX70A.

The Sony BDP-S300 and BDP-S500

And Phillips has announced a new player as well.

Paramount's CTO shows why his studio has dropped Blu-Ray or What happens when you let the executives make technological decisions.

Posted by Martin:

Check out this interview over at PC World with Paramount's CTO explaining the HD-DVD move.

Here is a snippet:

PCW: What about the additional capacity of Blu-ray, which has 50GB dual-layer discs, as opposed to HD DVD's 30GB dual-layer discs? Some studios have cited the additional capacity as necessary. Are you going to miss having the extra headroom?

Bell: This is a little bit overrated. Making a choice like the one Paramount has made is a multifaceted choice: It depends upon manufacturability, the reliability of players, the cost, the infrastructure that's developed to support our creation of titles. Many different factors came into play--including capacity. When Paramount made this decision, we considered the broad spectrum.

If everything else were equal, more capacity would be better. Why not?

But if you convert the playing time, a 30GB disc gives you somewhere between 3 and 4 hours of capacity. It depends upon the nature of the movie and how you compress it. There's no compromise on the quality. We've found that 95 percent of movies are less than 2.25 hours long. With a disc whose capacity is 3 or 4 hours, you can put a fair amount of bonus material on that disc as well. So 30GB with the option to add another disc is fine, from our point of view.

PCW: What if the multiple soundtracks and high-definition bonus materials won't fit on a single disc?

Bell: If there's an overflow of bonus material, we'll just go to another disc. That's not an issue for consumers. In some cases, they consider that it has more value. It's done routinely in DVD. Why put every single title on a high-capacity disc if it doesn't need it?

But from Bill Hunt's website comes this snippet:

             Here's another interesting story I've heard through the grapevine.             People at Paramount who were working on the HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc             versions of Blades of Glory             had actually been planning to do some kind of elaborate interactive             feature on both versions... except that they discovered the 30GB             HD-DVD disc didn't have enough space to do what they'd wanted to do.             So they were planning to include this feature exclusively on the             Blu-ray version. Now, of course, that's all changed. But this casts             some doubt on comments made by Paramount's chief technology officer,             Alan Bell, in the media since yesterday, to the effect that the             studio considered HD-DVD the superior format from a technical             standpoint. Apparently someone didn't tell that to the guys actually             WORKING with these formats at the studio.

I am reminded of the Boss in the Dilbert cartoon when reading Bill's news...

Again, I will say it.  What happens when Blu-Ray starts selling $199 players?  And it will happen soon.

Ah, I love the smell of Blu-Ray in the morning

Posted by Martin:

Of course it is all over the internet today about how Michael Bay is mad as heck about the Paramount decision.

But then it came out that he was actually drunk. He changed his opinion quicker than the edits in his movies. And retracted his statement and now supports HD-DVD.  Bay is no Spielberg.

Bay was probably chastised by some higher-ups and is now retracting his opinion. 

And people have been discussing the whole fact that Spielberg is noticeably absent from this exclusive contract.

And please note that the FIRST Spielberg release will be BLU-RAY only.  Spielberg has made a stand.

The only thing I keep hearing Paramount saying about this whole decision is that HD-DVD players are cheaper.

Well DUH!, because it is the only way they can beat Blu-Ray.

If Blu-Ray is SO prohibitively expensive, then why in the world is it outselling HD-DVD 2 to 1.  Please someone tell me why!

And don't tell me more people have bought stand alone HD-DVD players.  Because that stat just proves that people bought the cheap player but then don't buy as much content. (Besides the fact that stat completely ignores PS3 purchases.)

And cheaper is the WORSE reason to make a business decision.  Again I ask, What happens when Blu-Ray drops their prices?  Where is HD-DVD gonna go then?

And after processing this info I'm no longer scared for Blu-Ray.  I mean seriously, I'm supposed to switch for Shrek the Third?

If Shrek the Third and Transformers is the best you got, you're just rearranging the deck chairs on The Titanic.  You're still sinking.

This has really come across as a desperation move for both HD-DVD, who was CLEARLY losing, and Paramount who didn't have a stellar summer. 

My prediction is that Blu-ray will still continue to dominate and Paramount will have egg all over it's face in 18 months.

For more truly inside info on this read Bill Hunt's post.  This decision was a complete disaster all over the board.

But in the end the ultimate winner is standard DVD.  Because of this it is still movie viewing choice for most everyone.

A Graphical Representation of 15 Movies That You Will NOT See on HD-DVD

Posted by Martin:

Blogging should also be visual, not just words.  Here are posters of fifteen movies that you will never get on HD-DVD.