BIG HD-DVD news!

[Jack Aubrey]

From The Digital Bits:

 

Well folks, this DVD format war is for real. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today, Electronic Arts, Vivendi Universal Games, Sun Microsystems and Texas Instruments pledged their allegiance to Blu-ray Disc format.

 

Oh, but that's not all. It gets even more serious. At the HD-DVD presentation at CES today, Toshiba, NEC and Sanyo Electric all said that HD-DVD players will be available to consumers in the U.S. starting as early as September. Thomson Consumer Electronics was announced as the newest member of the HD-DVD group. What's more, Warner, Universal and Paramount together announced some 89 titles that will be available on HD-DVD in time for the format's 4th Qtr launch. Warner and its affiliates (New Line, HBO) alone will release some 50 titles (click here for another story on this).

 

Here's the COMPLETE list of titles announced today:

 

Paramount HD-DVD

 

New Titles - The Manchurian Candidate, Spongebob Squarepants, Elizabethtown, Coach Carter, The Italian Job, School of Rock, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

 

Catalog Titles - Forrest Gump, Braveheart, Ghost, Grease, Mission Impossible 2, Black Rain, Save the Last Dance, Sleepy Hollow, U2: Rattle and Hum, Vanilla Sky, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Star Trek: First Contact, We Were Soldiers

 

Universal HD-DVD

 

New Titles - The Bourne Supremacy, The Chronicles of Riddick, Van Helsing

 

Catalog Titles - Apollo 13, U-571, 12 Monkeys, Dune, The Thing, End of Days, Backdraft, Waterworld, The Bone Collector, Spy Game, Pitch Black, Conan the Barbarian, Dante's Peak

 

Warner Bros/HBO/New Line HD-DVD

 

New & Catalog Titles - Above the Law, Alexander, Angels in America (HBO), Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (New Line), Batman Begins, Blade (New Line), Catwoman, Contact, Constantine, Charley and the Chocolate Factory, Dark City (New Line), The Dukes of Hazzard, Eraser, Executive Decision, Final Destination (New Line), Friday (New Line), From the Earth to the Moon (HBO), The Fugitive, Gothika, Hard to Kill, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, House of Wax (2005), The Last Samurai, The Mask (New Line), The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Maverick, Million Dollar Baby, The Music Man, Mystic River, Next of Kin, North by Northwest, Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, Passenger 57, The Perfect Storm, The Phantom of the Opera (2004), The Player (New Line), The Polar Express, Red Planet, Rush Hour (New Line), Se7en (New Line), Soldier, The Sopranos (HBO), Spawn (New Line), Swordfish, Troy, Under Siege, U.S. Marshals, Wild Wild West

 

Whew! That's a pretty serious line-up. All the Matrix and Harry Potter films? Batman Begins? Dune from Universal? Wow. This should go a very long way toward convincing consumers just how serious the HD-DVD camp is about supporting their format. One thing we DON'T know however, is whether any of these discs will feature significant bonus material, or if they'll just be movie-only releases with special editions to follow later.

 

You can bet the list of initial Blu-ray Disc titles will be heavy-duty as well when its announced later this year. FYI, it's now looking as if Blu-ray Disc titles and hardware will launch here in the U.S. in early 2006.

 

Looks like only a miracle is going to stop this format war now.

 

Given the scale of this news, and the work we've been doing to chase it all down, we'll be back with Barrie Maxwell's reviews on Monday.

 

Have a good weekend and stay tuned.

 

Bill Hunt, Editor

The Digital Bits

 

(Jack here): My opinion is that we should play the 'wait and see' game. I'd hold off until we see which format becomes this century's Betamax.

[afansince74]

QUOTE (Jack Aubrey @ Jan 9 2005, 02:33 PM)

(Jack here): My opinion is that we should play the 'wait and see' game. I'd hold off until we see which format becomes this century's Betamax.

Thinking the same thing as I was reading, Jack!

With HD-DVD coming end of this year and Blu-ray looking at early 2006, I'd have to say HD-DVD has got a leg up. Plus, from a marketing standpoint, consumers are already familiar with the terms "HD" and "DVD" and subconsciously automatically think quality, even more so when you put them together. You don't have to ask what HD-DVD means. It's kinda self explanitory. What is a Blu-ray disc format? That's what consumers are going to ask. It's a catchy name, but it just doesn't "scream" anything particular to the consumer. I think from a purely marketing perspective, side by side, at this point anyway, HD-DVD will hit first, and with a very familiar name association, will take the lead. But who knows! Just my opinion.

[Sweetmiracle]

Is either one truly superior?

[kazzman]

Pretty soon they'll have things where you can download movies to your dvd player... (unless they already do)

[1-0-0-1-0-0-1]

As long as these new players are backwards-compatable (able to play regular DVDs), I can live with whatever format they decide on.

[afansince74]

QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Jan 9 2005, 03:44 PM)

As long as these new players are backwards-compatable (able to play regular DVDs), I can live with whatever format they decide on.

EXACTLY!

[Sweetmiracle]

QUOTE (afansince74 @ Jan 9 2005, 04:02 PM)

QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Jan 9 2005, 03:44 PM) As long as these new players are backwards-compatable (able to play regular DVDs), I can live with whatever format they decide on. EXACTLY! They won't be....that would cut down on the profits they'll make by reselling us our favorite DVDs....   and ASOH still won't come out in either format....

[D-13]

QUOTE (Jack Aubrey @ Jan 9 2005, 12:33 PM)

From The Digital Bits: Well folks, this DVD format war is for real. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today, Electronic Arts, Vivendi Universal Games, Sun Microsystems and Texas Instruments pledged their allegiance to Blu-ray Disc format. Oh, but that's not all. It gets even more serious. At the HD-DVD presentation at CES today, Toshiba, NEC and Sanyo Electric all said that HD-DVD players will be available to consumers in the U.S. starting as early as September. Thomson Consumer Electronics was announced as the newest member of the HD-DVD group. What's more, Warner, Universal and Paramount together announced some 89 titles that will be available on HD-DVD in time for the format's 4th Qtr launch. Warner and its affiliates (New Line, HBO) alone will release some 50 titles (click here for another story on this). Here's the COMPLETE list of titles announced today: Paramount HD-DVD New Titles - The Manchurian Candidate, Spongebob Squarepants, Elizabethtown, Coach Carter, The Italian Job, School of Rock, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Catalog Titles - Forrest Gump, Braveheart, Ghost, Grease, Mission Impossible 2, Black Rain, Save the Last Dance, Sleepy Hollow, U2: Rattle and Hum, Vanilla Sky, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Star Trek: First Contact, We Were Soldiers Universal HD-DVD New Titles - The Bourne Supremacy, The Chronicles of Riddick, Van Helsing Catalog Titles - Apollo 13, U-571, 12 Monkeys, Dune, The Thing, End of Days, Backdraft, Waterworld, The Bone Collector, Spy Game, Pitch Black, Conan the Barbarian, Dante's Peak Warner Bros/HBO/New Line HD-DVD New & Catalog Titles - Above the Law, Alexander, Angels in America (HBO), Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (New Line), Batman Begins, Blade (New Line), Catwoman, Contact, Constantine, Charley and the Chocolate Factory, Dark City (New Line), The Dukes of Hazzard, Eraser, Executive Decision, Final Destination (New Line), Friday (New Line), From the Earth to the Moon (HBO), The Fugitive, Gothika, Hard to Kill, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, House of Wax (2005), The Last Samurai, The Mask (New Line), The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Maverick, Million Dollar Baby, The Music Man, Mystic River, Next of Kin, North by Northwest, Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, Passenger 57, The Perfect Storm, The Phantom of the Opera (2004), The Player (New Line), The Polar Express, Red Planet, Rush Hour (New Line), Se7en (New Line), Soldier, The Sopranos (HBO), Spawn (New Line), Swordfish, Troy, Under Siege, U.S. Marshals, Wild Wild West Whew! That's a pretty serious line-up. All the Matrix and Harry Potter films? Batman Begins? Dune from Universal? Wow. This should go a very long way toward convincing consumers just how serious the HD-DVD camp is about supporting their format. One thing we DON'T know however, is whether any of these discs will feature significant bonus material, or if they'll just be movie-only releases with special editions to follow later. You can bet the list of initial Blu-ray Disc titles will be heavy-duty as well when its announced later this year. FYI, it's now looking as if Blu-ray Disc titles and hardware will launch here in the U.S. in early 2006. Looks like only a miracle is going to stop this format war now. Given the scale of this news, and the work we've been doing to chase it all down, we'll be back with Barrie Maxwell's reviews on Monday. Have a good weekend and stay tuned. Bill Hunt, Editor The Digital Bits (Jack here): My opinion is that we should play the 'wait and see' game. I'd hold off until we see which format becomes this century's Betamax.

OMG!!!!!!!!! MY PARENTS ARE THERE AT THAT SHOW!!!! THATS WHERE THEY ARE!

COOL!!!!!

[1-0-0-1-0-0-1]

QUOTE (D-13 @ Jan 9 2005, 05:46 PM)

QUOTE (Jack Aubrey @ Jan 9 2005, 12:33 PM) From The Digital Bits: Well folks, this DVD format war is for real. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today, Electronic Arts, Vivendi Universal Games, Sun Microsystems and Texas Instruments pledged their allegiance to Blu-ray Disc format... OMG!!!!!!!!! MY PARENTS ARE THERE AT THAT SHOW!!!! THATS WHERE THEY ARE! COOL!!!!! Tell them to bring back a truckload of HD-DVD players for us!

[D-13]

QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Jan 9 2005, 03:52 PM)

QUOTE (D-13 @ Jan 9 2005, 05:46 PM) QUOTE (Jack Aubrey @ Jan 9 2005, 12:33 PM) From The Digital Bits: Well folks, this DVD format war is for real. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today, Electronic Arts, Vivendi Universal Games, Sun Microsystems and Texas Instruments pledged their allegiance to Blu-ray Disc format... OMG!!!!!!!!! MY PARENTS ARE THERE AT THAT SHOW!!!! THATS WHERE THEY ARE! COOL!!!!! Tell them to bring back a truckload of HD-DVD players for us! LOL! well they do give alot free stuff at those kind of shows, my dad sometimes comes home with 3 huge hockey bags full of stuff!....you never know!

[D-13]

QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Jan 9 2005, 03:52 PM)

QUOTE (D-13 @ Jan 9 2005, 05:46 PM) QUOTE (Jack Aubrey @ Jan 9 2005, 12:33 PM) From The Digital Bits: Well folks, this DVD format war is for real. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today, Electronic Arts, Vivendi Universal Games, Sun Microsystems and Texas Instruments pledged their allegiance to Blu-ray Disc format... OMG!!!!!!!!! MY PARENTS ARE THERE AT THAT SHOW!!!! THATS WHERE THEY ARE! COOL!!!!! Tell them to bring back a truckload of HD-DVD players for us! LOL! well they do give alot free stuff at those kind of shows, my dad sometimes comes home with 3 huge hockey bags full of stuff!....you never know!

[Drumnut]

QUOTE (Sweetmiracle @ Jan 9 2005, 02:14 PM)

and ASOH still won't come out in either format....