Looks like Paramount had some kind of "screw you, loser!" clause where they could bail on HD-DVD if Warner Bros. went exclusive on BR. Looks like that happened and Paramount jumped ship. Is this the end of the war? Can I go out and buy a blu-ray player now? Edit: There's a comment down on the Kotaku page that Paramount is denying this. Blasted rumor mill!
hope they do switch soon. its obvious BluRay will win so they should just get it over with and switch.
I really hope HDDVD wins this fight. They actually went the mile and made the HDDVD a standard disc, one version like DVD (an actual standard approved by some CD/DVD group). Bluray is sitting on what now? Two different versions if I recall correctly, and by that I mean standards. Version two is not compatible with version one players, screw bluray! Or you could just buy a hddvd/bluray player. Someone out there is making one atm.
I have a PS3 now so I do kinda hope that BluRay wins. Simply because it means I've already got a player.
As do oh-so-many other PS3 owners. Shame it's a DRM filled, region locked, expensive disked POS really.
personally i hate sony and there 'Blue ray'. lets just hope microsoft can some how back HD-dvd some more, as they released the external drive unit, and it would be daft to change it to a blue ray version. i blame sony for the SH*T called VHS video, and now there at it again with bloody blue-ray. betamax and HD-DVD all the way! lol
I don't have a problem with Blu-ray per se, but I really hate seeing Sony win at anything. Sadly, justice is a rare commodity in the world.
If Microsoft had made the xbox 360 with an internal HD-DVD drive and also made the console silent HD-DVD might have seen a lot more sales from the outset. It's a shame really that Blu-ray is now taking a massive lead because HD-DVD is becoming financially viable for mass consumption.
Yea, which was actually technically superior but a ton more expensive. Don't quote me, I was about 3 at the time.
There where many good reasons for VHS winning though. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2003/jan/25/comment.comment
Betamax was more expensive but unlike HDDVD and Blueray there was better image quality on Betamax and it was clearly the better format but lost out. I'd like this format war to end up soon, don't really care which one wins, I do have a PS3 so obviously have bluray and a couple of BD movies but I can't wholeheartedly jump on any format due to this tussle, ideally a drive needs to go into my mediaPC before I can jump on a format, as while the PS3/360 are nice options, neither are silent and both consume too much power for continual use as a player for lots of movie/tv etc, I'm not splashing out on drive for the mediaPC till I know which is dead, the movies I want are fragmented over each format which makes it difficult to choose one, combo drives cost too much, sooner this is over the better, then hopefully the prices of hardware can start coming down as adoption gains in popularity.
If paramount does go then I'd say it would be next to impossible for HD-DVD to make a comeback. As soon as there are more studios on one side, they all go to that side. I want HD-DVD to win but I feel that's not going to happen.
What I can't figure out is why the studios had to go to one camp or the other. Surely releasing their collections on both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray wouldn't have been that difficult, after all, the movies would sell to both camps if they were decent. That way you get maximum exposure too. In the end, I suppose the format war being over is a good thing, because most people can just get on with buying their films and actually using their HD TV's (loads of "normal" i.e. non-techy people I know have an HDTV but nothing fancier than component upscaling DVD players to play on it).
i'm a total non-expert, so i wonder... Why is everyone bashing sony so passionately? To me, it looks pretty weird seeing tech-heads rooting for Micro$oft as the underdog on an enthousiast forum. Plus, i rather like sony, for a very simple reason. The stuf they make is always eye-pleasing, pleasant to use and durable. It's also always expensive, but I'm willing to pay the extra buck for quality. For me, it's a good thing that the next generation in technology actually adapts some new technology, it seems to me that BD will last a bit longer before it will be replaced then HD-DVD would. Also, M$ falling on their nose is amusing
Personally, I don't jump on the anti-Sony bash bandwagon just for the sake of hating the company. They have been guilty time and again for many different (read: foul) things, but so have many other companies. At least they make good products for the most part. Regarding this whole format war thing, I picked Blu-Ray to win from the onset of these formats existence, as it seemed to be the superior format in terms of disc space and capability since it was designed from the ground up instead of being based on current formats. And merely based on what was on paper even before they actually made any discs. Don't get me wrong; either format is great in comparison to good ole DVD, which is fine itself. At least now, the Blu-Ray disc versions of films won't be using the same transfers used for HD-DVD, so it won't be as compressed to compensate for HD-DVD's slightly lower disc space, just to save money and not doing two different transfers.
