The question we find ourselves asking is "what does Michael Bay think?" Warner Bros. Entertainment today announced that the company will discontinue releasing its movies on HD DVD beginning in May of this year in favor of Blu-Ray exclusivity. The decision comes as Warner Bros. CEO Bary Meyer airs concerns that "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger." In other words, if one format doesn't win out soon, a newer format could dominate them both. Digital downloads, perhaps? Maybe Michael Bay was right after all. Whatever your position in the format war (we're happy with our DVDs, thanks), this represents a big blow to HD DVD, and rumor has it that Warner Bros. received a hefty chunk of change in exchange for Blu-Ray exclusivity.
So, starting this summer, your 360 HD DVD player might be feeling a bit lonely (except for the fine films from Paramount and Dreamworks, of course). We're guessing you'll still be able to pick up Warner Bros. movies off of Video Marketplace though.
[Via EngadgetHD]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
1-04-2008 @ 6:35PM
nick.bonanno said...
Michael Bay is never right!
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1-04-2008 @ 7:36PM
Platinum_Skeet said...
I honestly want him to be right. If no true winner comes out of this war then people will move onto something better (direct downloads).
I rather just keep stacking my media center pc up and streaming all the movies and shows to my 360's through my house. It is way more convenient than HD-DVD or Blu-Ray...
1-04-2008 @ 6:39PM
Chester said...
Right now 5 people are crying!
Reply
1-04-2008 @ 7:34PM
JakubK666 said...
After three seconds I've realised that I didn't give a shit about it in first place. Scratch one...
1-05-2008 @ 8:15AM
John said...
Yeah
As long as they still make regular DVD's im happy
:D
1-04-2008 @ 6:39PM
Larry *not allowed to say cheevo* said...
Awww, damn it. Why can't they just produce both? I buy a TON of HD DVD's... what I can't get in the US, I buy out of the country. You can get EVERY movie EVER in HD DVD at:
http://xploitedcinema.com
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1-04-2008 @ 7:05PM
Ian said...
HD DVD has (had?) the advantage of region-free releases as a default. Whilst BluRay also supports region-free, more studios seem to be releasing region-locked content; case in point: "Lost season 3" is Region A only, despite the fact that the DVD boxset came out earlier in Region 2 and that there is no financial incentive to region-lock the BD release. Particularly annoying is that Buena Vista UK have no plans on releasing Lost on BD in Region B in the foreseeable future...
1-04-2008 @ 6:41PM
Eddie said...
They can have my HD DVD when they pry it from my cold, dead hands.
I'll never buy Sony's DRM infested, anti-consumer solution for HDM, even if I have to go back to VHS. Not to mention the fact that I can't afford it. So, ladies and gentlemen, the future of HD Movies brought to you by the makers of Beta, Laserdisc, MiniDisc, SACD, and ATRAC.
MS? You've never been one to go down without a fight, instead choosing to play rope-a-dope with the competition only to come out on top in the end (a la xbox 360)- Are you going to take your three hundred spartans and battle the evil Sony Empire at CES this year on behalf of consumers everywhere? Let me know if you need someone to don the spartan armor getup.
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1-04-2008 @ 7:01PM
Ian said...
Except Beta continues to be an industry standard in DigiBeta form, and Beta was - in technical terms - a far superior format to JVC's VHS, but a quicker transition to rental markets coupled with the porn industry choosing VHS as a release format put the nail in Beta's coffin in the home market... Still, it persists in the film and video industries due to reliability VHS could only dream of. Not every format Sony have released has failed you know :)
1-04-2008 @ 7:39PM
JakubK666 said...
Considering popularity of Halo ,13 Million Spartans sounds more like it.
Then again 300 will fight while the rest will trash-talk [Sony] to death.
1-05-2008 @ 12:27AM
Matt said...
Laserdisc was Pioneer I think. And it wasnt a failure. It was a great alternative to VHS. Very clear picture at the time.
1-05-2008 @ 1:12AM
eugene said...
You know you're in a bad spot when you're holding up fraking Microsoft as some sort of champion of the masses.
1-05-2008 @ 2:16AM
Eddie said...
"A bad spot" describes my predicament like saying "the boat sprang a leak" describes the Titanic.
Another reminder of how completely people fail to assess situations properly before running with them to the death. I felt similarly when Al Gore lost in 2000, when Kerry lost in 2004 and I'm sure I'll feel the same when Obama loses in 2008. I already feel it every night as I flip past yet another reality show to Seinfeld reruns, why should it be any different with my HD format of choice?
Oh well. HDM was fun while it lasted.
1-06-2008 @ 2:39AM
Trashman said...
As much as i will hate it cause i boycott all sony products, i may have to buy blu ray movies when i upgrade to HD which wont be for about 6 years if hd dvd is non-existent and i hope it doesn't turn out that way
1-04-2008 @ 6:42PM
Rob2251 said...
it'd be ironic if tommorow we find out sony paid warner bros. alot of cash for letting go of HD-DVD's. Ironic...
Reply
1-04-2008 @ 11:29PM
Anticrawl said...
They actually did, a loyalty sum. Could have been as much as 500 million dollars. Either way it is only a verbal agreement. Nothing is set in stone.
That aside I could care less. I'm waiting for both formats to fail and a true next-generation format to rise from the blue ashes. One that isn't an inferior blue-laser tech disc(as there are red laser discs that far surpase HD-DVD and Blu-ray in every possible way. SEE: VMD).
I'll wait for holographic cards to come into affect thanks, if they don't well then I'll just pirate every HD movie I can get my hands on and stream it to my HDTV. Which is easier than it sounds, not to mention cheaper.
1-04-2008 @ 11:32PM
Anticrawl said...
Or even better than streaming, I'll just put the movies on my laptop, sit that in the place where my HD player would be and either run them through component wires or perhaps fiber optic cable. May even go so far as to use HDMI, god forbid. But I'll be damned if I buy into either of these lousy formats.
1-04-2008 @ 6:46PM
ccc said...
This makes no sense at all, why wouldn't they go along with the other big companies that already committed to hd dvd.
Dont want confusion? They are making it harder the dumb asses. I'm gonna email this thick headed fuck.
Reply
1-05-2008 @ 11:08AM
Boldy said...
Please give me his e-mail when you find it because I want to do the same.
1-04-2008 @ 6:48PM
Louis said...
HD-DVD is currently the much better standard and seems to be far ahead of BluRay feature-wise, and while BluRay has the promise of more space, I still feel like we are going to be stuck with a shite standard.
The only problem is that once again, a standard was chosen, not by the consuming public, but by warring companies. People didn't go out and say, we want BluRay, it is a better standard. The powers that be decided that. We just pick up the check.
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