Major Blow For Hd Dvd

[chelseaboy]

Just found this on a website if its true, the blu-ray vs HD DVD war could be over.

Paramount is poised to drop its support of HD DVD after Warner Brothers’ recent backing of Sony’s Blu-ray technology, in a move that will sound the death knell of HD DVD and bring the home entertainment format war to a definitive end.

Paramount and DreamWorks Animation, which makes the Shrek films, came out in support of HD DVD last summer, joining General Electric’s Universal Studios as the main backers of the Toshiba format.


Blu-ray sales show lead over rival - Jan-08Editorial Comment: Betamax’s revenge - Jan-07Lex: Sony and Blu-ray - Jan-07Blu-ray deal hits Microsoft and Toshiba - Jan-07Warner plumps for Blu-ray in format wars - Jan-04Price war could break DVD deadlock - Dec-19However, Paramount, which is owned by Viacom, is understood to have a clause in its contract with the HD DVD camp that would allow it to switch sides in the event of Warner Bros backing Blu-ray, according to people familiar with the situation.

Paramount is set to have a bumper 2008 with several likely blockbusters, including the latest instalment in the Indiana Jones franchise.

Paramount joining the Blu-ray camp would leave HD DVD likely to suffer the same fate as Sony’s now obsolete Betamax video technology, which lost out to VHS in a similar format war in the 1980s.

Warners decision last week to throw its weight behind Blu-ray saw it join Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as backers of the Sony format.

The Warners move gives Blu-ray about 70 per cent of Hollywood’s output, although the format’s grip on film content will increase further when Paramount comes aboard.

It is unclear whether DreamWorks Animation has the same get-out clause in its contract with the HD DVD camp.

However, Paramount and DreamWorks have a close relationship, with Paramount distributing DreamWorks Animation films. The two companies also signed their HD DVD contracts at the same time. Meanwhile, Universal has declined to comment on its next-generation DVD plans since the Warners move.

Sir Howard Stringer, chief executive of Sony, on Monday held out an olive branch, saying the company would be “open to dialogue” with the HD DVD camp to “grow the market”. The move came as new figures showed that Blu-ray had opened up a decisive lead over the rival home entertainment format.

Sir Howard said: “We are not going to push people around. We’ll talk to anyone ... we have a lot of work to do to grow the market. We’ll be systematic and open to dialogue at all times.”

He added that Sony still had “a lot of work” to do to get Blu-ray “widely accepted” among American consumers.

“With Warner’s support you saw billboards going up in different places and you saw television commercials getting more and more sophisticated and that’s what we’ll continue doing,” said Sir Howard.

chelseaboy

[munted101]

Where does that leave the Xbox 360 ?

[seedys50]

Its about time something like this happened - Two rival, incompatible, formats battling for the HD market could only spell trouble for the consumer.
Hopefully during 2008 we will see the price drop for Blu Ray players and discs.
Fingers crossed.

[FoneFreak]

Where does that leave the Xbox 360 ?

Still leaves it as the best gaming console around at the minute. As $ony dont seem to interested in making games for the ps3 yet as they are spending millions promoting bly-ray??

[chelseaboy]

Still leaves it as the best gaming console around at the minute. As $ony dont seem to interested in making games for the ps3 yet as they are spending millions promoting bly-ray??

personally i dont think theres much difference between the 2 consoles at the moment the PS3 and xbox 360.

Most the games being released now are released on both consoles apart from
a few exclusives.

The PS3 seems to be more reliable, but the xbox 360 can be flashed for copied games, which is a great buying point.

I would say the 360 is the most established next generation console, but to say its the best i think is wrong, lets see in the future?

chelseaboy

[simon 2003]

id say 2007 belonged to 360 ,and 2008 will be PS3's,not sure about flashing bein a great buying point if it stops you goin on xboxlive,and that 33% failure rate compared to PS3'S less than 1% will haunt MS this year,mine just gave me the ring of fire,UPS picked it up and delivered it back to my door must be costing them a fortune,ive done a side by side comparison on a few demo games and i prefer PS3 grafix,this year the developers will get to grips with its hardware and i expect some good games ,better value too with wireless connectivity (60 for xbox)free online gameplay (£40 a year xboxlive) and a blueray player (about 90-100 for xbox equivilent),

HD-DVD=BETAMAX BLUERAY=VHS

[FoneFreak]

what i'm trying to say is who REALY gives a toss about blu-ray or hd-dvd??, its all about the games!!!

[chelseaboy]

id say 2007 belonged to 360 ,and 2008 will be PS3's,not sure about flashing bein a great buying point if it stops you goin on xboxlive,and that 33% failure rate compared to PS3'S less than 1% will haunt MS this year,mine just gave me the ring of fire,UPS picked it up and delivered it back to my door must be costing them a fortune,ive done a side by side comparison on a few demo games and i prefer PS3 grafix,this year the developers will get to grips with its hardware and i expect some good games ,better value too with wireless connectivity (60 for xbox)free online gameplay (£40 a year xboxlive) and a blueray player (about 90-100 for xbox equivilent),

HD-DVD=BETAMAX BLUERAY=VHS

I agree totally i had a xbox 360 which got banned luckily i never got the red ring, to be honest if i was going to watch hd dvd i wouldnt watch through a 360 as they are very noisy.

As an all round machine the PS3 3 is miles better than the XBOX 360, but you will still get the same response theres no games out for the PS3!!!


WHO R U KIDDING!!!!!

This post started about hd dvd been in a bit of a mess as manafacturers are dropping the format, so why people have bought the best games console into the post?

chelseaboy

[bonovox]

The HD DVD v Blu Ray format war doesn't matter a jot to the xbox360 as there are NO games on HD DVD format. They use dual layer DVD and HD DVD drive is just an add on. There is even talk that the 360 might start supporting blu ray in the future if thats the format that wins, cant see it myself though. But to be honest the xbox 360 is a games console and not a "jack of all trades", "master of none" which the ps3 is fast becoming. Also MS have been rumoured to have said that they couldn't care less about the HD DVD v Blu Ray war as they think the future lies in digital downloads and not discs. Just take a look at xbox live where they have hd films for download already so you can see what they are pushing.

Also what demos have you compared? The graphics are virtually the same and most reviews seem to always give the 360 the better review. Ok if your a sony addict then thats fine, I've had a ps1, ps2 (both the winners in the past) and have a ps3 which I never use. But no one is gonna tell me that the PS3 is the best games console there is as that is pure rubbish. Also, it might not be everyones cup of tea, but I also think that the achievement system and gamerscore on the 360 is still a great feature and I also know others that have a PS3 saying this would be a nice feature for the ps3 to have. Not everyone cares about them but I think that it extends games playablility when there is things to unlock etc. What also interests me is that the graphics and textures for this generation are not going to get any better until a new console with more powerful graphics ability is released. So as for anyone hoping that the PS3's graphics are going to get far beyond what the 360 will do then they are living in dreamland.

[chelseaboy]

xbox live is good until you get banned, then you have to go out and get another console.

Ive had both and to be honest the PS3 is as good, you unlock acheivement on the games exactly the same as the 360 but you dont have the pleasure of paying 40 pound a year for it.

Oh the games you get higher ranked and have points are call of duty 4, pes 2008 and also warhawk, these are just a few.

We all know your a 360 fanboy but come the end of the year im sure you will singing to the tune of the PS3

how many time have you had to send your 360 back for repair? How many consoles have you had banned from live?

Chelseaboy

[bonovox]

Hehehe i'm as much a 360 fanboy as u are a ps3 fanboy. The achievements system is not only for live. Its for all parts of the games on the 360, yer know things like "complete such a level without dying" for example and u get points for it etc. Might not sound like much but it keeps the games fresh. Also I have had 1 xbox 360 that went wrong with the 3 red lights of death flogged for £70, 2 banned from live (sold one and got as much as I paid for it) and 1 console that had a fault with the dvd drive which has now been repaired. Yeah the build quality is questionable but no question it is has the upperhand in the next gen console war!

[simon 2003]

i compared ghosts2 and sega rally m8 and on my plasma and prefered the grafix on ps3,im no fanboy i love my 360 too but ps3 only out for about a year when its done its time like the 360 think it will dominate,
fook me 360 build quality questionable with 1/3 fooking up they should get you on MS public relations m8,cos thats a fookin disgrace,they rushed to get the console out to get the upper hand in the nextgen war which is what they have done 2008 we shall see

[munted101]

I thought MS were going to release a 360 with a HD-DVD drive built in ?

[pege63]

Yes that was the deal before releasing the xbox with HDMI but that was expensive they say, so i say MS killed the HD DVD format, now its to late,

[universal1]

Yes that was the deal before releasing the xbox with HDMI but that was expensive they say, so i say MS killed the HD DVD format, now its to late,

Must agree MS did kill HD DVD I think it all boils down to greed $$$$$ on MS part even though MS don’t $$$ if they really wanted to promote the growth of HD DVD why sell the HD DVD player separate . ??? more money

[bonovox]

Yeah now theres talk that they may incorporate a blu ray drive in the 360. Can't see that happening either.
_http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=24659

As for HD DVD the Toshiba players are now £115 which is a steal really. Theres still quite a few HD DVD titles available and plenty being released so for that price I reckon I may buy one. If there is no future for HD DVD its still a good price so you can upscale your DVD's. Thats another thing about the PS3, has anyone seen the upscaling on a PS3 for normal DVD's. When I tried it a couple of months back it looked like ****, worse than not upscaling. These Toshiba players do the job right.

[evagoras]

Yeah now theres talk that they may incorporate a blu ray drive in the 360. Can't see that happening either.
_http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=24659

As for HD DVD the Toshiba players are now £115 which is a steal really. Theres still quite a few HD DVD titles available and plenty being released so for that price I reckon I may buy one. If there is no future for HD DVD its still a good price so you can upscale your DVD's. Thats another thing about the PS3, has anyone seen the upscaling on a PS3 for normal DVD's. When I tried it a couple of months back it looked like ****, worse than not upscaling. These Toshiba players do the job right.

I recently got a toshiba xe1 player and they are top of the range upscaling players for dvd as well as okay cd players and HD DVD players. They are selling this model for under 300 pounds now, i got it for 400. I wouldnt think twice about it as a dvd player.Its built like a tank the remote is so****y built with backlights, has gold contacts at the back. Well worth it. The PS3 is not as good as this one for upscaling of what i have read.

[chelseaboy]

ive used for my PS3 to upscale and it works very well, the only thing is you have to activate the upscaler in the control panel, so if you just put a dvd in to your PS3 it will not automatically upscale and you have a few different options when upscaling.

I think there giving the hd dvd players away now cheap, with loads of films as they no the format war is over.

In the post above it goes on about it being built like a tank with a bulky remote, im sure ive heard this before about a format, i think it was Betamax DEJAVU.

CHELSEABOY

[evagoras]

ive used for my PS3 to upscale and it works very well, the only thing is you have to activate the upscaler in the control panel, so if you just put a dvd in to your PS3 it will not automatically upscale and you have a few different options when upscaling.

I think there giving the hd dvd players away now cheap, with loads of films as they no the format war is over.

In the post above it goes on about it being built like a tank with a bulky remote, im sure ive heard this before about a format, i think it was Betamax DEJAVU.

CHELSEABOY

m8 i dont work for toshiba if thats what your implying !! i just said its top of the range dvd player and better than the ps3 by all reports. In any case even if the high def goes belly up your still left with a decent dvd player which i can tell you is very close to high def/blue ray.

[chelseaboy]

m8 i dont work for toshiba if thats what your implying !! i just said its top of the range dvd player and better than the ps3 by all reports. In any case even if the high def goes belly up your still left with a decent dvd player which i can tell you is very close to high def/blue ray.

what reports? the ps3 never had upscaling when it came out but now with the latest firmware update the upscaling is supposed to be faultless.