Source: Financial Times
Get ready to pronounce HD-DVD dead. Since Warner Brothers’ recently hopped off that HD-DVD gravy train, information has come to the surface regarding the exclusivity contract between HD-DVD and Paramount that was signed last summer.
Another low blow for HD-DVD? Could this spell the end of the format war, as we know it?
Find out the sordid details, after the jump!
Apparently, there is a clause that would give Paramount a get out of jail (aka HD-DVD) free card if Warner Brothers dropped HD-DVD support. Paramount vehmently denies that they are going to pull their support for HD-DVD, but it seems as though it’s just a matter of time.
Talk about your 1-2 punch. No wonder the HD-DVD camp almost canceled their CES conference. I guarantee this was the first thought that crossed their mind after regaining consciousness from hearing the devastating news about WB abandoning them.
There has been no confirmation as to whether or not Dreamworks Animation had the same clause in their exclusivity contract, but the contracts were signed at the exact same time. Plus, Paramount practically owns Dreamworks, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they did have an “out clause” as well.
For right now, Paramount has taken no action, but it has been widely speculated that they will use that get out of jail free card real soon. Let’s hope they don’t take too long though, because I’ve been dying to get Transformers on Blu-ray.
I don’t care what you say, I liked the movie.
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a little late guys
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/08/paramount-current-plan-is-to-support-the-hd-dvd-format-curre/
I know that its the “current plan” but lets hope that in May, Warner stays on both sides… Considering Warner has a financial stake in the success of HD-DVD
“Paramount vehmently denies that they are going to pull their support for HD-DVD, but it seems as though it’s just a matter of time.”
How are we late? We addressed that.
If you don’t think they’re going to abandon the HD-DVD sinking ship very soon than you’re just fooling yourself.
What about the other _nineteen_ members rumored to be preparing to switch?
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article3153038.ece
Who cares? Neither format will win in the long run because the ‘on demand’ downloadable bandwagon will flatten them both in the long run.
The only people who care about this are us gamer geeks and AV nerds, most people see it for what it is, a last gasp cynical attempt by the movie studios to wring another load of money out of us for films we have already bought once or twice before.
The difference in quality between Blu-ray\HD-DVD and DVD isn’t large enough to get the average consumer excited enough to replace their film collection so soon after switching to DVD. The reason that DVD take up was so quick and widespread was because it offered a number of significant advantages over VHS not least, image qualiy, no degradation with reuse and convenience.
I won’t be switching anytime soon, if at all.
So you’re saying that we’re going to all start downloading 25GB worth of data for ONE movie soon? because that’s what it would take to get the same quality as Blu-ray or HD-DVD. Where exactly is all of this hard drive storage space going to come from?
And who says you have to replace your entire DVD collection? I have 300+ DVDs and I don’t plan on ever replacing them, but you can bet that if a new movie comes out that I want and it’s on Blu-ray I will definitely be buying it over the standard DVD version.
maybe toshiba’s gonna start making there terabyte hard drives
hd-dvd: the escape clause, had to say it
The DL content won’t work until there is universal high-speed internet. You would be suprised who still uses Dial-up or doesn’t have a connection at all.
If DL content came soon, they would be alienating mainy movie goers and would actually loose money not only from that, but from the cost of creating top notch anti-virus software. What’s to stop someone from hacking into the database of a company and stealing all the movies? They do it already when they transfer movies over satallite to movie theaters.
The winner of the format war will be around for at least 10 years.
Hard copy video media isnt going anywhere.
As resolution increases, file size increases exponentially. 1080p is the big deal now, but PC moniters put that to shame years ago. TV resolution MUST continue to increase as stupid manufacturers continue to create larger and larger screen surfaces. The larger the screen, the poorer the image. Native resolution has to increase to keep up and maintain clarity.
25GB can easily be filled up with full 1080p content.. but soon that wont be sufficient. In 10 years we\\\\\\\’ll be talking about 50, 100 and 200GB movies that display at 1900p+
Forget where you plan on storing these humongous files.. where the hell is the mass market consumer going to find the bandwidth to even start? It simply doesnt work. It may never work until there is a major global communications overhaul.. and there is likely to be another World War before that happens.
Give it up and get a friggin\\\\\\\’ Blu-Ray player.
Ok guys fair point about the bandwidth although it hasn’t exactly prevented Microsoft from making SD and HD films available for download (and by the way I actually meant rental not to keep in my previous comment although should have made that clear). That still doesn’t get away from the main thrust of my point that for most people neither of these formats offers a big enough improvement over DVD to make the jump worthwhile.