Universal dropping HD DVD exclusivity

BAM........BAM........THAT IS THE SOUND OF ANOTHER NAIL IN THE HD COFFIN.........IT WILL BE GOING THE WAY OF THE BETAMAX AND RCA VIDEODISC ANY TIME NOW.

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[Post edited by mrwag on Jan 10, 2008]

The article contradicts itself. At one point it says they have ended HD-DVD exclusivity, then it goes onto say they only support HD-DVD. So which is it?

Henning why write a piece of crap like that? Daily Variety is not a reputable source? Wait until the Studio itself writes a press release, before you add your own dose of speculation to a piece of fluff.

Seriously, this site kinda annoys me that any ounce of speculation gets published. It's as bad as reading one of Eklunds post regarding Hockey Trade Rumours.

Yeah, this is a bit of a wasted post. I expect confirmed things in that left column...this just threw out any credibility which I would have had for anything I see there in the future.

Speculation isn't news...it's just a new thread.

It doesn't exactly contradict itself. It says Universal's commitment to being exclusive is over (has been fulfilled). In other words, they're not obligated to being HD DVD exclusive any longer. After the Warner news, that's a significant piece of news considering Universal may be considering a move to Blu sooner rather than later. The headline of this article is wrong, though. The Variety piece never says their "dropping" HD DVD exclusivity, only that they don't have to remain exclusive now if they so choose. On the other hand, as no official word has yet come from the studio, the headline is definitely misleading.

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[Post edited by CroweDawg1121 on Jan 10, 2008]

omg, some writers will reword anything to get some one to read their crap... and thats what this whole article is.. Trying to sound like a switch in sides, and then state that nothings changed at all, this is not reporting new findings, its just trying to spread or help start rumors. their are howerver other companies looking for reporters like this, its those papers that say's batboy was found in a cave, and bigfoot lives in my backyard, or aliens abducted my gold fish.

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[Post edited by Thor99 on Jan 10, 2008]

Again, I wouldn't consider the original article to be misleading at all. It's not the author's fault if the reader runs with what they read and interprets it to mean more than what it does. The article said Universal's commitment was over. No more, no less. They have no more commitment. That doesn't mean they switched, and the article said nothing to that effect. There's nothing untrue in the article at all. And as I said, I don't blame Variety for posting this because honestly, just knowing for certain that Universal is no longer contractually obligated to HD DVD is news right now in light of recent events. Blame Henning for the headline, not the original author for being misinterpreted.

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[Post edited by CroweDawg1121 on Jan 10, 2008]

HD downloads. Hmmm.

If they're smart, they'll look seriously at that. With the ridiculus production problems and costs associated with Blu-ray, there's never been a better time to bring HD downloads to the world.

How ironic it would be if Universal announced they would be going "download only". It's amazing to me that in this day and age, the next big format technology is a physical disk! How quaint.

With all the rumblings about downloads, I can't see the Blu-ray format lasting 10 years the way DVD has.

Problem is, there are a lot of people out there who actually like collecting those shiny little discs, myself included. I don't doubt that downloads are a viable solution to HD content in the future, but I don't see them wiping out physical media altogether. If that was going to happen, LP's and CD's should have been gone a long time ago...but they're still around. LP's are more of a niche now, but you get my point. People are always going to want the feeling of ownership that they can only get through holding something in their hand. Heh...your post kind of reminds me of Back To The Future Part II. "You mean you have to use your hands? That's like a baby's toy". LOL Guess we're not far off from that future after all.

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[Post edited by CroweDawg1121 on Jan 10, 2008]

I want ET!! Either new 'collector's triple diip' edition and/or HD DVD!!

Yea, I love that line from Back to the Future II.

I used to be one of those people who liked collecting movies. I've got them all lined up on my DVD rack. But over the years, I've become less interested in "clutter".

Sit back sometime and look around your house at all the things laying around, mostly collecting dust. It just gets in the way. I used to have half a dozen different electronics devices stacked up under my TV. Now I have ONE. It's kind of liberating.

At any rate, I think HD downloads are coming...it's just a matter of time. Having said that, it makes me wonder about Blu-rays future. That's one of the main reasons I won't be adopting it.

comic books came out with digital download and stan lee stated that it wouldnt work because people like to hold stuff in their hands. it's true and it works that way with dvd too. hd download will be successfull but it will never negate owning a physical object. people will always want that.

as far as this article goes, the topic is misleading. i still wish someone would step forward and make everyone drop their exclusives. never going to happen, but in an ideal world it's what i would like to see. too many consumers on both sides have spent money. no matter what side you picked, why would you want to see other people lose out on something they enjoyed. apple and microsoft. dvd-r and dvd+r. why can't both exist? in this case its because hollywood execs think they can make the decision for us. and so far they are proving they have that power. it's a crappy road to go down. unfortunatly it's getting closer to that point. no matter which one wins we all lose. prices dont need to stay competitive and the technology doesnt continuously need to improve. the only way the consumer could have won this battle is if all the studios dropped their exclusives and that time is over now. if they had made an agreement earlier on in this war, not to have exclusives, imagine how much more sales would have improved. so many people i know didnt get involved in either purchase because they were worried about whether or not their favorite movies would come out to their choice in HD.

instead of blu boys and hd fan boys bickering on message boards they should have worked together to put pressure out on the studios. oh well, now we all lose.

Quote:
How ironic it would be if Universal announced they would be going "download only". It's amazing to me that in this day and age, the next big format technology is a physical disk! How quaint.

I wish I could agree with you nhall72, but I don't. I'm the only one at work who has Verizon Fios and that's about the best chance of downloading BD/HD-DVD quality on-demand HD (only in select markets as of now) in a reasonable amount of time. How patient will you be downloading almost 30GB of info over your "quaint" dial-up/cable modems? If you reduce the filesize by giving me legacy DD/DTS, "No thank you!" I want my lossless audio with as little compressed video as possible!

eventually they'll be able to get all that too us....but not yet.

We also thought CDs would never die from online music downloads and while we still buy CDs, that market is being beaten prety badly by places like iTunes and the like. Eventually movies will be the same way.

Nhall72 said -

Quote:
"It's amazing to me that in this day and age, the next big format technology is a physical disk!"

Well, to quote a line from the first BACK TO THE FUTURE film - "Now don't con me Biff!" The audio/video quality (and SpEd extras) of a hi-def disc are many times superior to a possible "HD steaming/download", which "in this day and age" hasn't even been developed yet! Comparing streaming/download to Blu-ray or HD-DVD is like comparing a Kindergarten child to a University student.

Then there is the matter of simply re-loading a disc for playback, vs the effort involved in repeated acts of streaming/downloading. Also, the storage factors, and possible crashes or viruses, etc, etc. Also, the ease of jumping from various chapters on a disc, vs interactive streaming. I'll take the "physical disk" for sales and rentals over future availability of HD streaming/downloading.

And as prices of disks drop (sales) etc, well that's great for collecting.

-Love Hendrix! (The Loverboy)
~ DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray/KURO Plasma owner ~

I think if I were the director of Universal Studio, I would choose to shift to Blu-ray because:

- I can release all titles in Blu-ray format that were priorly HD DVD exclusive so I can earn money once again from them.
- If I choose Blu-ray, then it is quite sure Blu-ray will win and standing on the winning side is more safe. If I stick on HD DVD, there are too many unknown factors.
- Using Blu-ray, I can protect my intellectual property better by region coding, HDCP,...

It is all about business. I doubt whether they will stick on HD DVD because they think HD DVD is better. It is only about contract. I also doubt whether they would consider the consumers who have bought so many of their titles in HD DVD.

So I think they will never be losers but consumers.

Digital HD downloads will never work for most consumers because of the hard drive, or device that contained their complete movie collection was to completely crash, the consumer ends up S.O.L.! Unless they had some media storage device such as a DISK that can back up their purchases, or way to re-upload purchases with no charge, I just don’t see it out competing DVD, Blu Ray, or even HD DVD. Anyone who has ever had a computer that stored all their purchased music, than one day the computer completely crashed, thus no back up disc, knows that such places like itunes will not give the consumer back their money for their loss or re-upload purchases without having to buy the items again.

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[Post edited by Kris on Jan 10, 2008]

Kris is right. Why would you risk losing all of your HD video by storing it on a hard drive? HD DVD or Blu-ray is the next best thing because of the superior amount of data storage on the single shiny disk which we rely on to keep our most precious back-ups. That is why I think Blu-ray is winning this war. Take a walk around you local computer store and see all of the nifty laptops with Blu-ray burners in them. Super storage, baby.
It really stinks, too. I really banked on HD DVD winning due to the better value and available features. Oh, well

Paramount and Universal are going to Blu-ray, HD DVD will finally admit defeat, Microsoft will adopt Blu-ray.

It's all just a matter of time ... a few days to a few months at max.

HD DVD dies more each day.

Blu-ray has won.

and the more it dies what? how do you feel today? want a cookie? lol. i admire our energy. you take this stuff to the heart. maybe you should join the army

Love Hendrix! said -

Quote:
Then there is the matter of simply re-loading a disc for playback, vs the effort involved in repeated acts of streaming/downloading.

Who said anything about streaming? I said downloading. Once you purchase and download a movie, you keep it on your hard drive forever. You don't have to "re-download" it again.

If effort is your concern...my downloaded movies are actually less effort than your Blu-ray disks. If you want to watch a different movie, you have to get off the couch and change the disks out, then wait several minutes for the player to boot up I might add. All my movies are on a hard drive. I don't even have to get up! Just grab the remote, select which one I want to play...done!

As for the download speed...Comcast recently announced plans to roll out 160 million bps Internet access as early as 2009. At that speed you'd be able to download an entire HD movie in 4 minutes.

Viruses from a movie downloaded from a major studio? Really, you're reaching now.

Once you lose your objectivity, your opinion no longer matters.

Correct on the HD movie 'downloads'. Streaming are for none-hd content. HD downloads WILL BE FAST...

Hidef movies via download service at speedy service, by 2009, will be the main threat to the Hidef platter.

It may just be the successor to DVD. Better yet, DVD stays (because of WORLDWIDE acceptance), Hidef platter dies.... Why? Because the HIDEF DOWNLOAD service will be FULLY AVAILABLE to everyone by 2009. Hidef platter will still STRUGGLE for a marketshare, considering its retail cost of at least $300 per player.

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[Post edited by xplaytendo on Jan 10, 2008]

nhall72... one thing I've learned about computer-related files, is that they can become "fragmented", and less "stable" over time, etc. I personally will always prefer a top-quality hard disk combined with a premium HD player, than an HD computer or Media Center PC setup. Nor would I enjoy making necessary backups of downloads, if that even becomes legally allowed (probably not - HDCP requirement).

-Love Hendrix! (The Loverboy)
~ DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray/KURO Plasma owner ~

Ummm...files do not get less "stable" over time. That's by far the funniest thing I've ever seen posted on this forum and I've seen some pretty funny things.

I've got files that are more than 10 years old! It would appear you don't know much about how digital media works.

However, I will admit some people are better at maintaining their computers than others and managing your entire movie collection in a computer does require some basic computer skills. But wow...once you learn how to use a computer, it's amazingly convenient.

Once you lose your objectivity, your opinion no longer matters.

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I've got files that are more than 10 years old! It would appear you don't know much about how digital media works.

Wow, how big is the drive? 100 megs?

Downloading with a computer will never be a mainstream alternative to HD DVD or Blu-ray. VOD yes, but download to your computer HD, hooked up to your TV in your livingroom? Yeah... sure

nhall72 said -

Quote:
"Ummm...files do not get less "stable" over time. That's by far the funniest thing I've ever seen posted on this forum and I've seen some pretty funny things."

They don't huh - never? So, you don't believe it when people have programs (made of gobs of files) that can eventually fail and crash, and then might require a new "reload" of the program (via CD or download). Trust me, it's not very "funny", and because of various instability of files, combined with the OS (like Windows), eventually you can have file(s) that gets contaminated, fragmented, or just plain "disappears", or something similar. Then you have to reload...

-Love Hendrix! (The Loverboy)
~ DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray/KURO Plasma owner ~

Skyhawk said -

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Wow, how big is the drive? 100 megs?

No, 1 terabyte. when I build a new computer I copy my files over. Pretty basic thing really.

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Downloading with a computer will never be a mainstream alternative to HD DVD or Blu-ray. VOD yes, but download to your computer HD, hooked up to your TV in your livingroom? Yeah... sure

Actually, it's getting pretty easy to network your TV with a computer. Windows Media Center is one way to do it...there are others if you're not into the whole Microsoft thing.

Network aware TVs are in the works and if I've learned one thing about computers over the last 30 years it's this...Never under estimate what will become mainstream when it comes to computers. If you'd told me in 1985 that I'd one day have a multi-core computer with a terabyte of disk storage sitting on my desk, I would have been very skeptical. Now...my father has one too.

Love Hendrix! said-

Quote:
They don't huh - never? So, you don't believe it when people have programs (made of gobs of files) that can eventually fail and crash, and then might require a new "reload" of the program (via CD or download).

That's correct. Never.

The integrity of digital data does not degrade as a function of time. But as I said, some people are better at maintaining their computers than others.

I have seen what your talking about though. In most cases it was caused by surfing/downloading from Internet sites of, um...ill repute. My advice would be to either lay off the porn sites, or make damn sure your computer is VERY secure.

Don't be afraid of your computer. Computers are actually very reliable if maintained properly. In 30 years I think I've seen one true hard drive crash and I've never lost anything important. Never.

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[Post edited by nhall72 on Jan 11, 2008]

Lucky you nhall72! And we just have to agree to disagree here about computer reliability, Windows stability, and long-lasting hard drives (hehe - that's a good one).

Quote:
The integrity of digital data does not degrade as a function of time. But as I said, some people are better at maintaining their computers than others.

Well guess where that digital data is stored? On physical, magnetic media. Anything physical has a chance of getting damaged. Also, googling around I found that typical failure rates of hard-drives have been found to be in the single percentages - which is not that low really. Here's an abstract from a Carnegie Mellon paper:

"We find that in the field, annual disk replacement rates typically exceed 1%, with 2-4% common and up to 13% observed in some systems."

"We also find evidence, based on records of disk replacements in the field that failure rate is not constant with age, and that, rather than a significant infant mortality effect, we see a significant early onset of wear-out degradation."
[source: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bianca/fast07.pdf]

Interesting tidbit: Did you know that Lowry Digital (well, DTS now that they've been bought) "refresh" their archived hdd copies of movies like every 2 years to make sure that the data on the hdds are okay?

Kinda off topic but since we're talking PC's, might as well jump in...

1 TB is nice to have and it's great that you've never had a problem with your PC, nhall72. It seems you are pretty computer literate so I guess you have some sort of RAID array for backup purposes? In addition, I'm assuming you also have burned a copy of Windows XP and you know how to include all the latest service packs in the install DVD so that you don't have to re-install them during a catastrophic failure? If you don't have any of these or other fail-safe backup plans, have fun bringing your 1 TB back up to speed!

I agree with everyone else concerning the failure rates of hard drives. I've had 2 identical Seagate SATA drives fail on me within a month of each other. I hope you never hear the dreaded "click...click...click."

Getting back on topic: all this news from Universal, Paramount, Microsoft, etc. doesn't count for squat. They're all saying what they need to say to save face but you know that they all have their own agenda and the grapevine says we'll hear from one of them within a month. I love movies and that's why I'm a dual format supporter but the average consumer is going to know a lot less about what a TB is, how much bandwith is needed to download movies, etc. vs. choosing either Blu-ray or HD-DVD.