Talking Points
Talking Points: WB Goes Blu-ray; Is the Format War Over?
Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on January 4, 2008
Alright kids, by now you have read all about the fact that Warner Brothers has signed an exclusive deal to distribute their films in the Blu-ray format. Our Crave compadres ComingSoon.net reported the news earlier today, along with every other outlet on the face of the planet (including my favorite Next-Gen site High-Def Digest). Heck, our own Maggie Van Ostrand blogged about it here on this site not too long ago.
Right on the heals of the WB announcement comes news from Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily stating that HD-DVD has cancelled it’s CES Press Conference originally scheduled for January 6 at 8:30pm.
So is that it? Is this the end of the format war. I have received many emails and messages from friends around the industry stating that it just may be the death of HD-DVD. The cancellation of the CES “Dog-&-Pony Show”, as Nikki Finke called it, may not be an admission that Blu-ray has won, but it sure isn’t a statement of strength.
From where I sit, I see this: The split is now about 70% Blu-ray (backed by Sony, Disney, WB, Fox, MGM and Lionsgate) and 30% HD-DVD (backed by Paramount/Dreamworks and Universal). Yet, no matter the ratio, no matter the fact that Blu-ray discs out-sold HD-DVDs 2-to-1 in the first half of 2007, there are still studios on both sides. That means that while you will be able to get The Dark Knight on Blu-ray, you will still have to catch Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on HD-DVD. For the average movie geek, it is a terrible position to be in.
Of course all of this could be trumped by the rise of on-demand film downloads and rentals. iTunes could be making a move toward movie rentals, and eventually on to delivering HD content. They already provide trailers in HD.
So there you have it — that is where we are right now. The rest of the discussion is up to you… That leads us to this weekends Talking Points:
Talking Point #1: Do you think that the format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray is over now that WB has gone exclusive?
Talking Point #2: How do you think on-demand content and HD movie downloads will impact things if they become more abundant?
Read more articles by Neil Miller
7 Comments
January 5th, 2008 at 12:18 am
Although I’m a huge HD-DVD supporter, I’ll admit that I think the war is over. I think this was the final blow. We’ll see what else CES holds, including new players and lower costs and that sort of thing, but this has just changed everything. The fact that they cancelled even shows the HD-DVD group is concerned.
The real result will be if people continue to adapt and get cheaper Blu-Ray players and better ones and so on. If that continues to go in the “right” direction for Blu-Ray, then it’s 100% over. And you know what, I’m not too concerned. I’ve always preferred supporting the step to HD rather than just one side or the other. And now I’ll be buying Blu-Ray and it’ll be fine anyway.
I really think this is the end though. It’s the first final big step and everything that comes after this will just start pushing it further towards Blu-Ray.
January 5th, 2008 at 12:54 am
i dont want to wait until my life is over to get a blu-ray player. this is the breaking point though. rough rounds are paved for people really to make the cross. bring your saddle and a gun..
January 5th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Personally, I’m sticking with DVD releases until there is a clear winner between HDDVD and Blu-ray. I’ll spoil myself with all the cool features with the absolute winner. In the meantime, I’ll continue to live amongst the laggards and watch everything from the fence.
January 5th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
um no comment from me, I’m obviously a supporter of HD DVD, but wanted to say nice job on the logo for this article. Way better than gizmodo’s ugly blue warner one.
January 5th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
ive been reading this on other websites and each time it hurts more and more . im still holding out hope for hd dvd, but it seems like the only thing it has going is the 360 and porn industry. but hey thats enough for me lol.
January 10th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
good, blu-ray is better anyways. hd-dvd=beta.
January 13th, 2008 at 10:14 am
I think this is the begginning of the end for Hi-Def in general. I can only see Hi-Def now becomming a niche market since Blue-Ray is more costly for the consumer and manufacturer, lacks most of the ineractive and online interactivity standard to HD-DVD and the fact that it’s simply not a finished format, and only supports upgrades of it’s firmware through the home based units and not through the PS3. This will only strengthen DVD remaining the dominent format. What Warner doesn’t realize is that the small percentage spike in Blue-Ray sales were simply distractions or substitutes due to lack of games on the PS3. Once games start comming out this year, the kids won’t be able to afford both a movie and a game. Higher manufacturing costs, hardware cost and higher priced Blue-Ray movies will make alot of people revert back to original DVD format. This may also help the lagging digital download market this year with the new set-top boxes by Comcast, Netflix and Apple TV which will have to use the original DVD format or HD windows media format 720p due to bandwith.