$150 Million Sure Can Inject Some Life Into A Pointless Standards Battle Over Next Generation DVDs
from the oh-that? dept
In what must be the world's most pointless standards battle over next generation DVD technology, apparently all it takes to reignite the tiny fire of interest is $150 million. If you hadn't been paying attention (and, honestly, why would you?), two separate groups have been battling it out over which technology will represent the next generation of DVDs: Blu-ray or HD DVD. Like many standards battles these days, the players believe the pot is so lucrative that they refuse to come up with a single standard -- despite the fact that competing standards basically guarantee that both sides lose. Fewer people are willing to adopt one technology if there's still a half decent chance the other one might prevail. At the same time, fewer people are willing to adopt one technology if half the content they want to view is stuck on the other technology. It's a lose-lose situation. While the HD DVD crowd would deny this, over the last few months, it had finally seemed like Blu-ray was edging ahead (for example, with thieves). However, HD DVD's backers have fought back from oblivion by giving Paramount and Dreamworks $150 million to only release movies on HD DVD, effectively ensuring that this remains a standards battle that no one cares about. The good news is that the longer this battle goes on, the more likely most folks will simply jump to alternatives that don't involve plastic discs.
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Filed Under: blu-ray, dvds, hd-dvd
Companies: dreamworks, paramount
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Scru Sony
Remember the root kits!
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Re: Scru Sony
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I want to be able to backup some of the DVD's I buy (some are barely worth watching, so I won't bother).
I want to be able to just record this and that to it, home videos, etc.. Simple - like existing DVD.
I want a choice on different vendors - not just a Sony or JVC machine. If I want a Panasonic or LG, then I should be able to buy that.
And I don't want to be limited by who I have to buy the DVD's from.
Otherwise, I'll be quite content to use my DVD writer now and DVD player now, until it's long since a dead technology. Even then, perhaps I'll just be watching it all 'on-demand'.
I grow tired of new formats, re-buying movies... If I can't burn the movies I have now and consolidate them to HD DVD, then it's worthless to me.
I *may* elect to get some in the newer format, but... hmmm, many I won't.
Looking at all that, and taking Sony's history into account, I guess I'd have to vote against Blu-Ray.
It would be like BetaMax Reduex, lol
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Re:
i thought you meant "could NOT care less"....but then you went on to list all the reasons you MIGHT care what format wins, so i guess its true, you could care less, meaning, you care quite a bit!
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content
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money money money
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Re: Sony
A very common mis-conception... While they didn't get the consumer end, they didn't loose with the BetaMax format. That format did go on and was in every professional video production and ENG facility. Everywhere you looked, Betacams, and Beta editing stations were there. That market was very profitable for them. While the consumer market is huge, the profit margins are really thin.
just my 0.02
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Re: Re: Sony
Yeah, you read Techdirt, which pretty much makes you very different from the average consumer. Most people probably have never heard of either, and will never know the difference between the two.
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Blue Ray, HD TV Bah, Humbug!
I get my news and info from the internet or the paper...
Guess what happened when we ditched the TV? Everybody suddenly got along much better, we spend more time together, outdoors, with friends, family even pets...
If you ask me TV is evil and I'm glad I got rid of it.
As far as blue ray vs HD DVD; I could care less, with the crap there putting out today they can all go out of business!
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Pointless?
Granted, it's wasteful and bad for darn near everyone involved EXCEPT those invested in the "winning" side.
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There are techical reasons too
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070822-reasons-financial-and-technical-lurk-behind-pa ramounts-hd-dvd-coup.html
(cut&paste folks. Techdirt is afraid of XSS...)
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Maybe a solution
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Who cares?
Sam
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new business model?
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Bring back minidiscs
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Many Thoughts
I bet the 150M$ was quite a much larger part for the decision than any of those mentioned in the linked article by post #10.
Granted, they are good arguments and a couple of them actually are good things going for HD-DVD.
The idea of them linking to transactional BS online is okay, but they BETTER not try to force it down our throats.
As a consumer one thing that I am NOT happy with is they way they have approached trailers on the movies you buy.
If I go to a movie at a theatre, I am perfectly fine watching the trailers before the film, and look forward to it.
When I buy a DVD though, I HATE it when they have trailers before the movie.
If they want to toss it onto the DVD as a special feature selection, have at it, I don't mind.
But having them automatically play before the movie is stupid.
One year after you have bought the DVD the trailers serve no purpose. You already know about the film they are going to advertise, and that movie itself is already out on DVD.
It was a poor decision on all of their parts to force trailers playing before a movie.
It bothers me even more when they disable the chapter forward (or is that because they set up the DVD poorly?).
Then I have to hit the fast forward button a few times until it gets to 100X FF and stops when it hits the menu.
Anyone know if they actually can disable the chapter forward or if it is from the DVD being set up poorly chapter wise?
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Does anyone really listen.....
$200 price range(hardware is suppose to open the market acceptance, do you not remember when the automakers and oil companies attempt to push a gasoline change, they realized people want choice. Denying them that right an continually go the path of "proprietary" is a "Dead Man Walking".
It will take a 3rd party to obtain the licenses and create the universal unit and this subject will be left in the dust.
Notice the music videos have not moved one inch on the subject.
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Re: Does anyone really listen.....
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Blue ray is #1
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Re: Blue ray is #1
In the mean time I'll burn my data to DVD.
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Do you want to know which format to buy
They chose VHS over BETA and we all hnow who won that battle.
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Re: Do you want to know which format to buy
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Re: Re: Do you want to know which format to buy
And porn now needs to re-think thire up and close shots. Nothing like seeing the zits on that...
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is there any proof of this?
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Actually....
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...and the winner is...
The winner is whoever gets a player into the hands of consumers for less than $100 first. That was the price point that sent the DVD industry into high gear, and it will be the price point that sends HD discs (regardless of format) into the same sort of saturation.
Consumers do not understand the difference between the discs, and they never will. They understand what it costs very, very well.
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Ugh
"Consumers do not understand the difference between the discs, and they never will."
I am a consumer, and I know the differences between the formats. It's not that difficult of an idea to grasp. Give me a break. The consumer is a lot more savvy and intelligent than you give them credit for.
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Re: Ugh
The general consumer understands more than they are often given credit for.
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And what about downloads?
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One thing for sure
1. I can get one for under $150 at Wal-Mart.
2. This stupid format war is over, and I can get any movie I want in the format of the under $150 player from Wal-Mart.
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