Yet Another HD DVD Format Steps Into The Ring?

from the this-will-end-quickly-on-a-knockout dept

Tue, Mar 11th 2008 5:45am — Mike Masnick

Thought the format war over high definition DVD technologies was over and Blu-ray had won? Perhaps you should think again. The NY Times has a story about yet another attempt at a high definition DVD technology, this time called HD VMD. It's not hard to predict where this one is going: it's dead on arrival. While the company behind it insists it's not trying to start a standards battle, it's difficult to see how you can judge it any other way. After all, why would any studio want to go through the same mess from the past five years in arguing over which standard to release their movies on? The folks behind HD VMD seem to be banking their entire efforts on two very weak pegs: first, their system is cheaper than Blu-ray and second, their Chairman is a big shot Hollywood distributor. If that's the case, he hasn't been particularly effective as there are only 17 movies available in the format -- and you probably wouldn't recognize any of them. As for the cost issue, that's dead on arrival as well. HD DVD was cheaper than Blu-ray and that didn't help it survive. Besides, anyone who understands technology advancement curves knows that Blu-ray is going to start getting cheaper and cheaper pretty fast. The cost advantage will disappear before long. But, the single biggest factor is just that the studios know they've lost three or four good years of selling high def DVDs and don't want to bother with yet another format war.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: dvd, hd vmd, high definition, standards

19 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Crosbie Fitch (profile), 11 Mar 2008 @ 6:25am

They could sell the movies instead
Movie producers could simply sell the movies and let everyone else decide how best to distribute them whether online or on whatever physical medium is most appropriate.

Why not let the market decide?

It would no doubt favour quality and ease of copying above fancy menus and gimmicks.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Neil & Young, 11 Mar 2008 @ 7:37am

Why they won't. . .
just sell the movie? PROFITS BABY! IT'S ALL ABOUT THE PROFITS. . . IN CAPITAL LETTERS!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sean Gilley, 11 Mar 2008 @ 7:38am

More like 125 films available...
I went to the site -- they have 125 films available in the HD VMD format.

Not that I think it makes any difference -- I agree that the format is DOA. It's simply too late.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
ironskull, 11 Mar 2008 @ 7:39am

new hd-dvd format
Is the guy pushing this new hd format on crack? Game over, Blu ray won.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
koresho, 11 Mar 2008 @ 7:46am

Finally.
After seeing Blu-Ray win I went out and bought a new laptop with a Blu-Ray drive in it... Now I just can't wait for Blu-Ray disc prices to drop. This guy must be crazy, it is way too late to take on Blu-Ray, Sony has won.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Monarch, 11 Mar 2008 @ 7:57am

Blu-Ray may have won, but I still will NOT buy the PoS Blu-Ray. It's broken, will always be broken until the DRM is dropped and the phone home is dropped. I will gladly support any format that is not Sony nor Blu-Ray!
Which until the movie studios understand what they are selling, I guess it will be DVD with upconvert DVD players!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 Mar 2008 @ 8:16am

If it had been a flash-based system, I might have paid attention.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 Mar 2008 @ 8:17am

If it had been a flash-based system, I might have paid attention.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dr. Know, 11 Mar 2008 @ 8:37am

Flash or bandwidth
Your right a flash based system would be nice simply Download the movies to a Flash drive, insert to the system and have at it.... HD-Flash, wouldnt have to worry about scratching your disc ever!!! just umm... dont let your flash drive go through the laundry
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 Mar 2008 @ 8:45am

Re: Flash or bandwidth
Yeah 'cos blu-ray disks will go through the laundry no problem.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 Mar 2008 @ 8:56am

Re: Flash or bandwidth
Um, the laundry's not a problem either. On at least two occasions, I've had a USB thumb drive go through the washer and maybe even the dryer (can't remember for sure) and it still worked just fine afterward. Just make sure you let it dry out completely before you use it again.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Baloney Joe, 11 Mar 2008 @ 9:04am

Re:
Are you serious? DO you honestly thing the guys in Hollywood give to rips about what you think. I sure they are having meetings weekly trying figure out "what do we have to do to get that Monarch guy to buy are stuff" By the way, DVD has DRM as well, you are just bypassing it as you steal movies from netflix... Don't worry some day you'll be able to pirate Blu-Ray as well, just be patient...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jake, 11 Mar 2008 @ 9:14am

Re: Re: Flash or bandwidth
Doesn't even have to be a flash drive; sell recordable discs, let users burn content onto them as they stream off the web and keep the copy-protection provisions within reason*, and I'll take two!

*Recommended solution: Let users download each individual film as many times as they like after they've paid for it, but not allow them to copy it to anything but another blank disc; one might be able to set up a sort of cottage industry making copies and flogging them down the pub, but that would have the major disadvantage of being a much worse deal than buying them legitimately.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 Mar 2008 @ 9:45am

Re: Re:
Are you serious? DO you honestly thing the guys in England give to rips about what you think. I sure they are having meetings weekly trying figure out "what do we have to do to get that Baloney Joe guy to learn OUR language" By the way, America has grammar as well, you are just bypassing it as you type horribly from your keyboard... Don't worry, someday you'll be able to speak English as well, just be patient...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 Mar 2008 @ 11:04am

Re: Re: Re:
you missed the "to rips" = "two rips"
[ link to this | view in thread ]
stands for..., 11 Mar 2008 @ 12:22pm

HD VMD..

Very Much Dead ...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Rekrul, 11 Mar 2008 @ 2:22pm

I've heard that the price for VMD blanks would be in the $1 range. If so, VMD could easily succeed as a home storage format, if not as a movie distribution medium. Especially if Blu-Ray blanks continue to be $10-20 each.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
kid person, 11 Mar 2008 @ 6:47pm

WOW
This is really stupid and it makes me LOL alot. I liked blue ray from the begining, first because it has a more original name then HD DVD and then because it has higher storage capacities(50gig for a dule layer disk). and my spelling is terrible sry.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 14 Mar 2008 @ 1:05am

blu ray got more expensive. so the cheaper and cheaper comment is out.
[ link to this | view in thread ]