Paramount ditches Blu-Ray

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  • Paramount ditches Blu-Ray

    So the HD-DVD camp basically bribes, er, excuse me, provides $150 million in "INCENTIVES" to Paramount if they will side exclusively with them.

    No more Blu-Ray for any Paramount, Paramount Vantage, MTV, Nickelodeon, DreamWorks or DreamWorks Animation film...except any film directed by Steven Spielberg and the INDIANA JONES pics.

    Absolutely ridiculous.

    Love how the execs muzzled Michael Bay, who threatened not to do TRANSFORMERS 2 in a fit of rage over the decision then back tracked several hours later.

    What a frickin' mess. Too bad the technology's so damn alluring or I'd wish both formats would fail just to stick it to both camps for screwing the consumer.

  • #2
    Re: Paramount ditches Blu-Ray

    Blu-Ray may have more physical capacity, but when side-by-side with HD DVD, the picture quality (anything over 720p) is negligible.

    This format war has to end very soon. Like within the next year, year and a half.

    Namely because retail video franchises like Hollywood Video and Blockbuster are having hard time promoting the formats. Consumers are wanting to rent HD movies, but these two refuse to stock many of each because of how fragmented the titles are due to studio exclusivity. This is only hurting them, the format, and giving online e-tailers like Netflix the competitive advantage.

    (No, I don't work for either Hollywood Video, or Blockbuster )

    The other alternative is combo HD DVD/Blu-Ray players. And more importantly AFFORDABLE combo players. I saw one listed for $999 dollars. That's ridiculous.
    Positive outcomes. Only.

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    • #3
      Re: Paramount ditches Blu-Ray

      I (unfortunately) work for Blockbuster. The company's stance is that it's strictly Blu-Ray -- walk into any store and you'll see plenty of promotional items that support the battle cry -- but this decision will absolutely change things. Maybe not drastically, but it will change things....

      There's no way Blockbuster WON'T stock HD-DVD copies of BLADES OF GLORY, TRANSFORMERS, SHREK 3, etc in store.

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      • #4
        Re: Paramount ditches Blu-Ray

        HD-DVD hardware and media is intrinsically cheaper, is more consumer-friendly, has no Region coding, can be made backwards compatible with DVD, and is the much better choice for anyone not named Sony.

        I own neither, but because I am a consumer, I hope HD-DVD will win, and I will never support Sony and the proprietary, expensive and regioned coded BR. Otherwise, I'll just stick to upconverted DVD and wait for the next big thing in 2 years.

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        • #5
          Re: Paramount ditches Blu-Ray

          Is this like the VHS - Betamax thing?

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          • #6
            Re: Paramount ditches Blu-Ray

            Ayup... and Sony's eject button got pushed on that one, too.
            "Forget it, Jake. It's Hollywood."

            My YouTube channel.

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            • #7
              Re: Paramount ditches Blu-Ray

              Originally posted by Architeuthis Dux View Post
              Is this like the VHS - Betamax thing?

              No as there are actual benefits with Blu-ray or HD-DVD (since it has a higher capacity, made with an awesome anti-scratch coding and have wider support from other sources, I'm for Blu-ray...also just going from DVD to something called HD-DVD doesn't seem like a big enough jump). Betamax did not offer any benefits over VHS.
              Last edited by j over; 08-22-2007, 09:28 PM.

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              • #8
                Re: Paramount ditches Blu-Ray

                Sure it did... the Betamax offered slightly better picture, seriously better audio, and all in a smaller package (a nice boon for the prerecord collector... those VHSs sucked up a lot of shelf space).

                Not much, but it was still a little disappointing that VHS won.
                "Forget it, Jake. It's Hollywood."

                My YouTube channel.

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                • #9
                  Re: Paramount ditches Blu-Ray

                  Thanks HD-DVD for screwing the consumer. What a dick move. Blue-ray is winning and they are going to win regardless, this has just drawn it out by a year. Well that's Microsoft and Co for ya.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Paramount ditches Blu-Ray

                    Since the mods have taken it upon themselves to selectively delete some of my posts, I am helping them out by deleting the rest.
                    Last edited by kintnerboy; 09-01-2007, 12:25 PM.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Paramount ditches Blu-Ray

                      Originally posted by Captain Jack Sparrow View Post
                      Thanks HD-DVD for screwing the consumer. What a dick move. Blue-ray is winning and they are going to win regardless
                      Do you work for Sony?

                      Otherwise, why would you be supporting an anti-consumer technology like BR? Consumers should be clapping their hands over this move, as it gets us away from an expensive, region coded, proprietary, high license fee, BR format, to an inexpensive, consumer-friendly, region-free, low license fee HD-DVD format.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Paramount ditches Blu-Ray

                        Originally posted by j over View Post
                        Betamax did not offer any benefits over VHS.
                        Actually it did - picture and sound were superior. Betamax went on to become BetacamSP which was the broadcast industry standard for about 15 years - not bad.
                        But Sony are repeating the mistake. They lost out on Betamax because they refused to license the technology, just as Apple got stuck because it refused to license the Mac operating system.
                        Sony have a habit of doing this and it often bites them in the A. Since they have been through some rough patches recently I'm surprised they have gone down the same path with Blu-Ray, however just as with Betamax BluR is a superior technology over HD-DVD. Again, I suspect the market will make the decision based on price and availability/compatibility of hardware.

                        As a consumer I'm sure tired of it - I've barely finished replacing my LP collection with CDs and now the CD format is about to pass on to another generation...
                        "Friends make the worst enemies." Frank Underwood

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                        • #13
                          Re: Paramount ditches Blu-Ray

                          Sony had a competing format in the mid 90s, but decided to go with Toshiba, Warner Bros. and DVD. Shame the favour wasn't returned.
                          "What's worse than being talked about? Not being talked about."

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                          • #14
                            Re: Paramount ditches Blu-Ray

                            Originally posted by ShaneBlackFan View Post
                            Sony had a competing format in the mid 90s, but decided to go with Toshiba, Warner Bros. and DVD. Shame the favour wasn't returned.
                            What is that supposed to mean?

                            Sony was the one unwilling to add parts of its proprietary (read: big $$$ licensing fees) BR design to the DVD Consortium standard, which is why we have two competing formats.

                            Basically, Sony saw a lot of $$$ by going its own route, raking in the huge hardware and software fees, and instituting Draconian limitations and anti-consumer features into BR to lure the studios in.

                            Why consumers are lining up for a Butt Reaming (BR) is beyond me, but I guess you should never overestimate the general population.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Paramount ditches Blu-Ray

                              Originally posted by WritersBlock2010 View Post
                              Blu-Ray may have more physical capacity, but when side-by-side with HD DVD, the picture quality (anything over 720p) is negligible.

                              This format war has to end very soon. Like within the next year, year and a half.

                              Namely because retail video franchises like Hollywood Video and Blockbuster are having hard time promoting the formats. Consumers are wanting to rent HD movies, but these two refuse to stock many of each because of how fragmented the titles are due to studio exclusivity. This is only hurting them, the format, and giving online e-tailers like Netflix the competitive advantage.

                              (No, I don't work for either Hollywood Video, or Blockbuster )

                              The other alternative is combo HD DVD/Blu-Ray players. And more importantly AFFORDABLE combo players. I saw one listed for $999 dollars. That's ridiculous.

                              I do work at Blockbuster, and a few notes, just from my personal experiences:

                              Most people that have Blockbuster Online (aka Netflix equivalent) have no clue you can get Blu-Ray/HD DVD discs online because they're in a really odd spot.

                              I've had well over 150 people ask me if we carry Blu-Ray discs. I've had two, yes, 2 people ask me for HD DVD in the year and a half I've worked there.

                              I don't know if it's just name recognition, and Blu-Ray is the only one people remember or what, but literally nobody at the Blockbuster in Los Angeles wants HD DVD.

                              I can't imagine that's a complete anomoly.

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