Four Hollywood Studios Back HD DVD Format

[James Fee]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1733057,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532' target='_blank'>http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1733057,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Toshiba Ltd. said that four major Hollywood studios had signed on to release titles in the HD DVD format, a decision that should have a significant impact on the next-generation DVD forum battle. Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, New Line Cinema, and Warner Bros. Studios all released commitments to support the HD DVD format, Toshiba executives announced at a press conference in Tokyo on Monday. Universal said it would have "select" titles available in the format during the 2005 holiday season, while Paramount Home Entertainment said that it plans to release titles from its home entertainment catalog, as well as new releases, in the HD-DVD format beginning in 2006. The decision pits the four studios directly against Sony Corp., whose storage division helped develop the rival Blu-Ray specification. Sony Pictures has said it would release its own content in the Blu-Ray format, and plans to support the next-gen DVD specification in its next PlayStation console. Microsoft Corp. has yet to specify which DVD format it will endorse for the next revision of its Xbox console."</i><br /><br />Sounds like great news for the HD DVD camp. I expect this won't have much impact in the short term since as with everything like this, the consumer usually decides with their wallets. With 4 huge studios set to release movies on HD DVD, I'd have to give them the upper hand at this moment, but we'll see what next week brings.<br /><br />So what HD DVD player do I need to rush out and buy for Christmas? :D

[Fitch]

Hmmm, sony is the only studio that likes blu-ray, huh? Big suprise.
I think, though, that having this many studios backing HD-DVD is the key. I mean, 90% of HD-DVD content will be movies, right? And these are the major distributors. It's all about availability. I don't really care which one gets used, I'm just glad to hear there might be a winner soon!

[Doug Johnson]

This seems a bit odd, considering nearly all of the big hardware manufacturers are backing Blu-ray.

Maybe the movie industry head honchos really are braindead.

[bryhawks]

So what HD DVD player do I need to rush out and buy for Christmas?

Um...the 2005 holiday season. Don't you have a year to decide which player you'll get? Or are you just a *real* early Christmas shopper?

[Felix Torres]

This seems a bit odd, considering nearly all of the big hardware manufacturers are backing Blu-ray.

Maybe the movie industry head honchos really are braindead.

Or maybe they think that hardware manufacturers will support whatever format has the movies? :)

The telling point is the quote from the Time-Warner exec that Hollywood wants only one format and that disk manufacturing costs (*their* costs) are the deciding factor.

This could go one of two ways:
1- The studios are using Toshiba to pressure Sony into giving them much better licensing terms and subsidize start-up costs...
2- The studios are flexing their very real muscle and telling the hardware guys that *they* choose the format to distribute *their* content and they are not going to swallow higher disk production costs just to comply with the hardware guys' choices.

History (Laserdisk, anybody?) says the studios get whatever they want.
Its still (somewhat) early in the game but if Sony wants these guys onboard for Christmas 05, they have 3-4 months to change the tech and renegotiate terms.

At this point, Sony owns Columbia Pictures and controls MGM. 20th Century Fox is on the steering committe for Blu-Ray but has not actually committed to it. I'm guessing that if *they* jump ship, Blu-Ray is toast.
If they don't, it becomes a three year staring contest to see who blinks first. (Still to be heard from: Disney.)
Worth keeping in mind that only three vendors have actually shipped Blu-Ray product (and they're less than fully inter-compatible) but *none* have shipped BD ROM product, which is the HD DVD competitor. So, with a year warning, they can easily jump ship.

A simple alternative is that Blu Ray evolves into a computer data storage medium, where its higher capacity outweighs the higher per-disk costs, and HD DVD becomes the content distribution medium.
Or maybe Sony gets stuck with the full development cost of Blu Ray and no market except the PS3.
Would make a good anti-piracy measure, at that... :twisted:

[Jason Dunn]

Wait, I'm confused...I thought HD-DVD was RED LASER....!? 8O So we're STILL talking about no backwards compatibility with content, right? Or "kind of" since they'll be physically compatible and we can get red/blue laser combo players?

[Felix Torres]

Wait, I'm confused...I thought HD-DVD was RED LASER....!? 8O So we're STILL talking about no backwards compatibility with content, right? Or "kind of" since they'll be physically compatible and we can get red/blue laser combo players?

Easy get confused with all the HD formats announced this year...
HD DVD and BDROM are true blue-laser devices (that hyphen is important, isn't it? :wink: ) unlike FVD and the other WMV-On-DVD formats that can deliver HD now.

As I remember it, HD DVD holds 20GB per side instead of the 25GB or so of BDROM because it devotes more of the disc surface to tracking and error correction. As a result, the discs can be stamped out on the same assembly lines now manufacturing plain old DVDs.

Playback would require (I think) a triple-laser (one CD, one DVD, and one HD) head with finer grained tracking than currently available but the design would not be very different from current designs, just much more precise.

The BDROM spec calls for bare discs, unlike the early Blu-ray devices that used sealed caddies, but the discs are still thicker than CDs and DVDs so they need new, separate assembly lines and all-new drives in the players.
It all adds up to higher disk production costs and higher initial prices for the players. So, yes, backwards compatibility *is* more of an issue with the Sony solution...

And, while both specs require hardware decoding for MPEG2, MPEG4HD, and WMV9, nobody has yet specified *which* data format they'll use; today's news only speaks to the physical medium.

Fun, huh?
Realistically, only professional athletes are likely to be buying any of this stuff before christmas *06*. The rest of use will have to merely drool at the $1000 players with 1080P video output... :(

[James Fee]

Um...the 2005 holiday season. Don't you have a year to decide which player you'll get? Or are you just a *real* early Christmas shopper?I was just joking about how long into the future this all really is. A year from now this might all be sorted out, or it could be in an even bigger mess. 8O