Universal no longer hd-dvd exclusive.

Energize

Energize

Energize

Caporegime
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http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/10/universal-hd-dvd-exclusivity-contract-has-expired-sits-non-rene/

"More news from the format war today, and it isn't good for the red camp. Daily Variety has confirmed that Universal's agreement to stick with HD DVD has ended and has not been renewed. Additionally, Paramount has an escape clause in its contract that can be exercised following Warner's departure from the (now dwindling) HD DVD ranks. The article highlights various ongoing commitments both companies have to the format, but we've heard these kind of promises before from studios. It's feeling like a party where everyone leaves at once; nobody wants to be the first out the door, but everyone's looking in that direction."

About time tbh.
 
So who feels like they've had choice in this matter, or whether it's never been about the consumer and all about the studios?
 
Dolph said:
So who feels like they've had choice in this matter, or whether it's never been about the consumer and all about the studios?
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Agreed, but being fair, just what else did you expect? I'm astounded that anyone ever thought that it was about the technology and which format "might" be the best.
It's always been about the movie studios, just as it was when you were wondering who would issue an SD-DVD with high quality DTS as against a disk crammed with naff at the expense of quality.
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
Agreed, but being fair, just what else did you expect? I'm astounded that anyone ever thought that it was about the technology and which format "might" be the best.
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Indeed, which is why I find the fanboyism evident in various threads to be most amusing.

It's always been about the movie studios, just as it was when you were wondering who would issue an SD-DVD with high quality DTS as against a disk crammed with naff at the expense of quality.
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Which is a real shame, especially as the format that won is the one that the studios wanted to win, and that won't be because they think it's better for consumers...
 
kmufc77 said:
http://www.betanews.com/article/Universal_Were_staying_with_HD_DVD/1199974983
Its not over yet the ship might be sinking but HD arent going down without a fight
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They can rant on all they like but they and Paramount will both switch to Bluray eventually.

It's simple economics. It's not economical for the studios to support both formats so they have to pick one eventually. As there is no sign of reconciliation between the camps and thus no cheap dual-format players, consumers are having to go for one format or the other. Bluray is winning the living room war, thanks largely to the PS3 and, when the majority of Hollywood output is on this format, Bluray's position will only get stronger. The studios need to publish their content in a format viewable by the largest section of the market, end of.
 
Vertigo1 said:
They can rant on all they like but they and Paramount will both switch to Bluray eventually.

It's simple economics. It's not economical for the studios to support both formats so they have to pick one eventually. As there is no sign of reconciliation between the camps and thus no cheap dual-format players, consumers are having to go for one format or the other. Bluray is winning the living room war, thanks largely to the PS3 and, when the majority of Hollywood output is on this format, Bluray's position will only get stronger. The studios need to publish their content in a format viewable by the largest section of the market, end of.
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untill parmount and universal do swap sides the format war isnt over is it.there is not guarantee warner will stay on the blu ray camp they have swapped sides once so im still hopeful. i dont want to get ripped off buying a £300 blueray player that uses region coding drm and rubbish interactive menus,also having no ethernet connection for firmware updates is madness. having the capacity to hold more gb than hd is good but considering blueray and hd films are only using 20 -30 gb the other 20gb that blueray disks can hold is useless for the time being.Time will tell wont it
 
FrankJH said:
Thats just being pathetic and cutting your nose off to spite your face
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why is this pathethic as you kindly put it hes pefectly Intitled not to buy sony blue ray. maybe he dosent want all the crap with it like what i have said a few posts up. me personally will buy a blue ray player if i need to and if the other 2 major HD backers swap sides untill that day i wont be going blue.
 
NightSt@lk3r said:
Whatever happens sony will not get another penny of my money.
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I dont understand why people seem to have such hatred for companies... mainly Microsoft and Sony. They have released a format which the public have mostly embraced and the companies are willing to back, even with all this support your not willing to buy into it... Yes HD-DVD has its plus points as does blu-ray but to say your not going to buy into it for no clear reason, even with the looming possiblity its going to be the one HD format just doesnt make sense
 
I wonder if sony did a big pay off to them all.

Also they (the studios) probably think all the DRM crap will be good so they get more sales so they switched.

All I can see now is dodgy films half working, aweful quality, that drive you crazy and dont work properly......im of course talking about genuine blueray discs and there players £50 half dont play ALL blueray films and jigger up

As soon as its cracked it will probably be EVEN WORSE for companies than dvd ripping was, people can have a full quality film without arsing around, it will JUST PLAY with no headaches, instead of what genuine discs will do ;)
 
kmufc77 said:
i dont want to get ripped off buying a £300 blueray player that uses region coding drm and rubbish interactive menus,also having no ethernet connection for firmware updates is madness. having the capacity to hold more gb than hd is good but considering blueray and hd films are only using 20 -30 gb the other 20gb that blueray disks can hold is useless for the time being.Time will tell wont it
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Where have you been getting your info from?

The vast majority of blu-ray disks don't use region coding, the drm is no more than hd-dvd has, was cracked ages ago, and has no effect on you playing legal movies in the player. The interactivity with java is considered better than that of microsofts hdi. And why is not having an ethernet connection for firmware updates madness when 90% of the population wouldn't use it, or even know what it is? It's hardly as if the firmware updates would ever include anything important.
 
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Energize said:
Where have you been getting your info from?

The vast majority of blu-ray disks don't use region coding, the drm is no more than hd-dvd has, was cracked ages ago, and has no effect on you playing legal movies in the player. The interactivity with java is considered better than that of hd-dvd.
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well every blu ray disk ive come across is region coded maybe i should have looked into drm more as i never released it was cracked ages ago so hold my hands up there, interactive menus are superb on HD and no ethernet ports on blue ray players for firmware updates thats enough for me to avoid going blue untill i need to
 
kmufc77 said:
well every blu ray disk ive come across is region coded maybe i should have looked into drm more as i never released it was cracked ages ago so hold my hands up there, interactive menus are superb on HD and no ethernet ports on blue ray players for firmware updates thats enough for me to avoid going blue untill i need to
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It depends on the company releasing the movie as to if it is region locked, but places like movietyme list the films locked and unlocked. Would be nice for the to be all unlocked, which was my main plus for HD-DVD. If you want a blu-ray player with ethernet for firmware updates look no further than the PS3. I dont know any standalones which currently have this, though I suppose all they would take is the firmware burned to DVD which isnt that much of a hassle
 
Energize said:
It's hardly as if the firmware updates would ever include anything important.
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IIRC Blu-Ray 1.1 films (all upcoming Blu-Ray's I think) won't play on 1.0 players now, the PS3 got updated from 1.0 to 1.1 but other players are just gonna be left in the dust I think.

Can certainly see the use of the ethernet port though, if what I said is indeed the case.
 
the_dead_parrot said:
It depends on the company releasing the movie as to if it is region locked, but places like movietyme list the films locked and unlocked. Would be nice for the to be all unlocked, which was my main plus for HD-DVD. If you want a blu-ray player with ethernet for firmware updates look no further than the PS3. I dont know any standalones which currently have this, though I suppose all they would take is the firmware burned to DVD which isnt that much of a hassle
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i never thought of the ps3 for ethernet connection for firmware updates thats is handy but what about the other milions of ppl with standalone players that will need firmware updates for future blu ray releases as the technology isnt by any means nowhere near finished yet?But thats handy to know for the future as i will have to decide what player to get between the LG combo for pc ,standalone blu ray player or a ps3. im not against blu ray ive just seen both formats with my own 2 eyes and i prefer HD for a number of reasons but it does look like i will have to go blue one day
 
Jihad said:
IIRC Blu-Ray 1.1 films (all upcoming Blu-Ray's I think) won't play on 1.0 players now, the PS3 got updated from 1.0 to 1.1 but other players are just gonna be left in the dust I think.

Can certainly see the use of the ethernet port though, if what I said is indeed the case.
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It's not the case. ;)

1.1 Films will play fine, they are encoded exactly the same. Only some special new features may not work properly.

In any case, when profile 2 is released. Ethernet will become mandatory.
 
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