Universal no longer hd-dvd exclusive.

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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.

 

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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

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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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.

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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Hmmm, what a pile of misinformation. HD-DVD does not use region coding, Blu-ray has BD+ and mandatory AACS, whereas HD-DVD has optional AACS (it's possible to release an HD-DVD without copy protection, it is not possible to do the same with Blu-ray), HD-DVD makes managed copy support mandatory for all discs, with blu-ray it's optional (which does effect your legal rights in terms of how you can use the content), BD-J has been added to some players via firmware update (proving that it does include important things) and so on.

There is a reason why studios like blu-ray more than HD-DVD, after all.

So where are you getting your information from?

Where did I say hd-dvd used region coding? Nowhere.

How many hd-dvds have been released with no aacs then?

BD+ along with aacs has been cracked and gives no hassle to legitimate users, however bd+ releases are limited anyway at the moment.

From now on, there isn't really anything to add to the players, which is why firmware updates are going to be of limited use. The java playback had been planned from the beggining and the grace profile the old players were using was not intended to be used for long.

Everyone managed without ethernet on dvd players, and I see no reason why it is required on blu-ray players. But like I said it will be added anyway to later models.

 

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Cracking is irrelevant to the number of layers of DRM applied. BD+ combined with a lack of managed copy means that Blu-ray discs are significantly more locked down than HD-DVD from the point of view of a legitimate consumer.

But it doesn't affect the consumer, disks still player in the player, and can be ripped, therefore makes no difference and can't be used as an argument against buying blu-ray. Not having to release hd-dvds with aacs isn't an advantage to anyone when aacs has been cracked, and all the movies are still released with it anyway.

 

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Apparantly blu-ray has adopted mandatory managed copy.

http://www.afterdawn.com/glossary/terms/mandatory_managed_copy.cfm

http://www.engadgethd.com/2005/10/23/mandatory-managed-copy-confirmed-in-as-a-part-of-blu-ray/

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051117-5592.html

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...-ray-managed-copy-coming-later-this-year.html

Though if hd-dvd charges for it, you may as well rip to pc anyway. As a movie consumer, none of these differences between blu-ray and hd-dvd will affect me, thats for sure.

 

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will they let existing owners of standalone blu ray players have a free upgrade to the new players when and if they are released no i dont think so

Would you expect nvidia to give you a free upgrade to an 8800gtx because the 7950gtx you bought earlier in the year didn't support dx10? Of course not. If people buy stuff as soon as it comes out, they obviously aren't going to get the benefits of the future advancements.

 

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you really are a blueray fan boy arent you.

No need to be childish here.

i assume you own a blue ray drive player

No, I'm intelligent enough not to buy something that I can't afford to replace before the specifications have been finalised, the prices are reasonable, and it has become the mainstream format.

so if you do remember that stupid statement when you have buy a brand new £300 player which will only do what you exsiting player does but with some more add on menus nice deal. but if you had a HD drive you have to NOTHING!

Lol. The players aren't even £300. And I will be buying an £80 blu-ray drive for my pc, which can easily by updated.

And I think you will find ver 1.1 disks play fine on 1.0 players. So there is no need for anyone to buy a new player. Since I won't be playing those games they put on movie releases for 5 year olds, I won't have need of java anyway.

 

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Yeah Ive edited it to reflect my person situation.

 

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You will be able to view all video content on the disk regardless of spec.

 

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"Some of the special features", that isn't referring to audio tracks and extra footage, rather games and interactive content. There are many 1.0 movies with multi language tracks on the disk.