The Next Gen Video Formats

[Gawain of Orkeny]

I was under the impression Beta lost out as much because Sony was overly stingy with the rights to produce players or recorders or somesuch as it was due to porn. It's not like it was impossible to find porn on beta

There was plenty of porn on Beta that wasnt the problem. It was regular movies that werent available.

[hoom]

I vote neither, no way I'm touching that crazy next gen DRM-up-the-pooper-so-far-you-can't-get-it-to-work-legitimately stuff
I just can't see that whole non-functional stuff ever getting off the ground.

Probably be watching the DivX (or similar) equivalent with the computationally heavy compression goodness but actually usable.

[BDC]

Ah copy protection. They should just give away poor quality versions for free. Or in Welsh or something. Thene everyone would go out and buy good versions to see what is actually going on.

[Lemur]

An update on Blu-Ray:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Launch date for Blu-ray; Meet the $40 movie.

2/28/2006 10:07:26 AM, by Ken "Caesar" Fisher

Sony Pictures has announced that the Blu-ray revolution will formally kick off on May 23 in North America, targeting this date for the release of the first Blu-ray player from Samsung with flanking support from studios.

The eight Sony movies that will usher in Blu-ray are: 50 First Dates, The Fifth Element, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight's Tale, The Last Waltz (MGM), Resident Evil Apocalypse and XXX. Three weeks later, on June 13, six additional titles will be released: Kung Fu Hustle, Legends of the Fall, Robocop (MGM), Stealth, Species (MGM), SWAT and Terminator (MGM). Other studios are currently preparing to announce their own launch titles.

"We are primed to ensure that a variety of Blu-ray Disc content is available at retail to support the introduction of the first BD players from Samsung Electronics and Pioneer, as well as the first BD player and compatible VAIO computer from Sony," said Mr. Feingold. "Sony Pictures further intends to provide additional titles to coincide with the launch of BD products from other manufacturers. We're thrilled that the Blu-ray Disc era is about to begin."

The price tag for the Blu-ray era may put a damper on the parade, however. Sony has already announced its wholesale pricing for its own movies, which we believe will put most titles in the $23 to $39 price range at launch. Sony is not setting "suggested retail pricing" on their offerings, leaving the retail sector to look for a sweet spot.

Lion's Gate Films has announced both their plans and retail pricing for the Blu-ray launch. The company is using two price tiers, $29.99 and $39.99, with the latter reserved for either new releases or "classics." At launch, Crash and Lord of War will weigh in at $39.99, with The Punisher and Terminator 2 priced at $29.99. Then sometime in the summer the company will release Reservoir Dogs, Total Recall, Stargate, and Frank Herbert's Dune for $29.99. The Devil's Rejects will be available at $39.99.

The trend here is clear: new(er) releases are coming out at $39.99, while releases from the catalog are $29.99. Competition in the retail space will result in both of these pricing tiers heading south, but when and how much? Consumers are used to seeing $25 price tags on hot, new DVD releases. Will HD be enough to push that well beyond $30 per movie? Or will studios have to lower their expectations—not to mention prices—to vitalize sales. With worldwide DVD sales slowing, Hollywood and friends are hoping that the HD revolution will breathe new life into this critical revenue stream.

[Xiahou]

An update on Blu-Ray:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Launch date for Blu-ray; Meet the $40 movie.

2/28/2006 10:07:26 AM, by Ken "Caesar" Fisher

Sony Pictures has announced that the Blu-ray revolution will formally kick off on May 23 in North America, targeting this date for the release of the first Blu-ray player from Samsung with flanking support from studios.

The eight Sony movies that will usher in Blu-ray are: 50 First Dates, The Fifth Element, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight's Tale, The Last Waltz (MGM), Resident Evil Apocalypse and XXX. Three weeks later, on June 13, six additional titles will be released: Kung Fu Hustle, Legends of the Fall, Robocop (MGM), Stealth, Species (MGM), SWAT and Terminator (MGM). Other studios are currently preparing to announce their own launch titles.

"We are primed to ensure that a variety of Blu-ray Disc content is available at retail to support the introduction of the first BD players from Samsung Electronics and Pioneer, as well as the first BD player and compatible VAIO computer from Sony," said Mr. Feingold. "Sony Pictures further intends to provide additional titles to coincide with the launch of BD products from other manufacturers. We're thrilled that the Blu-ray Disc era is about to begin."

The price tag for the Blu-ray era may put a damper on the parade, however. Sony has already announced its wholesale pricing for its own movies, which we believe will put most titles in the $23 to $39 price range at launch. Sony is not setting "suggested retail pricing" on their offerings, leaving the retail sector to look for a sweet spot.

Lion's Gate Films has announced both their plans and retail pricing for the Blu-ray launch. The company is using two price tiers, $29.99 and $39.99, with the latter reserved for either new releases or "classics." At launch, Crash and Lord of War will weigh in at $39.99, with The Punisher and Terminator 2 priced at $29.99. Then sometime in the summer the company will release Reservoir Dogs, Total Recall, Stargate, and Frank Herbert's Dune for $29.99. The Devil's Rejects will be available at $39.99.

The trend here is clear: new(er) releases are coming out at $39.99, while releases from the catalog are $29.99. Competition in the retail space will result in both of these pricing tiers heading south, but when and how much? Consumers are used to seeing $25 price tags on hot, new DVD releases. Will HD be enough to push that well beyond $30 per movie? Or will studios have to lower their expectations—not to mention prices—to vitalize sales. With worldwide DVD sales slowing, Hollywood and friends are hoping that the HD revolution will breathe new life into this critical revenue stream.

So, this next gen format will be of a video quality beyond what the vast majority of any of us will be able to make any use of, it will have draconian DRM and will cost substantially more than already expensive current gen DVDs...... So, where do I sign up?

I really couldnt be less interested in any of these. My current TV is standard def, tube screen, with a composite input- so it isnt even near taking full advantage of current gen DVDs. I should buy an expensive new player, why?

The only interest I have in new discs is as recordable media for data storage, since a standard DVD doesnt get it done in terms of capacity.

[sapi]

Blue ray is sure to win the format war; it has better backing.

[Lemur]

A little more info coming to light. First off, Sony is declaring that it won't play the downsampling card on Blu-Ray. Yet.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Sony decides against downsampling on analog HDTV

3/14/2006 11:15:28 AM, by Eric Bangeman

With the imminent war over which format will be the successor to the much-loved DVD about to get underway, Sony is throwing a bone to owners of some older HDTVs. At a technical briefing last week, Sony said that it will not use the Image Constraint Token to downsample the video output on analog HDTVs.

The Image Constraint Token is part of the AACS (Advanced Access Content System) used in both next-generation optical formats. A couple of months ago, we reported that ICT would be used in both Blu-ray and HD DVD to downsample video from its 1920x1080 glory to a relatively crufty 960x540 if the player detected that it was hooked up to an analog HD display or any other display lacking an HDMI input. We also noted that use of ICT would be left up to the individual studios, rather than being made a mandatory part of the AACS spec.

Sony is the first studio to lay out its plans for how owners of older, analog-only HD sets would be able to watch Blu-ray content. According to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Senior VP Don Eklund, none of Sony's Blu-ray releases for the "foreseeable future" will use ICT to force downsampling.

"We have no plan to implement the Image Constraint Token. All of Sony's titles will come out of the analog output at full definition"

Eklund noted that while Sony is obviously concerned about piracy, it sees analog signals as a relatively small concern. Instead, Sony is banking on the AACS to keep the digital signal from being "intercepted" and preventing HD copies of its movies from turning up on Torrent sites and Usenet.

The first Blu-ray player, a US$1,000 device from Samsung, will be available in North America starting May 23. Sony Pictures will have eight titles available at launch, including 50 First Dates, The Fifth Element, Hitch, House of Flying Daggers, A Knight's Tale, The Last Waltz (MGM), Resident Evil Apocalypse and XXX. There will be another seven titles available by mid-June, and Sony anticipates having around 100 titles available by the holiday shopping season. Some of those will be new titles, released at the same time as their old-school DVD counterparts.

Sony's decision to not use the Image Constraint Token for the time being is meant to encourage the adoption of Blu-ray players. Launching a new product that would leave the thousands of analog HDTV owners out in the standard-definition cold could have proven to be a nightmare for Sony and the Blu-ray spec in general. Reports that "Blu-ray discs don't look right on my HDTV" could result in consumers' switching allegiances to the competing HD DVD standard or postponing purchases of next-generation optical players altogether.

Oh, and if the possibility of making analog, high-definition copies from Blu-ray discs is of such small concern, then why do we need to plug the analog hole?

And secondly, it looks as though HD-DVD will launch with no movies. None. Nada.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

HD DVD to launch without any movies

3/14/2006 1:07:04 PM, by Nate Anderson

Despite the recent good news that Disney is considering the format, HD DVD backers have had little encouraging news recently. That trend continues with today's announcement that Warner Home Video will not be releasing HD DVD movies on March 28, after all. This means that early adopters will have to wait until sometime in April to get their hands on U2's Rattle and Hum documentary, the first title to be released in the new format.

This is not encouraging news for Toshiba, one of the primary backers of the HD DVD specification. Two Toshiba players are set to launch later this month, but with Warner's ship date slipping, the players will initially launch without any available titles. Movies should appear within several weeks of the launch, but it's not yet clear how much they will cost. While we already have indications that Blu-ray disc pricing will be in the US$23-39 range, no HD DVD backer has yet set a firm number. Wal-Mart was initially taking orders for HD DVD films at US$25.48 a pop (based on a US$29.99 list price), but a Warner representative said that the studio has not yet decided if this is accurate.

No matter how you spin it, this is not the way to make a strong product launch. Warner will be releasing movies late, and other studios will be even further behind. In addition, Toshiba is currently the only manufacturer of the players, which does not suggest strong backing from consumer electronics manufacturers. (LG has recently agreed to build HD DVD players as well, but nothing will be available for some time). Rumors also have it that only 10,000 machines will be available at launch, a number which suggests that Toshiba's players will be the nichest of niche commodities for a while.

So, is HD DVD doomed even before launch? Of course not. Despite a shaky start, the format has the formidable backing of Microsoft, which is considering plans to release an add-on player for the Xbox 360. HD DVD also has the advantage of beating its rival to market by about two months, and if the rumors of PS3 delays are true, it may have nine months to a year in which to establish itself before Blu-ray drives begin appearing en masse in Sony's new game console. On the other hand, if the HD DVD launch is underwhelming and Sony somehow manages to get millions of PS3s on store shelves by Christmas, the format war could be over sooner than we once thought.