Paramount & Dreamworks drop BluRay
#1
Posted 21 August 2007 - 06:43 AM
http://news.com.com/...-9762761-7.html
I actually read the story from USAToday on my cell phone at work, but its all pretty much the same story,..paramount and dreamworks are dropping bluray in favor of hddvd.
This was the same story about 20 years ago, when consumers were confused whether to go with BetaMax or VHS (the latter obviously won).
Im not an expert on either BluRay or HD DVD, but if they are both as spectacular as both claim to be, why cant they both co-exist in friendly competition? Why must one die out so that the other reigns supreme. Im not saying this will ultimately be the outcome, but its certainly headed that way.
..and what gets me, is the vagueness of the bullshit corporate responses we as consumers are fed as to the reasoning for why both dreamworks and paramount both decided to drop bluray support.
the response went something like this: "we decided to go with hd dvd because we want our consumers to have the best in home entertainment experiences,.and thats what hddvd is all about."
no..i bet the real reason is that there was a lot of damn money involved somewhere on the table, that convinced and/or coerced both studios to execute this decision. they were probably thinking: "gee, sony's not selling a lot of their ps3's,.and if people arent buying a game machine w/ a built in bluray player,.why would they want to buy a bluray player alone around the same price?,..we better jump off of the bluray ship before it sinks fast"
i hope that hddvd doesnt become the standard, just for the simple fact that i hate looking at that hideously ugly chocolate brown color thats on every hddvd jacket..i would much rather look at sony's soft electric blue color anyday.
if paramount & dreamworks think that they can force people to buy hd dvd players by only releasing newer films only on the hd dvd format...and not on traditional dvd..they are dead wrong. the only thing that will encourage will be more bootleging and piracy. some genuis will figure out a way to transfer the films from the hd dvd format and put them on a standard dvd and sell them on the black market illegally.
#2
Posted 21 August 2007 - 09:58 AM
Plus everything you said about the selection not being there.
#4
Posted 21 August 2007 - 01:06 PM
And yeah, the whole point of DVDs is that the quality is amazingly better than VHS casettes. We don't have the television technology to even really register much of a difference between DVD and HDDVD/BluRay. We don't even need a new format, unless four gigabytes of storage per disk just isn't enough for all of the special features anymore. And maybe I don't want to be able to make out each individual pore on actress X's face on every close up shot? Did they think of that?
#5
Posted 21 August 2007 - 09:02 PM
#6
Posted 21 August 2007 - 09:41 PM
Much like the DVDA format (DVD-Audio, not the crude sexual act or the Trey Parker/Matt Stone band named after said act), I can't see any need. The improvements made in DVDA are barely audible to the human ear even using the $20,000 worth of high-end audio equipment you'd need to enjoy such a format.
I think the CD/DVD format improvements (a non degrading format, ease of use/storage, skipping ahead with an easy to use track-based system) are such a huge improvement over audio/video cassette that it is well worth the upgrade. I think the HD-DVD/BluRay improvements are so small and can be enjoyed by so few people that it's just not worth the upgrade.
I firmly believe that the trend is to a system whereby I can share video between my TV and PC, build a library (using XML/RSS feeds) and feed TV shows, movies, stupid crap my friends record, etc. directly into a menu based system that I can access.
Physical media is on the way out. Who needs it?
When I moved to New York I turned 1500 CD's into MP3s and I have them on my computer. I left the CD's in my parents' basement (much to their dismay). I can't wait until the day I can do the same with my DVD movies and be able to call any of them up over my PC/TV network in a matter of seconds.
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#7
Posted 21 August 2007 - 10:35 PM
What if there comes a day when all digital medium becomes non-functional?
Who will need it then?
#8
Posted 21 August 2007 - 11:32 PM
Sure, But I prefer to have a physical library. It's nice stadning infront of my proud collection and wondering what I'm going to put on... Allthough thanks to the ipod, my CD collection is really just a trophey collection now.
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#9
Posted 22 August 2007 - 07:50 AM
Who will need it then?
Physical media (CD/DVD) is digital. And how would you propose that it becomes non-functional? A spell cast by a dark wizard?
Sure. I did too but when I moved to the city I knew I had to make some choices about what I took with me and what remained behind. I loved having my shelves of CDs but practically I couldn't make any argument for keeping them with me when all of them converted into MP3's fit onto my computer.
And, let's face it, who listens to CD's anymore? When is the last time you put a CD in a CD player and listened to it that way? Every CD I've bought in the past 4 years has come out of its jewel case into my PC DVD-ROM drive, been converted into MP3's, returned to its case and never opened again.
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#10
Posted 22 August 2007 - 08:47 AM
Edit: Yes, you never know when a dark wizard could appear in the world and render all hard drives and various portable audio/video players completely useless while leaving CD and DVD drives intact. Those damned dark wizards!
Edit 2: Did BluRay REALLY use pure black for their blacks?! That's very stupid. That concept is one of those things that I never thought about until this past Spring, but since checking it out, I have discovered that it's an interesting and important observation on how the eye works. Pure black is flatter than a mix of colors that isn't quite black. The people who made BluRay apparently just never talked to any visual specialist, or had really lazy electrical engineers/color science people.
This post has been edited by Slade: 22 August 2007 - 08:53 AM
#11
Posted 22 August 2007 - 12:03 PM
No, I meant all digital media. We'd have to revert to vinyl records and film reels to keep the entertainment world alive.
#12
Posted 22 August 2007 - 09:11 PM
#13
Posted 23 August 2007 - 04:18 AM
Admittedly, well done on the CD front, but it doesn't excuse:
Beta-Max
Minidisc (And all it's predecessors)
UMDs
and more - there's a few odd mediums that professional audio studios only tend to use.
Their problem is their gear is always the underdog, the one that no one's ever heard of, and (even if Sony's product is technically better, which in many cases, it is) in a world where everyone (for example) knows DVDs, the majority of the world who are not particularly technologically savvy will stick with the DVD name if/when they upgrade.
Having HD ready gear is a trophy - it's all about who can spend the most on their audio/video setups. Well I guarantee you I enjoy watching the same films on an ordinary DVD on my ordinary Cathode Ray TV as you do on your hideously expensive 'Home Cinema' system.
People can't admit that the only place you really need audio/video quality of that level is in a professional mixing/mastering suite. I'm a music technology graduate, and for listening to music i do perfectly fine with a pair of £25 speakers and powered sub from PC world.
On a side note - Sony say the reason the PS3 wasn't selling many was because they were having trouble supplying them. This is bollocks. I work in Game, and I think we still have a machine from launch (May 25th). The Xbox 360 Elite is going to flop like a soggy shit in the UK as well - We've been advertising it for weeks - one preorder.
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#14
Posted 23 August 2007 - 08:20 AM
What I want to know is, WHO CARES about blades of grass and people's pores and acne? When I'm watching a baseball game, I'm not paying attention to how groomed the field is. And I certainly don't want to see people's pores. I mean, ew! And no one can tell me what's actually practical about these things being so clear.
I feel the same way about the Blu-Ray and all this other mess.