Paramount and Dreamworks Animation Side with HD DVD

[Audioholics]

Well Michael Bay, the Transformers guy, isn't so happy about Paramounts HD DVD choice...

Michael Bay.. lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC2W6-oF80M

 

[davo]

I thought this little piece was interesting.

What wasn't mentioned as prominently was that the deal excludes movies directed by Steven Spielberg, which will not be exclusive to either format.

I would assume from this that there's a chance for Transformers to come out in both formats.

 

[jinjuku]

The other tid-bit that I just read was that $150 million was ponied up in the form of 'advertising' budget.

 

[ivseenbetter]

Bay has retracted his comments. He now is supporting HD DVD as well.

I tend to believe that HD DVD makes the most sense. What advantage does BD bring? More space? Who cares about that. I only need enough space to fit one copy of a movie in 1080p and HD DVD can do that for a lot cheaper than BD can.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Well, now FOX has jumped back into the game and support Blu-ray all the way again. I guess Paramount & DreamWorks Animation will support HD DVD exclusively for 18 months for $150 Million? That's a pretty good deal. I would take it too if I were them. That is unless the sales of HD DVD significantly drops even more and HD DVD dies before the 18 months is up.

 

[stratman]

Well, now FOX has jumped back into the game and support Blu-ray all the way again. I guess Paramount & DreamWorks Animation will support HD DVD exclusively for 18 months for $150 Million? That's a pretty good deal. I would take it too if I were them. That is unless the sales of HD DVD significantly drops even more and HD DVD dies before the 18 months is up.

Since it's all about the all-mighty buck, rest assured the attorneys left an escape clause that if HD DVD starts to really tank, they can get out of contract.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I just don't see how much things matter.

Blu-ray is outselling HD DVD 2:1 right now, and has consistently done so. The lower featured film, 300, released on Blu-ray outsold HD DVD 2:1... This isn't about extras, ease of authoring or anything else OTHER than a payoff.

There have been stories that say that Paramount may have made this decision for some other reason, but there is not one logical bit of proof that supports it, and several glaring reasons why a pay off makes a ton of sense.

But, HD DVD can't win a war just by paying studios... perhaps they can statemate the war, hamper adoption further, and encourage dual format players like the forthcoming Toshiba/Samsung model.

But, they can't win.

If rumors are correct, 150 million buys Paramount neutrality for 18 months. But, if rumors are also correct, then Universal is out of their contract in January and may be eager to tap a 200% increase in HD optical disc sales.

So, six months from now we may hear about how HD DVD only has one exclusive studio in Paramount just as for the last year Universal was touted as exclusive... and sales have falled behind Blu-ray by 50% consistently.

Everything about this move points to a pay off and it also points towards Microsoft.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

But, they can't win.

If rumors are correct, 150 million buys Paramount neutrality for 18 months. But, if rumors are also correct, then Universal is out of their contract in January and may be eager to tap a 200% increase in HD optical disc sales.

So, six months from now we may hear about how HD DVD only has one exclusive studio in Paramount just as for the last year Universal was touted as exclusive... and sales have falled behind Blu-ray by 50% consistently.

Everything about this move points to a pay off and it also points towards Microsoft.

I didn't know Universal had a contract for 18 months with HD DVD?
If the sales keep on favoring Blu-ray 2:1 over HD DVD, even with the $200 HD DVD players out there, how can anyone favor HD DVD's future?

 

[GlocksRock]

I was thinking Microsoft may have had something to do with this as well, since they recently added Paramount to their list of movies that they offer on the Live marketplace, and since MS is obviously a supporter of HD-DVD, and they have very deep pockets, this wouldn't surprise me a bit.

 

[stratman]

Yup, what's 150 million to Microsoft anyway? Chump change.

 

[BMXTRIX]

This move is all about HD download services and VC-1 encoding. Microsoft stands to earn Billions (with a capital B) off of royalty rights and content control as the ultimate monopoly should HD optical discs fail. While people talk up HD DVD, especially pricing, then point at the 'Sony' monopoly, it is exactly the opposite I see.

The company with the most Blu-ray patents?
Panasonic!

The number of companies producing hardware currently for HD DVD only?
One! - Toshiba (we will see if Onkyo is a manufacturer or a Toshiba OEM product soon)

The future of HD media?
Microsoft - just Microsoft

This format war was over two years ago. At that time HD DVD didn't even look like it would come to market because HD DVD had zero supporting companies beyond Toshiba. Then Microsoft stepped in a pledged a ton of support to the product. This was the point where the war really started to become 'real'. Yet, as this year has shown consistent Blu-ray dominance and recent reports from retail stores were showing Blu-ray stand alone players outselling HD DVD stand alone players, it was proving a time when HD DVD would be seriously devestated by year end.

We'll see at the end of the year what happens I suppose. I'm just along for the ride!

 

[stratman]

Could it be that Microsoft is using HD DVD as a foil, so when it folds they can defend against any investigation (if there's any) by lamenting: "hey, we pumped 150 mill and look what it got us," this way they come out looking like the victims and not the surreptitious pirates that they are.

 

[Tex-amp]

I just don't see how much things matter.

Blu-ray is outselling HD DVD 2:1 right now, and has consistently done so.

As has been pointed out many times Blu has a 5-1 advantage in hardware and has had a 50% advantage is studio support yet only out sells HD 2 to 1. As far "has consistantly done so" you might want modify that to "since early this year" as HD out sold BD by the same 2 to 1 last year.

You can read an interview from Paramount's CTO at this link regarding Paramount and DreamWorks exclusive with HD DVD.

For the MS consiracy crowd MS has publicly stated that they did not pay for this directly nor indirectly.

 

[BMXTRIX]

As has been pointed out many times Blu has a 5-1 advantage in hardware and has had a 50% advantage is studio support yet only out sells HD 2 to 1. As far "has consistantly done so" you might want modify that to "since early this year" as HD out sold BD by the same 2 to 1 last year.

Yes, but how does that relate to a studio? I mean, for hardware manufacturers who may be competing with PS3, this matters a great deal. But, it's still Paramount giving up 66% of their HD sales - by far the majority - in the hopes that HD DVD will do better? HD DVD may do better because of this decision, but that is the first decision all year which would make HD DVD sales increase beyond 33% of that which Blu-ray has delivered.

Yes, consistently, this year. Last year the pre-PS3, Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic numbers had HD DVD well ahead of Blu-ray - far more than 2-1 actually. Since PS3 release, Blu-ray saw about a 8 fold increase in sales, pushing their numbers ahead firmly, and consistenly, for the year.

You can read an interview from Paramount's CTO at this link regarding Paramount and DreamWorks exclusive with HD DVD.

Except it reads more like marketing and avoids the topics that people actually wonder about. Even with a direct question, the answer would not be direct. Actually, the article starts off with them saying that they don't discuss the details of these types of deals.

Well, you only have deals when someone is writing something up to make it a deal... Which is exactly what we want to hear about.

For the MS consiracy crowd MS has publicly stated that they did not pay for this directly nor indirectly.

Yes, and Microsoft said that Windows XP was going to be bug free.
Seriously, 'pay for this' can be interpreted many different ways and has a million potential meanings. Microsoft could be giving free advertising, it isn't a monetary exchange, therefore it isn't payment.

You know that it is payment, I know it's payment, Microsoft knows that it is payment, but it isn't cash, therefore it is deemed 'not a payment'. This transaction screams Microsoft.

 

[mike c]

this sucks. welcome transformers ... to my SD DVD collection.

hello Dragonheart, U-571 ... you are going to my Blu-ray collection. (future of course)

 

[obscbyclouds]

this sucks. welcome transformers ... to my SD DVD collection.

hello Dragonheart, U-571 ... you are going to my Blu-ray collection. (future of course)

Can't wait to hear the U-571 Lossless audio track!

 

[mtrycrafts]

I tend to believe that HD DVD makes the most sense. What advantage does BD bring? More space?

Well, so far, what I have read, 90% of BD uses Mpeg 2 encryption, a low bit rate codec so space was not an issue for them

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The Future

Have the brains at MicroSoft pondered the possible of a 1920p HD in the NEAR future, instead of the current 1080p? If a 2-hr movie in 1080p w/ TrueHD/DTS-MA requires 30GB, how much will a 2-hr movie in 1920p w/TrueHD/DTS-MA require? 60GB or more?
Oh, no! What will they do?

 

[BMXTRIX]

Have the brains at MicroSoft pondered the possible of a 1920p HD in the NEAR future, instead of the current 1080p? If a 2-hr movie in 1080p w/ TrueHD/DTS-MA requires 30GB, how much will a 2-hr movie in 1920p w/TrueHD/DTS-MA require? 60GB or more?
Oh, no! What will they do?

1. It would be far more likely to see 2160p, not 1920p (2160 divides cleanly into 720p, 1080i, and 1080p, and is 4.5x 480i resolutions).

2. 1080p has little to no visible benefit in resolution for 90%+ of the viewing public at the sizes it is used at already. Seriouly, 46" at 10 feet means that 720p would be just as good as 1080p from the same distance.

3. Television broadcasts aren't likely to hit 1080p anytime soon, they sure are even less likely to bump it up even further.

4. Microsoft doesn't care about optical discs or resolution, they care about the software - the content they deliver. They want HD downloadable services. I have said this for more than a year now - Microsoft wants to control the movie content delivery market, and they will use Toshiba and HD DVD to help acheive their goal and then dump them in a second when it is no longer beneficial for them to support Toshiba/HD DVD.

Urge, the company supported for audio download service was similarly dumped by Microsoft the second that Microsoft had their own system in place.

Have no doubts - it all points the same direction.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Since it's all about the all-mighty buck, .

When is it not about this? LOL
Oh, when it is the all-might Euro or Yuan?