The Bits: Best Buy to drop HD-DVD - Blu-ray Forum

saxwork · 01-21-2008, 06:45 PM

Interesting stuff from Bill Hunt over at the highly credible The Digital Bits.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/rumormill.html#012108

Xerious · 01-21-2008, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Things are not looking good for HD-DVD, folks. Based on the reports we're getting from sources at the studios and in the retail industry, this format war is all but over. Frankly, we'd be surprised if HD-DVD still a viable commercial home video format much past the end of the year.

Word is that Best Buy has already decided not only to heavily favor Blu-ray in their stores, but they're actually planning the phase out of HD-DVD by the end of the 2nd quarter of 2008, so they can focus entirely on selling Blu-ray to their customers in the 2008 holiday season with a clear message.

for you lazy tards

The Big Blue · 01-21-2008, 06:48 PM

Die HD DVD! Die! (tm)

yspkrk · 01-21-2008, 06:57 PM

Nice! Very encouraging article...especially for today-Monday

Amel · 01-21-2008, 06:50 PM

I hope Toshiba offers the HDDVD people some kind of discount or return for their HDDVD players. If they start making their own bluray players the HDDVD fans will be on a rampage looking for their money back.

HighDefChief · 01-21-2008, 06:52 PM

The price of the HD DVD players will need to be <$150 IS Toshiba wants to sell all of them.

Guinness7 · 01-21-2008, 06:55 PM

That will be nice having more room at Bestbuy, so now all the blu-rays won't be as buched and will have the room that HDDVD once occupied. Just wish the studios would move a little quicker than there are right now. ALso it must really sting to hear for Universal that theri incodes are not good enough for blu which a lot of people kind of thought.

zipbags · 01-21-2008, 06:57 PM

They would be nuts waiting until the end of the year...And miss another holiday season. Besides, thats way too far off.

Rustmonsteru · 01-21-2008, 07:01 PM

I'm hoping what he says is correct about Universal not being able to do ports.
It's tough on them and it will probably delay the reissue of many titles, but at least it should reduce the use of DNR.

ikbradley · 01-21-2008, 06:54 PM

Word is their HD-DVD video encodes can't simply be ported over to Blu-ray, as most of them "aren't good enough."

Ouch! Good news for Blu-ray because Universal had horrible transfers to HD DVD. Hopefully they will get some people from Disney to help them out.

HighDefChief · 01-21-2008, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ikbradley

Word is their HD-DVD video encodes can't simply be ported over to Blu-ray, as most of them "aren't good enough."

Ouch! Good news for Blu-ray because Universal had horrible transfers to HD DVD. Hopefully they will get some people from Disney to help them out.

Some of Universal Studios transfers sucked but some were also fantastic. Hot Fuzz and The Bourne Ultimatum can easily hold their own against some Blu-Ray transfers. But Blu-Ray has more of the top tier transfers.

sj001 · 01-21-2008, 06:59 PM

Universal has been near the bottom of the bucket in the quality of their releases, with a FEW exceptions. It's good to see they want to up the ante before releasing on Blu.

toocheezy · 01-21-2008, 06:59 PM

that is always good news to wake up to!!

dobyblue · 01-21-2008, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ikbradley

Word is their HD-DVD video encodes can't simply be ported over to Blu-ray, as most of them "aren't good enough."

Ouch! Good news for Blu-ray because Universal had horrible transfers to HD DVD. Hopefully they will get some people from Disney to help them out.

It's not Disney that makes the Disney titles look good, it's the good folks at Panasonic Hollywood Labs.

They do the encodes for Fox and Disney in AVC/MPEG-4 and have no doubt shown Universal some test encodes of some of their source material by now also.

I would bet Panasonic would do their part to make the transition to Blu as smooth as possible for Universal.

Of course Disney are responsible for presenting excellent source material for Panasonic to encode, so I don't mean to take that away from them.

marzetta7 · 01-21-2008, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dobyblue

It's not Disney that makes the Disney titles look good, it's the good folks at Panasonic Hollywood Labs.

They do the encodes for Fox and Disney in AVC/MPEG-4 and have no doubt shown Universal some test encodes of some of their source material by now also.

I would bet Panasonic would do their part to make the transition to Blu as smooth as possible for Universal.

And to put their encodes in sweet H.264/AVC goodeness would give a nice added kick in the nards to Microsoft...

Prometheus59650 · 01-21-2008, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ikbradley

Word is their HD-DVD video encodes can't simply be ported over to Blu-ray, as most of them "aren't good enough."

Ouch! Good news for Blu-ray because Universal had horrible transfers to HD DVD. Hopefully they will get some people from Disney to help them out.

But...but HD-DVD is the superior format.

marzetta7 · 01-21-2008, 08:02 PM

Just wondering, why was this thread moved to Off-Topic???? I think the rumor of Best Buy going Blu-ray exclusive is as on-topic as you can get?

Thoughts?

badboi · 01-21-2008, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xerious

for you lazy tards

Hey, I'm not lazy!

Nstars07 · 01-21-2008, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saxwork

Interesting stuff from Bill Hunt over at the highly credible The Digital Bits.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/rumormill.html#012108

I wish they would stop saying "by years-end" because that seems like forever. Let's get this thing over with so I can get some of those Paramount & Universal titles on Blu-ray.

tiger roach · 01-21-2008, 06:55 PM

Good reading today, both Bill Hunt's regular column and "The Rumor Mill."

I especially liked the statement about Universal - that they can't simply port over the HD-DVD transfers because they are "not good enough." I'm fine with waiting, if it means we get a better quality blu transfer in the end.

01-21-2008, 06:45 PM	#1
saxwork Member Member since:Jul 2007	The Bits: Best Buy to drop HD-DVD Interesting stuff from Bill Hunt over at the highly credible The Digital Bits. http://www.thedigitalbits.com/rumormill.html#012108

01-21-2008, 06:48 PM	#3
The Big Blue Blu-ray Guru Member since:Feb 2007 Blu-ray collection:98 Blu-ray reviews:1	Die HD DVD! Die! (tm) Last edited by The Big Blue; 01-21-2008 at 07:13 PM.

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01-21-2008, 06:57 PM	#4
yspkrk Senior Member Top contributor Member since:Oct 2007 Location:Seoul, Korea / California, US 4K collection:18 Blu-ray collection:1494 DVD collection:67 Blu-ray reviews:18 Trading Score:1	Nice! Very encouraging article...especially for today-Monday

01-21-2008, 06:50 PM	#5
Amel Special Member Member since:Jun 2007 Location:Clearwater FL Blu-ray collection:91 Blu-ray reviews:2 Trading Score:2	I hope Toshiba offers the HDDVD people some kind of discount or return for their HDDVD players. If they start making their own bluray players the HDDVD fans will be on a rampage looking for their money back.

01-21-2008, 06:52 PM	#6
HighDefChief Active Member Member since:Jan 2008	The price of the HD DVD players will need to be <$150 IS Toshiba wants to sell all of them.

01-21-2008, 06:55 PM	#7
Guinness7 Power Member Top contributor Member since:Jan 2007 Location:NJ Blu-ray collection:259 Trading Score:59	That will be nice having more room at Bestbuy, so now all the blu-rays won't be as buched and will have the room that HDDVD once occupied. Just wish the studios would move a little quicker than there are right now. ALso it must really sting to hear for Universal that theri incodes are not good enough for blu which a lot of people kind of thought.

01-21-2008, 06:57 PM	#8
zipbags Active Member Member since:Nov 2007	They would be nuts waiting until the end of the year...And miss another holiday season. Besides, thats way too far off.

01-21-2008, 07:01 PM	#9
Rustmonsteru Expert Member Member since:Mar 2007	I'm hoping what he says is correct about Universal not being able to do ports. It's tough on them and it will probably delay the reissue of many titles, but at least it should reduce the use of DNR.

01-21-2008, 06:54 PM	#10
ikbradley Senior Member Member since:Aug 2007	Word is their HD-DVD video encodes can't simply be ported over to Blu-ray, as most of them "aren't good enough." Ouch! Good news for Blu-ray because Universal had horrible transfers to HD DVD. Hopefully they will get some people from Disney to help them out.

01-21-2008, 06:59 PM	#12
sj001 Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Aug 2007 Location:Rochester, NY Blu-ray collection:317 DVD collection:17 Trading Score:5	Universal has been near the bottom of the bucket in the quality of their releases, with a FEW exceptions. It's good to see they want to up the ante before releasing on Blu.

01-21-2008, 06:59 PM	#13
toocheezy Active Member Member since:Aug 2007 Location:Honolulu, HI Blu-ray collection:138 Blu-ray reviews:12	that is always good news to wake up to!!

01-21-2008, 08:02 PM	#17
marzetta7 Special Member Member since:Feb 2006	Just wondering, why was this thread moved to Off-Topic???? I think the rumor of Best Buy going Blu-ray exclusive is as on-topic as you can get? Thoughts?

01-21-2008, 06:55 PM	#20
tiger roach Special Member Member since:Aug 2007 Location:Houston, TX Blu-ray collection:141 Blu-ray reviews:1	Good reading today, both Bill Hunt's regular column and "The Rumor Mill." I especially liked the statement about Universal - that they can't simply port over the HD-DVD transfers because they are "not good enough." I'm fine with waiting, if it means we get a better quality blu transfer in the end.

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