Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[WickyWoo]

The normal CE cycle encourages makers to compete with continuous improve improvements in their top models, and these improvements filter down to the value models. This died in DVD because the Chinese stole the market by royalty cheating, and killing margins (a la Toshiba) thus destroying any incentive to innovate.

That's exactly why they're being very careful to whom they give the keys to Blu in China, and of course they can lock out all their players on future discs if they're betrayed

$149-199 is the sweet spot where there's still a nice per-deck profit, and a lot of people will buy in

[LovingHDDVD]

Originally Posted by Memnoch71

Correct me if I'm wrong, but even if they did that isn't the 360 still limited to 720p? I didn't think it was capable of 1080p output.

On another Note,

Bill, I just wanted to say that thanks to reading TheDigitalBits for over 10 years now I have gone with your picks both times and have loved every minute of it.

Corrected you cause you were wrong. XBOX 360 is FULL HD and most games put out are 1080p now like COD4 and HALO3 have no idea why PS3 games are still 720p when they are on Blu rays to begin with.

I also think Blu ray prices should stay up for the players at 199-400 and lower the movie prices down.

[Slapper]

Originally Posted by LovingHDDVD

Corrected you cause you were wrong. XBOX 360 is FULL HD and most games put out are 1080p now like COD4 and HALO3 have no idea why PS3 games are still 720p when they are on Blu rays to begin with.

I also think Blu ray prices should stay up for the players at 199-400 and lower the movie prices down.

Wrong. Runs at 640p and upscales to 1080p.

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/28/ha...ounters-claim/

[ezcobar411]

Originally Posted by Slapper

Wrong. Runs at 640p and upscales to 1080p.

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/28/ha...ounters-claim/

PWnage, lol

[OokieSpookie]

Originally Posted by Slapper

Wrong. Runs at 640p and upscales to 1080p.

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/28/ha...ounters-claim/

Yeah, not go dirty up this thread but the phrase

XBOX 360 is FULL HD and most games put out are 1080p now

is completely wrong.

[neo_reloaded]

The XBox 360 is capable of outputting at 1080p - for games via component and HDMI, and for HD DVDs and upscaled DVDs via HDMI.

Some games are actually rendered at 1080p, though many are not and instead have to be upscaled by the 360. PS3 games aren't really much better off in this regard, though - most I've seen are rendered at 720p, and the PS3 isn't even capable of scaling them to 1080p.

[WickyWoo]

Bill has absolutely nothing to do with gaming guys, back on topic

[MrVorhees]

Originally Posted by LovingHDDVD

Corrected you cause you were wrong. XBOX 360 is FULL HD and most games put out are 1080p now like COD4 and HALO3 have no idea why PS3 games are still 720p when they are on Blu rays to begin with.

I also think Blu ray prices should stay up for the players at 199-400 and lower the movie prices down.

Please get the .... out of here with your FUD

[Robert Siegel]

Originally Posted by LovingHDDVD

Corrected you cause you were wrong. XBOX 360 is FULL HD and most games put out are 1080p now like COD4 and HALO3 have no idea why PS3 games are still 720p when they are on Blu rays to begin with.

I also think Blu ray prices should stay up for the players at 199-400 and lower the movie prices down.

What are you doing on this web site anyway with your screen name, it's obvious you are here to hi-jack threads. This is an insiders thread run by Bill Hunt....go away!!!!

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

That's exactly why they're being very careful to whom they give the keys to Blu in China, and of course they can lock out all their players on future discs if they're betrayed

$149-199 is the sweet spot where there's still a nice per-deck profit, and a lot of people will buy in

That's the sweet spot CE like to keep a lot of value priced stuff. You see that for receivers and bookshelf stereo systems, etc. And then they offer all sorts of options above that.

It will sure be nice to see that again.

Gary

[bluseminole]

Trolling an insider thread. How low can you get?

[TheRealBob]

Bill,

Let me preface this by saying I've been a reader of The Digital Bits since close to its beginning (I got my first DVD player in October 1998 but had been reading for quite a while before then). It's a great site, full of useful information, and you've done a great job pushing various causes such as DVD over DIVX and anamorphic widescreen.

I know The Bits officially supported Blu-ray since June 1, 2007, for people who wanted to get into the high-def market, although you advised people to sit on the sidelines until the smoke had cleared.

You posted an updated position on January 24, 2008 where you called for an end to the format war and came out more strongly for Blu-ray Disc.

My question: Do you plan to update this piece again, given current events?

In particular, it seemed in the second piece you were still advising people to stay out of the high-def disc arena if they could do so:

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt (The Digital Bits Soapbox)

We believed then that backing Blu-ray was the right decision, both for us and for our readers. Our advice to them was simple: Either stay on the sidelines (the recommended option) or, if you were going to risk getting into high-def, Blu-ray seemed to us the better option. That continues to be our advice.

The commentary on the current scene is also rapidly becoming obsolete:

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt (The Digital Bits Soapbox)

In any case, it seems abundantly clear to us at The Digital Bits that while the format war isn't technically over yet, the writing is on the wall.

I believe a lot of people look to The Digital Bits for advice. Isn't it now time to tell them that it's OK to jump into Blu-ray now?

Another question: In the early DVD days, The Bits was pushing the frontiers of home theater with the whole DVD movement. Now it seems you are almost apologetic when talking about high-def stuff. Why is that?

Again, I love the site and have enjoyed it for a decade now, so I'm not trying to be critical except in a constructive way.

Thanks.

[ErikR]

Bill, several weeks ago, someone asked you if you could get an update on a replacement program for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Have you heard anything? Last time I called, WB said they had no knowledge of any issues with this release.

Thanks, Erik

[kjack]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

This died in DVD because the Chinese stole the market by royalty cheating, and killing margins (a la Toshiba) thus destroying any incentive to innovate.

The new license agreements have some real teeth in them now. SoC suppliers have a long laundry list of licenses to verify before they can give a customer software [initially] or ship chips for production usage.

[Seretur]

Bill, thanks for today's column. I've operated in the "format war finished, let's get on with life and cinema" mode for a few weeks now, and your final statement on the matter (well, hopefully) just brought a lot of closure to this entire sorry episode.

Yes, I remember how instrumental you were in the battle against DIVX in the late Nineties, and you did the internet proud in this latest forum war. It can't have been easy and it will smart for the longest time. So many forums that enthusiasts frequent have been tremendously soiled by this experience.

I just hope you have your inner reservoir of goodwill towards the internet community as a whole to let bygones be bygones, and help every facet of the intarwebs enjoy (and fight for!) the best possible Blu-ray experience from now on.

Respect.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

And for those who still claim Blu-ray's prices are too high, apparently you don't remember what it was like just ten years ago, in the first days of DVD. It took DVD FOUR YEARS after launch to reach $199 and $99 prices. We're only two years into Blu-ray, and we're already down to $499 and $399. So Blu-ray is right on the same price curve path. I'd be surprised if there wasn't a $299 unit this holiday season and a $199 in 2009. And there's your four years. Blu-ray software will come down too. And for god's sake, how can anyone complain about Blu-ray software prices when you've been able to get HUGE discounts and 10 FREE DISC offers for months now. If you want Blu-ray titles for low prices, discount offers are out there all over the place.

I remember years ago reading about a "newfangled gizmo" called DVD in a Entertainment Weekly magazine I was browsing years ago at Target while waiting on someone. Shortly thereafter, I saw a informercial for DVD on TV. I got interested in DVD and found a cool little website called "The Digital Bits". I read it for a while while I saved my allowance up to buy a Panasonic A-110 (which came with one DVD, "L. A. Confidential") that I got for $399 in September of '98 from a place called 800.com (later purchased by Circuit City). I remember a few weeks before, my local Target started carrying DVD, and I purchased my first DVD in anticipation of getting my player. "Air Force One" for $24.99 (plus tax). I didn't buy many titles from Target as I could generally get titles cheaper online, but I generally paid $23-$27 for my titles for a few years... with some being more expensive given Fox's $34.95 MSRP pricing on D&D DVDs (I paid a discounted amount of $29-$31 for "Hope Floats" and "Ever After: A Cinderella Story" on DVD), and of course $34.95 for Walt Disney's 2-disc collector's edition of "Tarzan". I believe the first DVD I ever saw cheaper than $20 (in-store and on-line) was WB's budget pricing on "Sphere".

I'm always amazed at the amount of people who think DVDs were available (release week) for the same pricing they are now.

Now, on to my question:

A lot of people are asking questions regarding Universal or Paramount, but I'm patient enough to wait and find out.

Paid, Maxpower, or P-M has commented on Weinstein's unfortunate hiatus from HDM.

But, what I want to know is what happened to Magnolia? Is it the same issue as Weinstein? Their last release was "The Host", and they've since released several titles on DVD such as "Cashback", "Broken English", "Closing Escrow", "Severance", "Moving McAllister", "Ira & Abby", "Weirdsville", and "Great World Of Sound" with announcements for "Outlaw", "Shrooms", "Romulus, My Father", and one title which I didn't name so as to prevent my question from starting a political "discussion."

While I figure it must have been due to poor sales (ala Weinstein), I was just curious as to whether or not you've heard anything?

~Alan

[w_tanoto]

thanks bill, for the confirmation for tomorrow (or today in britain)

[Slec]

Hey Bill,
Noticed after you posted your 2 afternoon Bits updates (30 min apart no less) that you popped over to let us know the scoop. Can't thank you enough for that!!

[johnno1986]

Thanks for the heads up Bill. Can't wait 'til 1800 my time for the announcement. Once again, thanks for all the work you do.

[blaze_macleod]

As with everyone on here i'd like to thank you for all you do for the community.....a question about the annoucment, do you think it's 100% at this stage that it will be about the discontinuation of hd dvd?