HD DVD + BD combo discs from Warner?

[dialog_gvf]

OK, things are getting downright wierd all of the sudden:

New disc may sway DVD wars

Warner Bros., which helped popularize the DVD more than a decade ago, plans to announce next week a single videodisc that can play films and television programs in both Blu-ray and HD DVD, the rival DVD technologies.

Universal players. Universal discs.

Crazy.

Gary

[dialog_gvf]

However, among its perceived advantages, HD-DVD players are less expensive and also play standard DVDs, while Blu-ray players do not.

Eight months in, and this lie is still being reported.

Gary

[Blue]

I think that HD-DVD have region encoding yet, so if you import a "Dual" disc across a boundry the BD won't work but the HD-DVD will? At the moment HD-DVD is easier to crack (or at least it's the only one, that is supposed to be cracked) so if you want to pirate the disc use the HD-DVD component, sort of defeats the BD copy protection.

The HD-DVD fanboy collective will be screaming blue murder as they will be presumably paying extra for being stuck with this inferior product on the other side being blu ray (well according to them anyway)

[Rolo]

I hope Warner doesn't do a HD DVD version of a movie and use that to do a BD version on the same disc (I can't see them spending money on doing two different versions for one disc IMO). It would be a shame to waste a worthy BD50 title to 15 GB.

Let's wait and see.....

A quote from the article, "And HD-DVD’s boosters say they doubt gaming fans who have been snapping up the just-introduced PlayStation 3 will take advantage of its built-in Blu-ray player and buy movies as well as video games."

Just plain silly.

[maximus2323]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

OK, things are getting downright wierd all of the sudden:

New disc may sway DVD wars



Universal players. Universal discs.

Crazy.

Gary

This is just going to drag the war even further and further.....Well that is just me....

[KenThompson]

Who needs it . Just give us Universal and the format war is over, as simple as that.

[maximus2323]

Originally Posted by KenThompson

Who needs it . Just give us Universal and the format war is over, as simple as that.

That is true but then again if this goes well with consumers then more studios will adopt this. Creating more tug of war....

[WriteSimply]

The first thing that needs to happen is this: both the BDA and the DVD Forum, both of which regulates what can or cannot constitute a Blu-ray Disc or a HD-DVD, must sign off on Total HD. Even though it meets spec, unless it gets the sign off from both parties it cannot be introduced as a consumer product.

A barrier inherent from the disc design is the layers that can be laid on the disc. If Total HD is easier to manufacturer by using only a single BD and HD-DVD layer, then this format is certainly not going to get love, especially from the HD-DVD fans.

Another barrier that is even more important is the cost of replication. Not necessarily the cost of the case or cover, but the replication itself. Yield has to be above 70% before Warner could consider doing this for the long run. And the long run is what this move is about - they want their HD-DVD royalties to not be written off if BD becomes the only HD format.

Lastly, like I said in the LG dual-format player thread, Warner has to brace itself to get consumer feedback on these discs.

It's a whole can of worms for too much work, if you ask me.


fuad

[JTK]

I wonder how much Amir and his boys will have lower the data and bitrates to make those combo discs work?

I'd never buy one of those terrible HD-DVD/DVD combo discs and on that same note: I'll be sure to avoid ANY kinds of combo discs like the plague.

[Deciazulado]

Great, I just can't wait to get my DualDiscHD™

[GoldenRedux]

Originally Posted by JTK

I wonder how much Amir and his boys will have lower the data and bitrates to make those combo discs work?

I'd never buy one of those terrible HD-DVD/DVD combo discs and on that same note: I'll be sure to avoid ANY kinds of combo discs like the plague.

I second that. I've never purchased a DualDisc, and I will NEVER purchase any dual HDDVD/BD disc - ever, ever, ever.

[Spankey]

THis is silly. It really seems the HD-DVD crowd is trying to save face now. Why would I want a dual layer disc with an larger Blu-ray disc on one and another with less storage (HD-DVD) on another. To satisfy the people who bought a Toshiba HD-DVD player? HD-DVD is going down. The writing is on the wall.

[JTK]

Today's Wall Street Journal really did a slam bang, objective analysis of this, the dual player situation and what's expected over the next couple of years.

If any of you have a way to get to today's WSJ, you really owe it to yourself to read this article.

There's a lot of facts, numbers, and FUD killing figures in this piece.

It's too long for me to try and type out manually and I refuse to pay the extra money for WSJ.com myself.

If anyone does have that, please quote it and attribute it here, but in any event: Try and find a way to read this thing. Well worth your time.

(The WSJ's new format is a lot more user friendly to read, in general. )


There was a brief mention of "other companies will follow suit" in regards to dual format players, but nothing specific was mentioned past that.

The analysts predict probably another two years of a format war environment, give or take, even with all of this, FWIW.

[dobyblue]

Let's remember that JVC had a BD25/DVD9 hybrid at IFA 2005 and we still haven't seen it yet in production.
Warner can make all the announcements they want, but until we see it out there how long it will take is anyone's guess.

[Blubaru]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

Let's remember that JVC had a BD25/DVD9 hybrid at IFA 2005 and we still haven't seen it yet in production.
Warner can make all the announcements they want, but until we see it out there how long it will take is anyone's guess.

12345. The war could already be all but over with at that point.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

Let's remember that JVC had a BD25/DVD9 hybrid at IFA 2005 and we still haven't seen it yet in production.
Warner can make all the announcements they want, but until we see it out there how long it will take is anyone's guess.

Ah...I'd forgotten about that!

[MrVandelay]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

Eight months in, and this lie is still being reported.

Gary

but it is true, HD DVD players are less expensive

[Longshot]

Originally Posted by MrVandelay

but it is true, HD DVD players are less expensive

Read what he typed. BD players do play standard dvd's.

[MrVandelay]

Originally Posted by Longshot

Read what he typed. BD players do play standard dvd's.

well, he did also type the other, which is what I believed he was referring to.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by MrVandelay

but it is true, HD DVD players are less expensive

I was refering to the playing of DVD. The claim was BD players don't play DVD, which is utter and complete nonsense. An outright untruth.

But, as for the pricing: One HD DVD player is less expensive (street), by less than $100, and it is plagued with problems. The cheapest stand-alone streets at a bit over $600 (the Sammy). And the G2 will probably street under $500.

Xbox 360 people can get into HD DVD for the least amount. But, looking from an A/V perspective of entering the game, it is a $500 minimum cost which is identical to the 20GB PS/3 and you don't get HDMI, and it is a noisy product for an A/V environment.

PRICE isn't the issue, VALUE is. And while for eight months or so it could be argued that HD DVD was the better value, this has now past. Title counts and performance makes the 20GB/60GB PS/3 the winner right now or very soon.

Perhaps the LG universal player will become the new champ. But, will it have HDMI 1.3? Will it decode HD audio? Will it boot in a a few seconds?

Gary