Gotta respect Bill Hunt

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by GasCat

I respect him for standing up. It's hard to do with all the advertising revenues at stake.

I was thinking the same thing. I think he used to have advertising from both sides, and now it looks like the HD DVD stuff is gone.

Gary

[Jack Torrance]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

I was thinking the same thing. I think he used to have advertising from both sides, and now it looks like the HD DVD stuff is gone.

Gary

In the past couple of weeks, M$ tried to woo him (check out his past columns from the last couple of weeks) - but Bill was his typical stand up self and continued to write what he believed in... which is HD-DUD is washed up.

Bill's the man.

[krinkle]

has this been posted at AVS? If not someone needs to go over there and do it.

[MrBogey]

HD DVD is region free. If they can get the EU to force support in Europe then by default studios will be releasing films in Europe that will be imported to America. In short, exclusivity for Blu-ray ends while HD DVD gets to keep their meager assets exclusive. Not to mention the studios will have to support the lowest common denominator. Meaning everything will be VC-1 at under 16Mb/s on a 25GB blu-ray with DD+ and TrueHD only.

At that point HD DVD will be the only truly sensible choice.

MS knows what they're doing.

[jubaiweaponx]

we`ll see when the holidays hit ..........

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by MrBogey

Not to mention the studios will have to support the lowest common denominator. Meaning everything will be VC-1 at under 16Mb/s on a 25GB blu-ray with DD+ and TrueHD only.

At that point HD DVD will be the only truly sensible choice.

How would the lowest common denominator ever be the truly sensible choice?

[ps3andlovinit]

Originally Posted by MrBogey

HD DVD is region free. If they can get the EU to force support in Europe then by default studios will be releasing films in Europe that will be imported to America. In short, exclusivity for Blu-ray ends while HD DVD gets to keep their meager assets exclusive. Not to mention the studios will have to support the lowest common denominator. Meaning everything will be VC-1 at under 16Mb/s on a 25GB blu-ray with DD+ and TrueHD only.

At that point HD DVD will be the only truly sensible choice.

MS knows what they're doing.

Actually Disney et al then have the choice of releasing on multiple HD-DVD discs what would fit on one BD and charging more money for the HD-DVD version since it costs them more to produce. Or removing all extra features from the HD-DVD since it won't fit or providing that low bitrate version that will look inferior to the full 50 BD version etc..so I wouldn't jump the gun. There is also the argument that a single DVD standard was GOOD for consumers and MS attempt to divide the market is anti-competitive in nature to confuse the consumer. The EU is already quite familiar with their failure to comply with previous orders and engage in proprietary lock-in strategies in the Windows world..not going to go unnoticed as they make these claims. AVC (Mpeg), Java are much more open formats than HDi and VC-1 - controlled by a single vendor with a history of abusing their monopoly position. The BDA is a broad coalition that insulates against abuse far more readily than the alternative.

[Blu-Ray Buckeye]

Originally Posted by ps3andlovinit

Actually Disney et al then have the choice of releasing on multiple HD-DVD discs what would fit on one BD and charging more money for the HD-DVD version since it costs them more to produce. Or removing all extra features from the HD-DVD since it won't fit or providing that low bitrate version that will look inferior to the full 50 BD version etc..so I wouldn't jump the gun. There is also the argument that a single DVD standard was GOOD for consumers and MS attempt to divide the market is anti-competitive in nature to confuse the consumer. The EU is already quite familiar with their failure to comply with previous orders and engage in proprietary lock-in strategies in the Windows world..not going to go unnoticed as they make these claims. AVC (Mpeg), Java are much more open formats than HDi and VC-1 - controlled by a single vendor with a history of abusing their monopoly position. The BDA is a broad coalition that insulates against abuse far more readily than the alternative.

You have captured my secondary thought on this argument, which is... if either camp was trying to be a monopoly it was the HD-DVD camp, they just failed to accomplish their goals.

[KingDeezie]

This whole move in EU about looking at exclusives is really BS to me. This is buisness people, and the fact that Bluray has secured as many exclusives as it has is a testament to its current performance, potential, and whatever other incentives the BDA has thrown out there; monetary or technological.

HD-DVD needs to just go away already. No one with half a brain wants to go backwards. Bluray is the better format, end of story

HD-DVD sounds like a spoiled ***** who lost out on being prom queen and now she wants a re-vote...

You wanna talk about how much better you are then the competition, and how much better you started out of the gate, and how you give the consumer what they want for cheaper, and then you lose fair and sqaure, deal with it and just go away....

Give up on your losses all in the hd-dvd camp, drop HD-DVD, start making Bluray hardware, bluray media, and join together to really push HD media into as many homes as you can.

Blu FTW!

[darinp2]

Originally Posted by MrBogey

HD DVD is region free. If they can get the EU to force support in Europe then by default studios will be releasing films in Europe that will be imported to America.

I highly doubt the EU will force Disney to release on HD DVD while that is region free (and probably not even if it gets it). Disney has a good position there as far as pointing out that DVD had region encoding available as a feature to Disney, Disney asked for RC capability on HD DVD and was basically told, "No". I think that alone is enough for Disney to be able to support a position that they will not release on HD DVD as long as HD DVD refuses to provide them that capability, if Disney wants to take that position with the EU.

--Darin

[RangerSix]

That was a great article by Bill Hunt. He articulated in words what many of us know already, but it’s satisfying nonetheless to have those viewpoints validated.

Several things that will knock BD out of the park as the next format of choice, as well as quickly usher in HDDVDs demise:

• Existing studios and companies maintain their current support for BD. While defections may not impact the final outcome, it would prolong it
• Higher proliferation of players on the market from different manufacturers
• Average player price between $250 and $300 (duh!)
• Solidify BD standards and features – I think lots of companies are holding off the release of titles, players and software (i.e. Apple’s DVD Studio Pro) until things are finalized.
• More titles (duh!)

[onanie]

What exactly is the alleged violation?

How can HD DVD simply demand that they be supported?

[Blu-Ray Buckeye]

Originally Posted by MrBogey

HD DVD is region free. If they can get the EU to force support in Europe then by default studios will be releasing films in Europe that will be imported to America. In short, exclusivity for Blu-ray ends while HD DVD gets to keep their meager assets exclusive. Not to mention the studios will have to support the lowest common denominator. Meaning everything will be VC-1 at under 16Mb/s on a 25GB blu-ray with DD+ and TrueHD only.

At that point HD DVD will be the only truly sensible choice.

MS knows what they're doing.

Yes, MS may know what they are doing but your conclusion is a pretty freakin' long putt, don't you think? (Get it, long putt? You're MrBogey.)

1) The EU actually has to back their argument and penalize Blu-ray. In reality, the HD-DVD camp has tried all of the same tactics w/ exclusivity... only difference is that they are failing. Is the EU really inclined to trust, of all companies, Microsoft?

2) Even if they decide against blu-ray, they'd likely force HD-DVD studios to go neutral as well.

3) You can't force hardware producers to make a product. Toshiba may still be the only folks out there producing HD-DVD players.

4) Studios who never wanted to make HD-DVDs can easily just tank their efforts and create inferior product on that side of the aisle. Another lawsuit might be filed but that's more time a-wastin'.

5) And here's the kicker... Even if the EU decideds against BD there will be a long string of appeals and resistance. It isn't like the blu-ray studios will just dive in and aggressively produce kick-ass HD-DVD products w/in weeks. They'll do everything they can to drag it out to the point where the entire argument is moot.