Shrek vs. Spider-Man

[ReduxInflux]

Shrek vs. Spiderman in Blu-Ray, [HD-DVD] War

Telegraph.co.uk

By Roya Nikkhah, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 1:42am BST 26/08/2007

Even in the wildest Hollywood imagination Shrek is unlikely ever to square up to Spiderman. A potentially expensive battle between the two characters will, however, be coming to television screens across the country over the months ahead.

Movie enthusiasts face confusion reminiscent of the VHS versus Betamax clash in the Eighties, as each hero is used to champion one of two rivals in the next generation of home entertainment as "high definition" (HD) DVD formats fight it out to determine how we will watch films.

In one corner is Sony's "Blu-ray", so-called because the Blu-ray DVD players use a blue laser instead of the red beam in standard players.

Blu-ray's rival is "HD-DVD", pioneered by Toshiba and supported by the might of Microsoft and Intel.

Batting for Blu-ray are Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Walt Disney, who have all pledged to release the high-definition versions of future DVD titles, including Sony Pictures' Spider-Man and Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean trilogies, solely in Blu-ray format.

Sony has also enlisted the heavy-hitting support of Apple, Dell and Panasonic.

But last week, the HD-DVD camp scored a coup, when Paramount Pictures, which had previously supported both formats, switched allegiance to HD-DVD, announcing that its future high-definition releases including Transformers, Shrek the Third and Blades of Glory - worth a collective £775 million at the box office - will only be available in HD-DVD.

The move prompted a threat by Michael Bay, the director of Transformers, to pull out of the film's sequel. "No Transformers 2 for me!" he wrote on his personal website. "To deny people who have Blu-ray sucks."

Bay is the latest director to take sides in the war between the high definition formats. Steven Spielberg has pledged support for Blu-ray with the 30th anniversary release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind to be released exclusively in Blu-ray.

The battle is now set to hit the high street, where the DVD industry is worth £2.1 billion.

By 2010, it is estimated that a quarter of all video disc sales will be high definition formats. On the back of the recent high definition boom, industry experts predict that by the end of the year, around one quarter of us - or 6.1 million households - will have HD-ready sets and will want accessories to match.

Both formats use new camera and disc technology to create pictures with up to five times the resolution of standard DVDs.

"It is like de-misting a pane of glass, " said Mark Webb, of Currys, the electrical goods retailer.

"The difference is phenomenal, in picture quality, sound and the extra functions that both formats provide compared to standard DVDs. For consumers, though, it will ultimately come down to price because there is nothing really between them in quality."

Due to limited availability of the machines, prices are steep and only 2,500 have sold in the UK since they came on to the market in September last year.

Blu-ray players cost upwards of £450, with the most expensive model at £700 while HD-DVDs retail for between £350 to £500.

But industry experts believe that as prices come down as more of the machines come on to the market, sales will increase significantly.

John Binks, the commercial director at GfK, a retail and technology market researcher, said: "At the moment, neither camp is winning as many people are holding off to see which format dominates in the future. But the high definition revolution is gathering pace and the potential for the market is huge."

Richard Cooper, an analyst at Screen Digest, said: "As people start to replace their dvd players, high definition machines will be seen as an upgrade, instead of just a luxury.

[Leopold BUTTERS]

Originally Posted by ReduxInflux

Shrek vs. Spiderman in Blu-Ray, [HD-DVD] War

Telegraph.co.uk

By Roya Nikkhah, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 1:42am BST 26/08/2007

Even in the wildest Hollywood imagination Shrek is unlikely ever to square up to Spiderman. A potentially expensive battle between the two characters will, however, be coming to television screens across the country over the months ahead.

Shrek versus Spiderman in Blu-ray DVD war
Spider-Man will be on Blu-Ray; Shrek will be on HD DVD

Movie enthusiasts face confusion reminiscent of the VHS versus Betamax clash in the Eighties, as each hero is used to champion one of two rivals in the next generation of home entertainment as "high definition" (HD) DVD formats fight it out to determine how we will watch films.

In one corner is Sony's "Blu-ray", so-called because the Blu-ray DVD players use a blue laser instead of the red beam in standard players.

Blu-ray's rival is "HD-DVD", pioneered by Toshiba and supported by the might of Microsoft and Intel.

Batting for Blu-ray are Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Walt Disney, who have all pledged to release the high-definition versions of future DVD titles, including Sony Pictures' Spider-Man and Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean trilogies, solely in Blu-ray format.

Sony has also enlisted the heavy-hitting support of Apple, Dell and Panasonic.

But last week, the HD-DVD camp scored a coup, when Paramount Pictures, which had previously supported both formats, switched allegiance to HD-DVD, announcing that its future high-definition releases including Transformers, Shrek the Third and Blades of Glory - worth a collective £775 million at the box office - will only be available in HD-DVD.

The move prompted a threat by Michael Bay, the director of Transformers, to pull out of the film's sequel. "No Transformers 2 for me!" he wrote on his personal website. "To deny people who have Blu-ray sucks."

Bay is the latest director to take sides in the war between the high definition formats. Steven Spielberg has pledged support for Blu-ray with the 30th anniversary release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind to be released exclusively in Blu-ray.

The battle is now set to hit the high street, where the DVD industry is worth £2.1 billion.

By 2010, it is estimated that a quarter of all video disc sales will be high definition formats. On the back of the recent high definition boom, industry experts predict that by the end of the year, around one quarter of us - or 6.1 million households - will have HD-ready sets and will want accessories to match.

Both formats use new camera and disc technology to create pictures with up to five times the resolution of standard DVDs.

"It is like de-misting a pane of glass, " said Mark Webb, of Currys, the electrical goods retailer.

"The difference is phenomenal, in picture quality, sound and the extra functions that both formats provide compared to standard DVDs. For consumers, though, it will ultimately come down to price because there is nothing really between them in quality."

Due to limited availability of the machines, prices are steep and only 2,500 have sold in the UK since they came on to the market in September last year.

Blu-ray players cost upwards of £450, with the most expensive model at £700 while HD-DVDs retail for between £350 to £500.

But industry experts believe that as prices come down as more of the machines come on to the market, sales will increase significantly.

John Binks, the commercial director at GfK, a retail and technology market researcher, said: "At the moment, neither camp is winning as many people are holding off to see which format dominates in the future. But the high definition revolution is gathering pace and the potential for the market is huge."

Richard Cooper, an analyst at Screen Digest, said: "As people start to replace their dvd players, high definition machines will be seen as an upgrade, instead of just a luxury.

Fixed.

[gamer4eva]

no wonder ppl buy HD-Dead players because of ignorant media reports ppl r gonna think spidey is gonna b on hd while shrek is gonna be on BD "so i'll get a hd-dead player to watch spidey"
stupid morons

[ReduxInflux]

Originally Posted by Leopold BUTTERS

Fixed.

no way. i can't believe they published that. i didn't even notice it.

aha...on their webpage, its not even in the article. it's under the picture of shrek and spiderman facing-off....

time to send out an e-mail...

[w_tanoto]

I prefer shrek over Spidey.... but I hate HD DVD. I'll buy the DVD.

[The Guardian]

Also no mention that the PS3 plays Blu-rays.... I'm sure there's more than 2500 of them! And hopefully they are cheaper than 450 pounds.

[jctash]

the first two shreks were good but the third didn't do anything for me. Spiderman three was okay. MAybe I'll enjoy it more when I watch it in blu

[simcal]

paramount switched sides? no mention of bribe or or 150 million. If they mentioned that then lt would make hd-dvd look desperate though and that it still does not stand a chance.

[BStecke]

What a crap news site. There is no link to submit corrections.

[j_rocca42]

Spiderman>Shrek

[supersix4]

I think spideys got it on lock since it can suck in both little kids, and older people ... where as shrek is mostly just kids GO SPIDEY!!!!!

[JTK]

Even with part three dragging the whole thing down a li'l bit, I have a hard time imagining Shrek outperforming Spiderman across the boards.

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by JTK

Even with part three dragging the whole thing down a li'l bit, I have a hard time imagining Shrek outperforming Spiderman across the boards.

yeah but you know how some people (me ) are we'll buy it just to have all three despite 3 being a TAD off!

[MrVorhees]

shrek is absolutely no competition for spiderman 3.
2month befor releasedate, spiderman 3 box blu-ray allready #17 DVD charts on amazon

PLEASE people

[JTK]

Originally Posted by supersix14

yeah but you know how some people (me ) are we'll buy it just to have all three despite 3 being a TAD off!

Same here. I've had preorder locked in since day one.

[kaliraver]

Shrek 3 was horrible and I thought Spiderman 3 was the more entertaining out of all the 3. I wouldn't recommend Shrek 3 since its story was very boring, even if it was on BD I wouldn't buy it only part 1 & 2.

[thehappyman]

Now WHO would you count on to save your life, Spiderman or Shrek ??????? I already pre-ordered my Spidey discs.

[Caladriusse]

I know you guys are talking about mistakes in the article, and saying that certain things should be in the article - but I see this article as good because it exposes HD DVD and Blu-Ray Disc a little more. I've heard figures in the US about only a small percentage of the US public knowing what Blu-Ray is, well I guarantee that that figure is even less in the UK. Despite all my friends being fans of gaming and electronics in general, very few of them know any detail about BD or HD DVD - I'm expecting older people know even less.

It's such a shame that there aren't more articles, more stories, more coverage and more ADVERTISEMENT about high definition movie entertainment. Whenever I go into shops you can easily see how none of the BD's have even been touched and they're always right at the very back stuffed away behind the DVD's, sometimes even behind the corresponding DVD and sometimes with their back facing the customer. I've also seen some shops with leaflets explaining this "high-definition revolution", but they seem to be crammed in one corner too.

I think the key to lifting BD is television adverts and early BD adopters to buy "alot of the same Blu-Ray discs near launch", just like what happened with 300 in the US. it got quite alot of coverage, around the world, even in newspapers like The Telegraph and on the BBC.