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Michael Bay Tries HD DVD, Likes It

By BetaNews Staff, BetaNews

August 22, 2007, 10:48 AM

A day after protesting a decision by Paramount to only support HD DVD and threatening not to make a second "Transformers" movie, Michael Bay has apparently had a change of heart after seeing the format in action. He apologized in a forum post Tuesday evening for drinking the Blu-ray "kool aid."

"I heard where Paramount is coming from and the future of HD and players that will be close to the $200 mark which is the magic number. I like what I heard," Bay wrote. "As a director, I'm all about people seeing films in the best quality possible, and I saw and heard firsthand people upset about a corporate decision. So today I saw 300 on HD, it rocks! So I think I might be back on to do Transformers 2!"

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By kappen

edited Aug 23, 2007 - 1:02 PM

I just dont understand the love of Sony. When I think of them things like Root kits, Proprietary, Profit at the cost of innovation come to mind. How can people actually come here and try to say they are a company that is trying to support the people. Why is their music still DRM protected why do they keep coming out with devices that take Proprietary items like the memory stick instead of using industry standards. I even remember a MP3 player they came out with that you had to convert the MP3s to a propietary format before the player would play them. The fact that sony is behind blue ray by default makes me want to support HD-DVD simply because anything Sony does is poorly planned and usually flops.

Score: 0

By Ramhound

edited Aug 23, 2007 - 12:07 PM

Translation of the Michael Bay Flip Flop:

Paramount: "We pay you to make movies, make what we want, or don't get paid"
Michael Bay: "Ok"

Score: 0

By bobthegoat2001

edited Aug 23, 2007 - 6:47 AM

Plus now Best Buy is having a deal with the HD-DVD drives for the Xbox 360. Now when you get the HD-DVD drive (which already comes with King Kong) Best Buy is also including the movie 300 for free (the DVD and HD-DVD combo version, which is about $35) at the $179.99 price point. Not to mention you still can get the 5 HD-DVD's free when you buy any HD-DVD player.

So here's what you get:
- Xbox 360 HD-DVD Drive (which also works with XP and Vista)
- HD-DVD/DVD/Media Center Remote (the same one that's $29.99, it's pretty nice)
- King Kong HD-DVD
- 300 HD-DVD + SD DVD combo
- 5 more HD-DVD's of your choice
- For only $179.99

I didn't care about the HD-DVD drive before, but now it's starting to look more intriguing. That and I can also rent HD-DVD's from Netflix for as low as $4.99/mo.

Score: 0

By pitdingo

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 6:53 AM

When you are losing market share, you get desparate and lower prices. There are two problems with this deal....

1) XBox 360 is horrible
2) HD-DVD is the lesser format and rightfully getting its a$$ kicked by Blu-Ray in sales.

I would not recommend to anyone to buy either a 360 or HD-DVD. The Wii now has the largest installed base and continues to _far_ outsell the 360.

The 360 will be abandoned just like the first XBox. They are both failures and got destroyed by the competition. Look for announcements on the XBox 720 to start soon.

Score: 0

By bobthegoat2001

posted Aug 24, 2007 - 1:03 AM

"I would not recommend to anyone to buy either a 360 or HD-DVD."

You must work for Sony. I don't think anyone else would argue as much as you do until your face turns blue, Steve. I don't think anyone can be that obsessed, that naive towards one company.

You don't even own an Xbox 360 or an HD-DVD to even compare the two (which you proved with your picture you uploaded: image038bf9.jpg) so how can you recommend someone not to get one?

Thanks for proving you work for Sony.

Score: 0

By terminalx

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 2:29 PM

The only lesser part is it doesn't have as much support behind it but the quality is identical but some state the sound and the blacks on blu ray appear to be washed out.

Score: 0

By Setian^Stalker

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 9:34 AM

While I agree if loose market share you lower the price, it makes sence.
I dont see how the 360 is horrible though, its still selling? Those people that have had hardware failures are the same people on forums like xboxscene that are on their 2nd or 3rd or 4th xbox. Cant be horrible if they keep buying a new one (foolishly so)

The only thing kicking the hd-dvds a** is the standard DVD, certainly not blu-ray - its far too early to declare a winner. Theres a LOT of consumers in the world, and very little of them have this hi-def stuff.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 9:06 AM

Hello if you want HD games you get a 360. The last time I checked the best the Wii can do is 480p. So 480p or 1080p let me see. Kind of a no brainer. Some people don't care for your beloved Wii.

Second there is nothing wrong with the 360 or the HD drive. In fact the add-on is a great deal, and worth the purchase. You really don't give up on your desperation and price cuts. So when blo-ray drops their price it is going to be a clever marketing strategy but when HD does it it's just desperation. Get a clue Dave.

Score: 0

By AaronDobbins

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 8:59 AM

Isn't that calleed an upgrade? By that token you could say PlayStation has abandoned the original PlayStation, or that Nintendo has abandoned the Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and N64.

The Wii is not the same level as the 360 or PS3, so I would expect more sales, especially at the price point it is at.

Score: 0

By shicaca

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 8:20 AM

mm riiight. How much $$ does Sony lose with each sale of a PS3 again? Oh that's right.

I'm pretty sure the PS3 should be the player you should be talking about being horrible.

P.S.- The Wii has absolutely nothing to do with the price of tea in China for this entire topic, nor does it bear any weight in your comment. I repeat what the other said before me: Troll.

*I*, for one thing, hope the HD-DVD format wins bar-none. I hate Sony and everything they stand for, so I hope they die a horrible fate. I can't stand their business practices, nor the way they view their customers. For all intensive purposes, they can rot in business hell.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 9:09 AM

Their busniess practice pretty much sums it up. I fail to see why anyone would trust a company with their track record.

Score: 0

By yountmj

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 8:02 AM

I've noticed when you get desperate, you get off-topic.

Did Michael Bay say that he likes the Wii, too?

Oh, he must've said that he's pissed off because the Xbox was abandoned, now he's not going to allow Transformers 2 to be released on the Xbox 720?

Score: 0

By SlapShot

edited Aug 23, 2007 - 7:16 AM

would you like some cheese for your whine

and if the x-box 360 is a failure, then the POS3 (with it's "great blu-ray") was DOA

troll

Score: 0

By The-One

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 10:12 PM

I'm going to take a completely different view here. With HD-DVD players cheaper, Sony will have to reduce their price as well. With Chinese companies producing players soon in bulk of both formats and multi-format, this war is over before it began. It HASN'T begun because their really isn't enough movies for either format to win right right now.

Either way, I have an HD-DVD player, and will get a BD when prices drop, or preferably a multi-format player. You people on here are all SO silly! You'd think you have 10,000 shares of Sony or Toshiba - I bet you all have nothing but fanboyisms :)

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 11:52 PM

Blu-Ray may end up being a better format than HD-DVD, but now is certainly not the time to buy Blu-Ray in particular. When Sony designed the Blu-Ray hardware specifications they didn't seem to be aware of how long it takes to actually construct a new optical disc format that is completely different from DVD in every way. Toshiba on the other hand basically took a DVD and discovered when they write to the disc with a blue laser the disc space increases dramatically.

Guess what? Toshiba was able to concentrate more on mastering software for studios which included things like vastly superior VC-1 and MPEG-4 video as well as vastly superior Dolby Digital Plus ultra high resolution audio and Dolby TrueHD lossless audio.

Sony on the other hand suddenly realized that a totally new optical disc format from the ground up takes a LOT of time to create so in a desperate measure to get their format recognized by the public, they and other movie studios used old fashioned MPEG-2 near HD video along with old fashioned Dolby Digital audio so they could get the hardware out the door. As a result, first generation Blu-Ray movies did not provide a much better experience than standard definition DVD. Now Sony and other Blu-Ray only movie studios are silently remastering their movies in VC-1 video and uncompressed 24-bit 96KHz PCM audio. Since the packaging is not being changed to reflect this a lot of consumers will be stuck with crappy first generation Blu-Ray titles.

Score: 0

By AaronDobbins

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 9:01 AM

But they are releasing Blades of Glory with lossless audio for Blu-Ray only. That in itself commands that Blu-Ray will be the winner in all of this!

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 9:13 AM

And you come to that conclusion how.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 10:56 AM

You haven't seen the movie?

Blades, glory, what more do you need, man?

Score: 0

By pitdingo

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 9:15 PM

This will really piss the M$/HD-DVD drones off:

HD-DVD is going on a fire sale this holiday season because they are discontinuing the format.

It is over for HD-DVD.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 10:40 PM

You are now so desperate you can't even think straight.

Score: 0

By Hollywoodâ?¢

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 9:29 PM

Oh whats that? Paramount dropped BR? What a shame. You are just bitter you lazy eyed freak.

When Warner goes HD-DVD exclusive, are you going to kill yourself? Your meaningless existence is so obvious.

Your posts are hilarious, I bet you hevnt slept in 2 days. What a tosser.

Score: 0

By pitdingo

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 4:08 PM

Summary:

Director speaks out on being forced to deal with the limitations of the HD-DVD format. Said director gets spanked by his corporate handlers who just cashed a $150 million check from Toshiba so they support HD-DVD.

Let the director support whatever format he wants. It is his movie, his vision.

Score: 0

By Hollywoodâ?¢

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 6:54 PM

The world is starting to turn on BD and Warner is next.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 4:27 PM

cashed a $150 million check from Toshiba so they support HD-DVD.

First it's MS, now it's Toshiba...

Not that it matters, you seem to be under the impression $150M is anything but a drop in the bucket to any of these folks.

Let the director support whatever format he wants. It is his movie, his vision.

Not his. He just directed it. ;) Big difference.

Score: 0

By pitdingo

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 9:11 PM

Film Director as defined by Wikipedia:

"A film director is a person who directs the making of a film.[1] A film director visualizes the script, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision."

Yeah, i would say: "It is his movie, his vision." Pwned again C_Troll. Why do you keep coming back for more?

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 8:59 AM

Let the director support whatever format he wants. It is his movie,

"A film director is a person who directs the making of a film.[1] A film director visualizes the script, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision."

Your point, genius?

Still not *his* movie.

Pwned again

If calling some moron on a lame-ass assertion that he cannot back up and *knows* is false getting "pwned", by all means, dimwit.

Why do you keep coming back for more?

Why do you keep posting nothing but pure BS?

Score: 0

By yountmj

edited Aug 23, 2007 - 3:42 AM

His vision, not his movie.

A director has no more control over what the studio does with it anymore than a music artist has any control over what the record label does with an album once it's finished.

Sure, some big-name directors such as Spielberg and Lucas are the exceptions, but do you know why? It's their studio!

The only one you're consistently "pwning" is yourself.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 10:43 PM

Ah Wiki the most reliable of sites. You do know that most colleges won't even let students use that site since it is often wrong.

Keep trying.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 3:31 PM

In other words:

Mr. Bay got his a** pulled into a meeting @ Paramount HQ and got his a** handed to him on a silver platter.

Would serve him right. He's not anywhere near as irreplaceable as he seems to think he is.

Score: 0

By NULLedge

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 3:16 PM

fickle bas****. thank god for transformers 2. i loved the first one. i was about to shank someone

Score: 0

By siryak

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 2:16 PM

Ah...See below for Blo-Ray fanboys desperately trying to spin this into a positive for $ony. It is quite hilarious!!!

Score: 0

By Hocuspokus

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 2:02 PM

It's really funny how come Fox felt it needed to come out and say they were not going neutral when no-one had suggested they were about to.

Warners are going to be next, Disney to go neutral soon after, Lionsgate too?

(note that neither Lionsgate nor Disney have said a thing).

Score: 0

By Hollywoodâ?¢

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 1:28 PM

Warner is going HD-DVD exclusive at or after CEDIA, mark my words.

Score: 0

By aredo

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 2:05 PM

Are you from Microsoft and are announcing a new wad to achieve that ?

Score: 0

By Ray Dorset

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 1:43 PM

Funny, all other rumours appear to be the exact opposite, and that Warner are going Blu, along with Universal going dual format.

Score: 0

By Setian^Stalker

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 8:08 AM

All the rumors you want to believe? Because i see rumors suggesting both sides... after all only rumors

Score: 0

By sacaripasa

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 4:11 PM

Ummm, why listen to rumors in the first place!

Score: 0

By Hollywoodâ?¢

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 6:57 PM

The BD fanatics consistently cling to false hope to make themselves feel better about thier foolish purchase.

Score: 0

By morriscox

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 2:39 PM

Rumors are worth less than the time it takes to say them.

Score: 0

By Hocuspokus

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 4:40 PM

"all other rumours appear to be the exact opposite, and that Warner are going Blu, along with Universal going dual format."

- You really have no shame have you?

You must be working so hard to ignore what the Universal top management have actually said (they said the Viacom/Paramount move was vindication for their own HD DVD exclusive stance), just in case your Blu-ray fanzine sites are keeping the real news from you guys.

Still, you guys insist that that means they're going neutral any second now.
Hilarious.
Too funny.

Sadly this is just a typical laughably tragic statement......you ought to at least refuse to admit it was your own, Ray, and blame those idiotic buffoons at one of the Blu-ray shill sites, huh?

(why not just wheel out the other one and claim the XBox 360 Blu-ray add-on is due out any second?
.....or maybe the XBox 360 'Ulitmate' will come with a BD drive?)

LMAO.

This just gets better and better.

Score: 0

By plague201

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 1:18 PM

You know, if either Fox or Disney decides to switch over like Paramount has. Blu-ray will be more than dead. Give it a few more months.

As for this 'news' why do we care what some director thinks. There is always someone willing to direct a film.

Score: 0

By timatl

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 12:45 PM

he is a director and had never seen a HD-DVD. this sad and not very smart on his part. i don't think he should direct the next transformers. not because is not a supporter but he commented or something that he did not understand. not very sharp at all.

Score: 0

By aredo

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 1:05 PM

timatl: it seems that you are the smooth and not so sharp one here, you know. It's pretty naive to really believe Bay statements for what he has written by his lawyers advice after the obvious Paramount threats he received for his previous bashing of the Paramount CEO decision to dump Blu-Ray and cancel Transformers release on the format. You should try reading thru words and events and not just read them.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 1:40 PM

You claim to know all that the lawyers told him. Face it all boils down to tears in your fruit loops. Blu-ray lost a studio and that is end of story. I would not be shocked to see the door swing more from companies leaving. Maybe $ony did something to piss them off too, that would be a shock.

You know NOTHING other than what has been said. You are failing badly at saving face.

Score: 0

By aredo

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 2:02 PM

SGD: You are so emotional at insulting me like that.. it simply proves that I seem to know way more than you would like me to.. otherwise you wouldn't be wasting time insulting me. I can only wonder the reasons behind your weird reaction...

Score: 0

By SGD

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 3:17 PM

How is my saying that you know nothing about what his attorneys says is an insult. You are just a Sony employee doing damage control with your posts.

Emotional I think not. However, it is great news that the sony fanboys are floundering in their own past lies.

Score: 0

By aredo

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 3:25 PM

SGD: I'm not a Sony employee, although I surely would enjoy to work for them. But I bet you work for some of those involved into the HD-DVD business, otherwise you wouldn't have got so emotional, indeed.

Score: 0

By SGD

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 3:56 PM

Once again you have no idea what you are talking about. The only thing that I do for HD DVD is buy movies. My job has nothing to do with music or movies and I do not market either of them.

What ever you say Dave.

Score: 0

By kashin

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 2:23 PM

You don't know what his lawyers told him, so stop pretending you do. All you're doing is ASSUMING. We all know what happens when you assume.. you make an "ass" out of "u" and "me" haha.

How old is this Michael Bay guy? I know he's not 12, but he sure likes acting like one. The director of a high tech movie who hasn't seen HD-DVD in action and pouts about it anyway. That really is sad. I very much doubt his lawyers told him to play it off as ignorance, I think he actually is ignorant.

Maybe tomorrow he can whine some more and say he doesn't like either HD-DVD or BD and he's not making another Transformers movie unless it's released on holographic discs. Seriously though, I'm getting tired of celebrities whining. All that money turns them emo.

Score: 0

By aredo

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 3:26 PM

kashin: Are you really that naive ? Or are you the one being 12 or 18 at max ?

Score: 0

By timatl

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 1:34 PM

it is what it is. regardless you need to think before you talk. you are assuming this is what happen. before you make a statement like that you need to check your contracts or your PR 1st. it was not wise on his part regardless of what you say.

Score: 0

By Hocuspokus

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 1:37 PM

LMAO.

Too true timati.

There are far too many absurd Blu-ray shills claiming all sorts about things they couldn't possibly know in relation to this and the Viacom/Paramount move.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 1:40 PM

The panic mode from the blo shills is very amusing.

Score: 0

By Hocuspokus

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 1:44 PM

Yeah, it is a first afterall.

This isnt just someone choosing to go neutral this is Blu-ray actually getting dumped.

This just gets funnier and funnier by the day......and by all accounts there's more to come at CEDIA in a couple of weeks.
Warner next?
Disney?
Lionsgate?

Score: 0

By aredo

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 2:04 PM

Hocuspokus: Ripping customers off by trying to force an inferior format thru false claims of superior specs and bribe is something to be happy about ? If Blu-Ray fails to be the standard only customers, the people will have lost in the first place. And the industry will not be able to deliver proper HDTV contents due to HD-DVD limitations and small size.

Score: 0

By Setian^Stalker

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 8:26 AM

You know, before micheals comments i used to think the hd-dvd supporters here went far too overboard, i mostly keep out of these stupid arguments. But seriously, what the hell has happened ? You blu-ray supporters come out and talk absolute crap. Is there some secret pact to go out and spread as much bulls*** as you possibly can? You guys couldnt even get your story straight with who 'paid out' paramount. If blu-ray fails to be the standard, people rejoice. If hd-dvd fails to be the standard, people rejoice. And what ****en difference does content make now? Your camp wrote off 'content' as not needed (since hd-dvd clearly had better content), so now you brige space back into the argument with content? Make your freaken minds up.
I think i speak for most people here, stop talking ****en rubbish. It makes me sick and your making a fool of yourself.
I have never gone off at anyone on here like this before, hopefully never bloody again

Score: 0

By SGD

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 3:12 PM

Did you read what was said about HD by the man in charge at Paramount? It appears that you have. The disk space is issue is not an issue he even said that. But since he left your beloved format all in a sudden he is not going to know what he is talking about. Pretty soon $ony is not going to be able to afford to keep paying you since they are losing business left and right. Even the TV division is dropping like a lead balloon. To bad.

Score: 0

By kashin

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 2:30 PM

"Ripping customers off by trying to force an inferior format thru false claims of superior specs and bribe is something to be happy about ?"

What exactly makes HD-DVD the inferior format? The fact that it has less space? Because the extra storage space is the only thing that's superior about Blu-Ray. The old sexual innuendo of "bigger is better" doesn't always hold well. Being well endowed down there sounds great on paper, but if that's the only thing you got going for you, it's not all that impressive. Once women figure out size is all you got, and only know one or two tricks that don't really satisfy, it's all over for you. ;)

Score: 0

By aredo

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 3:28 PM

kashin: Are you just ignorant or are you getting paid to act like that ?
Telling that "size doesn't matter" regarding compression and video coding simply shows that you have no clue of what you're talking about, really.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 7:50 PM

Did you read the article from PC World? If so you would know that even the studios say compression makes both systems equal. Look for yourself and become educated.

Score: 0

By terminalx

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 6:15 PM

Maybe it should be at this time there is NO difference in quality with blu-ray except I have heard (notice I am only using heard so no need to get all huffy about it) that the blacks on blu-ray tend to be washed out and the sound appears to be not as good.

It doesn't matter if the discs have the ability to use up to 50 gb if they aren't being used, your argument means nothing.

Score: 0

By aredo

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 6:31 PM

terminalx: The black washed out, the sound not as good ? What are you talking about ? The codecs supported by the two formats are just the same. It's up to the studio to use their high-end professional encoders properly. Then if some studios are releasing worse versions on BD to make HD-DVD appear superior then that's another issue that has to do with bribe and such, it's not an issue of technical specifications and what the BD 50GB space allows the same codecs to achieve.

Score: 0

By yountmj

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 6:52 PM

It's just sad to think that the 50 GB was actually necessary to fit a movie plus extras using MPEG-2 and uncompressed PCM.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 8:19 PM

Enough already. This is from Paramoutn themselves proving that you may not be as smart as you think you are.

Of Blu-ray's greater storage capacity than HD DVD, the executive called it "a little bit overrated," saying that most titles don't require a capcity more than 30GB, and in cases where they do, Paramount would issue a second disc for bonus features.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 7:52 PM

You are right the DTS Master audio on the ps3 is superior, oh yeah I forgot the PS3 can't do that. So much for being equal. Desperation seems to be setting in for you.

Score: 0

By yountmj

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 12:21 AM

Owned! Thank you. :)

Too bad, since the vast majority of BD players out there reside in a PS3. Makes one wonder why in the world they even decided to include HDMI 1.3 in the first place, since it can't even pass Dolby TrueHD bitstream undecoded to a capable receiver.

Superior sound... whatever.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 9:28 AM

That is exactly my point but they fail to listen maybe they just don't understand.

They pick faults of other hardware yet ignore the many the blo-ray has.

Score: 0

By Hocuspokus

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 4:55 PM

aredo

Oh boo hoo hoo. Cry me a river.

The "rip off" is clearly Blu-ray; DRM-stuffed, unfinished spec, underspec'd players and all at a price that is much higher than HD DVD with a standard of image and sound quality that can only equal (but often trails) that of the less expensive HD DVD.
Even Viacom/Paramount (with a year's experience of both formats) saw the truth and acted in the consumer's interests.

Tough luck old son, Blu-ray is set to become the new UMD.

Suck it up and shove it where you keep the rest of your ridiculous idiotic anti-HD DVD half-truths and lies.

Score: 0

By aredo

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 3:31 PM

Hocuspokus: You and others here and elsewhere are the ones spreading lies against Blu-Ray, either for ignorance or because you are paid for doing that.
I'm stating basic facts that anyone with a basic knowledge of video coding and signals theory should know. 50GB Blu-Ray is needed to achieve proper high quality H.264 1080p encoding of movies. And VC-1 is derived from MPEG-4 ASP by Microsoft, it's just an hack that Microsoft then wanted to make it an international standard to have it put on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs but it is and always will be inferior to MPEG-4 AVC H.264.

Score: 0

By yountmj

edited Aug 23, 2007 - 3:17 AM

The point is, 50 GB shouldn't be necessary, and guess what... it isn't.

H.264... I'm halfway expecting that to become the codec of choice on Apple's HD offering in the format wars. I can see it now...

iDisc

Score: 0

By terminalx

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 6:20 PM

yet in side by side comparisons there is NO difference, so apparently they have these discs but are just using them for what? coasters? Maybe their discs are in use but the extra space is being used for all the new security measures and the new bd spec. In either case they haven't shown that BR is better then HD-DVD.

Score: 0

By Hocuspokus

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 4:45 PM

"You and others here and elsewhere are the ones spreading lies against Blu-Ray, either for ignorance or because you are paid for doing that."

- LMAO.
Just another absurd claim you cannot prove, that's quite a habit you've developed.

"I'm stating basic facts that anyone with a basic knowledge of video coding and signals theory should know."

- Given the rubbish you regularly 'treat' us to you obviously do not have even a basic grasp of the subject.

.....and knocking out a couple of encodes at home is no basis for pretending you know jack S about what happens in the industry or anything about the tools & capabilities the industry actually has
(which is, if you knew the slightest thing about it, as a Sony employee told me recently "light years ahead of anything currently publicly available").
Your (obviously) crude & laughably simplistic notions regarding compression and encoding are just just too funny.

"50GB Blu-Ray is needed to achieve proper high quality H.264 1080p encoding of movies."

- Busted. Even on your own terms.

Perhaps you'd care to explain how come the majority of Blu-ray releases to date are on single layer 25gb discs then, hmmmm?

Thought not.

Then whilst you're looking that up you can maybe explain how come the majority of all Blu-ray releases to date are on MPEG2?

" And VC-1 is derived from MPEG-4 ASP by Microsoft, it's just an hack that Microsoft then wanted to make it an international standard to have it put on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs but it is and always will be inferior to MPEG-4 AVC H.264."

- Howls of derisive laughter.

Pathetic.

An ludicrously infantile characterisation.

Go back to your google-ing you might actually learn a little more about the subject.

Score: 0

By aredo

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 6:39 PM

Hocuspokus: Your replies are just that of an ignorant. You don't know the subject but you are so arrogant and unable to have a normal conversation with someone that knows something better than you and so you try insulting and such. You are just looking childish.
And check your facts, new BD releases are almost all H.264 AVC 1080p, they used MPEG-2 at first simply because H.264 high-end hardware encoders were still in beta and were not that reliable other than being too expensive.
It would be smarter for you to just admit that you have no clue about how this stuff works,really.
BTW, I am a video coding developer and specialist, I know what I am talking about, it's you that needs to wander thru sites with google trying to find out info about things you clearly know nothing.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 7:57 PM

Funny how some new release still use MPEG-2. I have not seen an HD disk use that in a while. Keep trying though.

Score: 0

By Hocuspokus

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 7:11 PM

"Your replies are just that of an ignorant. You don't know the subject but you are so arrogant and unable to have a normal conversation with someone that knows something better than you and so you try insulting and such. You are just looking childish."

- Really?

Pppppfffffhhhh.

I just knew you'd try calling me out over what I'd said. OK. Here goes.

"And check your facts, new BD releases are almost all H.264 AVC 1080p"

- Try sticking to what was said, shill.

The majority of Blu-ray releases to date are 25gb single layer BD discs.

The majority of Blu-ray releases to date use MPEG2.

Total 25gb discs released so far: 177 25gb discs to 111 50gb discs

149 - MPEG-2
77 - AVC
65 - VC-1

http://www.blu-raystats.com/index.php

(seeing as how you shills love your links so much)

......note these figures are a little behind the times as the Viacom/Paramount/Dreamworks/MTV effect is not yet accounted for......you'll also note their claims about Blu-ray exclusives totally ignores the many (over 60) titles are available on HD DVD internationally - thanks to HD DVD being region-free everytime - leaving Blu-ray with approx only 110 truly exclusive titles.

"I am a video coding developer and specialist, I know what I am talking about, it's you that needs to wander thru sites with google trying to find out info about things you clearly know nothing."

- Yeah, sure you are.

Go cry me a river about the news.

BTW thanks for giving me the opportunity to give the facts Mr. 'Video Coding Developer' and 'Specialist' (hmmmm, doesn't that phrasing just sound so adult and convincing, not.
LMAO

Score: 0

By aredo

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 8:17 PM

Hocuspokus: How childish you are, really. As you said the studios released BD titles using MPEG-2 encoding at the beginning, so it's pretty obvious that there are more MPEG-2 encoded titles out there.
You should think twice before writing in that childish way of yours insulting people and you should try being a bit humble but that might be caused by your age, you really act and sound like a little kid.

Score: 0

By Hocuspokus

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 9:13 PM

LMAO.

You really are making a fool of yourself....and if that is your best attempt at shilling you're making a sad job of it.

When in a hole stop digging.

Score: 0

By terminalx

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 6:22 PM

for some reason everytime I see the name aredo, I think of the simpsons and Apu.

/not really revelant but thought I'd share.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 4:29 PM

- Howls of derisive laughter.

Hails. Hails of Derisive laughter.

Does no-one listen to the old Monty Python sketches any more?

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By Hocuspokus

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 5:30 PM

I know some of you Americans have trouble with non-US accents but it's 'Howls of derisive laughter' it really is, Bruce. :D

Not trying to be sh*tty with you PC_Tool & I know it's a bit sad to 'anorak' on some stuff but Python is an exception I'm happy to make.

See that show's script here -

http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode22.htm

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Aug 23, 2007 - 10:46 AM

Damn, schooled on Python.

The accent definitely threw me, and I've listened to that one within the last few days...

Score: 0

By billweh

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 12:12 PM

Translated - "Hmm - I apparently don't have as much pull as I thought and before they decide to dump me like last weeks dirty diaper, I better start to toe the line".

It's all about the Kwan.

Score: 0

By kashin

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 2:34 PM

It's funny because it's true. He's not as big of a celebrity as he thinks. He's a director. He gets paid to direct, not to go public with his opinions to try and sway a format war. Imagine if I told my boss I'm not writing any more progress reports because the company isn't printing them on the brand of paper I prefer. What do you think would happen?

Score: 0

By Galway

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 11:56 AM

Great ... I think I preferred it when he was not doing TF2, cant they pour Sonys happy juice down him till he just likes HD-DVD.

Score: 0

By Hocuspokus

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 11:21 AM

No surprses here then.

He's not the only one reassessing his views on HD DVD, just ask Viacom/Paramount.

When a neutral Co. goes exclusive (Paramount and Dreamworks) it can only be construed as "We tried both and we think, contrary to Sony's opinion, that the future is HD DVD."

Score: 0

By dlab21

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 12:02 PM

yea can only pre construed into that perfect little statement. HD-DVD is the current for paramount that came with a $150 million check nothing else

Score: 0

By Hocuspokus

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 1:41 PM

"HD-DVD is the current for paramount that came with a $150 million check nothing else "

- Prove it.

Just admit it, you can't.

You're just another one parroting out an absurd line in fantasy put out by the liars and fantasists desperately trying to spin anything they can for their beloved Blu-ray.

......and only a few seconds thought would tell anyone with half a clue just how inconsequential $150 million would be - not only to the major end of the movie industry but to a giant like Viacom/Paramount.

Wake up......and try reading what Paramount have had to actually say about this themselves instead of the whinings of the Blu-ray fanclub.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 3:16 PM

That much money to you and me would be huge but in reality one movie will make more than that so I agree its nothing. That is if it is even true.

Score: 0

By Hocuspokus

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 4:30 PM

"That much money to you and me would be huge but in reality one movie will make more than that so I agree its nothing."

- Yeah of course; in an industry where even the dross can take that in the opening week it's hardly going to be a big inducement to an industry giant like Viacom/Paramount.

" That is if it is even true."

Of course it's not true.

'Biased' Bill Hunt is the source (like he'd know.....and he later amended his blog to stop making the allegation - but too late, it's out there & I hope he gets sued for libel - now if ever there was the likelihood of lawyers advising someone to change their public tune that is it!).

Biased Bill came out with it (predictable as always) as part of his huff and puff spitting his dummy out that his beloved Blu-ray had taken such a big kick in the slats.

That's all......oh, and his indignation that his supposedly 'incredibly informed insider' status had actually turned out to mean zip and this was a big a surprise to him as anyone else.

Naturally 'biased Bill' is now looking a right fool for
(a) not knowing the biggest news in months and
(b) for repeatedly & strongly recommending Blu-ray cos HD DVD was according to him 'dead' or 'dying'.
Some 'death', huh?

.....oh and I guess you can add to that how he has shown himself to be a total hypocrite as he cries his eyes out about 'letting the customer decide' and wishing to start letter writing campaigns - as he stays (and has always stayed) silent about the Blu-ray exclusive studios.

He's just another dreary little Blu-ray shill that has said way too much & ended up busting himself.

Score: 0

By wookiewarrior

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 11:14 AM

HD DVD backers cut him a check now too?

Score: 0

By siryak

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 11:04 AM

Lol talk about blabbing your mouth before you know what you're talking about. Poor guy fell for $ony's brain washing campaign.

Score: 0

By SGD

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 11:37 AM

Like he stated he drank the kool-aid from his Sony supporter friends.

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By IceyKola

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 11:51 AM

bluray does sound like it could be a kool-aid flavor if you think about it.

Score: 0

By Program86

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 11:00 AM

lol@formatwarhilarity

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By Paul Skinner

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 10:57 AM

Can you smell the readies?

Score: 0

By TomeOne

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 10:57 AM

This is gold. Hilarity at its best.

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By boblinds

edited Aug 22, 2007 - 1:23 PM

Just proves that even a prominent Hollywood director can have several dinner drinks with friends, get all worked up, and post prematurely and irresponsibly on the Internet.

I suggest we blame Bay for Bad Boys II, but cut him some slack on this one. Anyone with half a brain knew his "no Transformers 2" statement was ridiculous.

Score: 0

By wreckedchevy

posted Aug 22, 2007 - 6:21 PM

i agree tottaly hilarious, i could completely give a *&$% over which format we end up with but i so love playing on my wii and reading these comments from ps3 owners trying desperately to justify the $700 the completly wasted, i think they should have spent it down at the local street corner it would have been more satisfying and they definately could use the stress relief

Score: 0

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