RSSWarner Delays HD DVD Disc Launch
By Ed Oswald | Published March 17, 2006, 11:45 AM
Bad news for soon-to-be owners of Toshiba's HD DVD players: there will be no high-definition movies to play on those units for at least three weeks. This is due to a delay by Warner Home Video, which was widely expected to provide the first discs.
Blaming the delay on technical issues, the studio said the first titles would not appear until April 18, rather than March 28 as previously announced. Also, its list of launch titles has been scaled back as well to three: "Million Dollar Baby," "The Phantom of the Opera" and "The Last Samurai."
Warner says that it needs the extra time to ensure that it ships a "flawless" product. Nearly everything that is being done to produce these discs -- the copy protection, codec and compression algorithms -- is new, Warner executives say.
However, the company has also cut back the rest of its initial HD DVD launch to 17 titles. This would mean only 20 movies would be available, instead of the 24 that were announced at CES earlier this year. Titles from this group would include "Batman Begins," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "The Matrix."
Still, beginning in May of this year, Warner Bros. says it will release all new movies in both DVD and HD DVD. Key catalog titles would come in July, with HD DVD releases of Warner TV shows due in the third quarter.
The company also plans to do the same when Blu-ray players come out, saying it has no interest in picking sides in the format war.
Warner also published research that suggests HD DVD may get off to a quick start, and next-generation DVDs may see a more successful launch than the original DVD format back in 1997. 600,000 players are expected to be sold -- some 450,000 HD DVD and 150,000 Blu-ray players. Only 305,000 DVD players sold in the first year, the company said.
Hardware is nothing without content. And with time and economies of scale both HD DVD and BD will be as cheap as regular standard DVDs. The selling point depends on what Hi Def DVD movies will come out for either one. Last I checked almost all of the studios are backing BD. Either technology will do just as good as the other in output of Hi Def material but I think more movies will be out for BD than HD DVD. At this point it's either one or the other; not at the same time.
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|Personally I'm looking forward to HD DVD, and I will choose HD DVD when it comes time to buy a new player, which will happen soon. While BD may have more storage capacity, unless I'm missing something, I don’t see any other advantages other than extra storage capacity, which most consumers won't care for, HD DVD has what is needed to support High Definition movies. I believe the typical consumer will chose HD DVD because it will be more affordable than BD.
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|On May 23rd, Sony will release 6 BD movies and Samsung will release it's $1,000 BD player.
I think there will be a lot of other BD movies coming out on May 23rd from other companies, because over 50% of movie companies only support BD and at least 79% support it.
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|While you're entitled to your opinion, when you look in terms of movie output, HD DVD and Blu-ray are pretty even. Blu-ray's claim of having more studios is true, yes, but most of these "exclusives" are low output studios, save Sony Pictures.
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|I don't think that many HD-DVD players will sell, but I think that over 400,000 BD players will be sold.
Here's what I think by the end of HD-DVD's first year:
125,000 HD-DVD players
400,000 BD players
6 Million PS3's
A lot of people have HD TV's and want something new, not an upgraded DVD.
A lot of people will also buy one because they know BD will win, mostly because of the PS3.
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|I think that completely backwards. Blu-Ray is way overpriced, there's no way it will win as a consumer format. As for the Playstation 3 it is a gaming console, people don't buy consoles to watch movies on. I'll be surprised if the PS3 is out before 2007 anyway. Your comment that a lot of people know BD will win is completely ridiculous, where are you getting that info? I doubt you went around the country asking people so it's just your opinion. At the moment I doubt most of the general population has even heard of Blu-Ray yet. The same goes for your numbers, where did you get the data to back this up? Pulling numbers out of your, um, well anyway it's meaningless.
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|Your assuming that the working class (mainly 30+ years old) will buy a PS3 to play blu-ray movies. I know this much is not true. Older people rather buy a stand alone unit, not a video game console... This said, the bottom line is that price will determine the winner in the HD player field.
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|I don't agree, I think it will be the complete opposite of what you've described.
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|Agreed. Blu-ray is going to have a tough first year. I'm highly skeptical of the claims that PS3 will somehow be the format's saving grace. Of the dozens of friends I know with consoles, maybe a handful at most have used them to play DVDs.
Add this to the fact that the target market for PS3s is in the majority a different market than those who are DVD buyers, you'll see my point.
HD DVD WILL sell more players because it will be the first format out, and for the most part, the average consumer isn't following this fight -- and its cost, half that of Blu-ray.
Being first out of the gate does help. We'll see.
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|Not really sure what to comment on, but from the numbers one cans see Warner already favors HD DVD over blu-ray. Doesn't mean much, but note worthy.
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|Those same numbers are why I believe that if Sony can meet their goal of 6million units availble ont eh PS3 for launch they will have their bases well covered.
Even at 5 times the first-month adoption rate of DVD players in 1997, they'd have more than enough to go around.
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|I havent seen anything stating that $ony has started production yet.
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|Micro$oft is not making very many Xbox 180's.
$ony will start making PS3's in a few months, because they are going to be out in November.
By the end of March, as the person above said, will have at least 6 Million PS3's, so BD will, by a year, outsell the "450,000" HD-DVD's by at least 5.45 Million.
Most people would rather buy a cheaper PS3 before buying a $1,000 BD player.
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|Oh, you mean like how the PS3 would be out in March?
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|Like i've stated before to PC_Tool, 6 million PS3 production is assuming that they have started production ALREADY. Your numbers are way off. Back up your statements with evidence...
http://www.betanews.com/...til_November/1142436906
Only 1 million MAX per month. Which I highly doubt, but we'll see. I'll give $ony the benifit of the doubt. I noticed you said March... but that is irelevant becuase most fanboys are thinking that $ony will have 6 million systems by November...
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|I wrote that story, so I will back up your comments here. It should be mentioned that the sources I've culled say nothing about the PS3 being anywhere close to production. Everything points to production beginning in the summer -- which means in all likelihood there will be less than a million units per market (Japan, US, Europe) for the November launch.
Those thinking the PS3 will be the gift of the holidays needs to look at reality. There will in all likelihood be no units to buy for much of the holiday. We're looking at Spring 2007 before you see any kind of steady availablity.
Contrast this with the Xbox 360, who will likely be ready to take on the Holiday with lots of inventory, and at a cheaper price. Sony really is taking a gamble with the patience of its customers, thats for sure.
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|What relevance is this? XBox 180 has no HD-DVD, and a lame add-on
Every PS3 will be Blu-Ray ready. Seems HD-DVD is dead in the water. Movie studios are jumping from the sinking HD-DVD ship all the time. (or at least supporting both formats).
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|The relevance is people talking about 6 million PS3's out in the market by years end, meaning 6 million BlueRay players. Aside from that being a pretty big assumption, they are also making that assumption that there will be 1 version of PS3 that will play BlueRay movies. I've yet to see any final info on pricing and capabilities.
Using Xbox 180 just makes you sound less credible, I don't know why you do that. Anyway - Who cares if it has no HD-DVD. It's a game console, isn't it? It plays games! I'll probably get the Toshiba HD-DVD player after some titles come out for it. Even if BlueRay wins eventuall, it will be good in the interim and it will be a lot easier to spend the $500 and have a useless piece of equipment later, rather then spend $1000 for the potential uselessness of it. Not to mention, by the time a winner is apparent, I could probably get a BR player for under $500.
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|There's no such thing as an xbox 180, stop making up stupid crap.
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|Putting an HD DVD add on for $200 isn't a bad idea.. its a really cheap way into next-generation DVD. I don't see a Blu-ray add-on for that price anytime soon.
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|"Like i've stated before to PC_Tool, 6 million PS3 production is assuming that they have started production ALREADY. "
Can you *do* basic Math?
That assumes they start in May and max out @ 1 mil a month.
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|"There will in all likelihood be no units to buy for much of the holiday."
Ya don't think they'll start production until August-Sept?
I can't honestly believe they'd go for a holiday release and start production that late.
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