Thieves choose Blu-ray over HD DVD in mass disc heist
By Richard Lawler 
posted Jul 25th 2007 11:46AM
posted Jul 25th 2007 11:46AM
The high definition format war took an unexpected twist Sunday morning, when a group of thieves broke into a video store. What they took -- every Blu-ray movie in stock -- isn't as interesting as what they left behind. The gang ignored the HD DVD selection entirely, apparently deciding that only the BDA's baby was worth a five finger discount. Blockbuster choosing Blu-ray for its nationwide rollout is one thing, but being ignored when the price of acquisition is the low low price of free is a reality check for any fledgling standard. We suppose such early morning escapades are one way to build your library after getting the now lower-priced PS3, but it's not recommended. No word yet on if HD DVD fans are planning a coordinated group theft to reestablish the popularity of their chosen format.[Via DVD Dossier, thanks everyone who sent this in]
Wow, I guess Blu-Ray has truly won then. They have the most industry support, most consumer support, and even more criminal "support" lol. Universal really should go neutral and end this stupid format war now.
Love the monty python picture.
They use that recycled picture every single time there is Blu-ray news.
Sony absolutely needs to use this in their advertisements:
"Blu-Ray! The Hoodlum's Choice!"
The war is decided then?
More than anything, this is hilarious. The real question is, Did they have enough money to buy the Bluray Player? Or was that an earlier heist we missed hearing about? Even if they got it for free, they are still choosing Bluray.
And its giving some attention the the format either way! To think had they just bought the LG combo player they could have had 5 movies for free without the need of a heist.
Well of COURSE you have to steal Blu-Ray players and discs! Unless you LIKE second mortgages...Where as most everyone can afford a $199 HD DVD player. And with HD DVD movies selling for $5-$10 LESS than Blu-Ray, why would you need to steal those? They're more affordable as well.
"And with HD DVD movies selling for $5-$10 LESS than Blu-Ray, why would you need to steal those? They're more affordable as well."
what crack are you smoking? I thought the HD-DVD combo discs make HD-DVD's MORE expensive.
There is no $199 HD DVD player.
Just that 360 one.
So I have to buy a $300 XBOX 360 to get a $199 HDDVD player?
WOW! you're right! Right now Circuit City has the HDA2 for $238.88
MY BAD, I was $39 off. I fail at the internets.
And yes, the COMBO HD DVD/DVD-9 Discs are more than the Blu-Rays discs. However, I wasn't speaking of those as there was nothing in my post about a combo, ya slouch.
At Target.com the prices for HD-DVDs hover around the $22 mark with some selling for $16. The Blu-Rays average around $27 with the lowest being $19.
So, WOW, looks like your arguments are squashed.
Good day.
So do these count towards the software sold in the statistics?
Haha, I think it damn well should. I mean, they obviously have them now, so what's the difference?
Umm... doesn't that mean that the store and the studios lost money on those movies? What exactly are you people cheering about? Plus, the guys probably sold the stuff on ebay for epic profit and zero loss.
Of course, it was bad, but is sure as hell is funny.
probably the same people that stole launch PS3s...
You'd have to be a moron not to take BDs for that PS3 you shot someone for.
The police have narrowed there search to local PS3 owners, a surprisingly small list of suspects.
I lol'd.
lolz
SCORE!
No, but be sure to see them tallied up as "1 billion dollar in prospective sales lost" by the RIAA tomorrow. Pillagers be pirates too!
Even denon seesm to be on the blu ray bandwagon now. hopefully the end is near for HD DVD.
you hear that Universal? you can write up any unsold stolen stuff as a tax write off or some kind of insurance expense.
All I gotta say is it'll be a very sad day to see Blu-ray win the format war over HD-DVD. Tell me one good reason why it should other than storage capacity.
What do you mean "other than storage capacity"?
The whole point of these new formats is increasing the storage capacity of optical discs. Duh
Why dont you tell me one reason whatsoever why HDDVD should win?
exactly.
BR ftw.
So, let say "storage capacity" is the only benefit of blueRay over hdDvd, now, what benefit does hdDVD have over blueRay??
I'm pretty sure that lower liscensing fees(Sony takes a nice chunk), thus an over-all eventual lower cost is one benefit.
plus there are no combo Blu-ray/SD DVD, so if you want to watch that movie on one of your 12 DVD players as opposed to your ONE blu-ray player, your SOL.
Sure, the list isn't long, but both formats have their advantages
Not to meantion, this isn't the first time anyones heard of theives doing illogical or plain out-and-out stupid things.
What else do you want? More storage capacity means potentially higher bitrate movies in the future. It also means higher frame-rate movies, since more frames per second means more space required to store it.
Capacity is key, as well as cost. The type of data you store in it is quite irrelevant when just looking at the optical media. The camps differentiate themselves by using different codecs to compress their movies, a different encryption system, as well as different standards for extra features.
Its easily possible to take the data from an HD-DVD and put it on a blu-ray. Now is it viewable in a blu-ray player, no. But put that in a PC and there you go, you can watch it.
Blu-ray was the first with burners available, which is big for alot of early adopters (especially piraters). Blu-ray still has the cheapest burners available, if not the only one's that a consumer can buy (without getting a laptop). That really indicates to the user that it is pretty far ahead of the competition. Not to mention, all blu-ray players have the capability of outputting at 1080p (regardless of the fact that very few people have 1080p sets).
Its a good format. The only reason people hate it is because they hate sony. No other reason other than that. The price is making its way down, and they are pretty much on par with HD-DVD if you match 1080p outputting devices.
HD-DVD has DVI technology which allows you full interaction with the Movie and the elements that appear in the movie. It also allows you to interact with the internet on the spot (if your player is hooked up to the internet oh like with say Windows Media Home Server or an Xbox 360) then you can buy things you see in the movie. Talk about motivation for Studio's, production houses, consumers, and consumer goods manf co's. Product placement at a whole new level from a buisness standpoint, let alone consumer standpoint. Ah but a marketplace to transact is the problem you say...oh wait there are also 8 million users already signed up to a monitized system to allow such purchases (Xbox Live). These are all things Blu-Ray can not do.
"plus there are no combo Blu-ray/SD DVD, so if you want to watch that movie on one of your 12 DVD players as opposed to your ONE blu-ray player, your SOL."
Is this the same as the VHS/DVD combo that insured DVD's success?
Maybe it's because teh bD is more fully hax0rd, allowing the pir@tes to copy and s3ll exponential profits FTW!
Blu-Ray has BD+ now, which has yet to be cracked. Don't worry, it will be hacked soon. But to say that Blu-Ray's several layers of DRM is "more fully hax0rd" than HD-DVD's pure AACS is just ignorant.
*What advantages does HD DVD have over Blu-ray*
Over half of the Blu-ray releases use 1990's video compression technology (MPEG2), which is the whole reason they need the increased disc space and bandwidth. HD DVD almost exclusively uses MPEG4 and VC1, more efficient, better looking codecs that require less disc space and less bandwidth. How's that?
Saying Blu-ray's increased disc space means better picture is like saying a fat chick's 44DDs mean she's hot! (No offense to chubby chasers)
Yes, but all new BRDs are in VC-1 and they even reissued Fifth Element in VC-1, allowing owners of the previous version to exchange them for $5 I believe, maybe for free.
The best high def I have ever seen is a 38Mbps (bitrate) Samsung demo called "beauty of nature", in Mpeg 2, still blows away any AVC or VC-1 I have seen yet.
the advantages HD dvd has over bluray is - its still available at the local Blockbuster? anyone considered this is a variation on the classic denial of service attack?
i also think the 300 buck 360 to use a HD dvd player is a bit unfair... you post on the internet, does that mean you have a pc? you can drop that 300 investment and just use the pc to use the drive if you are so inclined. the math might work that way for the non tech savvy crowd but 200 bucks for an HDDVD drive i can use on my pc is DEFINITELY competitive with standalone players in Aus... let alone the PS3 (a 1K AUD investment).
Cheers
**Yes, but all new BRDs are in VC-1...**
This simply isn't true. More than 40% of this year's Blu-ray titles are MPEG2. Almost none use VC-1, including the Fifth Element, which uses MPEG4 (AVC). Get your facts right, man, it's embarrassing to watch you Blu-ray guys regurgitating the same old lines of false information.
Maybe not a standalone one for $199 in stores, but I got my HD-DVD player with 10 movies for $299 during an Amazon sale, making it just as good of a deal, if not better.
HD-DVD has DVI which allows you full interaction with the Movie and the elements that appear in the movie. It also allows you to interact with the internet on the spot (i.e. to buy something you see in the movie) as well. There are also 8 million users already signed up to a monitized system to allow such purchases (Xbox Live). These are all things Blu-Ray can not do.
lol
They just stole the more expensive format.
This whole "BRD vs HDDVD" is funny as hell. Right now, in Sweden, there's a 75 year old women (for some reason) test driving the world's fastest internet connection. She can download a full length hi-def movie in 2 seconds. The only thing this "format war" is going to decide is which one gets to reign supreme over the end of tactile media. In 6 years, it won't matter.
I don't understand what numbers they go by. Last weekend Fry's electronic store ran and add that said when you buy a PS3 you get five free Blue-Ray movies. Are these counted in the battle for our money?
If Sony counted the free Taledega Nights from the PS3 coupon as sales then I am sure Sony is counting the 5 free disc as well.
I am also sure that the HD DVD group is counting the 5 free ones they are giving away with their players as well...
Ironic that a good chunk of the HD DVD/Blu-Ray disc 'sales' could be discs that are given away; maybe this is how they stimulate consumerism: 'buy this because everyone else is!'- but then not a lot of people are not actually 'buying' either...
I think the general populance are actually winning as many of the good 'old format' DVDs often o on sale for $5 - $7 at Best Buy/Circuit City; these still look awesome to me on a $80 upsampling DVD. (I have almost doubled my standard DVD collection since the 'war' started!)
I think a lot of people aren't taking into account how dumb thieves are in general.
They probably confused HD-DVDs with regular DVDs and thus left them behind.
BlueRay has a lot more native capacity. As for codecs...that's the choice of the studio. MPEG4 is supported in Blueray.
And HD-DVD isn't cross platform as Blueray BTW.
What do you mean, not cross-platform?
What platform? They make both kinds of STBs so that's cross. There's both kinds of computer burners, I think, but you know what? I don't care about using these things on a PC or Mac. The files I need to backup are too big for either disk format.
How is a BD or HDDVD going to help me backup a 300GB drive? Or a 500GB? By selling me six or ten or 15 burn-once blank disks?
Geez, I can by a whole new hard drive for that same money (300GB regularly on sale for $50; 500 for $80) and make a 1-1 backup and skip all that time burning stuff to disk. And what comes out the other end is a living bootable hard drive, not a big pile of disks that require expensive readers which nobody has.
These disk formats are too small, too slow, and too expensive to be of any use to me. Give me a stack of inexpensive, replaceable, 5yr-warranted 500GB drives.
So when is the HD-DVD camp going to announce that twice as many HD-DVD's were stolen when you subtract out robbers that own a PS3?
FYI, I saw an HD-DVD drive used at Gamestop for 130. So if you have a 360 there is no excuse!
Also with a decent computer you can pick this up and get going (of course you have to buy the player software and AnyDVD).
The ignorance that remains is astounding.
First off, Sony is a member of the BDA. Just because they chose a format, doesnt' mean they're "pushing it." If anything, HD is only backed by Toshiba. Universal was the only studio to sign an exclusive with Toshiba, and it's been rumored for months that they're trying to back out of the exclusive. Sony chose BluRay for the PS3, and for the output of the studios they own (for the record they own 2 studios plus own back catalogs of some closed studios, like Orion.) They get no more royalites than any other member of the consortium collects or pays. Most anti-BluRay backers have erroneously picked on it just because it's "cool" to be anti-Sony.
Secondly, only the first gen of BD discs used MPEG-2. Newer discs use VC-1. BluRay has tougher encryption for piracy, as well has increased capacity. And as technology increases, the gap is widening. BD discs have been demo'd with 100GB of storage.
BD was hampered in the beginning by a shortage of lenses. As more parts come on the market, and more players come on the market, the price difference has decreased radically. Plus, the number of PURCHASED discs is steering the war's end towards BluRay. Last I heard, it was a 6:1 edge. I know I personally own 10 discs, as sales ahve started to become more common. One of my buddies was telling me that he picked up the Panasonic BD player, because of the 5 free discs in the box and the 5 free by mail. BluRay is gaining more traction. HD fanboys can whine about it all they want, but I see more sale ads in Best Buy and Circuit City for BluRay than I do for HD.
"BluRay has tougher encryption for piracy"
You mean "BluRay has more features to prevent fair use".
POINT: By stealing blu-ray discs, they are causing the blu-ray discs to become losses, while the HD-DVD discs are still profitable. Logically, this is BETTER for the HD-DVD fanboys. Personally, I'd rather DVD anyway until the prices of both hi-def discs and players go down.
It's called insurance (most if not all stores/chains have some form of theft insurance). The store and the studios do not lose money.
Secondly, all BD titles produced nowadays are using VC-1 or AVC. The MPEG2 argument has long since ceased to be relevant.
Denon's new player is huge news as well.
Why BD should win?
Because, once better and cheaper BD burners are available, then I can easily back up all my crap in about two or three discs instead of having to use a dozen DVDs.
More optical storage = less disc for me to use when backing my files up.
Anyone who owns a HD DVD player should switch to blu-ray and end this format war. It's clearly the better format and has more support. Why are they being so stubborn?
Better movies.
....riiiight...
Blu-Ray is better for 2 reasons only:-
Star Wars exclusive to BR
Die Hard 4.0 Exclusive to BR.
nuf said
...not to mention Pirates of the Caribbean is exclusive to blu-ray and has Disney support. Blu-ray is the better choice in my opinion. People supporting HD DVD are just stubborn.
wasn't all that DRM supposed to prevent people from, ehm, "stealing"? seems it didn't work
wasn't all that DRM supposed to prevent people from, ehm, "stealing"? seems it didn't work
New slogan for HD-DVD: "Criminals prefer Blu-ray!" ;-)
Also, isn't it possible that they chose the Blu-ray discs not because they're "better", but because...
-They were closer to the entrance?
-They're more expensive?
-They mistook HD-DVD for DVD?
-They wanted to help HD-DVD win by causing losses for Blu-ray?
-They wanted to help Blu-ray win by making it look more popular?
-They wanted to show that DRM doesn't prevent theft, and Blu-ray has more of it?
-They have a PS3?
-Insurance scam?
Quite a few reasons there.
lol- they probably grabbed the Blu-Ray discs as they were easier to spot in the blue cases; the HD DVD ones are harder to differentiate from standard ($5) DVD boxes...
which format does paramount pictures prefer because I want to see Transformers in hi-def when it comes out.
I think Paramount releases both Blu-Ray and HD DVD format- but their primary allegiance is (now) to the Blu-Ray lords...
This is akin to reporting that a PS3 theft indicates the system's success over other platforms. This is true, in a situation where a high price tag is indicative of such success. The reality is, thieves steal for -money-, not based on whichever product will serve their needs best as a consumer.
I guess there's no chance the thieves ran out of room in the van and stopped after getting the BR discs, huh?
"Grant @ Jul 25th 2007 1:53PM
I'm pretty sure that lower liscensing fees(Sony takes a nice chunk), thus an over-all eventual lower cost is one benefit.
plus there are no combo Blu-ray/SD DVD, so if you want to watch that movie on one of your 12 DVD players as opposed to your ONE blu-ray player, your SOL.
Sure, the list isn't long, but both formats have their advantages
Not to meantion, this isn't the first time anyones heard of theives doing illogical or plain out-and-out stupid things."
wow, please do some research before you make such radical claims, all BD playeres are backwards compatible with SD DVD's ALLL OFFF THEMMMM, its not news, its always been like that, they upscale to 1080p.
Bluray users have more movies to choose from , and more exclusives, more blockbuster hit exclusives ect.
CAPACITY IS VERY IMPORTANT< hddvd has a "theoretical" limit of 45GB on a triple layer disc, not yet achieved, sony has achieved 200GB on 8 layer discs, MIT RnD group has also discovered a new method of encoding BD's with up to 500-1tb of data, THATS IMMENSE, new types of displays may provide the option for even more fantastic picture quality which the BD has the capacity to support, Imagine also, entire collections of starwars in 1080p on one disc, the end of boxsets. whole tv series on single discs ect. Imagine the videorealistic videogames packed with textures and huge levels, now possible with Bluray and Ps3, Imagine HD HOLOGRAPHIC BluRay,
computer industry is supporting bluray
movie industry is supporting bluray
gaming industry is supporting bluray
consumer electronic manufactures are supporting bluray
rental industry is supporting blurray
porn industry is supporting bluray.
last one is the nail in the coffin
He means combo disks, like HD-DVD have, with HD-DVD's being played in DVD players. The convenience of that is clear, though. However, the advantages are clear for blu-ray.
Like i said before, people hate blu-ray because its a sony product. You may claim that its because of its features and price, but you would be wrong. DVD players took longer to reach the lows of blu-ray in terms of price (HD-DVD has done even better in that regard, buts thats because they have no other choice. They are geting their ass kicked in. Im sure if they were the only player in the market, you would see blu-ray player like prices for HD-DVD players).
All the old arguments against Blu-Ray are done and gone. They use VC-1 which is an excellent encoding technology now. They have come down in price substantially. Getting a PS3 just to use as a blu-ray player is an excellent deal. They have substantial studio support.
I would have to disagree with the computer support, because Microsoft is still backing HD-DVD for the time being, but they can easily switch sides, and just might since HD-DVD has taken so long to get PC burners made, and that will be the deciding factor for people to adopt it as a new PC storage media.
Forget that Sony is a big player in the BDA and look at it as just a format. Its an excellent format and one i hope wins.
Are you a complete idiot? The Porn industry is backing HD DVD! There are several major studios (Universal, Paramount, Warner) releasing on HD DVD. Toshiba is introducing many new laptops with built in HD DVD drives. MICROSOFT - remember them? The XBox guys? They support HD DVD.
I haven't seen such foolishness in a long time!
*The porn argument is obsolete now since its free and widely available on the net these days (it was hard to get hold of in the VHS/Beta days).
*The HD-DVD is not out of the box in the 360, its an add-on.
*BR now supports VC-1, Microsoft's video codec. Microsoft no longer needs HD-DVD anymore!
*Target has now chosen BR.
*HD-DVD is dead in the water.
*Your a fool.
www.blu-raystats.com
Read it and weep, gentlemen and ladies. The MPEG2 argument is alive and well.
Also, notice that over 60% of Blu-ray titles are on BD25 discs, while 82% of HD DVD titles are on HD30 discs...meaning the supposed "capacity" advantage isn't being utilized with BD at all...they're using wasteful old school compression on discs with less capacity than HD DVD! What happened to the supposed "superior" format???
Ok...
I have both a PS3 and a HD-DVD player (ps3 and 360).
Which do I like best? HD-DVD
Why? The interaction with the movies. I LOVE the fact that when I hit the menu button, the menu comes up and the move STILL plays. I can pause it and pull the menu up right there. And you can not do that with the BRD's. Just look at what they did with Blood Diamonds and the upcoming release of 300, which are BOTH available on BRD and HD.
You obviously dont own a ps3, becuase if you did you would prefer PS3's sound quality over HD-DVD, that is if you have a decent HDTV. PS3 hooked up to a 1.3 hdmi tv is a real treat - I have since sold my HD-DVD player on ebay.
This is an absolute lie. The first Blu-ray disc I purchased (Dec 2006) had the popup menu feature, playing perfectly on the PS3. Fiction can be fun. Here's are some facts. When you compare equivalent Blu-ray and HDDVD market shares of the top box office winners for the past 3 years, as well as the top 100 movies of all time, HDDVD exclusive titles aren't even in the same ballpark as the Bluray exclusive titles:
http://blog.pixelperfectproductions.com/?p=54
OMG LOL!!!!!
Fuckin pathetic loser xbox hd-dvd supporters...IT'S OZVER JOHNNY, IT's OVER!!!!
BLURAY WINS!!!!!
ROFLcopterzzz00rrrrzzzersauce FTW!!!!11!!
I is haxxz000OOOORRRzzz.
Take us to English class!
Blu-Ray is better because it has a better name. HD-DVD is just another stupid acronym. I don't even care about which one actually *works* better.