Thieves choose Blu-ray over HD DVD in mass disc heist
By Richard Lawler 
posted July 25th 2007 11:46AM
posted July 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]
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.