Warner's Blu-ray / HD DVD hybrid disc on indefinite hold

The story's in the search results with this one -- after continually delaying its Total HD hybrid Blu-ray / HD DVD discs, Warner president Ron Sanders told TWICE that the format is "on hold for now," because the company fears being the only publisher of such discs could "be hard to make it go." Furthermore, while the studio is still planning on putting out both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs, but its talking to both sides about exclusives and "it's kind of crazy right now." Indeed. Too bad all that craziness is terrible for the consumer, eh, Ron?

[Via Hi-Def Digest]

[Andrew Davidson @ Sep 15th 2007 2:24PM]

I have to admit, I would like Blu-Ray to win. The product sounds quite clever though.

[RyanTV @ Sep 15th 2007 4:31PM]

am I the only one that wishes they would just hurry up and choose a format? I refuse to buy new hardware when one side or the other wont be getting this or that movie.

It's complete bullshit and until they can sort it out, my money is staying in my pocket. I don't really care which one wins, they need to hurry up because my 1080p LCD is getting lonely.

[Rick wilson @ Sep 17th 2007 5:53PM]

RyanTV: woah woah woah... so you're telling me you bought a 1080p TV and you're not even thinking about buying a 1080p playback device at this time? Why the F would you even buy a TV then? What, you bought it for high def satellite or cable? See... spending at minimum $1K for 720p or 1080i cable is a complete waste! Most likely you spent more than 1K, but I digress.

You need to man up and realize that Universal is the only one who's been HD DVD since the start, everyone else has either been both or Blu-ray. Any other HD backers as of late is only for a temporary time as well, then they're back on the Blu-ray bandwagon.

You have wasted your money if you're NOT choosing a high def playback device.

[waiownsyou @ Sep 15th 2007 2:31PM]

Has anyone else noticed that the formats are using the red and blue colors and are in a war? Remind you of anything... say.. Blood and Crip gangs? I'm starting to think these HD discs are gangsta.

[Rob @ Sep 15th 2007 2:34PM]

Nice observation. Didn't think of that. I wonder if gangs are supporting the format represented by their colors. And, would you get cut if you show up with a format representing the opposite gang.

[Totalfixation @ Sep 15th 2007 2:43PM]

You can almost say the say thing for the republicans and democrats. Go red(semi burgundy)

[Matthew @ Sep 16th 2007 10:11PM]

i dunno but those colors clash like a mofo. thank god warner is doing away with this idea just for the hideous boxart alone.

[Rob @ Sep 15th 2007 2:32PM]

This is just another delay tactic. Next thing we'd hear before the end of the year "WB decides to drop development for their THD format and decides to support "fill in your format of choice here" only."

This makes absolutely no sense. Why? Because it forces you to pay double royalty. So, the cheapest this would probably go for is around $45-50. I'm estimating that they'd cut you break and give it to you for 1.5 the price of a new hd release. This is no future-proof technology. This is only a distraction and a method for the studios to sell you two copies of the same movie, at the same time. Nothing but "cha-ching" for their registers.

[Mehdi Cheddadi @ Sep 15th 2007 2:37PM]

Well I just bought an HD-DVD and the selection is quite small at the local videostore, even for bluray. I would really like that this format war end soon, it's only causing trouble for the consumer, and actually making the normal DVD sound like the best thing. Normal people want to have SELECTION and ease of use. they don't care about it being in a sony console or as an xbox attachment. they want ONE format, and HD. So just hurry up! I want to enjoy rental 1080p action arg!
And the most stupid thing is that the hd-dvd and bluray have the EXACT same specs except some size differences. This is just too much. SONY YOU SUCK for forcing your stupid formats! YOU SUCK for betamax, YOU SUCK for mini-discs, you SUCK for ATRAC and you SUCK for bluray!

[Rob @ Sep 15th 2007 2:48PM]

I was agreeing with you on your first paragraph. But, why are you taking your hatred out on Sony? There are many other companies supporting Blu-Ray. Just like there are many others supporting HD-DVD. You've clearly stated that you want HD-DVD to win. And that's ok because you already have the equipment for it. But, if you want to express your hatred towards this HD war, then go after Toshiba, Sony, MS, and the movie studios for prolonging this war.

But, Betamax was an excellent video format that has been used by video professionals for decades. I actually liked Mini-Discs because they were re-writables, long before cd's were. I didn't like ATRAC, but it was part of the Mini-Disc game. Blu-Ray is ok with me because I own the PS3. But, I'm not going crazy buying movies because I'd hate to get stuck with the wrong format.

Is there going to be one winner here? We don't know. We could as well go the route of the DVD+ and DVD- way. They've both survived their wars. So, chances are HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are here to stay until either a new format shows up or one of them gives up. We just don't know.

[Mehdi Cheddadi @ Sep 15th 2007 2:59PM]

I don't really care if hd-dvd wins or bluray, I just want there to be only ONE format with lots of selection. Money's not the problem, and if bluray wins then I'll just buy it. the problem is the lengths I have to go to acctually get a movie to watch. the format war is what's slowing massive 1080p movie adoption from every studio, and video rental stores

[Dave @ Sep 15th 2007 3:40PM]

It's like you went from being a perfectly normal person to being a 6 year old in less than one sentance. What the hell is wrong with you? I know you're just some guy on the internet, but you actually SEEMED smart enough to do a little checking into the origination of Blu-Ray before you started with the capslock nonsense.

And also, who is rating this guy's post up? What is with that?

[AndrewNeo @ Sep 15th 2007 3:49PM]

You forgot Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick Pro Duo, Memory Stick Micro, and Memory Stick PRO-HG.

[John Sinshack @ Sep 15th 2007 4:01PM]

You also forgot UMD Discs

[timothy @ Sep 15th 2007 6:59PM]

HEY HEY dont forget UMD lol

[Tonbo @ Sep 15th 2007 10:30PM]

You also forgot the CD and the DVD. Dammit SONY would you just stop innovating? This guy says you suck! Let's not forget to bad mouth the other companies behind the development of blu-ray Matsushita, Pioneer, Philips, Thomson, LG Electronics, Hitachi, Sharp, and Samsung.

[jpn @ Sep 15th 2007 2:38PM]

Is anyone else getting crazy pop-ups just on this site that seem to be broken?

[AKBlade13 @ Sep 15th 2007 2:45PM]

I have a question. Can't we all just adopt HD-VCD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VCDHD

Or better yet, can't everyone just join with Warner Bros and support Total HD?

AKBlade13

[why not the LS2LS7? @ Sep 15th 2007 2:48PM]

Thanks Warners.

This would have been a disaster. HD-DVD/DVD combo is already dropping out of the market, because it raises the price of the disc by $5. This was expected to raise the price of the disc even more.

On top of that, the BluRay side was to be single-layer only.

All in all, although this seems like a good idea, it would likely have failed in the marketplace. I'm glad to see it go.

[Austin @ Sep 15th 2007 3:03PM]

Go HD DVD!

Down with Blueray!

No other reason to post, just tired of Sony's crap products, no wait, Beta Max was swell!

[Paris @ Sep 15th 2007 3:03PM]

I think we should boycott all HD formats until they make up.
If the Italians were able to boycott pasta(even just for a day), then we should be able to do this right?

[LondonConsultant @ Sep 15th 2007 4:40PM]

I think most people actually are boycotting HD players and disks until the format war is decided....

[kitt2112 @ Sep 15th 2007 3:25PM]

@Mehdi Cheddadi

You know it really bugs me when ppl like you an admitted hddvd (fanboy) owner talks crap, "you SUCK SONY for forcing your formate on use", wake up man, if sony is forcing the formate on us then what is Toshiba doing? are they not doing the same thing?, the way i see Toshiba is the villain here, they screwed over sony with the cd, they payed off paramount $150 million to go on there side, even when ppl were finally taking the side of blu-ray, disc's sold 2-1 in favor of BD AND THATS THE CUSTOMER SPEAKING, no corporate head with there spin on it. even Blockbuster chose BD bc again in there survey the customer chose the side, i feel for you, i know you spent money on an HDDVD player and you want your format to win, but when i here crap like you suck bc your forcing something on me, well thats just dumn.

Here's a link to take a look at notice the sales of BD after NOV. thats when the ps3 came out, so dont tell me that ps3 owners dont buy movies and the ps3 is not a factor is this war like the HDdvd camp want us to believe!

http://www.dvdempire.com/Content/Features/hidef_wars.asp

[John Doe @ Sep 15th 2007 4:31PM]

Yah never mind that BR quality sucks ass. But hey. This war isn't about quality its about who can fuck over the consumer most. At this point it looks like BR is winning in that camp. It really does amaze me. Do any of you people bother to research the platform you are supporting?

[zargon @ Sep 15th 2007 5:14PM]

@kitt2112

You failed to mention that Toshiba took their format to the DVD Forum for approval as the HD format, which it was then approved by the DVD Forum. Sony then gathered up companies to form the BDA and disregarded the DVD Forum and pushed their format to the market. You mention the Paramount/Dreamworks buy out, but a bribe has not been proven. In fact, at CEDIA a announcement was made about the details behind the deal. The $150 million was in promotional commitments to help promote the movies and the HD-DVD format.

However, if we want to look at this fairly, what about all the payouts and whatever else that Sony and BDA has done? The studios exclusive to Blu-ray wouldn't talk about money exchanging hands at IFA with Disney saying "no comment", sounds fishy to me. Why would they avoid the subject if they had nothing to hide? On top of that, there is Target, Blockbuster and Walmart that BDA has paid.

When you consider all the details here, I don't see how you can call Toshiba the villain.

I don't foresee either format going any where soon. This holiday season should be interesting and what comes of it. Current rumors swirling around is that Warner is leaning towards going HD-DVD exclusive, which would be another huge blow, but I guess we will just have to wait and see.

[John Doe @ Sep 15th 2007 4:26PM]

There can only be one.

[Andrew @ Sep 15th 2007 4:56PM]

Unless one of your competitors is trapped in a sealed cave for hundreds of years, creating a loophole in the "there can be only one" rule.

[teej @ Sep 17th 2007 2:29PM]

but, there is only one Highlander...

[LondonConsultant @ Sep 15th 2007 4:40PM]

mitchell: An excellent comment and perspective. Do you happen to also have a similar stats breakdown, but for the number of unique titles (instead of gross)?

[DigitalForensicGradStudent @ Sep 15th 2007 4:49PM]

If anyone actually reads this I'll be surprised but (waits for insults and flames) HD-DVD truly is the better format.

I work in an electronics store and we were bored one night so we ran some tests. We ran the same movie in both HD and Blu-ray (simultaneously) hooked up to the same tvs (Samsung's 52" 65F) with the same players (LG's BH100) and same cables (Monsters level 400 HDMI).

We asked customers all night which they preferred. Every answer came back HD. Reason why you ask? The amount of (visual) noise in the Blu-ray was far greater than the noise on the HD-DVD.

The next day (I was not there) they did the same thing over again but instead of using the superdrive they used Toshiba A20 and Sammy's BDP1000. They claim they got the same results.

In case anyone forgot back in january-ish Bluray (looked) almost defeated... then they got Disney. It was their saving grace. Blu-ray has a better selection for sure and with blockbuster being exclusive to bluray, it's certainly a blow to HD-DVD. But picture wise HD-DVD is vastly superior, IMO.

[Dave @ Sep 15th 2007 7:34PM]

That has very little to do with the format and more to do with the amount of compression used on each given disc. I have copies of the same movie here on DVD - the Evil Dead series- that range from sub-VHS quality to THX certified. I could do the same test, showing a VHS copy and the first pressing of Evil Dead, and have people unanimously pick VHS over DVD. Does that mean VHS is the better format now? Remember, many of the first issued DVDs had pretty bad compression artifacts in them, and it took a few years before the quality of the majority of discs was improved. Hell, I still have an early Stargate disc that has to actually be flipped to play the second half of the film.


Blu-ray has about twice the capacity of HD-DVD (layer per layer), so it technically has a higher quality capability. Content doesn't have to be compressed as much to fit on the disc as HD-DVD.

Either way, I feel that both formats are already on the verge of obsolescence. They were picked, not for longevity or capacity, but for sheer greed. There were already formats available that had ten times the capacity of either of these formats, if not more (FMD, Holographic discs, etc.), that could hold more content than either of these formats, without any compression whatsoever. Five to ten years ago, a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD disc would have been a convenient form of removable media, making backups of the HDs at the time fairly convenient, more so than DVDs at the time, but now, when you can get a terabyte disc for about $300, less than the price of a BD or HD-DVD burner, even those formats don't provide a very convenient backup solution. HD content isn't the ONLY thing people will want these discs for. Eventually people will start wanting to use another, higher capacity format, and they'll start wanting to use it for movie watching as well, and I suspect we'll see another format appear, much like MP3 players appeared early on this decade.

He Who Is Holding Out For Something Better.

[Jimmy @ Sep 16th 2007 2:27AM]

Please tell me which movie it was you played?

[Rususeruru @ Sep 15th 2007 4:53PM]

I really hope HD-DVD can come out on top. I don't like the fact that Blu-Ray runs Java code, that's opening up a whole can of worms; however, a lot of people will buy whatever they are told to and when it comes to stores like Sears they'll push Sony no matter what because of commissions.

[DigitalForensicGradStudent @ Sep 15th 2007 5:11PM]

Funny you say that cause the store I work for is a Sears.

Try to keep in mind there are some good sales people and will sell a better product over the larger commission . Samsung LCD's (on average) pay only 2/3 what the sony's do but generally I'll sell the samsung.

[Rususeruru @ Sep 15th 2007 5:16PM]

@DigitalForensicGradStudent

I'm glad to know that company has some honest employees.

[Brian @ Sep 15th 2007 5:10PM]

Excellent news.

This was a bad product for the consumer from the outset.

This could end the format war sooner, I can already hear the death screams from HD DVD, as all the Blu-Ray supporting companies release more players, and stores stock more Blu-Ray movies.

[Austin @ Sep 15th 2007 5:58PM]

What I really can't wait for with Blue Ray.... New and improved RootKits!

Die Sony! Blue Ray too. I have at least some faith in Toshiba Customer concern, not concern of the customer!

[Yayie @ Sep 15th 2007 8:26PM]

blu ray definitely is the best choice...no matter what people complains about it..but think on the bright side.

the most powerful performance/visual we can get is in front of our eyes.

[tekdroid @ Sep 15th 2007 9:52PM]

As i've stated since first hearing about this flop, the idea was a dead duck from point Go.

Paying double royalties and major expense for every disc is not good for Joe Customer nor the manufacturers, nor for quality control. It's just a silly compromise.

Having TWO competing formats (and more non-optical challengers) IS good for the customer - except the early adopters who treat standard movie formats like life and death issues on their Needs scale and MUST BUY NOW.

[mitchell @ Sep 15th 2007 10:44PM]

Actually, this could be the deciding factor. If they choose one format over another, it could be the studio to break the back of either format.

Currently, the landscape of the top-grossing distributors between 1995 and 2007 would look like this:

Blu-ray ONLY - 48.62%
Both - 19.32%
HD-DVD ONLY - 24.72%

If Warners would go Blu-ray only, their "both" would shift the balance to something like:

Blu-ray ONLY - 61.94%
Both - 6%
HD-DVD ONLY - 24.72%

So... if you owned a HD-DVD, you would have access to ~30% of the top grossing distributers movies... and if you had a Blu-ray player, you would have access to around 70%.

If it want the other way... it would essentially balance the war.

[Ryhan @ Sep 16th 2007 1:43PM]

spammer

[Jake @ Sep 30th 2007 4:04PM]

Sony didn't invent CD or DVD. Sony tried to make a format War back before DVD was released but luckily nobody drank their Kool Aid. I hope History repeats itself and Sony Loses.