New Line confirms it'll follow in Warner's Blu footsteps

As if anyone expected anything different, New Line confirmed with Variety Magazine that it'll follow Warner to the Blu-ray promise land. While this is a no brainer considering the relationship between Warner and New Line, (also owned by Time Warner, just like Engadget) other studios remain up in the air. When, and if, Universal makes the switch as well is any ones guess, but at this point we doubt many would expect otherwise. But, as we've learned in the last few days, anything's possible, but the idea of having one HD format to adopt is something even most members of the red camp can get behind.

[bob @ Jan 5th 2008 4:57PM]

im in the download camp, down with optical media.

[Michael LaFramboise @ Jan 5th 2008 5:15PM]

I think it'd be more wise to join the faster-connection-speeds camp first...

with current pathetic speeds on an average connection (2-4mbps) it would take days to even download a 720p movie... and weeks to download anything higher then that...

100MB connection both ways ftw!

[Eh @ Jan 5th 2008 5:18PM]

My 1.5mbit connection isnt as ready as you are for HD downloads.

[Chris McDowell @ Jan 5th 2008 5:25PM]

I have Comcast and dont pay for anything special but I get about 14mbps down and 2mbps up. I think the speeds are there and you can definitely download HD movies in hours if the other party has the upload. You can already rent HD(although a bit more compressed) movies from Xbox Live. I think something they will really need to make sure they do is have no DRM because people want to be able to use those HD videos on more than just their one computer or player in their house. People should be able to buy the license and watch the movie where they please and not have to worry about backing up their copy because they did purchase it and should be able to download it again if lost. It wont really increase piracy if you have no DRM because even with DRM there isn't a movie or tv show you cannot get yet most people are still purchasing the content legitimately.

[Ed @ Jan 5th 2008 5:29PM]

I can also vouch for comcast. Here in oak ridge, we get unusually high speeds (for cable) of 13-20 mpbs down and 2-5 mbps up.

[Galley @ Jan 5th 2008 5:37PM]

Yeah, good luck with downloading 50GB of 1080p goodness.

[Jon Doe @ Jan 5th 2008 6:18PM]

Hey Chris. I would like to introduce you to a concept...the rest of the world meet Chris. Chris meet the rest of the world that DOESN'T have the same pipe that YOU have.
I'm so sick of coming onto forums where someone says well I have this....or my original 360 hasn't died so they all must be fine. No let me clue you in to a fact: much of America doesn't have a pipe fat enough to handle speedy downloads of HD content and event if it did lets say you and 12 other people in your neighborhood were all downloading a 1.5GB file all at the same time eating up 100% of your possible bandwidth...do you have any concept as to what your connective connection speed would degrade to? We are NOT talking 4MB iTunes tracks here. The US could bring Comcast, QWEST, et all to its knees if we all started download large amounts of content.
And then there is the question as to where I'm expected to play this content. Burn it? Yah as if the MPAA would ever really allow that. Transfer it to a mythical box connected to my 46" TV that doesn't exist? Or better yet watch it on my 20" computer monitor.....in my den...

Seriously people need to get a damn clue....HD downloads on a scale that iTunes is doing are probably at minimum 5 years away....at minimum.

[bry @ Jan 5th 2008 6:29PM]

agree, no optical restraints for me. I have plenty of BW and get a full 1080p movie in 40mins to an hr.

just stock up on additional hdd, those prices continue to drop :D

[bob @ Jan 5th 2008 6:29PM]

what about the people downloading hd video on a daily basis already? it doesnt have to be as fast as standard def. a hi-def film can be distributed at under 3gb, a bit more compression than on a disk but people put up with a lot more compression on mp3's for convenience.

[Chris T @ Jan 6th 2008 6:44PM]

If you're lucky enough to live on a campus with a Direct Connect hub, downloading HD movies only takes around 20 minutes...assuming someone else on the hub BTed it already. Luckily for me, one guy on the hub has a whole ton of HD movies. 720p movies are about 8 GB. Very few rips are 1080p anyway.

[Jakob @ Jan 5th 2008 4:55PM]

Ahh so Engadget is going Blu, too?

[Cash @ Jan 5th 2008 5:41PM]

Apparently.

I'm just curious... what companies release major info on the weekends? As of yesterday, new line was still doing HD DVD, so why flop on a Saturday when the markets are closed?

This whole thing stinks if you ask me. Friend of mine just bought all the seasons of Smallville, Heroes, and BSG on HD DVD a month ago. The fact that they were on HD DVD was mainly the driving force behind his decision to go with HD DVD. Now less then a month later, it's looking like he just threw a thousand bucks into the toilet. And companies wonder why the adoption rate for either hidef format is so low compared to DVD. Bastards.

[Jon Doe @ Jan 5th 2008 6:01PM]

Ummm cash. If your friend didn't realize that there is a 50/50 chance of either format failing and his content becoming useless he's another in a long line of morons. Its called early adopter for a reason. Love or hate BR this is actually good news....kinda...I hate BR as a format but this should speed up the war a bit. An exec at WB stated they did this to try and bring this war to a close. You can NOT deny that doing this is a good thing. Just because your friend, you, and I may be bitter they HD DVD probably won't win and the media in the long run will fall by the wayside doesn't make this a valid choice for WB.

[Cash @ Jan 5th 2008 7:16PM]

@Jon

Limiting the consumer's options is a "good thing?" What kind of bizzare upside down world do you call home? As I said, he went HDDVD because at that time the stuff he wanted was available *only* on that format. Silly him, he though that was an indication of HDDVD being a solid choice. I don't think any of us who purchased an HDDVD product were worried about our format of choice facing the chopping block not because it wasn't the better format, but rather a couple key studios chose to sell out and hose us. Myself, I'm not as badly burned by all of this as some others, as my player was one of the 99 dollar HD-A2's Walmart offered up last November, and the only HDDVD's I own were the ones I reveived free with purchase. As it stands, even if the format goes the way of beta, it's still a beautiful upscaling dvd player for under a hundred bucks.

And yes, I know what it means to be an early adopter. My second gen Mitsubisi HDTV has 3 lovely sets of component inputs, and not a single HDMI port. Nothing like being one of the dupes that bought into the hype and helped get the format off the ground, only to be shot in the proverbial kneecaps and left in the dust.

[James Cameron @ Jan 5th 2008 7:37PM]

Lord of the Rings. Here we come!

[Keith McDuffee @ Jan 5th 2008 11:58PM]

@Cash -- Look at the 'Read' link. This news about New Line came out Friday.

[greatslack @ Jan 6th 2008 12:43PM]

@Cash

How did your friend throw 1000 bucks in the toilet? Are his discs going to melt away without the love of their parent studio?

[Ben @ Jan 8th 2008 3:27PM]

"Silly him, he though that was an indication of HDDVD being a solid choice."

Couldn't have put it better myself.

[E71 @ Jan 12th 2008 10:20AM]

@Jon Doe

50/50 chance? or... 50gb/200gb chance?

we have a winner!

[Bigsby @ Jan 5th 2008 4:57PM]

So what does this really mean for both camps right now? I know that it deals quite a blow to HD-DVD, but is it enough to give a serious bias for one camp or the other? I really don't care too much who wins, but I'd rather it be over soon, and if this gives a serious advantage to Blu-ray, then hopefully the format war will be over in the near future (at least for a few years until they bring out those fancy holographic disks).

[Jeff @ Jan 5th 2008 5:26PM]

Blu-Ray was already way out in front of HD-DVD. There's a reason Variety said this might be a "death blow" for HD-DVD. HD-DVD was struggling at best already, and it had a terrible Christmas in relation to Blu-Ray. This is probably too much for them to overcome.

[Jon Doe @ Jan 5th 2008 6:07PM]

Umm Jeff that is a load of shit. HD DVD players were flying off the damn shelves at those $199 price points. I spoke with several reps at Best Buy, Circuit City, and Target. the drives were going out as fast as they got them in. BR on the other hand was selling but hardly as the same pace and at no point was I not able to find a BR player in stock. PS3's are another matter. However I doubt that the average PS3 player is buying the device (That is double the price of the cheapest HD DVD player.) for movies.
I am however a bit amazed that WB didn't wait until holiday results were in before making this decision. Little bit odd.

[hemmy @ Jan 5th 2008 6:08PM]

Blu-ray just locked up %75 of Hollywood, exclusively. You've have to be insane to think HDDVD is gonna survive on Universal and Paramount alone at this point.

But nevermind that, this is devastation in terms of consumer perception. There are tons of people at this moment returning or planning to return their HDDVD Christmas gifts, players and movies alike, and many are hitting ebay as we speak. There's no coming back from the consumer dumping happening this month, and let's not get started with the retailers, the rumblings aren't pretty.

But What do I know?! Maybe TruthTeller or Nfinity, in the vein of the Iraqi Information Minister they so adeptly imitate, will tell us different, like they always do :)

[devonuto @ Jan 5th 2008 6:44PM]

WB going to BD gives them 75% of the HD market share (studios), and basically spells the end for HD-DVD.

[3rdsun @ Jan 5th 2008 6:28PM]

Wait and see what format the porn industry uses. All the HD DVD camp has to do is pull in the porn studios and they can hold their head high. The war is far from over.

[hemmy @ Jan 5th 2008 6:34PM]

Porn? Pirates sold extremely well on Blu-ray it seems.

What is shocking is people are still paying for pr0n.

[Dani @ Jan 5th 2008 5:00PM]

I've always rooted for the HD-DVD camp, if for no other reason than it's been fun to see Sony on the back foot for a while. That said, I own a PS3 and 360/HDDVD and have a decent collection of movies for both.

I can't help but feel that regardless of who "wins" this war, both sides will ultimately be losers as it's surely only a matter of time until streaming or purchased downloads are a reality for the typical consumer.

If anyone had asked me a couple of years back if I would ever stop buying CD's and would download music online instead I would have laughed. Yet here I am with my entire CD collection in a cupboard, and all the content on a disk drive not having purchased any new titles on CD for nearly two years (I still buy vinyl, but only for really special albums).

My only concern is that downloaded content will be "just the basics", highly compressed streams, no frills and extras etc, and ofc, no physical disk and package to hold (and lets not even start on DRM possibilities, let's all pray the powers that be kill it dead).

Time will tell...

[Charles @ Jan 5th 2008 5:31PM]

Dani, I agree totally with your last paragraph. Downloaded music is fine ( I too have hundreds of CDs gathering dust) but I would really miss the extras that you get on physical DVD's. Much of the "special" features are mere filler, but there is often very interesting material as well. But then I'm an old timer who still misses my LP's with the cover art, liner notes, and other promo goodies that the big releases used to include. No, I wouldn't want to go back to LP's and audio and video tapes only, things ARE far better now, but I suppose time, and technology, has no sense of nostalgia...

[dave @ Jan 5th 2008 7:45PM]

me too on the last paragraph. i dont like streaming media because a) it totally doesnt work and you always have to pause it (at least on my 2.2mbit connection) and wait for it to buffer and b) because there is no physical copy for you to keep and enjoy whenever you want, even if the 'net is down.
if all the tv and film studios could release their content as 1080p xvids with no drm and under 3gig each i would pay the same as a dvd or maybe even more.
its just that i know well end up with streaming as the future of media consumption simply because its the delivery method that sucks the most ass, hence the support for blu-ray in this war. but even with all the suckyness i would still support blu-ray over a stream because i could just rip it with anydvd and have the drm-free digital file that me and every single other person in the world wants right now.
god i hate the people who make the decisions about piracy. they dont understand that people want movies on their computer and that there is no decent way to get them there legally. i think that a lot of the people who use torrents would pay for official ones, even without high def, if the money mostly went to the people who actually made it and it had some kind of server seeding so its really fast.
like a comment i read the other day "have any of the people responsible ever actually been on the internet?"

end of off topic rant :)

[dave @ Jan 5th 2008 7:45PM]

me too on the last paragraph. i dont like streaming media because a) it totally doesnt work and you always have to pause it (at least on my 2.2mbit connection) and wait for it to buffer and b) because there is no physical copy for you to keep and enjoy whenever you want, even if the 'net is down.
if all the tv and film studios could release their content as 1080p xvids with no drm and under 3gig each i would pay the same as a dvd or maybe even more.
its just that i know well end up with streaming as the future of media consumption simply because its the delivery method that sucks the most ass, hence the support for blu-ray in this war. but even with all the suckyness i would still support blu-ray over a stream because i could just rip it with anydvd and have the drm-free digital file that me and every single other person in the world wants right now.
god i hate the people who make the decisions about piracy. they dont understand that people want movies on their computer and that there is no decent way to get them there legally. i think that a lot of the people who use torrents would pay for official ones, even without high def, if the money mostly went to the people who actually made it and it had some kind of server seeding so its really fast.
like a comment i read the other day "have any of the people responsible ever actually been on the internet?"

end of off topic rant :)

[dave @ Jan 5th 2008 7:46PM]

oops double post :( the aforementioned crappy internet isnt working.

[ark_v2 @ Jan 5th 2008 9:17PM]

Digital downloads are the future, but a far away future, but we'll see optical media for a while IMO. Can you download 1080p video at a reasonable speed? Will you be able to in some years (at a humanly affordable price (again, outside Japan and Sweden))?

[ck @ Jan 5th 2008 5:00PM]

Blu-ray LOTR. Peow.

[SteveMB @ Jan 5th 2008 5:14PM]

LORT stand for?

[Michael LaFramboise @ Jan 5th 2008 5:16PM]

Lord of the Rings?

[Jon Doe @ Jan 5th 2008 5:48PM]

Yah maybe in a couple years when the BR standard is actually finalized and every player ships with it. I personally don't want to see a LOTR BR until they can add some of the sweet features found on HD DVD that have been there since it was released.

[Eh @ Jan 5th 2008 5:12PM]

Fox + WB + Sony = Epic Win. All my favorite movies are on those studios, and especially the movies I'd actually want to see in HD.

[SteveMB @ Jan 5th 2008 5:14PM]

It's called Epic Movie, not Epic Win. Jeesh.

[Ed @ Jan 5th 2008 5:37PM]

Steve, please refer to your copy of "The Idiot's Guide to the Internet," (version 352 or later.) I believe you will find an answer there. Maybe your sense of humor, too? We can only hope...

[SteveMB @ Jan 6th 2008 1:09AM]

Ed, I think you need to buy "Idiot's Guide to Sense of Humor" It's a great book!

[SteveMB @ Jan 6th 2008 1:14AM]

IT WAS A FAILED JOKE, OK?

[Evan @ Jan 5th 2008 5:25PM]

It's over for us in the red camp. I'll be waiting until they finalize the spec. and get it up to HD DVD's features before I finally dive in. In the meantime I looking forward to some great deals on HD DVDs.

[hmmm @ Jan 5th 2008 5:32PM]

Engadget=anti-sony hq. Is this why everyone is disappointed?

Glad to hear that many are turning to the Blu-ray.

[Jakob @ Jan 5th 2008 5:37PM]

50 GB movie downloads is only possible in Sweden and Japan (and you know why!?)

I don't think full movie download is a good idea in the near feature, but movie rentals would be a great alternative to Blockbuster.

[Jon Doe @ Jan 5th 2008 5:45PM]

I gotta ask. How many times do you have to report on the same subject? I think this is the 5th within the last 24 hours. Obviously someone or multiple someone's are BR fanbois. Personally I feel sorry for anyone who is looking for something more then just a movie since BR is still dicking around with the format and not even half the players are compatible with the current BR feature set. But hey. Who needs quality. Its a moot point for me. I'm not touching BR until a player falls under $200 so meh. Mean time I'm going to continue to buy HD DVD content because of the money I saved on the player. If BR ever gets their shit together and comes out with a cheap player that has a finalized spec then lets talk.

[steveo @ Jan 5th 2008 7:55PM]

The writers have to post a certain number of pieces per month. Witness: the 300 HP product posts a couple of days ago.

[ark_v2 @ Jan 5th 2008 9:13PM]

Humm, you're calling others fanboys. I've read the posts and you seem the fanboy who wants to cry. Just give it up; it's nonsense and you're making yourself look pretty bad. The was ending is a good thing for everyone. Even for people who still have HD DVD; Warner even gave them more months of movies.

BTW, you complain about the profiles and compatibility. Remember DVD-R/DVD+R?
Something will come up to solve that.

[Ethan @ Jan 5th 2008 5:48PM]

I really did prefer HD-DVD, I think it was better for it's marginal benefits for the consumer like a lack of region coding, but mainly for the smaller distributors, who make most of the films I actually like, because it was slightly cheaper for them to use.

But still, we're in a better position than we were yesterday because at least the market's not up in the air.

Just imagine - the next xbox/nintendo console will in all probability use Blu-Ray disks. I don't think the consumer really chose in this battle but it's unlikely to make much of a difference, and the HD-DVD camp were using pretty much all the same tactics, only Toshiba don't make a successful games console.

[Darrol @ Jan 5th 2008 5:58PM]

Dang, I just bought the HD-DVD player for my xbox too. Someday I guess I will go Blu-ray as well because I will end up buying a PS3 but I just can't see buying something that has games that don't appeal to me right now.

At this point, I know HD-DVD is going to suffer but I still have some hope that things can change in favor of them.

[cierske @ Jan 5th 2008 6:05PM]

Does anyone know what the market share is in High def sales of the studio's supporting blu ray and of the ones who are supporting hd-dvd? This should give a clear picture on the outcome of this format war that's been going on for way to long now.