This morning Toshiba released the following statement:
TOKYO–Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.
Toshiba later mentioned that they have no current plans to transition to Blu-ray Player development. They will also be working with distributors to stockpile current HD-DVD blank media for purchase via their online store. As to future HD-DVD movie releases Toshiba stated, “it was not our business, we cannot predict their business.”
UPDATE:Universal President Craig Kornblau, today has stated, “While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray.” Paramount is also reportedly to be immediately dedicated to switching over their HD release schedule to Blu-ray ASAP.
Today Netlfix, the popular online movie rental service, decided to only acquire Blu-ray titles in the future. They listed Warner Bros. going Blu-ray exclusive as the major deciding factor since 4 out of the 6 major movie studios now side with Blu-ray. While newer HD-DVD titles will be available elsewhere for purchase Netflix will no longer be providing customers with the option to rent the HD-DVD version of newer titles. Netflix did assure current HD-DVD subscribers that their entire HD-DVD library will still be available for as long as the their current stock of titles hold up in quality. Source: Reuters
By Andrew Aiello on January-24-2008 in
Bitchy Rants
We reported a couple weeks ago that Warner Bros Home Entertainment was going Blu-Ray exclusive once their contract with the HD-DVD collation was up. Despite Warner’s move HD-DVD is far from dead. Though HD-DVD is precariously on the edge of “losing” the HD disc format war. Even if one format wins out we should ask the questions: “Will the HD market go physical or broadband? If HD-DVD wins, will the lower priced players and uniform spec make the market successful? Can Blu-ray make the market better? Or are the IPTV technologies too attractive to keep HD discs strong?
According to the Financial times, Paramount/Dreamworks has an out clause in their exclusivity contract with HD DVD. FT states that Paramount is looking to use that clause to move over the better looking pastures of Blu-ray.
Earlier this week Newline confirmed to Variety magazine that they would go Blu-ray exclusive as well. If this all comes to fruition, it would leave Universal as the lone soldier on the HD DVD side of the format war… most certainly leading to the formats demise. We here at UpcomingDiscs.com will continue covering both formats as long as they are supported. More news on this as it comes out.
Amendment:MCV is now reporting that the Paramount flip to Blu-ray is fictitious… Stating that Paramount spokesperson Brenda Ciccone told the news agency that “Paramount’s current plan is to continue to support the HD-DVD format”. Toshiba added that the reports are nothing more than speculative.
We will have to wait and see how this all plays out… we will keep you posted.
“Warner Bros.’ move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a
strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give
consumers what they want,” said Meyer. “The window of opportunity for high-
definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We
believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for
mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most
importantly, consumers.” - Barry Meyer(WB CEO)
Slated to launch sometime in Q2, the networked player would purportedly allow owners to stream in movies for viewing on their television, and it’s being reported that the feature would be “included in all of its various price plans… at no extra charge.” Pricing deets on the LG device have yet to be disclosed, but we’re told that the firm could “embed the receiver into its $799 dual-DVD player [likely the BH200].” According to Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings, the LG partnership will hopefully be “the first of many such deals” for the company, and he added that he’d love to “see a hundred Netflix-capable boxes,” suggesting that there could be deals struck with internet-connected gaming consoles as well as cable / satellite providers.
Today New Line released a press release declaring their feud with Peter Jackson settled. Not only are these two parties settled they are now working on an adaptation of the classic novel, The Hobbit. Work will also start for a follow up sequel to the hobbit which will fill-in the spaces between the Hobbit and the already made Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Peter Jackson and his wife Fran Walsh are set to produce. No word yet on directors or writers but it’s obvious that the mind blowing talent at WETA digital will be behind the SFX. The first movie should be expected around 2010. in the meantime Jackson has started shooting his latest production “The Lovely Bones”, a horror feature. He is also set to direct a film called Tintin which is being produced by Steven Speilberg. Click below for the full press release.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix launches today on DVD and HD-DVD. The HD-DVD consortium has revealed a new feature just for the HD-DVD release. This new feature ultilizes the standard network adapter included with every HD-DVD player. The gist of the feature is you can connect to a friends HD-DVD player and both of you can can simultaneously view the latest Harry Potter film fully synced up with message functionality.
Gather your own army of fellow wizards for a live community screening party. Invite other owners of the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix HD DVD to simultaneously watch from their own internet-accessed players and text with your remote, PC or cell phone. When you host an invitation-only viewing, you control the film by pausing and playing the feature on everyone’s machine. You can chat live with your friends as you watch.
Now each session you create has a host and only the host can control the playback during the session. It isn’t said but is pretty much assumed that each party needs their own copy of the HD-DVD release for proper playback.
This toy projector is being sold at Target for $169.99. Now that is a very tempting price for a projector but let it be known that is a gadget that should be feared not curiously picked up for your kids. Gizmodo did a write up and it suffers from an amazingly dim picture, almost zero contrast ratio and a screendoor effect that looks like your looking at the video through a yarn knitted comforter. For $169.99 your better off buying a awesome game like Rock Band.
At $169, how bad could it be? Answer: horrible, and not even worth that. Perhaps you’ve heard of the “screen door effect” that’s common with low-end LCD projectors. A screen door would be a blessing compared to this. Watching this felt more like being behind the bars of a jail cell than having a screen door in front of us.
After that initial shock, it was time to run some of our projector test patterns, playing them back at the native resolution of this little monster, which is supposed to project video at 920×240 pixels, but we’re still not really sure whether that was what we are looking at or not. It’s probably closer to a cellphone-like 320×240.
…right as the action is building to a crescendo—the movie fades to a commercial. For the next minute, you’re forced to watch the commercial as the fast-forward button has suddenly stopped working. The unhappy experience is repeated two or three more times before the movie ends. The only way to avoid the interruption is to pay another buck or two to the company you rented from.
That’s the scenario envisioned in a patent application filed by IBM (and dug up by Zatz Not Funny!). When DVDs are inserted for playback, the disc would check to see if the viewer had purchased the ad-free version or the (presumably) lower-priced version with unskippable commercials. If it’s the latter, the disc player would phone home to an online service to download commercials or play ads embedded on the discs themselves.
They also explain that a likely venue for this horror show could be in DVD rentals. Pay more for the retail copy of Shrek 3 or half off for a special edition DVD with 5 minutes of commercials in the middle.
A discovery made by a kung fu obsessed American teen sends him on an adventure to China, where he joins up with a band of martial arts warriors in order to free the imprisoned Monkey King.
The DRM camp is now saying that copying is good—to a degree. The upcoming DVD release on November 20 of Live Free or Die Hard will be the first to allow digital copies to your PC and one other USB-attached device. That’s two copies for the price of one DVD. The folks at Fox are calling this a Fox Digital Copy, and plan to roll it out with future DVDs as well. The catch: any device you put it on needs to be compatible with Microsoft’s PlayforSure DRM technology. That excludes all iPods, Sony PSPs, and even Zunes.
According to Game Informer magazine(December issue) Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis have all come together and started work on a Ghostbusters video game. The story will take place after the events of Ghostbusters 2. The game is being developed by Zootfly(primarily a strategy game maker). Earlier reports from Dan Akroyd said the game would play like Gears of War with a very gritty feel to it. The game should release sometime next year for all major game consoles. The screenshot featured is on the cover of Game Informer.
Well fret not. Almost everyone involved with the old sci-fi channel mainstay has moved to continue the shows tradition in some way.
First, there’s Rifftrax, created by Mike Nelson the second host of MST3K. Rifftrax is a series of downloadable commentaries for ever growing collection of movies. Each commentary stars Mike himself and usually accompanied by 1-2 guest stars. These stars are usually his fellow comrades Kevin Murphy(2nd Voice of the robot Tom Servo) and Bill Corbett(2nd voice of the robot CROOOOOOOOOW!). Some of the special guest stars have been Sean Patrick Harris(Doogie Hauser) and Fred Willard. Each commentary features the same quality rapid fire puns, insults and meanderings that made MST3K such a hit with movie buffs.
Tonight on HDNET movies, 10:15 PM ET and again at 12:00AM ET. This is an exclsuive sneak peak. HDnet movies is included with most Dish network HD packages. Check with your provider to see if you can get HDnet movies by tonight. Note: The DVD will be available from Magnolia films online in a couple of weeks.
We were trying to win on the merits, which we were doing for a while, until Paramount changed sides
“It doesn’t mean as much as all that,” Stringer said. He added that he believed there was an opportunity of uniting the two camps under one format before he became CEO, and he wishes he could travel back in time to make that happen.
The battle rages on in our hearts and our wallets.
According to Engadget, on Friday(one day only), Wal-mart will be offering the entry level Toshiba A2 HD DVD player for the astonishing $99.99 price point. The A2 model is a entry level machine that is only able to output a 1080i/60fps signal. The latest model the A3, will be capable of outputting a full 1080p Signal. The A3 is expected to be priced at or around 200 dollars this holiday season.
One thing to be wary of is that Wal-mart tends to cut prices drastically on products they have little intention of stocking. Meaning every store may only be getting a few of the A2’s and a few dozen of the A3’s.
CORRECTION: I had orginally reported that the prcie drop on the A2 was permanent. It is actully only for this friday(11/2/07). Sorry for the confusion.
Some great deals on the unholiest day of retail sales(source).
Coby DVD Player - $9.99 Curtis Home Theater System - $29.99 Philips HDMI Up Convert DVD Player - $29.99
Sony 1000 Watt 5 Disc Home Theater System - $299.99
Sony 1000-Watt 5-Disc Home Theater System - $299.99
Sony 800 Watt Home Theater System - $149.99
Sony Combination DVD VCR Player - $84.99
Sony DVD Recorder With VCR DVD - $199.99 Toshiba HD-A3 HD DVD Player - $169.99
Zenith DVD Player / VCR Combo - $39.99
Sony Corp. on Thursday cut the price of its PlayStation 3 game console in the U.S. and announced an even cheaper model that will arrive before the holiday shopping season.
Starting November 2nd, Sony will be selling a new 40 gig PS3. This newer model features a upgradeable 40 GIG HDD. However, This new model is now missing backwards compatibility with PS2 titles, memory card readers and 2 USB ports(leaving 2 ports remaining).
Sony also announced that their latest model featuring a 80 GIG HDD has been immediately dropped to the MSRP of $499.
By Andrew Aiello on October-16-2007 in
Bitchy Rants
Today I ask the question, “Is remastering in HD worth the trouble?” As many a Trekkie knows, season 1 of Star Trek TOS (The Original Series) is coming out on HD-DVD Nov. 20th. This dual format release is pretty groundbreaking. Over the summer, Paramount has been syndicating these remastered Star Trek episodes. Each one meticulously color-corrected, rescanned for 1080P and edited with newly created CG models. There are obviously some skeptics out there but the truth is the episodes do look better, and the new CG and score are still cheesy enough for the 70’s, but now have enough detail and depth so you don’t get taken out of the plot. Each episode has supposedly had a million-dollar budget for these remasters. Now, with the HD-DVD release coming, paramount is looking to cash in on the new HD standard. The set is retailing for $194.99(129.99 via amazon), that’s about $4.50- 6.70 per episode. Keep in mind, you also get a SD version of each episode on the opposite side of the disc(whether you wanted one or not).
This is all well and good for TOS, which is only 3 seasons long. But what about the gargantuan TNG (The Next Generation), which clocks in at 7 seasons? Well, read on and I’ll discuss it…
Today Nintendo announced that their one-time arch rival Sega, has licensed Sonic to be included in the latest installment of the hit Super Smash Bros. franchise. The game releases in early 2008. The game also features the Legendary Solid Snake from the Metal Gear series. The game is of course exclusive to the Nintendo Wii and features numerous Nintendo and gaming mascots fighting it out on uniquely themed levels.
Kotaku reported today that, Microsoft will be including 2 free games with all Xbox 360 SKUs starting at the end of October. The two titles being included are Forza Motorsports 2 and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. This adds at least 90 dollars in value to the current prices of 360 units. Microsoft made it clear that no changes to pricing would be involved with the bundles.
Here’s the trailer for the NEW straight to DVD Futurama movie. It releases on, November 27th, everywhere. Also look for the shows upcoming new season on Comedy Central early next year.
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