DVDGuy’s Blog @ Digital Digest

Welcome to the first weekly news roundup post the HD format war. Upon hearing the news of the war’s end, did you let your emotions get the better of you, go up to complete strangers to hug and kiss them? And did you then get arrested and placed on probation for being a public nuisance? No? Umm … me neither. I didn’t do any of that, honest. 

This week has all been about the end of the HD format war, so either there has been very little copyright news (or very little news that would be considered relevant/interesting), or that I haven’t been paying attention as usual. I’m sure the MPAA and the RIAA got up to their usual tricks, that some politicians took their money to support a new legislation, and that some hacker found some way to hack into some DRM. So basically nothing new.

And of course, the big news of the week is that, yep you guessed it, Apple has dropped the price on the iPhone and iPod touch! Oh, and Toshiba also dropped something. I think it was called HD DVD. The news that HD DVD supporters didn’t want to hear, but probably thought was only a matter of time, did come on Tuesday (Japanese time). I’m sure Toshiba could have held on a little bit longer, but it would only be to wait for a miracle, that sadly, won’t happen now. You all know how I feel about HD DVD, and Blu-ray, and if you didn’t, you can read my latest thoughts (pre-Toshiba decision) here. While I’m sad that a consumer friendlier format like HD DVD didn’t work out, I’m not overly fussed as I’ve been supporting both formats for a while now. And by supporting, I don’t mean going onto Internet forums and gloating and posting FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) posts, but rather in the more practical way of forking over cash to buy stuff. So one format that I’ve bought into has died, the other has grown stronger as a result, which means I’ve not lost anything. In fact, not only have I not lost anything, I’ve picked up a few things too – like no less then thirteen HD DVD titles for an average of $USD 7.01 including postage (titles include Evan Almighty, Knocked up, Casino, Carlito’s Way, Jarhead, Rambo Trilogy, Deer Hunter, Apollo 13, Spartacus – and a few more items at the same low price which if not out of stock, includes Shaun of the Dead, Smoking Aces, The Kingdom and The Thing). The rush for these discounted Universal titles has created such as storm here in Australia that it caused disruptions to several leading online stores, and stock sold out within a matter of minutes. Which just goes to show that low prices is the most consumer friendly feature of all.

Anyway, in the aftermath of Toshiba’s announcement, the HD DVD exclusive studios all eventually followed suit and headed towards the Blu camp. Both Universal and Paramount has announced that they will now support Blu-ray, with Universal unsure of what to do with their HD DVD lineup, while Paramount and Warner appears to be willing to continue releasing movies on HD DVD for the time being. So the chance of more bargains like the one I listed above from Paramount and Warner remains high, and my credit card awaits patiently as well. And for those slightly worried about not having a player to play their HD DVD discs, then the good news is that LG still plans on releasing dual format players for the future, possibly both standalones and computer drives. I suspect Samsung, which seem to do everything LG does, will continue to do so as well. And word is that Sharp will release a player too, since I think they provide the laser diode for these dual format players. What isn’t so clear is the details of Paramount and Universal’s switch to Blu-ray, like which titles will be available and when. I’m guessing 3 to 6 months before we see the first Blu-ray title, and for the Bourne Trilogy and Transformers to be in the starting lineup. There is also the chance that if Paramount still has some recalled Blu-ray versions of Blades of Glory and other titles that were shelved following their defection to HD DVD, that these might be released first. What is also not so clear is what Microsoft will do in regards to a Blu-ray add-on drive for the Xbox 360. The initial rumour was that one will be available within 6 months, but then Microsoft issued a (somewhat soft) denial for a drive being available in the short term. I guess they don’t want to be seen as supporting a Sony format, not when they’re still at war with them in the game console arena.

So the focus now turns to whether Blu-ray can become the next digital video format to replace DVDs. Certainly the end of the format war, and format confusion, will help. I will go over two Digital Digest polls soon in regards to this issue, but suffice to say, Blu-ray has a long way to go before it can even call itself a competitor to DVD. Even with Blu-ray and HD DVD combined, discs sales have only been half of what DVD did after the same initial period. While player sales have been fine, thanks to cheap HD DVD players and the PS3, the low attachment rate of Blu-ray movies and the generally low rate of sale of HD DVD, has all contributed to the low disc sale figures. And the high prices when compared to DVDs won’t have helped (remember that when DVDs first came out, there was no “low price” alternative, because VHS often cost more, not less, than DVDs).

And while I’ve harped on about Blu-ray manufacturing costs and such in the past, a new type of BD recordable could start to lower cost of BD blanks. Dubbed LHT BD-Rs, and developed by Taiyo Yuden, Mitsubishi and Maxell, these use organic materials to lower production costs. Unfortunately, and this has been somewhat of a Blu-ray trait, is that compatibility problems might occur with earlier players. Some players can be updated through firmware to read these new BD-Rs, while others will have to be replaced. Might be best to hold off buying a BD burner until something concrete materialises.

I’ve also harped on about Blu-ray region coding and how it sucks, but there might be a solution now for the PC at least. Read my Blu-ray Region Free Guide to find tips on possibly making PowerDVD Ultra and WinDVD BD region-free for Blu-ray playback.

And finally onto gaming, as promised, the January NPD figures have been released and analysed. While it looks like Blu-ray has helped the PS3 to beat the Xbox 360 and nearly beat the Wii, remember that both the Wii and 360 had serious stock shortage problems thanks to last month’s record sales figures for both consoles. The PS3 took advantage efficiently, but the Wii and 360 are still the consoles to beat, in the US at least. And thanks to consoles becoming more and more like PCs in terms of functionality (media sharing, Internet browsing, movie downloading …), PCs are now struggling to stay in the gaming market, at least here in Australia. For me, I’ve not played less games on the PC, but I’ve definitely played more on consoles (not surprising, considering the current 3 main consoles are the first ones I’ve owned since the SNES). I still prefer PC gaming, mainly because I prefer strategy games, and first person shooters using the mouse/keyboard combination. But I can definitely see the appeal of console games. And some say that the increased spending for console gaming has led to decreases for movies, which I would have to agree with. So in some way, the success of the PS3 as a game console might actually hurt Blu-ray.

[PLEASE INSERT INTERESTING, IF NOT FUNNY, CONCLUSION TO ARTICLE. AND DO NOT FORGET TO MENTION “SEE YOU NEXT WEEK”]