Blockbuster chooses Blu-ray; is the war over?

[e²Studios]

Considering Apple is ALSO on the DVD Forum backing HD-DVD I'd expect to see both.

So is Sony, whats your point again? Exactly

 

[Coded-Dude]

Blu-ray Disc The BD+ Technologies, LLC is now issuing specifications for use by movie studios to begin using the BD Plus (BD+) content protection system. Essentially, BD+ is now ready for studio use on new releases. BD+ is a very fluid content protection system which allows many levels of protection from piracy, ensuring that studio content isn't copied for financial gain.

Most will note that Fox/MGM has been silent for the past few months while waiting for this technology to mature, so we should be seeing an announcement from them shortly in regards to new releases. Other studios, including those who currently don't support Blu-ray, have shown some interest as well, though it is unknown if any other studio besides Fox will make use of this technology at this time."
http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=268

Its looking rather gloomy for HD DVD.

If the blockbuster announcement doesn't budge Universal.....this may
Anybody want to bet one how long it takes to get "cracked."

 

[janstett]

If Blu-ray "wins" then I'll still be able to play all my movies; my drive won't mysteriously cease to function.

Of course, you won't be able to get any new movies. And while your drive won't cease to function, your content will get stale. I have a MiniDisc player while my MiniDiscs still work, I don't really listen to them anymore. And even home theater enthusiasts will laugh at you if you pull out your LaserDisc collection.

Toshiba, Microsoft, Intel, Universal and probably a few more big names.

Toshiba The only company 100% behind the format.

Microsoft Would rather see you download an HD movie from XBox Live. Speculation now is that Microsoft is ONLY propping up HD-DVD to keep the HD disc war going long enough for both of them to lose.

“I don’t know that [HD] will be delivered on an optical disc in five to 10 years,” he said, pointing to downloads and broadband delivery. “At Microsoft, we’d rather it wasn’t [on a disc].”

You're counting on them to HELP HD-DVD?

What we've found most puzzling about this format war, is why Microsoft - a company that makes neither movies and TV shows or home theater hardware, is arguably the single biggest corporate supporter of the HD-DVD format outside of Toshiba and Universal. And though no one will say it on the record (though many industry insiders admit, off the record, that they believe it), we'd be surprised if Microsoft wasn't subsidizing both Toshiba's hardware losses and Universal's exclusive commitment to HD-DVD in some way. That's just our gut feeling. We can't prove it. But even Warner, which has a significant financial stake in the disc structure patents for DVD (and thus HD-DVD) has opted to support both high-def formats. Meanwhile, Microsoft has an office of "HD-DVD Evangelism" in house.

So why would Microsoft do this? The are three reasons why it makes good business sense for the company. First, having HD-DVD playback capability on their Xbox 360 (via the add-on drive) is a smart strategic move to counter-balance Sony's having Blu-ray playback capability built into their PS3 system. Second, HD-DVD uses Microsoft's VC-1 video compression codec almost exclusively. For a variety of reasons - not the least of which is that it's a great codec - this has encouraged a number of Blu-ray Disc studios to adopt VC-1 as well, so more and more Blu-ray releases utilize it too. This again benefits Microsoft. But more importantly, Microsoft's real long-term goal is to dominate the content downloading arena - particularly the downloading of entertainment content to devices in living rooms. That's what many industry observers, including many in Hollywood, see as the ultimate future of the home video industry. Selling lots of Xbox 360s and having everyone adopt the VC-1 codec (not to mention their iHD interactivity spec) both work to further Microsoft's goals in this area by helping to drive the growth of Xbox Live. According to the company's own recent press releases, Xbox Live is already "the number one online distributor of television and feature film content in the living room where it's most easy for consumers to access." In addition, "the service has quickly become the number two online distributor of television and feature film content, second to iTunes." Finally, Xbox Live is currently "the ONLY online distributor of major feature films and television programming in high definition (HD) resolution."

Intel Yeah, let me know when you see Intel HD-DVD players on the shelf at Best Buy. Hell, they aren't even strong arming PC manufacturers to include HD-DVD drives (again, Toshiba is the only one doing it). With many failed Intel initiatives such as Viiv, do you expect anything out of them?

Universal The only studio going it alone. You have to admit, Universal is screwed. It would be bad enough if the one studio supporting the format was a big one like Sony, Fox, or Disney. But for it to be a minor player like Universal, well, good luck.