LOL @ HD-DVD

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

How about the series finale for Deadwood.
I LOVED that show, and it ended with a non ending...WAH!
cocksucker

[bbobb]

How about the series finale for Deadwood.
I LOVED that show, and it ended with a non ending...WAH!
cocksucker

To hell with Deadwood. What HBO did to us with Carnivale was a kick in the balls.

Season 3 please.

[Rumpy]

By the sounds of it, it could all be over by the end of the month.

Whilst I'm not a fan of the partisan editorialising that the otherwise excellent The Digital Bits have had to the format war in recent months, I do trust Bill and the gang and their accuracy is usually spot on.

I've heard a few behind-the-scenes rumbles myself this week in the wake of the Warners defection, and a recent update by the DB pretty much matches and quite succinctly summarises what I've been hearing is going to happen (and NOT what the PR people are spinning):

"Reliable industry sources are telling us that Paramount is indeed preparing to end their HD-DVD support and announce a return to the Blu-ray fold. Details are currently being finalized, and an announcement is expected as soon as they're complete.

Paramount's first new Blu-rays will almost certainly include many of those titles that were cancelled last year, but that were already packaged and ready for shipping, so you could see them in stores very quickly once the studio announces.

Meanwhile, sources are telling us that Universal has also been talking with the BDA, and is looking to follow Paramount and Warner's lead as soon as possible."

It truly is looking like by the end of the month the 'war' may be over and if that is a case then it's up to the studios to get rolling on releases fast to get consumers in - none of these half a dozen mostly crappy titles a week, it should be more like two dozen including the big catalog titles we all want to see - boxsets like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Star Trek, James Bond, the pre-Cars Pixar movies, etc.

The column also adds a juicy new rumour I hadn't heard myself - "Apple's Steve Jobs may announce the addition of Blu-ray Disc drives to their Mac desktop lineup at next week's Macworld Expo in San Francisco".

[sphere79]

To hell with Deadwood. What HBO did to us with Carnivale was a kick in the balls.

Season 3 please.

I bought my wife the Carnivale Season 2 DVD boxset from BestBuy for $20! I paid $80 for Season 1 last X-Mas.....

It was a great show but no one watched it. I was afraid Californication (another great show not enough people watch) wasn't going to see a Season 2 but hooray it was renewed.....

[bandit]

LAS VEGAS -- A New Line Home Entertainment spokesman confirms reports that the minimajor is following distributor Warner Home Video's lead in abandoning HD DVD and releasing all future next-generation titles only in the Blu-ray Disc format.

And HBO Video president Henry McGee says HBO, too, is "following the same policy as Warner Home Video."

Warners on Friday stunned the industry when on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show here it announced that after May it will no longer support the HD DVD platform, which for nearly two years has been engaged in a bitter format war with Blu-ray Disc to become the high-definition disc standard.

Like Warners, New Line and HBO had been a supporter of both formats, though New Line's HD DVD releases lagged behind its standard DVD and Blu-ray releases. HBO has released Season 6 of one of the most popular TV-DVD sellers of all time, "The Sopranos," on both Blu-ray and HD DVD.

This was a given

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...54b3409b401b2e

[burgundy]

Time to make with the Blu-Ray deals while they last.

[Compass]

I just started watching Heroes Season 1. It's pretty cheesy at times, but still quite entertaining.

I think LOST has unrealistically skewed expectations for network TV.

[nixhex311]

This could be the beginning of the end....

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryid=20&cs=1

Blu-ray could win high-def battle
HD DVD backers could switch sides soon
By DIANE GARRETT, BEN FRITZ
This article was updated on January 10, 2008.

The two remaining studios backing HD DVD could switch sides soon, ending the high-def format war instantly.

Daily Variety has confirmed that Universal's commitment to backing HD DVD exclusively has ended. And Paramount has an escape clause in its HD DVD contract allowing it to release pics on Blu-ray after Warner Bros.' decision to back that format exclusively.
More than one option

* (Co) Daily Variety
Filmography, Year, Role
* (Co) Daily Variety

Neither studio is ready to throw in the towel immediately, however. On Thursday, Universal broke its silence about the matter to say that it plans to keep supporting the format for the time being, a pledge Par made earlier in the week. And in any case, U is committed to a series of HD DVD promotions in coming months.

Should Toshiba concede defeat on the format, the decision to drop HD DVD would be made for both studios. But Toshiba doesn't appear ready to do that. At the Consumer Electronics Show, the manufacturer reaffirmed its commitment to the format, noting strong sales during the fourth quarter and indicating it would continue marketing its hardware through 2008.

But retailers may force the HD DVD camp's hand: They're unlikely to keep devoting premium shelf space to a dying format, and at this point, the odds are not in HD DVD's favor. With Warners' defection, only Par and U remain in the HD DVD camp; Sony, Disney, Fox, Lionsgate remain ardent Blu-ray backers. Warner sister companies New Line and HBO are also shifting allegiance to Blu-ray.

Last summer, Blockbuster also threw its weight behind Blu-ray, though some HD DVD discs remain in stores.

And Warner will continue to release HD DVD discs for the next few months to honor its previous commitment to Toshiba, which extends through May 31. Paramount's HD DVD deal, which covers DreamWorks releases, was to run through this year.

[mollipen]

My main point in calling them was to let them know that I JUST got my HD-DVD player (along with many others for the holidays) and that I wasn't planning on getting BR anytime soon, not until they're like $50-$80 and truly standardized.

If you "JUST" got your HD-DVD player, then take it back for a refund. If you got it from a retailer who specializes at all in electronics, trust me, they'll understand why you're doing so. Then use that money to get a Blu-ray player, and if you don't have enough, save up a bit more, or wait a few months to see if one of the $199 players have hit by then.

I can't believe you actually contacted those people to cry about the situation.

Also, for you people who are saying that digital distribution is going to kill Blu-ray before it even gets started, I'd like you to show me the America where in five years, everybody is going to have super high speed broadband and storage solutions to hold all of these movies. I have a 500GB external drive sitting here, which is something that you average consumer doesn't have at this point, yet even that could only hold a handful of HD movies. Five years from now, is everybody suddenly going to have storage space way beyond that sitting around?

[burgundy]

I'm sure Warner is carefully weighing sphere's email against a novelty-sized check for $500M.