Paramount embraces Blu-ray
Warner expected to make similar move this week
By Scott Hettrick 10/2/2005
OCT. 2 | In a stunning announcement Sunday morning, Paramount Home Entertainment has decided to support Sony's Blu-ray Disc format for the next-generation of high-definition DVDs.
Although Paramount will continue to support Sony's rival, the HD DVD platform from Toshiba, the studio is the first to end its singular commitment to one format, which both sides had hoped would give the industry its best chance of avoiding a Betamax/VHS-like format war.
With Warner and Universal expected to follow suit very shortly, Paramount's decision potentially throws the decision once again into the hands of consumers and retailers next year. Both formats are expected to be introduced next spring.
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Thomas Lesinski, Paramount Pictures president of worldwide home entertainment, one of the staunchest supporters of HD DVD, said in a statement Sunday that the studio will release movies on Blu-ray in North America, Japan and Europe as soon as Blu-ray hardware launches in those markets.
"We have been intrigued by the broad support of Blu-Ray, especially the key advantage of including Blu-Ray in PlayStation 3," Lesinski said in a statement. "After more detailed assessment and new data on cost, manufacturability and copy protection solutions, we have now made the decision to move ahead with the Blu-ray format. We believe the unique portfolio of Viacom content coupled with this format will provide great benefit for consumers and our shareholders alike."
A format war is precisely what studios, hardware manufacturers, retailers and consumers desperately want to avoid. The introduction of two incompatible formats has the potential to cause a much slower adoption of a new format for their movies, games, music and other programming, as consumers hesitate to pick one for fear of selecting the next Betamax that quickly will be obsolete. Studios and hardware manufacturers managed to find a compromise solution on DVD, which led to the introduction of the most successful consumer electronics product ever.
With the DVD market rapidly maturing and slowing to single-digit growth rates, media companies, which derive most of their studio revenue and profits from DVD, are pressuring their home video and consumer electronics units to get the next-gen format into the market as quickly as possible, whichever one it is, in order to rejuvenate sales of their vast libraries of TV, movie and music programming on discs.
"All we're doing is guaranteeing a format war," said a top exec at one studio DVD division about the Paramount announcement.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment president Ben Feingold said that while the Paramount announcement is very important to the Blu-ray camp, "being on both formats will confuse the consumer."
Several execs in each camp believe the Paramount announcement to publish in both formats—which is the direction Warner has been leaning for the past week or two with a similar announcement expected this week—is simply a temporary face-saving strategy and that ultimately all studios will shift completely over to Blu-ray by launch time.
"Launching with a single format is the only way to get back quickly to double-digit compound growth," Feingold said.
Universal would not comment, but if Warner does announce that it also will publish in both formats, Universal is expected to be pressured to reluctantly follow suit.
Warner's softening position was believed to be what motivated Microsoft and Intel to announce support of HD DVD last week.
But many said at the time that announcement was too little, too late.
A big setback for HD DVD was the delay of the launch of its HD DVD players from this holiday season until sometime next year. Blu-ray has always set mid-2006 as its launch date, most likely with the launch of Sony's PlayStation 3 videogame system, which will incorporate Blu-ray. Microsoft will not commit to including HD DVD in its next-gen Xbox 360 system.
In fact, the PlayStation 3 factor—Sony will not be swayed from introducing Blu-ray as the format is locked as a component in millions of PS3 machines next spring—is believed to be what has turned Paramount and Warner around in their thinking.
And major hardware companies including Sony, Samsung and Panasonic are expected to announce shortly that they will have Blu-ray players in the market by next spring, regardless of when the PS3 systems are launched.
WHV is believed to be under great pressure from parent Time Warner, which has its own pressures relative to the recent stock performance challenges by Carl Icahn, to do whatever it takes to get a high-def disc to market at the earliest possible time in order to rejuvenate the maturing DVD market.
Sources say Paramount was prompted to action by the imminent announcement of Warner.
Although it would be a little more expensive to release movies authored and inventoried in two different formats, it's something the studios have done before with Betamax and VHS and even laserdisc and 8mm, in some cases. And it's something the videogame industry has become used to.
A lo mejor tiene algo que ver con que se haya anunciado un Domingo... Ya sabes, eso de que la gente normal no trabaja ese dia, y tal...Diskun escribió:Eeerrmmm... ¿Fuente?
Porque lo que no salga de http://ps3.ign.com y poco sitios más, no me lo creo,
Tommy Vercetti escribió:Muy buena noticia
mcklain escribió:Está claro que a la industria no le interesa un formato retrocompatible por definición (aunque se puedan fabricar reproductores blue-ray compatibles con dvd).
takeda escribió:Donde habra salido la noticia de que Blu-ray no es compatible con dvd?
Es que algunos lo repiten hasta la saciedad.
mcklain escribió:
Yo es que lo he visto hasta la saciedad en un montón de articulos. Se dice que la compatibilidad depende del fabricante (osea, que elige hacer el lector compatible o no con DVD), mientras que en el HD-DVD viene implicita.
.reuters escribió:Paramount joins Sony Pictures Entertainment, The Walt Disney Co. (DIS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and News Corp. (NWS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) unit Twentieth Century Fox in backing Blu-ray, although like Paramount, Disney and Fox have not ruled out the possibility of also releasing movies for HD DVD.
takeda escribió:Pues para no creer en los discos de 50GB (segun M$) alguna compañia anuncia cosas como:
BR de 100GB
Y a mi plin si compatibilidad es a traves de 1 o 2 cabezas lectoras, mientras el reproductor en cuestión las tenga, y ya hay compañias que han anunciado que sus reproductores seran compatibles con DVD.
Maxtorete escribió:Sí, pero lo que son compatibles son los lectores, no la tecnología BD ni sus especificaciones, que encima algunos os mosqueais si se dice la verdad ...
Maxtorete escribió:
Es que Blu-Ray no es compatible con los DVDs actuales por mucho que algunos por aquí se empeñen en afirmar lo contrario, otra cosa es que el fabricante del lector meta una cabeza lectora para DVDs si lo estima conveniente.


takeda sobre ese artículo, no sé porque no me extraña que a su vez se basen en un artículo de la BD Association ... Ya veremos si de verdad existen BD de 50GBs desde su lanzamiento.
. ¿Para qué quieres 100GB en un disco, sea del formato que sea? No lo entiendo, para datos podría tener algún sentido... a nivel corporativo, claro, porque para grabar un Blu-Ray de ese tamaño ¿cuanto tienes que emplear? ¿3 horas?takeda escribió:Pues para no creer en los discos de 50GB (segun M$) alguna compañia anuncia cosas como:
BR de 100GB
Y a mi plin si compatibilidad es a traves de 1 o 2 cabezas lectoras, mientras el reproductor en cuestión las tenga, y ya hay compañias que han anunciado que sus reproductores seran compatibles con DVD.
takeda escribió:Gran post megateto!!!![]()
maesebit escribió:Será casualidad que sean los xbots quienes encabecen la cruzada contra el Blue Ray?
PD: Las lentes Blue-Ray no son compatibles con DVD, los reproductores si lo seran.
Diskun escribió:¿Para qué quieres 100GB en un disco, sea del formato que sea? No lo entiendo, para datos podría tener algún sentido... a nivel corporativo, claro, porque para grabar un Blu-Ray de ese tamaño ¿cuanto tienes que emplear? ¿3 horas?
Hombre, podría meter 5 o 6 series de anime en un mismo disco, pero me parece una parida si esos discos van a costar 10 veces más que un DVD-R... no tiene sentido.
Si después tenemos en cuenta que Blu-Ray ha sido una sobrada total... el HD-DVD se presentó al DVD Forum y se votó, ¿el Blu-Ray? Na, estilo "somos guays", imponiendo a golpe de talonario y promesas de una protección de contenidos férrea consistente en baneo de reproductores.
p.d. Megateto, el HD-DVD si mal no recuerdo soporta lectura de HD-DVD sin necesidad de doble cabezal, lo cual reduce gastos y reduce posibilidad de averías en estos componentes.
Será casualidad que sean los xbots quienes encabecen la cruzada contra el Blue Ray? PD: Las lentes Blue-Ray no son compatibles con DVD, los reproductores si lo seran.
Vale, si tu lo dices... ¬_¬Maxtorete escribió:Ya te lo dije una vez maese, xbots es un insulto
[+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas] [+risas]raday escribió:¿será casualidad que los sonyers como tu...? ¬_¬
Porque el partidismo y el fanatismo no nos ciega y nos empuja a decir falsedades como que los reproductores BR no seran compatibles con DVD? O estupideces como que Sony engaña, miente, manipula y vende humo, y MS no?Maxtorete escribió:Y por qué será que los usuarios de nintendo se muestran tan afines actualmente a Sony y su PS3?
maesebit escribió: Porque el partidismo y el fanatismo no nos ciega y nos empuja a decir falsedades como que los reproductores BR no seran compatibles con DVD? O estupideces como que Sony engaña, miente, manipula y vende humo, y MS no?![]()
Maxtorete escribió:megateto, hazte todas las pajas mentales que quieras, pero en tu anterior mensaje metiste la pata hasta el fondo. Ni BD, ni sus especificaciones, son compatibles con DVD, así que normal que la gente tenga la "manía" de decirlo, porque es la única verdad.
Anda, BD ya está a la venta? Estás seguro? Y con que lo grabas? Y dónde lo reproduces? Realmente entiendes lo que dice esa página? Cual es el precio? Si quieres te paso links a ebay para que vayas comprando también una PS3, que las tienen hasta en ediciones especiales.
When will I be able to buy Blu-ray Disc products?
The only place where you can currently buy Blu-ray Disc products is in Japan, where they already sell Blu-ray Disc recorders for recording HDTV.
FAQ oficial Blu-ray escribió:Will Blu-ray be backwards compatible with DVD?
Yes, several leading consumer electronics companies (including Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and LG) have already demonstrated products that can read/write CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs using a BD/DVD/CD compatible optical head, so you don't have to worry about your existing DVD collection becoming obsolete. Although it's up to each manufacturer to decide if they want to make their products backwards compatible with DVD, the format is far too popular to not be supported. The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) expects every Blu-ray Disc device to be backward compatible with CDs and DVDs.
Sabes lo que significa contexto?Maxtorete escribió:alguien ha dicho que los reproductores BD no sean compatibles con DVD?
Blu-ray recorders made by Sony, Matsushita and Sharp Corp. are already on sale in Japan for about 300,000 yen ($2,660), or as much as 10 times more than the standard models
maesebit escribió:Ademas, no me cuentes milongas. ¿Que coño importa que la lente no sea compatible? Estais lanzando un monton de mierda sobre el formato, dando a entender que no es compatible con DVD, cuando los lectores si que lo seran, y el como lo hagan importa un pepino. O es que a ti te importa mas el modo que el resultado?![]()
Maxtorete escribió:megateto, por muy puntillosos que seamos, no hemos hecho más que decirla verdad.
Estais lanzando un monton de mierda sobre el formato, dando a entender que no es compatible con DVD, cuando los lectores si que lo seran, y el como lo hagan importa un pepino. O es que a ti te importa mas el modo que el resultado?
Who developed Blu-ray?
The Blu-ray Disc format was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers, with more than 140 member companies from all over the world. The Board of Directors currently consists of:
Apple Computer, Inc.
Dell Inc.
Hewlett Packard Company
Hitachi, Ltd.
LG Electronics Inc.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (panasonic)
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Pioneer Corporation
Royal Philips Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Sharp Corporation
Sony Corporation
TDK Corporation
Thomson Multimedia
Twentieth Century Fox
Walt Disney Pictures
mcklain escribió:¿Hablamos de formatos, hablamos de reproductores o de que demonios hablamos?