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Warner Brothers to Back Blu-Ray Exclusively
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:06 pm
by Digital Puppy
WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT TO RELEASE ITS HIGH-DEFINITION DVD TITLES EXCLUSIVELY IN THE BLU-RAY DISC FORMAT BEGINNING LATER THIS YEAR
Decision Made in Response to Strong Consumer Preference for Format
(January 4, 2008 - Burbank, CA) - In response to consumer demand, Warner Bros. Entertainment will release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group.
"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."
Warner Home Video will continue to release its titles in standard DVD format and Blu-ray. After a short window following their standard DVD and Blu-ray releases, all new titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until the end of May 2008.
"Warner Bros. has produced in both high-definition formats in an effort to provide consumer choice, foster mainstream adoption and drive down hardware prices," said Jeff Bewkes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner Inc., the parent company of Warner Bros. Entertainment. "Today’s decision by Warner Bros. to distribute in a single format comes at the right time and is the best decision both for consumers and Time Warner."
"A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption and becoming the important revenue stream that it can be for the industry," said Tsujihara. "Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience. Warner Bros. has worked very closely with the Toshiba Corporation in promoting high definition media and we have enormous respect for their efforts. We look forward to working with them on other projects in the future."
Re: Warner Brothers to Back Blu-Ray Exclusively
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 1:24 pm
by Apoptosis
that sucks...
Re: Warner Brothers to Back Blu-Ray Exclusively
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:38 pm
by top
Apoptosis wrote:that sucks...
Why you say that? I've done a little research(From reading information from Wikipedia) on the war with HD and Blue Ray and I'm for Blue Ray. The only disadvantage is the thinner layer to protect the data. Blue Ray holds more data anyway... but I want to hear what you think about it.
Re: Warner Brothers to Back Blu-Ray Exclusively
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 3:09 pm
by T-Shirt
based on what they said a few weeks ago, I thought they might go HD-DVD only.........but
at least they made a CHOICE (for now anyway

)
The whole 2 format/exclusive player deal was hurting both types, and most consumers, not wanting to guess wrong on the winner, bought neither.
Re: Warner Brothers to Back Blu-Ray Exclusively
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 4:48 pm
by FZ1
New Line is following Warner as well. Speculation is the Universal will do the same before long and then it's bye bye HD-DVD. Damn, I hate Sony. The only good news is that we finally be getting to one format.
Re: Warner Brothers to Back Blu-Ray Exclusively
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 5:15 pm
by top
BUMP! I'm confused on the deal with people's disappointment on WB's decision!
Re: Warner Brothers to Back Blu-Ray Exclusively
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 6:06 pm
by camaroguy1998
No. 1. HD DVD is less expensive! (Players)
No. 2. BluRay players are Anti Piracy upgradeable through the internet.(IMHO DRM Sucks!)
No. 3. I, like Apoptosis already own HD DVD players! Money already spent on the losing side.
I have read that MS is backing HD DVD because they want BluRay to lose. My understanding is MS believes HD DVD will also fail because of piracy issues. Rumor has it MS plans to offer a movie download service in the future which will benefit from a long drawn out war between HD DVD and BluRay. This war will cause consumers to become disenchanted with both and MS will have an advantage in the future movie business. (
That last statement is partially my opinion!)
Re: Warner Brothers to Back Blu-Ray Exclusively
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 7:04 pm
by Apoptosis
top wrote:BUMP! I'm confused on the deal with people's disappointment on WB's decision!
Because I have 2 HD DVD players and a small collection going, so all these companies mean I picked the wrong player to invest in. I bought my first HD DVD player nearly 9 months ago though.
Re: Warner Brothers to Back Blu-Ray Exclusively
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 7:08 pm
by Apoptosis
FZ1 wrote:New Line is following Warner as well. Speculation is the Universal will do the same before long and then it's bye bye HD-DVD. Damn, I hate Sony. The only good news is that we finally be getting to one format.
Also don't forget that HBO is also part of Warner/New Line, so I'm guessing when the dust settles all the companies will do the same as the parent company...
Re: Warner Brothers to Back Blu-Ray Exclusively
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 9:44 pm
by top
camaroguy1998 wrote:No. 2. BluRay players are Anti Piracy upgradeable through the internet.(IMHO DRM Sucks!)
The firmware has a DRM? Does this install when you plug the drive into your system? Is the player supposed to be hack free with this?
Apoptosis wrote:Because I have 2 HD DVD players and a small collection going, so all these companies mean I picked the wrong player to invest in. I bought my first HD DVD player nearly 9 months ago though.
I understand.
I'll also point out that Blue Ray holds 66% more data than an HD DVD. I thought the choice would of been obvious!
Re: Warner Brothers to Back Blu-Ray Exclusively
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 11:39 pm
by Apoptosis
top wrote:camaroguy1998 wrote:No. 2. BluRay players are Anti Piracy upgradeable through the internet.(IMHO DRM Sucks!)
The firmware has a DRM? Does this install when you plug the drive into your system? Is the player supposed to be hack free with this?
Apoptosis wrote:Because I have 2 HD DVD players and a small collection going, so all these companies mean I picked the wrong player to invest in. I bought my first HD DVD player nearly 9 months ago though.
I understand.
I'll also point out that Blue Ray holds 66% more data than an HD DVD. I thought the choice would of been obvious!
Well, since most americans buy the cheapest stuff out there and go to walmart I figured HD DVD would win and to be honest they have. HD DVD has out sold Blu-Ray 3 to 1 when it comes to stand alone players.... I only have about 12 HD DVD's, so I'm not that far in the hole, but it still sucks. I think dual-format players will be out and affordable in the years to come, so hopefully I don't have 12 discs that will do nothing in a few years.
Re: Warner Brothers to Back Blu-Ray Exclusively
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:37 pm
by InspectahACE
it blows in my opinion Warner has a buttload of movies i like(like we all do)and they are just being as dumb as alot of customer's i helped when i was in retail..people are only buying blu-ray because it's Sony.thats one thing i noticed when i worked retail.. Sony this..Sony that.....luckily i have both players on my rig so im spoiled(by my own hard work and money of course)..storage capacity doesn't really matter..its gonna take at least 45 minutes to burn the bastard anyway on either format..i like both formats..i think hd-dvd has an advantage quality wise but is getting sheisted(I LOVE SONY!...then i smack the customer)...only other difference that ive noticed is that not every blu-ray movie has tru-hd dolby digital sound..where as all of my hd-dvd's do..i doubt its a big thing since i never noticed a difference on that front(i really don't care)..hell...with all this drama on what's better..newegg has a combo blu-ray/hd-dvd for $299 thats also a DVD burner that will solve all problems and all that money wasted on the single drives so all that extra money can go to movies....beats spendin $500 on one blu-ray burner and only gettin 1 movies...or none..by the way(if anyone wants to know)...just a blu-ray drive(not burner) is only $190 on new egg too if u already have a hd-dvd shtick goin..im sure people alerady knew but thought id toss that around..either way.. i think Warner's decision isn't that good..i mean....what about the people who have hd-dvd players, but haven't gotten The Matrix yet? lol...i don't wanna be them..specially if they run of the movie in that format after the "move"
Re: Warner Brothers to Back Blu-Ray Exclusively
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 1:43 pm
by Digital Puppy
Re: Warner Brothers to Back Blu-Ray Exclusively
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 11:29 pm
by top
Apoptosis wrote:Well, since most americans buy the cheapest stuff out there and go to walmart I figured HD DVD would win and to be honest they have. HD DVD has out sold Blu-Ray 3 to 1 when it comes to stand alone players.... I only have about 12 HD DVD's, so I'm not that far in the hole, but it still sucks. I think dual-format players will be out and affordable in the years to come, so hopefully I don't have 12 discs that will do nothing in a few years.
After thinking about the fact that both media's use the exact same audio/video codecs, HD DVD does come to win overall. The only benefit to Blue ray is the capacity which will conclude to longer movies or TV series being able to fit on fewer discs. What I was hoping for was that Blue Ray movies would be a better quality (Since it's definitely capable of it).
Since there is a war between the two formats, I haven't purchased neither of them. I'm going to wait til one of the formats stops production and get the successor. Another reason would be to get the player that will sell the old sci-fi movies!