Uni promises all HD DVD titles will connect
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business,07/18/2007
JULY 18 | LAS VEGAS—Universal Studios Home Entertainment is adamant about exclusively offering HD DVD titles, despite protests by enthusiasts during the Home Media Expo here that the studio should work to end the high-definition format war.
Starting with the first season release of Heroes on HD DVD on Aug. 28, all new releases in the format from Universal will contain Web-enabled features. The interactivity is intended to underscore HD DVD advantages over Blu-ray Disc, whose studio backers have not yet started offering Web-enabled Blu-ray titles. Most available Blu-ray players do not feature Internet connectivity.
With Heroes, consumers who buy the HD DVD will be immersed in the show’s official Web site, but officials declined to share details, which will be publicly announced during an NBC-Universal session at Comic-Con in San Diego, Calif., later this month.
“We are targeting the MySpace generation,” said Ken Graffeo, Universal executive VP of marketing and head of high-definition. “We are developing that same community. With Heroes, producer Tim Kring is very involved in letting HD DVD users exclusively participate in the Heroes community.”
Blu-ray players “don’t have the consistency in their machines to be able to handle this,” Graffeo added.
During a Wednesday session for Home Theater Forum members, Microsoft HD DVD evangelist Kevin Collins gave Home Theater Forum members the first public look at Heroes scenes and showed off some included picture-in-picture interactivity, another feature not yet offered on Blu-ray discs.
During a Q&A session with Collins later in the day, HTF members seemed grateful to hear about the format’s plans. But many still seemed angry over Universal’s HD DVD-only decision.
“I have Blu-ray. When are you going to go Blu-ray?” asked exasperated HTF member Dan Deganis, who recently purchased a Blu-ray-capable PlayStation 3.
Graffeo, Collins and other panelists acknowledged that PS3 owners far outweigh HD DVD player owners. But they argued that Toshiba and Hewlett-Packard are soon releasing a slew of HD DVD drives for notebooks and PCs.
“I don’t watch movies on my computer,” shot back Deganis, which was met with cheers from the audience.
Digital Bits Web site founder Bill Hunt told the panelists about a family friend who bought a Toshiba player quickly after the company reduced prices to $299. The machine was just as quickly returned to the store after the friend’s wife mistakenly bought Blu-ray titles Ice Age and Pirates of the Caribbean, not realizing they were incompatible with the new player.
“The average consumer is just sitting out on the sidelines,” said Hunt, adding that a lot of people are enjoying the advanced quality on upscaling DVD players, not feeling it’s necessary to also buy true high-def players. “How can this ever be a mass market?”
Digital Bits Web site founder Bill Hunt and HTF members also questioned Universal’s and Microsoft’s stance that interactivity gives HD DVD a serious leg up over Blu-ray.
With picture-in-picture, HTF’s Sam Posten bemoaned the complexity, saying “I can’t even explain this stuff to my mom. It makes it harder to get to the actual [film] feature. Who is going to sit through a movie three times to hopefully see a bug in the corner of the screen?”
Hunt chimed in, “And who is to say that a year from now, Blu-ray won’t be able to add these things anyway?”
Graffeo consistently defended Universal’s position, pointing out that outside of the U.S., HD DVD is far more pervasive than Blu-ray. Some Blu-ray studios do not have the international distribution rights to titles, which then are delivered by indie companies to non-U.S. retailers. Many of these indies, including Studio Canal, are choosing to produce in the cheaper-to-replicate HD DVD format.
“In Europe, 80% of the high-def content is HD vs. Blu-ray,” said Graffeo. “We need to look at this business on a global basis.”
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| Submitted by: | Bazz McBazzito (spambillbo@gmail.com) 7/27/2007 3:56:20 PM PT |
| Location: | SF Bay Area |
| Occupation: | Nunya |
Nah, then Blew-Ray wouldn''t have a hope in hell. HD-DVD has WAY more features, less than half the price, more compatability with DVD, uses same maufacturing plants, the only thing they have (at the moment) is a bunch of ps3 with built-in players skewing the sales figures. I mean, look in any Best Buy or Circuit City catalog, the HD players cost less than half the Blu Ray, not to even mention the Java incompatabilities in BR, the PIP and Internet features in HD etc......who in their right mind would buy a BR??? Sony must be pushing a huge amount of PAYOLA...and the fact that they own a movie studio makes it stink to high-heaven.
Good for you Universal, screw ''em!!
| Submitted by: | Bjorn Karlsson 7/19/2007 12:50:04 PM PT |
| Location: | L.A. |
| Occupation: | Programmer |
I don't know where some people get the idea that the format war is a good thing?! Prices will always come down, it did for DVD so why wouldn't it for Blu-ray?? It's all about the age-old supply & demand, if consumers don't want to pay $xxx, the price will go down. Just take the recent PS3 as a perfect example.
The format war will only make the (possible) transition to hi-def take longer and harder. As long as there are two formats out there, most people WILL NOT buy any of them. I know I wouldn't... I bought a PS3, but then again I can always use that for games, regardless of the format war outcome.
| Submitted by: | MILT R SMITH 7/19/2007 12:37:47 PM PT |
| Location: | Los Angeles |
| Occupation: | Retired |
Regardless whether you are a BluRay
or HD-DVD supporter, or don't care
who wins(like me), this competition
has been a boon to the consumer, quite
contrary to Bill 'The Shill' Hunt's
assertions. Player costs have dropped
DRAMATICALLY because of the battle.
Anyone who thinks this would have
happened absent such competition
is either a liar or fool.
| Submitted by: | Chest Rockwell (chest@rockwell.com) 7/19/2007 7:11:15 AM PT |
Bill Hunt and those other are courted by Blu Ray. I don''''t know if Blu pays them, I wouldn''''t doubt it. I do know that Blu threw a party exclusively for them.
It''''s all a set up. These people do not represent the general public. It would be the same thing if a HD DVD heckler crashed a Blu Ray confrence demanding Sony support HD DVD and a group of his buddies cheered him on.
Funny how HD DVD will let anyone in, but Blu Ray will only let their strongest supporters in.
| Submitted by: | Peter A 7/19/2007 2:09:52 AM PT |
Why aren't people harassing Disney, Fox & Lionsgate to put movies out on HD DVD??? I don't really care, since I own both formats, but this BDA propaganda machinery really irritates me. Furthermore Bill Hunt is, as been said previously, a joke. I used to respect him. Now I don't even go there anymore, since he is obviously to biased. I want fair, unbiased commentary. If I liked the fanboy-isms, I'd just log into a PS3 forum and read what the kiddies how never saw a movie produced before 1998 has to say...
| Submitted by: | Tony Carps 7/19/2007 12:24:22 AM PT |
| Location: | sydney |
Bill hunt is nothing but a Joke.I mean really the man does not have a brain.He likes blu-ray becuse everything downstairs is blue!
| Submitted by: | Jack Panzer 7/18/2007 9:49:02 PM PT |
| Location: | West Virgina |
“In Europe, 80% of the high-def content is HD vs. Blu-ray,” said Graffeo. “We need to look at this business on a global basis.” as every good HD fanboy with their own decoder ring all ready knows is code word for '80% percent of the US Bluray exclusives are available HD free Europe, no regions to sop you.' lol
| Submitted by: | Jack Panzer 7/18/2007 9:04:16 PM PT |
| Location: | West Virgina |
Bill Hunt asking about Blu-ray support is no surprise since he actively endorsed it.
Never heard of Dan Deganis, he may be legit. However I smell more Sony skulduggery, with what seems like a concerted effort starting this week to start a propaganda campaign to coerce Universal to the BluSide.
Why not ask Sony to make Xbox 306 games while you''re at it.
If Bluray is a strong as they claim why worry over it?
Truthful neither HD-DVD nor Bluray sales are worth switching sides over. Although Paramount and WB are the only one''s raking it in, by selling arms, er, um, I mean disks to both sides.
How''bout a truce, all of the formats supported by everybody and let the consumer decide. No? Too risky?
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