Gizmodo: Format War

State of The Infinite Format War: Get Ready for Five Long Years of Set-Top Battle Royale

matt buchanan — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:00:00 EDT

One year ago, we predicted that the infinite format war would rise from the ashes of the HD DVD/Blu-ray format war—that a million online services and set-top boxes would suddenly promise to deliver movies and video to your computer or TV. And that each one would essentially be their own format, since none of them are compatible, and each would promise only a fraction of available movies. We were right about our fears, but we also have a solution to a decent download collection.

Today, as new boxes and services are announced, there has yet to appear one that can give you every movie, let alone a single format you can use on your various everyday devices. Thankfully, what we're hearing now is that while this infinite format war may not go on forever, the state of video will suck for the next five years until every service has the same baseline catalog. If you believe the studios. In the meantime, you'll be looking for the set-top box with the best catalog, and the one that can deliver you your films in the best way possible.

If you thought the HD DVD/Blu-ray split was bad, at least there was an easy order to it, an alignment by studios. Warner, Universal and Paramount were on HD DVD, everyone else (plus Warner) put their movies on Blu-ray. Sure, no Big Lebowski on Blu-ray, but at least you knew why. There is nothing even approaching logic when it comes to the movie options from VOD set-top box to the next, at least not from the user perspective. Warner Bros. put out Ocean's Thirteen. You can watch it on Vudu and Amazon Unbox, but not iTunes. Warner also put out I Am Legend, which is on all three, and Xbox Live Marketplace. Paramount's Shooter is on all three, but only for purchase, not rental (and totally MIA from Xbox). And you could rent Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille a few months ago, but now it's only for purchase. "WTF?" is a natural response. (On a side note, it's a bitch to really search or go through any of the catalogs, so it's even harder to tell if it's an accidental or intentional roadblock.)

To explain our current clusterfuck, you need a quick trip back to 1999. Remember the state of digital music back then? It was messy and ugly. The music industry had no idea what to do with this whole internet thing, and they were involved in assorted, competing ventures. Then along came iTunes, which basically organized the music universe and, to the chagrin of the RIAA, set up a sane pricing structure, too. It's not a complete catalog of all music ever (Beatles, hello?), but it's the closest thing there is, and it's pretty damn good. It brought order to the chaos, and now claims 85 percent of the legal download market. So it has the music industry by the balls, enough to speed their efforts to fortify a worthy number 2—Amazon, which was the first store to boast a catalog exclusively made up of DRM-free music from all four majors as a result, a perk deliberately withheld from iTunes to curb its power.

We're basically at that same, nebulous 1999 point with video, though Hollywood has learned from the music industry's mistakes—and iTunes is not the guaranteed champion in the case of online movie sales. The industry is eagerly putting stuff out there, and on as many services as it can—we're at the point now that most of the major studios release movies on online services on the same day they release them on disc.

A problem gumming up our dream of the one box is that each service requires a different format—one studio told us that a big issue is digitizing and formatting a film to meet each service's specs. It just takes time, though they're going as fast as they can. And new releases are gonna take priority, obviously. We are at least a little skeptical of this claim—we don't think it takes that long to digitize a flick

From what we were told, there's surprisingly little worry of a single company dominating digital distribution. A studio we talked to said that it's all so new, the fear of a monopoly (by Apple or otherwise) is at worst simply a thought skulking around in the back of their mind, not an actual concern. So no service is getting any favors to promote one over the other, or keep another in check. (At least not yet, though Blu-ray-happy Sony may well have the most incentive to keep the online space anemic.) Again, here, we're a little suspicious—obviously they wouldn't come right out and tell us they're afraid of iTunes, but when you look at the measly catalog and consider the studios' close study of how the music industry complete botched online music, the idea of Apple becoming the single biggest distributor of most digital media and holding serious sway over the entire entertainment industry has to weigh on their minds.

I mean, if you were in their shoes, and could prevent making iTunes into the all-powerful Walmart of the digital video generation, wouldn't you?

The one bit of protectionism going on that was copped to is the push to purchase, rather than rent. It makes sense that a studio gets more money when you buy a movie than rent it, since it's the same set of bits headed to your hard drive, and both are guaranteed you'll watch the movie at least once, but one costs three to four times as much as the other. So you are going to see a lot of them not open a flick up to online rentals until a month after it's available for purchase, and even see rental options disappear, as recently happened across the board with Pixar movies.

Ultimately, and somewhat shockingly, Hollywood does have the same vision we do—a single god box that'll deliver the entire catalogs of all the studios. Only, unlike in the iTunes hegemony, every home could have a different god box, be it Xbox, TiVo, Vudu or Roku.

Forgive the buried service journalism. Enough of this theoretical talk. So, what does it take to get a decent download collection? Until the god box, you will need several, two at least. Right now, Vudu is good for latest and greatest plus some older favorites; Netflix Roku has better TV options and some interesting deep cuts (plus a $99 box price and unlimited streaming for 10,000 so-so titles for any plan over $9 with discs by mail as a backup); Xbox 360 has a surprisingly large amount of HD movies, and a nice catalog geared towards the gaming demographic; Apple TV has its own legion of fans for its ability to move movies to iPods and computers, though it still has a lot to prove in the catalog section. That's not even counting the TiVo with Amazon Unbox or the cable box you likely already have, each with their own assorted VOD options. Even if you owned all of 'em, you still might not find what you want, even if it's something that should be slapping you in the face. Take Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, for instance. We could not legally find it on any service, even though the sequel hit theaters just a few weeks ago—and got a surprisingly good buzz from usually snooty critics. Did Warner miss the perfect opportunity? They wouldn't say.

The other major issue is the state of broadband and the guys controlling the pipes. For the online video revolution to fully take off in HD, we need bigger pipes. For most people, that's years away. This is deeply threatening to the cable companies, and they're pretty clear that they're not happy about content moving online—you can see the fear in the recent moves to limit all kinds of data consumption (most of which is already video), not just the supposed protocol of pirates. What if limits or overage charges were put in place for people who were simply doing their best to buy copyrighted video? Why would someone give up DVD and Blu-ray rentals from Netflix in order to pay twice—for both the bandwidth and the content—and have to wait somewhat impatiently for the download, too?

So friends, while all of this gets ironed out, the infinite format war rages on: Lots of boxes, lots of online services, none of them complete, none of them that'll fully satisfy your wife's desire to rid the shelves of DVDs. Hollywood just can't move fast enough for this revolution, as arguably eager as it is, and the ISPs may not clear the way when the show does get on the road. From what we can tell, the stuff will all get sorted out in time. How much time? Give it five more years. If you believe the studios. [Insert groan of impatience here.]

Over Half of HDTV Owners Still Don't Know What Blu-ray Is

matt buchanan — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:00:00 EDT

NPD's latest survey of consumer awareness about Blu-ray tries to cheerlead, with the headline, "Consumer Awareness and Potential for Blu-ray Disc Devices Rising." But then you read the results—45 percent of HDTV owners are now "familiar with Blu-ray," up from 35 percent the same time last year. That means over half of HDTV owners—not regular people with standard def TVs, we're talking the leading chunk of consumers that should be well aware of Blu-ray—still don't know what it is. That's horrendous.

And only 9 percent of HDTV owners plan to buy Blu-ray. Nine percent of a minority, for 4 million "potential buyers." That's not the makings of a dominant format. The survey results are from March, so things might be slightly better now, but given the past rate of growth—10 percent over the last year—likely not too much. Also this does conflict with an earlier poll stating that 60 percent of US consumers are "aware" of Blu-ray, but recognizing the name and knowing what it is are two different things.

Still, no wonder the Blu camp put off that victory party—they've still got a lot of work to do. I think I'm going to go sip gin and tonics with DVD by the pool.

Jun 03, 2008 09:15

The NPD Group: Consumer Awareness and Potential for Blu-ray Disc Devices Rising

Challenges Still Remain for Consumer Adoption of Next-Generation DVD Players and Content
PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. —(Business Wire)— Jun. 3, 2008 According to The NPD Group, a leading market research company, 45 percent of HDTV owners in the U.S. now claim to be familiar with Blu-ray Disc (BD), up from 35 percent in June 2007. And, while only 6 percent of all consumers surveyed said they plan to purchase a BD device, NPD found purchase intent to be higher among the growing population of HDTV owners, boding well for the future of the format.

NPD's "2008 Blu-ray Disc Report" reveals that 9 percent of HDTV owners plan to buy a BD-capable player in the next six months. "With HDTVs now in approximately 40 million US households, that percentage translates to a pool of almost 4 million potential BD player buyers," according to Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for NPD.

Nevertheless, manufacturers still face challenges. Although HD-DVD is no longer a competitive threat, many consumers are content with standard-definition DVD players and content. The leading reasons cited as barriers to purchase were a perceived high cost of BD players and a belief that standard-definition DVD is "good enough."

Blu-ray Content Opportunities

Consumers who purchased a BD set-top player cited "leading-edge technology" and a "superior viewing experience" as primary reasons for making the purchase. And they indicated a clear preference for BD content. In fact current BD set-top player owners expect that 80 percent of their upcoming purchases will be in BD rather than standard DVD. By comparison, 43 percent of PS3 owners use the BD capability in their consoles at least once a month; however, they do not view BD movies as often as set-top device owners do.

"The door is open for studios to feed the consumer's appetite for Blu-ray content, and we expect sales to increase, as prices for hardware and software moderate in the coming months," Crupnick said. "Even so it will take a concerted effort by manufacturers and retailers to ratchet awareness even further and convince all of those potential buyers of the superiority of Blu-ray Disc versus standard DVD."

Data note: Data was collected via online survey, which was fielded between March 10 and March 20, 2008. Final data for the nationally representative sample was weighted to represent the U.S. population of individuals age 18 and older.

About The NPD Group, Inc.

The NPD Group is the leading provider of reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Today, more than 1,600 manufacturers, retailers, and service companies rely on NPD to help them drive critical business decisions at the global, national, and local market levels. NPD helps our clients to identify new business opportunities and guide product development, marketing, sales, merchandising, and other functions. Information is available for the following industry sectors: automotive, beauty, commercial technology, consumer technology, entertainment, fashion, food and beverage, food service, home, office supplies, software, sports, toys, and wireless. For more information, contact us or visit http://www.npd.com/.

[VPO]

Netflix: Rental-by-Mail Has Five Years Left (Subtext: Discs Have Five Years Left)

matt buchanan — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:10:00 EDT

At Netflix Investor Day, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings revealed their timeline for the end of the rental-by-mail biz, and why they're digging so hard into digital distribution: It "will probably peak in the next five years." Taken more broadly, it's more or less predicting that the real end of physical media is in T minus five years—'cause presumably, as long there are discs, Netflix's model assumes you'll get 'em from Netflix. While the end of physical media has been predicted lotsa times, it's rare that a company puts a death sentence on its core business, so this isn't the cheap willy-nilly futurism we're used to gagging on. [Reuters via Alley Insider]

LG Kills Blu-ray/HD DVD Hybrid Player

matt buchanan — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:19:05 EDT

LG will stop swinging both ways with HD formats this fall, when it ceases production on its Blu-ray/HD DVD combo player. (Samsung's is already dead.) I'm just kind of amazed an already dead format manages to keep getting deader. [DVD Town]

HD DVD's Death Hasn't Helped Blu-ray Sales, Which Are So Bad NPD Won't Talk About 'Em

matt buchanan — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:30:00 EDT

You guys have apparently been listening to our warnings about not jumping into the Blu pool just yet. NPD says that even after HD DVD stopping peeing in it and lied down to die, not only have Blu-ray sales have only jumped a meager two percent (after falling 40 percent from Jan.), but they're so bad, they won't even release the actual numbers. NPD pegs price as one major factor, with the wait for BD-Live players as another. Course, it's more likely the deeply feared DVD problem: For most people, it's still good enough. [Yahoo, NYT]

Paramount's First Blu-ray Flicks Hit May 20, Will Blow Your Face/Off (Sorta)

matt buchanan — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:13:19 EDT

Even though Paramount has taken longer to announce their Blu-ray slate than the other former HD DVD lackey, they're getting 'em out the door quicker, surprisingly. The first three BDs (I hate the acronym, but let's go ahead and digest it) from Paramount arrive May 20: Face/Off (yes!), Bee Movie and Next. Then it gets kinda sparse, with intermittent releases through the rest of the summer, though its first simultaneous new release w/ DVD will be The Spiderwick Chronicles on June 24. Not the hot roster I was looking for (Woo's opus excepted), but at least the Blu ball for every major studio is finally rolling. Update: We just did one better and got Paramount's press release with the full list (which confirms HR's report), check it out below.

PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT'S FANTASTICAL HIT THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES LAUNCHES DAY-AND-DATE WORLDWIDE ON BLU-RAY
There Will Be Blood, Cloverfield, Bee Movie, Face/Off and Next
Also Released in Time for Memorial Day and Father's Day;

Focus Remains On Immersive High-Def Home Entertainment Experiences

LOS ANGELES (April 30, 2008) - Paramount Home Entertainment (PHE), a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA), today announced its first day-and-date Blu-ray release, The Spiderwick Chronicles on June 24 and rolling out in key international markets beginning in July. Continuing its commitment to offer the best possible movie experiences for consumers, the studio will deliver the highest quality picture, sound and special features available with these upcoming Blu-ray releases. In the U.S., There Will Be Blood, Cloverfield, Bee Movie, Face/Off and Next will begin arriving May 20 to capitalize on Memorial Day and Father's Day. Internationally, The Spiderwick Chronicles will be followed by Cloverfield and the AcademyÒ award-winner for Best Picture, No Country for Old Men beginning in August.

"Paramount Home Entertainment continues to focus on the consumer and to explore avenues that allow fans to get more out of their home entertainment experience," said Kelley Avery, President of Worldwide Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures. "We will have a strong slate of titles for Blu-ray release throughout the year worldwide and are enthusiastic about expanding the format's offerings for a broad consumer audience while delivering an experience that goes beyond what viewers love about DVD."

The Spiderwick Chronicles launches PHE's day-and-date new release strategy. Based on the best-selling series of books, The Spiderwick Chronicles takes viewers on a fantastical journey into the unseen world all around us and the Blu-ray disc will include behind-the-scenes featurettes, an exploration of the Spiderwick world, an exclusive peek inside Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide and much more.

PHE's 2008 Blu-ray titles debut on May 20 in the U.S. with two sensational action-adventures: a Special Collector's Edition of Face/Off, the mind-blowing crime-drama starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, with special features such as multiple commentaries, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, the Making Of Face/Off and more; and the sci-fi thriller Next, which stars Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore and Jessica Biel in an adaptation of a Philip K. Dick story. The Next Blu-ray includes a Making Of featurette, "Visualizing the Next Move," "The Next Grand Idea" and "Two Minutes in the Future with Jessica Biel."

DreamWorks Animation's smash hit Bee Movie also will buzz onto Blu-ray on May 20. The hilarious animated adventure from renowned comedian Jerry Seinfeld took audiences by swarm and earned approximately $287 million in worldwide box office. The Bee Movie Blu-ray features a wealth of bonus materials including "Barry's Trivia Track" with fun pop-up trivia, changeable menus, a Build-A-Bee feature to allow viewers to create their own avatar, lost scenes, alternate endings and much, much more.

Following the initial wave of titles, Producer J.J. Abrams' monster hit, Cloverfield, arrives on Blu-ray on June 3. Earning over $166 million in worldwide box office to date, Cloverfield thrilled critics and audiences alike with its shocking, first-person video account of a horrifying attack on Manhattan by an unknown—and seemingly unstoppable—force. The Cloverfield Blu-ray will include an exclusive feature-length "Special Investigation Mode" with added details about the film. Additional features include a director commentary, Making Of featurettes, deleted scenes, alternate endings with commentary and more.

Director Paul Thomas Anderson's critically-acclaimed epic There Will Be Blood also arrives on Blu-ray June 3. The film was named by more than 200 critics as one of the top 10 movies of 2007 and stars Academy Award®, Golden Globe® and SAG Award® winner Daniel Day-Lewis. The Blu-ray features a slideshow of vintage photos selected by the director and set to the unforgettable score by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, deleted scenes, a featurette on dailies and more.

[Hollywood Reporter, Thanks Gabriel and Tipster]

HD DVD Fallout: Nukes 95 Percent of Toshiba's Profits

matt buchanan — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:51:53 EDT

"Toshiba Corp. said its profit plummeted 95 percent in the January-March quarter due to costs of its exit from next-generation video HD DVD business." $12 million profit, down from $251.57 million last year. Ouchies. [AP]

Microsoft: Your Xbox 360 HD DVD Player Is Still Awesome

matt buchanan — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:50:00 EDT

Game Daily had a chat with Microsoft Game Studios VP Shane Kim about the Xbox 360, and one of the topics that came up was the defunct (but cheap!) HD DVD player, which you might still be tempted to eBay for $1.25. But you shouldn't! Kim effuses sentimentally about why you should hang it onto it, which is odd considering how nonchalantly other Microsoft execs have been brushing it off:

While it is unfortunate that HD DVD was discontinued, there is still enjoyment to be had from your Xbox 360 HD DVD Player. You can take this as an opportunity to build out your movie collection! There are around 500 HD DVD movies to choose from and many at great deals, so there is a fair amount of content for HD DVD on the market. It also is a terrific DVD player and it allows you to have game discs and movie discs, whether HD DVD or DVD, within the console at one time.

Besides, you still need it for The Big Lebowski in HD. But Amazon's probably the last HD DVD deal bastion since everyone else is mostly cleared out. [Game Daily via videogaming247 via Kotaku]

First Universal Blu-ray Discs Hit July 22, But Where's The Big Lebowski?

matt buchanan — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:50:00 EDT

Five months after converting to Blu-ray, former HD DVD diehard Universal will finally release its first Blu discs: The Mummy trio on July 22. The Mummy was already on HD DVD, so they're firing off re-releases from the get-go. All told, Universal plans to drop about 40 discs by the end of the year. Appropriately starting with Doomsday, all new flicks will go out on Blu, with a smattering of older movies like Knocked Up. But no sight of the The Big Lebowski in the release, which is the only Universal flick we really care about. Okay, there are some other cool releases coming up, like Heroes: Season 2, The Incredible Hulk (hopefully not shitty) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

NEWS RELEASE
UNIVERSAL UNVEILS INAUGURAL SLATE OF

FILM AND TV OFFERINGS COMING TO

BLU-RAY™ DISC DAY AND DATE WITH DVD

"Heroes: Season Two" Will Mark the Studio's First Global Event Release

Lineup to Include Summer 2008's Most Anticipated Films From Universal Pictures:

THE INCREDIBLE HULK, Wanted, Hellboy II: The Golden Army,

Mamma Mia! and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,

As Well as Some of the Studio's Other Biggest Titles

Universal City, California, April 17, 2008—Universal Studios Home Entertainment revealed its initial lineup of film and television properties arriving later this year on Blu-ray™ Disc, day and date with DVD, it was announced today by Craig Kornblau, President, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures Digital Platforms. Marking the rollout of the studio's first global release on Blu-ray™ will be the "Heroes: Season Two," which will debut beginning August 26, 2008.

The highly anticipated premier of the sophomore season of NBC's "Heroes" will be buoyed by the simultaneous debut of "Heroes Season One" on Blu-ray™ . Later in the year and in time for the holidays, five of the year's most promising feature films will arrive in high definition: THE INCREDIBLE HULK, the action-packed new chapter of one of the most popular Super Hero sagas of all time that stars Edward Norton, William Hurt and Liv Tyler; Wanted, the action-thriller from stunning visualist director Timur Bekmambetov that stars Morgan Freeman, James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie; Hellboy II: The Golden Army, the epic vision of imagination from acclaimed director Guillermo del Toro; Mamma Mia!, the musical romantic comedy in which Meryl Streep leads an all-star cast in the adaptation of the beloved musical; and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, the next installment in The Mummy franchise in which Jet Li, Maria Bello, Michelle Yeoh and newcomer Luke Ford join the returning Brendan Fraser and John Hannah for a supernatural adventure that shifts the series to the Far East.

"We're thrilled that our preliminary slate of Blu-ray™ offerings comprises such a brilliant collection of high-def centric fare," said Mr. Kornblau. "As awareness for Blu-ray™ continues to grow, consumers will learn to rely on the superior quality picture, sound, interactivity and connectivity that only high-definition home entertainment delivers."

The first wave of Universal Blu-ray™ releases, which hits U.S. stores July 22nd, gives fans of The Mummy franchise a chance to relive the iconic blockbuster films' thrilling beginnings in crystal-clear high-definition. The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, starring Brendan Fraser, and the hugely successful action-packed spin-off The Scorpion King, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, all will be released on Blu-ray™ for the first time that day.

The first of Universal's new theatrical Blu-ray™ releases hitting store shelves this summer day and date with its DVD counterpart is the apocalyptic thrill-ride DOOMSDAY, starring Rhona Mitra, Malcolm McDowell and Bob Hoskins. Other titles on deck for 2008 include American Gangster, Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Miami Vice, End of Days, U-571 and Land of the Dead, among others.

Furthering Universal's aggressive rollout of Blu-ray™ product globally, Universal Pictures International Entertainment, the company's international home entertainment arm, is concurrently announcing its initial slate of Blu-ray™ releases for the international marketplace today.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment is a unit of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios (www.universalstudios.com). Universal Studios is a part of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80%-owned by General Electric, with 20% owned by Vivendi.

[Reuters, Universal]

Amazon Handing Out $50 to HD DVD Victims

matt buchanan — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 11:59:17 EDT

Following up Best Buy's $50 pledge to HD DVD victims, Amazon is also doling out a $50 credit to anyone who bought Toshiba's folly before Feb. 23, 2008. Naturally, they're encouraging you to use it on a shiny new Blu-ray player, but you could use it to take advantage of their HD DVD fire sale. Unfortunately, they're not doing trade-ins, so this is all you're gonna get. Check out the email below for all the fine print.

Dear Amazon.com Customer,
As someone who purchased an HD DVD player from us before February 23, 2008,* you might like to hear about a special offer available from Amazon.com.

New technologies don't always work out as planned. We at Amazon.com value our customer relationships more than anything and would like to support customers who purchased these players by offering a credit good for $50 off any products sold by Amazon.com.** Just use promotional code PROMO CODE HERE when checking out. The code is valid through April 9, 2009, so you have plenty of time to use your credit. Purchases from third-party merchants on our site are not eligible.

In addition, we'd like to share some of our top offers on Blu-ray discs, HDTVs and other high-def technology and remind you that the Amazon.com Marketplace is available to sell items you might not want anymore as you upgrade to new ones. Also be sure to check out our monthly Amazon.com Early Adopters Delivers email to find out about the latest technology.

* On February 23, 2008, the last manufacturer of HD DVD players announced it was ceasing production of those players.

** Offer cannot be used to pay for special-order titles, e-books or downloadable e-content, wireless service plans, gift certificates, gift-wrap, taxes, or shipping and handling charges. $50.00 promotional credit is per HD DVD player purchased prior to February 23, 2008—up to 10 units for a maximum credit of $500.00.

[Thanks Andrew]

Wal-Mart Refunding HD DVD Players Bought On or After Nov. 1

matt buchanan — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:40:00 EDT

Wal-Mart is a little late to the HD DVD pity party, finally deciding to offer tokens to suckers who threw in with the dead format. Until April 30, they'll refund any HD DVD player bought after Nov. 1, as long as you've got the original receipt, though you don't need the original packaging.

If you wanna dump your HD DVDs, too, Best Buy will take them off your hands, but don't expect too much scratch for 'em ($2.70 a piece). But, their HD DVD apology offers are the most generous of anyone's (to make up for usually reaming you?), so for change, we actually hope you bought your HD DVD goods there. [WSJ]

HD DVD Officially No Longer Exists

matt buchanan — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:16:00 EDT

The HD DVD Promo group was dissolved today, its ashes scattered on the Island of Dead Formats. After a moment of silence, make your way to Best Buy to claim your $50 and trade in your obsolete plastic—or soak up the cheap HD goodness—if you haven't already. [HD DVD Promo Group, Thanks Mack!]

Dell Marks End of Format War with $880 Blu-ray-Equipped Inspiron 1525

Wilson Rothman — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:15:10 EDT

Dell is commemorating Blu-ray's victory by offering a Blu-ray playback (not read-write) drive in its cheap, many colored, 15.4" laptop, the Inspiron 1525, and for a decent price. Starting at $880, you can watch BD movies on its screen (at 720p resolution) or send the video to HDTVs via HDMI. In case you're wondering how decent playback would be on a PC with integrated graphics, Dell mentions that it's using a built-in Broadcom Media PC accelerator located in a mini-card slot. See details after the jump.

SUB-$1,000 BLU-RAY LAPTOP NOW AVAILABLE FROM DELL
The wait is over for an affordable, award-winning laptop that offers the richness of Blu-ray high-definition video

March 28, 2008, Round Rock, Texas - The high-definition format wars are over - and you won: Dell customers can now get a Blu-ray laptop for under a $1,000. Available today on dell.com, movie buffs can pick up the Inspiron™ 1525 with optional Blu-ray disc playback starting at $879.

As retailers and video rental companies expand their high-definition offerings, Blu-ray is the new "must-have" technology to help get the most out of your viewing experience.

The award-winning Inspiron 1525 laptop features a 15.4-inch high definition wide aspect display with 720p resolution. It also includes an HDMI port for easy connectivity to high resolution displays and HDTVs.

The Blu-ray player disc drive is fully backwards compatible, and will play as well as burn traditional DVDs and CDs. Consumers can also chose a Blu-ray burner drive, which is great for backing up and storing important files like digital photos, videos, financial records, etc. A Blu-ray disc will hold up to 50 GB of data, vs. 8.5 GB available on the typical DVD disc.

The lightweight Inspiron 1525 is all about self expression, allowing customers to complement their individual style with a laptop that offers designs like Chill, Blossom and Commotion, or a spectrum of vibrant colors, like Sunshine Yellow, Midnight Blue and Ruby Red.

Dell Inspiron 1525 laptops with Blu-ray disc drives incorporate Broadcom Media PC technology that allows PCs with integrated graphics to play high definition video. The high-definition video playback is enabled through a built-in dedicated accelerator located in a mini-card slot.

Like all Dell consumer laptops, the Inspiron 1525 features Dell MediaDirect technology which provides one button instant access to media files, even if the system is powered off or in hibernate. Optional accessories for a great movie watching experience include a slim travel power adapter ($80), Dell travel remote control (IR) that slips into the ExpressCard slot ($22), and Creative noise-isolation earphones ($25). The Inspiron 1525 laptop with Blu-ray is available today in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

[Product Page]

Coming Blu-ray 2.0 Update Makes PS3 Best Player Ever

Wilson Rothman — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 08:48:37 EDT

As expected, the PS3 will become fully Blu-ray 2.0, or BD-Live, compatible with its next major software update, slated for "late March." The functionality will give upcoming movies the ability to go online for downloads—games, ringtones and bonus audio and video. No other Blu-ray player on the market has this capability, and only a few due out this year will, so PS3 is still your best bet, Blu-ray-wise.

The movies themselves will start appearing in April, starting with Sony's own releases, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and The 6th Day. The update also brings new PSP interoperability, such as the ability to move a photo or music playlist from the PS3 to the PSP. All known details are below.

PLAYSTATION(R)3 To Support New Interactive Blu-ray Movie Features (BD-LIVE) With Upcoming System Software Update
PS3(TM) Owners Will Soon Enjoy Downloadable Movie Content, Games And More With Blu-ray Disc(TM) Profile 2.0; PS3's Interoperability With PSP(R) Will Also Be Enhanced

FOSTER CITY, Calif., March 20 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) today announced that the next system software update for PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(TM)) computer entertainment system, slated for release in late March, will add Blu-ray Disc(TM) (BD) Profile 2.0 or BD-LIVE, enabling PS3 owners to experience interactive features, such as downloadable video content, ringtones, games, and more. In addition to BD-LIVE, the system software update (v. 2.20) will enable photo and music playlists on PS3 to be copied to PSP(R)(PlayStation(R)Portable) handheld entertainment system, among other new features. These updates demonstrate how PS3 continues to evolve as a home entertainment hub with the flexibility to deliver the newest technology innovations that benefit PS3
owners.

"With Blu-ray established as the high-definition optical disc standard, more consumers are ready to jump in and take advantage of everything the format offers," said Scott A. Steinberg, vice president, product marketing, SCEA. "Whether you want to download movie extras, send ringtones to your phone, or play interactive games, BD-LIVE will offer exciting new ways to enjoy a Blu-ray movie. With these regular firmware updates and future-proofed technology, SCEA is making the 10-year lifecycle of PS3 possible."

BD Profile 2.0 requires an Internet connection and at least 1GB of local storage. The following features have all been demonstrated as possibilities with BD-Live and will vary by movie title.

— A variety of downloadable content can be offered, including bonus scenes, shorts, trailers, subtitles, ringtones that can be sent to mobile phones, images, and more.
— Interactive movie-based games can pit players who are sitting in the same room, or are across the world and online, against each other.

In conjunction with the PS3 firmware update, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) is pleased to announce two BD-LIVE enabled titles to be released on April 8 - Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and The 6th Day. Both titles will include exclusive downloadable content that goes beyond what is available on the actual Blu-ray discs. These initial releases preview some of the exciting new developments that will soon be available from BD-LIVE on Blu- ray disc.

Beyond BD-LIVE, the new system software update enhances PS3 system's interoperability with PSP system, enabling users to take their favorite music and photo playlists with them on-the-go with their PSP. To copy a playlist, PSP and PS3 must first be connected with a USB cable, and the PSP must be in USB mode. Then, on PS3, select "Copy" in the option menu of each music or photo playlist, and choose PSP as the destination. Now the playlist order, and the songs or photos themselves, will be accessible on the PSP's Memory Stick PRO Duo anytime, anywhere. This new functionality makes it easer than ever to share media content between the two systems.

The following new features will also be included in the system software update.
— "Resume play" will enable PS3 system to start playing a Blu-ray disc and DVD at the point it was stopped, even if the disc had been removed.(*1)
— "Audio Output Device" will be a new Remote Play setting, enabling PSP to serve as a remote control for music played through PS3.
— PS3 system's Internet browser will be enhanced: Video files directly linked from a Web page will be able to be streamed, and the browser's view speed will be improved.
— DivX and WMV format videos that are larger than 2GB will be playable.
— "Mosquito Noise Reduction" will be added as an AV setting in the control panel of the DVD/BD player for improved movie playback.(*2)

*1 BD-J format disc is not supported.
*2 BD discs recorded with BDMV format are not supported.

About PS3 and PSP System Software Updates

PS3 and PSP systems were designed to continually evolve with regular system software updates that deliver new features. There's no additional investment required from consumers, who simply update their systems and can immediately enjoy the benefits of the added functionality. This process lengthens the lifecycle of PS3 and PSP, and consumers no longer have to worry about their hardware becoming outdated or missing out on exciting new capabilities. SCEA will continue to release system software updates on an ongoing basis. For further details and instructions on how to update the PS3 and PSP system software, please visit us.playstation.com.

[PR Newswire via DigitalTrends]

Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too

Wilson Rothman — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 08:43:24 EDT

Apparently, the cost of Best Buy declaring Blu-ray the winner is $10 million—at least, that's how much it plans to give away when it issues a $50 gift card to everyone who bought an HD DVD player or HD DVD Xbox drive before February 23. (So, BB sold at least 200,000 HD DVD players in 2006 and 2007?) And it's not even something you have to fight for: If you are in the Reward Zone program, bought it with a Performance Service Plan or just made the transaction on BestBuy.com, the company will send you a card by May 1. If you paid cash at a store, though, you'll have to dig out that receipt. The company, like its competitor Circuit City, is also offering trade-ins for players and discs, regardless of where you bought them, through BB's online trade-in center. Make the jump for extra details.

Best Buy Stands Behind Customers By Awarding More Than $10 Million in Gift Cards to HD-DVD Purchasers
Leading Consumer Electronics Retailer will Send $50 Gift Cards to Customers Who Purchased an HD-DVD Player from Best Buy in the U.S.

MINNEAPOLIS —(Business Wire)— Mar. 19, 2008 With Blu-ray declaring victory over HD-DVD in the high definition movie format war, Best Buy, the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer, is giving $50 gift cards to customers who purchased an HD-DVD player or HD-DVD attachment from its U.S. stores before February 23, 2008. Customers will get a gift card for each player or HD-DVD attachment that they purchased. Through this program, Best Buy will distribute more than $10 million in gift cards to customers across the country.

"The DVD format war has divided our customers in a way we haven't seen since Betamax took on VHS more than 20 years ago," said Brian J. Dunn, president and chief operating officer for Best Buy. "At Best Buy, we understood and shared our customers' frustrations as they were being asked to choose one format or the other. Now that the format war is over, we hope these gift cards will reassure our customers that we will help them make a smooth transition into the right technology for their needs."

Most Best Buy customers won't have to do anything to receive their gift card. As a demonstration of its commitment to its customers, Best Buy will proactively mail cards to all customers that the company can identify as having purchased an HD-DVD player. Members of the Best Buy Reward Zone program, customers who purchased Performance Service Plans (PSPs) or who made their purchase on BestBuy.com should look for their gift cards in the mail by May 1. Other customers who may not be easily identified can call (888) BEST BUY to receive their gift cards with proof of purchase through a credit card or their Best Buy receipt.

"The beauty of this offer is that it doesn't require our customers to give up their HD-DVD player," said Barry Judge, chief marketing officer for Best Buy. "We know that many people who purchased these players have HD-DVD movies that they would like to continue to watch. We're telling our customers they can keep their players to play these movies as well as their older DVDs and use the $50 to treat themselves to anything else in our stores."

HD-DVD players can actually deliver greatly enhanced video performance with standard DVDs by upconverting the video resolution.

Beginning on March 21, customers who do want to get rid of their HD-DVD players can visit Best Buy's Online Trade-In Center at http://www.bestbuytradein.com. Visitors to the site will receive instant estimates of the value of their HD-DVD players and movies. Those who agree with the estimates can then ship their goods to the Trade-In Center free of charge by downloading a prepaid shipping label and will receive an additional gift card as payment for their trade-in. This service is open to HD-DVD owners regardless of where they bought their player.

For more information visit http://www.bestbuy.com/hddvd.

Batman Begins First HD DVD Movie Rereleased as Blu-ray?

Jason Chen — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:03:48 EDT

Batman Begins will be released in Blu-ray July 8th, making it the first (or one of the first) movies we can recall being rereleased from HD DVD to the not dead format. The disc'll come in a standard and special edition format that includes storyboards, a comic book and $7.50 in movie credit towards Dark Knight, which hits theaters on July 11th. To Warner: Good job picking a movie to flip. [Home Media Magazine via High Def Digest]

Don't Miss the Format War's Bloody Aftermath

Wilson Rothman — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:00:00 EDT

We popped this feature last night, but wanted to remind you so you didn't miss some key explanations:
• Why there won't be a $199 Blu-ray player this year
• Why BD-Live online won't take off quickly
• Why Paramount and Universal's biggest blockbusters will suffer most this year due to the studios' HD DVD alliance
For that and more, read: Whole Blu World: The Format War's Bloody Aftermath

Whole Blu World: The Format War's Bloody Aftermath

matt buchanan — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:00:00 EDT

The format war. It's over. Done. Break out the blue victory hats and Curaçao, right? Wrong. There won't be a Blu-ray victory party. Don't take my word for it? How about Sony Electronics CEO Stan Glasgow's? "From our perspective, the battle really begins now." Now that HD DVD is dispatched, the members of Team Blu-ray can start fighting standard-def DVDs, digital downloads, consumer apathy, the Chinese and—of course—each other. Here's the current state of Blu-ray, post-war edition:

Everybody Hurts
It's been discussed at length how brutal this contest was for Toshiba. But the Blu-ray members in the victory circle are licking some pretty serious wounds, too. Sony basically bet their entire company on the format—plowing over a billion dollars into the PS3 trojan horse, plus, as far as we know, another half billion on largesse for studios to put on Blu's stripes, for starters.

Chris Walker, Pioneer's senior product manager for Blu-ray told us he thought that the format war "affected Blu-ray prices substantially," and that "for a new technology to drop the prices by half within a year of coming out" seriously hurt everyone involved. People are still ready to complain about the relatively high price of Blu-ray players, but they are way lower than the manufacturers had planned, and now they can't recoup the high fixed development costs they would have with higher price tags during the first couple years on the market. DVD players were stratospherically priced for several years.

On the studio side, the drawn-out conflict was sapping both HD disc and DVD sales, as consumers waited for a victor and slowed down DVD purchases in anticipation. Everybody was losing, even the winners. It got so bad that we have reason to believe Sony didn't just urge Best Buy, Netflix and Wal-Mart to go exclusively Blu, but went so far as to ask Toshiba directly to please pull out.

Their pain, you're pay-ing
Point is, a lot of money was spent to hoist Blu-ray onto the winner's pedestal. Why do you care? Because it means manufacturers aren't rushing to drop player prices any further than they have already. Walker admitted the only reason players are as cheap as they are—calling $399 a year after the format's introduction a "bargain"—is because of the format war. Interestingly, Walker also told us that low hardware margins are part of the reason Toshiba mostly stood alone in standalone player production: "Why would Pioneer want to build one when Toshiba was selling them at $150?"

So, while Pioneer promises healthy competition between Blu-ray Disc Association members this year, don't expect it to be too healthy—the big price-killer among them is the PS3, ironically. The major force that drove down DVD-player prices years ago was the flood of cheap Chinese models at Wal-Mart, and the BDA is holding them at bay, refusing to license the tech to low-cost manufacturers for the time being. Piracy is implied as a concern, but the more obvious motive is to keep player prices as high as they can, while they can, to recoup the heavy losses incurred waging the format war in the first place. A $199 player with a Sony name on it is definitely at least a year away.

Spec Wars, SKU Times
We've already told you not to buy a Blu-ray player yet, citing the spec issue—if you buy a player without an Ethernet port, you're screwed when it comes to more updated specifications like BD-Live interactive content and picture-in-picture. But it's actually even crazier than we thought. When we finally see a geniune $199 Blu-ray player, it will more than likely be spec 1.1, so you'll get picture-in-picture, but there won't be any internet-fueled interaction, like that sweet-sounding AVP multiplayer game.

That's right, even after Blu-ray spec 2.0 players finally hit the market, new 1.1 spec players will continue to roll out as well, so the potential for consumer confusion will remain stratospheric. (Everyone should heed Sony CEO Stan Glasgow's own comment: "Any confusion curbs consumer demand.") See, the 2.0 spec is not mandatory for manufacturers, though 1.1 is. Consequently, the cheapest players we will see finally hitting shelves will be 1.1 (though all of Sony's actually will be 2.0 "capable" from here on out). Walker confirms that while he personally "would like to see BD-Live players only," even Pioneer "will be offering both types of players."

The different players will be labeled either "BonusView" or "BD-Live," not 1.1 or 2.0, which is good, because Glasgow doesn't "think consumers are that aware of 1.0, 2.0, whatever." Will they even know the difference between BonusView and BD-Live? Will they understand why a player they buy now won't access features on a disc they buy later, just because Sony says "that's the way it goes in the world"?

Content is ~~King~~ Queen
The spec issue is messy on the content front as well—and we're not just talking about clearly labeled discs. The 2.0 spec being optional on future players makes its feature set all the more frivolous—why spend a lot of money creating features only the richest Blu-ray users—a smaller fraction of an already tiny fraction—can access? For example, while Fox is definitely sporting wood for interactivity, others aren't as excited. Sony Home Entertainment biz dev VP Rich Marty told us it's "just the icing on the cake." Icing not everyone can lick.

On the other hand, things are mostly looking up on the new-release front for Blu—all of the major studios we talked to said that pretty much every major theatrical release will hit the format from here on out. It's the back catalog that's the prob, and it's going to be slow coming by most accounts. Not only will Universal probably take a very long time getting its current 150-disc HD DVD catalog out on Blu-ray, but other studios will most likely double dip, releasing the same movie a second time with better features and perhaps a cleaner transfer, before getting around to some of your favorite old chestnuts.

Speaking of Universal, we're currently looking at a months-long black hole of Universal, Dreamworks and Paramount's releases, thanks to their belated integration (or re-integration) into the Blu-ray fold. Not only will it be late spring or early summer before we see any of their flicks hit Blu, we're hearing that they might have trouble buying dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray discs to produce them on, because the more settled Blu-ray studios have already purchased the entire 2008 stock—not hard to do, thanks to the limited number of replication sites and lower yields. This means that they'll only have access to 25GB discs, which could mean fewer features and lower-quality video and audio.

If you don't think capacity is an issue—necessitating the dual-layer discs— a Disney spokesperson (not to mention Metal Gear guru Hideo Kojima) says otherwise: even 50GB isn't enough. Disney's upcoming Sleeping Beauty Platinum release is going to take up two discs: a 50GB double layer plus another 25GB one. While every release won't be a two-disc monster, the company tells us that "franchises like Pirates of the Caribbean or Narnia...also get similar kind of treatments." It also confirmed that, for the moment, Blu-ray disc replicators are "kinda limited."

The Real Enemy
Truthfully, these are all just minor issues. The biggest problem on Blu-ray's hands? DVD. It's entrenched, it's cheap, and for most people, it's good enough (especially upscaled on a 720p LCD from 8 or 10 feet away). Sony mouthpieces and execs laugh off the "threat" of video downloads, but they don't seem to laugh when you talk about the exact same content on DVD. Even while Glasgow assures us they "think [Blu-ray sales] can get up to DVD levels," he admits "there are some issues: upscaling DVDs is getting better and better." Sony continually must "convince people of the value of high definition."

In fact, everyone we talked to—in Hollywood or in hardware—emphasized the need to educate consumers about high def and convince them to make the switch. If it's so inevitable and obvious, why do they need to pour a load of money and ad time into it? Sony's major campaign for the entire year is "HDNA," all about educating consumers about HD.

The Sony brand might "hold up well during difficult economic times" but a recession will keep DVD looking pretty good to a lot of people, even ones who already bought an HDTV. Bundling players with HDTVs—which Glasgow said would happen soon—might spur adoption, but until the Wal-mart masses can easily (read: cheaply) adopt Blu-ray, it's not going to knock DVD players off shelves. That's several years out.

The Dim Light at the End of the Tunnel
Naturally, Blu-ray will only get better—the hardware will improve, the catalog will grow, the feature set will expand. Already standalone players load up much faster than craptastically slow players of yesteryear—one of Pioneer's new players, which will be announced shortly, already boasts a boot time of 14.8 seconds, nearly halving the time of the current fastest standalone player, Panasonic's BD-30, which stands at around 26 seconds. It's on those kind of things that Pioneer plans to compete on in the market, though it'll be asking a heavier price to get them.

Blu-ray will get cheaper though, slowly but surely. Competition between and among BDA members will nudge prices down to the $299 mark this year, and we'll see that mythic $199 mark within a year—with the Chinese cheap-player cavalry not far behind, ready to grind profit margins into oblivion. That's when we'll see mass adoption—when, from a consumer perspective, Blu-ray really "wins." Too bad, on the hardware side, there may not be any spoils left for the victors.

Xbox Blu-ray Drive Rumors Finally Fatally Smashed

Wilson Rothman — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:08:30 EDT

Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, told Reuters that Microsoft isn't exploring any kind of Blu-ray add-on for the Xbox 360.

Microsoft, which has stopped making an HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360, would continue to invest in its Xbox Live online service that already lets users rent hundreds of movies, including ones in high-definition.

And even though I don't believe the studios will go whole-hog into HD downloads very soon, our studies show that if anyone can pull together a decent library of so-called HD content, it's Team Xbox. [Reuters]

Toshiba Takes $1 Billion Hit on HD DVD (Still Turns a Profit)

Wilson Rothman — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:49:16 EDT

The Nikkei business daily is reporting that Toshiba will take a $986 million hit this year for its ill-fought HD DVD campaign, though somehow the manufacturing supergiant will manage to post a roughly $2.5 billion profit nonetheless, down from a projected $2.9 billion or so. The estimated cost of HD DVD for the company this year was supposed to be closer to half a billion, but the halt in production means costly line changes and "other charges." Toshiba itself isn't saying a word yet, but damn if there ain't truth to this. [Reuters; Bill Image Source]

Samsung Killing Second-Gen BP-U5500 Dual Format Player Before It Sees the Light of Day

matt buchanan — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:45:31 EST

Samsung just cancelled their $599 second-gen dual format Blu-ray/HD DVD player, the BP-U5500, which was due out soonish. Looks like LG gets the dual player market for HD DVD flotsam all to its self. We bet they're thrilled. [PC World]

Toshiba: F*** the Format War, We're Going Nuclear (No, Really)

matt buchanan — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:40:44 EST

Who needs to wage a costly format war when you could build nuclear power plants? That's Toshiba's thinking exactly. They just launched a brand new company, Toshiba America Nuclear Energy Corp., which will "enhance" its nuclear power business in the US. Um...what? [Yahoo!/Reuters]

Circuit City's HD DVD for Blu-Ray Trade-In Confirmed By Sources, Readers

jesusdiaz — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:59:17 EST

Readers of Gizmodo and Digg have been able to confirm Circuit City's not-so-secret-anymore HD DVD for Blu-Ray player trade-in offer a Circuit City employee told us about yesterday morning. One report from a Giz reader says that he used the offer to get a new PlayStation 3. In addition to this, we just got all the dirt in the internal memo, aptly titled "HD DVD - The End," which allegedly was posted in an internal Circuit City forum:

HD DVD - The End. Toshiba stated in a press release that they will stop manufacturing and selling HD DVD players. The marketplace has spoken in favor of Blu-ray. We are delighted that consumers now will be able to invest with confidence in next-generation video disc players and titles. Based on Toshiba's announcement, we expect to phase out HD DVD players and movie titles in our stores and on our Web site in the near future. FAQs
Why will Circuit City continue to sell HD DVD players for the near future?

There are large numbers of HD DVD movie titles still in circulation and some customers will want to be able to view those titles.

Also, HD DVD players are very affordable and will continue to play and up-convert standard DVDs with improved quality. So, during the phase-out, some customers will want a DVD player equipped with upconvert technology (and the ability to play HD DVD titles).

When will HD DVD players and movie titles disappear from our stores and Web site?

That will happen in the near future, depending on sell-through rates while HD DVD products go on clearance. We have implemented the following price changes (make sure your floor is tagged correctly):

These are fully functioning "upconverting" HD/DVD players that are now competitively priced!

And, of course, don't forget the HDMI cable!

What about my HD DVD Endcap?

We're developing an alternate plan over the next couple of weeks. Please keep it up in the meantime.

Important: About Returns

Q; What about customers who may try to return an HD DVD player - even if they have owned it for several months?

A: We do not want to upset our valued customers. For this special circumstance, we are happy to offer an exchange for a Blu-ray player (customer plays any difference in purchase price) - even if it has been several months since the customer made their HD DVD player purchase. If the customer does not want a Blu-ray player, we can issue a gift card refund for their original purchase price. For products purchased in the last 30 days, handle as usual.

(Note: all open-box and defective Toshiba HD DVD players are Return-to-Vendor and must be sent back to Toshiba.)

As per policy, we will not accept refunds of opened HD DVD software.

It keeps surprising me that they are not promoting this widely. Even if it seems it will cost them money, it can benefit Circuit City in the medium and long term. First, it makes them appear look cool to their customer base. Then, it gets customers back in the store for a new—and probably more expensive—Blu-ray player. And if the customer gets back for that, he will probably spend money on new things, like Blu-ray movies. If you are Circuit City customer who is going to try the trade-in, remember to post back here with your experience.

Beware: apparently you will have to go to the actual shop to get the exchange. The online customer care is denying the deal, according to mails forwarded by a Gizmodo reader.

[Gizmodo]

Here Comes the Reaming: Blu-ray Movie Rereleases Coming with BD-Live

matt buchanan — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:00:13 EST

We warned you that one reason to hold off on boarding the Blu train is that movies released in the past year without sweet BD-Live interactive features might be re-released. A lot of them. Today, we got first confirmation of this from Fox, which told us it'll be re-releasing Alien Vs. Predator later this year with a suite of new interactive features. And that's just the beginning.

Sony Pictures is also reaching in with both hands, though they're "not 100 percent sure [they're] going back on every disc" and will be looking at "different ways [they] can allow people to connect to a BD-Live site" for stuff that's already come out sans the BD Launcher. But they haven't figured that second part out yet.

To be fair, of all the Blu-ray studios, Fox is currently the most pumped about the interactive aspect—a big reason they helped build Blu along with Sony and friends. What Fox is adding doesn't make this a crap double dip, either: It's a multiplayer game woven into the film that you play as it progresses, attacking and killing other players in hopefully the most genuine film interaction to date. Not only do you upload your own avatar, it'll stay in memory and reappear when you buy future AVP titles. Sven Davison, Fox's VP of Worldwide Product Development and Production, said nothing he's seen on HD DVD has come close to this.

Davison also said Fox was looking at three other major franchises for a heavy interactive component. But other studios probably aren't going to be as scrupulous, because they primarily see interactivity as "icing on the cake" rather than potatoes to the 1080p-and-uncompressed-audio meat.

This of course opens the door for nearly everything already on BD to be double-dipped in the coming year—especially in cases like Warner's, since that studio has already launched more interactive versions of movies on HD DVD while simultaneously putting out lower-featured editions on BD. Would this have happened if the 2.0 spec had been mandatory from the start?

Sony CEO: $200 Blu-ray Players Coming

matt buchanan — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:43:32 EST

Everybody clamoring for a cheap Blu-ray player now that the format war is over might wanna bide their time with a sweet DVD upconverter—the $200-player Blu-ray cavalry is at least a year away, according to Sony Electronics CEO Stan Glasgow, who we talked to today in New York. "I don't think $200 is going to happen this year. Next year $200 could happen. We'll be at a $300 rate this year. $299 will happen this year."

No cheap Chinese-made players will be flooding the market to push it down either, not until the BDA decides to license the tech to them, and Glasgow implied it's gonna be a while before that happens. Anyone else wants a license? Sure. But not them, in part it was indicated, because of piracy concerns. Not that the price matters too much right now, since Sony is "struggling to keep up with the demand."

The mighty morphin' PS3 SKU—from 60GB to 40GB, backward-compatible or not—isn't going to stop shape-shifting. When asked "Will there also be another PlayStation with Blu-ray built-in? Glasgow answered that "there's going to be continual evolvement in the PlayStation line" before talking about feature upgrades with software.

Other points that came up at the roundtable:

• Sony dropped Memory Stick slots from its TVs, even ones that do photos and music playback. Not sure what that means for the underdog format.

• When people are asked what brand they think of when it comes to HD, Sony "is far and away the leader"—close to 36 percent, compared with 10 percent for the runner-up.

• Around 50 percent of their LCD HDTVs sold last year were 1080p—the shift to 1080p is happening now and Blu-ray will help that.

• Sony is not sweating the recession.

• The company is "working very hard" on an answer to Apple TV, though it all seems to center around a Blu-ray player one way or another, and doesn't necessarily rely on the ill-fated Bravia Internet Video Link. Sony is "working on many other avenues to deliver downloaded content," like the PlayStation Network, which will be "spread that over the next year or so to many other products of Sony."

Circuit City Trading In HD DVD for Blu-Ray Players, Says Employee

jesusdiaz — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 04:08:44 EST

According to a Circuit City employee in Chicago, the consumer electronics chain is trading in HD DVD players bought into their stores "within 3 months of the announcement," as opposed to their 30-day return policy. According to the internal memo announcing the demise of the format, they will either give customers a Blu-ray player—paying the price difference, if any—or a gift card. The trade-in, however, will not be widely promoted and it will be only made available if the customer asks for it. Have any of you tried this?

Universal's Appropriately Final HD DVD Release: Atonement

matt buchanan — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:15:16 EST

After Paramount's remaining HD DVD schedule (to be generous) came out, we hit up Universal to see what their roadmap looked like. Unfortunately, it looks to be just as barren. Here's the response we got:

We have Atonement available on HD DVD March 18th—we have not announced anything additional.

Have a good weekend.

Take that for you what will, though we're not going to clear any more space on our shelves for HD DVDs.

Paramount Kills Entire HD DVD Release Schedule, But No Blu Flicks 'Til Summer

matt buchanan — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:10:03 EST

There won't be a soft transition to Blu-ray for Paramount—they're dropping their whole HD DVD release slate right this second. Their last two movies on the dead format hit Tuesday, even though we won't see Blu titles from them until this summer—that's months of lost $$$.

Interestingly, Dreamworks' sole upcoming HD DVD release has been shitcanned too, despite remaining tied to Toshiba's remarkably tight contract. We're still waiting to see what Universal's plans look like.

P.S. Sorry to keep beating this very dead horse, we're almost to the finish line. [High Def Digest, Hollywood Reporter]

Stop! Why It Still Isn't Safe to Buy Blu-ray

Wilson Rothman — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:35:26 EST

By now you know waaaaay too much about Toshiba's format-war surrender, the death of HD DVD at the hands of the larger Blu-ray armada. You may even be eying the Blu-ray players mounted proudly in point-of-sale displays at Best Buy or Wal-Mart. Pricing hasn't come down to HD DVD player levels—and with those sinking even further, it's unlikely they ever will—but the need to get in on the action might provoke you to spend some extra dimes. All we're saying is DON'T! Not yet. If you don't know why, let us explain.

We're not going to tell you that HD DVD will somehow come back from the grave to eat Blu-ray's brains or anything Romero-esque like that. Even China's CH-DVD—an easily mass-produced sibling to HD DVD—once a looming HD DVD mercenary force on the horizon, now seems to serve the opposite purpose. By keeping Chinese firms busy with something other than Blu-ray, Hollywood's movie content may be kept safe from piracy, and big electronics brands may be able to hold onto their profit margins—at least for a short while.

No, the earth is Blu, and we are at least grateful for having a winner. Now begins a different kind of shakeup, where once friendly compadres like Sony, Pioneer and Panasonic start to lock horns with one another. This will bring multiple benefits, but here's what all parties involved need to accomplish:

1. Get the Spec In Order
Now that Blu-ray is fully in the spotlight, it's got to get its act together spec-wise. You may recall that we lambasted many Blu-ray supporters for only building 1.0 spec players, including the $1000+ home-theater flagships from Sony and Pioneer. Except for Panasonic's DMP-BD30 and the PlayStation 3 with up-to-date firmware, no current Blu-ray player can even handle the 1.1 spec with picture-in-picture, already appearing in certain Blu-ray discs (and quite the handful of HD DVD titles—but we'll get to that).

The place to be is spec 2.0, referred to as "full profile." Suddenly, it's Sony who is looking the best here, with not only the amazingly upgradable PS3 but two new players announced this week, the BDP-S350 and S550. For $400 and $500 respectively, they are set to deliver all of the features promised in the Blu-ray palette, including both picture-in-picture and BD-Live internet connectivity (with USB storage for downloaded content). Nobody else, with the possible exception of Daewoo, has even muttered about a 2.0 spec player.

Samsung's BD-UP5000 dual-format player is purportedly compatible with 1.1, but besides the fact that it's pricey even at $550 and requires a firmware update for full compatibility, it'll soon be discontinued. Given our initial experience with it, we say that it's best to wait and see what its successor, the BD-UP5500, can do. Heck, dual-format playback may not be all that necessary for long. But that brings us to another reason why you should wait...

2. Finalize the Video Library
We only need dual-format players as long as the library is split down HD DVD and Blu-ray lines. We are waiting for Universal, Paramount and DreamWorks to jump to Blu, and even once they do, it's not a certainty that they can simply re-release everything currently out on HD DVD. Universal claims 150 titles—surely the Bournes will go Blu as soon as Uni does, but how long do I have to wait for a Blu-ray of The Big Lebowski? Hell, it's almost worth scooping up an ultracheap HD DVD player now just to enjoy that one movie alone, 47 or 48 times in a row. At any rate, some speculation suggests that the remaining HD DVD studios may not even come around until summer or fall, depending on weird smoke-filled-backroom negotiations with Toshiba.

Even when all the studios are on the Blu-ray tip, though, a new problem begins to surface: second-edition releases of movies already on Blu-ray. Think about it: a handful of big Warner titles like 300 and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix came out with more deluxe HD DVD versions which include picture-in-picture and certain online capabilities. Who's to say Warner won't re-release their 300 and Harry Potter Blu-ray discs with the same compelling extras, now that it's feasible on the Blu-ray platform? Warner is easy to single out because we have that comparison, but who's to say that half of the blockbuster movies out on Blu-ray now won't get a re-release with more interactive content when the spec 2.0 players saturate the market?

3. Bring On the Old-Fashioned Electronics Store Competition
Sony's more affordable new Blu-ray player will hit the market this summer for $400. Nothing built by Sony or anyone else should be considered before then, the one exception being the PS3. But even the Sony standalone at $400 is expensive, especially for a player whose capabilities are more or less the same as Toshiba's HD-A30 HD DVD player, now (in a price nose dive) selling for around $130. Only when Panasonic, Samsung and LG announce their own Blu-ray 2.0 players, will true competition finally exist. (Pioneer will launch a 2.0 player too, but it probably won't get involved in a price war.) It surely wouldn't be long after that that we see a full-spec Blu-ray player for $200 or maybe even less. Our bet is Christmas, since Sony doesn't seem like it will have anything on the market until "summer" and no one else is talking about their next Blu play.

There you have it, the three big reasons why you need to hold off on buying a standalone Blu-ray player, and amassing a library of Blu-ray to rival your intimidating DVD collection. Don't worry though. Your patience will have its rewards. And Christmas will be here again before you know it.

[Blu-ray on Giz; image source for "halt" parody graphic]

Dreamworks Still Tied to HD DVD's Corpse By Toshiba Contract

matt buchanan — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:50:01 EST

Okay, so one big studio actually hasn't made the jump to Blu yet: Dreamworks, which was paid $100 million to join HD DVD back in August. As we had pieced together in our closed-door analysis, they can't break rank until Toshiba lets them. Says Dreamworks chief: "It really is in their court at this point to really declare what the next step will be. We're poised either way to jump..."

Question: Paramount was part of the $150 million deal too—how come they're already out and true Blu? Did that extra $50 million lock Dreamworks into an even tighter (read: shittier) contract? [Reuters]