Gizmodo: Hd Dvd

Giz Explains: Dolby, DTS and Home Theater Audio Codec Confusion

matt buchanan — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:00:00 EDT

You actually know what some of the crazy doodles on the side of an HDTV means when it comes to video—720p, 1080i, 1080p. Congrats, you're ahead of most people, like my mother. But do you understand the alphabet soup of audio, the confounding constellation of logos on your Blu-ray player's box? While there are basically two rival home-theater audio encoders—Dolby and DTS—they each have several different quality levels and options for different scenarios. Yeah, it's a lot to keep up with, and it annoys us too. So we asked Dolby and DTS to put down their guns for a sec and help us sort it out.

We're assuming you know some of the basics—like that 5.1 audio is five channels of audio positioned at center, front right, front left, back right and back left, and then one subwoofer channel. And that a higher bit rate means more audio data is coming through, which, generally, means it's higher quality and gonna sound better, since you're losing less of the original studio sound.

The building block of digital audio is "pulse code modulation"—an old technology used for CDs and everything since. It can be rendered in several resolutions, from 16-bit stuff on CD to 24-bit on newer DVD and higher-res formats. It can also have varying frequency ranges, typically from 44.1KHz to 96KHz. Without going into more detail, you just need to know that PCM is bulky, and it is this PCM data that both DTS and Dolby work to encode into more manageable files. When audio tracks are decoded in a disc player, they are either sent out analog via multichannel RCA outputs, or they become PCM tracks that any digital receiver can easily interpret.

We're taking you through the major branded audio formats that you'll run into if you're dealing with a home theater, or hell, a Blu-ray player.

First up: Dolby. There are basically three tiers of audio: Dolby TrueHD at the top, then Dolby Digital Plus, then good old Dolby Digital.

Dolby TrueHD is a lossless compression format that is bit-for-bit identical to the studio masters. It can handle a bit rate of up to 18 megabits per second, and support as many as 14 channels of audio, though you're more likely to see it at 7.1. It's actually optional in the Blu-ray spec, but it's supported by the PS3 and most other new Blu-ray players. Some players decode the TrueHD internally, then stream out uncompressed PCM audio through HDMI, while others can send the TrueHD file itself out over HDMI in bitstream for the receiver to decode.

Dolby Digital Plus is the next step down. It still delivers 7.1 audio, but at a max bit rate of 3Mbps. It's a more efficient codec than the original Dolby Digital, and is a mandatory minimum in the Blu-ray 1.1 spec. Dolby Digital Plus can be used for Bonus View picture-in-picture audio tracks on a Blu-ray disc, with the main audio track encoded as TrueHD.

Dolby Digital is the lowest rung, at 5.1 audio channels, running at 448Kbps on DVD (though a richer 640Kbps on Blu-ray, used, again for special features or supplement language tracks).

DTS's offerings follow a similar tiered setup.

DTS-HD Master Audio is at the top. It's a lossless format that is also bit-for-bit identical to the studio master. It supports a bitrate up to 24Mbps (though the average Blu-ray flick's audio is only about 2-3Mbps, with 4-5Mbps spikes) and up to eight channels (like 7.1). (It too, is supported by the PS3.)

DTS High Resolution Audio is below that. It also supports eight channels at a constant bit rate of up to 6Mbps. It's for situations where a studio doesn't want to eat up disc space with a full lossless track (like bonus features or tracks), though DTS told us 95 percent of studios who use DTS use the full HD Master Audio.

DTS Digital Surround is down at the DVD end, with support for 5.1 channels and bandwidth up to 1.5Mbps, though post-2000 DVDs typically keep the track at 768Kbps to save disc space.

You may have heard a few things about Dolby ProLogic II or IIx, or maybe DTS Neo:6. These aren't digital codecs, so much as they are "matrix" programs that take stereo tracks and route it to to the different speakers in a surround system. A vestige from pre-digital days, people used to master stereo tracks deliberately for ProLogic—try watching The Simpsons opening credits through your receiver with ProLogic turned on.

Dolby and DTS also have virtual surround technologies that do the opposite of matrixing: They take 5.1 tracks and perform hocus pocus on them so that they sound surround-y, but play through stereo speakers or headphones. It's more subjective, and has a whole different science to it, so maybe we'll save it for another time.

That, in a nutshell, is what all of those Dolby and DTS logos on the back your Blu-ray player, A/V receiver or movie box means. If you want to know how "golden-eared" audiophiles feel about the highest qualities, and how well they fare against uncompressed PCM, check out this informative piece from Home Entertainment Magazine. As a rule, DTS HD Master Audio or Dolby TrueHD will kick ass, but unless you have a $50,000 sound system, you may not be able to tell the difference between the middle and top tiers anyway.

Something we missed, or you still wanna know? Send any questions about Dolby, DTS, Dubbly, Dobby or anything else to tips@gizmodo.com, with "Giz Explains" in the subject line.

Cillian Murphy Will Be The Last Thing HD DVD Sees Before It Dies

John Herrman — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:20:00 EDT

HD DVD was declared dead a long time ago, and the last film to be released to the US on the format will hit (roughly three to five) shelves tomorrow. Disco Pigs was originally released in 2001 and very appropriately stars Cillian Murphy and Elaine Cassidy as friends who were born in the same hospital, at the same time, and who grew up next to one another. Unfortunately, as they reach adulthood it is apparent that their relationship has become dangerously volatile. It doesn't end well. (Spoiler alert: Cillian Murphy's character is the HD DVD.) [Crave]

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.]

Two Bravia TV Modules That Make Sense: Wireless HDMI and Slot-Loading DVD Player

matt buchanan — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:52:00 EDT

Sure the Bravia Internet Video Link is a dubious use of $300 (even with YouTube), but there are at least two Bravia add-on modules in Sony's oven that are tasty and smart: A wireless HDMI module—neato factor is self-explanatory, especially since the transmitter takes up to four HDMI connections—and a slot loading DVD player. It sounds weird to say, but having a hidden DVD player on the side of a flat panel TV is actually nice, plus it's integrates with the cross media bar (XMB). Only downside is that they both need external power. Check 'em out up close.

Toshiba Making Upconverting DVD Players Because HD DVD Loss Still Stings

Jason Chen — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:40:00 EDT

Poor Toshiba's still not quite over the HD DVD defeat earlier this year, as evidenced by its president saying that they will "not market DVD players that are compatible with Blu-ray," instead opting for upconverting DVD players to bide their time before Blu-ray becomes so prevalent that the company has no choice.

However, if you're looking at this from a pure monetary view, the amount of DVDs installed and the fact that the Blu-ray library is really tiny compared to the DVD library, Toshiba's decision might make them some decent cash. The end result is that consumers shouldn't expect a Toshiba Blu-ray player for a little while. [TGDaily]

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]

Xbox 360 HD DVD Player Now $29.99

Jason Chen — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:50:00 EDT

Some day these Microsoft Xbox 360 HD DVD players might be worth something to someone. We can't really imagine who—maybe the technology museum of the 22nd century—but someone should want it. And with the limit of 12 per customer, you and your family can even stock up and make a fort out of these. A giant, obsolete fort. [Overstock Dealz via Kotaku]

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]

Xbox 360 HD DVD Update is Probably the Last Ever

Jason Chen — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:00:00 EDT

Hahaha, "Compatibility improvements with certain titles" and "Additional support for network features." Hahaha. [Major Nelson]

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!]

How to Get Your Hacked Obsolete Object on Gizmodo

AddyDugdale — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Chase Sechrist and Dan Weatherford went to work on Toshiba's HD-A1 HD-DVD player and, while it's pretty much only good as a doorstop now, at least it says something nice. [Doom9's Forum—thanks Mazyar!]

Dealzmodo? Best Buy Dumping All HD DVD Flicks for $10, TV Sets 70 Percent Off

matt buchanan — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:55:00 EDT

TGDaily is reporting that selected Best Buys—like one in Dublin, Calfornia—are so eager to clear out their HD DVD stock they're a step away from building a huge bonfire: All HD DVDs are just $9.99, with TV series on HD DVD walking away at a steep 70 percent discount. But your YMMV.

Some stores have apparently pulled HD DVDs entirely to make room for Blu-ray, not even bothering to hawk the scraps. TGDaily's sources tell 'em that whatever's not sold by the end of this month will be sent back to publishers, though some stores have already started tossing them back. Still, if you haven't trashed your player already, might as well stop by your local store to see if you can't scrounge up some cheap HD goods. Let us know what the scene's like at your local shop. [TG Daily]

It May Be Too Late for Combo Blu-ray/HD DVD Drives

Adam Frucci — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:06:09 EDT

Plextor has just announced a couple of new Blu-ray drives that also read HD DVDs, clearly designed for the poor saps who made the wrong choice in the format war. At first it might seem like an OK choice for people with a HD DVD collection quickly growing obsolete, but for $500 for a read-only drive or $600 for a burner, maybe a better idea would be to just get a straight-up Blu-ray drive and consider your HD DVD losses an early adopter tax. [Product Page via Electronista]

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.

Toshiba HD DVD Loses Less than Expected

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:25:09 EDT

Seems like the rumors on Toshiba's $1 billion loses on HD DVD were greatly exaggerated by a mere $342 million: the operating loss for HD DVD will be just $653 million. And still, they are turning a profit, although reduced 31% from previous forecasts. [Bloomberg]

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]

Xbox 360 + Blu-ray Drive Rumor Fueled By Steve Ballmer

Jason Chen — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:30:24 EST

If the Sony exec saying there've been talks with Microsoft about making a Blu-ray Xbox 360 add-on wasn't enough to make you believe that a drive is coming, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer just said "Toshiba has moved on. We've moved on, and we'll support Blu-ray in ways that make sense." [Games Industry]

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]

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

Jesus Diaz — 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]

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

Jesus Diaz — 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]

BDP-S350 and S550: Sony's First Full 2.0 Spec Blu-ray Players

Wilson Rothman — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 03:01:00 EST

PS3 aside, the Blu-ray players Sony sold up until now are worthy of only your garbage can. Now that HD DVD is dead like a doornail, the 800-lb. gorilla is getting serious. The $400 BDP-S350 will feature an Ethernet port, USB port for connecting external storage and "BonusView" picture-in-picture capability (from the leapfrogged profile 1.1). Even better, it will be "BD-Live ready," meaning an over-the-network software update will make the player compatible with net-friendly titles when they hit the market. Later on, the $500 BDP-S550 will arrive with nearly identical features. The differences:

While both support 1080/60p and 24p video and can decode Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus, the S550 can decode DTS-HD High Resolution Audio and Master Audio, and has 7.1-channel analog outputs (rather than, we presume, 5.1 on the S350). The S550 will also come with a 1GB "storage device"—what we're guessing is a flash-based Micro Vault—and will be BD-Live capable right out of the box.

The most important difference, besides that $100 and a little bit of girth, is that the S350 is slated for a summer release, while the S550 won't be here until fall. Screw that, we're not waiting.

We do, however, have some concerns. An inevitable software upgrade to the PS3 could make many of these features available for free, and even the analog-output issue may be able to be solved by an accessory, not that Sony Computer Entertainment would build it. Perhaps more frustrating, from the high-end home theater perspective, is that there is no replacement for the super deluxe but utterly impotent BDP-S2000es. Already ghettoized by Panasonic's far less expensive DMP-BD30, it will now be thrashed by its own supporting players.

Here's the press release:

SONY ADDS NEW BLU-RAY DISC PLAYERS WITH ADVANCED INTERACTIVITY
New Models Feature Ethernet Port for Interactive Functionality and Easy Firmware Updates

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 26, 2008 - Sony updated its Blu-ray Disc player line today with two new models that will be capable of accessing advanced interactive features such as BonusView and BD-Live.

The BDP-S350 and BDP-S550 models both support BonusView (Picture-in-Picture) featured on some of the new Blu-ray Disc theatrical releases. The BDP-S350 model is BD-Live ready featuring an Ethernet port for an easy firmware update and access to Internet-based interactive content features. The BSP-S550 is BonusView and BD-Live capable when it ships.

Both models also feature an external port for local storage, so users can add optional storage device. The BDP-S550 ships with a 1GB storage device.

"Building on the exceptional picture and sound quality of previous players, Sony's next-generation Blu-ray Disc models bring exciting interactive features to life and offer consumers a ground-breaking experience," said Chris Fawcett, vice president of marketing for Sony Electronics' Home Product Division. "These new devices bring home movie experience beyond the cinema and into a whole new realm of entertainment."

The players feature 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema output. They are compatible with most standard DVDs and feature 1080p upscaling through an HDMI connection to capable HDTV sets, improving the picture performance of existing DVD libraries.

The models offer 7.1 channel Dolby® TrueHD and Dolby® Digital Plus decoding and bit-stream output, as well as dts®-HD High Resolution Audio and Master Audio bit-stream output. The BDP-S550 adds dts-HD High Resolution Audio and dts-HD Master Audio decoding as well as 7.1 channel analog audio output.

The players support AVCHD discs encoded with x.v.Color™ (xvYCC) technology, an international standard for wide color space reproduction. The standard expands the current data range of video by about 1.8 times, allowing the players to output more natural and vivid colors similar to what the human eye can actually see. The players also feature compatibility with an array of video formats, including BD-R/RE (BDMV and BDAV modes), DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, CD, CD-R/RW (CD-DA format), and JPEG on DVD//CD recordable media.

The new models feature a slim design with reduced depth and height compared to previous models matching Sony's new home-theater-in-a-box systems, the HT-SS2300 and HT-CT100 T-SS2300, also announced today. Optimized for Blu-ray Disc™, the new component systems feature three 1080p compatible HDMI™ inputs making them the perfect match for a Full high-definition home theater when connected to a new Sony BRAVIA® 1080p HDTV.

The new BDP-S350 ships this summer for about $400 and BDP-S550 will be available this fall for about $500. They will be offered at Sony Style stores, online at sonystyle.com, at military base exchanges, and at authorized retailers nationwide.

Dealzmodo: Amazon HD DVD Firesale, 50% Off Most Titles

Sean Fallon — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:00:36 EST

Not surprisingly, Amazon is looking to dump a whole mess of HD DVD titles to clear out more space for Blu-ray. Rather than dump the whole lot in the desert, they are passing the savings on to you in the form of a 50% discount on most titles. Get em' before they are gone for good. [Amazon Thanks Devon!]

HD DVD's Animatronic Secret Weapon Not Enough to Defeat Blu-ray

Benny Goldman — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:40:00 EST

As if 1080p video, full-resolution audio, net connectivity and multi-tuner signal decoding wasn't enough, Toshiba's HD DVD team had even cooked up a system of embedded animatronic control before the format was put out of its misery. In this video left over from CES 2008, this little mechanical jazz band playing the Duke Ellington classic "Take the A Train" is controlled by, that's right, an HD DVD disc. Here's how:

The disc is encoded with an animation control signal embedded directly into the video channel (sort of like how Dolby ProLogic was just mixed into stereo audio tracks). That signal is interpreted in a separate outboard box, which uses the animation cues to tell the figurines how to move. All in all, a fairly labor-intensive process that would have required the purchase of an additional box, not to mention a collection of tiny plastic chanteuses, cool cats and swingin' daddy-o's. But if you wanted the power of a full miniature jazz band made of plastic in your very own living room, you lost your chance.

We loved you HD DVD. But we can't help but think what could have been if your developers wasted less on this sort of R&D and stuffed a little more of that cash into envelopes aimed at studios like Fox. After all, it might work if the video playing was Star Wars, and those figurines were holding lightsabers. [HD DVD coverage on Giz]

Xbox 360 HD DVD Officially $50, Still Discontinued

Jason Chen — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:10:52 EST

Even though the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on is discontinued, you didn't expect Microsoft to just give them away, did you? You did? Well then, this $49.99 liquidation price tag should be extra surprising to you. [Xbox - Thanks Daft Punk!]

Microsoft Xbox 360 HD DVD Player Officially Discontinued

Jason Chen — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:33:33 EST

It was only a matter of time before Microsoft officially discontinued manufacturing the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on, but it took them a few days longer than we expected. Their statement is finally out, and it signals Microsoft's official withdraw from HD DVD on the console front.

The good news is that they'll still continue to support and repair your player based on the standard warranty, but chances are you'll get little future use out of that player now that no movies will be made for it. What's still unclear is whether there will ever be a Blu-ray add-on to the 360 that's cheap enough to sell the Xbox + Blu-ray package at a comparable price to the PS3 ($399ish). We're guessing that something along these lines will hit within the year. [Gamerscreblog]