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Hardware HBO Also Goes Blu-ray Disc Exclusive
Marcus Yam (Blog) - January 10, 2008 12:02 PM

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80 comment(s) - last by neilrieck.. on Jan 18 at 7:34 AM

The Sopranos merge with the Blu-ray Disc family

HBO Home Video has confirmed reports that it too has sided exclusively with Blu-ray Disc. HBO Home Video is closely partnered with Warner Home Video, so “going Blu” is not unexpected for the company.

HBO Video president Henry McGee confirmed with the Hollywood Reporter that HBO, too, is “following the same policy as Warner Home Video.”

To date, the only major high-definition release from HBO Home Video was the sixth season of The Sopranos. Available on both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD, the season six collection of The Sopranos was met with praise for its dramatic improvement over the standard definition DVD version.

Other HBO series that may have seen release on HD DVD, such as Band of Brothers, Angels in America, Deadwood and From the Earth to the Moon, will likely become Blu-ray Disc exclusive releases.

Other Warner partner New Line has also said that it will no longer be releasing movies on HD DVD. New Line’s only HD DVD release to date, Pan’s Labyrinth, will also be its last on the format. New Line’s pending releases of Rush Hour 3 and Hairspray are cancelled for HD DVD.

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Rush Hour 3

By Brandon Hill

(blog) on 1/10/2008 12:26:52 PM , Rating: 1

No big loss with Rush Hour 3. They were playing it on my flight back home last night. It was truly horrible. I got through the first 20 minutes of it and decided to instead get some sleep.

RE: Rush Hour 3

By SavagePotato on 1/10/08, Rating: 0

RE: Rush Hour 3

By whickywhickyjim on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By Master Kenobi

(blog) on 1/10/2008 1:07:33 PM , Rating: 2

Yea, I can't say theres a lot of good movies I would jump at on HD right now. Transformers was one yea. Planet Earth from the BBC was definately excellent in HD. The Matrix in HD will probably be worth it, but other than that the number of movies that benefit from being in HD is minimal at best. Probably taking the studios a long time to figure out what to remaster into HD and which were filmed in 16:9 so they can be released in HD. Not to mention few people will re-purchase DVD's on HD media. I find myself buying HD DVD's for movies I don't already own, but stick with the regular DVD's if I already own it. Eventually I will swap out to a Hybrid Player (Come on Samsung stop dragging your heels) and pickup the occasional BR movie (Lord of the Rings Trilogy comes to mind).

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By daftrok on 1/10/2008 2:37:04 PM , Rating: 4

Here's a list to ponder on what would be sweet in HD:
300
Apocalypto
The Aviator
Behind Enemy Lines
Beyonce: The Beyonce Experience (you know you wanna see that in HD)
Black Hawk Down
Blood Diamond
Blue Planet
Cars
Casino Royale
Cast Away
Chicago
Click
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
Dawn of the Dead
The Day After Tomorrow (solely for visual reasons)
Deja Vu
The Departed
The Descent
The Devil's Rejects
Die Hard
Die Hard 2
Die Hard with a Vengeance
Dinosaur
Discovery Access series
Dragon Ball Z: Broly Double Feature
Dreamgirls (Beyonce HD, nuff said)
Edward Scissorhands
Enter the Dragon
Fantastic Four (Jessica Alba HD, nuff said)
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
The Fifth Element
Final Fantasy: Spirits Within (waiting for Advent Children!)
Flags of our Fathers
Flyboys
The Fugitive
Gone in 60 Seconds
Goodfellas
HAPPY FEET!
Harry Potter Series
HD Window series
Hellboy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Home of the Brave
House of 1000 Corpses (hell yeah)
Ice Age: The Meltdown
Independence Day
Kingdom of Heaven
Kung Fu Hustle
The Last Samurai
Lethal Weapon
Lethal Weapon 2
Letters from Iwo Jima
AC/DC: Live at Donington
Live Free or Die Hard
Destiny's Child: Live in Atlanta
Lord of War
Man on Fire (I love Mexico City)
March of the Penguins
Mission Impossible
Mission Impossible 2
Monster House
Night at the Museum
Nip/Tuck
Ocean's 11
Ocean's 13...Ocean's 12 is dead to me
Pan's Labyrinth
The Patriot
Pearl Harbor (ONLY FOR THE INVASION SCENE!)
Pirates of the Caribbean series
Planet Earth
Polar Express
The Prestige
The Punisher
Purple Rain
Rambo: First Blood
Ratatouille
Reign of Fire
Remember the Titans
Resident Evil series
Robocop
The Rock
Rocky
Saw series
Seven Years in Tibet
The Shining
Shoot 'Em Up
Shuttle Discovery's Historic Mission
Silent Hill
Simpsons Movie
Sleepy Hallow
Smallville
Sopranos
Space Cowboys (it looked good even its its weird)
Spider-Man 1 and 2...3 is dead to me
Superman series
Syriana
Tears of the Sun
TMNT (that movie was AWESOME!)
Terminator series
Transporter 1 and 2 (it didn't make sense but it was sweet)
Troy
Underworld
Underworld: Evolution
Vertical Limit
X-men series

There are 487 Blu ray titles out right now, and this list are the ones I believe would be sweet to see in HD. I don't believe that the number of movies are minimal at all. Granted you wouldn't watch every single movie I listed, but I know a good chunk of it is what you want to see.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By Master Kenobi

(blog) on 1/10/2008 4:22:49 PM , Rating: 2

Most of the movies on that list I don't really see the real advantage of being in HD rather than standard. HD makes a difference mostly on the visual level.

Black Hawk Down
Blue Planet
The Day After Tomorrow
Kingdom of Heaven
Independence Day
The Patriot
Man on Fire
Planet Earth (Which I already pointed out)

Those are the only movies on your list I see any remote advantage to having in HD, the rest (Especially the animated ones) would be comparable simply upscaled. Depending on the condition of the original footage for several of those films, even HD might not save it.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By daftrok on 1/10/2008 6:03:55 PM , Rating: 2

DUDE! BEYONCE! IN HD! CMON!

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By BikeDude on 1/11/2008 7:48:35 AM , Rating: 2

Simpsons The Movie needs HD. Already in the opening sequence, when Ralph hums the fox jingle (or whatever), HD is noticably better. On the DVD, he is barely visible, just a handful of yellow pixels. The blu-ray edition is much better, even though it has been oversharpened (there is a sharpening halo around everything).

I noticed some compression artifacts in the cinema version, so there is room for improvement there as well.

--
Rune

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By Xenoterranos on 1/11/2008 11:15:52 AM , Rating: 2

"Dragon Ball Z: Broly Double Feature"

Wow. Just...wow.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By Mach Omega on 1/10/2008 10:03:50 PM , Rating: 2

You have WAY too much time on your hands :)

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By jpeyton on 1/11/2008 10:28:16 PM , Rating: 2

Bottom Line: HD DVD needs to be gaining exclusive studio support, not losing it , for it to have any chance of survival.

All signs point to a mass exodus from the HD DVD exclusive camp.

It's over.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By CRimer76 on 1/10/2008 4:38:45 PM , Rating: 4

Blade Runner: Final Cut looks amazing.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By Samus on 1/10/2008 4:53:45 PM , Rating: 3

Blade Runner is really incredible. It's almost like it was filmed with modern technology, the models look better than any CGI of today.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By bighairycamel on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By bighairycamel on 1/11/2008 7:09:57 AM , Rating: 2

Nobody gets sarcasm around here.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By SavagePotato on 1/10/2008 1:37:32 PM , Rating: 5

Ok thanks, captain incoherent.

Good games like perhaps ratchet and clank, assassins creed, that I've played and enjoyed. Or maybe GTA IV gran tourismo 5, metal gear solid, or all the other awesome releases I'll be playing in 2008? In addition to watching tons of great blu ray releases like batman begins, the dark knight, etc.

Yeah things are looking so terrible for ps3 owners, excuse me while I go cry tears of blood at your stinging appraisal of the situation.

I see my personal dailytech obsessed rate down fans have been busy. Keep it up kids your admiration and obsession amuses me so.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By whickywhickyjim on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By SavagePotato on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By whickywhickyjim on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By SavagePotato on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By whickywhickyjim on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By SavagePotato on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By whickywhickyjim on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By SavagePotato on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By whickywhickyjim on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By SavagePotato on 1/10/08, Rating: 0

RE: Rush Hour 3

By whickywhickyjim on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By SavagePotato on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By retrospooty on 1/10/2008 4:41:34 PM , Rating: 1

I don't really agree with anything point whickyjim had, or that you said for that matter, but you are kind of a douche. He's got you there...

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By SavagePotato on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By retrospooty on 1/10/2008 6:48:49 PM , Rating: 2

see? Not that I expect you to care what anyone on hte web thinks (as well you shouldnt) but the way you say it is just... douchey.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By Mach Omega on 1/10/2008 10:09:59 PM , Rating: 1

LOL. I'm neutral but what spooty wrote was hilarious. Pulling off deadpan in writing is the mark of a master.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By retrospooty on 1/10/2008 11:47:22 PM , Rating: 2

thanks... I wish you could talk to my wife and explain it to her... It pisses her off to no end =)

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By Reignfyre on 1/11/2008 1:04:20 AM , Rating: 2

Yours too huh? Mine tends to throw things when I do it. I've become much more adept at ducking lately.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By SavagePotato on 1/11/2008 10:16:36 AM , Rating: 1

Ah if it isn't the owner of the trolling alt himself. The biggest waste of skin going. I was wondering how long you would wait before posting on your main to make it look convincing.

I give you two of my personal entourage of ratedown fans themselves. Mach loser and retro something or other.

Both bitter little anti vista bashers that like to follow me around from being put in their place on their anti vista fud in the past.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By Chris Peredun

on 1/10/2008 2:10:24 PM , Rating: 5

quote:
assmaster
tards
bulls**t

I hate to distract you from your litany of cursing, but have you considered the possibility that it's your caustic attitude rather than "downrater fans" causing said rating to plummet?

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By FITCamaro on 1/10/2008 2:32:30 PM , Rating: 3

I kinda felt like I was in a geek version of South Park from hell.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By SavagePotato on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By whickywhickyjim on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By SavagePotato on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By whickywhickyjim on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By SavagePotato on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By whickywhickyjim on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By SavagePotato on 1/10/2008 4:06:17 PM , Rating: 1

I'm sure everyone is thrilled to read your insightful wisdoms. Maybe you should look back to who decided to start your little troll rant, aka you. Then go sit down and try to figure out what the hell is wrong with you.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By KitKat06 on 1/12/2008 3:35:44 PM , Rating: 2

Sorry to burst your bubble here, but arguments, or, "trolling" as you keep saying, takes more then one person. Take a tally of all those responses... I think you'll find your name on there just as much as his. Sowwy :(

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By Polynikes on 1/10/2008 3:55:34 PM , Rating: 3

Dude, you forgot to call him a douche. Bad form.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By whickywhickyjim on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By daBKLYNdoorman on 1/10/2008 4:15:14 PM , Rating: 1

I like his obsessiveness with the word "douche". He sounds like a first grader when he first hears of the word "pizzaface".

If Chris is not right with his comment (which he probably is), then it must be your lack of other insults.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By SavagePotato on 1/10/2008 4:26:10 PM , Rating: 1

You are confusing the situation. I never used the word douche, and his comment of disapproval on language was directed at me, for calling the douche obsessed troll an assmaster. Which has proven to be quite accurate in fact.

The troll in question is an alt of one of my personal entourage of fans, I recognize his style of stupidity quite clearly.

I'm not a nice guy by any means. Being a blu ray backer on dailytech however means even if you speak more eloquently than Shakespeare you will attract a following of angry hddvd trolls to rate you down. Ask bansheex or some of the other blu ray supporters what they think of the dailytech dud patrol.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By whickywhickyjim on 1/10/08, Rating: -1

RE: Rush Hour 3

By SavagePotato on 1/10/2008 4:54:27 PM , Rating: 2

No, I would be right.

I really am a fan of irony so I have to say I enjoy the thick irony of you calling anyone a douche, or even daring to use the word worthless when it clearly is your middle name.

Seriously go throat punch yourself already, save someone the trouble of doing it, because you need it badly.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By whickywhickyjim on 1/10/08, Rating: 0

RE: Rush Hour 3

By mars777 on 1/11/2008 8:56:23 AM , Rating: 2

Maybe he is a douche, but you are clearly a troll...

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By whickywhickyjim on 1/10/08, Rating: 0

RE: Rush Hour 3

By Bioniccrackmonk on 1/10/2008 5:10:55 PM , Rating: 2

Wow, I haven't seen such insightful dialogue since elementary school. Solely based on this thread, I would say you both are acting like douches and the only reason the rest of your posts haven't been rated to -1 is because everyone on Dailytech already used all their votes. Congratulations on reseting the entire community to 0 votes, a feat not easily done.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By 91TTZ on 1/10/2008 6:33:58 PM , Rating: 2

Oh come on! You should have modded him up for using "assmaster" in a post!

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By deeznuts on 1/10/2008 1:22:02 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Those sour grapes tasting pretty bitter?

No Sour grapes here, I'm all Blu-Ray and PS3 owner and gamer. Rush Hour 3 sucked. Same jokes, rehashed.

That said, I hope they come out with Rome. Pullo kicking ass in high def would be fun.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By bighairycamel on 1/10/2008 12:37:07 PM , Rating: 2

That's funny, cause as I was reading the article I knew someone was going to say that. I just didn't think it would've been the first post. Yah, terrible terrible stuff.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By Brandon Hill

(blog) on 1/10/2008 12:41:06 PM , Rating: 2

I actually loved the first movie. I thought it was a pretty good buddy flick with some humorous bits thrown in for good measure.

I tolerated the second one. It wasn't as good as the first, but I still crack up uncontrollably at the end when Carter and Lee jump out of the hotel window onto the power line and Carter yells out "Craaaayyzeee Asssssssssss"

It gets me every time :D

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By porkpie on 1/10/2008 1:18:41 PM , Rating: 3

Only funny line in the second movie was the blooper at the end, where the guy falls out the window and CT says, "guess he won't be in Rush Hour 3"

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By Polynikes on 1/10/2008 3:56:57 PM , Rating: 2

Haha, I remember that. :)

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By Spivonious on 1/10/2008 12:52:34 PM , Rating: 2

It wasn't that bad. It could definitely have had more action scenes though.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By grampaw on 1/10/2008 1:42:29 PM , Rating: 2

I concur Rush Hour 3 was an awful movie - I rented the Blu-ray format version, and still ended up hitting the eject button right at 20 minutes it was so inane. Had no idea it was scheduled for an HD-DVD format launch also. Seems like a lot of DVDs already have the Blu-ray version out before the HD-DVD version.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By goodstuff on 1/10/2008 4:16:35 PM , Rating: 2

New Line was going to put out their new release titles on HD-DVD a few months after DVD & Blu-Ray because they don't have region coding. As it stands they never got around to it as they've now dumped HD-DVD immediately.

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RE: Rush Hour 3

By Serafina on 1/10/2008 5:15:47 PM , Rating: 1

LOL, lots of Butt-hurt Microsoft fans crying in here.

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Band of Brothers

By Bioniccrackmonk on 1/10/2008 12:42:40 PM , Rating: 5

Is a truly amazing series and if they release it for Blu-Ray, I will definitely buy the high def version and keep the regular DVD based one as well. If you have not seen this show, you are missing out.

RE: Band of Brothers

By Brandon Hill

(blog) on 1/10/2008 12:45:54 PM , Rating: 4

EVERYONE should see this series. I watched it during its original airing on HBO and got the DVD set for Christmas a few years ago.

It's truly the most powerful mini-series I've ever seen and easily the best war picture out there. The range of emotions, the stories, the cinematography, the acting... EVERYTHING is just top notch throughout the series.

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RE: Band of Brothers

By FITCamaro on 1/10/2008 2:39:00 PM , Rating: 2

Definitely.

I picked up the set last year (didn't get HBO when it was new) and have watched it several times. I honestly think it was even more well done than Saving Private Ryan. I know a tear came to my eye a few times throughout the series just because of how powerful and accurate some of the scenes are. I almost wish it was required to be watched in American History class in high school.

I would definitely love to have a high definition version of this series. And I hope one day they do a similar series set in both the Vietnam and Iraq wars. No Hollywood BS. Just the truth of what it was like.

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RE: Band of Brothers

By enlil242 on 1/10/2008 12:52:06 PM , Rating: 2

BoB sure was/is a great series, however, I'll just keep the Standard DVD set for now.

As for any other HBO shows, the only other one I like is CYE and they don't film that in HD, so, for me, this really has no impact either way.

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RE: Band of Brothers

By deeznuts on 1/10/2008 1:23:06 PM , Rating: 3

Dude, for me it was Rome and Deadwood. Both of which got canned (too expensive). Awesome shows.

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RE: Band of Brothers

By boobot on 1/10/2008 1:27:58 PM , Rating: 2

BOB is a great and Rome was one of the best shows I have seen in many many years. I was so pissed I just cancelled HBO after they stopped airing it.

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RE: Band of Brothers

By bespoke on 1/10/2008 1:40:23 PM , Rating: 2

Rome was awesome. I hope they release it on BluRay - it would be a shame to watch it (again) on standard def after having seen it in HD.

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RE: Band of Brothers

By GTaudiophile on 1/10/2008 4:19:05 PM , Rating: 2

Well, that decides this war for me.

Band of Brothers was the single key factor for me. So it's either BR or a dual format player for me!

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Yes Sony Won!

By Serafina on 1/10/2008 4:38:49 PM , Rating: 1

Yes! Sony won! PS3 won! HD-DVD is officially dead.

RE: Yes Sony Won!

By Lifted on 1/11/2008 12:47:49 AM , Rating: 3

Anyone think it's odd that Toshiba "dumped" HD-DVD players on the market at such huge discounts about a month before all this news? Seems like they must have known something was up, as stuff like this doesn't happen over night. Either they were affraid they would be stuck with a lot of extra stock or they were trying to boost Chritmas HD-DVD sales to keep this form happening.

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RE: Yes Sony Won!

By neilrieck on 1/18/2008 7:34:57 AM , Rating: 2

If, by this statement, you mean that Sony convinced studios to limit their publications to Blu-ray, then you are correct. But don't tell me that the consumer market-place had anything to do with it. North America is no longer a democracy, it is a corporation! And lets not forget that Sony has bought up much of it.

On the flip side, if you exclude drives in game playing consoles, there is a 60/40 market-place split between Blu-ray and HD-DVD. Movie studios restricting themselves to one format limit their own hi-def sales in the installed market place. Since most studios manufacture hi-def media in Asia, it's not like they even need to make a big investment either way. They just need order/distribute the desired quantity.

On this announcement, "BBC Home Video" proves that British business logic is superior to Hollywood emotionalism.

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...

By AntiV6 on 1/10/2008 5:25:33 PM , Rating: 2

I really love how there is around 60 comments, and at least 25 of them are just whickywhickjim and Savage Pot having a hissy fit.

How bout this guys, Savage, buy a Blu-Ray player and watch as many movies as you want. WWjim, buy a DVD up-converter or movie format of your choice, and do the exact same. Quit bickering and playing "mines bigger" with each other...

Man, most people think teenagers are the immature ones. :)

[/argument]