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Michael Bay's best selling high-def movie is on HD DVD
Michael Bay says "I told you so" to all HD DVD faithful

Michael Bay’s high-definition preference is no secret. It seems that the flashy action director finds every opportunity possible to make it known that he is a strong believer in Blu-ray Disc.

This week, Netflix and Best Buy both expressed their intentions to favor Blu-ray Disc as their high-definition format of choice. Bay commented on the latest industry shift at the Visual Effects Society’s sixth annual award show, where he said, “Blu-ray’s better, and I told everyone ... I was very vocal about it. I knew HD [DVD] was not going to make it.”

Oddly enough, Bay’s best selling high-definition title to date, bring Transformers, is available only on HD DVD – a format that he is vehemently betting against.

“Am I thrilled? It really wasn’t my fight, but remember what I said in the press? I was kind of saying HD [DVD]’s going to lose,” he said. “No one believed me.”

Despite both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc just being storage mediums capable of supporting the same video and audio codecs, Bay says that he prefers the way his movies are presented on Blu-ray Disc. “It’s just sharper,” Bay added. “It’s just [that] the tools are better. I just think it’s closer to what it should look like.”

Bay’s views against HD DVD were first publicized at the time of Paramount signing exclusively with HD DVD, when the director exclaimed on his website his displeasure with the deal and threatened to cease work on Transformers 2.

“I want people to see my movies in the best formats possible. For them to deny people who have Blu-ray sucks! They were progressive by having two formats. No Transformers 2 for me,” said Bay in late August.

Likely after some pleasant meetings with Paramount executives, Bay retracted his comments and explained himself: “As a director, I'm all about people seeing films in the best quality possible, and I saw and heard firsthand people upset about a corporate decision. So today I saw 300 on HD, it rocks! So I think I might be back on to do Transformers 2!”

Months later, Bay was back with more choice words against Paramount’s HD DVD deal. “It's short-sighted and it has delayed consumers' moving to HD (home video). As a director, my critical eye is that Blu-ray is where my money is. Consumers are smart, and they are going to wait it out.”

Quickly after Warner Bros. announced its plans to go with Blu-ray Disc this summer, Bay wasted no time in giving his two cents on the development. “Well another studio down. Maybe I was right? Blu ray is just better. HD will die a slow death. It's what I predicted a year ago,” Bay said.

Bay’s words on the format war aren’t limited just on the consumer side. The director also expressed his conspiracy theory that Microsoft was intentionally backing HD DVD to further confuse the consumer into giving up physical media in favor of digital downloads.

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1+1=2
By omnicronx on 2/14/2008 10:28:00 AM , Rating: 4
quote:
“Am I thrilled? It really wasn’t my fight, but remember what I said in the press? I was kind of saying HD [DVD]’s going to lose,” he said. “No one believed me.”
Congrads Mr Bay.. I mean what were the odds were what, 50/50? You must be some kind of rocket scientist to have figured out that one.

BD won because the studios wanted to push a single format, not for the reasons he mentioned (because of format issues or space issues..) thats why 'No one believed you'.

Funny considering he is such a 'powerful director',(well he thinks he is, enough to take temper tantrums) and he still had no idea that studios were going to chose BD to push a single format. And if he did and he was not allowed to say, then it wasn't a guess in the first place, was it?

So in closing, Mr bay might as well have flipped a coin on the matter, as his reasonings or variables on which his guess was based upon had nothing to do with the outcome.




RE: 1+1=2
By maverick85wd on 2/14/2008 10:37:38 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
BD won because the studios wanted to push a single format, not for the reasons he mentioned (because of format issues or space issues..) thats why 'No one believed you'.


I think BD winning had more to do with the fact that there are more BD-capable players out there than there are HD-DVD players, and would like to think it's also because BD has a much greater potential. It did start off a little more expensive, but now with the cheaper BD lasers I think BD-drives for data backup purposes are going to get real popular real quick.

I agree that it wasn't exactly rocket science, I've been telling people BD is going to win since the PS3 came out. Even before that, two competing formats with different capacities seemed a no-brainer.


RE: 1+1=2
By maverick85wd on 2/14/2008 10:39:37 AM , Rating: 1
I'll also add I was extremely confused by Microsoft's decision to go with HD-DVD, it took me quite by surprise. Then again, who really knows why Microsoft does half the things they do? Those fools are crazy


RE: 1+1=2
By StevoLincolnite on 2/14/2008 9:37:13 PM , Rating: 2
I wouldn't call one of the largest companies in the world a "Fool" considering they have been turning a profit for the last couple of decades and continue to grow, those "Fools" must be doing something right.

One theory they may have gone with HD DVD was to hurt PS3 sales, but who knows.


RE: 1+1=2
By maverick85wd on 2/16/2008 7:39:55 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
I wouldn't call one of the largest companies in the world a "Fool" considering they have been turning a profit for the last couple of decades and continue to grow, those "Fools" must be doing something right.


or I was being facetious... obviously Microsoft has been quite successful and they have a lot of products that are great, I use Windows XP every day. My point is that sometimes they do things that don't make sense.

quote:
One theory they may have gone with HD DVD was to hurt PS3 sales, but who knows.


good call, I didn't think of that... but as Blu-Ray is more advanced I couldn't understand why the largest software company in the world didn't side with it... seemed counter to the end of technological advancement.

Some people take comments entirely too seriously


RE: 1+1=2
By omnicronx on 2/14/2008 10:58:02 AM , Rating: 4
quote:
I think BD winning had more to do with the fact that there are more BD-capable players out there than there are HD-DVD players
The Format was decided by the Movie production companies not the consumer! How can you tell me that having a choice of 5 players when they; do the exact same thing, cost the same, makes a difference? They only had two tiers of players, Both expensive. HD-DVD had a full 3 tier pricing, with low end, mid end and high end products. Price not what colour your player came in is what matters. HD-DVD still outsold in S/A players up to January, so i don't see why yuo would think other manufacturers would make a difference anyways.
quote:
I agree that it wasn't exactly rocket science, I've been telling people BD is going to win since the PS3 came out. Even before that, two competing formats with different capacities seemed a no-brainer.
It was never a no brainer, wow how many times must this be punched into your heads. I dont consider the ability to store uncompressed LPCM (pointless wasteful format) to be a major selling point. (thats like using BMP files when there are many lossless formats out there like tiff files, that look just as good, but save alot of space).

The Format-War was not decided by the consumer, if it were that easy of a decision, BD would have won outright, without the help of the studios


RE: 1+1=2
By maverick85wd on 2/14/2008 11:10:21 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
The Format was decided by the Movie production companies not the consumer!


And on what did they base their decision? Perhaps the format that had more players in homes. The fact that BD has a larger capacity may have held some attraction as well.


RE: 1+1=2
By omnicronx on 2/14/2008 11:47:24 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
And on what did they base their decision? Perhaps the format that had more players in homes. The fact that BD has a larger capacity may have held some attraction as well.
Perhaps they did, perhaps they didnt, regardless of the reason, both formats were in their infancy, neither format has more than 1% of the movie market, thus neither format was ever a clear cut winner.

Looking at other formats, the best does not always win. Just remember Beta, technically it displayed more lines and had better quality video, but price and licensing issues ended up being the ultimate factor in that war. In fact Sony was on the brink of winning when phillips and RCA decided to have no almost licensing fees for VHS.

I am not trying to be bias here, I own a PS3 and HD-DVD player, but i not agree for a second that the studios chose BD for the reasons you provided.

I personally think <-- notice the personally, that this format war was in the hands of the studios from day one. It seemed like half the studios could care less about either format, and only wanted the fastest possible route to the next-gen format. The best route turned out to be BD, and here we are. I'm not complaining either, it makes perfect business sense, I just personally liked HD-DVD better, less problems, more features, and they seem to always work. Either way, I am happy, we finally have one format. I just can't stand it when people come out and say 'BD won from the start' and start listing features, when it probably had very little to do with the outcome.


RE: 1+1=2
By Motley on 2/14/2008 11:52:53 AM , Rating: 2
They based it on profit potential of course. To think otherwise would be silly. See Bluray has these things called coding regions so they can negotiate exclusive distribution rights. HD-DVD does not. That right there is a huge difference in profitability to the studios. Of course that also means the movies will cost more for the consumer, but the consumer didn't get to pick what format would win.


RE: 1+1=2
By rninneman on 2/14/2008 1:19:28 PM , Rating: 2
No, some studios chose to release on only one format while others decided to release on both. After sales had consistently been much better for Blu-ray discs, the Warner gravitated towards Blu-ray because thats what consumers had chosen thus far. There was no reason to believe things were going to change anytime soon.

What 5 same players are you talking about? The same Toshiba players that keep showing up under different badges such as Venturer, RCA, Onkyo, etc? Last time I checked I can get a SA Blu-ray player anywhere from $250 to over $1k plus there is always the PS3. I can also look at didfferent companies like Panasonic, Pioneer, Sony, Sharp, Samsung, etc.

No, HD-DVD SA players did not outsell Blu-ray until January. By the end of November of 2007, Blu-ray had 40% more SA players in consumers' homes than HD-DVD.

While is was never a "no brainer" for Blu-ray, the deck was stacked in Blu-ray's favor. The combination of exclusive studio support, multiple hardware manufacturers' support, a nd marketing that gave Blu-ray the advantage from day one even though is was late to the party.

If HD-DVD's 30 gigs is more than enough space, why did Paramount have to sacrifice lossless audio from Transformers? Oh, because 30 gigs wasn't enough space for everything that they wanted to put on the disc and lossless audio didn't make the cut. For a format that was only 18 months old at the time, that is unacceptable. If the format is to be around for 10 years or so, I don't want compromised releases for the next decade.


RE: 1+1=2
By winterspan on 2/14/2008 8:58:55 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
The Format was decided by the Movie production companies not the consumer!


They didn't decide the war, they just pushed the winning side to victory. Blu-ray outsold HD-DVD EVERY SINGLE WEEK of 2007. Easy choice IMO.

quote:
HD-DVD had a full 3 tier pricing, with low end, mid end and high end products.


Get real, HD-DVD had a bunch of cheap players made with Pentium 4 Celerons and second rate components. Toshiba priced them below cost to win the war. The prices were NOT sustainable by any manufacturer if they actually wanted to make a profit, hence the reason TOSHIBA was pretty much the only real manufacturer, where as Blu-ray had 7-8 manuf's.

quote:
HD-DVD still outsold in S/A players up to January, so i don't see why yuo would think other manufacturers would make a difference anyways.


ugh.. the same old BS tactic from HD-DVD fanboys. Let's count "SA" players since the PRIMARY and MOST POPULAR Blu-ray player is the Playstation 3. Fact is, Blu-ray well outsold HD-DVD in players USED TO PLAY DISCS, as can be seen by media sales.

quote:
I don't consider the ability to store uncompressed LPCM (pointless wasteful format) to be a major selling point.


I must not have been aware storage capacity was limited to storing audio. Blu-rays 25GB per layer and much higher system bandwidth of 48mbps vs HD-DVD 30mbps allows for more hours of video per disc and 60% higher bit-rate video. All things the same, higher bitrate = better quality. Also will be important for future standards, aka 1440P/2160P


RE: 1+1=2
By JLN on 2/14/2008 11:23:41 AM , Rating: 5
I think that the inclusion of the Blu-Ray playability on the PS3 was a decisive factor in the format wars. Everyone who purchased the console immediately had access to the next-gen format, whereas 360 had an optional upgrade (which not as many would take advantage of compared to the latter). That initial user base propelled BD to gain more ground faster than HD. This shouldn't be new.

Some of you guys say that people that own PS3 don't buy it specifically for movies. This is not the case. I bought my PS3 for the MAIN reason of playing Blu-Ray films. Granted not everyone chooses this option, but I'm certainly not alone. Due to the player's reliance on the Cell processor instead of a standard graphics processor, the PS3 will easily be upgradeable via updates and will support Blu-Ray 2.0 firmware. I chose the console as it was the best player on the market, and playing games was just icing on the cake.


RE: 1+1=2
By Pandamon on 2/14/2008 2:18:49 PM , Rating: 3
same for me.
I was motivated to get an HD player so I could watch Planet Earth in all it's glory. After reading good PS3 reviews as a video player (in home theatre forums, of all places), I decided to go with Blu-Ray. I was also pleasantly surprised at the excellent job it did upconverting my old DVD movies, and at convenient fast access to the internet. This machine reeks quality, in contrast to the bad reputation of another console.
After recent firmware updates I can also load a DivX video file onto my 4GB USB flash drive, plug it in the PS3 and enjoy the show with no fuss.
Someday I will buy a game I promise.


RE: 1+1=2
By omnicronx on 2/14/2008 5:13:01 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
This is not the case. I bought my PS3 for the MAIN reason of playing Blu-Ray films.
Sorry.. but this is the case.. I also bought a PS3 just for the BD player, but that doesnt mean everyone did. Attach rates dont lie.. its 1 movie to 3 players for BD at max including Standalones. As people actually buy SA's to watch movies, you have to think the attach rate is really higher for SA's and even lower for the PS3 (probably closer to 1-5). Its pretty much simple division, movies sold / players sold, the numbers cant be wrong, peoples opinions can be.


RE: 1+1=2
By winterspan on 2/14/2008 9:06:48 PM , Rating: 2
He didn't say EVERYONE bought a PS3 for the Blu-ray player capability, nor did he say even a majority. With over ~11 million units sold worldwide, you don't even need 25% to represent a large number compared to SA high-def players.
I also am one of these owners who bought the PS3 for the Blu-ray capability. It also makes a great WiFi media extender using windows media player. It plays H264/Mpeg4/Dvix/Xvid/WMV/etc.
For $399, its quite an amazing deal.

And as far as BD profile 2.0, isn't 2.0 just 1.1 with mandatory ethernet. There are already many SA BD profile 1.1 players with a network connection on the market, so does that even matter?


RE: 1+1=2
By wallijonn on 2/14/2008 11:46:36 AM , Rating: 1
quote:
I think BD winning had more to do with the fact that there are more BD-capable players out there than there are HD-DVD players,


I tend to think that BD won because of the BOGOs. Now that they've won the BOGOs seem to have tapered off. The consequence is that most people now feel that they will not pay $25 to $30 per movie. I therefore expect BD movie sales to slow to a crawl and to reflect HD-DVD numbers.


RE: 1+1=2
By ATC on 2/14/2008 1:55:13 PM , Rating: 2
Everyone but the HD-DVD group wanted a single format. Which part of "two competing incompatible formats are not feasible for the DVD replacement to succeed" does the HD-DVD group or its supporters not get?


RE: 1+1=2
By Hiawa23 on 2/14/2008 11:44:35 PM , Rating: 2
Just read on Hi-def digest that Toshiba will be pulling the plug on HD-DVD, in the coming days to weeks...


RE: 1+1=2
By superdynamite on 2/16/2008 9:34:26 PM , Rating: 2
Look at this. It's the truth about Blu-ray vs. Downloads
http://www.epinions.com/content_5157331076


Michaek Bay
By tayhimself on 2/14/2008 10:07:59 AM , Rating: 5
Michael Bay makes shit that children of all ages enjoy. Dangle a few million in front of Michael Bay and he'll sell his mother. Not that I am a Sony PS3 BluRay shill or MS HDDVD nut.




RE: Michaek Bay
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 2/14/2008 10:12:49 AM , Rating: 5
I knew it was only a matter of time before Bay crawled out of his hole and made another statement.


RE: Michaek Bay
By Trogdor on 2/14/2008 11:13:08 AM , Rating: 5
Damn, I knew I didn't dig it deep enough...


RE: Michaek Bay
By lopri on 2/14/2008 1:08:38 PM , Rating: 2
No kidding. While I'm technically on Blu-Ray side, his comments are real turn offs and his movies are just obnoxious. I can't believe I recently borrowed and watched Transformers, only to blame myself for 2 hours of wasted time in my life. I should have known better.


HD or not
By bldckstark on 2/14/08, Rating: 0
RE: HD or not
By EuroGamer on 2/14/2008 10:24:36 AM , Rating: 2
Plasma so sucks compared to LCD...


RE: HD or not
By bfellow on 2/14/2008 11:37:35 AM , Rating: 2
I wonder why LCD's had to introduce 120hz recently just to get compared to Plasma.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/12/21/plasma-vs-lcd...


RE: HD or not
By clovell on 2/14/2008 11:53:33 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah, I saw that and thought to myself, 'wtf?!? 1080p is only delivered at 30fps! wtf am I gonna do with 120Hz?!?'

...but I wasn't completely certain that I knew what I was talking about...


RE: HD or not
By Brockway on 2/15/2008 5:18:59 PM , Rating: 2
Its because 120hz is divisible by 60hz, 30hz, and 24hz. 24hz is the new omg thing for home theater enthusiast types because its the same fps as the source (theatres) and doesn't have to add duplicate frames.


RE: HD or not
By Zensen on 2/14/2008 10:27:55 AM , Rating: 2
yeh this guy is laughable at times and his opinion matters little to me, though I did like transformers.

I think the xbox 360 would have benefited the cause of HD-DVD had they included the drive to begin with. It was very smart of sony to weather the storm as it seems blu-ray is garnering a lot of support now.

I like the idea of HD but the pricing and the way things have occurred bore me because they seem so similar except the fact that HD-Dvd seems to be movie region free... this could have been resolved so early apparently but oh well...

I know part of the reason for holding back is the fact that some movies have been withheld to a certain format and that does suck..

on a side note. I love plasmas too!


Never quite understood....
By Aikouka on 2/14/2008 10:51:07 AM , Rating: 3
I've really had a hard time understanding this so maybe someone could explain it....

The differences between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are there... yet there are not many. So really, why is Blu-Ray supposedly better? Both formats support about the same size (45-51GB for HD-DVD triple layer... supported by most if not all current players. 50GB for Blu-Ray... supported by all players). Both formats support the same video codecs (but Sony's original authoring tools only included MPEG2, hence why most original BR movies are MPEG2). Blu-Ray discs allow for uncompressed PCM audio, but I tend to pass this difference off as an audiophile-only difference. HD-DVD is a complete spec at this point where the Blu-Ray consortium is still arguing over 2.0. The point of a complete spec led to all HD-DVD players being upgradeable via ethernet where Blu-Ray lacked that feature. Fortunately, Sony's PS3 (which in my opinion is the most popular BR player) can be upgraded via Ethernet.

So I mean... unless I'm missing something, I've never understood what makes Blu-Ray that good to make people jump over to it? The format came about because Sony et all refused to back down after the DVD Forum chose HD-DVD.

So what's the big deal? Wouldn't the studios prefer HD-DVD's cheaper manufacturing and cheaper players? I know Columbia/Tri-Star wouldn't, but that's obvious since it's a subsidiary of Sony.




RE: Never quite understood....
By IntelGirl on 2/14/08, Rating: 0
RE: Never quite understood....
By Aikouka on 2/14/2008 12:50:26 PM , Rating: 2
I guess I should have included the note that I own both a HD-DVD and a Blu-Ray player instead of removing it during Preview :). Just like with video games, I won't shun a game because it's on a specific console that I may not favor in lieu of another, I'll play the game.


RE: Never quite understood....
By tallcool1 on 2/14/2008 12:41:12 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
So I mean... unless I'm missing something, I've never understood what makes Blu-Ray that good to make people jump over to it? The format came about because Sony et all refused to back down after the DVD Forum chose HD-DVD.


Two points here:
1. I do not think its the consumer as much as it is the hardware manufactures and studios backing it. Blu-Ray has the majority of the hardware (player) manufactures on board, and I believe that most of the studios prefer to have region coding and a more secure DRM. Which leads into the the real answer for this particlar question. Content is King, and since Blu-Ray has more top studios on board, there is likely a better overall movie selection on Blu-Ray, which leads into higher sales. Ask any XBOX360 owner and they will tell you that content is king, the more software base you have to choose from , makes it more appealing.

2. The DVD forum (which is chaired by Toshiba), choose the format Toshiba came out with (later) to compete with the already existing Blu-Ray technology.


RE: Never quite understood....
By Aikouka on 2/14/2008 12:58:26 PM , Rating: 2
Thanks for the clarification... if I could vote you up still I would.

I went through and read HD-DVD's wikipedia article and it seems I must've ran into some misinformation in the past. You are right in that Blu-Ray came first and the article discussed how the DVD Forum decided not to take it because of the large expense associated with the blue diodes and attempted to use DVD9s instead. I wonder what made them decide to create AOD (HD-DVD) after that though? Did they want to do it to create a disc that could work better with existing manufacturing technologies (which is one of the strengths of HD-DVD)? The article doesn't really say why.

Also, a good note on the region encoding. It seems that the consumer-friendly feature just simply isn't worthwhile in the eyes of the studios.


Coming soon.....
By brshoemak on 2/14/2008 10:43:30 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
Blu-ray’s better, and I told everyone ... I was very vocal about it. I knew HD [DVD] was not going to make it.”


This guy apparently wants a cookie............so he can blow it up with CG.

Coming to theaters July 2008. Rated R for languange, violence against cookies and gratuitous CG effects.




RE: Coming soon.....
By noirsoft on 2/14/2008 10:48:49 AM , Rating: 2
With music by Rob Zombie, featuring his cover of "C is for Cookie, That's Good Enough For Me"


One of the Problems with Blogging
By Houdani on 2/14/2008 10:29:40 AM , Rating: 2
Tis better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

I'm not saying he is wrong for preferring Blu-ray, but I am faulting him for coming across as an insecure twit who keeps begging for people to "look at me, look at me!"




By DingieM on 2/14/2008 11:41:35 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah indeed, and he makes films that are among the worst ever to reach the theaters.
Although I watched the converted HD version of transformers (don't want to go into detail :-)) and enjoyed it for a very short time, I agree with the world that its one of the worst 10 films of 2007.

Michael Bay is not only an insecure twit, he is a disgusting little child promoting his suckingly bad movies.


What is he talking about?
By Janooo on 2/14/2008 11:52:06 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
...
Bay says that he prefers the way his movies are presented on Blu-ray Disc. “It’s just sharper,” Bay added. “It’s just [that] the tools are better. I just think it’s closer to what it should look like.”
...


Pure BS.




RE: What is he talking about?
By Gyres01 on 2/14/2008 12:01:30 PM , Rating: 2
Everyday......same thing, someone kill this old horse.


Maybe his career will die a slow death
By viperpa on 2/14/2008 10:56:20 AM , Rating: 2
Maybe his directing career will die a slow death. I hate when people like him make comments like the one he made. Like he is such a expert on such matters. It all comes down to what he thinks people should watch, not what customers want to watch. I am surprised he didn't say people who didn't watch his movie or thought his movie stunk are idiots.




By OdinX on 2/14/2008 11:21:11 AM , Rating: 1
This really just makes me want to lobby for hd-dvd now and I really didn't care before.


By Mitch101 on 2/14/2008 11:34:36 AM , Rating: 3
I concede that Blu-Ray unless a miracle happens will be the winner of the format war. I will say I am disappointed at this decision because HD-DVD players are in my price range and I would have committed to going HD-DVD and buying movies. But now at the current price of BLU-RAY players it has delayed me from getting one and I wont buy current dvd's because an HD format exists. It would be like buying VHS tapes when DVD players exist. So I wont be buying any movies until the BLU-RAY players are sub $100.00 now and then will probably just rent because most movies have no replay value and all but about 20 movies will have an improvement by being in HD. STAR WARS, INDIANA JONES, LOTR, PIRATES, MATRIX and Maybe CLOVERFIELD. I didn't think much of Transformers.

Being that the Super Bowl has past.
I called Direct TV after the super bowl and got a Direct TV HD receiver with DVR functions for FREE and 1 year FREE HD service installed the following day. Not even a delivery charge of the DVR the guy who came to put in the new dish brought a brand new unit. No arguing to get the deal. No $200 for a leased piece of equipment. FREE. They didn't even ask for a commitment to service. While I might have to wait another 3 months for the movie to be on HBO there is always PPV but I would prefer to go to the movies and see it on the big screen anyway.

Reality - The format war killed me buying movies as an impulse buy. I have not browsed the movie section of a retail store some 6 months prior to the HD Format war. Of course I will be back when BLU-RAY players reach $100.00 but I am sure I can pick up Transformer for $6.99 on best buys bargain deals when that day comes.

The MPAA should now blame low movies sales to pirates because im sure they just don't understand why we aren't all rushing out to buy $350.00 BLU-RAY players or buying an inferior DVD when an HD format exists.




wooooooow.
By Samus on 2/14/2008 10:13:32 AM , Rating: 2
this guy is fraking nuts.




enough of this guy
By zinfamous on 2/14/2008 10:26:58 AM , Rating: 2
As if Michael Bay is relevant....




South Park
By compy386 on 2/14/2008 11:48:24 AM , Rating: 2
"Job has all his children killed, and Michael Bay gets to keep making movies. There isn't a God."

- Kyle (South Park)

Seriously though, I hope Blu-Ray wins. My PS3 keeps collecting dust.




Who is this guy?
By Roffles on 2/14/2008 11:48:32 AM , Rating: 2
My main gripe with Bay is he has nothing insightful or relevant to say regarding Blu-ray's success. And honestly, who is this guy? He's just a movie director so who cares? It's almost as if the PR machine is trying to spin this into something more than it should be. Should we go blog hunting and find some more disregardful comments from semi-unimportant people?

I've been a supporter of Blu-ray ever since I got my PS3 about 9 months ago. It's good to know my PS3 will be all the more useful as a media powerhouse in addition to video games. My parents are sitting on the fence waiting for one format to emerge victorious. I’m sure there are countless people out there just like my parents who are aware of a format war and are waiting for the green light. I'm just glad Blu-ray is going to win because now I can share my Blu-ray collection with my parents. Woohoo!




By CannedWeasel on 2/14/2008 12:51:00 PM , Rating: 2
I really, really intensely dislike Michael Bay. Everything I see from him just seems to scream two things, one, that he's a complete and utter tool, and two, that he was instrumental in tipping the scales in favor of Blu-Ray. I think that we can nip this in the bud; every time he starts mentioning Blu-Ray, a reporter should ask him why Pearl Harbor was such a godawful movie.




Lots of bad arguments here
By deeznuts on 2/14/2008 1:14:08 PM , Rating: 2
There are a lot of bad arguments in this thread. First off, the initial sales figure when the PS3 first came out (I'm assuming you mean PS3 when you say "they") shows that as soon as the PS3 came out, the 8 or so month leadtime HD DVD had vanished in a matter of months. This isn't conjecture, this is supported by Nielsen's videoscan numbers from January.

The PS3 is not the only factor of BD's dominance, but it was the Major one. Attach rates while somewhat useful are rendered inaccurate because of PS3's dual role of premier BD player as well as gaming machine. Again, before the PS3 was released, HD DVD was kicking BD's ass, as soon as the PS3 was released sales skyrocketed and has not lost since.

As for PS3 not being as successful as the PS2, the jury is still out. Yes the Wii is handing everyone their arses, and yes the PS3 is in third place. But it outsold the 360 worldwide last year (don't just pay attention to NPD) despite the 360 having some very heavy hitters and despite fanboys claims the PS3 has no games. Oh, and in the UK it has outsold the 360 and the PS2 in their respective timelines. (Don't know about US numbers) Attach rates were very good too (go look at Sony's financials). Whether anyone thinks BD player inclusion was a good idea or not, it did help BD win, and you don't have 4 DVD's like Lost Oddysey, barely two years (*or one year depending on how you count) into next gen, and remember Blue Dragon last year with 3 DVDs.

Oh boy, this got long.I'm bored at work.




f u michael bay
By fuser197 on 2/14/2008 2:18:21 PM , Rating: 2
f u michael bay




I say I win, so I win!
By 80Morphine on 2/14/2008 4:35:02 PM , Rating: 2
I went to Frys yesterday and asked the salesperson in the TV department what he thought of the format war. He very confidently told me that Bluray had won. I asked him if, like Walmart, it was company policy to tell consumers that ask that Bluray is the way to go. I think he started sweating and told me that the "experts" at the tradeshows (Sony and backers) said it has gone that way. I asked again what the company policy was and repeated himself word for word.

This new campaign of "If we just say we win, then we will have won" is very annoying as a consumer. I have not invested in either format. The netflix decision does sway me, but also annoys me. In an effort to provide better service to a customer, shouldnt you carry both formats?

Everywhere I looked in the store there was a carboard cutout or display with the word BLURAY in my face. On a marketing level, they have won....handily.




Michael BAY - off by a day.
By Belard on 2/16/2008 8:36:45 AM , Rating: 2
HD-DVD - FEB 16 2008 = RIP

Its offical by 99.9% Its over. Done.

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAn...

The HD-DVD playes may go for $50 nowadays as DVD players.

Sorry guys.




Michael Bay is a smart person
By IntelGirl on 2/14/08, Rating: 0
Enough already!
By Scalptrash on 2/14/08, Rating: -1
RE: Enough already!
By mdogs444 on 2/14/2008 10:14:53 AM , Rating: 5
quote:
Sony sealed the deal when they announced it would be in the PS3.

Not that I'm a fan of HD-DVD because I don't have one, but this statement is quite laughable. The initial sales figures when they first came out while touting BD prove otherwise.
quote:
THe whole world knows (and probably knew all along) that Blu-ray would win.

Sounds more like a personal opinion than fact.
quote:
Just go away.

Sometimes, we need to follow our own advice.


RE: Enough already!
By maverick85wd on 2/14/2008 10:29:54 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Not that I'm a fan of HD-DVD because I don't have one, but this statement is quite laughable. The initial sales figures when they first came out while touting BD prove otherwise.


I disagree. Everyone I know that has a PS3 also use it for watching BD movies. If Microsoft had not been so eager to get their system out ASAP (going so far as to ignore quality issues) and had put HD-DVD players internally in the 360 I think you would see a lot more studios releasing movies in both formats. I'm glad they didn't do this as having more than one format is cumbersome (and I'm a supporter of BD), however I believe this to be the case. At the very least HD-DVD would be putting up a much better fight than it is, it could have even turned the tables in this format war.


RE: Enough already!
By PAPutzback on 2/14/2008 10:33:36 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah. The adition of an HD-DVD drive would of made for a cheap console. Had the tides turned the other way the PS3 owners would not have been so happy to pay the addition couple hundred bucks for the drive.


RE: Enough already!
By masher2 (blog) on 2/14/2008 10:39:06 AM , Rating: 5
> "Everyone I know that has a PS3 also use it for watching BD movies"

Your anecdotal evidence aside, the statistics show otheriwse. In August of last year, the attach rate on BD movies for the PS3 was on the order of 0.25 (1 disc sold for every 4 players). Nearly half of all PS3 owners surveyed then didn't even know their console *could* play BD movies, much less use it to watch them.

The PS3 certainly contributed to BD's dominant position, but claiming it was the only factor is certainly incorrect.


RE: Enough already!
By maverick85wd on 2/14/2008 11:03:20 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
The PS3 certainly contributed to BD's dominant position, but claiming it was the only factor is certainly incorrect.


It is absolutely not the only factor but I believe it was the most important one.

quote:
Your anecdotal evidence aside, the statistics show otheriwse.


They very well may. But every PS3, statistically, is also a BD-capable player which I would assume played a large part in many studios' decision to go with Blu-Ray.

While not all the people I know that have a PS3 are techno-inclined, a few of them are. And even those that aren't are at least smart enough to research the products they buy and know what they are capable of... but those are the type of people I associate with, which is probably why everyone I know that has a PS3 also uses them for BD movies.


RE: Enough already!
By masher2 (blog) on 2/14/2008 1:31:09 PM , Rating: 4
> "It is absolutely not the only factor but I believe it was the most important one."

I'd put Sony's studio ownership first. Knowing that, no matter how well HD-DVD did, that a quarter of all films would never be released for the format was a huge plus.

I'd put second BD's much larger hardware based and vastly superior marketing campaign, which explains why SA BD players sold on par with HD-DVD, even given their much higher price.

The PS3 I'd rank third.


RE: Enough already!
By kelmon on 2/14/2008 11:20:28 AM , Rating: 2
It's probably also worth noting that the PS3 is not (and not really showing signs that it will be) as wildly successful as the PS2 was. Sony will need to sell a lot more PS3's, and get the owners buying Blu-ray disc, for the PS3 to be a real beachhead in the battle. That said, since the battle appears to be all but won already, does the PS3 really make much difference?

I still hold that putting Blu-ray in the PS3 was a stupid idea (your stats back up the hypothesis that people are not buying the PS3 for its Blu-ray disc playing abilities) and that it won't really catch on in the same way that DVD did. Blu-ray will find its place , HD-DVD will be a distant memory, but I honestly believe that downloadable content is going to be more popular because it is so convenient. However, we'll have to wait a few years to confirm that...


RE: Enough already!
By Zensen on 2/14/2008 11:34:36 AM , Rating: 2
I don't find downloadable content (digital delivery) to be at all convenient esp for those who cannot get high speed internet and those who have quotas (yes there are people who have a limit to what they download). Some people will also appreciate the real thing in their hands like me. I still can't see how it can be so hard to head to a retail shop. The only problem i see is if it doesn't reach the country for some odd reason and even then, people may just order it online.

I could see movies becoming region free if digital content does pick up. harking on about digital delivery right now just doesn't make much sense to me but so does a lot of things :P I just feel that only technological minded people are the only ones interested.

I know one or two people who snapped up a new HD tv and got a ps3 because of that added capability of a blu-ray drive and its problem lie in pricing. it was just expensive like ALL hd hardware and software is right now.

But to say the ps3 had not made much difference is a bit far fetched. the fact sony included it into the player gave blu-ray some ammunition in the marketing department and my reasoning stands that HD-DVD would exposed itself a lot better had it been ready and accepted at the beginning for the 360.


RE: Enough already!
By kelmon on 2/14/2008 12:19:53 PM , Rating: 3
I see this going the way of CDs. CDs produce better audio quality but iTunes is still preferable because its dead easy to find and buy what you want practically instantly. Digital delivery for movies will win over discs for the same reason - choose what you want at that time and start watching it. Convenience will always win as long as the other factors are "good enough".

All this said, if you cannot download what you want within your account limit, either in terms of volume or speed, then that's a definite restricting factor.

Unfortunately, for Sony they kinda shot themselves in the foot with Blu-ray. Had they gone with a standard DVD drive they would have delivered their system sooner and cheaper, and almost certainly would not be playing catch-up to Microsoft now. The actual value of Blu-ray to the customer is very debatable. If you know about and use it then the PS3 is supposed to be very good value. However, as has already been noted, it looks like a lot of PS3 owners don't buy Blu-ray movies. While they could all just be renting movies it is not a great statistic for showing that Blu-ray really makes that much difference to the PS3 - if it's an attractive feature then you'd expect customers to be making more use of it, wouldn't you? The best that can be said for it at present is that while Blu-ray does give ammunition to Sony's marketing department, they don't appear to be using it much. The worst is that they waited for a feature that customers don't put that much value on. I honestly think that Sony over-estimated how important Blu-ray was going to be perceived because, for a lot of people, DVD is still "good enough".


RE: Enough already!
By BansheeX on 2/14/2008 1:48:48 PM , Rating: 2
CDs were on the market for years and years before digital downloads took off. So I hope you're right in your analogy to blu-ray. Digital downloads for 3mb audio files is currently easy to download and store. HD movies are 30GB. It's going to be a while, friend.

Another flaw in your analogy is that music is a background activity that incites a much stronger desire for portability than film-watching.

quote:
Convenience will always win as long as the other factors are "good enough".


That's pretty short-sighted. A hard-copy IS the most convenient solution. How do you transfer or share movies with your friends in a download model? How do people who live or travel to areas with no broadband find digital downloads more convenient? How do you resell your purchase to someone else, either on ebay or to a friend?

quote:
Unfortunately, for Sony they kinda shot themselves in the foot with Blu-ray.


No, they benefited long term and you're coming to premature conclusions based on a single year. The consumer also benefited from the decision with a more complete and reliable next-gen product. Sony didn't shoot themselves in the foot for not rushing their product to the market to get more sales by choosing to release sooner with a cheaper, noiser, less reliable product that couldn't play next-gen movies. You're blaming them for not following that strategy and forsaking sales success to essentially assure you a better, albeit more initially expensive product?


RE: Enough already!
By kelmon on 2/15/2008 3:27:49 AM , Rating: 2
I understand what you are saying but continue to disagree. Mostly it depends on how you want to consume your media - own or buy. I happily concede that if you want to buy all your movies outright then Blu-ray is the way to go but I favour the rental model. For me, Steve Jobs was correct when he said that people want to own their music because they'll listen to it again and again, but that they generally don't watch the same movies and so rentals make more sense. Assuming that rentals do make more sense to you then digital is the way to go and most of your arguments no longer apply. For example, given that the movie file will disappear from the hard drive once it has been watched the capacity of the drive is not much of an issue (I should also note that the file won't be 30GB in size for an HD download either). Sharing also doesn't really apply in this scenario either.

Of course, if you live in an area without suitable Internet services to access the media at a good speed then downloading is not for you and a physical disc will make more sense.

Going back to the Sony, PS3 and Blu-ray issue, and I hate to keep banging the same drum, but if customers don't place a value on a feature then it's a useless feature. If everyone had been waiting for Blu-ray to arrive and rushed to buy the PS3 because of it then I wouldn't be writing this. But they didn't. Existing customers aren't even using the Blu-ray playing function much. It might take off in the future but right now not many people care. It's possible that Blu-ray on the PS3 is a generation too early but given that there is little demand for hi-def content at present it's silly to argue that effectively conceding the current console war to Microsoft was a good idea. I may well be wrong about this in the long-term but it's a heck of a risk.

I'd just like to say that I do think the PS3 is a superior product to the 360 because is was made to higher quality standards. However, I won't buy one because they are too expensive and I have no interest in Blu-ray. I won't buy a 360 because it too is too expensive and I believe its quality and design to be shoddy at best.


RE: Enough already!
By slacker57 on 2/14/2008 6:07:15 PM , Rating: 2
Not sure where you get your info about itunes/digital downloads being "preferable". Just today I was reading an article about album sales that quoted some album sold 375,000 last week and of that number 139,000 were digital downloads. That's not even half of total sales, and that was a "record number of downloads."

I think a lot of people around these boards get confused about reality when they talk about "digital downloads are the future!" Yes, for the tech-hungry like us that read these kinds of sites, probably, but for most of the population, no. You guys have to remember the "lowest common denominator" argument. If/when (most likely when) Blu-ray wins, I doubt it's going to have to fear too much from digital downloads for quite some time.


RE: Enough already!
By Mitch101 on 2/14/2008 11:37:28 AM , Rating: 2
I 100% agree with that statement. I have a PS2 and to me the PS2 was a gaming machine. The PS3 is a BLU-RAY player that can also play games. What is lost is the gaming aspect of the system and it shows so for me the PS3 is nothing more than a $400.00 BLU-RAY player.


RE: Enough already!
By BansheeX on 2/14/2008 1:29:01 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I still hold that putting Blu-ray in the PS3 was a stupid idea (your stats back up the hypothesis that people are not buying the PS3 for its Blu-ray disc playing abilities) and that it won't really catch on in the same way that DVD did.


This has become a recurring theme: consumers taking the business end of the argument to decide what they think is good. If you're going to discuss sales success, discuss sales success. But as a consumer, you should only care about whether or not a decision gives you a better product, not a more popular one. Otherwise, you're just thinking like a sheep. Do you think creative rock bands should change simply because their sales don't achieve the sales success of Britney Spears? Blu-ray is a great format and including it in the PS3 was an outstanding decision that gives developers more capacity and makes the unit quieter while gaming. It was imperative that every model had it in order to ensure its use, just like the hard drive. Maybe you think in business terms by saying Sony should have used a noisy DVD drive, released with a 30% failure rate, and made models without a hard drive in order to release sooner and cheaper to secure a userbase. But Sony did the right thing, paid for it in initial sales and negative price reactions, and it ultimately earned them some renewed respect in the market and made the PS3 a more complete era-based product.


RE: Enough already!
By tastyratz on 2/14/08, Rating: 0
RE: Enough already!
By BansheeX on 2/14/2008 1:05:24 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Your anecdotal evidence aside, the statistics show otheriwse. In August of last year, the attach rate on BD movies for the PS3 was on the order of 0.25 (1 disc sold for every 4 players). Nearly half of all PS3 owners surveyed then didn't even know their console *could* play BD movies, much less use it to watch them.


Half of 10 million is still 5 million people aware of the functionality and 5 million more who could change at any time, and that's far more than HD-DVD's 1 million total players sold. The PS3 pushes a niche format into people's homes at a far faster pace than stand-alones could ever hope. These people don't have to buy anything, all they have to do is realize they have it. And with the 5 free mail-in offer and many models coming with a movie in the package, it's hard to believe that 50% of PS3 owners don't realize the functionality. It's advertised on TV, it's all over the internet, it's sold in stores, it's being included in the package... I just think the 50% number is bogus, and I'd like a reference if you could provide one so I could do some more research on who obtained it and how.


RE: Enough already!
By mac2j on 2/14/2008 2:50:26 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
In August of last year, the attach rate on BD movies for the PS3 was on the order of 0.25 (1 disc sold for every 4 players). Nearly half of all PS3 owners surveyed then didn't even know their console *could* play BD movies, much less use it to watch them.


For a ridiculously flawed statistic (look at the questions they asked in that "study") which was administered to people BUYING PS3s that sure has gotten a ton of mileage on these boards..... nm the fact that half the people surveyed were people parents and friends who were buying them as gifts.

AND lets not forget:
1) Most people rent HD movies rather than buying
2) The available Blu-ray movies last August were not exactly replete with titles that appeal to your average PS3 player - things have certainly changed on both fronts since Dec.
3) EVERYONE I know also watches BD movies on their PS3 - and thats 20 or so friends and colleagues ... many of them use it more for that than for playing games.

oh and 4) Michael Bay is right, its time for Paramount to throw in the towel so we can all move on


RE: Enough already!
By omnicronx on 2/14/2008 11:00:51 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
I disagree. Everyone I know that has a PS3 also use it for watching BD movies.
1-3 at max attach rate.. those are sony BD attach rate numbers, and thats not everyone.. and thats including if people with S/A players followed the same attach rate ( which they don't, they obviously buy more than 1 movie). PS3 BD attach rates not including spiderman that it came with is probably closer to 1-5 (1 movie for every 5 people)


RE: Enough already!
By omnicronx on 2/14/2008 11:00:52 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
I disagree. Everyone I know that has a PS3 also use it for watching BD movies.
1-3 at max attach rate.. those are sony BD attach rate numbers, and thats not everyone.. and thats including if people with S/A players followed the same attach rate ( which they don't, they obviously buy more than 1 movie). PS3 BD attach rates not including spiderman that it came with is probably closer to 1-5 (1 movie for every 5 people)


RE: Enough already!
By aju on 2/14/08, Rating: -1
RE: Enough already!
By omnicronx on 2/14/2008 10:46:10 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Sony sealed the deal when they announced it would be in the PS3.
This really is laughable, many analysts actually predicted that the decision would dramatically hurt Sony if they did no pull it off. It really was putting all their eggs into one basket, especially with a product that was to be released after HD-DVD. I am actually willing to say that at this point, that was one of the low points for BD in terms of their approval rate.

quote:
THe whole world knows (and probably knew all along) that Blu-ray would win.
How so? HD-DVD group was formed before BD group, and was the front runner for a long while, (it was also released 8 months before). BD just had WAAAY better marketing, more money, and the PS3 to jump start sales. I have still to this day only seen 2 HD-DVD commercials.. one during the super bowl, and one 8 months ago. You saying that you 'knew BD will win' was just as informed as me saying 'HD-DVD' will win, at the time of release. In other words, if you did 'guess' right, it was for all the wrong reasons. As I explained in my comment to Mr Bay, I can flip a coin too..


RE: Enough already!
By tallcool1 on 2/14/2008 12:13:30 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
HD-DVD group was formed before BD group
This is not correct. The DVD Forum existed, but not an HD-DVD group.

Here are some excerpts covering the timeline from the article on Wiki:

Origins
Sony started two projects applying the new diodes: UDO (Ultra Density Optical) and DVR Blue (together with Pioneer), a format of rewritable discs which would eventually become Blu-ray Disc (more specifically, BD-RE). The first DVR Blue prototypes were unveiled at the CEATEC exhibition in October 2000 .

The DVD Forum (which was chaired by Toshiba) was deeply split over whether to go with the more expensive blue lasers or not.

In March 2002 , the forum voted to approve a proposal endorsed by Warner Bros. and other motion picture studios that involved compressing HD content onto dual-layer DVD-9 discs. However, in spite of this decision, the DVD Forum's Steering Committee announced in April that it was pursuing its own blue-laser high-definition solution.

In August 2002 , Toshiba and NEC announced their competing standard Advanced Optical Disc. It was finally adopted by the DVD Forum and renamed HD DVD the next year, after being voted down twice by Blu-ray Disc Association members (Matsushita, Pioneer, Philips, Thomson, LG Electronics, Hitachi, Sharp, Samsung, and Sony), prompting the U.S. Department of Justice to make preliminary investigations into the situation."


RE: Enough already!
By melgross on 2/14/2008 12:53:40 PM , Rating: 2
But, Sony was right, and everyone else was wrong.

They also sold 4.9 million PS3's during the holiday season.


RE: Enough already!
By melgross on 2/14/2008 12:50:58 PM , Rating: 2
Except that he's correct.

Some people were saying that it was a bad idea for Sony to have put BD in the PS3 because of the cost and delays. But, that wasn't true. They forgot that new technology always gets off to a slow start. There are delays, and the price starts out high. But, the delays are long over, and the price has dropped significantly. It will drop more. The 360 has less room to drop in price, and the PS3 is now a better bargain than the 360, even without the soon to be obsolete HD-DVD add-on.

The PS3 is the main reason why BD has won this war, despite some saying that it would have no effect.

It turns out that it was MS that made the mistake, by not making HD-DVD standard on the 360, as some of us stated in the beginning.


RE: Enough already!
By masher2 (blog) on 2/14/2008 1:08:32 PM , Rating: 3
> "It turns out that it was MS that made the mistake, by not making HD-DVD standard "

No. Microsoft had nothing to gain by making HD-DVD standard, and everything to lose. You forget that, unlike Sony, MS doesn't own a bundle of movie studios; they have almost no vested interest in which standard wins.

MS has a mild preference to HD-DVD due to HDi (rather than BD-Java), but it certainly isn't anywhere near enough rationale for them to risk 360 sales just to promote a standard.


RE: Enough already!
By BenSkywalker on 2/15/2008 9:46:08 AM , Rating: 1
Being very short sighted MS had nothing to gain is more accurate. MS gift wrapped the high end Japanese market for Sony with their decission, try to pry Square's hours of HD FMV out of their games, it isn't going to happen. MS forced Japanese style RPGs to go multi to mega disc with their choice to use last generation technology in terms of their storage format. End costs over the life of the console would have made it extremely difficult for any serious developer in that market with that type of game to make the 360 using outdated media an optimal option. Square left their extremely cozy relationship with Nintendo for the same reason. Cart to CD gave them an order of magnitude, DVD to BRD only six fold but still quite large.

Secondly, and a much larger factor as of now- The PS3 has the poorest lineup of exclusives you could wish on a console you want to die and yet it outsells the 360 globally, how is that? With the majority of titles being cross platform do you pick the system that can play HD movies or the one that can't? Last year the 360 fired with all of its' major exclusives and lost ground to what is, at best, a pathetic effort on Sony's part. The PS3 is a sickeningly weak gaming platform atm, and it is outpacing the 360. I have had my 360 since just after launch, only had one die on me so far(lost count of PS2s....), and in realistic terms I will likely remove it from my main entertainment center and replace it with a PS3 as it can play almost all the games the 360 can and serve double duty as a BRD player.

Several of the studios cited Sony's choice of using BRD in the PS3 as the reason they chose to go with BRD, gives them an assured installed base of 30 million in 4 years if no SA players sell at all, if MS had chosen to go with HD-DVD from day one they could have buried BRD before it ever got out of the gates and making consumers who want the platform that can both play games and movies move to a 360 as their only viable choice.

MS ended the format war the moment they decided to stick with last gen technology for their optical media. For myself this war was more about BRD being absolutely certain to win from the word go(Matsushita and Sony teaming up on a format- the last format war Sony was stomped by Matsushita). The HD-DVD, I don't want to call them fans as it was more borderline religion, would argue all sorts of different angles including the first to reach the $99 price point was going to win the war and other such nonsense. Obviously that didn't make much difference ;) The war was decided years ago in some board room when MS chose DVD over HD-DVD. The long term effects for the 360 will be felt when the big name JRPGs hit and are PS3 exclusive because they have to be due to media limitations and the far slower increased adoption rate the PS3 will have due to its' ability to both play movies and games(may only be a small factor for some, large for others, but it is a factor MS chose not to have go their way).


RE: Enough already!
By DingieM on 2/14/2008 11:31:54 AM , Rating: 3
You imply that your life was held up because of the HD war?
You make me sick...


RE: Enough already!
By jimbojimbo on 2/14/2008 11:45:37 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
THe whole world knows (and probably knew all along) that Blu-ray would win.

Obviously Paramount and Dreamworks didn't know and went the completely opposite direction. That's why Bay has been so upset. I'd be upset too if they told me they were going to release my movie only in a format that I felt had no future and also had a smaller market share.


RE: Enough already!
By stepone on 2/14/2008 1:12:38 PM , Rating: 4
Agreed! I just wish this whole stupid mess would end asap.

PS. Who the hell cares about anything Mikey Bay has to say about anything (he's the movie industries version of Britney Spears)?!

Now if Spielberg had publicly picked a side then I think that would have been news worthy.


RE: Enough already!
By OPR8R on 2/14/2008 9:45:29 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Who the hell cares about anything Mikey Bay has to say about anything

Agreed.

Over the last year or so I've been reading about how both formats are so similar. And now, I'm left scratching my head as to how consumers have chosen the more expensive, less reliable format. It seems counter-intuitive. IMO, Sony has (apparently) won this format war with superior marketing, instead of a superior format.

Oh well... I just hope the price of these BR players comes down (a lot) over the next year-- or better yet, that Netflix or iTunes or someone else perfects the 1080p stream....


RE: Enough already!
By Roffles on 2/15/2008 2:07:28 AM , Rating: 2
People can deny it until they are blue in the face with their stats regarding attachment rates, but it's obvious the PS3 and it's nearly 10 million install base is what decided the victor.

If someone doesn't make you choose, and either format is similar, what will happen? It would be an eternal stalemate. Sony had the right in combining blue-ray with its video game and movie format. Now blu-ray is the better choice for more millions of people plain and simple.

I can't wait for this format war and all the articles to end. The victor is obvious at this point. Can we please just stop talking about HD-DVD until paramount folds?


"If you can find a PS3 anywhere in North America that's been on shelves for more than five minutes, I'll give you 1,200 bucks for it." -- SCEA President Jack Tretton











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