backtop

Print 56 comment(s) - last by boogle.. on Feb 6 at 4:58 AM

"Relentless Enemies" on HD DVD will soon be extinct
National Geographic follows Warner Bros to Blu-ray pastures

National Geographic is the latest to sign exclusively with Blu-ray Disc for the release of its high-definition home content.

The move is not surprising, given that Warner Bros., who went Blu-ray Disc exclusive just before CES 2008, distributes National Geographic product. Other studios under Warner distribution, such as New Line and HBO Home Video have also aligned with Blu-ray Disc exclusivity. (BBC Home Video, however, maintains format neutrality.)

The first title from National Geographic that will ship in high-definition only in blue disc cases will be Sharkwater, Rob Stewart’s documentary on the current shark population. Sharkwater will debut on standard DVD and Blu-ray Disc on April 8.

The April 8 release date comes before Warner Bros’ own plans to end its HD DVD releases, currently set for June.

National Geographic’s only high-definition release to date, National Geographic: Relentless Enemies, is currently available on both formats, though it is unknown when the HD DVD version will be discontinued.

Update 02/04/08: A Warner Bros. representative informed DailyTech that, while Sharkwater will be released only on Blu-ray Disc, it will be without any association to National Geographic.

Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
Quoting Queen on this one
By Highbuzz on 2/4/08, Rating: 0
RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By nixboy on 2/4/2008 8:28:37 AM , Rating: 5
I hope there isnt a comeback. Im sure everyone is sick of competing formats by now. BD appears to be the winning format, so lets just go out, by a BD player and all just enjoy our nice new HD TVs.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By Highbuzz on 2/4/08, Rating: 0
RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By TimTheEnchanter25 on 2/4/2008 9:47:04 AM , Rating: 5
Blu-Ray deserves to win just because of their awesome scratch proof coating. I'm amazed at how perfect every Blu-Ray disc that I get from Netflix looks. Every dvd / hd-dvd looks like someone dragged it behind their car on the highway.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By boogle on 2/4/2008 9:55:25 AM , Rating: 1
I agree, it's a fantastic innovation by TDK. The rental Blu-Ray discs only ever seem to have fingerprints. I bought S1 of Battlestar on HD-DVD and all of the discs were horribly scratched (and therefore unplayable) just by the packaging itself.

I personally prefer HD-DVD right now due to it's format completeness. But ultimately I'm beginning to favour Blu-Ray simply due to this coating, its fantastic.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By Chadder007 on 2/4/2008 2:26:46 PM , Rating: 1
RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By Hafgrim on 2/4/2008 3:25:17 PM , Rating: 3
This only happened with one BD title, "the Prestige" and hasnt been seen since. It seems to have been a bad batch of that movie only. "Prestige Rot" is old news now. Let us know if any other movies come out with it though, I havnt seen any newer reports of that since thankfully. =)


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By boogle on 2/6/2008 4:58:13 AM , Rating: 2
All optical formats have had a story like this, starting out with ye olde LaserDiscs.

The only time you have to worry is if it starts happening to multiple releases from more than one manufacturer.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 2/4/08, Rating: 0
RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By thejez on 2/4/2008 10:05:46 AM , Rating: 3
or how seldom they are being rented.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By theflux on 2/4/2008 10:28:04 AM , Rating: 2
I rent heavily both from local Blockbusters and Netflix, and I have never seen a scratched BD. I get a kick out of pulling an immaculate disk out of the sleeve every time.

If you've seen a scratched disk, it was done on purpose.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By KentState on 2/4/2008 11:39:30 AM , Rating: 2
I agree. I've had to send a half dozen or so HD-DVD's back because they would not play. Have not had that issue with Blu-ray.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By Spuke on 2/4/2008 11:46:47 AM , Rating: 2
Never had to send either Bluray or HD DVD discs back. I've sent a TON of DVD's back though.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By MrX8503 on 2/4/2008 10:54:21 AM , Rating: 2
The coating is there because blu-ray is more dense than HD-DVD/DVD, meaning the slightest scratch would cause alot of damage to the data.

Now HD-DVD/DVD doesn't have this coating, because it doesn't need it, but would be more susceptible to scratches.

Overall, durability wise, they're probably both the same.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By Netscorer on 2/4/2008 11:28:33 AM , Rating: 4
My experience mirrors exactly what others are saying here. Blu-Rays from Netflix always come perfectly playable, while I had to constantly clean HD-DVD discs and still had about one in four failure rate. I used to have HD-DVD as highest priority standard for my Netflix queues but now switched it to Blu-Ray. Besides, PS3 is much better player then my Toshiba HD-A20 which takes forever to start up.


By Master Kenobi (blog) on 2/4/2008 11:40:36 AM , Rating: 1
The Blu-Ray stand alone players suffer from the same slow startup time. Smart money would say that set top boxes have enough power to play the movies. Where as the PS3 has excessive amounts of power due to it's purpose as a gaming console.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By TomZ on 2/4/2008 12:30:03 PM , Rating: 1
Blu-ray requires the coating because the data layer is much closer to the surface than DVD and HD-DVD. Therefore, the latter is inherently less susceptable to problems due to scratches. But as you say, both formats are probably about the same in terms of reliability.

In addition, comparing the amount of scratches between BD and HD-DVD's is meaningless. You have to actually see if either disc has failed for whatever reason. For example, you could have a BD with a small scratch that, because the data layer is so close to the surface, renders the disc unusable; and on the other hand, you could have a HD-DVD that is scratched like crazy that plays just fine.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By TerranMagistrate on 2/4/2008 12:59:45 PM , Rating: 2
Therefore, the latter is inherently less susceptable to problems due to scratches.

No, that's not true. The coating on a Blu-Ray disk can withstand a decent amount of scrubbing with steel wool while the polycarbonate surface of a HD-DVD would become totally ruined.

The reality is that Blu-Ray disks are much more durable and can take plenty more wear and tear as opposed to HD-DVD. Just read some of the earlier posts.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By chizow on 2/4/2008 1:40:28 PM , Rating: 2
I've had similar experiences with HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray after renting about 15 of both from Netflix/BlockBuster. I've had to return 4 HD-DVDs because they were unplayable with another 3-4 that had to have entire chapters skipped. Its been a big enough deal that I've had to change my buying/renting strategy because of it with my combo player (rent Blu-Ray from NetFlix/BB, buy HD-DVD).


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By Keeir on 2/4/2008 2:55:23 PM , Rating: 2
I agree, but for the end consumer the real question is "How much force/abuse can be applied to render the disc unusable?" Not which can sustain the most physical damage and be usable.

Maybe Dailytech could run some informal tests using a few discs. (I haven't seen any good tests of durability that I trust and am too lazy to really search for it). Doing the same destruction to each disc (and using disc cleaner/repair) and see when each disc becomes unusable. This would be alot more interesting that hearing about which new studies are going Blu-Ray exclusive.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By Clauzii on 2/4/2008 2:00:01 PM , Rating: 2
And the coating has to be stronger for BD, because of the shorter distance from laser to surface, compared to HD-DVD. Iow. a thinner layer.

I would imagine that the TDK-coating is used on the iPhone screen too? I mean, You can scrub a key right over the screen, but no scratches :o


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By Mitch101 on 2/4/2008 9:53:50 AM , Rating: 3
I would love to say that but its not in my budget to purchase a $350-$400 player knowing they will be under $100 someday.

The war has really just moved toward BLU-RAY vs HD Download service or really I am probably just going to get an HD-DVR from Direct TV. If I think of all the movies that have replay value its really only about 30 movies. The rest are on HBO/SHOWTIME nearly 24/7 so who needs to own them. I mean how many people here watch a movie on HBO they already own? I do this a lot so why own the disc? Looks like Direct TV HD for me. Maybe I will go BLU-RAY when they have $6.99 value sales on the discs in the sunday flyers. To each their own.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By enlil242 on 2/4/2008 10:20:40 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
I would love to say that but its not in my budget to purchase a $350-$400 player knowing they will be under $100 someday.


This is a bit off-topic, but I just got word (from a Circuit City employee) that the price for the 40gb PS3 will be lowered to $299 in May when ~100GB debuts (at $399).

Still not in you price point, but would surely help BluRay sales in general.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By AlphaVirus on 2/4/2008 12:26:53 PM , Rating: 3
HD over air waves is not the same as HD on a disc. Any HD looks much better than SD but Blu/HDDVD look 100x better.

Do youself a favor, add up the cost of DVRxXmonths and compare that price against 1'bluray player costs. You might come out cheaper getting the blu player 1 time.

I am not saying your idea is dumb but I would not pick it over having a blu player.
Your right, to each their own.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By Mitch101 on 2/4/2008 4:29:39 PM , Rating: 2
Direct TV will lease me the 21 series unit for $100.00 and take off $10.00 a month for the next year. See my post below because it comes out to $40.00 total.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By Murst on 2/4/2008 3:01:47 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I would love to say that but its not in my budget to purchase a $350-$400 player knowing they will be under $100 someday.


Wait.. you can't budget for a $350 BR player, but you can spend $200 on a HR-21, with a $10 additional HD package price (Per month), and a $5 per month equipment rental fee? Not to mention the actual programming fee and equipment protection fee.

That's $200 intitial cost, plus $180 per year, and that doesn't even include any channels that you will pay for... any package w/ HBO will be at least $50 per month anyways.

I'm sorry, but something doesn't seem right.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By Mitch101 on 2/4/2008 4:02:43 PM , Rating: 2
Direct TV will sell me the HD DVR 21 series box for $100.00 and take off $10.00 a month for the next year if I agree to a 2 year commitment. HD Service is $5.00 a month extra after that not $10.00.

So it costs me $100.00 initially and I make back $60.00 (Save an additional $5.00 x 12 months) = $40.00

Call an negotiate because since the super bowl is now over there is no strangle hold on the consumer. Just like HDTV prices remain high until after the super bowl.


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By MGSsancho on 2/4/2008 2:00:21 PM , Rating: 2
I want HD-DVD to win just because its region free. yeah i watch lots of foreign movies. so to me thats the most important feature i can not simply over look. however i don't really have a choice since BD is going to win =/


RE: Quoting Queen on this one
By Malhavoc on 2/4/2008 8:32:42 PM , Rating: 2
This sentiment is getting very old. While Blu-Ray supports region coding, few (if any) discs have been released with it. If you really care about region coding that much, you should know somewhere to get an illegal version without it.


And the winner is...
By Stratocaster on 2/4/08, Rating: 0
RE: And the winner is...
By kextyn on 2/4/2008 9:32:17 AM , Rating: 5
What is the speed of your internet connection? Unless you're one of the lucky people in a large metropolitan area with 15-30mbps available you're probably on something more like 3-7mbps. How long would it take you to download 25+ GB of data just for one movie? Sure you can get it in h.264 or something with a lower bitrate and it will be a lot smaller, but then you're not getting the full experience.

With the way American ISPs are doing business digital delivery will not happen soon enough to take over Blu-Ray. The ISPs are wanting to throttle your bandwidth more than they do already and charge you based on how much you download. And I'm sure if digital delivery really started to become mainstream at least one company would try to do it over bittorrent. Look at what Comcast did with bittorrent.

Bottom line is we won't get away from buying physical media for movies untill the ISPs get their act together. We need more competition in cable and DSL providers so that they will be forced to upgrade their infrastructure and have competitive pricing.


RE: And the winner is...
By djtodd on 2/4/2008 10:02:14 AM , Rating: 2
Agreed, it's really sad how much more we pay for less bandwidth than some European or Asian countries.


RE: And the winner is...
By TerranMagistrate on 2/4/2008 12:12:27 PM , Rating: 2
Well said.

HD content is a long way off from becoming truly mainstream and a viable option for the average consumer.


RE: And the winner is...
By TerranMagistrate on 2/4/2008 1:23:47 PM , Rating: 2
Downloading it, that is...


RE: And the winner is...
By wordsworm on 2/4/2008 9:59:39 AM , Rating: 3
It would take 10 fully loaded blu-ray discs to make quick work of my 500GB of memory. When you're talking HD, in either format, the people to whom this type of technology appeals, are looking for superior quality, which cannot currently be found in the Internet. For all it's glory, it hasn't quite reached that plateau yet. For the most part they haven't even passed DVD quality yet.

I think most of the people who can afford a TV/monitor with a sound system to match will quite eagerly shell out some cash. To them, the optical war is a win-win situation that has made the industry better for everyone. Can you really imagine if Blu-Ray or HD DVD hadn't had competition? I don't think either would've made it. They both would've been prohibitively expensive for too long a time. Those of us who appreciate the evolution of technology must be grateful to both companies for giving it their best to win the format war. I personally hope that neither side concedes defeat. The longer the war goes on, the more competition, the better for all.


RE: And the winner is...
By MGSsancho on 2/4/2008 2:06:49 PM , Rating: 3
you are just downloading bad rips. all my anime are usually HDTV rips from japan from OTA signals. so it comes to me in 720P or sometimes higher. and oh i download the DVD rips too. its just a shame its can take 3 months or more for the show to come out in America. sometimes longer (lucky star). however I do buy it once it is released. but to say you cant find HD material is totally ignorant of a person who prolly hasn't searched for his/her favorite show in HD. And in America, every HD sattilite player and HD-DVR has a firewire output. it outputs mpe2 streams of what ever you are watching with out the menus. so it is easy to get HD rips from TV. Yes I know blu-ray movies have a higher bitrate and thus better quality


RE: And the winner is...
By napalmjack on 2/4/2008 2:15:57 PM , Rating: 2
Wow! That memory must have been expensive ;)


RE: And the winner is...
By kilkennycat on 2/4/2008 11:12:29 AM , Rating: 2
Time Warner cable has a pilot in Beaumont Texas with monthly bandwidth caps in tiers up to 40Gbytes of download. Excess fees will apply above the caps. If that catches on as a mechanism to combat the widescale P2P currently gobbling vast bandwidth, your downloads of movies, especially HD ones, might just get a mite expensive. Of course TW might make an exception for a Warner movie :-).


By crystal clear on 2/4/2008 11:44:55 AM , Rating: 1
quote:
Sharkwater will debut on standard DVD and Blu-ray Disc on April 8


It wou;d be interesing to track the sales figures over a 3 months period,which version sells more-the DVD or BR.

Mainstream buyers are slow adopters to technology added to the fact the economic climate is not helpful either for good sales figures.

A recent government report showed U.S. employers cut 17,000 jobs in January, the first decline in 4-1/2 years and the latest signal all was not well in the world's biggest economy.

All economic indicators show recession by 2H 08 so content producers better focus on CONTENTS & less on the format wars.
Its not the quantity of titles released rather the quality of contents in them.

Consumer spending is expected to fall drastically,format priorities will be pushed aside to make way for economic priorities.




By TerranMagistrate on 2/4/2008 12:25:48 PM , Rating: 2
It wou;d be interesing to track the sales figures over a 3 months period,which version sells more-the DVD or BR.

And why is that? VHS vastly outsold DVD in 1997 and a few more years following so why would it be different this time around? I don't understand why this point keeps on getting brought up by those who seemingly want to downplay Blu-Ray's current success and momentum. Mass market adoption takes time.


By crystal clear on 2/4/2008 8:23:19 PM , Rating: 2
And why is that?

That because it gives you conumer buying trends & preferences.

Thats how you measure success in these format wars.

Read my comment carefully before responding-
Its not the quantity of titles released rather the quality of contents,thats the deciding factor for the buyers,
They dont buy trash(titles)contents let it be any format or content provider.
Add to that the economic climate in the USA is not favourable to consumer spending-time cut down expenses-at the consumer level.
Consumer become more cautious & more selective in their spending/buying.

by those who seemingly want to downplay Blu-Ray's current success and momentum.

What down plays Blu-Ray/or will/may/can etc is consumer spending,quality of contents,consumer preferences,etc.

Just because a few content providers have become B.R exclusive that doesnt guarrantee success for the B.R.-the buyers decide that in reality-for that you got to wait,

As I said earlier in my earlier comment & also as you admit
mass adoption takes time,so you got track sales figures on quaterly basis to observe buying trends/preferences/choices etc.

Dont ever take the buyers for granted-just remember that-You never know what their response will be-but you can track their responses/preferneces/choices over a period of time.

You got to be in senior management levels to understand what I am talking.


By RubberJohnny on 2/4/2008 11:14:30 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
You got to be in senior management levels to understand what I am talking.

...or have taken courses in pidgin english ;)


By crystal clear on 2/5/2008 3:45:06 AM , Rating: 2
Just to share my thoughts/opinion with you.

"It is easy to be tolerant when you do not care."

This inspires me to give you another response.


By crystal clear on 2/5/2008 3:52:23 AM , Rating: 2
Your response requires a complete bouleversement

"pidg·in " Also called contact language.


Yes my friend when you travel on business to South East/South Asia/China etc frequently you develop a language called
contact language

You dont take courses, you develop it !

You cannot afford to be magniloquent

To be polyglot is perquisite in business,you have to know the "mores" of the people from those regions.

You cannot afford to be a neophyte or gaucheri.

You have to be a great deipnosophist & not a kvetch

When you propound your business proposals with perspicacity without persiflage to make your self crystal clear .

Thank you for your response-you just gave me a brilliant idea, pidgin a great user name !

Even better a great name for our MIDs-mini internet device.

It sells-it impresses-it sounds great !

I am beholden to you.

Namaste ! ek kup chai ana ! (I picked this up in Pune).


By AlphaVirus on 2/4/2008 12:40:28 PM , Rating: 2
With next year being the United States 'Digital exclusive', it is making more people buy HDTV's(Because they really dont know much but are making false assumptions, leading them to buy these HDTV's nonetheless).

With the HDTV push calls for a proper format and the salesman at Brick&mortor stores are pushing these formats.

I think all of my non-techsavvy friends and family have a HDTV LCD or Plasma, and some are just for showing off purposes.


By crystal clear on 2/4/2008 9:26:23 PM , Rating: 2
PRICES ! that decides all thats to HDTV.

Give them a FREE player & some FREE movies added on -you have sold your HDTV.
Give them a heavily discounted player being another option & more such types of deals.

They are not bothered about the technical stuff-simple


PC drives
By AlvinCool on 2/4/2008 10:16:19 AM , Rating: 2
So all of you jumping up and down about Blue Ray winning. Maybe for buying movies, but maybe not for the PC. If I were the HD format I'd release low priced recording media and recorders for the PC and then see what happens. Then if Blue Ray is locked down tight with DRM and HD isn't whats gonna happen?? That market is virtually un-tapped and is much larger than the movie market. There's trees in that forest I think.




RE: PC drives
By Owls on 2/4/2008 10:28:49 AM , Rating: 2
uh, there already ARE recorders. They have been available for quite some time as well. No HD-DVD recorders though (maybe now but not when I checked a month ago)


RE: PC drives
By theflux on 2/4/2008 10:31:25 AM , Rating: 3
In order for HD DVD to release "low priced recording media and recorders for the PC" they would first need to get all of their horribly write-quality issues sorted out. Try to find an HD DVD writer for your PC. You'll be looking for a long time.

Blu-ray was designed from the beginning as a writable format, while HD DVD was just a way for Toshiba to extend its DVD patent royalties by keeping many physical elements the same. Their technology has been stretched too far and it shows.

It also doesn't help that TDK just decided to stop making blank HD DVD media.


RE: PC drives
By AlphaVirus on 2/4/2008 12:32:14 PM , Rating: 2
Lets not forget to mention Blu has more space anyways. If I am trying to backup my hard drive or save lots of data to 1 single disc, Blu would be the proper choice.


so expensive
By Zensen on 2/4/2008 8:32:43 AM , Rating: 2
All i know is that these discs are far to expensive considering I can get the same movie for more than half the price of these high definition dvds.

Is it more is blu-ray a crap name.. That doesn't I don't like it tho, I just prefer something that doesnt look like it was spelt incorrectly by a 10 year old. HD-DVD just doesnt roll off the tongue as well as saying DVD but the fact that these movies cost so much just puts me off.

Sure my entrance to High definition TV isnt exactly taking off for me personally but because of the cost involved it just doesnt appeal to me. I do appreciate toshiba lowering prices and I do think sony aggresiveness with the ps3 and its inclusion of the blu-ray was justified.

I hope come end of the year, prices for these disc will hit a reasonable trade off. cause 40 Dollars AUD for a movie when i can get something similiar for 10-25 dollars depending how new just doesnt bode well with me.

Also being exclusive can be such a pain in the arse! I mean I've seen some movies I would really like to get if i make the move on HD but then there's some on blu-ray. This in itself makes it even harder for me to even want to go ahead with this technology when dvd has been quite alright for me.

I know I won't be jumping straight away but will do soon. Those enjoying it now.. Envy :D




RE: so expensive
By Zensen on 2/4/2008 8:35:39 AM , Rating: 1
arrgh! I know its late when I just leave words out of a sentence - yeah I know there's a preview before posting. Excuse my grammar :)


RE: so expensive
By AlphaVirus on 2/4/2008 12:35:57 PM , Rating: 2
After watching a couple of BluRay or HDDVD then you will notice a BIG difference between the qualities. High-Def is honestly not a gimmick. It is spectacular in visual quality.
Hell, even the cartoon Disney movies look much more vivid on HD formats.

Do yourself a favor and get into the HD world, you will love it.


RE: so expensive
By TALENT on 2/4/2008 4:53:15 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
Is it more is blu-ray a crap name.. That doesn't I don't like it tho, I just prefer something that doesnt look like it was spelt incorrectly by a 10 year old.


Does anyone else see the irony here?


Who cares?
By Wagnbat on 2/4/2008 8:33:42 PM , Rating: 2
National Geographic has absolutely no sway on the Hi-Definition format battle. To have a press release or an article saying 'Ooo, ahhh, they're going Blu-Ray' is as relevant as saying 'Ooo, ahh, my mom bought a Blu-Ray player'. As if the meager contribution to one side or the is going to make any kind of difference.




Sony won! Blu ray won!
By IntelGirl on 2/5/08, Rating: -1
"Nowadays you can buy a CPU cheaper than the CPU fan." -- Unnamed AMD executive











botimage
Copyright 2012 DailyTech LLC. - RSS Feed | Advertise | About Us | Ethics | FAQ | Terms, Conditions & Privacy Information | Kristopher Kubicki