HD For Indies

My robogeek buddy Paul sent this one in:

FT.com / Companies / Media & internet - Paramount in HD DVD blow:

Paramount is poised to drop its support of HD DVD after Warner Brothers’ recent backing of Sony’s Blu-ray technology, in a move that will sound the death knell of HD DVD and bring the home entertainment format war to a definitive end.

Paramount and DreamWorks Animation, which makes the Shrek films, came out in support of HD DVD last summer, joining General Electric’s Universal Studios as the main backers of the Toshiba format.
...
The Warners move gives Blu-ray about 70 per cent of Hollywood’s output, although the format’s grip on film content will increase further when Paramount comes aboard.



OK...so don't go buying an HD-DVD player now. I officially declare Blu-ray the winner.

Here's to hoping Apple, as anticipated, reveals a Blu-ray burner/player in their forthcoming Macs in a couple of weeks.

-mike

UPDATE: Oh, how much changes when you check your email. Apple introduced new desktops this morning AHEAD of MWSF in an unexpected move - otherwise known as a soft release, otherwise known as it wasn't exciting enough for MWSF - just a speed bump, a bus upgrade (PCIe 2.0, 2x faster than before), and new GPUs. NO NEW OPTICAL DRIVES. Here's a performance rundown between the new top end box and Quad G5, Quad Mac Pro, and previous Octo Mac.

Also, an astute reader pointed out this Bloomberg.com article wherein Paramount denies that they are immediately switching to Blu-ray, but their phrasing is less than stunningly supportive:

"Paramount's current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format,'' Brenda Ciccone, a spokeswoman for Paramount, said in an e-mail today.


....not "we are firmly behind HD DVD", not "we have no plans to switch", not "that's bogus, we'll never switch over", nor "we have no plans to support Blu-ray as well," just that the CURRENT (as in today, may be different tomorrow) PLAN (intended action, not definitive actions) is to support the HD DVD format. They announced solo HD DVD support back in August of 2007. They are probably anxiously regretting that at the moment.

Even with Paramount on the fence, I think this was the tipping point. I owe someone a beer if I'm wrong that Blu-ray will be the market dominant force for high def discs, and in a year or two HD DVD will be the obscure also ran. This is a GOOD THING that SOMEBODY wins. While I've gone back and forth on the who I'd prefer, Blu-ray, with greater capacity, I think is the long term better deal for folks like us based on what I know.

As always, thanks to Paul and the other readers like him that feed me these bits I haven't had time to keep up on. If you spot a good article that you think ought to be up here, please do send it in!

-mike

ANOTHER UPDATE - another reader pointed out this article:

Interview: Samsung Says There's Life After Hollywood for HD DVD - Samsung guy says HD DVD will be for personal content presentation, as Microsoft is a big backer there. OK - but that's a minority market position. If you were lucky enough to snag one of those $100 HD DVD players at Walmart, you can already make (short) HD DVDs at home with Final Cut Studio.

THURSDAY UPDATE:

Universal: Current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format; Currently. - Engadget yeah - that. As the Engadget article said, we're more interested in what your plans are BEYOND tomorrow.

-mike

Labels: Blu-ray, format war, HD DVD