Warner Bros. Goes Exclusive To Blu-Ray

[circumstances]

WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT TO RELEASE ITS HIGH-DEFINITION DVD TITLES EXCLUSIVELY IN THE BLU-RAY DISC FORMAT BEGINNING LATER THIS YEAR

Decision Made in Response to Strong Consumer Preference for Format

(January 4, 2008 - Burbank, CA) - In response to consumer demand, Warner Bros.
Entertainment will release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the
Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year, it was announced today by Barry
Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner
Bros. Home Entertainment Group.

"Warner Bros.' move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a
strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give
consumers what they want," said Meyer. "The window of opportunity for high-
definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We
believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for
mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most
importantly, consumers."

Warner Home Video will continue to release its titles in standard DVD format
and Blu-ray. After a short window following their standard DVD and Blu-ray
releases, all new titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until the end
of May 2008.

"Warner Bros. has produced in both high-definition formats in an effort to
provide consumer choice, foster mainstream adoption and drive down hardware
prices," said Jeff Bewkes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner
Inc., the parent company of Warner Bros. Entertainment. "Today's decision by
Warner Bros. to distribute in a single format comes at the right time and is
the best decision both for consumers and Time Warner."

"A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward
high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption and
becoming the important revenue stream that it can be for the industry," said
Tsujihara. "Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that
recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home
entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience. Warner
Bros. has worked very closely with the Toshiba Corporation in promoting high
definition media and we have enormous respect for their efforts. We look
forward to working with them on other projects in the future.

 

[HazelGod]

In a related story, 99.9% of home viewers couldn't care less.

 

[dong20]

In a related story, 99.9% of home viewers [without any HD player] couldn't care less.

A distinction worth mentioning.

I have stayed away until the dust settles so I could fairly be considered in the 99.9% as first stated - though if I had a any pref it was for HD-DVD (in part because I dislike Sony's overly proprietory approach to this and other storage formats as a matter of principle) but now I'm simply bored with the whole thing.

 

[Pecker]

By the time they have this stuff ironed out we'll be downloading everything off the internet anyway, negating the DVD question altogether.

 

[EagleCowboy]

Of course they want the Blu-Ray disks.
They can't be copied thereby reducing piracy.

 

[bobabooey69]

A distinction worth mentioning.

I have stayed away until the dust settles so I could fairly be considered in the 99.9% as first stated - though if I had a any pref it was for HD-DVD (in part because I dislike Sony's overly proprietory approach to this and other storage formats as a matter of principle) but now I'm simply bored with the whole thing.

Agreed, HD-DVD was a more stable and accessible format. But we learn in format wars the best don't always win. It's a shame, but at least the format war will be over soon.
The good thing is that HD-DVD brought Blu-ray standalone player prices down.
And Sony's troyan horse tactic with the PS3 took it's toll in the videogame market with it trailing behind the Wii and Xbox 360.

It should have never come to this, and corporate greed sucks big time.

 

[circumstances]

By the time they have this stuff ironed out we'll be downloading everything off the internet anyway, negating the DVD question altogether.

i happen to like my content at 1080p24 with lossless audio. many, many years until that will be available in any sort of downloadable fashion, if ever (but it is here, right now, with HD DVD and Blu-Ray).

i also like to physically own something once i buy it. i'm quirky that way with CD's and with DVD's (and hi def DVD's). no standard definition "pay per view" or downloading lossy format songs for me.

i personally could not care less what 99.9% of the public is interested in, many of whom no doubt have a 19" TV with rabbit ears.

oh, and Apple went exclusive to blu-ray yesterday as well.

 

[bobabooey69]

i happen to like my content at 1080p24 with lossless audio. many, many years until that will be available in any sort of downloadable fashion, if ever (but it is here, right now, with HD DVD and Blu-Ray).

i also like to physically own something once i buy it. i'm quirky that way with CD's and with DVD's (and hi def DVD's). no standard definition "pay per view" or downloading lossy format songs for me.

i personally could not care less what 99.9% of the public is interested in, many of whom no doubt have a 19" TV with rabbit ears.

oh, and Apple went exclusive to blu-ray yesterday as well.

Same here, most downloaded video of the net sucks ass. I am a big time videofile and unless its an HD master with prestine multichannel audio I don't bother. Good luck downloading a 50GB movie, not me!

There are rumors that the PS3 will drop even more in price, by then most major releases should be out on bluray then I will make the switch.

 

[circumstances]

i have several problems with the PS3. first of all i won't use it as a game console. second of all i'd like it to fit in my rack with all my other equipment. third, i don't believe it has HQV (a reon or realta chip) for upscaling standard definition DVDs. fourth, as of now i don't believe that it decodes TrueHD and DTS-HD MA in the player, and even if it did if it would send it out via analog with top of the line speaker management control (i have a non HDMI processor).

from what i see and hear people are very satisfied with the PS3 as their blu-ray player. if it had the above capabilities i'd own one already.

looking forward to CES tomorrow where they will (hopefully) debut my future blu-ray player.