Universal drops HD DVD exclusivity

[Banger]

Universal has ended its HD DVD exclusivity arrangement and Paramount’s HD DVD contract has an escape clause. Should Paramount exercise that clause, and there’s no reason not to at this point, Blu-ray would have thoroughly won this silly “format war.” Now we can get back to the important business of arguing over more important things, like which gaming system is the best or why the Zune (or iPod) sucks so much.

HD DVD’s fate more or less lies in Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart and other retailers’ hands now. If the retailers see momentum in the Blu-ray direction, they may opt to limit the amount of shelf space they give to HD DVD. That would only accelerate Universal and Paramount’s production of Blu-ray titles.

Source:
http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/01/11/unive...hd-dvd-support/

Note:
Not the original source but the original one I found it on needed people to log in to read.

 

[jerm27]

iv read this on heaps of sites a few days ago

 

[raulpica]

Damned interests

Go HD-DVD!

 

[JPH]

First Warner Bros, now Universal?!

 

[Taras]

Standard-def DVD FTW!

 

[BoneMonkey]

i have a good feeling laser discs are coming back

 

[754boy]

HD DVD is dead

 

[Banger]

First Warner Bros, now Universal?!

And maybe Paramount if they take advantage of the escape clause.

 

[TaMs]

Yay, let's see who else will leave the sinking ship.

 

[hankchill]

Yay, let's see who else will leave the sinking ship.

Well there's only really one company left TO leave the sinking ship.

All you HD-DVD suckers out there must be kicking yourself

That's why I got a PS3

--Henry

 

[CockroachMan]

I'm still happy with DVDs..

 

[JKR Firefox]

I'm still happy with DVDs..

I agree...not quite ready to make the jump to hi-def media yet.

 

[Banger]

DVD's are fine but I still get some HD video for some action packed movies. But other then that. DVD all the way.

 

[Opium]

I've seen a few blu-ray movies. They're pretty neat but not such a huge leap to warrent getting too excited about.

"oh my god, I don't have to rewind my movies anymore!"

 

[BlueStar]

HD-DVD has 70% of the standalone market in Europe. But yeah, can't see me going hi-def for a loooong time yet.

 

[CockroachMan]

I've seen a few blu-ray movies. They're pretty neat but not such a huge leap to warrent getting too excited about.

"oh my god, I don't have to rewind my movies anymore!"

 

[Taras]

Indeed.. with DVDs you didn't have to rewind your movies, the image quality was a lot better, you had interactive menus, different languages and subtitles in the same disc.. the difference between it and tapes were huge!
Now.. with blueray, you have only a better image.. and you can only notice if you have an expensive HDTV :/

Excellent points. But also Blu-Ray has so much DRM that it is causing problems for legitmate owners. Current BR profiles won't be able to play 2.0 profile discs apparently:

http://www.betanews.com/article/Bluray_Ear...into/1199841379

And people are paying money to support the screwing of consumers by mega-corporations. Plus, from what I've seen the picture isn't even that much better unless your TV is over than 37". Definitely not worth the money to me.

 

[dsbomb]

Can someone perhaps explain to me how one makes the leap from dropping exclusivity to the product being dead? Have these studios signed new exclusivity contracts with Sony for Bluray? Have they said they will never produce HDDVD discs again? I can understand that they signed these contracts (and were given money for it) in the beginning of the format wars. In the beginning, rather few people have the players, anyhow. Now that it's been a couple years, I see it as the studios wanting to sell to people in both markets.

I looked at a Best Buy ad recently, and there was a stand-alone bluray player for $399. Then they had a page of movies in both formats. With prices for players that high still, they are not going to attract the general masses to convert away from the old fashioned DVDs (or pirating). The studios want whatever small pieces they can muster from both sides of HD disc camps rather than going exclusively with one.

I know the Interwebs don't like such non-conspiracy theories like I've proposed, but could it be possible, even a teensy-weensy bit??

 

[IBNobody]

Neither Paramount nor Universal have announced that they are releasing ANY Blu-Ray content.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111797876...egoryid=20&cs=1

The two remaining studios backing HD DVD could switch sides soon, ending the high-def format war instantly.

Daily Variety has confirmed that Universal's commitment to backing HD DVD exclusively has ended. And Paramount has an escape clause in its HD DVD contract allowing it to release pics on Blu-ray after Warner Bros.' decision to back that format exclusively.
More than one option

  * (Co) Daily Variety
   Filmography, Year, Role
  * (Co) Daily Variety

Neither studio is ready to throw in the towel immediately, however. On Thursday, Universal broke its silence about the matter to say that it plans to keep supporting the format for the time being, a pledge Par made earlier in the week. And in any case, U is committed to a series of HD DVD promotions in coming months.

The blogger at CrunchGear should be shot for rumormongering.

 

[THeLL]

HD-DVD FTW! Go HD DVD! We ain't dead yet....