The War To End All Format Wars is going to last a little longer folks. Maybe forever. Today, Paramount pictures and Dreamworks Animation hardcore dissed the Blue Ray High-def format in favor of HD-DVD. That means the summer hit-o-rama, Transformers, will only be playing on HD-DVD players this holiday season. Paramount cited cheaper production cost, cheaper players and picture quality as reasons for the switch-o-roo.
What do I think? I’m glad you asked. I think the longer this war goes on, the longer it will take people to switch formats, if they ever do. It is hard enough to convince a guy to buy a completely different movie player when the one he has plays discs just fine. But its not in HD, you tell him. He says he doesn’t have and HD television. Hell, he doesn’t even know what an HD television is. Sad to say, but only the hard core cares about Hi-definition right now. I know. It makes me sad too.
[via Engadget hd]
Jayslacks
I think unless one side or the other takes a significant lead soon they’re gonna screw around until digital distribution joins the race.
Personally i couldn’t care less about either until prices start to fall to the twenty dollar range for new movies
Screw $20 range… You can already get a ton of them at $20 on Amazon. The problem is that the DVD versions of these same movies are typically $10. Don’t even get me started on TV sets. Heroes is coming out on DVD for $39 and HD-DVD for $70 next week. I’d love to have the first season in HD, but almost twice the price is a lot to ask. As it is, I’m not buying too much of either right now.
I’ve bought just a few HD-movies… 2 used Blu-rays off of Amazon marketplace exclusive to Blu-ray, 1 exclusive HD-DVD new that I admittedly probably shouldn’t have bought, and Planet Earth on HD-DVD (which is simply stunning).
TRANSFORMERS.
That is all.