Because they have a huge catalog of movies that are being released on BD that will never be on HD. Sounds like a pretty good reason.

As far as Fox, MGM, Lionsgate, and Disney, they are BD exclusive until they annouce something in a press statment. Rumors are easily made up on the net. These studios may end of releasing on HD depending on how the holidays go for the formats, but only someone using Al Gores "fuzzy math" can make a statment that at the moment studios releasing on HD outnumber those releasing on BD. It is just not true.

I learned it by watching you...

Your very incorrect. At the moment...

Current studios released or releasing on HD-DVD are Paramount, Universal and WB (also HDnet and BCI but those dont really count).

Current studios released or releasing on BD are Sony and Lionsgate.

NO OTHER STUDIOS have announced releases for either.

Paramount does not have any titles in stores , yet. As long as they actually release their titles, you can count them soon, but not yet.

You also forgot to include MGM on the BD side. MGM has thousands of titles in its catalog, and can not be lumped in with Sony/Columbia. Just like Newline can not be lumped in with WB when they start putting out titles.

Maybe we should count WB for BD according to this picture...

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...warnerhdad.jpg

...not until they actually put something out. :)

...but MGM isn't distributing anything itself, and although a few of their titles are being released by Sony, Fox is going to be handling distribution from here on out. If you're not going to count Paramount as releasing on HD DVD, I don't think it'd be accurate to count MGM as being a Blu-ray-exclusive either.

Releasing and supporting are 2 different things. I think thats where your quote was wrong.

Paramount has definately thrown their hat in the game according to recent press statements and release information/dates.

There is no sign of WB releasing on BD anytime soon. BD only has 2 studios who have released any discs and have releases scheduled. That might change, but for now, HD-DVD has more studios releasing....very simple.

BTW - The only MGM titles being released are the ones owned by Sony. They are controlled by Sony, not MGM.

What I am talking about is titles actually in stores.

Rock, that picture I posted is from the Digital Bits. They are reporting that it is being run in the industry trades this week. That is pretty good indication to me that they will be releasing soon, just as Paramount will be releasing soon on HD, but neither should be counted until you can buy them in a store. We have already seen numerous delays with hardware and software. Also, Fox has at least 20 titles ready for release in the fourth quarter, as reported in a previous thread.

Then yours and my definition of "releasing" are different. "Studios who have released" would probably have been a better phrase to use in your quote.

I count official release date announcements by the studios as "releasing". Everything else is just rumors.

The difference being that Paramount has officially announced their release dates whereas WB has not done so for BD.

Trying to say that HD-DVD doesnt have as many studios releasing discs as BD is just plain ridiculous. This could all change soon, but again, no official announcements says alot.

I don't get why anyone would be defending BD at this point. I seriously don't.

I wonder if WB will only be releasing movies that can fit on the 25gb discs....Didnt some of the HD-DVD titles from WB take up more than that with the special features? Like Last Samurai? I dont remember.

Right, im just wondering if they will hold off on any that they would have to subtract special features from.

Once the move is made to VC-1 on Blu-ray, Warner will be removing audio and extras when necessary to fit on a 25 gig disc. Video quality will not be compromised (again, after the first few MPEG-2 releases).

Hell, let em release it. It only makes HD DVD look better.

I think lack of titles on BD makes HD-DVD look better. Alot of people wont know about the lack of special features.

Well, that's not going to happen. Eventually WB will start releasing on BD. However, I think a lot of people do like their special features and given the choice, they'll buy the one with more.

I know, im just saying that I wonder if WB will only release their titles that fully fit on 25gb discs and wait on the others instead of subtracting special features.

In the end, it comes down to money and I guess they will release them since they can charge the same amount as the hd-dvd equivalent.

Wheres the damn WB announcements?!?

Yeah, I see what you mean. Notice the hybrid discs are in that ad. ;) Those will fit nicely on a 25gb disc.

Makes me wonder though...who the hell will be buying them on BD? Someone over on AVS asked if anyone still had their player and I tend to wonder the same. I don't think anyone here kept one (or even bought one??).

Well, I wonder if they will be hybrid for BD?? I dont remember though, do WB hybrid discs have special features on the HD side or only the SD side? I dont own any of them.

It looks like Universal's Animal House will only have special features on the SD side.

By Peter Lewis, Fortune senior editor
July 11 2006: 3:28 PM EDT


(Fortune Magazine) -- One will live. One will die. You make the choice.

Okay, maybe that's overly dramatic, given that we're talking about a new standard for high-definition videodiscs. But this is the movie business and the drama is real, because potentially billions of dollars are at stake - not just the money spent and earned by big electronics companies and movie studios but your hard-earned dollars as well.

You'll thrill to the dazzling video and sound quality of the new high-definition DVD formats. You'll laugh out loud at the absurdity of another video format war, à la Betamax vs. VHS. You'll cry if you spend $500 or $1,000 or more on a new player and new movie discs that are doomed to be obsolete in a year or two. It's the feel-confused movie of the summer. It's ... Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD!

The plot starts with the digital videodisc's (DVD) introduction less than a decade ago as a superior replacement for videotape. Movie studios tried to kill DVD in its crib, saying the technology would destroy the movie business - just as they said videocassette recorders would destroy the movie business a generation earlier - but DVD grew up and made them lots of money. So much money, in fact, that they're now battling to establish a new, even better DVD format.

The rival formats are HD-DVD and Bluray Disc (alias BD-DVD). Although they could survive in an undead state to battle for eternity, like vampires vs. zombies or the even scarier CD+R vs. CD-R, more likely one high-definition DVD format ultimately will conquer the other, just as VHS triumphed over Betamax.

The first Blu-ray and HD-DVD players have just arrived in stores, along with a small but growing number of movie titles. Blu-ray discs will not play in HD-DVD players and vice versa, so until hybrid players come along - probably by the end of this year if you want to watch prerecorded movies in high definition, you'll have to choose sides.

To help you do so, our FORTUNE Mad Gadget Scientist has been testing the first HD-DVD and Blu-ray players in his secret laboratory.

The scene: In the center of the room is a Samsung (Charts) HL-S5087W 50-inch widescreen DLP HDTV with 1080p resolution. Tentacles of cables and wires from the Samsung TV snake out across the floor to a Toshiba (Charts) HD-XA1 HD-DVD player on one side, and a Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray Disc player on the other. Elsewhere in the room, chained to examination tables, are a Toshiba Qosmio notebook computer with a built-in HD-DVD drive, and a Sony (Charts) VAIO desktop computer with a built-in BD-DVD drive. To the side is another 50-inch Samsung HDTV with a hybrid Panasonic VHS and a standard DVD combo player attached. On a desk in the corner sits a diary. Excerpts follow:

Monday: At last the 1080p Samsung TV arrives and the experiment can begin! No ordinary HDTV set will do, because I need the absolute best resolution available to test the new players, which means one of the new ones capable of displaying 1,080 lines in progressive fashion (1080p) instead of the slightly inferior, every-other-line, interlaced 1080i format that I recklessly bought a couple of years ago and that I plan to use as a control subject for this experiment.

The Samsung DLP is beautiful, with a thin black bezel. Although the screen size is the same, the new 1080p model looks less bulky than the older 1080i model, and even Mrs. Mad Scientist approves. Fortunately, she doesn't scream when I tell her it costs $2,700.

Tuesday: I'm pleased to discover an HDMI cable has been thoughtfully included in the Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray Disc player (and for $1,000, it should be). It's a beautiful, surprisingly small device with a piano-black case and glowing blue eyes - er, display lights - a perfect aesthetic match for the Samsung TV. Drat! The shiny black case is a magnet for fingerprints. The remote control is a disappointment. But, oh, the joy when the HDMI cable is connected and Igor hits the switch. It's alive

Wednesday: A lost day. Once we figure out that we have to manually select HDMI as the source by pressing buttons on the front of the Blu-ray player, Igor and I are mesmerized watching the first batch of 1080p Blu-ray movie titles. We marvel at the rich colors and detail compared with standard DVDs.

Of the handful of titles available, we especially enjoy watching the governor of California reveal himself to be a robot sent to destroy Los Angeles and exterminate mankind (Terminator). But it's clear that the selection of movies is minuscule for now and will still only be in the dozens by this holiday season. Mrs. Mad Scientist screams when she finds out that Blu-ray movies cost about $30 each and have scary copy protection.

Thursday morning: Darn that Igor! Against my orders he dissected the entry-level Toshiba HDA1 HD-DVD player and discovered that it's a Pentium-based PC with a fancy DVD drive attached, and the parts alone cost way more than the $500 Toshiba charges for it.

Maybe Toshiba is subsidizing the price of HD-DVD players, taking a big loss in order to boost the format's chances against Blu-ray systems. Sony is going to include a Blu-ray player in its $499 PS3 videogame console this November, after all.

Thursday afternoon: Fortunately Igor did not destroy the high-end Toshiba HD-XA1 HD-DVD player, which costs $800. We hoisted it on a rack (a stereo rack, that is), because it is a brute and weighs 20 pounds. Connecting it to the 1080p TV was easy, but we had a minute or two of panic when the first few HD-DVD discs we fed it did not work.

Surprise! Because the Toshiba players are really Pentium-based computers, it simply took them an eternity to boot up. Patience paid off when the video showed up onscreen, as colorful and sharp as the Blu-ray images.

Friday: Another day lost watching beautiful but boring movies. Blazing Saddles is amusing in HD, but why can't they send me something truly great, like Young Frankenstein? The remote is no improvement player, the Toshiba HD-XA1 not only makes HD titles sparkle but also makes standard DVDs look better by "upconverting" them to 1080i. Mrs. Mad Scientist likes that, because HD-DVD movies are just as expensive as Blu-ray movies.

Friday night: Agony. We have to decide between the two formats, because there are no Players with Two Heads on sale yet. Then, in an epiphany, we realize that only videophiles who already own a 1080p HDTV will really care at this point. It will be months before a wide selection of movies are available in either format.

There are initial technical glitches in both formats (Toshiba released a software patch too late to be tested for this experiment). If we had to choose tonight, we'd go with Blu-ray and hope we were not stuck with a dead-end format. But we don't have to choose tonight. Instead, we'll download some videos over the Internet from YouTube.com. Idea for my next great experiment: Creating high-definition video downloads over broadband that don't use either Blu-ray or HD-DVD. That's a scary idea for the movie and electronics companies, isn't it? That they have wasted all this money and effort on format standards that no one will care about? (Fade out to maniacal laughter.)

^ Ugh....do we have to read that shitty article again?

;)

There is no such thing as a BD hybrid AFAIK.

Nope, the special features are all on the SD side.

Ah, then I guess BD will continue with featureless releases. Brilliant on their part. ;)

Is there anywhere that has the actual calculations for the size differential between VC-1 and MPEG-2 compression? For example, does 90 minutes of video compressed on VC-1 take up 11 GBs and MPEG-2 takes up 16GBs? And I know it can vary, I'm just curious to know the percentage efficiency that we're talking about here.

It depends. A lot of the HD DVD's that are currently out were encoded a while ago when VC1 was even less efficient than it is now. We're being told that 4 hours in VC1 with multiple audio tracks would be no problem and would look spectacular for 30gb.

I don't think there's a way to compare the two. It's apples and oranges.

So where are all the BD-J extra features that Blu-ray promised?