I think thats their problem right now though. I bet Bluray WOULD be releasing Cars and POTC2 this year IF they had their shit together. If BD50 was working and they were properly encoding titles, then HD-DVD would not be in the lead right now. It would at least be neck and neck.

This lead that HD-DVD is getting may allow them to sink BD or at least stay around for a long while.

My main concern is that the quality of discs remains high. HD-DVD obviously is putting out quality discs and delaying releases until they are finished. Sony isnt doing this and its very discomforting. If BD wins, I dont want a mentality of releasing crap just to make money from the studios.

I think Q4 of this year will be very telling. If BD is still limping into 2007, then I bet some studios will start to back HD-DVD.

I agree (and certainly hope so). I can live without Sony titles... I'd love to have stuff like Spider-Man and such in HD, but I'll live with upconverted Superbits. At this point, they probably look better than they would on BD25, MPEG2.

But to get Fox, Disney, Lions Gate on board is key. I'm hoping that we hear some announcements in Q1 07. That being said, is anyone aware of any contract restrictions with these companies? That is, did any of them agree to NOT release HD-DVDs for a certain period of time? (I can't imagine any of them would agree to that, but who knows...)

I haven't heard much lately about those supposed LionsGate rumors of releasing HD DVD.

Lions Gate would be good, but they are an incredibly minor studio compared to the big guys, and a huge studio compared to other independents. Not saying I wouldn't want them on the HD-DVD side, but I'd like to see Buena Vista and Fox move over first. To be frank, Buena Vista would be the reason I get BRD. Lost, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc.

Speaking of Sony blunders...
 

Check this article out First Blu-ray disc drive won’t play Blu-ray movies:

In retrospect, this quote is quite humorous.

From 11/29/05, News.com article:

ROTFLMAO!

Staying with MPEG-2 was for PQ and had nothing to do with the more than 140 patents Sony holds related to MPEG-2. What's really amazing is they apparently convinced studios that MPEG-2 would be good enough as well.


:lies:

I thought it was because no other codec was supported by the authoring software available right now.

Well, why develop authoring software for VC-1 when MPEG-2 gives the best possible PQ as far into the future as we can see?

And why have NO HD DVD movies been release using MPEG-2? According to what I've gathered the studios releasing to HD DVD evaluated multiple codecs and came to the conclusion that VC-1 gave the best results.

Paramount released U2 Rattle & Hum using MPEG4-AVC, but switched to VC-1 exclusively after that.

So it appears that only Sony thinks that MPEG-2 is good enough... and maybe with 50GB discs they could get it to work... who knows? But if they stick to MPEG-2/50GB discs they lose their highly touted capacity advantage. And we can all agree that it is a disaster to stick with MPEG-2/25GB discs.

Who knows, maybe one day a unicorn will gallop into a Sony lab with a 50GB Blu-ray disc on its horn.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...lueKoolAid.jpg

"A View from Space with Heavenly Music" and "Guitarscape Planet" were both MPEG2.

...as well as HDNet's releases, although I guess you could make the argument that none of these are "movies".

And from what I hear, weren't all of those titles great looking?

btw, adam, nice to see you back. :)

Yea, they're generally short and no extras (that's why I specified movies).

For example, Guitarscape Planet is 80 minutes and View From Space With Heavenly Music around 60 minutes.

I don't know about the HDNet releases, but I've heard some bad things about Guitarscape and even more bad things about View From Space.

From this site's reviews on GPS:

I'd expect better from HD DVD than OTA HD.

And on View From Space:

If anything should look good in MPEG-2 it would have to be these short titles with no extras.

As per the Insiders thread on AVS, 80% of BD releases will be single-layer 25gb releases because, apparently, that's good enough.

Well, I hate to DEFEND bluray, but I think the point that was made on that thread was that right now (this year and possibly next), 80% could fit on BD25 (I dont know if I buy that though).

BUT, in the near future, that could completely change (advances in special features/lossless audio) and studios could/would want BD50.

That said, according to Amir, HD-DVD TL45 discs are conceivable for the future also though they will have to go over a couple hurdles (dvd-forum being one of them).

Well, in all honesty, we could fit movies on CD's as well. Doesn't mean the quality will be there ;)

I think the quality of BD discs will get better over time (even on BD25).

Its just sad and inexcusable that they released ANYTHING with MPEG2, poor sources and limited/no special features. Do they actually think we dont notice?? :rolleyes:

I think MI3 will be a great disc to compare the 2 formats. Already, the hd-dvd has the edge with IME.

Yes, that's exactly what they thought.

Problem is, I have a feeling that I am interested in 19 out of the other 20 percent that don't fit on BD25. I tend to watch and like long movies.

Yep, and those titles wont be available any time soon on BD.

Is everyone against 2 disc versions of longer movies? Personally, I dont mind. I know right now, the cost would be too high for BD.

It would be nice to fit on one disc, but longer movies (3+ hours) split across 2 discs is ok with me. Thats probably not a popular opinion though.

Doesn't bother me a bit. Gives me time to go pee when I get up to switch discs.

I think with DVDs we have become accustomed to associating 2 discs (or more) with a better value.

Even when reading the article today about MI3, for just a second, I was thinking, "Damn, the sd version is a 2 disc set! The hd-dvd and bd are only 1 disc". Then, I came to my senses.

Honestly, I'd rather they fit it all (the movie) on one disc. You can put the extras on another. But BD can't even get one shorter movie on one disc and have it look good. Doesn't help the problem at hand right now.

It depends on the movie for me. For something like Gone With the Wind, I don't mind, since it's four hours long, not three. Also, GWTW has a two-act structure with an entr'acte at the beginning of the second part. That makes it much easier to accept a break than a movie like Titanic, which stops and starts fairly abruptly.

Very true....going back to the days of intermissions.

As a kid, I always loved the intermission in Where Eagles Dare.....dont know why.

Robocop has been delayed. wonder if this means all the rest of the MGM titles will be delayed?

from TBB:
just a little Blu-ray-related FYI: Sony has informed us that because the distribution of MGM titles has moved to 20th Century Fox, they'll no longer be releasing the Blu-ray Disc version of RoboCop. It's been pulled from their schedule. Look for it to be rescheduled for release by Fox later this year, once Fox officially announces their first Blu-ray Disc releases.