What the hell happened to Universal...?!?!?

I saw it on another site as well, but can't find it. They had 2 different models showcased. They looked nearly identical, but I remember reading that one of them will do 1080p at 24fps. And they had some special code name that started with an S, but I cannot remember what it was. Looked sleek though.

Well, cheaper hardware is one thing and saying that there will be 300 titles this year is great as well. But if they come out in November and December this year, than that isnt doing much to help their cause.

So now that Toshiba claims to have created a 50GB HD DVD disc, what advantage does Blu-ray have over HD DVD?

Oh, I know:

Even if the 50GB discs see a release, it won't be for quite a while. They still need to be accepted into the spec, which at the earliest would be the end of 2007.

Also, HD DVD has a lower bandwidth limit than Blu-ray.

...and we don't know if existing players will be able to do anything with 'em.

OK, here is what the Universal release list for 2007 should look like:

Universal monster releases (Frankenstein, Dracula, etc)
Hitchcock releases. One every other month through the year.
The Sting, Deer Hunter (check).
Jaws and Jaws II.
American Graffitti
Conan
Scarface
Pick one: ET / Back to the Future
Jurassic Park
They Live
Do the Right Thing (and any other movies you did through Criterion, including Charade)
Schindler's List / Munich (or some other good Spielberg movie)
The River Wild
The Babe series
Pick one: American Tail / Land Before Time
Bourne Identity
United 93

Wow. Spielberg titles already. I'll take almost all of those listed above.

Not sure if this would have an impact, but the Back To The Future films have just been scheduled for HDnet in February. Would be very nice to see those on HD-DVD.

Did that list come from CES?

Those are bus' wishlist titles, not announced ones

Here you go. Sapphires.

No. He said that's what Universal should release this year. Universal has said practically nothing at CES.

That looks pretty sweet. Hopefully, we get an anouncement about that being the $400 player.

I would imagine the rumored $400 would be the top one. The bottom one looks like my Panny.

Looks like that $400 player ain't happening. More good news on the HD DVD player side of things though...

Btw...you guys seriously need to relax about movie announcements. IT'S THE SECOND DAY OF CES...which btw...IS NOT ABOUT MOVIES.

They've also been airing on Universal's high definition channel, Universal HD.

If BR comes out with a player in the $400-$500 range it would definately be on my radar. That's not to say that i would be ditching HD but if they don't give dates pretty soon I would start thinking about it. HD has been good enough to us to be allowed to use the "just wait" card for a week or two from me.

Yep those are the players I saw pics of. Prototypes named Sapphire? I guess Sony was having some fun with the Front Projector SXRD crowd.

But BD used it for months. If HD has been so good, why do they get less of a grace period than BD?

Basically the only way HD gets less of a grace period is if they simply do not announce any street dates. If Feb. rolls around and we don't have any new release dates then that's a problem. BR had the luxury of saying "just wait" because it was mainly hardware and technical details they were using it on. True, they did use that excuse on their releases as well, but they were still churning out movies, even if they were mediocre at best.

HD just needs to do what they were doing last year. Keep putting out quality releases and mix in a few classics and some marque titles and everyone will be happy.

Exactly. Im REALLY surprised that hd-dvd has slowed releases. Paramount and WB mainly. Im beginning to think they are seeing the writing on the wall and waiting for BD-J to work. Thats why we didnt see Harry Potter GOF on hd-dvd like we saw Batman Begins and so on.

I hope HD-DVD doesnt become an afterthought, but with their CES performance, im starting to wonder.

I guess its one thing to come stumbling out of the gate and finally get your act together and another to start out steady and then fall apart. BD has their act together now so HD DVD has picked a bad time to decide we need to be patient.
One thing that kept many of us hopeful was the good chance that Lionsgate and especially Disney would go format neutral. That didn't happen and looks now like it could never happen. The HD DVD partners follow that up with lackluster 2007 movie releases while the competition is coming out swinging in 2007.
I'm not going to run out and buy a Blu-ray player today, but the future for HD DVD could not look darker. The price advantage for players is the only thing they currently have and I'm wondering if that will last much longer.
I want to stick with HD DVD for awhile and will definitely see how things pan out the next six months or so, but I see a combo player and lots of BD discs in my future.
Universal would have to have a major showing for my attitude to change.

Hey RockStrongo - is it just me or do you think HD DVD adoption is really strong in the DFW area. I've noticed that on AVS quite a bit.

I'm a little concerned about announcements, but I think I will hold strong on the HD DVD side. We'll see how strong I am when Casino Royale debuts.

BD never got a grace period from me. I've yet to spend $1 on it.

Someone forgot to tell the BDA about that.

Just because they didn't go neutral at CES doesn't mean it will NEVER happen. With all due respect, I don't think CES was supposed to be some big unveiling and magic wand that would magically change this format war.

Either way, it still sucks. Nothing is going to happen that quickly.

But just an FYI, HD DVD outsold DVD in it's first year. So that's definitely saying something. And if the players still come down in price, the studios will come. That won't be ignored. If BD keeps prices up, that's great that they have so many discs but a) who's going to spend the money for a player and b) who's going to spend the money on the discs?

Remember: this isn't about us. This is about the general public. And when HD DVD gets those sub $300 players out there, that will be a pretty big deal. Maybe I'm just not seeing CES as the total loss that a lot of you are. I see manufacturers as a helluva lot more important than studios at the moment.