Why are the HDDVD Titles so Limited?
 

After buying my new Toshiba HD player I decided to buy a couple extra HDDVD's in addition to the 3 free ones I have. I was looking for all of my favorite martial arts movies like "Kung Fu Hustle", "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon", "Curse of the Golden Flower" and "House of Flying Daggers". Nothing available. Started looking at all the titles on Blue Ray and started to get so pissed seeing that they had these films in high def. This is one of the problems with the temporary war of formats. I want to see these titles that were designed for high def yet wont buy a $400 blue ray player just to see these titles. In addition, the library for HD titles is very limited.

The only bright side to this is that my standard DVD titles will be safe for quite some time(3 years or so). This will allow me to slowly get rid of my DVD titles and replace them with HD titles. Most of the older tv boxed sets that I have and the animated series like Family Guy and Simpsons will never be replaced as I dont see the difference with lower grade animation like South Park to warrant an upgrade. Anime is an entirely different ballgame.

The library of both formats is extremely limited. BD is more limited that the HD-DVD IMHO. But if you bought the format just see some specific films, I cannot figure out why you wouldn't have researched to find out what format those films were in, and then bought the appropriate player.

It all depends on what films you like the most. I find BD to be a little more limited than HD simply because most of my favorite films are, or will be, on HD. I bought my player for The Thing, which is HD exclusive. There are titles that I would like on BD only, but none that really make me want a player that bad. Many of my favorite films came from Paramount, Universal and WB and all three of them support HD.

Ditto for me as well. Price is one reason I went with HD-DVD, but it was also nice that one of my favorite movies, Batman Begins, is only available on HD-DVD right now... Anyone know why WB didn't release this on BR?

They're both limited in that not much has been released on each side, but most studios have lined up on one side or the other, so if you're looking for a specific film you have to hope you get the right format for that studio (Warner Bros/New Line is the only "neutral" studio, although HD DVD still has a few major exclusive WB titles. Paramount used to be neutral and you can still find most of their releases on Blu Ray)

This for me is why I am format neutral... I understand not everyone can go that route, but for me, after experiencing HD-DVD, I knew I couldnt go back at that point.

:thumbsup: Well said. It's worth the extra cost of having both to not worry about what format anything is being released. Even with the great upconverting, I can't watch SDDVDs if I know the HD version is out there somewhere.

Some titles aren't available on Blu-ray because the hardware/software (in BD language, "profile") doesn't support the advanced features of the title. In this case it is the IME picture-in-a-picture commentary that can't be done with Blu-ray. There are others (like the Matrix boxed set for instance).

You're going to need some patience. I firmly believe that the exclusive BD studios will soon start releasing on the other side. But it's going to take time. (I'll also note that a bunch of the stuff that you listed is OWNED by Sony... so you're going to have to wait a loooong time.)


That being said, I think the premise of your title is a bit misleading. Number of titles and number of exclusives is basically identical between the two formats. So, if HD DVD is "limited", so is blu-ray (just with a different selection).

Personally, I prefer the selection available on HD DVD. Others may disagree. Regardless, the ~$300 hardware price gap between the two formats makes patience a bit easier for me. I'm willing to wait it out with my HD DVD player and see what happens.

Contrary to what has been said above I do not think that there is any such possibility with the exclusive Blu studios. If anything the trend has been different: with the exception of Paramount who went from neutral to HDDVD-exclusive as a result of an alleged 150mil. pay off all other neutral studios have been switching from HDDVD to neutral (examples: Optimum-UK, Studio Canal, etc). A good number of smaller distribs with notable titles such
as Tartan are also BR exclusive (Old Boy).

Finally, there has been an ongoing rumor that Weinstein, an HDDVD supporter, has been considering neutrality (currently they have stopped releasing). No such rumors pertaining to Blu-exclusive studios going neutral as a result of halted production is in circulation.

Pro-B

slight correction: Paramount/Dreamworks went from neutral (not Blu-ray exclusive) to HD DVD-exclusive and the "payoff" has never been confirmed.

also, the opinions of the last two posts are both pure speculation. here's some more: personally, i think the exclusive studios in both camps are pretty well entrenched (referring to the majors) and won't be changing their stance anytime soon. if you want access to all hi-def titles anytime in the next year or two, you're gonna have to pony up the cash for dual-format hardware.

The studios you mention earlier are all non-American, and have little effect on HD consumers here. And while the Weinstein rumours may be true, there were a lot of rumors regarding LGF and Disney/BV going neutral about a year ago.

Even if Weinstein does go neutral, it's no more a coup than if Starz did. In the grand scheme of things, they each have a tiny handful of titles to get excited about. All eyes are on WB and Disney, which currently favor BD. (No matter how you slice it, those two are the studios that matter the most).

Well, we'll see. It's definitely all opinion/speculation at this point. We won't know until we know.

Again, I'm a patient guy. :)

You are correct. I made a typo. It has been adjusted.

Pro-B

They still reflect a trend. I am not aware of a studio which was previously Blu-exclusive and is now "neutral".

I simply disagree with you on this one as I don't see how WB could be tagged as "favoring" BD. If anything they have consistently proven that HDDVD is the more viable platform for them. Using identical encodes for both formats (with HDDVD and its tech specifications in mind) and having a few "exclusive" titles for HDDVD proves it.

Pro-B

I own more movies in HD-DVD, but I had to go Blu for the Disney/Pixar and Anchor Bay/Starz movies. But I'd be neutral anyway with exclusive titles involved, since if I have the chance to watch an HD movie instead of DVD, I will and I don't mind spending a little extra to play both sides. I won't go without certain movies in HD just to try to help one side win, I could be dead by then and it isn't worth suffering through unneccesary blurry transfers in the meantime.

i agree with Pro-B on this. if WB has favored either format so far, it's been HD DVD.

again, i'm just speculating, but i believe WB's dual-format stance will remain longer than most people (at least on internet forums) are predicting.

Ah, hopefully Weinstein goes HDVD or neutral so that the Shaw Brothers releases on Dragon Star can finally be released in HD.

As for not doing research prior to purchasing an HDDVD player. $199 plus 10 free DVD's is a no brainer even if some of the titles are not available yet. I can wait. Until BR pulls their head out of their ass and starts selling the players at a comprable price then they can shove their player up their pie hole.

I've owned my HD DVD player for five months and I'm pretty sure I've bought more HD DVDs than DVDs after five months.

I think Anchor Bay has already released their load. There's nothing else they could release that I'd be interested in.

You're in luck since Weinstein is an HD-DVD exclusive studio. Unfortunately, they haven't put anything out in the past 6 months or so.

Far and away from reality!

Possible BR releases of their Herzog, Kinski, and Zulawski titles amongst many others proves it.

Pro-B

True, I'd love to see Aguirre in HD. But, imo, there's not much else I'd be interested.