comment #1

MAGGA says ...

This is liberal propaganda! Shame on you!

comment #2

TheJeff says ...

If I'd been running things, I would have said in a memo last October or November that PHV should quietly start making plans for Blu-ray releases of all titles in preparation for HD-DVD's likely and/or eventual defeat. But PHV hasn't prepared, it seems

Your memo would have likely showed up as exhibit 'A' in the breach of contract suit Toshiba filed against you. Paramount had an exclusivity contract with HD-DVD which prevented Paramount from supporting Blu-Ray. Only when Toshiba announced they were discontinuing the format would Paramount have been able to acknowledge that they were even thinking about Blu-Ray discs.

comment #3

Jay T. says ...

They'd better get moving... I'm not buying TWBB until it's on Blu-Ray.

comment #4

le corbeau says ...

I'm not buying Blu-Ray until I see some evidence that they're going to put anything besides new releases out on it.

I expect all that to pick up speed now that the format war is over, but for now, there's no reason to buy recent movies on Blu-Ray when I already get HD movie channels (or pay per view).

comment #5

JD says ...

"Everyone knew HD-DVD was dead late last year when word began to get around that Warner Bros. would join forces with Blu-ray."

Word was not getting around that Warner was gonna jump ship. This is total insider posturing. Toshiba was so shocked by the announcement that they had to cancel an elaborate presentation scheduled for that weekend. As for you Monday morning quarterbacking about last October, many experts -- including reps from Blu-ray -- were declaring a format war stalemate at that time, not an easy victory for Blu-ray. After all, Paramount had just gone HD DVD exclusive a few weeks earlier. The format war was not even close to being over until Warner jumped ship in January.

comment #6

High Chaparral says ...

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD share the same video and audio codecs. It would be relatively trivial to switch to preparing Blu-Ray discs. It's not like you have to re-transfer, re-master or re-compress anything.

comment #7

Walter Sobchak says ...

Awwwww shit. "Bee Movie" is coming out on video soon? Great. Prepare thyself for another several weeks of assaultive, round-the-clock, omni-present promotional bullshit.

Gotta run. Jerry Seinfeld's at my door dressed as a bee to tell me all about "Bee Movie" arriving on DVD.

comment #8

Aguirre says ...

agree with everything JD said until that last sentence there. sure, had warner not defected this would have been a much (needlessly) longer war, but with the PS3 (often inexplicably omitted from toshiba stats), a pre-existing majority of studio support (even after the paramount defection),and weekly software sales victories for EVERY week in the 2007 calendar year, blu-ray was destined to close this thing out by 2009. before the warner announcement on the eve of CES it simply seemed as if blu-ray would be winning an interminable war of attrition rather than a decisive rout, and of course the warner move ensured the latter scenario. that being said, jeff's post stinks of monday morning quarterbacking, particularly as he's never appeared all that interested in or knowledgeable of the HD format war.

comment #9

Bob Violence says ...

No surprise that Paramount would cancel HD-DVD versions of Bee Movie (due 3.11), Sweeney Todd (4.1) and There Will Be Blood, given the defeat of that format by Blu-ray.

I'd say it's a bit of a surprise in the case of Bee Movie, seeing how the discs should've already been pressed.

comment #10

PerfectTommy says ...

Sobchak - stop griping about Jerry; out here in the sticks we are trying to dodge Michael Richards dressed as Bud Ditchwater. (Whoever came up with that name must be so proud.)

comment #11

insidah says ...

DVDs look fine. Fight the power.