Just read a couple of articles in the new PC World about Paramount dumping Blu-ray and going exclusively with HD-DVD.  One was an overall industry perspective about it, but the second one was an interview with the Paramount chief and PCW.  What he has to say about why they decided to go that route makes rock solid sense not only from a business standpoint, but consumer-wise as well.

This is going to hurt BD big time going just before Christmas, especially since Toshiba will have a new model player out that hits the $300 price point in time for Xmas.  The ghost of the Betamax must be spinning in its crypt right about now!

Way to go, Paramount!

from Audioholics

http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/format-war-won-by-internet


Format War Won - by the Internet?

by Tom Andry — October 10, 2007

Victory is mine says the Internet

While the audiophiles and first-adopters argue about HD DVD and Blu-ray, the rest of the world moves on, unknowing and uncaring. We've predicted not once but many times that the new formats were doomed from the start. A recent article on Forbes is predicting not only the demise of CDs, but of ALL physical formats! Well, knock us over with a feather. We never would have guessed.

According to the article:

    In [2012-2013], total home-video revenue is expected to climb 10.1% and 6.6%, respectively. But then growth is projected to continue to slow before sales finally contract a projected 2.3% in 2015 to $31.5 billion.

So if we follow the logic, HD disc sales (both combined) will increase in the coming years increasing steadily until 2013, where sales will start to slow. The slowing will be caused in part by an increase in the amount of on-demand services utilized by consumers. While ownership of a physical disc is important to many consumers, as time goes on, that paradigm is predicted to change.

I assume projections are at least partially due to projections by the cable, tel-co and satellite industries regarding attaining a level of proficiency at reaching consumers in their homes with high definition content. I know right now there are tens of millions of consumers who would love nothing more than fiber connections to their homes, but who must wait for the infrastructure to catch up on the local level. High-income homes and communities in historical or well-established neighborhoods seem to be a major trailer in this area due to "final run" installation difficulties.

Currently, video rentals have declined sharply since the decrease in VHS rental service. DVD rentals have not taken up the slack. CD sales have also seen a sharp decline and are predicted to dip even lower in coming years. What does this mean for you and me? That remains to be seen. On-demand services have historically been pay-per-view rather than pay-to-own. So far, no one has come up with a really reliable way for someone to "own" a non-physical piece of media. Selling consumers "downloadable" music or movies that you can't easily transport will be a bitter pill for most. No one wants to "own" a movie that you can only play in your living room. They want to be able to play it in the bedroom, on a portable player, or at a friend's house. Only time will tell how these decidedly DRM issues are resolved.

from gamers site joystiq:

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/11/valves-gabe-newell-says-ps3-a-waste-of-time/

Valve's Gabe Newell comes down hard on PS3

Valve's Gabe Newell has been pretty open about his displeasure with the PS3 in the past, and it's clear from a recent interview that time has not softened him, calling the system "a waste of everyone's time" in Edge magazine last week. Newell continued, saying, "Investing in the Cell, investing in the SPE gives you no long-term benefits. There's nothing there that you're going to apply to anything else. You're not going to gain anything except a hatred of the architecture they've created. I don't think they're going to make money off their box. I don't think it's a good solution."

Though Newell is one of the few developers in a position to speak out on the system (we would too if our game was rocking a 98 on Metacritic), a slew of PS3 game delays have us wondering: Is he speaking the minds of more than we know?

Sony Says PS3 Firmware Upgrade Will Boost Blu-ray Interactivity

Although details remain sketchy, Sony says it is planning a firmware update to its PlayStation 3 that will boost Blu-ray interactivity.

As first reported by Video Business, the revelation came from Sony VP of advanced technologies Don Eklund at yesterday's HDTV DisplaySearch conference in Universal City, California during a panel discussion about next-gen interactivity.

Beyond saying that the firmware update was expected "soon," Eklund provided no further details, leaving eager fans to speculate on exactly what might be included.

The most likely scenario would appear to be that Sony will update the game console to support at least some components of the Profile 1.1 Blu-ray spec, which will enable a series of functions not supported by current Blu-ray players, including true video picture-in-picture playback.

As we've previously reported, all Blu-ray players released after October 31, 2007 have been mandated by the Blu-ray Disc Association to support Profile 1.1.

Although several upcoming Blu-ray titles (including 'Hairspray,' 'Rush Hour 3' and 'Pan's Labyrinth') are slated to include features that would seem to require Profile 1.1 compliance, we've yet to see a compatible BD player hit the market.

Needless to say, we'll keep you posted on any upcoming announcements from Sony regarding this and any other firmware upgrades for the PS3. (Yes, we've got our eyes peeled for that highly-anticipated DTS-HD MA update, too.) Stay tuned!

-- HighDefDigest.com

Quoting Battling Butler:

Quote:
Report: Paramount Plans 30+ Titles For HD DVD in 2008

Thu Oct 11, 2007

No specifics yet, but Paramount is apparently planning to debut at least thirty new HD DVD titles in 2008.

That's according to an article in Home Media Megazine, which cites a Paramount rep at this week's meeting of the DVD Forum in Universal City, CA as its source.

No specific titles, street dates or further specs were given.

Despite reports to the contrary, a total of 30 titles would not represent an increased commitment for the newly-HD DVD exclusive studio. In fact, by our count, the combined number of 2007 HD DVD releases from Paramount and its subsidiary DreamWorks will be exactly thirty (including nine announced titles between now and the end of the year).

Of course, with the studio delivering gangbuster titles like 'Transformers,' 'Shrek the Third' and 'Star Trek:The Original Series' this quarter alone, title counts in and of themselves would seem to be beside the point.

Thus far, the studio has officially announced only one new HD DVD title for next year -- a long-delayed next gen edition of 'Zodiac,' due January 8.

Wasn't this just posted on the last page?  30+ titles is just like this year.  That's nothing special.  Lionsgate has put out around that number of titles.

This is why you're picked on...

I didn't forget that BD is outselling HD. You missed my point.

The number of 07 blockbusters is about even for Q4 releases...

New HD players are out with retail pricing below $300 and street pricing below that, obviously. You can get into the HD game for around $220 right now if you look for it.

Maybe you're looking at it wrong...YTD and SI numbers will rise for HD DVD also, that's kind of the way sales figures go. If everything plays out no differently than current YTD trends then BD won't increase its lead. They will both grow in unison.

With 30 Paramount titles already in the works for 08 I think an educated guess could be made that the entire number will be higher for the year.

Yeah, I guess I doesn't learn faster enough. Your math makes sense...You called me dummy.

Quoting Mark Harrison:

Quote:
Quoting pplchamp:

Quote:
The most likely scenario would appear to be that Sony will update the game console to support at least some components of the Profile 1.1 Blu-ray spec

"...at least some..."

Sony better hope that they can support more than "some" of Profile 1.1 or this war is going to get very interesting!

I think the writer is an idiot. Profile 1.1 is a second video stream and audio streams which the PS3 can do. It also increases the memory, which the PS3 already has.

I don't know where he got the "at least some" bit from.