^^ This should be done with ALL HD titles.  This is a good sign indeed.

Found this on PC World. Here is the Article:

Target to Sell Only Blu-ray DVD Players
Sony says Target will exclusively carry Blu-ray players "at least through the holiday season" and will also expand its inventory of Blu-ray discs.
Thursday, July 26, 2007 05:00 PM PDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Target plans to carry only Blu-ray high definition DVD players through the holiday shopping season, a move that boosts the Sony-backed technology and may deal a blow to rival HD-DVD.

In a statement on Thursday, Sony Corp. said that Target will exclusively carry Blu-ray players "at least through the holiday season" and will also expand its inventory of Blu-ray discs.

The move begins in October with Target's sale and promotion of Sony's BDP-S300 unit, which sells for about $500.

It was the second major retailer in as many months to throw its weight behind Blu-ray in the industry wide standards war reminiscent of VHS and Betamax. Blockbuster, the largest U.S. provider of home movie entertainment, in June set plans to line its shelves with Blu-ray DVDs, saying that Blu-ray rentals are "significantly outpacing HD DVD rentals."

HD DVD is developed by Toshiba Corp. and backed by Microsoft Corp. and film studios including Warner Bros.. It competes with Sony's Blu-ray which is built into its PlayStation 3 game console, and supported by companies such as Samsung Electronics Co., Apple and Dell.

Earlier this month, the HD DVD camp said its stand-alone video players have outsold rival Blu-ray players by a three-to-one margin in Europe's main markets so far this year.

Mass market acceptance of high-definition video is still some way off, due in part to the high price of the devices, and the fact that some movies and programs are available on one platform and not the other.

BJ's Wholesale Club Goes Exclusive to Blu-ray

Quote:
JULY 26 | East Coast chain BJ’s Wholesale Club will drop HD DVD from its shelves and carry the Blu-ray Disc format exclusively by the fourth quarter, according to sources at the retailer and several Hollywood studios.

Sources said the chain will carry Blu-ray exclusively at all its 170 stores, although it continues to carry both formats on its Web site.

Spielberg releases 3 versions of Close Encounters of the Third Kind...on 1 Blu-ray Disc

Quote:
In a surprise announcement, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment says it will bring the very first Steven Spielberg film to high-def disc this November with a 30th Anniversary Blu-ray Edition of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind.'

Due in stores November 13 (on both Blu-ray and as a standard-def DVD re-issue), the 30th Anniversary Edition will be the first home video release to include all three versions of the Spielberg classic: the original 1977 theatrical cut, the re-edited 1980 theatrical Special Edition, and Spielberg's own 1998 Director's Cut.

The 3 versions of this film can fit on one BD because of "seamless branching".  SD DVDs uses this all the time.  This feature seems to be a lot harder to implement on HD DVD (apparently it's due to bandwidth constraints).  This is why it was dropped from the HD DVD version of the NIN concert title.

There's a thread on another site (highdefdigest).  We are trying to find out all the real advantages between the two formats.  This is what they have so far...

HD DVD 16 advantages

Amazon's proposed 1000 HD DVD Indie Titles

Better interactivity within the disc using HDi™ (PIP)

Cheaper players

Deeper data surface

Discs easier and cheaper to manufacture

Exclusive manufacturer support from Toshiba

Exclusive studio support from First Look Pictures

Exclusive studio support from Optimum World

Exclusive studio support from Studio Canal

Exclusive studio support from The Weinstein Company

Exclusive studio support from Universal Pictures

Have some exclusive movies from Warner Bros.

Mandatory DD+ decoding on all players

Mandatory networking/internet connectivity on all players

Mandatory TrueHD decoding on all players

Region free



BLU-RAY 28 advantages

24 frames per second output on players

50GB maximum data

48mbps maximum bitrate

Better special features with BD-J except for pip right now

BJ's Blu-ray Exclusive

Blockbuster exclusive in 1450 stores

Exclusive manufacturer support from Denon

Exclusive manufacturer support from Panasonic

Exclusive manufacturer support from Phillips

Exclusive manufacturer support from Pioneer

Exclusive manufacturer support from Sony

Exclusive studio support from 20th Century Fox

Exclusive studio support from Entertainment in Video

Exclusive studio support from Lions Gate Entertainment

Exclusive studio support from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Exclusive studio support from Questar, Inc.

Exclusive studio support from Razor Digital Entertainment

Exclusive studio support from Sony Pictures Entertainment/Columbia TriStar

Exclusive studio support from Starz Home Entertainment (Anchor Bay)

Exclusive studio support from Tartan Video

Exclusive studio support from Walt Disney Pictures/Buena Vista Home Entertainment

Hard coating on data surface

JB HiFi Blu-ray exclusive

Mandatory 1080p output on all players

Seamless branching

Spielberg currently supporting Blu-ray

Target to Sell Blu-ray Players Exclusively

Woolworths Blu-ray exclusive



Can anyone add any legitimate advantages for either side?

I sincerely doubt that Target will limit their profits by restricting themselves to Blu-ray only players. They sell both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats so where's the logic?

Quoting Ascended_Saiyan:

Quote:
Quoting stefc:

Quote:
300
HD DVD
versus BD:
Identical specs, identical transfers, yet zero hi def extras on the BD. But I thought HD DVD was the inferior format? 

If you look at your link to the Blu-ray version, you can clearly see extras in 1080i (six-part "Behind the Story" documentary).  That is clearly High-Def.  The only thing that needs to be figured out is what exactly do they call "High-Def Extras".

Maybe you need to figure it out, but I don't, because I
a) already have the HD DVD and have enjoyed all the extras on it, and
b) have the ability to read.

The BD review at high def digest says the following under the section called "HD Bonus Content: Any Exclusive Goodies in There?":

Quote:
Although the concurrently-released HD DVD edition of '300' includes a suite of high-def extras, unfortunately none are included in this Blu-ray disc, due to current hardware limitations that don't allow for nifty extras such as picture-in-picture commentaries and web-enabled content.

(For a complete overview of the features exclusive to the HD DVD, click here.)

"clicking here" takes you to the following paragraphs in the HD DVD review:

Quote:
As if all of the above cross-format goodies were not enough, Warner has served up quite a treat for HD DVD fans with a cutting-edge assortment of high-def exclusives.

Easily the most anticipated bonus is the "Bluescreen Picture-in-Picture Version" of the film. A true first for any home video format, Warner has encoded the entire feature in its bluescreen, pre-post-produced version. Like your typical In-Movie Experience track, just activate the feature and a large picture box will appear in the bottom left of the screen, allowing you to watch the before-and-after versions of the film along with audio commentary by director Zack Snyder.

The first few minutes of this one in particular are way cool -- it's really a kick to both see and hear, shot-by-shot, how each effect was done. Everything about the film looks so different -- not just the bluescreen elements that were eventually added in later, but also the entire tone, mood and appearance of the live-action footage. I suspect this will be an instant classic at film schools everywhere.

Having said that, and as truly trend-setting as this feature is, a certain sameness does start to creep in after a while. Sure, CGI geeks will swoon, but 30 minutes on in or so, you get the basic idea of the process Snyder used in creating his visual wizardry, and some may find it overkill to sit through this one in its entirety. Still, this is certainly the kind of pioneering bonus feature that has propelled Warner to the forefront of studios supporting high-def, so far be it from me to complain. Please keep this stuff coming!

The bluscreen feature alone would have earned '300' its place in next-gen history, but Warner has also included some groundbreaking web-enabled extras, too.

The most intriguing among the web-enabled extras is a feature called "Pick Your Favorite Scenes." Here, you can assemble and re-organize your favorite bits of '300,' and then store the line-up to your player's internal accessible memory and/or put it online to share with others. Warner will even let you review and rate other fan-made cuts. While I'm not sure how many of "'300's Greatest Hits" I'd want to watch, the technology here is undeniably exciting.

There is also a fresh interactive game, "Vengeance and Valor." Think Risk meets Checkers, only using iconography from the movie. Gameplay is pretty basic: you can select a few components (such as the type of infantrymen you want to fight your opponent with, and your plan of attack), but it's not all that involving. Plus, without a worthy online opponent you're kinda out of luck. Still, I suspect Warner is just testing the waters with this one -- depending on the reaction from early adopters, here's betting that future applications will be more sophisticated and complex.

Finally, in a nod to unabashed capitalism, '300' is also the first next-gen title ever to provide viewers with one-click access to buy film-specific merchandise. Thanks to the miracle of HD DVD, you can now "take '300' with you wherever you go!" by using the disc's web interface to purchase custom wallpaper and ringtones for your mobile phone. Of course, you could do this on any old PC, too, so aside from the novelty factor this is hardly much of a "feature." Still, I can't wait until my HD DVD player starts to try selling me Harry Potter plush toys...

But then again my 300 HD DVD doesn't have a hard coating on the disc surface, maybe I should bin it and import a US BD player for 5 to 6 times the cost of my HD DVD player and get 300 on BD eh?

Man, don't start this crap up again.  It IS because of bandwidth.  The more bandwidth you have available...the easier it is to do "seamless branching".  I already let you (and everyone else that reads this thread) that "seamless branching" on the NIN concert title for HD DVD was dropped.  The Blu-ray version of the concert has it.  'Nuff said.  You already know that because that partial quote was from Amir's post on AVS.  Why didn't you post the entire quote?  I would have essentially proved my point...that's why.


In other news, as of this post, the Blu-ray edition of "300" reach the #2 spot on Amazon.  It is only behind the 2-disc DVD version of "300".  That is a new record!  Another small HD optical boundary has been crossed.


Paramount Shifts Focus to Blu-ray...

Quote:
 
News


Paramount Shifts Focus to Blu-ray

Posted July 27, 2007 by Josh

Paramount On August 28th, Paramount will ship its first high definition title to include a lossless or uncompressed soundtrack - 'Blades of Glory'. This title will feature a PCM 5.1 soundtrack for the Blu-ray release, but will feature no equivalent on the HD DVD, presumably because of the smaller disc capacity. Two weeks later, Paramount will ship 'Face/Off' with extras features available in high definition, but only on the Blu-ray version, again due to space constraints.

This is a drastic change from the Paramount we once knew. For the past year, Blu-ray owners have cringed as they saw release after release issued with low bit rate MPEG-2 video encodes and Dolby Digital soundtracks, while the HD DVD versions received VC-1 encodes and higher bit rate Dolby Digital Plus audio. It was disappointing to say the least.

The shift began with 'Flags of Our Fathers', which was released with a high bit rate AVC encode for the Blu-ray release. The audio was still lacking, but it was clear they were finally recognizing the Blu-ray consumer as a valuable asset. Now, with the addition of PCM audio, Paramount completes the high definition package and Blu-ray owners can now enjoy their favorite Paramount movies the way they were meant to be seen.

Paramount has a contract with HD DVD for Star Trek: The Original Series that was created a long time ago.  This contract has to be fulfilled.  The Star Trek series will cost $218.  Do you remember the Paramount consultant (Vito Mandato) that said Blu-ray could probably win the HD format war within months if they leverage certain advantages?  You are seeing that happen all around you now.  Clearly, it appears that Paramount is no longer holding Blu-ray back going forward.  It would be funny should Paramount become the anti-Warner Bros.

Here is an industry insider (Talkstr8t) from the AVS forum saying that (look for time index on the right for 03-28-07 09:22 AM).  Now it's not just my word.

This guy talks about the math behind it.  That way you can apply it to both sides and all films.

That's about as good as it gets.

I'm not back, per se.  It's you and others that play the part of the antagonist. The funny thing is how you are others try to spin it so it looks like I'm the antagonist and they are the protagonists.