Blu-Ray Bay

[Lord Moon]

I just can't see digital downloads ever (or at least in the next 20 years) being a force to be reckoned with. You just need too much bandwidth. I mean I have been on broadband for 10 years (cable) and you know what? The speed is still the fastest available in Australia, and that speed hasn't changed in 10 years.

And if I was downloading all the stuff I watch in HD format, I'd be going through about 200GB of data a week.

Look at all the online video. Youtube works, but the quality is so poor it is embarassing. The net won't support this dream unless they start pushing low quality rubbish (like say itunes tv shows)

I'm not talking streaming video like YouTube, I'm talking complete downloads, like Apple and Microsoft are doing now, both of which are in HD or through your local cable TV's "on demand" service which is also available in HD now.

Things get better as time marches forward. When DVDs came out folks thought that was the best as it was going to get, now comes HD-DVD/Blu-Ray.

If you truly think things are just going to stay static you are fooling yourself.

Technology is improving every day. I remember when a 1GB hard drive was a big expensive deal, now you can carry a couple GB around in your pocket. And that has been less than a 10 year stretch.

No I can easily see quality HD movies and TV shows being downloadable, hell I bet streaming will up to good quality, in about 10-15 years.

[Kamakzie]

The big problem is bandwidth. Hard drive space isn't that much of a problem. However I want a physical copy of any movie I buy. What if your hard drive with all your movies fails?? Then you have to re-download hundreds of gigs of movies... no thanks!

[SubCog]

I agree that Bay is being very disrespectful to transformers fans.

Additionally, it's not entirely truthful to say that consumers are "choosing" bluray.

HD-DVD standalone players are consistently outselling bluray standalones. There's no question that the PS3 makes up the lion's share of the bluray hardware market. There's over 10 times as many PS3's sold as standalone bluray players. And there's nearly a 10:1 ratio of PS3's to hd-dvd players as well.

Yet bluray disks aren't outselling hd-dvd by a margin of 10:1. Bluray disks are only outselling hd-dvd by 2:1. This means that the vast majority of bluray owners (which is almost completely synonymous with PS3 owners) are simply not buying very many bluray disks.

HD-DVD's disk attach rate blows away bluray's attach rate. It's clear that movie consumers that are choosing movies are choosing hd-dvd. Indeed, bluray's attach rates are kind of pathetic.

I'm not saying bluray is going to fail. But there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that bluray's success is the result of the PS3 trojan horse.

Additionally, I think its a little naive to assume that bluray is the champion of the people when the cheapest units are still well over $300. There's lots of consumers that want to enjoy highdef movies but can't justify spending that much on a player. The much higher price of bluray hardware is a much higher bar of entry for hd movie viewing. Bay has essentially said that he doesn't want anyone to enjoy his movies in hd unless they're willing to pay twice the cost of an hd-dvd player to do it. How can he not realize that there's tons of people who are willing to pay $199 to buy hardware to enjoy his movies, but that transformers just isn't worth $400 to them? It's a very snobby attitude, or at least it seems snobby to me. Perhaps he's thinking, "I love movies, and $400 is a drop in the bucket to pay for enjoying them in hd". Doesn't he realize that he makes more money than most people though, and he's probably more of a movie buff than most people?

I personally support the studios that are working to bring quality entertainment to a wide audience of customers at a reasonable price. I'm not saying bluray is bad, or shouldn't be an option. But when you have a director who's actively throwing his support behind ending the more reasonably priced product, even though many of those customers have purchased his movie, I think that's pretty snobby, and very disrespectful.

I'm not saying that he shouldn't be working to get transformers on bluray. I can see why he wants his movie to be enjoyed by the widest audience possible. Sabotaging hd-dvd, however, doesn't seem like its working toward that goal.

[Bumblebee1983]

Really is quite unfortunate that you are so gladly just allowing yourself to be a pawn in all this. Picking and choosing sides for all to see for the amusement of Blu Ray enthusiasts.

I own both Blu Ray and HD-DVD, but it really is unfortunate to constantly read your stance on the formats not because I prefer one over the other, but because you actually make people like myself feel like total idiots for actually thinking to buy and support your movie on HD-DVD, but who cares we're all just insignificant idiots anyway.

If only to show your appreciation to the people that went out and purchased the HD-DVD version of your movie, just like we showed our appreciation for your work on Transformers by purchasing it in HD-DVD, it would've been nice for you to not constantly belittle our choice in doing so. I will personally never purchase another Michael Bay film.

Everyone knows why Blu-Ray is beating the pants off of HD-DVD as much as it is right now and it's called the Playstation 3. It isn't that consumers chose blu ray it's simply that Sony made a very intelligent business move that heavily tilted things in their favor. Had Microsoft actually put an HD-DVD player inside the Xbox 360 since launch then HD-DVD would actually be the #1 format simply based on the fact that the Xbox 360 has been steadily outselling the Playstation 3 in the USA since it's release. The Xbox 360's first year on the market in the USA is beating the ps3 by over 900,000 units and in 2007 the Xbox 360 sold is outselling it's 2006 USA sales performance by more than a million units. It isn't hard to see the format war would be different had Microsoft went with an internal HD-DVD player.

I don't say that as some hardcore HD-DVD supporter, but as a fan of both. I just sometimes cringe at constantly hearing that "consumers" are choosing Blu Ray. Blu Ray was just put into a Trojan horse called the Playstation 3 and that allowed it to hit it's stride in a way that no optional HD-DVD add on could do for the Xbox 360 and we all know standalone sales wont match the sales of a videogame console such as the PS3. So the best solution would've been to make the Xbox 360 a trojan horse for HD-DVD by making it an internal device like Sony did for Blu Ray in the PS3.

Maybe then people wouldn't go around touting the Blu Ray is selling better because it's better nonsense. I own both so I know the experience of using both. Both have similar incredible picture quality except HD-DVD has actually been delivering on the interactivity, network and picture in picture features originally promised by these formats since day one whereas Blu Ray hasn't been. So how exactly is Blu Ray better? I know it's easy to see dollar signs in favor of Blu ray and say "well clearly that is more superior" but that isn't the case and never has been the case. It was just put inside the PS3 and it blew up as a result. Smart business by Sony is what helped ensure the Blu Ray format's victory.

All very good points.

Sony is brilliant like that.

[Kamakzie]

Players selling doesn't matter much if they aren't selling as much movies as Blu-ray. Also the HD-DVD camp wasn't counting PS3's so thats how they got their 2:1 player margin.

[Lord Moon]

The big problem is bandwidth. Hard drive space isn't that much of a problem. However I want a physical copy of any movie I buy. What if your hard drive with all your movies fails?? Then you have to re-download hundreds of gigs of movies... no thanks!

I'm right there with you. I lost a bunch of music I backed up, some very hard to get rare out of print tunes, gone. I would rather have a physical copy, but I think in the future you'll just have a hard drive full of music, movies and games hooked into your HDTV.

[Mobe1969]

I'm not talking streaming video like YouTube, I'm talking complete downloads, like Apple and Microsoft are doing now, both of which are in HD or through your local cable TV's "on demand" service which is also available in HD now.

Things get better as time marches forward. When DVDs came out folks thought that was the best as it was going to get, now comes HD-DVD/Blu-Ray.

If you truly think things are just going to stay static you are fooling yourself.

Technology is improving every day. I remember when a 1GB hard drive was a big expensive deal, now you can carry a couple GB around in your pocket. And that has been less than a 10 year stretch.

No I can easily see quality HD movies and TV shows being downloadable, hell I bet streaming will up to good quality, in about 10-15 years.

Right, what I'm saying is that in 10 years the internet bandwidth and throughput has not improved. Yeah, no joke HDD sizes have increased tenfold or 20-fold, but the same can NOT be said about the internet capacity. I'm not on a 10 times faster link than I had ten years ago. I don't have 10 times the quota I had 10 years ago. In another ten years time I can't see anything drastic happen to change that trend.

I agree that Bay is being very disrespectful to transformers fans.

Additionally, it's not entirely truthful to say that consumers are "choosing" bluray.

HD-DVD standalone players are consistently outselling bluray standalones. There's no question that the PS3 makes up the lion's share of the bluray hardware market. There's over 10 times as many PS3's sold as standalone bluray players. And there's nearly a 10:1 ratio of PS3's to hd-dvd players as well.

Yet bluray disks aren't outselling hd-dvd by a margin of 10:1. Bluray disks are only outselling hd-dvd by 2:1. This means that the vast majority of bluray owners (which is almost completely synonymous with PS3 owners) are simply not buying very many bluray disks.

HD-DVD's disk attach rate blows away bluray's attach rate. It's clear that movie consumers that are choosing movies are choosing hd-dvd. Indeed, bluray's attach rates are kind of pathetic.

I'm not saying bluray is going to fail. But there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that bluray's success is the result of the PS3 trojan horse.

Additionally, I think its a little naive to assume that bluray is the champion of the people when the cheapest units are still well over $300. There's lots of consumers that want to enjoy highdef movies but can't justify spending that much on a player. The much higher price of bluray hardware is a much higher bar of entry for hd movie viewing. Bay has essentially said that he doesn't want anyone to enjoy his movies in hd unless they're willing to pay twice the cost of an hd-dvd player to do it. How can he not realize that there's tons of people who are willing to pay $199 to buy hardware to enjoy his movies, but that transformers just isn't worth $400 to them? It's a very snobby attitude, or at least it seems snobby to me. Perhaps he's thinking, "I love movies, and $400 is a drop in the bucket to pay for enjoying them in hd". Doesn't he realize that he makes more money than most people though, and he's probably more of a movie buff than most people?

I personally support the studios that are working to bring quality entertainment to a wide audience of customers at a reasonable price. I'm not saying bluray is bad, or shouldn't be an option. But when you have a director who's actively throwing his support behind ending the more reasonably priced product, even though many of those customers have purchased his movie, I think that's pretty snobby, and very disrespectful.

I'm not saying that he shouldn't be working to get transformers on bluray. I can see why he wants his movie to be enjoyed by the widest audience possible. Sabotaging hd-dvd, however, doesn't seem like its working toward that goal.

Utter BS. The Blu-Ray in PS3 a Trojan Horse? Like it was something underhanded? You really have a nerve there making such a stupid claim. Get over yourself. What were Sony have supposed to have done? Rushed the PS3 out with no HDD and a DVD drive? And the PSP? What should they have done there? Not made and used UMDs? Gone with some expensive to product cartridge based sytem like those nintendo assholes?

Maybe if those MS aholes had done a half decent job with the frankensteins monster 360 the fight may have gone the other way (eg, putting an internal HDD and HDDVD drive in the 360, and HDMI support) but they were too stupid, instead making users have to add both of these onto the 360 as bloody peripherals, like we just love having untidy crap in our lounges....

[nelson]

No I can easily see quality HD movies and TV shows being downloadable, hell I bet streaming will up to good quality, in about 10-15 years.

Have you downloaded an HD movie from XBox live?

[nelson]

I agree that Bay is being very disrespectful to transformers fans.

How so? I mean, there are those that say he disrespected TF fans everywhere by adding flames to Optimus Prime?

You're grasping at straws.

[Bumblebee1983]

How so? I mean, there are those that say he disrespected TF fans everywhere by adding flames to Optimus Prime?

You're grasping at straws.

SNAP!

Good point Nelson.

Optimus' flames didn't bother me in the least bit.

And everyone's entitled to their own opinion, director or not.

[MR BLU]

I agree that Bay is being very disrespectful to transformers fans.

Additionally, it's not entirely truthful to say that consumers are "choosing" bluray.

HD-DVD standalone players are consistently outselling bluray standalones. There's no question that the PS3 makes up the lion's share of the bluray hardware market. There's over 10 times as many PS3's sold as standalone bluray players. And there's nearly a 10:1 ratio of PS3's to hd-dvd players as well.

Yet bluray disks aren't outselling hd-dvd by a margin of 10:1. Bluray disks are only outselling hd-dvd by 2:1. This means that the vast majority of bluray owners (which is almost completely synonymous with PS3 owners) are simply not buying very many bluray disks.

HD-DVD's disk attach rate blows away bluray's attach rate. It's clear that movie consumers that are choosing movies are choosing hd-dvd. Indeed, bluray's attach rates are kind of pathetic.

I'm not saying bluray is going to fail. But there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that bluray's success is the result of the PS3 trojan horse.

Additionally, I think its a little naive to assume that bluray is the champion of the people when the cheapest units are still well over $300. There's lots of consumers that want to enjoy highdef movies but can't justify spending that much on a player. The much higher price of bluray hardware is a much higher bar of entry for hd movie viewing. Bay has essentially said that he doesn't want anyone to enjoy his movies in hd unless they're willing to pay twice the cost of an hd-dvd player to do it. How can he not realize that there's tons of people who are willing to pay $199 to buy hardware to enjoy his movies, but that transformers just isn't worth $400 to them? It's a very snobby attitude, or at least it seems snobby to me. Perhaps he's thinking, "I love movies, and $400 is a drop in the bucket to pay for enjoying them in hd". Doesn't he realize that he makes more money than most people though, and he's probably more of a movie buff than most people?

I personally support the studios that are working to bring quality entertainment to a wide audience of customers at a reasonable price. I'm not saying bluray is bad, or shouldn't be an option. But when you have a director who's actively throwing his support behind ending the more reasonably priced product, even though many of those customers have purchased his movie, I think that's pretty snobby, and very disrespectful.

I'm not saying that he shouldn't be working to get transformers on bluray. I can see why he wants his movie to be enjoyed by the widest audience possible. Sabotaging hd-dvd, however, doesn't seem like its working toward that goal.

say all you want, but Warner is just another example of why Blu is winning. Even if hd dud outsold Blu somewhere in the world, the final outcome will end up being Blu. Just accept it, whether or not you like.


HD downloads will never happen. You WILL never get the same quality offered on disc. Eventually "HD downloads" will catch up to the current Blu and HD specs, but by the time they do, a new form for disc will be available, and will provide even better quality content.

P.S. Who has the time to download a 30 gb movie?

[Lord Moon]

Have you downloaded an HD movie from XBox live?

No, I don't have a HDTV, so why waste money?

Right, what I'm saying is that in 10 years the internet bandwidth and throughput has not improved. Yeah, no joke HDD sizes have increased tenfold or 20-fold, but the same can NOT be said about the internet capacity. I'm not on a 10 times faster link than I had ten years ago. I don't have 10 times the quota I had 10 years ago. In another ten years time I can't see anything drastic happen to change that trend.

Umm 10 years ago I was on dial-up, now I'm on broadband cable internet. In 10 years I can easily see myself on something faster.

Utter BS. The Blu-Ray in PS3 a Trojan Horse? Like it was something underhanded? You really have a nerve there making such a stupid claim. Get over yourself. What were Sony have supposed to have done? Rushed the PS3 out with no HDD and a DVD drive? And the PSP? What should they have done there? Not made and used UMDs? Gone with some expensive to product cartridge based sytem like those nintendo assholes?

Maybe if those MS aholes had done a half decent job with the frankensteins monster 360 the fight may have gone the other way (eg, putting an internal HDD and HDDVD drive in the 360, and HDMI support) but they were too stupid, instead making users have to add both of these onto the 360 as bloody peripherals, like we just love having untidy crap in our lounges....

Have to agree, Sony was not doing a "Trojan Horse." They said the whole time this was to get users to adopt Blu-Ray. They took possibly the biggest risk the company have ever taken and bet BILLIONS on it. The PS2 helped establish the DVD, why not use the PS3 to establish the Blu-Ray. The only problem is they didn't ask $600 for the PS2 at launch.

As far as Microsoft backing HD-DVD I think they said they are backing HD-DVD, but planning for which ever wins. If they put an HD-DVD drive in from the beginning they would have been locked into the format. Now they can go, "Oh well HD-DVD didn't win. We choose wrong. Here is our new Blu-Ray player add-on for the 360." Which is smart buisness on their part.

HD downloads will never happen. You WILL never get the same quality offered on disc. Eventually "HD downloads" will catch up to the current Blu and HD specs, but by the time they do, a new form for disc will be available, and will provide even better quality content.

P.S. Who has the time to download a 30 gb movie?

It's called convenience. If a customer can download an "HD Quality" movie without leaving the comfort of their home and have it quicker than getting it in the mail then they are going to do it. Additionally I have watched some movies on Comcast's "On Demand" service (my local cable company). No delay, the movie is playing withing seconds of hitting start, looks just as good as if I was watching a DVD.

I mean come people is it that hard to wrap your head's around? Like I said technology is improving at a rapid pace. 10 years ago we were introduced to DVD, now those are becoming obsolete. In 10 - 15 years time you are going to see the same for Blu-Ray, maybe less. And we will be buying our favorite movies again. And the quality will be better than now.

[SubCog]

Utter BS. The Blu-Ray in PS3 a Trojan Horse? Like it was something underhanded? You really have a nerve there making such a stupid claim. Get over yourself. What were Sony have supposed to have done? Rushed the PS3 out with no HDD and a DVD drive? And the PSP? What should they have done there? Not made and used UMDs? Gone with some expensive to product cartridge based sytem like those nintendo assholes?

Maybe if those MS aholes had done a half decent job with the frankensteins monster 360 the fight may have gone the other way (eg, putting an internal HDD and HDDVD drive in the 360, and HDMI support) but they were too stupid, instead making users have to add both of these onto the 360 as bloody peripherals, like we just love having untidy crap in our lounges....

I didn't say sony did anything wrong. In fact, it appears they did something very right. It was a very smart business move.

However, bluray is not winning because its technically superior or anything like that. It's winning 'cause its in the PS3. That's all there is to it. I challenge you to come up with any realworld statistics that show that Bluray has legs without the PS3.

[Galvanise_]

In my opinion digital downloads are hit and miss.

The point of having a 'collection' is that you have something to hold, to collect, to feel, to open the box and take the movie out of it. I have hundreds of DVD's and I'm telling you now, Microsoft are gravely underestimating the 'material object' factor of movies.

Imagine looking under your Xmas tree and seeing bugger all. Open up a little gift card and theres money for a download. No thanks mate. I'll rather have a physical object any day of the week.

[TIMtationX]

You BR supporters are all retards.

1: HD DVD was just as good - end of story

2: My main reason for not supporting BRD - SONY

Sony is a piece of crap company who treats its employees like crap and its consumers ever worse. Everyone forget the root kit already? I could go on and on about all the crappy low brow things Sony has done over the years, but one sticks in my mind.

A friend of mine worked for a game company that Sony bought out. Rather then giveing them a severants pay or anything at all - they envited all of them out to the parking lot at lunch time, locked the doors behind them and proceeded to tell them they were all fired.

This is the type of company that will now have a monopolly on all the media in the world - nice job guys.

Id like to thank all of you personally for making a non-caring POS media giant even more powerfull. Between Sony and MAC the days of open source is soon to be gone - and (bah bah) sheep like you guys will be to thank for all that.

Oh and about Mikes post about Microsoft trying to push digital downloads? LONG LIVE MICROSOFT!!!
I wont to buying any worthless BRD players. Digital downloads are the way of the future - and untill digital downloads take off Ill be watching all my movies in HD ON DEMAND.

BOYCOTT SONY FOR LIFE!

*pulls out the violin*

[Lord Moon]

In my opinion digital downloads are hit and miss.

The point of having a 'collection' is that you have something to hold, to collect, to feel, to open the box and take the movie out of it. I have hundreds of DVD's and I'm telling you now, Microsoft are gravely underestimating the 'material object' factor of movies.

Imagine looking under your Xmas tree and seeing bugger all. Open up a little gift card and theres money for a download. No thanks mate. I'll rather have a physical object any day of the week.

I'm with you, I too want a physical object. Now let's look at the music business, have you noticed the amount of music stores that have closed? I'm not talking mom and pop shops either I'm talking national retail chains. Since Napster, iTunes, eMusic, etc. they have made huge strides forward. I'm sure many of you here have an iPod and a large collection of iTunes. (Let me get this out of the way I have an iPod, but no iTunes. All my music is MP3 since I'm not going to play the format war between Apple and Microsoft.)

As it stands now the only store near me that carries CDs is Best Buy and Target and their selection is great if your are into top 40 pop. There used to be 3 other music stores, all closed, all gone.

Apple now sells movies and TV shows through iTunes for the iPod and Apple TV.

Kids today are going to be raised with iTunes and other similar online stores as an option, a very convenient option of getting music and movies. Just like some adults today never had to get up and go across the room to change a channel on their TV or turn a dial to dial a number. They've grown up with remotes, touch-tone phones. Some adults don't even know what a vinyl record is. Kids today will not care if the movie has a case or not when they are adults. They'll care if they can watch it on the go.

You can say "bandwidth this" and "quality that" all you want, truth is those issues are being worked on as we speak (type) here.

It's only a matter of time. I don't like it, you don't like it, but lets face facts it's going to happen.

[MSM_73]

I also have registered for the first time here just to give my quick opinion. I read all this over on Daily Tech, and then went and read all your posts about this Mr. Bay.

I bought your Transformers HD DVD. And while I am pretty much format neutral, also owning a Blu-ray player, I can promise you that this is the last dime you will receive from me in the theater or on Blu-ray or standard DVD.

Your opinion is one thing, although it seems you've flip-flopped on your opinions already, but you've seemingly gone out of your way to piss on those of us who DID support you by purchasing the HD DVD version of the movie. You seem more concerned about whining that Blu-ray didn't get the movie, rather than thanking your fanbase for supporting your efforts with the movie.

I personally didn't care about the "format war". I didn't have to pick a side, I have them both. But I can't stand when people like you who think people should care about what you say more than we really should have to spout off at the mouth, and in the process insult the very people who are paying for your stuff.

Trust me Mr. Bay, you have lost a fan. Reading the other sicophants on this forum, I am sure I'll get attacked by your legions after I leave. But that matters little to me.

Good day sir.

[TIMtationX]

I also have registered for the first time here just to give my quick opinion. I read all this over on Daily Tech, and then went and read all your posts about this Mr. Bay.

I bought your Transformers HD DVD. And while I am pretty much format neutral, also owning a Blu-ray player, I can promise you that this is the last dime you will receive from me in the theater or on Blu-ray or standard DVD.

Your opinion is one thing, although it seems you've flip-flopped on your opinions already, but you've seemingly gone out of your way to piss on those of us who DID support you by purchasing the HD DVD version of the movie. You seem more concerned about whining that Blu-ray didn't get the movie, rather than thanking your fanbase for supporting your efforts with the movie.

I personally didn't care about the "format war". I didn't have to pick a side, I have them both. But I can't stand when people like you who think people should care about what you say more than we really should have to spout off at the mouth, and in the process insult the very people who are paying for your stuff.

Trust me Mr. Bay, you have lost a fan. Reading the other sicophants on this forum, I am sure I'll get attacked by your legions after I leave. But that matters little to me.

Good day sir.

[nelson]

and in the process insult the very people who are paying for your stuff.

The next loser that makes a baseless accusation gets banned.

[nelson]

P.S. Who has the time to download a 30 gb movie?

This is what I don't understand...who says you will download mirrors of the Blu-ray disk (or VOBs)?

iTunes does not offer lossless files off CDs and that has not stopped people from downloading music and movies.

If you go to Xbox live and download a 1.5GB movie encoded at 720p...it takes al but 15 minutes to download via Comcast cable and it looks decent.

Companies will never let you download exact mirror copies of the movies. They will offer compressed alternatives.

[darthrage]

wow look at all the new members with 1 to 2 post count who just joined to add quick but shallow insults at Bay and this whole issue

Anyways, I always bought my stuff on Blu-Ray. It is only if a movie is an HD-DVD exclusive that I would buy it on HD-DVD. I'm format neutral but since the tech specs of Blu-Ray claim that BR offers higher res than HD-DVD, I'll go with that, not that I can tell by looking at it but its good enough for me to make my purchasing decision.

So thats why my collection of HD-DVD movies is nothing but their own format exclusives. I'm happy with my movies in Blu-Ray.

Ok theoretically speaking, lets say Sony wins the format war and everything goes Blu-Ray because of whatever reason like a big payoff to to the studios or something, will all the HD-DVD exclusive movies such at Batman Begins and Blades of Glory or Face/Off be available on Blu-Ray later on?

If the format war wins with Sony, imagine all the people selling all their HD-DVD movies and player on eBay. Thankfully I got a small collection.

[dbzhung]

First thing, I think insulting someone for their format preference is immature and wrong. Personally I supported HD DVD because it was an affordable HD format that was equal to Blu ray in sound and picture, and was superior in interactivity. I am disappointed in Warner's decision . Also I do believe, that it is a fact that Blu ray won because of the Playstation 3. So i know now not to purchase any more hd content until after May 2008. You never know, maybe a miracle can happen in favor of HD DVD. If that miracle does not happen by May 2008, well I guess I will be jumping in the Blu wagon, but until then, no more HD for me.

[nelson]

First thing, I think insulting someone for their format preference is immature and wrong. .

First thing, I think making baseless accusations is stupid and wrong.

And I warned the next asshole to do so gets....banned.

[OrangeCrush]

I have no doubt that there is a notwithstanding clause in Paramount/Dreamwork's contract that allows them to get out based on poor hardware sales and/or major studio support changing.

I predict Transformers will come out on Blu-ray with uncompressed 5.1 24-bit PCM by Christmas 2008.

Good job Michael on not being afraid to speak your mind. It is people like you, Steven Spielberg, Eli Roth, John Lasseter and others who have no doubt been a loud voice amongst Hollywood.

Time Warner has made the only choice that made sense and with Warner Bros., New Line Cinema (LOTR), and HBO all being under the TW umbrella, it is only a matter of months until HD DVD is dead for good. It will definitely be wrapped up by the end of Summer that's for sure.

Now consumers can buy into an HD format with confidence.

LOL, I cant wait until HD DVD really does die and Blu Ray numbers remain pathetic against SD DVD. I wonder what the excuses will be from the Blu Ray camp then.

You people just dont get it, Most people dont give a crap about HD because to most people its an insignificant upgrade from upscaled SD DVD's. Most people buy HDTV's because they look cool and you can hang them on walls and they are far smaller and lighter than normal TV's.

HD will always be a nich market and Blu Ray, like every other Sony format, will fail. Sure it might get 20% of the market but that is afailure given how much money Sony and other have pumped into R&D for this format.

SD DVD is king and HD cant touch it.

[OrangeCrush]

Well another studio down. Maybe I was right? Blu ray is just better. HD will die a slow death. It's what I predicted a year ago. Now with Warner's down for the count with Blu Ray. That makes it easier for Wal-Mart to push Blu Ray. And whatever Wal-Mart pushes - wins. Hd better start giving out those $120 million dollars checks to stay alive. Maybe they can give me some so I can give it to my Make-A-Wish charity, just to shut me up. Have faith people Transformers will come out in Blu-ray one day!

Bay

Its really a shame that you continue on this tirade against HD DVD. I used to have nothing but respect for you but you come off as nothing more than a Sony lackie with these kinds of posts.

You have yet to make a single post that intelligently discussed your pro's for Blu Ray and your Con's against HD DVD. Your posts have literally zero credability to them and I dont care if you make films for a living or not, most people in these forums have 10,000% more expereince with both of these formats then you do.

How many films have you watched on HD DVD? How man films have you watched on Blu Ray? What were the problems on the HD DVD films that made you have this negative opinion of HD DVD? What was so great about your BD expereince that made it so much better than HD DVD? These are the kinds of questions that you could answer that would actually lend some credability to your posts. Instead we get this riff raff that sounds like nothing more than a paid advertisment from Sony.

Its shame that you take this kind of stance because someone with your expereince and your credability could actually do alot of good in educating people on these formats and believe me HD needs all the help it can get against SD DVD.

So congrats Mike on basically slandering a format that you clearly know next to nothing about. You knows what else is a shame, its a shame that Blu ray wasnt allowed to put out a version of Transformers because if they had they would have had to have cut like 75% of the special features off of the disc in order to make it compatible with all of the BD players on the market. HD DVD releases a special edition of Transformers that is clearly far better than anything BD could have done and what do you do? You bash the format.

I just hope whatever you recieved for your bashing HD DVD was worth it.