[Link: tgdaily.com]

In a somewhat odd move, Paramount and Dreamworks go with an EXCLUSIVE HD-DVD commitment. I personally favor HD-DVD, but did find this announcement something of a surprise. I figure that we would at least see support of both formats from most studios, but here is a firm commitment to only support HD-DVD from Paramount and Dreamworks. BR has had an advantage in sales of movies recently, and given this decision, I could only think of a couple of explanations...

A) the decision was based independently or ignoring marketing research (possible but not likely)

B) the marketing research is biased towards BR as much of it was funded by parties with vested interest (not sure of the validity of this claim)

C) or more likely, the studios have identified that any market trends that we have seen to date is pretty much identifying that advantages to BR are directly related to the inclusion of BR drives with the PS3 - and sales of software is due to convenience of having a BR player in the household already, but not due to a consumer population that is actively purchasing an HD player (as its main function). In other words, the software sales to date are insignificant and that the battle for HD-DVD and BR has not actually begun yet, although some journalists would claim that battle already won (by BR).

WOW! That is a huge blow to BR. Or a stupid move on the part of Paramount and Dreamworks. Either way it is big news.

just read this and came to post the link, nice, chaulk up a win for HDDVD

Wow, a very big deal for HD DVD!

I'm also relatively shocked by this news. This is the best thing that could have happened to HD DVD at this point.

This reads like a negotiation ploy.
I have no faith in this being a long term truth.

See also:
[Link: tgdaily.com]

Excerpt from above:

From a general perspective, HD DVD seems to have all the pieces of the puzzle in its favor and it has a strategy that makes common sense. HD DVD (consumer electronics) players are less expensive than Blu-ray players, suggesting the technology should be adopted faster than the pricey rival. The group behind HD DVD is also pushing much more to bring new interactive features to the format.

The strategy has worked somewhat: When looking at standalone CE players, HD DVD has sold countlessly more units. Yet, some how the format continues to be trampled upon by Blu-ray in terms of movie sales. The latest estimate found Blu-ray movies outselling HD DVD by a factor of 2:1.

So, despite the fact that HD isn't quite mainstream yet, are these early numbers significant? Can it really be that a group of early adopting gamers with a console widely panned for its lack of games has dynamically shifted the home video format war? We here believe it did.

There was doubt earlier this year whether the PS3 could deliver an edge for Blu-ray or not. Now it turns out that Sony had its bet right and it looks like the PS3 could decide the format war much earlier than anticipated. HD DVD has become the struggling format that is losing supporters left and right these days.

It's a timely discussion because we're now in the very beginning stages of seeing more clues who could emerge as a winner. Target, Blockbuster, and other small chains have already cast their votes for Blu-ray, deciding not to devote retail space to HD DVD. For the average consumer, this says Blu-ray is the next format. There is no other choice. This is crucial because the long-term acceptance of a format relies heavily on the average consumer.

Movie Studio support also appears to be shifting with Disney being the latest to heavily invest into the format.

Recently revealed advantages of Blu-ray in movie sales are pretty substantial for a format war just one year in the making. However, Toshiba says standalone HD DVD players are outselling standalone Blu-ray players by a margin of four to one. That disparity raises a lot of questions, most of which can be answered with two words - Playstation 3.

This sucks! My whole family was looking forward to buying Transformers Blu-ray as we really liked it and was looking forward to having it on Blu-ray.

We are one of the many PS3 owners buying movies for it.

Right on - this was the Trojan Horse for Blu-ray, and even though attach rates on PS3 units are abysmal, there are so many of them that it adds up to a big sales advantage.

This Paramount announcement will affect that, though.

Oh boy that dude Anthony needs to be put on suicide watch!

I'm actually getting concerned... Thread has been here over two hours without some form of rebuttal or flaming session of how stupid we are to think it's reason to doubt BR's dominance.

;)

i just wish it would go one way or the other so i can feel good spending $ on a stand alone unit. (and not have to deal with annoying internal Xbox fans and sub par Sound Quality)

I agree. Stating that you are HD-DVD only today, doesn't make you a Non-BR support studio tomorrow... they can easily reverse this decision when their sales figures take a nose dive (if they do). The way I see it, the majority of movie sales are to PS3 & X-Box owners because the rest of us are standing by to see who's the last format standing before we buy a player. I'm not in either camp really, but I do see an advantage to the larger storage available on BR.... but if HD-DVD becomes the dominating standard my feelings won't be hurt.... so unlike many, I'm not emotionally involved because I haven't spent any $.

I almost bought a Panny BR with the 10 free movies (5 that come with it, 5 by mail order) but like all new gen players it's a very large device, not very sleek... plus it'll be 1/2 the price next year and I already had 4/5 of the movies that came with it.

Or....you could purge the family fortune...gasp...$299 for an HD DVD player. Oh my, what will we ever do???

Sounds like a dumb move on their part. BluRay is going to win for one reason. Its got the sexier name. HDDVD is just a bunch of initials and for some reason people seem to get confused by the name.

sell both players