For the record, aside from a couple articles that claim "anonymous executives" told them of a $150 mil bribe, there is ZERO proof that money changed hands. And me, I don't trust an individual journalist enough to believe in "unidentified sources".

A Microsoft VP and Paramount's CTO have both categorically denied any financial incentive was given. The $150 million, at this point, is simply a figment of Blu-ray's imagination.

Apparently Blu-ray's production lines finally found something they could turn out quickly, and with high yields - FUD!

And give it up about the "illigal" (sic) bribes - even if this did happen, it's not illegal!

IMHO, companies like Paramount and Dreamworks have no reason to embrace HD-DVD and not Blue Ray, unless there is some back door stuff going on.

Why would a studio not want to put out their movies on 2 platforms? More revinue for them if one fails and the lowly consumer has to re-buy their high def collection again. Somethin' is goin' on we don't know about......

(Just on extra data space available on Blue Ray, not to mention the marketing of the name Blue-Ray vs. HD-DVD , I personally beleive Blue Ray should win out..... if one even needs to.....)

I agree with the pay off on this one.
I do not support either system (I do however think that Blu-Ray will win).
I see this lasting 6 to 8 months then Paramont doing a flip/flop.
I think that HD/DVD is grasping at any straw at this point

If you read between the lines in several articles about this exclusivity declaration, it looks like the higher authoring/pressing costs of Blu-ray turned Paramount off. Plus they at least stated lower hardware costs of HD DVD appealed to them (from an adopter standpoint).

Until I see an executive from one side or another with the guts to actually put their name in print (and reputation on the line) to declare a payoff was involved, then I don't think it can be treated as more than a rumor.

Of course, people will believe what they want to believe, and I'll admit that my first impression when I heard the news was that a payoff had probably been made. It's certainly the easiest, if not necessarily best, explanation of what happened. To assume a payoff could be the only motivation for this switch is to ignore the distinct, material differences that occur behind the scenes in actually working with and bringing to market the two formats. HD DVD still has much higher yields, shorter production times, therefore lowering cost.

And, of course, even if true, this is no different than the alleged payoffs of Fox and Disney that made them Blu-exclusive.

Interesting mainstream article in Business Week.

[Link: tinyurl.com]

I hear Blu-ray is winning in the Blue States! heh heh

From what Ive read so far it appears to be HD/DVD.

I think this whole thing is going to boil down to Microsoft Vs. Java from an encodeing standpoint and which format will yeild the higher dollar. Media sucks! I'll just wait it out.

What ticks me off the most is that it wasn't THAT long ago that they were very close to (so the media... no pun intended... reported) agreeing on a standard format, and then the two sides back off.

My fingers, toes, nose hairs, EVERYTHING were crossed hoping that they came to an agreement. It would have had the dang HD format in 500 times the homes it's in now!!!

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I still think it will be determined by who's the least expensive at costco this holiday season when people go to replace their existing DVD players. They currently are selling HD-DVD like they are hot cakes (compared to blu-ray), and are transhipping in HDA2's from distributors to replace the costco/sam's club HDD2 sku, and are tagging over all the HDA2 labels with their own HDA2C stickers.

Couple of other rumors and more conjecture:

It is rumored that both Paramount and Warner will begin only releasing combos on new releases. No more DVD's. So that should put millions of HD-DVD's in homes ahead of the shopping season. So customers just may pick up that $200 HD DVD player at Costco to see what is on the other side of their DVD.

It is also rumored that Denon has delayed its recently announced BD player until 2Q 2008. Perhaps they are no longer as sold on BD as they were a month ago.

I really haven't seen anything to substantiate that rumor, and I honestly doubt they'll do that. For a combo-only situation to succeed, they'd have to discount the Combo HD DVD to regular DVD prices (say a street of $15.00 or ), and as everyone knows, giving something away for free (which is what they'd be doing with the HD DVD side) really devalues it in the mind of the consumer. They'd be setting a dangerous precedent that HD media isn't worth much, losing years of higher profits.

I think retailers also see this as at least a temporary opportunity to make optical media profitable again - when it goes mainstream, prices will come down on discs to get people in the door, but for now, they're making good profit per disc at retail.


Haven't heard this rumor. Wouldn't surprise me, but I'd have to see the proof before I buy in. We'll probably find out for sure at CEDIA.

I am not too sure of the source either:

[Link: betanews.com]

about half way down:

"Foremost is compatibility. All new movie titles from Universal and soon Warner will be combination (or twin-format) discs - HD DVD on one side and standard DVD on the other. This means that HD DVD discs will also play on older DVD players, which is crucial for portability. Collins noted that Blu-ray owners will end up buying two discs to watch the movie on their laptop or in the car on a road trip."

Here is another good read on the latest Paramount Dreamworks deal:

[Link: tgdaily.com]

Just an opinion by Rob Enderle. That is all it is.
But I do agree with the last sentence in the article:
"In any case, whichever side you are on, I’ll bet you are hoping for the day when there is only one HD optical standard."

Absolutely...

I'll Second That!