Topic: The War Begins...

[ralfy]

I notice that these predictions don't factor in peak oil, insolvency, etc. For example, two weeks ago, the U.S. government released a report showing that the U.S. is now technically insolvent: its total debt has now risen to around US$50 trillion. A year before, the Dept. of Energy showed that oil has peaked, i.e., production has increased by only 1.7 percent while demand continues to increase by around 15 percent per annum. All these have a strong effect on both manufacturing and sales of electronic goods.

[Mouldingo]

The way I see it with all these CES announcements, its all great for both sides, and it largely depends on what side you're on, and whether to take them as propaganda or truth.  Im partial to HD DVD and not all excited for Blu-ray for the simple fact that with all these BD exclusives, I know they will certainly look good equivalently or even better with HD DVD as well (as shown by neutrals Warner and Paramount's dual format's release).   Its just sad that the main advantage of studio support for Blu-ray have been used  (as what a fellow poster in another forum would say) as a blunt force intrument upon consumers via higher priced players. 

You still get an excellent upconverting DVD player afterall...

[av_phile1]

Its just sad that the main advantage of studio support for Blu-ray have been used  (as what a fellow poster in another forum would say) as a blunt force intrument upon consumers via higher priced players. 

Yup, but studio support as it now stands is already a non-issue.  It's the number of films that matter, not the number of studios.  OVer at AVS, a count was made to say that BD has 48,000 titles against HD DVD's 40,000 titles.  Not exactly a lopsided ratio, is it. And when one consdiers that becasue of distribtuion deals in other parts of the globe, some BD titles would be released as HD DVD in Europe and Japan, not bad for an UNDERDOG, is it?   There have been wars where the ratio of opposing forces have been more lopsided.  ANd we all know there have been ocaasions when underdogs win.  Even in boxing.   

[MAtZTER]

Additional news from CES


China Manufacturer Shinco to release HD DVD

KAH----CHING!

MUSIC to my ears.

It will be a matter of time now before HK will be flooded w/ these.

[john5479]

as long as i get gladiator, matrix trilogy, LOTR trilogy, harry potter series for hd dvd its all good with me, for the titles not coming to hd dvd but on dvd? at least i have an excellent upconverting dvd player

[av_phile1]

KAH----CHING!

MUSIC to my ears.

It will be a matter of time now before HK will be flooded w/ these.

True, but don't get your hopes too high as they won't be anywhere near $50 DVD players we are used to.   Because they'll be paying licenses to the DVD forum this time, thanks to Toshiba..  We'd be lucky if they get close to Oppo  prices within a year.   But I don't mind eating my words on this.  MS and Broadcom has announced cheaper decoding chipsets for next generation HD DVD players.  So who knows, there might be sub-$150 HD DVD players by Chrstmas 2007.   

[Munskie]

KAH----CHING!

MUSIC to my ears.

It will be a matter of time now before HK will be flooded w/ these.

Bring them on my friend!!!   

[Mouldingo]

Content a non-issue in format war

Argument-parity in number of titles and quick release to consumer market.

CES 2007 future studio releases announced...

Source(Neutral):http://www.highdefdigest.com/

This page lists all available information for new and upcoming releases in the HD DVD format. (01-10-2007)(19 sure listed release, 9 exclusive)

January 16, 2007
 Clerks II (Weinstein)
 Lucky Number Slevin (Weinstein)
 The Mummy Returns (Universal)
 Poseidon (Warner)
 Pulse (Weinstein)
 Scooby-Doo (2002) (Warner)
 The Sting (Universal)
January 23, 2007
 Black Rain (Paramount)
 Brokeback Mountain (Universal)
January 30, 2007
 Beerfest (Warner)
 Half Baked (Universal)
 The Wicker Man (2006) (Warner)
February 06, 2007
 Failure to Launch (Paramount)
 Hollywoodland (Universal)
February 13, 2007
T he Departed (Warner) JUST LISTED!
February 20, 2007
 Babel (Paramount)
February 27, 2007
 Alexander: The Unrated Final Cut (Warner)
 Nine Inch Nails Live: Beside You in Time (Interscope)
April 10, 2007
 Payback: Straight Up - The Director's Cut (Paramount)

This page lists all available information for new and upcoming releases in the Blu-ray format. (01-10-07)(72 sure releases, 58 exclusives)

January 09, 2007
Crank (Lionsgate)
January 16, 2007
Employee of the Month (Lionsgate)
GoodFellas (Warner)
Resident Evil: Apocalypse (Sony)
Scooby-Doo (2002) (Warner)
Winged Migration (Sony)
January 23, 2007
Alien vs. Predator (Fox)
Black Rain (Paramount)
Casanova (Buena Vista)
Chicago (Buena Vista)
Courage Under Fire (Fox)
Gridiron Gang (Sony)
The Guardian (2006) (Buena Vista)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Buena Vista)
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) (Paramount)
Men of Honor (Fox)
Saw II (Lionsgate)
Saw II (Unrated) (Lionsgate)
Saw III (Lionsgate)
We Were Soldiers (Paramount)
January 30, 2007
Beerfest (Warner)
Flyboys (Fox)
Hart's War (Fox)
Open Season (Sony)
The Wicker Man (2006) (Warner)
February 06, 2007
American Psycho (Lionsgate)
Failure to Launch (Paramount)
First Blood (Lionsgate)
Glory (Sony)
Reservoir Dogs (Lionsgate)
Running With Scissors (Sony)
The Tailor of Panama (Sony)
February 13, 2007
Broken Arrow (Fox)
Chain Reaction (Fox)
The Departed (Warner) JUST LISTED!
Entrapment (Fox)
Ladder 49 (Buena Vista)
Marie Antoinette (Sony)
The Marine (Fox)
Phone Booth (Fox)
Planet of the Apes (Fox)
Reign of Fire (Buena Vista)
The Sentinel (Fox)
The Usual Suspects (Fox)
February 20, 2007
Babel (Paramount)
The Prestige (Buena Vista)
Vertical Limit (Sony)
February 27, 2007
Alexander: The Unrated Final Cut (Warner)
Nine Inch Nails Live: Beside You in Time (Interscope)
Stranger Than Fiction (Sony) JUST LISTED!
March 13, 2007
Casino Royale (Sony) JUST LISTED!
Commando (Fox)
Dances with Wolves (MGM)
Dodgeball (Fox)
Hoosiers (MGM)
Ice Age (Fox)
Layer Cake (Sony)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Fox)
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) (MGM)
March 20, 2007
Chicken Little (Buena Vista) JUST LISTED!
Finding Neverland (Buena Vista) JUST LISTED!
April 03, 2007
Dude, Where's My Car? (MGM) JUST LISTED!
The Fly (1986) (Fox) JUST LISTED!
G.I. Jane (Buena Vista) JUST LISTED!
King Arthur Director's Cut (Buena Vista) JUST LISTED!
Me, Myself & Irene (Fox) JUST LISTED!
Tristan & Isolde (Fox) JUST LISTED!
April 10, 2007
Payback: Straight Up - The Director's Cut (Paramount)
April 17, 2007
Turistas (Fox) JUST LISTED!
June 08, 2007
Con Air (Buena Vista) JUST LISTED!
Crimson Tide (Buena Vista) JUST LISTED!
The Rock (Buena Vista) JUST LISTED!

You be the judge on the content issue...

[pchin]

So who knows, there might be sub-$150 HD DVD players by Chrstmas 2007.   

Hopefully, BD will follow HD-DVD footstop by lincensing it to the Chinese....then when the time comes & the price is right, then we consumers & HD-DVD owners can afford to buy a BD player as well. 

[Munskie]

You still get an excellent upconverting DVD player afterall...

as long as i get gladiator, matrix trilogy, LOTR trilogy, harry potter series for hd dvd its all good with me, for the titles not coming to hd dvd but on dvd? at least i have an excellent upconverting dvd player

Play BD exclusives on dvd??      yeah why not.  Its an option im likely to explore coz im a movie lover first and foremost.  Until then, ill be getting my HD fix with HD DVD while waiting for this war to be resolved.

After reading all the posts...IMO, its becoming a chicken and egg situation.  Content for the BD camp and Installed base of players for HD DVD. 

Content for BD coz obviously it has the larger studio support.  They frontloaded the  release of BD exclusive titles to coincide with the release of PS3.  CES announced titles is strong too.

HD DVD meanwhile I believe will have the larger base of installed players.  BD fans may argue that PS3 will overwhelm the market, but there is no way we can put a number on how many of those will be used to play BD movies.  Upfront costs for standalone BD players is still higher.  The HD DVD camp meanwhile has announced another mid priced Tosh player ($600)..and would surely bump down the price of its entry level HD-A2 (now at $400).    Can't forget too the add on player for the xbox 360.  And oh yes, Chinese manufacturers getting licenses to produce HD DVD players....can I say $200 level??

pick your poison....and let the arguments begin...

[Munskie]

Hopefully, BD will follow HD-DVD footstop by lincensing it to the Chinese....then when the time comes & the price is right, then we consumers & HD-DVD owners can afford to buy a BD player as well. 

sure.  getting a Blu-ray player within my price range is definitely a tempting offer.  format war solved for me then.

[Mouldingo]

Darth Vader: I find your lack of faith disturbing...

[Munskie]

Darth Vader: I find your lack of faith disturbing...

yeah...switching to the dark side is easy if you could give me a $200 BD player.....

[pchin]

We aren't switching to the dark side...we are just looking at the bright side 

[av_phile1]

Hopefully, BD will follow HD-DVD footstop by lincensing it to the Chinese....then when the time comes & the price is right, then we consumers & HD-DVD owners can afford to buy a BD player as well. 

Hopefully those dual format players will  come down is price too.  So that this  silly format war becomes essentially over as consumers can just pick the title they want without worrying about formats.

[voj]

Interesting to read someone made a comparison between the sales ranks of titles realesed in both formats at Amazon as of 1 jan 07.

Superman Returns:
HD-DVD Sales Rank - #1169
Blu-Ray Sales Rank - #8417
 
Mission Impossible 3 (Ultimate Missions Collection):
HD-DVD Sales Rank - #1641
Blu-Ray Sales Rank - #3659
 
The Last Samurai:
HD-DVD Sale Rank - #2729
Blu-Ray Sale Rank - #3816
 
Corpse Bride:
HD-DVD - #2388
Blu-Ray - #5096
 
Sleepy Hollow:
HD-DVD - #3521
Blu-Ray - #6989
 
Four Brothers:
HD-DVD - #12589
Blu-Ray - #32402

Tomb Raider:
HD-DVD - #7574
Blu-Ray - #8266
 
A Christmas Story:
HD-DVD - #2389
Blu-Ray - #11863

http://web.mac.com/lukeamotion/iWeb/LukeAMotion/Blog/B7CFDE87-A05F-4C71-B94E-DA162254DB9E.html

If someone here is resourceful enough to compare the rest of the titles in both formats, that would be informative.

will be interested in these numbers say, 6 months from now, when we can compare changes.  The above numbers doesn't say much considering HDDVD was released ahead of BluRay.

[bachwitz]

Warner announces Total HiDef Hybrid disc



http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/warner-officially-announces-total-hi-def-hybrid-disc/

[mario128]

Parang ang panget ng case.

[pchin]

A reminder of the previous war....hopefully SONY will not repeat its own history

The Betamax vs VHS Format War

Sony's Betamax video standard was introduced in 1975, followed a year later by JVC's VHS. For around a decade the two standards battled for dominance, with VHS eventually emerging as the winner.

The victory was not due to any technical superiority (Betamax is arguably a better format), but to several factors. Exactly how and why VHS won the war has been the subject of intense debate. The commonly-held belief is that the technically superior Betamax was beaten by VHS through slick marketing. In fact the truth is more complex and there were a number of reasons for the outcome.

Sony's founder, Akio Morita, claimed that licensing problems between Sony and other companies slowed the growth of Betamax and allowed VHS to become established. However most commentators have played down this issue and cited other reasons as being more important.

It is certainly true that VHS machines were initially much simpler and cheaper to manufacture, which would obviously be an attraction to companies deciding which standard to back. It has also been reported that Sony inadvertently gave its competitors a helping hand by revealing key aspects of Betamax technology which were then incorporated into VHS.

In any case, manufacturers divided themselves into two camps: On the Betamax side were Sony, Toshiba, Sanyo, NEC, Aiwa, and Pioneer. On the VHS side were JVC, Matsucrapa (Panasonic), Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Sharp, and Akai.

For consumers, the most immediately obvious difference between the two formats was the recording length. Standard Betamax tapes lasted 60 minutes — not long enough to record a movie. Conversely, the 3-hour VHS tapes were perfect for recording television programmes and movies. Sony did adapt and offer various solutions for longer recording, but it was too late. The issue of recording time is often cited as the most defining factor in the war.

At some point and for some reason the choice of rental movies on VHS became better than Betamax. It is arguable how this situation came to be, but once it happened, there was no turning back. Bitter Betamax owners cringed in their ever-decreasing corner of the video store while VHS owners gloated.

The war was over by the late 1980s, although supporters of Betamax have helped keep the format going in a small niche market. Betamax production in America ended in 1993, and the last Betamax machine in the world was produced in Japan in 2002.

Of course, both Betamax and VHS were eventually made obsolete by digital technology.
*****************************************************************************

Wow...I'm wondering if the new format war btw HD-DVD vs BD will take that long before a winner will emerge? 

[av_phile1]

It wasn't really that long.  You can consider the war started in 76 when VHS came out, and ended in 93 in America when the last betamax machine was made.  That's 17 years by my count.  Forget about Japan because betamax was winning there.  This time around, pundits are looking at two scenarios.  (1) the format war could just end up like the SACD DVD-A curving just a nich market of demanding vidophiles for high def; and
(2) it will essentially end once dual format players reach the masses.   And they're looking at a 3-year time frame.  By that time and with dual format players, consumers would just buy the titles they want witout bothering which format they're in. Studios and their support can just remain where they are. 

Either scenario, we're really long at a long time before a single format clearly emerges as the winner. Maybe it won't matter anymore when the next generation video format comes along. 

[av_phile1]

A reminder of the previous war....hopefully SONY will not repeat its own history

Sony has been repeating its mistakes with proprietary formats for so long,  I don't need to talk about the Atrac, the UMD, the MicroMV, etc.  But this time, Sony made sure it won't repeat its inadequacies with the Betamax.

Bitter Betamax owners cringed in their ever-decreasing corner of the video store while VHS owners gloated.

This time, their ownership of SOny Pictures will ensure that even if they lose, their format will stay because of the massive titles they own.  Never again will they see video store shelves decreasing in BD inventories. 

For consumers, the most immediately obvious difference between the two formats was the recording length.

This time they have a BD50 that is more that adequate for practical HT purposes.  But almost all AV forums I've visited are saying that BD50 is only necessary if, as SOny does,  you use the older MPEG2 video codec.  But with AVC or VC1, you don't need all that space.  None of the studios right now are maximizing the available BD50 space. 

But there are emerging similarities:

The victory was not due to any technical superiority (Betamax is arguably a better format),

The BD is technically superior on paper specs.  No argument there.  It has bigger storage capacity and higher btrate ceilings.  But it's really weird that none of its technical superiorty is showing.  It fails to support DTS-MA, it still does not have BD-J or BD+ and its PQ is inconsistent across many titles because some studios continue to insist on using MEPG2 on BD25.

Sony's founder, Akio Morita, claimed that licensing problems between Sony and other companies slowed the growth of Betamax and allowed VHS to become established

Sony continues to downplay the importance of the CHinese and have not licensed the technolgy as Toshiba has.  This is understandbly why many CEs joined BD on this note.  They never really liked the Chinese taking most of their profits with the DVD experience.  This is just fine if indeed the Chinese are excluded.  Unfortuantely for them, this won't help. Because there are now Chinese makers releasing HD DVD players to the market this year.  Not only will this be a licensing windfall for Toshiba unopposed, it has the potential of penetrating the masses earlier than BD can with its snooty pricing.

It is certainly true that VHS machines were initially much simpler and cheaper to manufacture, which would obviously be an attraction to companies deciding which standard to back.

HD DVD is a lot simpler and cheaper to produce than BD.  Current DVD production facilities need only some adjustments for them to produce HD DVD.  OTH, BD requires entirley new production facilities and processess.  This is one reason why the porn industry which produces only small quantities for each catalogue title had to swing to HD DVD due to production cost considerations they failed to notice at the start.

Of course, both Betamax and VHS were eventually made obsolete by digital technology.

The emergence of holographic video systems might do the same for both formats.

[MAtZTER]

Hopefully, BD will follow HD-DVD footstop by lincensing it to the Chinese....then when the time comes & the price is right, then we consumers & HD-DVD owners can afford to buy a BD player as well. 

From Sony's track record and how they protect & monopolize their technology, I dont think this will happen.

 I read a year ago in the business section of newspapers regarding Sony's reported corporate/financial losses that were due to their hardheadedness adapting to new technologies, specially those w/c involved file sharing tech. To give their technology to China should be unthinkable to the BD camp.

Licensing HDDVD to the Chinese is truly a winning move from Toshiba IMO (power stunt! ). I believe they already knew that Sony would never do this.

[Mouldingo]

LG Hybrid Blu-ray/HD DVD Player Cannot Be Sold As Is

LG may have a difficult time bringing its newly announced BH100 hybrid Blu-ray and HD DVD player to the market, BetaNews has learned, because it will not receive certification from the DVD Forum. Without such certification, LG cannot publicly claim the player supports HD DVD as it is doing now.

The problem stems from the lack of support for HDi, the advanced interactivity technology used by HD DVD. LG has only included support for BD-J, Blu-ray's interactive menu system, in the BH100. Without HDi, only the video content from HD DVD discs will play back; menu systems and other interactive features will simply not be usable.

Kevin Collins, Microsoft's representative for the HD DVD group who sits on all the steering committees, says LG will not be able to sell the product and claim it supports the format if it leaves out HDi. Collins said LG provided no advance notice before announcing the BH100 player at CES, and noted he was surprised by the move.

In fact, Collins explained to BetaNews that the DVD Forum could pursue legal action against LG for claiming the hybrid player supports the HD DVD and using the HD DVD logo, just like it does against pirate hardware manufacturers in Asia that build DVD players without paying licensing fees.

LG plans to begin selling the BH100 in the first quarter of this year for $1,199 USD. But objections from Microsoft's Collins and other companies involved in HD DVD could force LG to make changes, or scrap the player altogether. Collins noted that studios would be "very upset" if consumers could not playback HD DVD movies as they were intended, with interactive menus and special features.

BetaNews was awaiting a response from LG on the matter by press time.

[Mouldingo]

A little, dirty detail about LG's combo HD DVD/Blu-ray player



LGs combo HD DVD/Blu-ray player could very well be the killer blow for HD DVD. What's that you say? Well, the combo player fully supports Blu-ray's interactivity, BD-J, but the BH100 seems to have forgotten all about HD DVD's interactive features, iHD. That's right, none of it - no PIP, next-gen menus, user bookmarks, HD DVD downloads/updates - nothing that will "WOW" the average Joe. However, when our friend Joe pops in a Blu-ray disc, the menu pops with excitement and is accompanied with, well, PIP, downloads/updates for instance. Why would Joe buy an HD DVD the next time out when the Blu-ray discs offer so much more? (He won't) Is this player the saving grace for both formats, nope, but it may well turn out to be the saving grace for Blu-ray. Plus, with the $1200 MSRP, you could make your own combo player by getting a PS3 ($600) along with a Toshiba HD-A2, ($410 at Amazon) duct taping 'em together. Then you can sit back and enjoy the best of both worlds with enough money left over to buy some titles on both formats. We just hope Warner's Total Hi Def hybrid disc doesn't have any skeletons in the closet.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/09/a-little-dirty-detail-about-lgs-combo-hd-dvd-blu-ray-player/

[Mouldingo]

LG anyone Shame. shame...

[av_phile1]

Certainly not at that price.

This is now the subject of a thread all its own at avforums.com.  I had earlier opined there that if the announcement from LG that it has "limited" HDi features is true, it might not get the proper HDDVD license because accdg to Amir, VP at Microsoft and a poster at AVS, no CE gear can be licensed as HD DVD player  if it does not comform fully to the HD DVD specs, of which full HDi compliance is required.  So there.  I just hope LG can address this deficiency in time for its March commercial release. This will certainly be taken advantage of by other CEs like HItachi, NEC, Pioneer and Samsung who have similar dual format players planned. 

[Mouldingo]

CES: First Look at Warner Total Hi Def Packaging, Plus 'Lord of the Rings' in 2007?

High-Def has not quite yet gone purple: Warner showed off the packaging concept for its Total Hi Def hybrid Blu-ray/HD DVD disc, which looks to be the equivalent of a next-gen 50/50 Bar.

During a press conference held late yesterday, Warner tantalized the CES masses with the first official details of its can't-we-all-just-get-along dual format high-def disc, and demonstrated a working Total Hi Def disc prototype of 'Superman Returns.'

The fine folks over at Engadget HD snapped a picture, as seen here, of disc's preliminary box design, which again appeases both sides with a very rainbow-friendly, dual red/blue box design. Though we're not quite sure about that bland "T HD" logo thing, it's hard to imagine loyalists on either side complaining about the studio's separate-but-equal approach to the packaging.

In addition, we've compiled a few additional nuggets that were revealed at the conference by Warner reps, but not outlined in the studio's concurrent press release:

• The 'Superman Returns' demo played without a hitch on both the Blu-ray and HD DVD sides of the disc
• Manufacturing costs for a Total Hi Def disc will not be "materially more expensive" than standard DVD
• Currently, only Warner and subsidiaries New Line and HBO are onboard
• Other content providers who support Total Hi Def will not have to pay any additional licensing fees to Warner Home Video
• Warner will move to supporting Total Hi Def discs exclusively by the end of the year
• Finally, the studio reps answered the inevitable "When is 'Lord of the Rings' coming out in high-def?" question with the answer, "They (New Line) are working on it now and are determining a release date." In other words, be patient, hobbits!

Note that all of the above statements were made by Warner execs during the press conference, and have yet to be confirmed in any other manner. We'll certainly be looking forward to seeing how this all plays out as Warner begins releasing its first Total Hi Def discs in the second half of 2007.

[ADM202E]

News from the semicon indutry regarding pushing HD-DVD in to the market:


Monday, January 8, 2007
Microsoft, Broadcom Push HD DVD Silicon
http://www.nwinnovation.com/microsoft,_broadcom_push_hd_dvd_silicon/s-0006963.html

_{Microsoft and Broadcom are pushing a semiconductor reference design designed around Microsoft's Windows CE and a Broadcom HD DVD playback chipset, saying today that the two are in a joint effort to support a hardware and software reference design aroudn HD-DVD. The design, based on Microsoft's Windows CE 6.0 and Broadcom's BCM7440 system-on-a-chip, is targeted at OEMs looking to design HD DVD players. The two said that several companies, including Lite-On IT Corp. and Zhenjiang Jiangkui Group Co. Ltd, will use the firm's reference design for HD DVD players. An add on to Microsoft's Xbox 360 gaming device is one of the few currently available HD DVD players on the market, which is competing with rival format Blu Ray for position as the next generation high definition DVD format.}


ANALOG DEVICES TARGETS HDTV AND PORTABLE HIGH-DEFINITION VIDEO BY EXPANDING INDUSTRY’S BROADEST LINE OF HDMI COMPONENTS
http://www.analog.com/en/press/0,2890,3%255F%255F118994,00.html

_{Norwood, MA(12/19/2006) - Analog Devices, Inc. (NYSE: ADI) is continuing to expand its broad line of HDMI™ interface ICs with the availability of HDMI v1.3-compatible multiplexer, receiver and transmitter circuits that are helping the high-definition (HD) video market achieve new levels of picture quality and power efficiency. The industry’s broadest portfolio of HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface™) components now includes devices that address the increasing consumer demand for HD content in multimedia products ranging from 1080p “deep color” HDTVs to low-power portable applications, including digital video & still cameras, portable media players and cell phones. Announced today, the multiplexers, receiver and transmitters support the updated HDMI v1.3 standard, which defines the delivery of uncompressed HD content using a single cable to transmit super-high-quality video and audio. Included in today’s announcement are devices for the industry’s key advanced television and video applications:}

[pchin]

 LG's Blu-ray/HD DVD Player May Never See the Light of Day

LG's hybrid Blu-ray HD DVD will not receive certification without support for iHD


While it's commendable that LG took the time to develop a standalone player that can playback both Blu-ray and HD DVD content, it should be noted that the company will not be able to sell the player to the public in its current form according to BetaNews. LG's BH100 player has no trouble conforming to all of the specifications of the Blu-ray disc standard, but it does not, however, conform to the iHD feature used in HD DVD discs.

iHD or "interactive High Definition" provides interactive features for HD DVDs. In other words, the BH100 will be able to play HD DVD movies just fine, but all interactive menus and special features (PIP, bookmarks, downloads/updates) will be unavailable to the customer.

Because of this omission, the BH100 will not receive certification from the DVD Forum -- and without certification, that means that the player cannot be advertised and sold as an HD DVD player.

Full article: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5670

[Mouldingo]

Di ko alam na saan ipost ito, definitely something to look forward to in HD dahil ganda ng detail sa sine...

'Happy Feet' to Dance on Blu-ray, HD DVD This March



The first major non-scheduled title announcement from CES to get a street date, Warner Home Video will bring those cute dancing penguins of 'Happy Feet' to Blu-ray and HD DVD on March 27.

The $175 million-grossing blockbuster will see identical specs on both formats. Each features a 1080p/VC-1-encoded 2.40:1 widescreen transfer, and in a somewhat unusual configuration for Warner, Dolby Digital Surround EX tracks in English, French and Spanish. (According to the latest specs on the Warner retail/press website, there is no Dolby Digital-Plus nor Dolby TrueHD track on the HD DVD version.)

 Extras have not yet been announced, though current specs from the studio indicate a HD-30 dual-layer and BD-25 single-layer configurations for HD DVD and Blu-ray, respectively, so it's still anyone's guest how feature-packed the releases will be. The HD DVD version will also be a DVD combo disc, featuring a standard-def version of the film on the flipside.

Retail will be $34.95 for the Blu-ray, and $39.95 for the HD DVD/DVD combo.