Despite everyone thinking that Toshiba should just throw in the towel, they just keep on truckin’. It’s like they’ve watched too many WWE wrestling matches, and believe that just because it’s the main event and they’re the crowd favourite, they’ll come back and steal victory at the last minute.
Except that they won’t. Not with Universal announcing its undying love for the format with a paltry 20 movies over 2008. Sure, the release said a minimum of 20 movies, so there could be more thrown in there with classics like Atonement, The Kingdom, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, American Gangster, and Charlie Wilson’s War.
Is it just me, or do all of those films sound like the tedious drone of boredom in list form? What Universal really needs to do is release something big, like Lord of the Rings to save the format. Oh wait, that’s right. New Line went Blu-ray with Warner. Sorry HD DVD, you’re screwed.
Universal Pictures Australasia announces continuing support for HD DVDSYDNEY (4 Feb. 2008) – Universal Pictures Australasia announces its continuing support for the HD DVD format including plans to release at least 20 HD DVD titles in 2008.
Consumers in Australia & New Zealand can look forward to owning some of 2007’s most acclaimed movies on HD DVD, including the 14-Bafta nominated Atonement (30th April 2008), The Kingdom(6th February 2008), Elizabeth: The Golden Age(12th March 2008), American Gangster(14th May 2008), and Charlie Wilson’s War(4th June 2008).
HD DVD is loaded with signature features and state-of-the-art technology, including real-time interactivity, picture in picture, scene sharing, and web-enabled bonus content, giving viewers the power to go deeper into the action.
HD DVD players are the most affordable option which as well as enabling more consumers to enjoy the superior benefits of HD DVD also gives them the ability to up-scale their entire DVD movie collection via HDMI™ output to near high def picture quality.
In addition, due to mandated specifications every HD DVD player is able to offer a superior and consistent interactive experience such as picture in picture. Internet connectivity is also a mandatory feature of every HD DVD player which means that HD DVD player owners can experience cutting-edge content and additional advanced interactive features directly via the internet. All of this comes on top of the ultimate high definition experience through superior audio/video performance.
Eddie Cunningham, President Universal Pictures International Entertainment, said: “Universal Pictures Australasia is delighted to be releasing some of the most high-profile and celebrated titles on HD DVD in 2008.”
The American Gangster HD DVD, to be released on 14th May 2008, delivers amazing features using Microsoft’s HDiÔ technology. You can navigate through the movie, bonus features and settings as the movie plays, and instantly turn U-Control on or off. Your American Gangster HD DVD puts you in control of a new multi-dimensional, high-definition movie experience.
The HD DVD will include U-Control picture-in-picture, taking you behind the scenes with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, director Ridley Scott, producer Brian Grazer and key cast and crew members for exclusive interviews and revealing footage about the scene you’re watching. The My Scenes feature let’s you create your own personal collection of favourite American Gangster scenes. Bookmark the ones you want and all will appear as a visual timeline of the movie. Select any clip and you are instantly transported to that moment. Your HD DVD player will store your scenes until you delete them, so you can enjoy your own personal version of the film whenever you like.
About HD DVD
HD DVD is the next generation, post-DVD standard for high capacity, high definition optical discs, approved by the DVD Forum, which develops and defines DVD formats. Its more than 220 strong membership brings together leaders in movies and entertainment, computing, consumer electronics and software. The European HD DVD Promotional Group. is an organization established to promote the HD DVD format and educate consumers in Europe. For more information and a complete listing of HD DVD launch titles please visit http://www.hddvdeurope.com/
Wader
February 4, 2008 at 6:12 PM
yeh, nice unbias reporting there.
We don’t all like spidermen and pirates.
American Gangster, and Charlie Wilson’s War are among the best movies of 2007 and Atonement won best movie at the Golden Globes.
Theres no accounting for taste these days i guess.
Thats why Meet the Spartans and Hannah Montana are making all the money at the box office.
Guess what, they’ll prob be Blu Ray exclusives. Go Blu Ray!!
Report Permalinkbenq
February 5, 2008 at 2:11 AM
with titles like
Report Permalinksweeny todd
cloverfield
iron man
beowolf
american gangster
and hulk 2
paramount and universal are looking good on hd dvd
if hd dvd is dead its the best looking dead thing ive ever seen,
superdynamite
February 5, 2008 at 3:43 AM
so basically, Universal has their own format. That’s what it boils down to.
Is that completely moronic, or am I the only person who thinks that?
Report PermalinkNick Broughall
February 5, 2008 at 6:25 AM
The point was more about the number of films being released over the quality, although I do admit that none of those films appeal to me personally (either do Meet the Spartans or Hannah Montana though). 20 films from a studio over 12 months is not a lot. They have a massive back-catalogue which should be opened up if they really want to offer HD DVD fighting chance.
Report PermalinkDexxie
February 5, 2008 at 11:17 AM
I know it’s been likened to Beta and VHS before… But it really is just like that.
HD-DVD has the features, the forward thinking fact that they’ve gotten rid of Region Coding, and they are easily the superior Home Theatre format.
Blu-Ray has terrible features support, and no guarantees that your player will play Blu-Ray movies in 6 months time, it has region locking, and it’s only claim to fame is the extra storage space, which is completely superfluous to any movie needs right now, and in the forseeable future, at which time HD-DVD will also have more than enough space.
But, Blu-Ray’s winning, because Sony have no shame, and are happy to lie, cheat, steal, make huge losses, and pay-out the decision making people.
I’ve bought more than my fair share of HD-DVD’s, and now own about 20 of them. I love them. They’re great, and compared to a couple of Blu-ray titles that friends of mine own, I’ve got the superior disc with more features, plus I ordered some my movies from the US before they were released over here in AU.
But, now I’m just sounding like a bitter outcast that chose the losing side to fight for… and I guess I am to a point.
But I’ll move on and use Blu-Ray when I have to, and besides derisive snorts at people who think they chose the right side to fight for because it won, I won’t complain… though I will snuggle down on those cold and lonely nights, with a nice HD-DVD to warm my soul…
Report PermalinkDaveBG
February 5, 2008 at 1:23 PM
Very funny.
All these sweeping statements and neither high def format has even 1% of the total movie disc market.
Things aren’t happening quickly because too few are into either format.
So what that Blu-ray has the PS3 crowd?
They are not the a/v mass-market.
Report PermalinkJohn Sheedy
February 6, 2008 at 2:20 AM
“Despite EVERYONE thinking that Toshiba should just throw in the towel..”
Your first sentence is all that is needed to understand how qualified you are to speak to this issue. Contrary to your statements otherwise, not EVERYONE believes that HD-DVD is finished. Many of us have faith that the better technology and cheaper price will ultimately prevail. It’s simple really, jump on the Blu-Ray bandwagon to higher costs, inferior engineering and support OR continue to support the better format.
This whole thing is the result of a campaign of deception from Sony and it’s minions of fanboys…they basically lied their way to the postion they hold. It certainly didn’t get there on it’s merits.
Report Permalinkmike
February 6, 2008 at 6:18 AM
DEXXIE, most BD flicks are region-free, your discs WILL always work (won’t work after 6 months? are you on crack?), and that extra storage space generally equates to superior audio.
As for Sony having no shame? You DO realize the BDA is not just Sony, right? It’s also Samsung, Sharp, Hitachi, LG, Pioneer, Panasonic…in other words, everyone EXCEPT Toshiba.
Toshiba is the company that is trying to go it alone with a proprietary format. As for paying off studios, there is zero evidence that the BDA paid off Warner. On the other hand, it’s a well known FACT that the HD-DVD camp paid off Paramount.
Sorry, but the BDA are the good guys in this battle. Toshiba and Microsoft have been the troublemakers.
Report PermalinkNick Broughall
February 6, 2008 at 6:37 AM
I’m loving the controversy this post has created – keep up the discussion!
In regards to people who think that I’m a one-sided bigot, does it help you to know that I own an HD DVD player, but not a Blu-ray player? Does it help you to know that I too have forked out my own hard-earned money on a format that is ultimately doomed.
I’m sorry if this upsets you, but the Warner announcement was just too much of a swing for HD DVD to claw back… the war was always going to be won on the back of content, and with Blu-ray now accounting for 70% or so of HD movie releases, that reads game over. Especially when Universal only plan on releasing 20 films in 12 months on HD DVD – that’s not even 2 new films a month!
On a side note, HD DVD isn’t a superior technology. Blu-ray is. And before anybody gets upset, I agree that HD DVD discs are currently superior – Blu-ray still isn’t ready for mass market. With all the different manufacturers bickering over the format’s standard (not just Sony… Everybody hates Sony, but it’s as much a Panasonic technology as a Sony one), the features that are now present in HD DVD are still lacking in Blu-ray discs.
Keep on commenting :)
Nick
Report Permalinksuperdynamite
February 7, 2008 at 1:29 PM
This is what’s gonna happen with Universal’s 20 releases:
No one will buy them!
Go Blu Baby!
Universal & Paramount…
Who will be the last to be holding the dead cat?
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