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Format Wars I: Pass the Ammunition
By Shane Buettner
As I write this 2006 inaugural newsletter, I'm still shaking off the Las Vegas hangover of CES. This year's CES was about two things: on the hardware side, the steady increase in 1080p displays (even some prototype plasmas were shown), and on the software side, the launch of the HD DVD and Blu-ray formats became as official as they can until we actually get our hands on discs and players.
Leading into this year's CES was the big news that Hewlett-Packard had dumped its platform of exclusive support for Blu-ray and would also be supporting HD DVD as well. The rallying cry was that while Blu-ray group had adopted the Mandatory Managed Copy feature dear to Intel and Microsoft's heart, it had not moved on adopting HD DVD's iHD based interactivity layer, instead sticking with its Java-based solution. HP is interested in being chummy with Microsoft and Intel for obvious reasons, so for now they're playing both sides of the fence.
So, we were expecting to be treated to some specifics on hardware and software launch dates at CES, and indeed, the first day of the show saw HD DVD players announced from Toshiba and around 50 software titles announced by Warner, Paramount, and Universal. The initial players from Toshiba are the $500 HD-A1 and the $800 HD-XA1, and the first players and a handful of titles are schedule to ship in late March; the remaining titles are scheduled to ramp up to around 50 titles by June, and by the 2006 holiday shopping season there will allegedly be nearly 200 HD DVD titles available. Check UAV soon for a complete list of announced titles.
As with any launch, a number of the first titles are action flicks we've seen time and again- Twister and Lethal Weapon, Apollo 13, and that grand old submariner U-571. I enjoy seeing Harvey Keitel dodging depth charges as much as the next guy, but if we're choosing movies based on great demo clips, why not just offer a demo disc with clips instead of crowding the shelves with these golden moldies?
But there will also be some hot new titles released either day and date with standard DVD, or pretty darned close, including Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire, Syriana, Aeon Flux (OK, maybe that's not really hot, but it is new) and Jarhead. Punching things up further were announced titles that haven't even hit theaters yet, such as Mission: Impossible 3, Poseidon, and Superman Returns.
Blu-ray made good on its promise of broader hardware support, with Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung, Philips, and LG Electronics all showing players scheduled to be available in summer, which seems so far to mean approximately June. Although some manufacturers did not announce player pricing (including Sony, regarding their BDP-S1 player), the Pioneer Elite BDP-HD1 was announced at $1800, and Samsung's BD-P1000 was priced at $1k. Although Sony's Blu-ray capable PlayStation3 will only cost $300-$400, it's still clear at this point that Toshiba's HD DVD players are priced friendlier to the mass market. And speaking of PS3, there is still no firm date for the much-anticipated gaming console.
Blu-ray's software lineup was more impressive in scope than HD DVD's lineup as the Warner and Paramount titles announced are mostly coincident in both formats, and Blu-ray had the additional juice added by announcing titles from Columbia Pictures, MGM, Fox, Lion's Gate and Buena Vista (Disney). Those last five studios are exclusively supporting Blu-ray and give the Sony-backed format a big advantage in packaged media, which is being touted as being available this summer, and in some corners nailed down to June.
Some of the titles you'll see only on Blu-ray include Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Reservoir Dogs, Pirates of the Caribbean, Ladder 49, Ice Age, Lord of War, House of Flying Daggers, Bridge on the River Kwai, and a day and date with DVD release of the upcoming Underworld Evolution. And of course no format could be launched without the 110th re-release of Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Fifth Element making obligatory appearances.
As you've probably inferred from the above, if HD DVD makes its launch date it will have a head start of two to three months on Blu-ray, if Blu-ray in fact makes its early summer timetable a reality. Be sure to check out my CES report for more in-depth information regarding the next-gen format launches.
Interactivity: The Forgotten Son Of The Next-Gen Formats
1080P video, uncompressed multichannel audio, we already knew the new format capable of these feats of picture and sound. One of the coolest things about CES 2006 for me was getting a peak at what the "enhanced interactivity" features of the new formats will actually mean to us consumers. While Blu-ray talked up interactivity and how cool it will be, the HD DVD folks actually demonstrated some of the new features.
Using and HD DVD disc of The Bourne Supremacy, Microsoft showed how chapter searches will work in the new formats. On the current DVD platform performing a chapter search means exiting the movie entirely and bouncing out to an annoying animated set of new screens, and often having to shuffle through sets of scenes. With HD DVD, the movie keeps playing in full motion while the chapters superimpose over the video at the bottom of the screen. Bounce to the scene you want and bam! You're there without leaving the movie and being assaulted by an overzealous graphic designer.
While DVD's commentary tracks are voice-overs, the HD DVD of The Bourne Supremacy had several talking-head style filmed commentaries to choose from. After choosing whose commentary stream you want to hear and see, you can then choose whether the talking head is a translucent one in the corner of the screen, like a TV network logo, or the main video can fade into the background and the commentary video becomes the main image on screen. Evolutionary more than revolutionary, this is still a step-up and we're probably only seeing the tip of interactivity iceberg at this point.
Format Wars I: Pass the Ammunition
By Shane Buettner
As I write this 2006 inaugural newsletter, I'm still shaking off the Las Vegas hangover of CES. This year's CES was about two things: on the hardware side, the steady increase in 1080p displays (even some prototype plasmas were shown), and on the software side, the launch of the HD DVD and Blu-ray formats became as official as they can until we actually get our hands on discs and players.
Leading into this year's CES was the big news that Hewlett-Packard had dumped its platform of exclusive support for Blu-ray and would also be supporting HD DVD as well. The rallying cry was that while Blu-ray group had adopted the Mandatory Managed Copy feature dear to Intel and Microsoft's heart, it had not moved on adopting HD DVD's iHD based interactivity layer, instead sticking with its Java-based solution. HP is interested in being chummy with Microsoft and Intel for obvious reasons, so for now they're playing both sides of the fence.
So, we were expecting to be treated to some specifics on hardware and software launch dates at CES, and indeed, the first day of the show saw HD DVD players announced from Toshiba and around 50 software titles announced by Warner, Paramount, and Universal. The initial players from Toshiba are the $500 HD-A1 and the $800 HD-XA1, and the first players and a handful of titles are schedule to ship in late March; the remaining titles are scheduled to ramp up to around 50 titles by June, and by the 2006 holiday shopping season there will allegedly be nearly 200 HD DVD titles available. Check UAV soon for a complete list of announced titles.
As with any launch, a number of the first titles are action flicks we've seen time and again- Twister and Lethal Weapon, Apollo 13, and that grand old submariner U-571. I enjoy seeing Harvey Keitel dodging depth charges as much as the next guy, but if we're choosing movies based on great demo clips, why not just offer a demo disc with clips instead of crowding the shelves with these golden moldies?
But there will also be some hot new titles released either day and date with standard DVD, or pretty darned close, including Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire, Syriana, Aeon Flux (OK, maybe that's not really hot, but it is new) and Jarhead. Punching things up further were announced titles that haven't even hit theaters yet, such as Mission: Impossible 3, Poseidon, and Superman Returns.
Blu-ray made good on its promise of broader hardware support, with Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung, Philips, and LG Electronics all showing players scheduled to be available in summer, which seems so far to mean approximately June. Although some manufacturers did not announce player pricing (including Sony, regarding their BDP-S1 player), the Pioneer Elite BDP-HD1 was announced at $1800, and Samsung's BD-P1000 was priced at $1k. Although Sony's Blu-ray capable PlayStation3 will only cost $300-$400, it's still clear at this point that Toshiba's HD DVD players are priced friendlier to the mass market. And speaking of PS3, there is still no firm date for the much-anticipated gaming console.
Blu-ray's software lineup was more impressive in scope than HD DVD's lineup as the Warner and Paramount titles announced are mostly coincident in both formats, and Blu-ray had the additional juice added by announcing titles from Columbia Pictures, MGM, Fox, Lion's Gate and Buena Vista (Disney). Those last five studios are exclusively supporting Blu-ray and give the Sony-backed format a big advantage in packaged media, which is being touted as being available this summer, and in some corners nailed down to June.
Some of the titles you'll see only on Blu-ray include Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Reservoir Dogs, Pirates of the Caribbean, Ladder 49, Ice Age, Lord of War, House of Flying Daggers, Bridge on the River Kwai, and a day and date with DVD release of the upcoming Underworld Evolution. And of course no format could be launched without the 110th re-release of Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Fifth Element making obligatory appearances.
As you've probably inferred from the above, if HD DVD makes its launch date it will have a head start of two to three months on Blu-ray, if Blu-ray in fact makes its early summer timetable a reality. Be sure to check out my CES report for more in-depth information regarding the next-gen format launches.
Interactivity: The Forgotten Son Of The Next-Gen Formats
1080P video, uncompressed multichannel audio, we already knew the new format capable of these feats of picture and sound. One of the coolest things about CES 2006 for me was getting a peak at what the "enhanced interactivity" features of the new formats will actually mean to us consumers. While Blu-ray talked up interactivity and how cool it will be, the HD DVD folks actually demonstrated some of the new features.
Using and HD DVD disc of The Bourne Supremacy, Microsoft showed how chapter searches will work in the new formats. On the current DVD platform performing a chapter search means exiting the movie entirely and bouncing out to an annoying animated set of new screens, and often having to shuffle through sets of scenes. With HD DVD, the movie keeps playing in full motion while the chapters superimpose over the video at the bottom of the screen. Bounce to the scene you want and bam! You're there without leaving the movie and being assaulted by an overzealous graphic designer.
While DVD's commentary tracks are voice-overs, the HD DVD of The Bourne Supremacy had several talking-head style filmed commentaries to choose from. After choosing whose commentary stream you want to hear and see, you can then choose whether the talking head is a translucent one in the corner of the screen, like a TV network logo, or the main video can fade into the background and the commentary video becomes the main image on screen. Evolutionary more than revolutionary, this is still a step-up and we're probably only seeing the tip of interactivity iceberg at this point.
