Disney Scores One for Blu-Ray
Filed under: Disney, Sony, Home Entertainment
Our readers may have noticed that I've been following the HD DVD vs. Blu-Ray format war on Cinematical. Some readers have also observed -- and pointed out in comments -- that I am not an expert in the least on either format. But I enjoy a good format war and I like keeping a layman's point-of-view (besides, I don't usually understand the technical stuff), so I shall continue representing the typical consumer without a great knowledge of hardware and software specs. Because, after all, it is we regular folk who influence the success of entertainment products in the end. Therefore, I believe if is likely that the winner of this war will be the one who has the most attractive item for average Americans.
From this stance, I have so far put my bet on HD DVD. Yet Disney just announced a new incentive with some of its Blu-ray titles, and it just might be enticing enough to some parents out there. On September 19, the studio will release its first discs in the format, and two of them, Dinosaur and Eight Below, will feature exclusive short films shot in HD specifically for inclusion on the discs. One month later, three more of their titles, Glory Road, Gone in Sixty Seconds and The Haunted Mansion, will also come with their own shorts. Each short will be inspired by the movie it is packaged with, and all were shot by Louie Schwartzberg. Based on Schwartzberg's previous work, the shorts are likely to be pretty little documentaries with wide landscape cinematography and a lot of time-lapse footage.
A lot of people like extras, but it is hard to imagine the shorts in question will be that attractive. I'm guessing one's a little piece on paleontologists, the next about real dog sledding, another showing some college basketball and finally one on classic racing cars. I'm not sure about the Haunted Mansion short. Maybe a tour of old southern mansions? Anyway, when I first heard the news of this announcement, I thought Disney was including new, original animated shorts featuring familiar and beloved characters from its catalog. Who isn't in the mood for some new Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck cartoons? Who is in the mood for disposable docs?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-17-2006 @ 9:30PM
marty said...
I believe the HD-DVD/Blu-ray format war will go the way of the Dodo (ie. UMDs). They are what laserdisc was to DVDs. Does anyone remember the Super-bit DVDs and, more importantly, did anyone buy them? No! The next phase of film entertainment will be VODespecially with the ever-increasing broadband delivery. Consumers will no longer have to setp into a retail store or Amazon online and buy their films. They will be streamed directly into their TV sets via super-broadband delivery. The films streamed will be HD quaolity and we will no longer need racks and shelves to store our movies. They will be stored in our TV set's hard drive which will also serve aplethora of other functions as well. The studios may reap a bit of extra revenue from HD DVD and Blu-ray and they will need to because VOD revenue splits with producers/sales agents are not as good as the DVD rental and sell-thru splits and will eat away at their proficability so you can expect massive staff retrenchments within the industry within the next 10-15 years. It will be the companies who adapt to the new technologies the quickest are the ones who will succeed. The others hanging onto ancient delivery methods will go the way of the Dodo.
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7-18-2006 @ 9:23AM
ericd543 said...
I heard an interesting tidbit in "This Week in Tech" podcast http://www.twit.tv/node/4074 about HDVD having an advantage because they can put a regular DVD on one side and a hi-def version on the other side. Something about the manufacturing process makes this easy for HDVD and very difficult for Blu-Ray.
I am years away from buying an HD TV, but I like what Marty says above regarding video-on-demand. If they had a Tivo that could download movie rentals for a resaonable fee (less than I pay to go to the rental store) then *that* would be the ticket for me. Until then it's rent-rip-return via Netflix.
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7-18-2006 @ 10:58AM
apoc06 said...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu_ray
You guys should read up. The two disc formats are virtually the same. With the exception of available space, disc protection and studio support, the two formats are virtually the same; bluray wins in all of those areas where the formats are different. If you look at prices, Bluray releases are actually cheaper than the HDDVD releases.
Basically, in a sense its a case of "anything you can do, I can do better". Bluray has the upperhand and that's why it has more studio support and support in the consumer electronics and computing industries.
I like the idea of video on demand, but it is ALONG way from being feasible. Do you have any idea how long it takes to download something like Lord of the Rings in 1080p even with extra data compression? America just does not have the infrastructure to make it available to a wide variety of consumers. The minority of consumers with enough bandwidth would most likely pirate their movies anyways.
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