Universal Studios Loves HD DVD Big Time
Filed under: Action, Drama, Romance, Thrillers, Mystery & Suspense, Universal, Tech Stuff, Distribution, Home Entertainment
As a huge fan of technology, especially technology that make movies and TV shows more fun to watch, I'm pretty interested in the whole HD DVD vs Blu-Ray debate, controversy, war ... or whatever you want to call it. We've been following the developments as they happen in the -- let's call it a war because war sounds more exciting -- with interest. To recap, there are two competing High Def DVD standards that want your business: HD DVD and Blu-Ray. Studios such as Universal, Paramount and Warner Bros. are fans of HD DVD. Sony is leading the charge for Blu-Ray with support from Fox and several others not committed exclusively to HD DVD.Recently, there have been some developments that might help push HD DVD and give it the edge it needs to come out on top. And now, according to an article over at HDTV Bulletins, it looks like HD DVD is going to get yet another push from one of the big boys: Universal Studios. According to the article, Universal will be pulling out all the stops in 2007 and releasing over 100 new movie and TV titles on the HD DVD format. They will tap into their vast library to release older titles, and in addition, will be bringing out new titles at the same time as they are being released on regular DVD.
Some of the titles to be released this year include quite a few great films like Children of Men, Inside Man, Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Brazil, Erin Brockovich, Shaun of the Dead, Slap Shot and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Plus a couple of my all-time personal favorites: The Big Lebowski and Battlestar Galactica. So it seems HD DVD might turn out to be the winner in the end -- especially with all this support. No wonder Microsoft is selling so many of its HD DVD add-ons to the XBox 360. I got mine, how about you?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-30-2007 @ 8:45AM
Madeleine said...
Actually, of the studios you list, Universal is the only one who is committed solely to HDDVD. (As is the unmentined Weinstein Company.) Paramount and Warner Brothers (who you list in the HDDVD camp) are supporters of both formats. In addition to Fox and Sony, Disney and MGM are exclusively Blu-Ray supporters.
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1-30-2007 @ 6:41PM
Smthkd said...
Clearly you are a HD-DVD fanboy. First off, Universal is the only exclusive HD-DVD supporter. Warner and Paramount supports both formats. Secondly, you fail to mention that Blu-Ray have lately gain a slight edge of current releases over HD-DVD and at CES Blu-Ray announced 300 releases this year, 3 times more than HD-DVD. With those figures its impossible for one to say HD-DVD will win and the same is true with Blu-Ray. Therefore it is safe to say that a winner is still uncertain!
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1-31-2007 @ 6:08PM
Marty said...
I'd just like to echo some of the previous posts. When it comes to Hollywood support, Blu-ray Disc has quite an advantage over HD DVD with support from seven of the eight major studios (Fox, Disney, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., Paramount, MGM and Lions Gate). Five of these -- Fox, Disney, Sony Pictures and Lions Gate - are ONLY putting their high definition titles out on Blu-ray Disc. The trend towards Blu-ray Disc is more pronounced when you look at hardware support. Virtually every major CE and IT company is backing Blu-ray while HD DVD has, in contrast, a small smattering of support. For example, Blu-ray Disc players are on the market now from Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung and LG. The Playstation 3 is, of course, a Blu-ray Disc player. PC drives and products are available from Dell, Sony, Pioneer, Philips, Panasonic and others. The hardware picture for HD DVD is just Toshiba and a peripheral x-box drive from Microsoft. Sales trends are what you would expect based on the above: Despite the fact that HD DVD launched several months earlier, there is clearly a shift towards Blu-ray Disc. Experts expect the trend to continue as most of the major studios continue to crank out content only on Blu-ray Disc and the installed base continues to grow.
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