paul nicholson

More Blu-Ray goodness

In Cool Tech, Entertainment, Movies on February 11, 2008 at 7:41 am

If all of this wasn’t reason enough to consider the HD-format war over, Netflix just announced that “Netflix, Citing a Clear Signal From the Industry, Will Carry High-Def DVDs Only in Blu-ray Format“. As for its current HD DVD inventory, they said the company “would continue to rent until the discs’ natural life cycle takes them out of circulation in the coming months”. So it sounds like HD-DVD will be going sooner rather than later. (This makes me wonder though – do Netflix discs get abused that badly? Each disc only lasts a few months? Ouch.)

Between Netflix and Blockbuster going Blu-Ray only, Engadget is right – it is going to be darn hard to find HD-DVD to rent, even if they don’t truly go away.

In related HD-format war news:
Here’s the list of movies being released in each format this week. Still have any questions?

Blu-Ray: The Amateurs, Becoming Jane, Gone Baby Gone, No Reservations, Over America In High Definition, Over California In High Definition, We Own the Night

HD DVD: The Amateurs, (and a ‘mature audiences’ movie that will remain nameless)

Total count is now HD-DVD: 333, Blu-Ray: 476

In related Netflix news:
Someone just posted a new plug-in for Windows Media Center that allows you to integrate the Netflix online streaming “Watch Instantly” content. Sweet. This will go perfect with my new MCE setup upstairs :-)

And in other related Netflix news:
Netflix has apparently started a contest (no idea how long ago) for someone to develop a better way to predict what type of movies people will like. The “Recommended For You” section of their site, along with Amazon and other sites is based on algorithms that factor your past viewing habits and ratings. $1mil to a great idea. Anyone have any thoughts?

UPDATE:
More bad news for HD-DVD. Best Buy just announced that they will switch from a neutral stance to recommending Blu-Ray. They will promote Blu-Ray hardware and titles on their website and in their store. They will still carry HD-DVD, but will give preference to Blu-Ray.
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  • PhragMunkee

    This really makes me sad. I’m glad one of the formats is coming out on top. It’s kinda like standardization or normalization or something along those lines. But now I can start looking for a new DVD player!

    I really wish HD-DVD had won, though. It is still a better format. But we’ll let Sony have their one victory.

  • Paul Nicholson

    What makes you say HD-DVD was the better format? Blu-Ray had more capacity… outside of that they were pretty equal in terms of technology. Blu-Ray cost more to make, HD-DVD was cheaper, but that difference is getting less severe now.

    I wasn’t a huge Blu-Ray fan until they started winning (fair weather fan i guess) and really then only when Pixar started releasing movies on Blu-Ray.

    Agreed that the big win here is for consumers. Get a format and stick with it. I just hope Paramount and Universal get their act together and start releasing on Blu-Ray. I want my HD Star Trek :-)

  • jc

    Netflix discs are serverely abused. Not sure if it is by user or by the actual mail system. I have seen some really bad discs come in my mailbox. Several have been broken in half, and countless have had to be polished with toothpaste to get them to actually play. I have had some scratched so bad I have had to request a replacement and send it back, nothintg would get it to play.

    I am fairly certian the death blow has already been struck. The remaining few that are holding onto HD DVD (studios) have to recognize and move soon. They will realize they are wasting $$. As for Star Trek in HD, no comment.

  • Paul Nicholson

    Yeah, it makes sense that the discs are damaged frequently, but i guess i’ve been lucky and rarely if ever run into a bad disk from them (Blockbuster discs from stores was a different story).

    Paramount has more than just Star Trek…they also hold the fate of HD Indiana Jones in their hands (and tons of other movies of course)

  • PhragMunkee

    I don’t remember where I saw it, but a long, long time ago when HD-DVD and Blu-ray were merely gleams in consumers’ eyes, it looked like HD-DVD had the better features (as far as the menuing system support) just just specs like supported codecs and max capacity.

    Since then, I haven’t really cared. I just want the stupid format war to be over so we can get on with our HD lives!

  • Paul Nicholson

    Yeah, it makes sense that the discs are damaged frequently, but i guess i've been lucky and rarely if ever run into a bad disk from them (Blockbuster discs from stores was a different story).

    Paramount has more than just Star Trek…they also hold the fate of HD Indiana Jones in their hands (and tons of other movies of course)