Anchor Bay to go Blu-Ray… for now

Reader Comments

1. Swarez 06/21/2007 @ 9:03am

   Blockbuster also announced that they were going Blu Ray only in their stores all over the states. People over at the Anchor Bay UK forum are bitching and moaning about it because they think that Sony will somehow have the power to tell companies what they can release on the format. Plus Blu Ray is region coded so that’s a big thorn in the side of consumers who crave titles not available in their country.

2. Jay L. 06/21/2007 @ 9:42am

   With Microsoft saying that they would prefer that no physical media to win the ‘HD war’, it pretty much signalled the end of HD-DVD. Other than Toshiba, Microsoft was the major player, and when they don’t even have faith in something that they’ve invested in....

   (The conspiracy theory is that the only reason why Microsoft backed HD-DVD was to create the HD war, and to move the market towards downloadable media. They also planned to discredit the Jedi order, as well.)

3. collin a 06/21/2007 @ 9:53am

   Hehe. Yeah, I suspect video-on-demand services will ultimately win whatever battle’s on the horizon.

   Micro$oft - gotta love ‘em.

4. logboy 06/21/2007 @ 11:06am

   i suspect the PS3, blockbuster and anchor bay go at least some way towards swaying peoples thoughts. blur-ray random disc rot is another concern, though i suspect that any and every minor quibble still potentially acts as a source of something to point others towards the potential winner, rather than it being a certain, definitive ‘game over’ moment. many titles, as those in the UK will have seen clear evidence of, are only hitting DVD and BR, the adverts say so… this has me thinking that BR could win out, but it’s just one aspect.

   as for region coding or zoning, there’s coding and there’s multicoding, so there’s no definitive practice that leans towards one zone over another or any avoidance of multizoning - plus, it’s just a matter of time before a bypass / chip situation arises, because peoples desire caused a similar situation and solution for DVD.

   as for microsoft, i’m sure this is progression of the desire to streamline, edit out the middlemen, and reduce the physical space films take up. DVD > BR reduces the case size… BR (or HD-DVD) > download means those collections go out of the window in one respect, but increase in size (potentially) through another.

5. Swarez 06/21/2007 @ 12:18pm

   I’m not so sure the whole downloading thing will please the masses. People know how unstable hard drives are and many, like me, want something to hold on to. Collectors for instance want something to put on their shelve for others to see. Sure it saves space but I don’t think people will want stacks of hard drives in their living room. But are we collectors a large enough group to change that. Joe Six Pack who doesn’t own movies might feel it’s good enough to download media and then discard it later on. But I also think that businesses that will definitely lose money if the movie industry decides to go download will do what they can to stall that evolution.

6. logboy 06/21/2007 @ 12:26pm

   hmmm… i know what you mean, swarez. the first thing lots of people said about d/l’s is that it’s unstable. formats come and go too. i’ve seen pictures online of people proudly displaying (and lying alongside) their huge betamax collections - similarly displayed on shelves as per obligatory DVD forum threads - and it should be the ultimate reminder that these things pass…

   i’m also inclined to think d/l’s are heavily connected to the idea of controlling borders, much more so than DVD managed to be, much more so than HD formats might be, but i suspect they’ll also suffer from either confusion from too many choices or monopoly through too few surviving suppliers. personally, i’m not a collector as much by choice as i am by default - i have what could be termed a collection of films, but which i prefer the more accurate description of it simply being a way in which i access films.

   here’s hoping that HD or d/l actually opens borders up though…

7. collin a 06/21/2007 @ 12:56pm

   I see what you guys are saying. I love having things to physically hold onto and display, so from the standpoint of being a collector I want disc-based formats to continue on.

   What I think is happening, though, is that people are becoming more and more used to instant access to media - music, movies, video games. As these services (like iTunes - the gold standard right now; Game Tap; online stores for the Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360; VOD services from cable and satellite providers; to say nothing of the vast networks of illegal torrents and other DL services) continue to stake claims in the media markets, they will likely eliminate so much overhead for providers it becomes a no-brainer to push “on-demand” content over physical goods.

   We’ve already seen the DVD market hit a serious wall over the last few years while online and DL services have continued to grow.

   It’ll be interesting to see how it shakes it out. What I dread, if VOD / DL services do come out on top, is that we’ll lose all the great bonus content we’ve grown accustomed to with DVD. I foresee a future where you’ll be forced to engage in microtransactions to acquire commentaries and featurettes ala carte.

8. collin a 06/21/2007 @ 1:04pm

   With regard to region coding, it’s inevitable that someone will hack the HD formats the same way DVD was cracked open. It’s only a matter of time. With more and more displays capable of progressive scan and hi-def, PAL / NTSC / SECAM issues will be less and less of a problem, too.

   The thing with downloadable content - and it’s surely a reason it hasn’t taken off all the way yet - is that it’s relatively easy to manipulate after the fact. This could be what holds it up from ever going full steam.

9. Rhythm-X 06/21/2007 @ 7:31pm

   The truly excessive, anti-consumer DRM protections of both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray have been at least partially defeated. Blu-Ray rips are in circulation in the usual places. If it’s possible to rip a disc, it’s possible to have a software player that ignores silly things like forced downscaling on non-HDMI connections and region coding. Settop players aren’t quite so simple, but I’m counting on ten thousand Chinese manufacturers flooding the market with inexpensive, easily hackable players. It’s only a matter of time. HD Anchor Bay is quite promising. FANTASTIC PLANET, please.

10. Swarez 06/21/2007 @ 8:08pm

    I also think that Microsoft is overestimating the popularity of the new format. Right now no HD title has reached 1 million units in sales. People are happy with their DVDs as they are and are in no hurry to go next gen. I mean they are still releasing titles in fullscreen and that means there are apparently enough consumers out there to release two versions of one film. Those people don’t give a rat’s ass about HD and widescreen so I don’t think SD DVDs are going away any time soon.
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