Hear, hear! I still watch movies and play games on a 15-inch black and white portable television, so I can't tell the difference anyways.

In seriousness, I don't know how this will affect BluRay's foothold. They are a pretty big studio and all, but I dunno.

I guess blu-ray doesn't get transformers?

Interesting, but as for myself, i'm still not supporting anything HD, not for a couple more years at least. I can't wait to regular DVDs go down in price further.

@Someguy:

Score one for Blu-Ray, then!

what a nut cracker, it seems like money win's once again though i'm not surprised i would rather have a winner so i can start building a collection i'm not falling for that beta trick again T_T

@zegota: Lol! Awsome.

@zegota: Oh that deserves a zing!

I can only see this as painfully prolonging HD-DVD's death.

They want a format war. Remember the comments by certain studios saying it was driving prices lower having such a war.

But lame how money is thrown around to keep people in a loop. Just fucking finalize one already. This is why I am ignoring this format war until one is finalized, or both are replaced.

Wish I had a TV. Can't bring myself to spend the money to buy one.

"Includes everything but Spielberg films for some reason."

At least one man has a brain.

gates might be giving some spare change to disney.............may get a couple movies on hd-dvd if you catch my drift.........

go on ps3fanboy and people are actually blaming microsoft for this...i know they backed hd-dvd by having the add on but cmon

So, I guess the smaller user base, the limited storage capabilities, the lack of movie studio support, and the 2:1 sales figures in favor of blu ray made this one an easy choice for paramount.

Obviously the people at paramount don't know what's best for business other than executives making as much money as possible.

Get or build yourself an HTPC, Fahey. That's what I did and I ain't never goin' back.

Especially with Netflix+Handbrake. I'm a baaaaaaad little monkey.

Screw this Blu-Ray/Hd-DVD crap!

Well, as long as I can still get some Indiana Jones or Jaws on Blu-Ray, I'll get over it.

@zegota: Ditto. I enjoyed it in the theatre, but I honestly cannot imagine ever watching it again.

I see corporation is making the choice with underhanded deal and not the public choose what format is better, this is total BS! Look like the European Union will have another fight on their hands as they are not happy with Disney going exclusively to Blue-Ray.

We really need a format summit of some kind for Sony and the HD DVD cabal to try and reach a compromise. It's getting as confusing as the Oslo Peace Process going through the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements.

Yes, that was me trying my hand at a Dennis Miller kind of joke. Nailed it.

HD DVD for me thank you.

This is exactly the kind of nonsense that'll keep me buying DVDs.

Not a big loss. Many of the big current box office films like the superhero movies are made by Sony films which is of course exclusive to BD. Plus Disney for the time being is exclusively backing BD too. If Paramount had included Spielberg films in the deal then this could've been a big blow but seeing as its not, this news is minor at best.

It's not as if BD players will only run BD movies anyway. Even if a company doesn't release a movie on BD, the player will still play DVD and HD-DVD's regardless.

@Someguy925: Spielberg only puts his movies on Blu-ray and DVD he said now.

Agreed. We all made the jump to DVDs just five or six years ago, we don't need another format just so we can see an extra freckle on an actor's face.

This is exactly why I have zero interest in the new HD medias.
Let the big rich companies fight it out and I will buy whichever is left in a few years.

This is so stupid. Once a format starts edging ahead looking kinda sorta like it might win, the business people grab a big wedge and slam it down again to reopen the wound. Great job guys, you keep this shit up and people wont by either.

Got my PS3, getting my Toshiba HD-30 this fall..
who cares... ill buy most of my movies on HD-DVD since they have all the cool interactive features BR lacks..

Spiderman 3, blu ray exclusive. enough said.

I don't see why HD-DVD is competing, to be honest. It wont win. One studio defecting wont influence everything/

Meh, I look forward to all this bollocks being over so I can get any HD movie I want without worrying about the studio that releases it. In the meantime, need to find 300 on Blu-Ray. Wonder when it's out (in the UK)?

But, I can see where Paramount is coming from.

Some of the benefits of HD-DVD that they mentioned included lower sales, a much smaller user base, and limited storage space (okay okay, they actually said 'market ready technology' and 'lower manufacturing costs').

My PS3 upscales movies pretty nicely. I see now need or an overpriced POS.

This is just prolonging HD DVD's demise...

"I'm not dead yet..."

"Shutup, yes you are!!"

I still see Blu-ray as the winner, but this HD Format war is gonna be longer.

At least I can still get Indiana Jones on Blu-ray. This format war is getting downright ridiculous. One side needs to just cave in all ready. This decision by Paramount only hurts consumer decision.

@Snukadaman_:

It is more than just an add on. They supply the codec DRM and are co-operatives in the design of HD-DVD.

@Sparx88: Umm, NO, BD players *do not* play HD-DVD's.

In either case, while this is clearly not a death blow to BD, it clearly *is* a heavy handed bitch-slap. Those who say it's "inconsequential" aren't paying attention, as paramount owns a MASSIVE catalog of some of the world's most beloved titles.

It wasn't even ten ago that we saw the majority of movies released on the VHS format. How can people seriously be expected to move away from DVD? Why would they even want to? It's too little and too soon.

Blu-Ray and HD DVD: fuck 'em both.

They made it obvious in the press release that HD-DVD is cheaper to produce and that consumer devices are at a price where they're confortable they can sell at.

@ARboom:

Precisely why I wont buy either as of now.

I've got me a 46" 1080 LCD and an upscaling dvd player, thats all I need. Both HD formats and the companies fighting over them can go to hell, thats good enough for me and I'm sure as hell not rebuying my movie collection again.

I guess this is the part of the electronic age where one piece of technology cannot win out over the other without multi-million dollar exclusive deals.

Dammit, will you people make up your minds?

WORD.

@blahism:

$150 million dollars richer, of course it is cheaper now :-p

I want digital distribution.Digital distribution is the way to go, we just need the kinks and everything tweak and then both HD Formats can kick the bucket and digital distribution can florish!

this is a huge move for the HD-DVD camp and really evens out the exclusivity. I wish that all of the exclusive formats would go multiformat but this is definitely going to breath some life into HD-DVD.

HD-DVD: Universal, Paramount, Dreamworks
Blu-ray: Sony, Disney, Lionsgate, Fox
Neutral: WB, New Line, some others.

...meanwhile, more DVDs are bought...

I've suffered from the format war several times now. I refuse to even buy (even the DVDs) for two of my favorite movies of the past few years because they're not on Blu-Ray.

Now it looks as if I'll suffer several more times over the next year or two.

Get a clue, studios!

(The 2 movies are Children of Men and Hot Fuzz.)

@Sparx88: Blu-ray players play HD-DVD discs?

people aren't breaking their neck to get an HD disc player but when they realize they can get the player and a ps3 that's what will sway the sales. This is just someone wanting to get a quick fix of cash over at Paramount.

Why did this happen, just kill off HDDVD and be done with it

At least there's a glimmer of hope for HD-DVD. I own neither I just want HD-DVD to win cause of Sony's arrogance of trying to force the win by including it on the PS3. Let the more popular format win out not win by forcing video game fans into buying your format.

@d4t4:

Spiderman 3 on DVD enough said for me.

@MrSadistic: viva la 360

At this point I am not even going to bother with it. In fact, I have no idea why I even read this post.

I will continue to download. There is no point in buying DVD when you know it will soon be useless. There is no point in buying HD-DVD or Blu-Ray either, one will be useless. I do not want to be screwed over for making a legit purchase.

This is not huge for HDDVD in the least. Nobody is really going to care because they're going to buy the DVD format anyway and the people buying HD disc are PS3 owners.

People think the "war" is over because bluray outsells HD-DVD (in movie sales) by 2:1. The truth is that both of them are so low that the difference is practically negligible. Neither has garnered enough sales to really matter much.

Bluray is "winning" because of the PS3. But standalone players, where the majority of regular DVD owners got in at, are selling better on HD-DVD. HD-DVD is cheaper to manufacture and doesn't require a royalty fee. The players are cheaper.

Bluray is being bolstered by the PS3. What really matters is where PC's go and where non-console owners go. Those two markets are far from decided, and HD-DVD has a marginal lead in both.

Bluray's only advantage to the consumer is that it has 50Gb instead of 30Gb for dual layered discs. But, you don't need 50Gb for movies, period. So, that advantage is kind of moot unless you are talking about HD recorders.

So yes, the war rages on and the consumers are getting screwed. I won't buy an HD add-on for my 360 because I don't want to own a bunch of HD-DVD movies with no players available down the road. I won't get a bluray player either, but would consider a PS3 if they could get some must have games.

While Im waiting for these massive companies to make up their damn mind Im just doing it like this;

> The Usual Suspects 1995 BluRay 720p VC1 5 1 WMV-IGUANA 7.73GB
Burned on a DL-DVD, pop it in my 360 and booyah, I got Blu-Ray/HDDVD quality.