Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Television

Submission + - Is the HD DVD Format Dead?

Submitted by
Reservoir Hill
Reservoir Hill writes: "Warner Brothers announced that it will release high-definition DVDs exclusively in Sony's Blu-ray format, dealing a big blow to Toshiba's rival HD DVD technology. Warner Brothers is Hollywood's biggest seller of DVDs, representing about 18 to 20 percent of sales in the United States and was one of the few studios backing both formats. "A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption and becoming the important revenue stream that it can be for the industry," said Kevin Tsujihara, President of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. Saul Hansell at the NY Times says he wouldn't spend money on an HD DVD player until this all sorts out and expects many consumers to return their Christmas HD DVD players and exchange them for Blu-ray devices."

Feed Engadget: HD DVD group cancels CES press conference in wake of Warner announcement: daaaaa (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: CES, HDTV

We just got an email which stated that the HD DVD group is canceling its CES press conference; tail severely between legs over today's explosive news that Warner -- the last "undecided" studio -- was going to the other side and doing Blu-ray discs exclusively. We're not sure if that's because the HD DVD group was in 11th hour negotiations with Warner or what, but the mood at that camp has to be beyond somber right now, so it's pretty hard to thump the tub when you've just been dealt a hard losing hand.

Permalink | Email this | Comments


Television

Submission + - Did Warner Brothers Just Kill HD DVD? (nytimes.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The NY Times reports: In addition to Apple, Warner Brothers is now going to throw its weight behind the Blu-ray format for high-definition disks. Warner has been the only major studio to publish its movies in both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats. Today, the studio announced that from now on, it would only issue movies in Blu-ray. Richard Greenfield, the media analyst with Pali Research, wrote that this marks the end of the format wars: "We expect HD DVD to 'die' a quick death."
Upgrades

Submission + - IPv6: coming to a root server near you (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by BlueMerle
BlueMerle writes: Ready or not, here comes IPv6!!

Just before year's end, ICANN/IANA sent out a short message saying that "on 4 February 2008, IANA will add AAAA records for the IPv6 addresses of the four root servers whose operators have requested it."
Are you ready? http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080102-icann-to-add-ipv6-addresses-for-root-dns-servers.html
Windows

Submission + - A History Lesson of Windows Adoption Rates (zdnet.com) 3

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "Windows Vista is a huge flop, right? I mean, it was the the most disappointing product last year so it must have been pretty bad. Well, as some people are starting to point out, it's adoption rates are actually better than those of Windows XP. I was pretty surprised to read that but in the past year about 15 percent of Windows users have switched to Vista while XP had around 13-14 percent in the first year. Indeed, you can find the same articles for XP that we find for Vista today about a slow adoption rate. But perhaps that's actually a stellar adoption rate for a commercial upgrade? Perhaps this is a testament of Microsoft's legacy support? Either way, there are some people out there that see Vista in a different light."
Media

Most Consumers Sitting Out The High-Def War 681

Posted by Zonk from the might-be-early-to-choose-sides dept.
The New York Times notes that, despite the increasing variety of programs on the Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats, most US consumers are staying out of the DVD format war. This is a wise decision, the article states, because the two formats are essentially at a stalemate. "The two camps are victims of their own earlier success with DVD. The standard DVDs offered a quantum leap in quality from the picture and sound of VHS videotape, and for many that was more than adequate. In addition, DVD players that can convert images to near high-definition quality can be found for under $100, hundreds less than a true high-definition DVD player, further reducing the urgency to upgrade to one of the new formats."
Businesses

RIAA Not Suing Over CD Ripping, Still Calling Rips 'Unauthorized' 175

Posted by Zonk from the so-it's-only-halfway-evil dept.
An Engadget article notes that the Washington Post RIAA article we discussed earlier today may have been poorly phrased. The original article implied that the Association's suit stemmed from the music ripping. As it actually stands the defendant isn't being sued over CD ripping, but for placing files in a shared directory. Engadget notes that the difference here is that the RIAA is deliberately describing ripped MP3 backups as 'unauthorized copies' ... "something it's been doing quietly for a while, but now it looks like the gloves are off. While there's a pretty good argument for the legality of ripping under the market factor of fair use, it's never actually been ruled as such by a judge -- so paradoxically, the RIAA might be shooting itself in the foot here."

Slashdot Top Deals

"Ninety percent of baseball is half mental." -- Yogi Berra

Close