High-Def Format Wars - Battle of the Freebies 212
An anonymous reader writes "It's come to this: eager to introduce the masses to the virtues of the next-gen DVD formats, the studios and manufacturers backing HD DVD and Blu-ray have begun giving discs away. It all started last month when Microsoft pacted with Universal to give away copies of 'King Kong' on HD DVD to consumers buying the XBox 360 HD DVD add on. Sony followed that up by offering a free 'Talladega Nights' Blu-ray with the first 500,000 PlayStation 3 units sold in the U.S.. Now today, HD DVD backer Toshiba has announced that it will give away *three* free HD DVD discs with every player sold for four months beginning on November 1st. With all these freebies, more people will likely have received free HD DVD/Blu-ray discs by the end of 2006 than will have actually paid for them."
I'll just take the drive (Score:2)
Free Movies (Score:5, Informative)
Lost in Space, Stargate, and Six Days Seven Nights were included.
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I think two of the four are still in their shrinkwrap 4+ years later.
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-Yes sir, we're processing it, 3-6 weeks
-We already sent one lot of dvds to your apartment complex, and got 6 more requests, so we didn't ship the rest! One per address!
--But it's an apartment complex, there are different unit numbers on the address
-too bad!
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They decided to give them away instead of throwing them in a landfill?
Jee-zus! (Score:5, Funny)
First the rootkit, then the PS3, and now giving away "Talladega Nights"... why does Sony hate us so?
Yet reason to avoid the PS3! (Score:2)
*shudder*
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"Isn't that the only movie still available on Betamax?
Yes... from the first printing, no less! They were going to play it non-stop in Camp X-ray but even Alberto Gonzales said "Whoa, that's kinda hardcore, don't you think?"
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Shovelware (Score:5, Funny)
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Ok I see the obvious connection between Self-Neutering and Cutscene Man, and I see how you'd then have an opportunity to arrange a... ahhh... "rock" garden... but I'm not quite sure of the purpose of putting "Compton's Interactive Encephalopathy" in for that pack. What's up with that?
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Bring on the Freebies (Score:3, Funny)
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http://www.stupidco.com/aol_throne_finished.html [stupidco.com]
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Thinking ahead (Score:4, Funny)
Given their production rates, I expect that promotion to last through 2007...
What? (Score:2, Insightful)
Don't want what they're giving away... (Score:2)
Am I the only one who thinks Talledaga nights ... (Score:3, Interesting)
Sony really needs to pick up the slack. The PS3 would have ended the format war easily, but Sony has completely screwed that pooch. Perhaps it's Sony's fate. they did get CD and DVD, but this is sounding more like Betamax. It's true it'll be better in the long run to adopt Blu-ray, but god if it's not starting out like a lame duck.
On the other hand HD-DVD isn't exactly shining either. Both format really needs to show why "you need this now". My parents have a 50 inch CRT, and still watch VHS on it, it gives a great picture (Better then broadcast tv), DVDs also look great, they have no need to go to a new format, to rebuy all the dvds and tapes on it. That simple fact makes me wonder if it's worth it. Hell they even got the extended editions of Lord of the rings on single DVDs. Perhaps it's just not necessary yet, and won't be until we go beyond 1080p. Of course if your so anal you must have the perfect resolution go ahead, but I'll stick with my DVDs for a while (Still don't like tapes, but that's me, my parents can't get their movies on DVDs still, and for some don't feel the need.)
Talledaga nights is their only choice. (Score:2)
Given that the article states that Sony Corps. profit has fallen so dramatically I'm surprised that they can give away anything.
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Aside from data storage, I suggest consumers byp
Re:Am I the only one who thinks Talledaga nights . (Score:2)
Digital TV will certainly change that. Broadcast signals will go further in most situations, and the picture will be absolutely bit- PERFECT right up until the edge of the signal coverage area.
HD-DVD and Blu-ray are both backwards compatible. Anyone saying "I don't want to rebuy everything" is a complete idiot. You kee
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VHS LOOKS better then old tv shows and some normal broadcast tv over cable.
This is more like trying to watch a 90s sitcom on a non-hd channel.
I am almost afraid to try Nick At Nite, or TV land just because I've seen what 10 years has given us.
Now if they were *good* movies... (Score:2)
Psst...buddy! (Score:2, Insightful)
Isn't this basically the same strategy employed by drug dealers?
-MJ
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Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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BTW - I picked up an open box 51" Hitachi HD set (1080i/720p) for $800 a year and a half ago. DVDs (and, for that matter 320p DiVXs) look good. HD is crystal clear - really fantastic, actually. I'd give up the HD for a full set of M&K s
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The experience for most buyers will be:
Their first wide screen set.
Their first with multichannel digital sound.
Their first experience with very large screen direct view or projection TV
---the big screen sells HD and HD sells the big screen
Their first replacement of a CRT as their primary television. Once you make this choice, you don't look back.
When color TV was introduced in the U.S. in 1954, the price tag was $1
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You're complaining you can't afford a luxury car, while ignoring the cheaper, nearly-as-good cars out there RIGHT NOW.
You can already get a 27" 1080i CRT HDTV for $400 (no OTA tuner--that usually adds $100).
How high-def do we need? (Score:4, Insightful)
I watch TV on Bell ExpressVu (Canadian Dish Network), rent the odd DVD, and watch the occasional torrent movie or TV show I missed.
You know what? I think it looks great. Of course, I sit six or eight feet back from the TV.
I am really missing anything? The new TVs in the stores look fine, but every time I visit a friend who has an enormous screen, I can't help but think "Man, those guys look all blocky and stretched" when Hockey Night in Canada is on.
I mean, WTF?
Re:How high-def do we need? (Score:4, Informative)
That's the magic of HD. SD sports on a big screen (like my 50") are blocky and stretched. Sports in HD on a 50" screen, though, make me wonder how I ever watched sports in SD. The aspect ratio alone, which allows you to see more of the field at once, is worth the price of admission.
For me, at least, the leap from SD to HD when watching sports is literally equivalent to the leap from VHS in EP to progressive scan DVD. It's just plain better.
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Yet I go to a store, a bar, or someone's home that has an HD screen and I watch something *other* than HD it looks like complete and utter shit compared to my 19 year old 27" Sony.
Blocky, smeared, etc. It's an unpleasant experie
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However, with HD-DVD/Blueray, I would be buying discs only for one TV. In addition, when I watch films on HD HBO or th
Big plasma and lcd screens are crap (Score:2)
Re:Big plasma and lcd screens are crap (Score:5, Insightful)
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BTW, I include in the list of crap plasmas and LCDs; Sky's HDTV system when coupled to an HD ready plasma. High definition? Yes, and completely unimpressive, there were still artefacts visible in the picture.
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Half the time they are not even showing HD content - Just stretched SD content (which usually does look horrible)
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CBC has a HD channel for HNIC (only for some games, apparently). I caught one last weekend on a 1080i 37" LCD and it was quite impressive.
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I still watch TV on a 13" B&W tube TV I purchased in 1959. I think it looks great. The picture was awesome the day I bought it, and the picture is still great today.
Am I really missing anything?
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Wow! (Score:2)
Like dumping (Score:2)
pr0n (Score:2)
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Other than the sheer quantity of porn to be had on a single disk, I'm not sure most people want to see porn in HD.
I mean, you'll be able to see the stretch marks and blemishes in astonishing detail, but will it be any better? Only cmopanies like Vivid might be inclined to do this.
Heck, as it is, DVDs still end up with older video snippets on them that don't even come close to wh
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The changeable angles feature is nice, but really, the director usually knows the best way to angle the camera, and switches between them well.
I'm not really sure porn is going to improve with technology, unless you are talking sex devices...
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The way to instant market share (Score:2)
The first one million units sold shall have DRM disabled.
I'll wait a little longer... (Score:2)
Battlefield Earth for teh win (Score:2)
Move along people, nothing to buy here... (Score:2)
That's because there will be very little content on most shelves for people to buy. Remember LaserDisc? The BlockBusters and BestBuys of the world don't care about low volume, competing formats. They only care to stock material that moves fast. None of these formats will take off until one starts getting a definite advantage on the market, and then the networ
```pacted'''? (Score:2)
Deja-vu! (Score:2)
I remember these promotions when DVD was starting as a format, back in the late 90s...
"Buy X DVD player and get 6 movies free!"
Of course, it wasn't your choice of movies... But it's neat to see them doing this again...
Too bad there's two freaking formats competing.. this is going to do nothing but hurt the adoption of HD disc players until multi-format players come out.
-Z
Free upgrade, please (Score:2)
Of course, I'll still say no, because of the DRM. "Free" just isn't worth it.
dvd is fine (Score:2)
The slower these are adopted, the longer product comes out on DVD and is super cheap.
I've no interest in rebuying my 400 dvd's in hd-dvd or blue ray.
PLUS hd-dvd and blu-ray have so much capacity that they should really be including a lot *more* content. I mean- you could probably put every mainstring song every recorded on a blu-ray disk at 192 bitrate.
History tells us. (Score:2)
Porn has driven visual media technologies for quite some time now.
"Free" Disks? (Score:2)
Talladega nights vs. King Kong (Score:2)
Replacing DVDs (Score:2)
Re:Talladega Nights for the win (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Talladega Nights for the win (Score:4, Funny)
Couldn't you just bang on your helmet and lick the window?
Re:Talladega Nights for the win (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Talladega Nights for the win (Score:4, Funny)
Blasphemy!! How dare you confuse such a thing!!
Shatner did NOT direct The Undiscovered Country (ST VI), which was a great movie. He directed The Final Frontier (ST V), which was so horrifically bad that many ST fans consider it to not have happened.
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Aah and now the circle of Slashdot postings is complete and we are right back where we started, but one level up. Feel that?
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ST:VI is actually considered one of the better ST movies. It's not as great as The Wrath of Khan of course, but it's probably #3 according to most people, after The Voyage Home, or maybe #4 after the Borg one.
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How dare you compare those two? The Final Frontier (ST V) is the biggest piece of crap ever committed to film, whereas The Undiscovered Country (ST VI) is the best Star Trek film ever. It has everything: ice planets, prison worlds, mystery, conspiracy, intrigue, the prospect of either a bright future or a devastating war, and e
Comic Book Guy (Score:2)
Sucked So Bad... (Score:2)
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Re:Talladega Nights for the win (Score:4, Insightful)
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It's got plenty of action/racing scenes that will show off the high resolution, framerate, and 7.1 sound capabilities. It doesn't have loads of CG eye-candy special effects, but what are there will probably make for a damn good display of the capabilities of the format.
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They should just re-re-re-remaster Top Gun for the N-teenth time so that a whole new generation of vidiots can have their stomach contents rearranged by the subwoofers at the ol' circuit shitty. Gotta love those afterburners.
Besides, who wouldn't want to buy a TV displaying the only movie gayer than priscilla queen of the desert? You can be my wingman any time!
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The 1080p sets have hit the market at a much lower price than their lower resolution siblings did. Just glancing at the typical retailer... a decent 42" plasma set is about $2000. A 42" LCD 1080p set is about $2700. I don't know about you, but the choice would be pretty easy for me. Expect all the HDTV holdouts (like me) to be picking up the higher resolution sets within the next year.
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The first one's always free. (Score:2)
If you're unfamiliar, walk down to the corner and talk to your friendly local crack rock dealer, he can fill you in on the basics.
Whoever can get the most consumers 'hooked' on their format stands to make a whole lot of money...
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Do appear to be some issues logging in, although the problem seems to be fairly short (2-4 minutes) and infrequent (for me anyway) I've seen it maybe 5 times in the last 3 days (503 System error is the response I am getting trying to get to the login page). Anyway you are not alone.
Ontopic
Since when does anyone read the article!?
But more to the point I wonder if giving away say 5 decent DVD's (Older Blockbusters may be a good place to start (Die hard / Top Gun / Terminator etc..) without needing
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HTH.
Re:Oh the silliness of consumer marketing. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Good to see you using those social skills. People like you are why Linux has no market share. Can't you disagree without being obnoxious?
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Well, but, there is a difference now between entrenched DVD's and the new HD versions. First, the DVD was such a HUGE step above the VHS...it didn't wear out (a big seller), you could skip around on it quite easily, and the quality in pictures and sound was leaps above the old video tape....even on the same
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Re:Just like your first HIGH!!!!! (Score:4, Interesting)
Strangely enough, it seems that most of my TV/DVD-watching time is now spent watching TV show discs, instead of movies: Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Firefly, 4400, etc. There's a lot of great stuff coming out on TV while the latest movies aren't that great. We may even get to the point where TV shows just get released straight-to-DVD since TV execs are so incredibly stupid that they sometimes cancel the best shows (Firefly) in their first season.
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They did. It chose HD-DVD. Unfortunately Sony decided they didn't want to play because they'd spent money developing a format that wasn't picked by the DVD Forum [dvdforum.org], so instead they spent still more millions - billions? - to push Blu-Ray instead.
And the consumers of the world said, "Wait, fuck that! You think we don't remember getting stung by VHS versus Betamax? We'll stick with our regular DVDs, thanks."
These formats are bulletproof (Score:2)