It appears that PS3 owners will not be able to enjoy more blockbusters in hidef video as paramount and dreamworks had each announced exclusive HD DVD support on their blockbuster releases as well as catalogue titles. This announcement however DO NOT include titles directed by Steven Spielberg.

Transformers, shrek 3 and Blades of Glory are the first three titles from paramount/dreamworks that will be exclusively available on HD DVD. Sorry PS3 owners, no hidef robots for you . Titanic exclusive to HD DVD too

its fun to see GIANT studios such as these two and highe end CE such as ONKYO announcing exclusive and non exclusive support for a dead format !! the war has just started and HD DVD had just decided to join BD in media war .. Let the show begin

Associate press' article:

By ALEX VEIGA
The Associated Press


Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. will offer next-generation DVDs in the HD DVD format and drop support for Blu-ray, further complicating the race between the competing technologies.

Monday's announcement affects the upcoming DVD releases of the blockbusters "Shrek the Third" and "Transformers," along with movies distributed by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films.

Paramount previously released movies in both DVD formats.

"Part of our vision is to aggressively extend our movies beyond the theater, and deliver the quality and features that appeal to our audience," said Brad Grey, chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc.

"I believe HD DVD is not only the affordable high quality choice for consumers, but also the smart choice for Paramount," he said.

The move does not include films directed by Steven Spielberg, as his films are not exclusive to either format.

The competition between Blu-ray and HD DVD has kept confused consumers from rushing to buy new DVD players until they can determine which format will dominate the market.

Until recently, many consumers were able to defer the choice because players have been so expensive. But prices have been slashed by about half Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray player now sells for $499, and Toshiba Corp.'s cheapest HD DVD player sells for $299, with both likely to include as many as five free movies as an incentive.

Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation, said consumers seeking to switch to high-definition DVDs will be enticed by the content available for HD-DVD players, and the lower price for the Toshiba devices will appeal to the family market.

"It's a game-changer, what they're doing, and it's why we decided to throw in with them," Katzenberg said.

Standalone HD DVD players have a bigger slice of the market than Blu-ray players. But when you count Sony's PlayStation 3 game console, which comes with a Blue-ray drive, there are more Blu-ray players in U.S. homes.

Rob Moore, president of Paramount Worldwide Distribution, said market data shows that people who own gaming consoles buy fewer movies than those who invest in a high-definition player that only plays movies.

The Blu-ray Disc Association trade group did not immediately return an e-mail seeking comment.

Blu-ray discs can hold more data 50 gigabytes compared with HD DVD's 30 GB but the technology requires new manufacturing techniques and factories, boosting initial costs.

HD DVDs, on the other hand, are essentially DVDs on steroids, meaning movie studios can turn to existing assembly lines to produce them in mass.

Studios and retailers have been choosing sides in recent months.

With Paramount dropping Blu-ray support, Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. remains the only major studio releasing movies in both formats.

"Spider-Man 3" will only be available in the Blu-ray DVD format when it is released by Sony Pictures.

Likewise, people with Blu-ray players won't be able to enjoy the action-thriller "The Bourne Ultimatum," which Universal Pictures will release only in HD DVD.

The Blu-ray format recently got a big boost as Blockbuster Inc. announced it would stock only Blu-ray titles when it expands its high-def DVD offerings this year. (((( added: blockbuster made the announcement because they were given BD movie disks for FREE )))

Target Inc., the nation's second-largest retailer, said it will only sell Blu-ray DVD players in its stores in the fourth quarter. ((( Traget did not say that. Sony's press release said that. And again BD is NOT DVD. Target still sell the HD DVD add on and HD DVD players are available online ))))

Sony Pictures, News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox, The Walt Disney Co., and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer are releasing only in Blu-ray.

Universal, owned by General Electric Co., backs HD DVD exclusively.

Published: Monday, August 20, 2007 11:13 PDT


official press release:

Paramount and DreamWorks Animation Each Declare Exclusive Support for HD DVD

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articl...220082007-1.htm

Movies Distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment Including Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Animation SKG, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films to be Released Exclusively in HD DVDExclusive Program To Begin with Release of "Blades of Glory," Followed by "Transformers" and "Shrek the Third," Films Representing More Than $1.5 Billion in Combined Worldwide Box Office

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. and DreamWorks Animation SKG , each announced today that they will exclusively support the next-generation HD DVD format on a worldwide basis. The exclusive HD DVD commitment will include all movies distributed by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films, as well as movies from DreamWorks Animation, which are distributed exclusively by Paramount Home Entertainment.

The companies each said that the decision to distribute exclusively in the HD DVD format resulted from an extensive evaluation of current market offerings, which confirmed the clear benefits of HD DVD, particularly its market-ready technology and lower manufacturing costs. Paramount Home Entertainment will launch its exclusive HD DVD program with the release of the blockbuster comedy hit "Blades of Glory" on August 28th and follow with two of the biggest grossing movies of the year "Transformers" and "Shrek the Third". These three titles alone represent more than $1.5 billion in box office ticket sales worldwide.

"The combination of Paramount and DreamWorks Animation brings a critical mass of current box office hits to consumers with a line-up of live action and animated films that are perfect for HD DVD," stated Brad Grey, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, which is currently the leading studio in domestic box office. "Part of our vision is to aggressively extend our movies beyond the theater, and deliver the quality and features that appeal to our audience. I believe HD DVD is not only the affordable high quality choice for consumers, but also the smart choice for Paramount."

"We decided to release "Shrek the Third" and other DreamWorks Animation titles exclusively on HD DVD because we believe it is the best format to bring high quality home entertainment to a key segment of our audience -- families," stated DreamWorks Animation CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg. "We believe the combination of this year's low-priced HD DVD players and the commitment to release a significant number of hit titles in the fall makes HD DVD the best way to view movies at home."

With the rapid increase of HD TV screens in households, and audiences wanting to enjoy the total entertainment experience, HD DVD has emerged as the most affordable way for consumers to watch their movies in high definition. In addition to pristine quality, HD DVD also offers consumers the chance to personalize the movie-watching experience, to interact with their movies and even to connect with a community of other fans.

Paramount Home Entertainment will issue new releases day and date as well as catalog titles exclusively on HD DVD. Today's announcement does not include films directed by Steven Spielberg as his films are not exclusive to either format.

About Paramount Pictures Corporation

Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom , a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, MTV Films, Nickelodeon Movies and DreamWorks Studios. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studios and Worldwide Television Distribution.

About DreamWorks Animation SKG

DreamWorks Animation is principally devoted to developing and producing computer generated, or CG, animated feature films. With world-class creative talent, a strong and experienced management team and advanced CG filmmaking technology and techniques, DreamWorks Animation makes high quality CG animated films meant for a broad movie-going audience. The Company has theatrically released a total of fourteen animated feature films, including Antz, Shrek, Shrek 2, Shark Tale, Madagascar, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Over the Hedge, Flushed Away, and Shrek the Third. DreamWorks Animation's newest release, Bee Movie, opens in theaters November 2, 2007.

This post has been edited by g5sim: Aug 21 2007, 03:17 AM

There's talk of moneyhatting involved to get this deal going, sums totalling USD150 million. Im partial on both sides, but such is the price to pay to get a movie studio to come to your side, i guess.

Doesnt bother me though, im ready on both sides.

you are one of the lucki ones

Holy Cowwww...like I said both HD-DVD and BD can co-exist while DVD still grab the largest chunk of Movie disk sales...but this News...wow....who said that HD-DVD is dying??????
Paramount and Dreamworks...soemting which I have never imagined that it will happened so soon...hmm..guess that Fox and Disney r surprised too...but on the other hand, its not surprised at all when considering on the cheaper production cost factor.....and I am predicting Fox will follow suit,,especially when cheaper China brand HD-DVD players r on sale in WalMart bef Chritsmas....wow...still cant believe it....

This post has been edited by silencer: Aug 21 2007, 03:22 AM

Fox and Disney has one prerequisite they want implemented before considering any particular format : region coding . HD-DVD's current region-free stance does not fit into their region-staggered release scheme of things.

I guess so...but wait until Microsoft unload another US150 million for their exclusivity..Money talk sometimes...i mean..most of the times....

HD and blueray dont fight!

i will make 1 player that will support u both

Already on the way. LG already had released the decidedly subpar combo player, gimps out on the HD-DVD side. Im pegging my hopes on Samsung's more complete offerings.

---

Added on August 21, 2007, 4:31 amNot a moment too soon! Blu-ray retaliates!

Not too long after the Pramount/Dreamworks shocking announcement:-

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/news/show/...lease_Plans/875

Rounds of snacks, caramel popcorns and supersized sodas on me!

"This war will be bloody, rivers of blood will spill and flow before one side emerge victorious.

How's that for a tagline? FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!

Keep refreshing the page, F5 people!

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Aug 21 2007, 04:37 AM

Looking at Fox commitment on BD along this year..I believe that I am not the only one that is having a doubt on Fox will be seriously fulfilling its promises this time..and by the way, several Fox titles r already been released in HD-DVD in Europe..and will not be surprised if those titles will be released in HD-DVD by independent distributor in Europe earlier than the released date by Fox itself in US...

This post has been edited by silencer: Aug 21 2007, 05:13 AM

Im thinking otherwise. Im suspecting Fox being kept aside by the BDA to counter the impending Paramount/Dreamworks news. Once word is out, BDA responses.

The season to cash in on sales is winter/Chrsitmas season. It makes sense for movie studios to thin out their offerings during slower summer/fall and go all out at the end of the year.

It's already available that support both format....by LG and Samsung....

so? then later some other regions will have the paramount's exclusive cos its distributed by another company in europe

all i wan is an even cheaper pricing on the disc

I'm just waiting for this to end so I can go buy a player. I mean, one movie on blu-ray, another movie on hd-dvd. Ridiculous for the poor people!

All..looking to the Fox now.....if they say "i do" for HD-DVD..i guess....it wont be that long....but ..i still believe on the co-existent concept..buy both if u can afford it...but NEVER SAID..that HD-DVD is DEAD..like what most people like to post here.....now..those people will enjoy their holiday..without the transformer movie in their collection..

---

Added on August 21, 2007, 9:09 pmNo one reply...wonder why???ekekkekekke

This post has been edited by silencer: Aug 21 2007, 09:09 PM

Money rocks even for 18 months, hell yeah

hell yeah....hmmm..how about another fund..after the 18th months...if the format war is still going on...

I guess they're still dumbstrucked by the shocking announcement. I knw the hilarity at the Blu-ray section in AVSForum reflects this.

---

Added on August 22, 2007, 2:17 amTO keep the balance/zen of things:-

And to feed fuel to the fire:-

The 28 new Blu-ray titles from Fox are the titles announced during "Fox Blu-ray exclusives" story and the 4 tentpole titles in 2008 by Disney are "Narnia", "Finding Nemo", "National Treasure" and "Sleeping Beauty", all incorporating BD JAva and BD-Live technology.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Aug 22 2007, 02:17 AM

erm . region coding in BD . sorry

---

Added on August 22, 2007, 3:16 amgot some more:

BD fans picked a forum post at Michael bay's official forum saying Michael bay: no Transformers in BD. no Transformers 2 and movie fans rejoice because he is not directing the sequel

any how he did not complaint about Pearl Harbour and TheRock released on in Blu-ray.

and one title:

Sony PR machine, CGI frantically contacted news agency to spread the 'news' that microsoft paid 150 mil to get the exclusive deal. like people care how they got the exclusive deal


This post has been edited by g5sim: Aug 22 2007, 03:16 AM

Oppps..another "taktik-kotor" by Sony PR agency, spreading the "bad-seed" rumours to the community about the paid-up of RM150miliion, read a challenge made by AmirM, the MS man behind the development of HD-DVD>>> http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread....1&pp=30&page=78 :


Quote:
Originally Posted by Goatse View Post
we'll find out soon enough on Microsofts financial report to the share holders, You really can't hide that kind of money.
------------
I am happy to have any and all kinds of scrutiny on this. People should not underestimate what it takes for me to say what I have here and to the press. So feel free to look at our financial statements next month when quarterly results are released.

Meanwhile, note that that there is not an ounce of counter from BD folks. Paid is here and still not commenting on what they paid (pun intended ) to get Paramount on board the first time. Seeing that he doesn't post under his real name, it should be easier for him to deny it as I have but there is nothing but silence. Ditto for Talk. Just have them repeat the same statements I have made but substitute their company names. That would be fair, right?


Quote:
Originally Posted by Eternal_Sunshine View Post
That was not my point at all. Amir didn't only deny that Microsoft payed anyone anything, he also (here on AVS) repeatedly denied to know whether or not someone else payed the $150 Mill.:
This is what I think is very hard to believe. - So Amir, do you still claim you didn't know anything about the deal?
----------
Your question is not clear. Let me separate it in two parts so the answer is :

1. Did I know before the announce that Paramount was going to abandon BD format and focus on HD DVD. Yes. So if this is what you mean by "deal," yes I knew about it.

2. Do I know what check if any is written to them by other companies. I do not. Let me repeat, I do not! I imagine some marketing incentive is put in there based on press articles that came out yesterday. But no one has provided me with a single line item of any contract between Paramount or other companies let alone have it say what money is changing hands.
Any deal like this was none of our business and would probably have confidentially clauses in it, disallowing disclosure to other companies.

Hopefully this is good enough now. But listen folks, I am happy to keep going if you think it serves a purpose. I don't think it does because the facts are on our side. And even if they aren't, us funding HD DVD only serves to make the BD talk of company support weaker . And potentially points to them being out of funds in getting new deals done. But hey, as I said, if you want to keep going, I am here for you .

AND


And another "taktik-kotor" by SONY PR that is failed bigtime about 18 months deal?????

Paramount: Our switch to HD DVD is an INDEFINITE COMMITMENT>>>>> http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136253-c...gy/article.html

PC World got a chance to interview Paramount's CTO, Alan Bell:

PC World: Will this exclusive period extend for a limited time, or is this an indefinite arrangement?

Alan Bell: At this moment in time, it's an indefinite commitment. The core of this announcement comes from our experience, and what our consumers are looking for. We hope this will influence consumers' choices."

If all goes well, sounds like they may never support Blu-ray.


AND

Michael retracts some of what he said - says he likes HD-DVD!>>>> http://www.shootfortheedit.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2304
------
Last night at dinner I was having dinner with three blu-ray owners, they were pissed about no Transformers Blu-ray and I drank the kool aid hook line and sinker. So at 1:30 in the morning I posted - nothing good ever comes out of early am posts mind you - I over reacted. I heard where Paramount is coming from and the future of HD and players that will be close to the $200 mark which is the magic number. I like what I heard.

As a director, I'm all about people seeing films in the best quality possible, and I saw and heard firsthand people upset about a corporate decision.

So today I saw 300 on HD, it rocks!

So I think I might be back on to do Transformers 2!

Michael Bay
----
-ahhahahha.. we dont need u in transformer 2......



So...for Sony PR..my advise...stop the PR bull-shit..and instead go tell FOx....pls dont betray us like what those two buys had done to US....

NOTE: - When studio r behind SOny..the fanboy claims that is because of the superiority of BD technology itself...but when they move to HD-DVD, those fanboys keep pointing their finger with all sorts of accusations .... without even taking into consideration that real benefits of development and manufacturing cost for HD-DVD.. "NUFF SAID...and ass an add on..the fact that in this chritsmas>>tonnes of China made with the lowest price possible of HD-DVD players will be waiting in Walmart....

---

Added on August 22, 2007, 10:31 amFull article interview, on why Paramount dump BD, and dismiss the Sony PR bullshit about 18 months deal..which in fact an indefinite agereement:-
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136253-c...gy/article.html



In a surprise move, Paramount and DreamWorks Animation announced this week that they would align themselves exclusively with the HD DVD high-definition format. The controversial decision has attracted a lot of attention, and not just because it comes at a time when market indicators have been pointing to competitor Blu-ray Disc as having the lead (disc sales have been running 2-1 in Blu-ray's favor).

Rumors have swirled since the news broke, suggesting that Paramount and DreamWorks are being heavily compensated for their exclusivity pact--to the tune of $50 million and $100 million, respectively. A Paramount spokesperson says only: " ... whenever we conduct co-marketing, production deals, or other agreements, we never discuss business terms."

I don't doubt that some level of financial incentive made this a good business decision for the two studios. But according to Alan Bell, executive vice president and chief technology officer for Paramount Pictures, there's more to the change in allegiance than either a mere abandonment of Blu-ray's higher-capacity advantage or pure business dealings.

Here's some background from Bell about the recent news.

PCW: Presumably, making this move wasn't something you did lightly. What led up to the decision to shift your production exclusively to HD DVD?

Bell: Paramount has been getting experience with publishing titles in both formats for the last year. We've had a hands-on ability to see how these formats work in practice. And after some hands-on analysis, we decided that HD DVD was the format we wanted to support.

PCW: Why was that?

Bell: For one thing, the lower prices of the players: It's good for consumers, it's good for our customer base.

For another thing, HD DVD came out of the DVD Forum. The DVD Forum is very experienced at developing and managing specs. [HD DVD] was launched in a very stable way, with stable specifications, and they had specified a reference player model, so all players had to be compatible with the HDi interactivity layer, and all players had to be capable of the interactivity. So when we publish titles in the future that have interactivity, we can be assured that every HD DVD player will be able to handle this content.

PCW: So, as a studio, you believe that the underlying stability of HD DVD's specs is a benefit?

Bell: When you look at what the DVD Forum has specified as required, it's a good set of advanced technologies. You can be assured that that benefit will be available to all consumers, no matter what [player] model they purchased. That speaks to the DVD Forum, that it published specs that were complete and market-ready, and that it didn't need to publish up [and change the specs], as Blu-ray has. To some degree, [such changes are] going to create some legacy issues.

For example, HD DVD players have [ethernet] connectivity built-in. If the player doesn't have that, or it's optional, you can't rely on that [as a feature].

PCW: Didn't we see the same thing with DVD players, though, where some features were mandatory and others weren't?

Bell: When you have a format, you generally have mandatory requirements on players, and you sometimes have optional features. On DVD, Dolby Digital 5.1 was mandatory, but DTS 5.1 was optional. But that meant that when you published a title, you never really knew how many customers had players that supported the feature you were adding to the disc at some cost. On HD DVD, the mandatory audio technologies are Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby TrueHD. [For more details, see an explanation of the differences among the various Dolby technologies.]

PCW: Over time, though, DTS became a de facto standard on DVD players. Don't you expect to see the same thing happen over time with Blu-ray's specs, such as the requirements for storage and interactivity via an ethernet connection? [Paramount's decision comes ahead of Blu-ray's new minimum specs, which go into effect for players sold after October 31.]

Bell: Eventually, that's true, but right now we have early adopters and enthusiasts [buying players]. If you do migrate the spec and your options are not included on the early players, these are the very people you leave behind. They're our most valuable customers in launching a new format, and you want to make sure that what they buy continues to represent the best of the format.

PCW: What about the additional capacity of Blu-ray, which has 50GB dual-layer discs, as opposed to HD DVD's 30GB dual-layer discs? Some studios have cited the additional capacity as necessary. Are you going to miss having the extra headroom?

Bell: This is a little bit overrated. Making a choice like the one Paramount has made is a multifaceted choice: It depends upon manufacturability, the reliability of players, the cost, the infrastructure that's developed to support our creation of titles. Many different factors came into play--including capacity. When Paramount made this decision, we considered the broad spectrum.

If everything else were equal, more capacity would be better. Why not?

But if you convert the playing time, a 30GB disc gives you somewhere between 3 and 4 hours of capacity. It depends upon the nature of the movie and how you compress it. There's no compromise on the quality. We've found that 95 percent of movies are less than 2.25 hours long. With a disc whose capacity is 3 or 4 hours, you can put a fair amount of bonus material on that disc as well. So 30GB with the option to add another disc is fine, from our point of view.

PCW: What if the multiple soundtracks and high-definition bonus materials won't fit on a single disc?

Bell: If there's an overflow of bonus material, we'll just go to another disc. That's not an issue for consumers. In some cases, they consider that it has more value. It's done routinely in DVD. Why put every single title on a high-capacity disc if it doesn't need it?

PCW: Do you expect capacity needs to change in the future?

Bell: A 45GB disc is under development. [Editors' note: This disc has been in development for two years.] Secondly, compression will become more effective. The number of minutes you get on a disc depends upon how much you can compress a movie. As we gain experience with the new codecs, the ability to compress at high quality will be improved.

Capacity is a factor, but it's not an overriding factor. In the grand scheme of things, the better proposition for consumers in our view, and for our business needs, is HD DVD.

PCW: From your first-hand experiences, what can you tell us about the difference in programming languages between HD DVD, which uses Microsoft's HDi technology, and Blu-ray, which uses BD-Java?

Bell: BD-Java is a programming language. The benefit is that it's very flexible. The drawback is that you may need 100 lines of BD-Java code. HDi is a relatively compact piece of code; one command can cover quite a bit of interactivity.

BD-Java is also more complex, so the possibility of errors is greater. And when BD players are put out, [there's the question of whether] they all support the scenarios as coded up from the low level. [Some of the early problems with BD-Java discs] were in part due to the complexity that BD-Java brings. From our point of view, HDi offers all of the flexibility we need, in practice, and it does so in a more simplified way and in a way that we feel leads to better compatibility, better reliability, and lower costs.

PCW: Up until now, how have you approached coding your discs for HDi and BD-Java?

Bell: At this particular point in time, we've been able to supply more features with HDi and HD DVD than with BD-Java and Blu-ray Disc. What we have typically done in practice is that we've created the interactive scenarios in HD DVD and then tried to pull them into Blu-ray. But that has not been entirely possible: Some things we can do in HDi are not supported in BD-Java. If you're going to do BD-Java, you need someone who's capable of programming at a low level. With HDi, you don't need somebody with that additional level of training. We don't need programmers to code our discs.

PCW: Do you think users are interested in the interactivity on these discs?

Bell: Interactivity is an important part of why you would move up from DVD. Yes, [high-def] has a great picture, but is that enough? Connectivity is something that studios will grow into, and it's something that we believe studios will grow into.

We're thinking about [having media servers to provide extra content via the Internet], but those kinds of investments cost money. The motivation to do them grows as the installed base grows. If we see there's a sufficiently large installed base to justify the cost of the server, we'll do it. Right now we're concentrating on getting a great picture out, and great interactivity.

PCW: Will this exclusive period extend for a limited time, or is this an indefinite arrangement?

Bell: At this moment in time, it's an indefinite commitment. The core of this announcement comes from our experience, and what our consumers are looking for. We hope this will influence consumers' choices.


This post has been edited by silencer: Aug 22 2007, 10:31 AM

wa seh, panjang nia... can summarise the point or not

g5sim, a portion of other region disc, depending on the studios are region free