Blu-ray Disc Among Top Selling DVDs at Amazon

An anonymous reader writes "In a milestone for the next-gen disc format, the Blu-ray edition of 'Casino Royale' cracked the top ten on Amazon's DVD top sellers list upon its release Tuesday, peaking late in the evening at #8. Of course, the two-disc standard-def DVD still topped the chart at #1, but a strong showing for Blu-ray regardless."

Now we just need...

[eviloverlordx]

...the ob Sony bashing posts complaining that it's a failure because it didn't beat the DVD release.

Re:Now we just need...

[CastrTroy]

Not only that, look at the stuff that's in the top 20 [amazon.com]. 2 versions of borat, 3 versions of Casino royale (including the Blu-Ray), Some diet DVD, The James Bond Box Set (I really can't see that selling to many copies at $180), and few other movies that look good, but not extraordinary. What are the actual sales numbers for Casino Royale BluRay, because it doesn't seem like it's beating anything taht I would expect to see selling more.

Re:

[Enry]

The James Bond Box Set (I really can't see that selling to many copies at $180)

It was selling on Amazon for $125 yesterday. That deal's done, but I'm sure the sales at $125/ea were enough to push its rank up.

Re:

[HistoricPrizm]

The James Bond box set was on a special "Gold Box" deal yesterday, at $125, so that would be why it jumped up in sales.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Now we just need...

[nuzak]

FACTS prove that humans are a failure. If they weren't, there would be more humans than insects.

Re:Now we just need...

[OldeTimeGeek]

That's somewhat akin to saying that CDs were a failure because they didn't sell as well as LPs when just a few people had CD players.

Inaccurate Analogies

[Comboman]

That's somewhat akin to saying that CDs were a failure because they didn't sell as well as LPs when just a few people had CD players.

Perhaps, but saying Blu-ray is a success because the latest Bond film is in the top 10 at Amazon this week is a bit like saying Betamax was a success because a popular movie that was not available on VHS was a top 10 seller in it's first week of release (at a particular video store). It's a measurement that is so narrow in scope that generalizing a broader trend from it is a

Re:But it is..

[tlhIngan]

This says nothing about the format and everything about the movie.

woo a popular bond movie making it to the top of the charts on release?! OMG CALL THE PAPERS!!

Quite accurate. I have a blu-ray player (and HD-DVD), and my opinion of blu-ray is that Sony is just pushing releases out without a care on quality - honestly, some blu-ray movies are worse than if the DVD was upconverted (talladega nights anyone? My HD-DVD player did a much better job upconverting the DVD to 1080i than the PS3 did outputting a native 1080p (I have a 1080p TV) - honestly, the blu-ray version looked like someone recorded it to a VCR, then ran some lame upconverter on it, then ran the "blur" filter on it).

The good blu-ray I have is Employee of the Month, which at least looks decent. But I've had sharper images from HD-DVD (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory being particularly sharp). I don't understand it since blu-ray has so much more capacity (50GB vs. 30GB), so HD-DVD should theoretically have worse picture quality, worse extras, worse everything because it's space-constrained.

In the end, I just picked up the cheaper DVD version - there weren't much extras, but I don't have faith in blu-ray transfers (I've got a few blu-rays simply in the search of "high def"). Being two-thirds the price clinched the deal.

(I should note that in Canada, the pricing of the LG "Super Multi Blue" player is more expensive than a PS3 and a regular HD-DVD player (and still pricier if you gave up the HD-DVD standalone player for the Xbox380+HD-DVD drive), yet you get two better players (PS3 can do blu-ray iHD, and a proper HD-DVD player must be able to do iHD) in the bargain. LG's player doesn't do iHD, which is why there's no official HD-DVD *LOGO* on it. Just "HD-DVD" in fancy suggestive type.)

Re:

[Maxwell]

Yeah, or you could read the reviews of the blu-ray dics where they clearly state the PQ of each release. I head they are widely available on this 'internet' thing. I guess if you had this 'internwt' access thing you would be better informed.

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/reviews.html [highdefdigest.com]

Casino Royale:

"To be honest, I like this transfer, but I don't love it. 'Casino Royale' is actually the first film I've seen more than once in theater since, I believe, 'Jurassic Park' (in 1993!), and this 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 pre

top ten

[j00r0m4nc3r]

They left out this part:

"Barely beating BARBIE MAGIC OF THE RAINBOW and EASTER BUNNY ADVENTURE.."

Re:top ten

[PFI_Optix]

I guess then it should be pointed out that you left the part out about the fact that there wasn't a major HD-DVD release in the same time frame.

This format war may well be decided by titles rather than player sales.

I still think HD-DVD has the best chance if they can make the hybrid disks (HD-DVD that will play in DVD players) a big enough deal to get the major publishers to completely switch to them on new releases.

Re:

[toleraen]

Not trying to sound like a fanyboy, but just pointing this out: You realize that hybrid disks have been developed for Blu Ray as well, right?

Re:

[TheThiefMaster]

In fact I'm fairly sure there was a story on Slashdot a while back about a hybrid disk with all three formats in one disk.

Re:

[Paradox]

There are no 3-format hybrid disks that I can find.

There are 3-format hybrid players. LG released the first one at CES. You may have missed it because it was during the iPhone launch.

Multi-format players really are a win for Blu-ray. Blu-ray disks tend to be slightly better than HD-DVD (usually they tie on video quality, but the low compression audio from the Blu-ray ends up being superior). Once the "expensive player" factors are removed, most consumer see bigger (incomprehensible, but bigger!) numbers on

Re:

[drinkypoo]

Also, HD-DVD has the "shitty name" problem. I talked to my grandfather a few months ago and he asked me if I had a "HD-DVD player". I said, "Yes, I can play both HD-DVD and Blu-ray." He paused and said, "I thought Blu-ray was a HD-DVD." I talked to some other people of similar levels of tech literacy and I was surprised to find this happened many times.

Uh, you have that backwards, dude. Blu-Ray has the shitty name. It doesn't mean anything to anyone but a geek. And 99% of the people on the planet don't kno

Re:

[Paradox]

You've totally misread what he said.

He went to the store and bought blu-rays, calling them HD-DVDs. You might think it's simple, but for some reason people aren't getting it. He had a blu-ray player, and called them HD-DVDs. He doesn't get that there is a specific product called HD-DVD.

I don't get how it works either, but several of my relatives and my friends' relatives seem to follow this pattern.

Maybe going with an un-related name made sense, because it required a new device to play. Folks I know who wor

Re:

[Afrosheen]

Yep, you nailed it. HD-DVD was going for name recognition, since everyone knows what a DVD is by now. Then they piss off uninformed consumers by accidentally selling HD-DVDs to people with normal DVD players. Now they remedy that by including the DVD format release on the hybrid HD-DVD/DVD disc. Nobody with an HD-DVD player gives a rat's ass about the DVD release being on the disc as well...it's only a CYA policy for the disc pressers and retail outlets.

What shocked me was that my aunt and uncle, who live i

Re:

[VGPowerlord]

There are no 3-format hybrid disks that I can find.

Search harder [slashdot.org].

Re:

[VGPowerlord]

Oops, no, you're right... that's only HD-DVD & Blu-Ray.

"DVD"... what sort of a name is that?!

[Dogtanian]

Also, HD-DVD has the "shitty name" problem.

Regardless of whether one thinks that HD-DVD or Blu-Ray has the shitty name, it's worth remembering that "DVD" itself is (or rather was) a pretty shitty name.

I mean, "DVD", WTF does that mean?!! Yeah, we all know it was meant to stand for "Digital Video Disc", and then they realised their mistake (stupid name for a disc if it can hold audio and data too) too late, so had to pretend that it was meant to stand for "Digital Versatile Disc" (what a vile contrivance), and then they changed their mind and said

Re:

[quigonn]

This format war may well be decided by titles rather than player sales.

Well, since Sony spoke out against publishing porn on Blu-Ray (after HD porn producer Digital Playground had announced to do so), my bet is that Blu-Ray will lose, simply because there won't be any porn. The availability of porn is important. It was a key factor why VHS won the format war against BetaMax, and why DVDs caught on so quickly.

Re:

[aesiamun]

What about this?

http://www.informationweek.com/industries/showArti cle.jhtml?articleID=197002968 [informationweek.com]

Debbie does Dallas...again.

Re:

[soft_guy]

The availability of porn is important. It was a key factor why VHS won the format war against BetaMax, and why DVDs caught on so quickly.

This is an urban legend and is untrue. The fact is that the porn industry is approximately 10X smaller than either the porn industry or the anti-porn crusaders want you to believe.

You're 100% correct, Hybrid would win it for them

[brunes69]

I recently bought the Superman Returns HD-DVD even though I do not have an HD-DVD player. Why? Because it was a hybrid disc. Why pay $20 for a normal DVD when I can get the normal DVD AND the HD version for a few dollars more?

After that, I decided I am no longer wasting money on new single-format standard DVDs, since anything I buy now will be obsolete in 1-2 years, it would be a total waste of money. I will pick up a few previously played versions, perhaps, but that's it.

I really don't get why we aren't

Hybrid problems:

[norminator]

I still think HD-DVD has the best chance if they can make the hybrid disks (HD-DVD that will play in DVD players) a big enough deal to get the major publishers to completely switch to them on new releases.

First they have to actively advertise hybrid discs, which they don't seem to do. It's bad enough that people don't really know about HD-DVD, nobody knows about hybrid disks.

Second, they need decent movies available on hybrids. Last I checked in Best Buy (in January), I could only find about 3, and o

Re:

[Gulthek]

Third, hybrid discs need to be equal in price (or maybe just a tiny bit above) to the regular HD-DVDs

If you really want the format to take off, the hybrid discs need to be equal in price (or many just a tiny bit above) to the regular DVDs.

HD-DVD is failing fast

[elrous0]

I own an HD-DVD player and am sad to say that Blu-ray is clearly winning this format war right now. HD-DVD has no advertising (Blu-ray runs ads on many HD channels and has kiosks in every Best Buy), little studio support (half-assed HD-DVD support from Warner and Universal, who have released almost no new discs in the last month or two, WILL NOT cut it).

I see ads on TV for the blu-ray format and blu-ray discs every day now (almost at every commercial break when I'm watching HDNET and other HD channels). I have YET to see a single ad for HD-DVD or an HD-DVD release. Not one.

Blu-ray is beginning to make some name recognition headway. No one even knows HD-DVD exists. Blu-ray is getting new releases all the time. HD-DVD new releases have dried up to almost nothing.

-Eric

Re:

[Tony Hoyle]

Well lovefilm (UK) has 37 bluray movies and 32 hddvd movies, which is close enough to equal.

Personally I've never seen any of them advertised, and retail the movies go for 4-5 times the price you can import them from the US for.. so they don't sell.. and retailers don't but more - vicious circle. The local hmv pulled them off the shelves because they weren't selling and they needed the space. It looks like both formats are failing badly.

Biggest problem with bluray is it's region locked - so no cheaper US

Cue referral links

[LoverOfJoy]

Quick, be the first to give a referral link to Casino Royale! We might not be able to find it on Amazon without you!

Re:

[Skidge]

Ok, since you asked, here you go [amazon.com]. :)

Seriously, though, I think that the top selling lists on Amazon are very time sensitive. I'll put on a conspiracy hat and say that if Sony execs decided to buy a bunch Casino Royale blue ray discs, it could make that disc jump up in the rankings.

Probably What Happened

[Anonymous Coward]

Sony Employee "Sir, I did what you said and bought thousands of blue ray discs from amazon"

Sony Exec (in Mr. Burns Voice) "Excellent"

Re:

[kimvette]

Why not? That's what the music label does.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

3 Titles in top 100

[MightyYar]

Well, since there are a total of 3 Blu-Ray titles in the top 100, forgive me for seeing this as a desperate pent-up demand for new titles.

Re:3 Titles in top 100

[ivan256]

Really? All three Blu-Ray titles are in the top 100?

Kidding, of course, but the Blu-Ray selection, and the HD-DVD selection too for that matter is pretty terrible right now.

Re:

[Jungleland]

Agreed, as an early UK adopter of HD-DVD (because the xbox add-on is about a third of the price of blu-ray) I do find the current selection appalling and what little selection there is is usually out of stock :-(
If Casino Royale had been released on HD-DVD I would have been the first in-line.

I just hope "someone" wins the highdef war so we don't end up in the DVD-A/SACD situation where both formats appear to have lost.

Re:

[Tony Hoyle]

There's nothing worth buying that's been released in the UK - better to import from dvdworldusa or movietyme - much cheaper too.

Of course with bluray you don't have the option of importing...

That is indeed a really nice ranking

[aadvancedGIR]

Considering that, at this moment, the Amazon DVD top 100 is composed of 99 DVD (still including Firefly at #81, BTW) and 1 BR.

Re:

[mgblst]

Yes, so what. This is not about whether or not Blu-Ray is beating DVD, which we all know is not happening, will not happen for sometime, and maybe will never happen (I hope, I want them both to fail). It is about beating HD-DVD. Since this is still too early to tell for sure, and predicting the masses is tricky, we look for signs of the way most people are going. Have a top 10 selling movie is just one sign, that points in the favour of Blu-Ray winning this particulas war.

Like it or not, blame it on the PS3

Re:

[aadvancedGIR]

1-Apparently, this movie, being THE release of the week, sells more in its BR version than all the other high def disks combined, at least today.
2-This movie seems to be available only in DVD, BR and UMD, so imagine "300" or another very big hit is released only in DVD and HD-DVD because it comes from an anti-Sony studio (I don't know for "300", and I don't care, it is simply for the example), will we see the same kind of article the other way around in a couple of mounthes?

heh

[smoondog]

I think a lot of customers are going to be disappointed when their purchase doesn't play in their dvd player.

Parent += 1, .= Insightful

[patio11]

My mother things BlueRay is a "new brand of DVD player, right?" I'd hate to be Amazon's customer service department explaining to people that they need to read carefully because the new Bond requires a new gadget to be able to play. Maybe if you beat somebody in a high-stakes poker game you'll be able to afford a BlueRay player... or at least the cable for one, which is a start.

Re:heh

[hansamurai]

This is an interesting comment as my wife and I subscribe to the Blockbuster delivery service and I've had to take Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs off our queue quite a few times as my wife just adds the first version of the movie she sees. One time, she even had the DVD and Blu-Ray version of the same movie on our queue, but that's another story.

I'm not saying that Amazon shoppers are making obvious buying errors and that the disc has no right being in the top 10, more just pointing out that difference between DVD and the other formats isn't always obvious to non-techies.

Re:heh

[LordNimon]

You might want to switch to Netflix then, because Netflix won't allow you to add BluRay or HD DVD (not "HD-DVD") discs unless you tell it you have an appropriate player.

Re:

[LoudMusic]

I think a lot of customers are going to be disappointed when their purchase doesn't play in their dvd player.

Perhaps, but I bet that number is going to be smaller than you might be thinking. If it were the HD-DVD version of a movie hitting that high of sales I'd guess a lot more customers were buying the wrong product - the term "BluRay" has to at least invoke hesitance before purchase.

PS3

[DogDude]

I know a lot of people probably don't use their PS2's as DVD players, but some do (I do). I think that once the PS3 starts rolling, Blue Ray will pick up some serious steam.

Re:

[Seumas]

I doubt it. I bought my PS3 because I wanted a cheap blue-ray device for the time being (my television does 1080p, which a lot of them are starting to support now). I didn't want to drop $1,000 on a high quality blue-ray player yet, until we see how things pan out.

The porn industry has already gone with HD-DVD so I think that clearly tells us where everything else is going. Either that or any decent player will support both and we'll just have two standards that are equally available and distributed.

Re:

[apoc06]

actually they havent gone with hd-dvd. there are several releases on blu-ray and several on hd-dvd. one distributor came out to say that they were having trouble getting houses to press their discs, but that was about it. one studio seems to have had problems and that is being spread as gospel FUD. vivid and several other companies have had blu-ray discs pressed with little to no issue. something is amiss. the industry hasnt banded together to make any sweeping announcements.

hd-dvd supporters also mention t

Re:

[soft_guy]

I know a lot of people probably don't use their PS2's as DVD players, but some do (I do).

I used to when I first bought my PS2, but that thing is a lousy DVD player. What I found was that it was really hard to control and if anyone bumped the controller, we had to re-start the whole movie. It was difficult to pause, etc.

Re:

[Paradox]

Yeah, the PS2 wasn't so good. Still, for a lot of people it was a great value to have a DVD player and a game system in one box, if only because it was rare to have many component inputs until the last few years.

But just about every review of the PS3 you can read, including this one, says that the Xbox 360 is the next generation shitty-PS2-esque DVD player. The picture is grainy and ugly. Sony seems to have learned from their mistake on this one, the PS3 is just about the best non-upconverting DVD player I'

whats the numbers

[VEGETA_GT]

If you can't tell me how many of these actualy sold then I am not interested. Was it 40 DVD's for #1 and 10 for #8 which means very little in the end. Or was it 10,000 for #1 and 8000 for number #8 spot. Knowing a standing in a chart means extreamly little unless you can give me the actual numbers sold.

also would like to point out that Blue Ray DVD's are much harder to find compared to standard DVD's that are even for sale in the local 7-11 including Casino Royale. This point could explain why it was bought more on amazon, as I can get the standard DVD any ware, but the blue ray and HD-DVD for that matter, are harder to find so would increase sales on things like amazon easily.

and yes this has been beaten to death point, but again more people have blue ray for the simple fact that its stock in PS3, not because a lot of people have bought specific players. From the numbers there is more stock HD-DVD players sold over stock Blue-Ray players. I just hope Sony realizes they need to avoid the fate of there Beta and actulay allow others to make Blue-Ray players, then they are in a position to actully win out.

Re:

[tomstdenis]

Yeah amazon's ranking is fairly useless. As the author of two shitastically non-selling books, I see my ranking jump inbetween 100 and 700k in the span of a day. Usually the result of a SINGLE SALE.

Lies!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Blu-Ray owners are committing suicide by the hundreds on the gates of Baghdad. Be assured, HD-DVD is safe, protected.

but Blu-Ray isn't DVD

[58797A7A79]

...but.. Blu-Ray isn't DVD. Blu-Ray is Blu-Ray. Just like DVD isn't CD, it's DVD. That's like saying that this USB pen drive is the best CD-ROM format thus far.

Re:

[jfengel]

But it does show that there is some demand for Blu-Ray discs (or at least, people who think they want one; let's see how many are returned once people realize they can't play them in a standard DVD player).

If it is real, then it shows that format shift from DVD to one or the other format may actually happen. That wasn't a foregone conclusion. Reading previous Slashdot discussions you get the impression that nobody was interested in the new features, especially not at the cost of having to put up with a ne

Re:

[init100]

Blu-Ray isn't DVD. Blu-Ray is Blu-Ray.

I agree, but Amazon et al. obviously don't. They put it under the DVD category, as well as calling the format DVD (Blu-Ray) in several places.

Very telling bit (FTA)

[A_Non_Moose]

it should be noted that two other editions of 'Casino Royale' (both standard-def DVD) also cracked the top ten yesterday -- the wide screen two-disc version (at #1) and the full screen two-disc version (at #10)

So, BR version at #8, HD at #1 and HD fullscreen at #10.

(Jack Sparrow) "Humm, that's interesting" (/JS)

The pedant in me wonders what the widescreen breakdown is? I dunno how popular 4:3 is vs 16:9, but owning a 16:9
tv and seeing non 16x9 titles *sometimes* keeps me from buying it on rare occasion.
But

Think that's bad? try 16x9 with forced letterbox!

[plasmacutter]

this is my ultimate favorite.

they did it with the US releases of countless anime titles (the worst was saikano)..

so then you get the black bars on the sides AND the top and bottom.. and youre watching the title on a quarter of your screen.. unless of course you have macosX and enable zoom : )

300

[Salamande]

It'll be interesting to see what happens when 300 comes out on home formats. That's going to be absolutely huge. I wonder if an HD-DVD exclusive would have the same effect...

Does anyone really care?

[clickclickdrone]

Ye gods, this reads like the old Atari ST v Amiga stuff. WHo really cares about if a film is on Blu-ray or DVD-HD? Who cares which miniscule sub-feature is supported or not? The only remotely pertinant issue is which studios are tied to which format but anyone who'se that obsessive will just buy two players.

And the winner is...

[too2late]

It seems that most intelligent, tech-savvy slashdotters are predicting HD-DVD will be the winner, since they know more about the subject than the average consumer. So, naturally Blu-Ray will win ;-)

Casino Royale

[HungWeiLo]

Let me guess...the Blu-Ray disc is not the one with Woody Allen [imdb.com] in it, right?

BD developers strike again

[heroine]

The BD developers order a ton of each disk the moment it comes out, for testing. Suspect Casino Royale had a problem with BD-J so they wanted to throw as much manpower at it as possible. There are also a lot of copies of Speed being bought, as you can see. The main thing they're working on is BD+. If you see a BD disk spike on your hot list, it's probably a BD+ being bought up for testing.

Re:Message to HD DVD Camp

[eln]

Yah, well, my dad can beat up your dad!

Re:

[vertinox]

Where is your pr0n to save you now?

What? The ones being seeded or the ones in queue to download?

Seriously, I don't think porn is an issue these days because you can just download it for free or very easily for a small fee at certain sites.

People don't want to go into shady stores to buy porn if they don't want to.

However, I personally believe digital downloads will defeat both BluRay and HDDVD if given the chance by a major corporation.

Actually, I think Porn does matter here.

[Paradox]

Over the last few years, we've been seeing the appearance of very high production Porn. The movie Pirates (work safe link) [wikipedia.org] was an example of a high production quality movie that needed to recoup its costs via disc sales. And, having seen this movie, it's definitely interesting to have real costumes, real sets, and real sex. That is probably the future of the porn industry, and so disc sales matter.

But all that aside, the Blu-ray-resists-porn thing was only an unfounded rumor. There are several X-rated relea

Re:

[poot_rootbeer]

Those that were too quick to discard blu-ray as the next beta will have a nice ample serve of humble pie waiting for them.

Okay, okay. Blu-Ray isn't the next Beta.

It's the next DVD-Audio, and HD-DVD is the next SACD.

Neither of which has yet managed to convinced the majority of the market to give up the 25-plus-year-old CD format.

Re:

[thefirelane]

I too have strong feelings about the way bits are arranged on plastic discs!

Re:

[FishWithAHammer]

No, that's Electronic Arts.

Re:

[danpsmith]

Perhaps cracked is more of an operating word than meant- I have to wonder if increased sales are in any way related to the cracking of the format (people not feeling so locked-in- so they can put the dvd on their ipod, etc).

Why the hell would anyone buy a more expensive blu-ray disk and player to put it on their iPod when the cheaper DVD will definitely fill that need more simply?

Re:

[geoffspear]

What, you don't have one of the new iPods with a High Definition 3 inch screen?

Re:

[flynt]

And at that price, who can afford more than the occasional purchase?

The same people who can afford a PS3 or other device to play them in, and a TV that can take advantage of it?

Re:Price comparison: $15.99 vs $27.99

[Paradox]

People who can afford the PS3 and a high-definition television (and maybe a 10x overpriced cord, if they don't wise up).

Seriously, for someone with a large HDTV, Blu-ray turns movis from a grainy experience with mediocre sound and washed out colors into a theater-quality experience. If your TV is larger than 40", 16:9(or 10) aspect, a high-def source is pretty much necessary to lot look blurry and grainy.

I don't own many Blu-ray discs, but I do own a few, and they are awesome to behold.

Re:

[Paradox]

HD looks awesome on the screen, not the format.

Uhh, sure. I guess? But BD's have one thing going for them that HD-DVDs don't. Awesome capacity. And what this tends to translate into is very very good sound. BD-50 disks tend to have uncompressed 5.1 audio, and it makes a difference in a home theater system.

But you're right about this, basically HD-DVD and Blu-ray tie on visual quality, and both support the same codec set.

As for the original question about why it costs more for the HD version -- the manufa

Re:

[geekoid]

All your comparisons are pretty bad.
Each one has a different cost to ship, pack, shelf space, etc.
All of that is the same for CD, DVD, BLU-RAY, HD.
So other then the difference in the minor cost difference to manufacture, there is no difference in cost.

"If you want to watch a movie, you have to pay what the maker of the movie wants to sell it for. "
hmmm..no.
The consumer(we're talking group here, not indovidual) pays to a price point, and no more.

If the item is past the price point, consumers will look to oth

Re:

[danpsmith]

I'm from the UK and I was surprised to see that most films seem to be released on DVD in both widescreen and fullscreen versions in the US. This doesn't really happen in the UK. Here almost all the films just come out in widescreen form and if you want to play on a 4:3 TV most DVD players give you the option of playing the DVD either in letter box or plan and scan. Is there a good reason for the difference?

I'm guessing that fullscreen has returned due to popular demand. Most of our DVD players don't ha

Re:

[geoffspear]

A good reason? No. A really stupid reason? Yes. There are more Americans who bitch about letterboxing not showing the whole movie like Fullscreen versions do, because they have no idea what the hell they're talking about.

Although I have to admit I can't imagine how your DVD player can really do "Pan and Scan" automatically on a widescreen disk. Just chopping off the sides of the image doesn't involve any panning or scanning, and you'd need pretty good AI to know exactly where to pan for the optimal ch

Re:

[Craig Davison]

Although I have to admit I can't imagine how your DVD player can really do "Pan and Scan" automatically on a widescreen disk. Just chopping off the sides of the image doesn't involve any panning or scanning, and you'd need pretty good AI to know exactly where to pan for the optimal chopped off image.

That, right there, is why there's a good reason to have a separate "fullscreen" edition of the movie. The "zoom" feature on your DVD player just crops a 4:3 region from the centre of the picture. Real P&S r

Re:

[drinkypoo]

Are DVDs capable of that? I'm sure *someone* thought of it during the DVD design...

No, they aren't. You don't get an offset. The way that this is actually implemented is that the movie is on there twice. Once in letterbox or anamorphic format, once in 4:3 format. Any disc with both versions on one side is a dual-layer DVD, although that's SOP these days, unlike the earliest moments of DVD.

Re:

[Skater]

Actually the ones I have that have both versions (such as Princess Bride) you have to flip the disc over.

I prefer widescreen, and avoid pan-and-scan versions, so it doesn't really bother me, but I've always thought my proposal would've been a cool feature of DVDs.

Re:

[Dog-Cow]

"Cowards need not reply. If you don't care to sign your name, I don't care to believe anything you say."

This may be hard to believe, but my name isn't Dog-Cow. However, you are still an ass.

Re:

[ynohoo]

because in the UK most DVD purchasers are smart enough to know that "Fullscreen" mean the sides of the frame have been hacked off, as opposed to USA morons who complain about about the "missing bits" of the frame in the black bits of the screen when watching in wide-screen.

Which is not to say that the UK has a shortage of morons, as indicated by your comment.

Re:

[Ogive17]

I was at the mall on Saturday and stopped by the game store. They had roughly 10 PS3s stacked up with a big neon sign saying "Units available today!"

They still can't keep a Wii in stock though.

Re:

[Afrosheen]

Seriously though, take these crap comments to Digg. Who cares that a console manufacturer is able to deliver their product successfully or not?

Re:

[speculatrix]

so many comments about ps/3 and built-in BR drive. how about the xbox360 and the cheap add-on hddvd? it's cheaper and has more games and a mature online system.

I don't have either, I'm hoping to see a 360 with HDMI and integrated hddvd before I leap off the fence into one or other camp.

Re:

[soft_guy]

so many comments about ps/3 and built-in BR drive. how about the xbox360 and the cheap add-on hddvd?

100% of PS3 units have the Blue Ray drive. What's the attach rate of this add-on? The attach rate for any specific accessory is almost always quite small. A large percentage of users buy accessories and accessories are very profitable, but for any specific accessory it is usually such a low number that people can't count of it being there.

Re:

[Maxwell]

How is it cheaper? And it doesn't even do HDMI...

JON

Re:

[Maxwell]

And XBox's ONE JRPG, Buee something or other, comes on ,what FIVE DVD's? Because you can't play games with the HD-DVD drive? yeah, that's a sweet setup you got there, for MORE than a PS3.

JON

Re:

[badspyro]

the new james bond film will never be avalable on HD-DVD?
*runs out to get an XBOX360*

Re:

[jank1887]

any recent or upcoming movies in both formats for an apples-to-apples comparison?

Tracked sales comprison

[BrerBear]

But what you'll see if you've been following the comparison trends at:
http://eproductwars.com/dvd/ [eproductwars.com]
is that Blu-Ray passed HD-DVD early this year, and the sales gap is generally widening. It's not just a fluke of the Casino Royale release.

Couple this with the anemic release schedule for upcoming HD-DVDs compared to Blu-Ray, and it looks like Blu-Ray is on a pretty solid path to trouncing HD-DVD. I say this as the owner of an HD-DVD XBox addon (but not PS3 or any other Blu-Ray).

Re:

[kinglink]

I race my friend, it's a marathon though, when the gun fires I run 100 feet faster then my friend and claim I won even though I'm exhausted.

Do you see a parallel between Sony and my race strategy?

Re:

[geekoid]

I had a 300 average at bowling..until the second frame.

Re:

[Don853]

No. That's a terrible analogy. Simply being ahead in a format war helps you to get further ahead, since more players on the market encourage production of more media and more media in existance encourages more people to buy players. A footrace has no such positive feedback loop. That's not to say being ahead early guarantees success, but it certainly doesn't make failure more likely as starting a marathon sprinting would.

Re:

[soft_guy]

No. That's a terrible analogy. Simply being ahead in a format war helps you to get further ahead, since more players on the market encourage production of more media and more media in existance encourages more people to buy players. A footrace has no such positive feedback loop.

You are exactly right. In order for HD-DVD to win, something has to happen to change the dynamic. For example, much cheaper (than Blue Ray) HD-DVD players, or some super-hot movie(s) coming out exclusive for HD-DVD might change things. But if things keep going like they are going, then Blue Ray will win.

No HD-DVD releases almost the whole month

[SuperKendall]

Cheaper player will not even help if more titles do not arrive. There have been no new HD-DVD releases since around the 27th of last month, and will not be any until around the same time this month!

Forgot super-hot movies, HD-DVD has trouble just getting any movies - and if sales continue to fall for HD-DVD versios of movies few titles will risk a release on HD-DVD which may not sell very well.

Re:

[Dachannien]

Blu-Ray has more capacity than the competition this time.

Which will mean something when we can start burning TV shows to our own Blu-Ray discs.

Re:

[Afrosheen]

Standard def content on a 25G disc? Why even care? And if you're really serious, go buy a blu-ray burner. I've seen them at Frys and other places already. Drop that crazy expensive treat in your MythTV box, record some shows to the HD, and burn away.

Re:

[toleraen]

ruh roh ruh roh! [google.com]