IFPI's New Strategy: Sue ISPs For Not Stopping... >>
<< Turns Out The Wal-Mart Crowd Just Isn't That...
 tdicon 

Share/E-mail This Story

Email This



(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick

Tue, Mar 11th 2008 5:45am




Filed Under:
dvd, hd vmd, high definition, standards


Yet Another HD DVD Format Steps Into The Ring?

from the this-will-end-quickly-on-a-knockout dept

Thought the format war over high definition DVD technologies was over and Blu-ray had won? Perhaps you should think again. The NY Times has a story about yet another attempt at a high definition DVD technology, this time called HD VMD. It's not hard to predict where this one is going: it's dead on arrival. While the company behind it insists it's not trying to start a standards battle, it's difficult to see how you can judge it any other way. After all, why would any studio want to go through the same mess from the past five years in arguing over which standard to release their movies on? The folks behind HD VMD seem to be banking their entire efforts on two very weak pegs: first, their system is cheaper than Blu-ray and second, their Chairman is a big shot Hollywood distributor. If that's the case, he hasn't been particularly effective as there are only 17 movies available in the format -- and you probably wouldn't recognize any of them. As for the cost issue, that's dead on arrival as well. HD DVD was cheaper than Blu-ray and that didn't help it survive. Besides, anyone who understands technology advancement curves knows that Blu-ray is going to start getting cheaper and cheaper pretty fast. The cost advantage will disappear before long. But, the single biggest factor is just that the studios know they've lost three or four good years of selling high def DVDs and don't want to bother with yet another format war.
19 Comments | Leave a Comment

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1.  
    icon
    Crosbie Fitch (profile), Mar 11th, 2008 @ 6:25am

    They could sell the movies instead

    Movie producers could simply sell the movies and let everyone else decide how best to distribute them whether online or on whatever physical medium is most appropriate.

    Why not let the market decide?

    It would no doubt favour quality and ease of copying above fancy menus and gimmicks.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    identicon
    Neil & Young, Mar 11th, 2008 @ 7:37am

    Why they won't. . .

    just sell the movie? PROFITS BABY! IT'S ALL ABOUT THE PROFITS. . . IN CAPITAL LETTERS!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    Sean Gilley, Mar 11th, 2008 @ 7:38am

    More like 125 films available...

    I went to the site -- they have 125 films available in the HD VMD format.

    Not that I think it makes any difference -- I agree that the format is DOA. It's simply too late.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    identicon
    ironskull, Mar 11th, 2008 @ 7:39am

    new hd-dvd format

    Is the guy pushing this new hd format on crack? Game over, Blu ray won.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    identicon
    koresho, Mar 11th, 2008 @ 7:46am

    Finally.

    After seeing Blu-Ray win I went out and bought a new laptop with a Blu-Ray drive in it... Now I just can't wait for Blu-Ray disc prices to drop. This guy must be crazy, it is way too late to take on Blu-Ray, Sony has won.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    identicon
    Monarch, Mar 11th, 2008 @ 7:57am

    Blu-Ray may have won, but I still will NOT buy the PoS Blu-Ray. It's broken, will always be broken until the DRM is dropped and the phone home is dropped. I will gladly support any format that is not Sony nor Blu-Ray!
    Which until the movie studios understand what they are selling, I guess it will be DVD with upconvert DVD players!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Mar 11th, 2008 @ 8:16am

    If it had been a flash-based system, I might have paid attention.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Mar 11th, 2008 @ 8:17am

    If it had been a flash-based system, I might have paid attention.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  
    identicon
    Dr. Know, Mar 11th, 2008 @ 8:37am

    Flash or bandwidth

    Your right a flash based system would be nice simply Download the movies to a Flash drive, insert to the system and have at it.... HD-Flash, wouldnt have to worry about scratching your disc ever!!! just umm... dont let your flash drive go through the laundry

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  10.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Mar 11th, 2008 @ 8:45am

    Re: Flash or bandwidth

    Yeah 'cos blu-ray disks will go through the laundry no problem.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  11.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Mar 11th, 2008 @ 8:56am

    Re: Flash or bandwidth

    Um, the laundry's not a problem either. On at least two occasions, I've had a USB thumb drive go through the washer and maybe even the dryer (can't remember for sure) and it still worked just fine afterward. Just make sure you let it dry out completely before you use it again.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  12.  
    identicon
    Baloney Joe, Mar 11th, 2008 @ 9:04am

    Re:

    Are you serious? DO you honestly thing the guys in Hollywood give to rips about what you think. I sure they are having meetings weekly trying figure out "what do we have to do to get that Monarch guy to buy are stuff" By the way, DVD has DRM as well, you are just bypassing it as you steal movies from netflix... Don't worry some day you'll be able to pirate Blu-Ray as well, just be patient...

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  13.  
    identicon
    Jake, Mar 11th, 2008 @ 9:14am

    Re: Re: Flash or bandwidth

    Doesn't even have to be a flash drive; sell recordable discs, let users burn content onto them as they stream off the web and keep the copy-protection provisions within reason*, and I'll take two!

    *Recommended solution: Let users download each individual film as many times as they like after they've paid for it, but not allow them to copy it to anything but another blank disc; one might be able to set up a sort of cottage industry making copies and flogging them down the pub, but that would have the major disadvantage of being a much worse deal than buying them legitimately.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  14.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Mar 11th, 2008 @ 9:45am

    Re: Re:

    Are you serious? DO you honestly thing the guys in England give to rips about what you think. I sure they are having meetings weekly trying figure out "what do we have to do to get that Baloney Joe guy to learn OUR language" By the way, America has grammar as well, you are just bypassing it as you type horribly from your keyboard... Don't worry, someday you'll be able to speak English as well, just be patient...

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  15.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Mar 11th, 2008 @ 11:04am

    Re: Re: Re:

    you missed the "to rips" = "two rips"

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  16.  
    identicon
    stands for..., Mar 11th, 2008 @ 12:22pm

    HD VMD..

    Very Much Dead ...

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  17.  
    identicon
    Rekrul, Mar 11th, 2008 @ 2:22pm

    I've heard that the price for VMD blanks would be in the $1 range. If so, VMD could easily succeed as a home storage format, if not as a movie distribution medium. Especially if Blu-Ray blanks continue to be $10-20 each.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  18.  
    identicon
    kid person, Mar 11th, 2008 @ 6:47pm

    WOW

    This is really stupid and it makes me LOL alot. I liked blue ray from the begining, first because it has a more original name then HD DVD and then because it has higher storage capacities(50gig for a dule layer disk). and my spelling is terrible sry.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  19.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Mar 14th, 2008 @ 1:05am

    blu ray got more expensive. so the cheaper and cheaper comment is out.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Save me a cookie
  • Note: A CRLF will be replaced by a break tag (<br>), all other allowable HTML will remain intact
  • Allowed HTML Tags: <b> <i> <a> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>
IFPI's New Strategy: Sue ISPs For Not Stopping... >>
<< Turns Out The Wal-Mart Crowd Just Isn't That...
 tdicon 
Follow Techdirt
Flattr rss rss
A word from our Sponsors...
Sponsored Resource
Essential Reading
Techdirt Reading List
Techdirt Insider Chat

A word from our Sponsors...
Recent Stories

Tuesday

3:50pm: States Attorneys General Want To Special Exception To Blame Sites For Actions Of Users (4)
3:02pm: Google, Without Admitting It Gets FISA Orders, Files Lawsuit To Challenge FISA Gag Orders (9)
2:29pm: NYPD Commissioner Blasts NSA Secret Monitoring For Being Secret (9)
1:43pm: It's Come To This: Commentators Arguing That The Press Commits A Crime In Exposing NSA Surveillance (27)
1:00pm: US Chamber Of Commerce: Bollywood Is So Successful Without Strong Copyrights That It Will Fail Unless India Strengthens Its Copyrights (35)
11:58am: Senator Lindsey Graham Defends NSA Surveillance By Arguing About Something Entirely Different (48)
11:15am: NSA Claims Surveillance Programs Aided The Stopping Of 50 Attacks; Details Lacking (64)
10:31am: The NSA's Lockbox Has No Lock (44)
9:44am: Knowing The Government Is Spying On You Changes How You Act (45)
8:44am: MPAA's Chris Dodd Will Be The Chair Of 'Free Speech Week' (107)
More arrow
A word from our Sponsors...

Close

Email This