So there’s been a ton of hoopla over the last couple of days regarding this whole HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray battle and how Paramount/Dreamworks are going to be releasing movies exclusively in HD-DVD format. Well, almost exclusively since Spielberg still wants his movies available in both formats.
What really brought the debate into the news was the fact that Michael Bay stated that he was really not happy with these studios wanting to release his mega-hit Transformers only in HD-DVD format and that he was going to take a stand by refusing to come back to direct Transformers 2.
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On the one hand, I thought the guy was demonstrating an amazing amount of hubris by making a decision regarding the sequel based on something that is essentially none of his business. On the other hand, maybe it was cool that he was willing to take a stand on something (then again, he could just be politicking for more money). 
It turns out that he blogged his tirade in the wee hours of the morning, and now feels like he should have thought things through a bit better. From a post on a forum that he frequents he had this to say:
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″!
So we either have some backpedaling or a case of “blogger’s regret,” I don’t know which.
I haven’t covered the Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD battle here at Screen Rant because frankly although I love movies and have a surround sound home theater set up, I have a 5 year old DVD player, a 7 year old HDTV and over 120 DVDs in the current format. Why does that matter? Because I’m not about to get sucked into a VHS/Betamax-style format war (and don’t tell me there isn’t a parallel) and end up on the wrong side of the winning technology.
I’m no expert on the technology, but my understanding is that it’s cheaper to produce HD-DVDs because they expand on existing DVD technology. Blu-Ray is a completely new technology, the movies have been outselling those on HD-DVD, and it had been assumed that it would end up winning the battle until the recent Paramount announcement. The funny thing is, if HD-DVDs are cheaper to produce, why don’t the cost less than Blu-Ray discs? I’ve looked up a few titles and they cost the same, if not more than the Blu-Ray version.
The short of it is that all this fighting and greed is hurting the future of Hi Def movies for the home as well as existing DVD sales IMHO. Personally I’m not investing a nickel in any new technology until the smoke clears, but in the meantime I’m buying VERY few new movies on DVD.
I’m curious to see how this shakes out in the next year or so.
Source: The Hot Blog
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12 Comments
Damn… just when i was about to get excited and write an article about Bay being OFF the sequel.
I guess we can look forward to another narrative vaccuum.
As for the new technology… I couldn’t care less. I’m happy with my DVDs for now and - to be honest - the price of the new formats is offensive. Not to mention the tacky packaging that prioritises the format over the titles’ artwork.
My primary reason to loathe HD-DVD is that it’s the one Microsoft chose to support in all of the XBox 360’s that have bricked on my friends. I know a lot of people are staying out of this format war, for instance I own the 8-Core Mac Pro with a 30″ cinema display and yet Apple has yet to release a drive supporting either format. I guess it’s DVD for me until they figure out what they are going to do.
As for Bay choosing a side and then backing out, I’m going to choose the very unpopular opinion that lawyers were directly involved in the new statement. No one, I don’t care who you are, makes a statement so bold and passionate and then recants the next day of their own volition. It was coerced.
On a personal note I hate this format war and I further hate the studios that are allowing it to go on as long as it is. A lot of people are going to get burned on this one. Several MILLION more people than the VHS war every dreamed of burning. Lots of people are waiting out the storm, but lots of people are also buying new sets because of the Congressional mandated digital conversion that’s happening in 2009. When they buy the new set they buy the new disc player and hope they don’t get screwed by the movie studios (And they may as well all get some KY because plenty will get screwed on this one - and not in a friendly way) when the player they bought was dropped from distribution of future titles.
Um… Brian… I make bold, emotional statements all the time… only to retract them after I calm down.
It seems to me only people in the public eye aren’t allowed to do this.
Well I’m angry at this. I am a blu-ray supporter since I have a PS3 and was looking forward to getting Transformers on blu-ray.
What really makes me angry though is Iron Man won’t be on blu-ray since it is a Paramount Picture.
Not that I really care much who directs since, not having liked the first one, it’s virtually guaranteed that I will not be seeing the sequel, but this is not good news.
As for the format wars, I’m not going to even consider an HD format until the smoke clears from this one and I know where things stand on the HVD technology.
Although my tech is relatively old, I’m a HUGE fan of Hi-Def. I haven’t seen a movie in either of the new formats, but I understand that you can really improve the picture put out by a regular DVD player with progressive scan or by adding some sort of upconverter.
The industry is really shooting itself in the foot with this one.
Vic
Kane: I make bold emotional statements from time to time, and I never retract them because that would just be a lie, and I’d always know it. I’ll take uncomfortable honesty any day over a lie smothered in smiles and statements like, “Oh I was wrong.” I’ll bet Bay rolled over for the Industry when projects we haven’t even heard about yet were threatened. That’s just coercion 101.
Screen Rant: I’ve actually spent several hours in a Best Buy watching movies on both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. I will stand up and admit that I preferred the Blu-Ray system to the HD-DVD. They both have the same picture because they both have H-264 footage on there, so it ultimately comes down to how the Menus and functionality works. I prefer Blu-Ray and I’d buy one if I knew I wasn’t going to get stabbed in the back by the movie industry. I’ve also watched upscaled DVD’s and believe it or not, they don’t look half bad. I was really surprised by how good the picture looked even from ten feet away from the screen (which is reasonably the distance one would watch from). I dropped in “The Bourne Identity” because I wanted to see how action sequences were going to be affected (it was a Philips Blu-Ray player). I have to say that it was amazing to see it, knowing that the image wasn’t HD at all. I think upscaling will save this industry because so many of us have huge libraries.
“so it ultimately comes down to how the Menus and functionality works.”
Yup, that’s basically what’s keeping me from switching from my old DirecTV box with the Tivo interface to an HD Dish Network box.
“I think upscaling will save this industry because so many of us have huge libraries.”
I may have to dig a little deeper into that.
“I make bold emotional statements from time to time, and I never retract them because that would just be a lie”
LOL, dude… you must NOT be married! What are you, a Vulcan? I’m originally from NJ and although for the most part I’ve sublimated that part of my personality it does poke through from time to time. I’ve said things that I’ve regretted before in the heat of the moment and have retracted them. That didn’t make the retraction a lie, but the original statement an over-reaction to a situation.
I realize you may be perfect, but sometimes some of can actually be wrong.
Vic
Vic,
I actually laughed out loud at your comments!
I think you’d be surprised by the quality of upscaling provided. Get out one of your favorite action movies and walk into Best Buy or some other place where they have HD equipment set up correctly. Drop the disc into a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player and see what the picture is like. I was surprised and I think you will be too. I just didn’t like the menus and such from HD-DVD machines. That’s a personal preference though. Some people are admittedly “cheap” They’ll just buy the cheapest model they can find (not to suggest that you do). Others never look at the price tag at all. They simply look at how they like or dislike something. I fall into the latter category.
No, I’m not married. I know that a man generally relinquishes his opinions the moment he says “I do” and everything becomes her opinion and you just agree with it. (Not to say that’s your current situation but it certainly is with many of my married friends). Opinions can’t be wrong. They are your opinions. Statements can be wrong and they often times get retractions by me because I was wrong. But when it comes to an opinion, I always stand by mine (like our Stardust conversation earlier where we BOTH stood by our opinions). I don’t say I’m sorry because I’m not, nor would I ever apologize for an opinion if I were married. I refuse to give up thinking on my own because of a relationship (and many men actually side with me on that one). If I’m wrong I’ll admit as much, but I’ll never retract or alter an opinion, just statements.
And no, I don’t think I’m a Vulcan 
“I actually laughed out loud at your comments!”
Glad to hear it - I try to keep things on a positive note here. I have a low tolerance for folks being nasty to each other on the site.
“If I’m wrong I’ll admit as much, but I’ll never retract or alter an opinion, just statements.”
What if your statement IS an opinion?
Going back to Michael Bay’s original comment, I’d say that was a statement so by your logic he should be able to retract it.
Best,
Vic
Perhaps I used the wrong word. I consider a statement to be something taken as fact rather than taken as opinion. While it may be our opinion that the sky is blue, it can also be a fact that it is. There’s no way of looking at what Bay said without thinking that it was coerced, in my opinion. It may be possible for Bay to flip/flop like that and not feel like he’s looking like a complete spineless human being, but I could never do it.
If I look at “Product A” and it doesn’t meet my needs or has features I don’t care for, no group is going to modify that opinion and make me suddenly reject “Product B” that I said I liked the day before and choose instead “Product A” Any way I look at that situation it looks like coercion. It probably went something like this:
Bay: “Product B is amazing and the folks promoting Product A are complete jerks for supporting such a horrible technology!”
Paramount: “Product A is what we are endorsing. If you make such statements again we’ll ensure that you never work with our studios again, or any of our financial backers who obviously would choose to do business with us over you. We suggest you consider your situation and release a statement promptly recanting your prior position. Your friends will forgive you for being completely spineless.”
Bay: “Last night at dinner I was having dinner with three blu-ray owners…So today I saw ‘300′ on HD, it rocks!”
My conclusion: Bay is spineless.
Regarding this business you should have read the ORIGINAL commentary of that idiot over at The Digital Bits! I almost fell of my chair laughing! He ranted (against Microsoft etc.) like he got a nickel per letter!
And the next day he got evil mail and changed everything to some more “reasonable criticism”!
But you can still get a look at his original text, if you know how to google. Believe me, it’s worth your while!
Alastair.
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