Will Warner Brothers go exclusive?

[Titan]

Why wouldn\'t they? Even Sony jumped on the VHS wagon when they admitted defeat.

[Viper_Fujax]

a little suprising since a console is different than a whole dvd/vhs player. If MS made players, than it\'d be a little more obvious. I just thought theyd dismiss the whole thing once hd-dvd went away.

Paramount is about to jump ship. If they don\'t jump ship, I expect them to at least not release any more catalog titles.  Maybe some day-to-date titles, at most.

[Paul2]

a little suprising since a console is different than a whole dvd/vhs player. If MS made players, than it\'d be a little more obvious. I just thought theyd dismiss the whole thing once hd-dvd went away.

Microsoft said months before they first released the XBOX360 that that they won\'t include HD-DVD ROM built in because they don\'t want to upset consumers if HD-DVD turns out a failure.

So instead, not long after they released the XBOX360, they announced they would sell the HD-DVD Drive as an external drive as an option for those that want to watch movies in HD-DVD format.

It does surprised me a bit too that Microsoft might start thinking about selling the Blu Ray as an external BD Drive like how HD-DVD was.  Its business, why not then.

it should be a cheaper alternative for those that already own XBOX360 to be able to watch Blu Ray movies via external add-on.

[Titan]

Microsoft said months before they first released the XBOX360 that that they won\'t include HD-DVD ROM built in because they don\'t want to upset consumers if HD-DVD turns out a failure.

So instead, not long after they released the XBOX360, they announced they would sell the HD-DVD Drive as an external drive as an option for those that want to watch movies in HD-DVD format.

It does surprised me a bit too that Microsoft might start thinking about selling the Blu Ray as an external BD Drive like how HD-DVD was.  Its business, why not then.

it should be a cheaper alternative for those that already own XBOX360 to be able to watch Blu Ray movies via external add-on.

What\'s funny is that MS would have to pay royalties to Sony, their arch rival, if they decide to go that route.

[GmanJoe]

blu ray is not a proprietary hardware of Sony.

I see.  So, its from streaming, not downloading content?

Well you could download.. but then there is the storage problem. I have a 500GB external HDD and I would only be able to fit 10 movies on that expensive sonavabitch.. so yeah, for Blu-Ray quality you might want to stream instead.

blu ray is not a proprietary hardware of Sony.

Sony is one of the founders though, so yes they would get Microsofts moneis.

Sony is one of the founders though, so yes they would get Microsofts moneis.

In the same vein, one of the Blu-ray codecs available to studios is Microsoft\'s VC-1, which means they would get royalties for every BR disc made with their codec.

Though I think most pressings now are mpeg-4...

[Paul2]

yeah, most movies are in MPEG-4 than VC-1 as if they aren\'t supporting Microsoft codec because Microsoft back HD-DVD.  But now, it seems like microsoft open up about the possibility of supporting blu ray.

[Titan]

Either way, I wish I invested in blu-ray back in the beginning. I even told my mom to let me take out a couple grand of my money to let me invest in it. It seems like if it wins, those who invested will be getting a good chunk of change back.

In the same vein, one of the Blu-ray codecs available to studios is Microsoft\'s VC-1, which means they would get royalties for every BR disc made with their codec.

Though I think most pressings now are mpeg-4...

IIRC MS had to let go of VC-1 whenever SMPTE approved the format. However, they help a lot of studios with the encoding and Im sure there is propitary MS encoding software out there, so they get paid one way or the other. But I dont think its per-disc.

VC1 has been very popular with the HD-DVD studios, Sonys optimization MPEG4 AVC has been popular with Blu-Ray studios (Disney loves them high bitrates).

Based on rumours Batman Begins is being re-encoded for Blu-Ray right now (for a higher bitrate) and they might use MPEG4 AVC for it since it usually gives better results than VC1.

Well, I am still buying HD DVDs when I can find them cheap, but I\'ve picked up a few Blu-Ray\'s also.

1: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

2: Spider-Man 3

3: Resident Evil: Extinction

4: The Assinsation of Jesse James

5: Saw 4

6: The Departed.

I\'m expecting, to also get the five free movie\'s, of which I selected.
(Superman: The Movie, The Devils Rejects, PoTC: The Curse of the Black Pearl, The Patriot and The Omen:666)

But as I see it, Blu Ray discs are still way too expensive, even on sites like Amazon.com, where I was always able to pick up HD DVDS quite abit cheaper than the normal B&M store. So, I guess I\'ll continue to be "purple", as whenever I see a movie I want on HD DVD, I don\'t think about it, I just go ahead and pick it up.  I\'ll also continue to Netflix movies on all three formats (DVD, BLU RAY and HD DVD).

[clips]

y\'know that resident evil joint wasn\'t that bad,..if you just look at it from an action thriller sort of film and not to really try to put it in the actual resident evil universe....and i\'ve yet to see any of the saw movies.....one day i\'m just gonna start from the first one and work my way up...

No matter how you look at it, that Resident Evil "joint" sucked.