AfterDawn: News

HD DVD group promises 70 new titles in 4 months

The HD DVD promotional group has promised 70 new movies releases on the HD DVD format within the coming four months. The group, led by Toshiba, has denied claims from the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) that HD DVD has lost the format war. The group pointed out the difference in stand-alone sales for each format so far, and Toshiba also has more price drops coming in a few days.

Toshiba's HD-A2 will cost $399 from April 1st on. New HD DVD titles that have been promised include newer movies such as Children of Men, Good Shepherd and Happy Feet. Also in the line-up is HD DVD boxsets of the Matrix trilogy. Other releases will include Dreamgirls, 40-Year Old Virgin Unrated, Flags of Our Fathers: Special Collector’s Edition, The Hitcher, Mission: Impossible, Mission: Impossible 2, Black Christmas (2006), Harsh Times, The Battle of the Bulge.



Source:
Pocket-Lint.co.uk

Written by: James Delahunty @ 29 Mar 2007 17:52

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• 6 comments

• azndrake

  Ohhh, Looks like Toshiba is not backing down without a fight cutting the price again for 100 dollars. Also the 70 titles it seems like a comeback for Toshiba, but out of the 70 titles only the ones mention on this article is even worth mentioning at all O.o. Can Toshiba finally be able to stop blue-ray or is it too-little-too-late???
  
  Only time will tell, but seems like only a miracle can save HD-DVD now.
  
  Miracle = all the bd-drives in the ps3 malfunctions.
  Or
  Blue Ray disc life expectancy is less than one year.

  29.3.2007 21:59 #1

• hade

  backing down without a fight, or maybe on their last legs of desperation? imo they are fighting an uphill battle and it doesn't look too good.
  
  its been reported/rumored that first week US sales of casino royale have surpassed 100k units, pretty impressive.
  
  i just think its hard to compete when there are only a limited amount of individuals who own HD-DVD players when compared to the number of ps3/Blu-ray players. pricecut or not, i also don't think the everyday american for example is going to be going out and buying these or even Blu-ray players any time soon. most aren't too willing to give up or replace their dvd collections just yet. of course there are others out there who refuse to buy either format until one has come out on top.

  29.3.2007 22:11 #2

• BobbyBlu

  They might be releasing 70 title's but it all about Hardware & studio supporters first & they don't have it, so i would say this is a up-hill battle for them & they are sliding down as we speak.I'm willing to bet half of them 70 title are titles we own on DVD already then the other half will be coming to Blu-ray so that leave very little exclusives only from Universal.I wish Universal throw the damm towel in because they know its a loss cause.Do anyone know if Sony & Universal at some kind of odd's because Universal has been very stubborn.
  
  
  F.Y.I.
  
  'Children of Men' HD DVD Hits Xbox 360 Playback Snag?
  
  http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/U...ayback_Snag/552

  29.3.2007 23:17 #3

• pigfister

  its completely about what people are purchasing and the big factor is going to be a cheap HD-DVD or Blu-ray burner for peoples pc's so they can back up media and burn home movies ect. as Blu-ray has the extra bd+ copy protection and has to be hooked up to the internet to down regular security updates to enable the Blu-ray players to play new media and there is also the fact that any player judged bad can then be permanently disabled may just sway the balance towards HD-DVD.
  
  its a fact that Blu-ray titles are moving more units atm but the figures are being fixed by redeemable vouchers in players and ps3 boxes, then if you look at the state of hardware sales and HD-DVD are selling many more.
  
  then you get to the ps3 that has inbuilt (trojan horse) Blu-ray which is only a 2x drive capable of only 8mbps data retrieval rate which is great if you want an inexpensive Blu-ray player but for gaming it has the draw back of causing longer load times which has already been publicly criticised by Bethesda's Todd Howard for being to slow and a 12x dvd drive that can read at 16mbps would have been a better option.
  
  the ps3 is the crucial part to sony's battle and many gamers will turn away when the reality kicks in that they have been short changed by being forced to have a trojan game machine in their homes or they will be lemmings and purchase anyway but with hardly any ps3 being sold in the us which is where the bulk of movies are sold it does not bode well for Blu-ray atm.
  
  if ppl expect a conclusion to this battle soon i wouldn't hold your breath as hd content only accounts for 2% of the total market and with better quality dvd players that can upscale rapidly coming down in price and incompatibility between Blu-ray and HD-DVD HDMI and hd screens expect it to be a long time before there is a clear winner.
  
  imo i am rooting for HD-DVD as it contains the least DRM.

  29.3.2007 23:58 #4

• azndrake

  Originally posted by pigfister:
  its a fact that blu-ray titles are moving more units atm but the figures are being fixed by redeemable vouchers in players and ps3 boxes, then if you look at the state of hardware sales and HD-DVD are selling many more.
  
  the ps3 is the crucial part to sony's battle and many gamers will turn away when the reality kicks in that they have been short changed by being forced to have a trojan game machine in their homes or they will be lemmings and purchase anyway but with hardly any ps3 being sold in the us which is where the bulk of movies are sold it does not bode well for Blu-ray atm.
  ??? The ps3 is doing pretty well check vgcharts.org. Seems they will hit the 3million mark anytime now, and your statements kind of contradicts each other by stating how ps3 owners were forced to buy the ps3 with a blue ray player, but then stating that it is because ps3 owners were forced to buy the blue ray player ps3 owners were also forced to buy blue ray titles seems a bit odd. From a statistic it seems that 80% of the people that owns a ps3 also buys blue rays. I guess all of them were FORCED to buy blue rays or they might go to hell?

  30.3.2007 10:31 #5

• subpopz

  Originally posted by pigfister:its completely about what people are purchasing and the big factor is going to be a cheap HD-DVD or Blu-ray burner for peoples pc's so they can back up media and burn home movies ect. as Blu-ray has the extra bd+ copy protection and has to be hooked up to the internet to down regular security updates to enable the Blu-ray players to play new media and there is also the fact that any player judged bad can then be permanently disabled may just sway the balance towards HD-DVD.
  
  This is whats gonna make it or break it for me.
  Whichever one comes out with the cheapest, easiest burners (+ cheap blank media) is the one I'm gonna go with.
  The Blu-ray DRM measures aren't too appealing, either.

  31.3.2007 04:13 #6