AfterDawn: News

New Harry Potter HD DVD will feature inaugural "Community Screening" function

Warner has announced that its upcoming HD DVD release of 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' will bring HD interconnectivity to a new level with the introduction of the "Live Community Screening" feature.

The new feature will allow "multiple owners of the 'Order of the Phoenix' HD DVD to simultaneously watch the film via their own individual web-connected players." The playback is controlled by one user who is host and can invite the other users to the viewing. There will even be a virtual "live chat" where participants can text between their remote devices.



The release date for the movie is December 11th and although Warner is releasing a Blu-ray version as well, it will not include any web-enabled content.

Source:
HD Digest

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 27 Nov 2007 18:33

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• 37 comments

• tavek

  WHATS THIS< BLUE RAY TO HAVE , oh NOT include any web enabled content, rofl, it just gets better.

  28.11.2007 00:06 #1

• CNDLG

  Hmmmm... Warner Bros. making a Blu-Ray? the begining of something?

  28.11.2007 00:15 #2

• c.trigger

  thats so pointless!

  28.11.2007 03:23 #3

• sk8flawzz

  Originally posted by CNDLG: Hmmmm... Warner Bros. making a Blu-Ray? the begining of something?
  what do you mean? WB has been dual format all along right?
  
  and i agree with c.trigger, what the heck is the point?!?

  28.11.2007 04:34 #4

• ematrix

  Here's my thought... ¿why don't i invite my friends to watch the movie at my house and spare all the trouble from another pointless use of their so called "advanced features"?... because of stuff like this is why i reject and dislike both HD DVD and Blu Ray.

  28.11.2007 05:23 #5

• BoSoxs07

  Another useless feature...who cares.

  28.11.2007 05:38 #6

• hughjars

  It won't suit every movie but sometimes amongst a group of friends this could be a brilliant idea.
  
  (tho naturally all the Blu fans will pretend it's pointless, unwanted & totally awful.......until Blu-ray eventually gets it's act together and at long last does something a little more than what an ancient interactive CD can do).

  28.11.2007 07:13 #7

• 26r0cK

  IMO, it sounds like HD DVD trying to turn this into like an online game where everybody needs a copy to play. Thus trying to get more sales for HD DVD. I guess Blu-ray sales are doing well and isnt that desparate which is why they dun get/need it :P Its just one less hassle for WB to make for Blu-ray while they gotta suffer just to try to increase HD DVD sales.
  
  Sure ppl can say that im wrong and the reason why blu-ray doesnt get that function cuz its harder to develop etc etc...but its more fun to see it my way ;P
  
  And yea this sounds like a very useless feature.
  
  Do ppl care for these online things for movies? Seriously i buy movies to watch the movie. And since this is Harry Potter, couldnt like older ppl chat wit little kids? This could cause sum weird stuff going on.

  28.11.2007 07:26 #8

• sk8flawzz

  weird double post

  28.11.2007 11:49 #9

• sk8flawzz

  Originally posted by 26r0cK: IMO, it sounds like HD DVD trying to turn this into like an online game where everybody needs a copy to play. Thus trying to get more sales for HD DVD. I guess Blu-ray sales are doing well and isnt that desparate which is why they dun get/need it :P Its just one less hassle for WB to make for Blu-ray while they gotta suffer just to try to increase HD DVD sales.
  i dont think its desperate..if blu ray was doing it and not hd dvd would it be desperate??

  28.11.2007 11:50 #10

• CNDLG

  Quote:Originally posted by CNDLG: Hmmmm... Warner Bros. making a Blu-Ray? the begining of something?
  what do you mean? WB has been dual format all along right?
  
  and i agree with c.trigger, what the heck is the point?!?I thought Warner was HD-DVD only.

  28.11.2007 12:28 #11

• hughjars

  Warner are (for the moment at least) format neutral.
  
  I do not expect that state of affairs to continue for too much longer and it is my information that they will be going HD DVD exclusive in 2008.

  28.11.2007 14:01 #12

• jetyi83

  this feature would be really cool for porn movies..

  28.11.2007 14:07 #13

• goodswipe

  Originally posted by jetyi83: this feature would be really cool for porn movies..lmao....
  
  p0rnguy_69: yo man check out those boobs!
  31337_hax012: yea those are some nice jugs!

  28.11.2007 15:07 #14

• vinny13

  Quote:Originally posted by jetyi83: this feature would be really cool for porn movies..lmao....
  
  p0rnguy_69: yo man check out those boobs!
  31337_hax012: yea those are some nice jugs!Lmao I don't like where this idea is going :P
  

  
  

  28.11.2007 16:04 #15

• hade

  if i wanted someone to watch a movie with me i would invite them over to my house. the last thing i want is a textbar scrolling across the screen during a film. i suppose if people live far away may be it would be nice but both still have to own players or the movie??? so....yeah this is brilliant. umm maybe if they did this during football games or something where people could discuss calls on the field
  
  i'd rather text message someone on my phone during a movie but that is just me
  
  hmm guess we'll see how warner fares after this release. if sales are stronger for blu-ray why the hell would they want to cut their target market down? if the blu-ray movie does not fair well then i could see them flipping but wtf info do you have that would make them want to go solely hd-dvd? makes no sense, sure argue cost, (or your pathetic "attachment rate")but when your selling and have a target market of double/triple that of hd-dvd, costs can very easily be recouped.
  
  the only logical explanation is companies prefer to operate in the black. as long as warner makes a profit with their blu-ray sales they will continue to stay in the market (atleast according to normal economic model/theory) unless of course you have a paramount buyout/ exclussive deal or w/e you want to call it where they get paid.
  
  i can't wait to read the standalone unit sales or attachment rate argument because thats really all you have. now that is pointless.
  
  two of this year's biggest blockbusters are due out within the next month. the simpsons movie, and At Worlds End (POC). its fantastic that standalone sales increase but when the movies the general public want aren't available....well you get the idea.

  28.11.2007 16:41 #16

• duckNrun

  I have enough trouble watching movies at friend's houses:
  
  Dogs barking, friend playing with them knowing theyll bark more, got to let them out, got to let them in, other friends talking, needing to rewind a dozen times because they missed somet while they were talking or playing. It's getting to the point where if I want to SEE a movie I stay home and watch it.
  
  This online gathering would just be another distraction for me. But I can see a bunch of kids, of adults who like to talk instead of watch, getting off on this.

  28.11.2007 16:45 #17

• camaro17

  Quote:Quote:Originally posted by CNDLG: Hmmmm... Warner Bros. making a Blu-Ray? the begining of something?
  what do you mean? WB has been dual format all along right?
  
  and i agree with c.trigger, what the heck is the point?!?I thought Warner was HD-DVD only.
  ya right warner isnt that stupid, well we aren't sure yet. lol. at least they aren't as stupid as paramount.

  28.11.2007 17:15 #18

• hughjars

  Originally posted by camaro17: ya right warner isnt that stupid, well we aren't sure yet. lol. at least they aren't as stupid as paramount. - Some folks seem determined to ignore what Paramount said about the additional production costs that Blu-ray imposes which wipes out much of the benefit of those additional (early) sales numbers.

  28.11.2007 19:07 #19

• c.trigger

  couldn't you make a dvd playing software that could do this with any discs with the same volume name ?

  28.11.2007 21:15 #20

• 26r0cK

  paramount and unniversal is HD DVD exclusive.

  28.11.2007 22:04 #21

• vinny13

  Originally posted by 26r0cK: paramount and unniversal is HD DVD exclusive.All the more reason to become a pirate and sail away from all of this nonsense :)

  28.11.2007 22:16 #22

• banshee07

  Quote:Originally posted by camaro17: ya right warner isnt that stupid, well we aren't sure yet. lol. at least they aren't as stupid as paramount. - Some folks seem determined to ignore what Paramount said about the additional production costs that Blu-ray imposes which wipes out much of the benefit of those additional (early) sales numbers.here we go again. they are just trying to justify why the stepped away from the format that was sellin all titles better. you can say what you want, but you beleive the hype hd-dvd has been feeding you as much as anyone else that believes anything blu-ray has feed them. go ahead quote something from one of the HD-Dvd biased sites like always. im waiting

  28.11.2007 23:19 #23

• DVDBack23

  Quote:Quote:Originally posted by camaro17: ya right warner isnt that stupid, well we aren't sure yet. lol. at least they aren't as stupid as paramount. - Some folks seem determined to ignore what Paramount said about the additional production costs that Blu-ray imposes which wipes out much of the benefit of those additional (early) sales numbers.here we go again. they are just trying to justify why the stepped away from the format that was sellin all titles better. you can say what you want, but you beleive the hype hd-dvd has been feeding you as much as anyone else that believes anything blu-ray has feed them. go ahead quote something from one of the HD-Dvd biased sites like always. im waitingI can tell you that Hughjars does not quote HD-DVD fanboy sites...Paramount DID say that blu-ray had added production costs...

  28.11.2007 23:48 #24

• error5

  Originally posted by banshee07: here we go again. they are just trying to justify why the stepped away from the format that was sellin all titles better. you can say what you want, but you beleive the hype hd-dvd has been feeding you as much as anyone else that believes anything blu-ray has feed them. go ahead quote something from one of the HD-Dvd biased sites like always. im waitingNo hype from HD DVD fanboy sites - just a straightforward explanation from Paramount's Chief Technology Officer Alan Bell in an exclusive interview with PC World (hardly a biased fansite if I may say so.)
  
  http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136253...gy/article.html
  http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/P...h_to_HD_DVD/885
  
  Quote:HD DVD was launched in a very stable way, with stable specifications, and they had specified a reference player model, so all players had to be compatible with the HDi interactivity layer, and all players had to be capable of the interactivity," explained Bell. "That speaks to the DVD Forum, that it published specs that were complete and market-ready, and that it didn't need to publish up [and change the specs], as Blu-ray has. To some degree, [such changes are] going to create some legacy issues.
  
  Making a choice like the one Paramount has made is a multifaceted choice," said Bell. "It depends upon manufacturability, the reliability of players, the cost, the infrastructure that's developed to support our creation of titles. Many different factors came into play--including capacity. When Paramount made this decision, we considered the broad spectrum.So the reasons for the switch are:
  Stable specs
  Universal compatibility with HDi interactivity layer
  Reliability of the players
  Cost
  Infrastructure for development and manufacturing
  
  See - no hype.

  29.11.2007 00:33 #25

• hade

  well ummm, when you decide to go exclusive with a format that is doing subpar when compared to its competitor (in terms of sales) what other logical bs would you expect them to say? i mean would you expect them to say:
  
  'well we at paramount decided to go with hd-dvd because they have fewer capable hd players and they also don't have the strongest overall sales numbers. so yea thats why we went with them, but hey don't forgot it'll cost us less down the line'
  
  are you kidding me? far more logical that there was a payout (promotional considerations as they say) and the production costs surely will play a part but certainly not a huge role or atleast not as large as some of you may think. economies of scale....
  
  irony or coincidence that hd-dvd nabs the deal shortly before the release of a major blockbuster. you decide...could hd-dvd really survived without this deal for much longer given all the exclusive support BR had? i don't think so but that is my opinion. it was make or break time for them and so the struggle continues.
  
  the worst part about this is there will be uninformed consumers out there who buy players (either or) for friends/loved ones etc. this season who are unaware of the fact that not all movies will be available.
  
  ex, women buys husband hd-dvd player, husband likes Bruce Willis but can't watch diehard in hd or said person buys BR player or ps3 and man likes transformers but oops can't get that in HD either.
  
  companies selling to both markets isn't bad its the exclusives that hurt. personally sell to both markets whichever has the strongest sales prevails. technology and price decrease with time and with one given format said decrease would not take as long.

  29.11.2007 00:38 #26

• error5

  Originally posted by hade: the production costs surely will play a part but certainly not a huge role or atleast not as large as some of you may think. economies of scale....Your point is well taken but you have to consider a few things here:
  
  Even with a 2:1 software sales lead for BluRay the total amount of HDM sales is minuscule compared to standard DVD. For the 2:1 lead to mean anything they have to move DVD-sized numbers like the 5.1 million copies sold of the "300" standard DVD in it's FIRST WEEK of release. Compare that number to BluRay's 1.6 million units TOTAL and HD DVD's 795,000 units TOTAL in the first SIX MONTHS of 2007.
  
  BluRay is still more expensive for the studios than HD DVD. Development costs, authoring costs, manufacturing costs, and licensing fees are higher for BluRay. We have to consider the possibility that, despite selling more Blu-rays at a 2:1 margin, at the volumes we're talking about Paramount may have actually been losing more money on Blu-ray than they were losing on HD DVD. We don't have hard numbers on this but with Alan Bell's comments about manufacturablity it would be fair to speculate that this may be the case.
  
  Quote:are you kidding me? far more logical that there was a payout (promotional considerations as they say)...
  irony or coincidence that hd-dvd nabs the deal shortly before the release of a major blockbuster. So what if there was a payout? This is business and business deals happen everyday and there's nothing illegal or unethical about them. You do whatever you can to survive as long as it's within the boundaries of business law.
  
  I find it hypocritical that some people criticize Paramount for this. When Sony announced the exclusive endcap deal with Target did anyone assume that no cash exchanged hands?
  
  Quote:technology and price decrease with time and with one given format said decrease would not take as long.
  I would disagree with this. Without this competition we probably wouldn't see sub $200 HD DVD players or sub $500 BluRay players this soon after launch.

  29.11.2007 01:02 #27

• hade

  understandable where your going and it would be nice to have some hard numbers but we don't. after thinking about things i came up with this theory:
  
  we all agree or atleast everyone should that blu-ray would surely have failed without being included in the ps3. standalone players launched at the thousand dollar price tag and surely the high cost of players and movies resulted from the new tech and associated costs incurred. again said costs will decrease and become a little more profitable, but what if sony learned a thing or two in the past? did the ps3 really need blu-ray or did blu-ray really need the ps3?
  
  sony formats haven't had the best of luck so knowing that your competitor can price their standalone units and movies lower than your own it could very well be that sony utilized the ps3 to their favor. by incorporating blu-ray into the ps3 and making it a blu-ray player along with the obvious they basically prolonged the initial life of blu-ray. as i said before the format surely would have folded to hd-dvd in the shortrun if it wasn't for the ps3 but firms also concentrate on the longrun. it could very well be that sony and the br group needed the ps3 to keep the format on top long enough so that the tech and costs become a little more reasonable. we've already seen prices in standalone units drop dramatically since its first inception and will continue to see such a pattern.
  
  blu-ray still is really on top and i personally think hd-dvd already played their high card when they got paramount and slashed prices of players considerable, or atleast the retailers did. you really don't slash prices like that unless demand is low and your overstocked, or one could argue the notion of the upcoming holiday season. a player sitting on a store shelf is not making walmart any money, but if you cut the cost of the player and forgo some of your profit or all of your profit you can easily recoup your losses through the sale of individual movies. more people will always buy movies than standalone units so you slash the price and hope to make up your losses there or somewhere else. retailers this season have not fared well at all, especially walmart who if anyone remembers slashed their back-to-school sale prices lower than what they were already at. the economy isn't too great atm.
  
  personally i think the move is rather brilliant(well maybe just intelligent) given their exclusive support alone with the high initial costs. i wouldn't be too surprised to see future cuts in prices especially for next year's holiday season as long as the br group can maintain their support and people continue to buy movies.
  
  something to also keep in mind is when both formats launched all they really offered were old movies most people already had on dvd or never wanted on dvd so sales numbers is a bit tricky.
  
  
  sure you wouldn't see the price slash so dramatic but prices don't get cut when demand is high. hd-dvd prices fell well now im repeating myself. i would argue sub $500 blu-ray players when there is internal competition within the market. hard to sell a standalone br player for $1000 when one could buy a ps3 for almost half the price. i do think you would have a more dramatic price cut from the br side than hd-dvd. can't really argue the addon for the 360 and its price because you can't simply plug that into a television and watch your movies as you can with the ps3. they don't go hand n hand.
  
  i never said anything was bad or implied that the deal was bad. it was just unfortunate for some consumers who wanted transformers in hd. i'd rather people acknowledge the fact that there were some under the table transactions going on than implying a decision was made primarily with regards to transaction costs when most factors (sales potential HD players) say otherwise.

  29.11.2007 01:30 #28

• sciascia

  I have to agree that this is really retarded as far as 'features' go. It will take movie ignorance to a new level. Instead of someone nudging you and trying to ask you a question about what is going on in the movie, they'll send that idiotic question through text. Oh joy!

  29.11.2007 09:18 #29

• goodswipe

  lol, i almost forgot what the article was about from all this talk.

  29.11.2007 16:24 #30

• funkball

  Wow. It's annoying enough when people talk through a movie you want to watch. I can't even begin to comprehend how someone would want another person controlling their watching experience and then sending needless comments to interrupt. Then texting with a remote control to tell someone to just let the movie play... that sounds like fun. It's just another reason to hold off on HD DVD and Blu Ray.
  
  I hope the movie companies continue to come with many fantastic ways to ruin their products. Those execs must not even watch movies to think this would be a good idea.

  29.11.2007 21:15 #31

• agwild99

  Typically, I would agree that this is a totally useless idea, but with all of the American soldiers overseas, I can see where this could be a very usefull feature. This would be as close as they could get to actually watching a movie with their family. They could be talking with their kids knowing they are seeing the same thing on the screen. Also, this could be nice just for family members even just in another state. It may not be like actually watching the movie together, but the sentament could really brighten someones day.
  
  However, I don't see much other possible use for it than this. I personally would never use this feature.

  5.12.2007 12:40 #32

• akaangus

  Quote:Typically, I would agree that this is a totally useless idea, but with all of the American soldiers overseas, I can see where this could be a very usefull feature. This would be as close as they could get to actually watching a movie with their family. They could be talking with their kids knowing they are seeing the same thing on the screen. Also, this could be nice just for family members even just in another state. It may not be like actually watching the movie together, but the sentament could really brighten someones day.
  I'm pretty sure people in the Service overseas do not have an always-on highspeed ethernet connection, a ridicolously expensive player and a stack of HD-DVD discs...
  
  To me this "feature" is just a futile attempt to try and take momentum from video streaming things like orb and slingbox, which are somewhat useful
  

  Representing Canada one post at a time!
  Check out my videos on DailyMotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/akaangus

  7.12.2007 03:24 #33

• agwild99

  Originally posted by akaangus
  I'm pretty sure people in the Service overseas do not have an always-on highspeed ethernet connection, a ridicolously expensive player and a stack of HD-DVD discs...
  
  To me this "feature" is just a futile attempt to try and take momentum from video streaming things like orb and slingbox, which are somewhat useful[/quote: Perhaps I need to elaborate. I didn't say that it was easily feasible now, I said it would be nice (if it catches on), and that would be the only situations where I think it would be useful. I did agree that typically I would think it was useless. Additionally, I don't think it will ever catch on unless this is the case inwhich it does.
  
  I am not sure about the speed of the internet, but, according to my cousin who is stationed in Iraq, there is an always-on connection available (on base), and my aunt and uncle bought him a new laptop just before he deployed (about 3 months ago) which I believe was equiped with an HD DVD drive (I helped them pick it out). However I do agree that he is probably the exception not the norm when it comes to having this technology.
  

  Peace, Love, and Chicken Grease
  -agwild99

  7.12.2007 08:45 #34

• Grampaw

  I tried to play this HD-DVD to play on my Toshiba A20 1080p player which has an always on internet connection. This A20 player has the latest Firmware (2.7). To cut right to the chase, the A20 at first wouldn't even recognize the disk at all, then after several tries, did load it as a HD-DVD. It played about 30 minutes then froze the player as it errored out. I finally gave up after, several tries, and watched the standard DVD format on the flip side.
  
  I can't help thinking that the more "bells and whistles" the content owners put on the disk to "sell" the format during the "formt wars", such as the nonsense in this thread topic (Community Screening), the less chance we, the average consumer, has in just playing the damn movie...

  16.12.2007 17:23 #35

• dblbogey7

  Grampaw: Sorry to hear about your playback problems with the Harry Potter combo.
  
  I do have doubts though that the problem is related to the extras on the disc. Your problem could be better explained by the fact that you're dealing with a combo disc. I have at least 25 or 30 combos in my collection and I'd say that about 5 of them have given me playback problems on either one or both my A1 and XA2 players.
  
  I've had the discs replaced and that seems to solve the problem. I suggest taking the disc back to your retailer and have it replaced.
  
  There's a thread on avsforums that tracks problems with combo releases and a recent post (#86) does report a problem with the Harry Potter disc:
  
  http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=924537&page=3

  16.12.2007 18:49 #36

• borhan9

  Is this something like what u can get on the airlines when u watch the movies.

  20.12.2007 18:52 #37