Dreamworks & Paramount ditch Blu-Ray

Lincoln Russell 20 Aug, 2007 at 3:11pm ET Article published in Tech

Both Paramount and Dreamworks announced today that they will be releasing high-def movies exclusively in HD DVD. Paramount cited “better quality”, and “lower manufacturing costs”, while both cited “lower-cost players”.

Both studios previously released high definition movies in both formats (Blu-Ray and HD DVD) and the move comes close on the heels of many people claiming Blu-Ray had gained an edge in the “format war” after it outsold HD DVD 2-to-1 in the first half of this year.

This means “Blades of Glory”, “Transformers” and “Shrek the Third” will all debut exclusively on HD DVD. Paramount handles distribution for Dreamworks.

UPDATE: Ars Technica sits down with Paramount exec to better explain the decision.

Comments

20 Aug 2007 ~ 3:25pm kryyst That's an interesting shot over the bow. It means at least for a good while HD is not going away.
20 Aug 2007 ~ 3:41pm Sledgehammer70 hmm DVD version of Transformers it is than... Oh wait.. I don't buy DVD's
20 Aug 2007 ~ 3:54pm Thrax HD-DVD is universally cheaper at all levels. Plants, base materials, players, discs.. Everything. And unlike Blu-Ray which does not require VC1 (WMV9HD), HD-DVD absolutely requires an HD codec or the disc cannot be released. This guarantees a standard of quality that Blu-Ray might not exhibit.
20 Aug 2007 ~ 3:58pm Sledgehammer70 Is it just me or did Paramount just become the cheap hooker of HD?
20 Aug 2007 ~ 4:04pm primesuspect There is a caveat - Paramount will dual-release anything by Spielberg.
20 Aug 2007 ~ 4:19pm Sledgehammer70 So thats all their Blockbuster titles

The list of movies rolling out for each format tells me this isn't going to hurt Blu ray...
21 Aug 2007 ~ 8:28am Garg Michael Bay, dark lord of blockbuster movies, recently posted this on his forum:

I want people to see my movies in the best formats possible. For them to deny people who have Blu-ray sucks! They were progressive by having two formats. No Transformers 2 for me!

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. It's on.
21 Aug 2007 ~ 10:09am Sledgehammer70 Remember any film by Spielberg will be on both formats... and who's name is also on Transformers? you guessed it Steven Spielberg's
22 Aug 2007 ~ 11:39am Linc Updated article with link: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070822-reasons-financial-and-technical-lurk-behind-paramounts-hd-dvd-coup.html