CBS Planning More Trek On HD DVD - Blu Ray Gains Ground January 5, 2008
by Anthony Pascale , Filed under: DVD , trackback
Season One of Star Trek The Original Series was released on HD DVD/DVD Combo six weeks ago and it appears that CBS is happy with the returns and are hoping to follow it up by releasing the rest of the series in HD later this year. However, the HD DVD format took a big hit this week as another studio dropped it entirely.
Video Business ran an article about CBS plans for DVD and HD DVD for the year. The article noted that CBS plans to increase their release schedule for both DVDs and HD DVDs and that they were pleased with the results of their first HD DVD title (which was Trek). From Video Business:
[CBS] predicts that its first high-definition release, the Nov. 20 HD DVD release of Star Trek: Season One, will reach 100,000 units sold. That momentum has led the company to commit to releasing all subsequent Star Trek seasons on high-def, amounting to two more HD DVD titles. That is ambitious, as most major studios are not yet heavily mining TV DVD libraries for catalog titles to release in next-gen formats.
“I think that when we are looking at catalog and some sitcoms, we don’t see [high-def] moving the dial that much, but with some of our sci-fi and action-adventure, it can be a very positive format change for us,” said [CBS DVD Executive VP Ken] Ross.
Warner goes Blu Ray only
However it isn’t all roses for HD DVD. Yesterday Warner Brothers announced that they will cease producing both Blu Ray and HD DVD and go Blu Ray exclusively starting this May. A few months ago Paramount (and CBS) were also format neutral, but then made the decision to go HD DVD exclusively through 2008. This move by Warner leaves Universal and Paramount/CBS (+ Dreamworks Animation) as the only major studios who are HD DVD exclusive. The Video Business story about CBS’ plans was written before the Warner announcement, and TV Shows On DVD wonders if CBS may change their mind. However, it is not known if Paramount and CBS have any ‘outs’ in their deal with Toshiba for HD DVD exclusivity. For now it still appears that Star Trek is still in the HD DVD camp, but in this format war things can change.
TrekMovie.com will keep track of developments on the ongoing format war and what it means for the future of Star Trek in HD.
HD Trek movies headed to VUDU on demand
VUDU have announced that Star Trek movies will become available for viewing in HD for those with a VUDU receiver. The price is $3.99 per film. This would be the first time the Trek films were made in any format in HD. Although it has been rumored for a couple years, Paramount have yet to announce their plans to distribute the Trek film library on any HD format. More information on VUDU boxes at VUDU.com
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Comments»
What? 42+ years later and they’re selling like hotcakes.
Gotta work harder.
Give the true experience this time Paramont and well be buying Trek XI in holographBluray in another 40+ years.
The Original Rocks!
HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray, it’s such a headache. I bought an HD-DVD player for the sole purpose of buying HD-Trek. Just stick with it, it’s wonderful. Looking forward to Seasons 2 and 3.
Are they still selling the player with the Phaser Remote control?
the phaser deal runs through feb
Great! I need a second Phaser remote to battle the bad television tastes of friends that stop by.
sooo… I haven’t seen much lately about remastered Trek. Is that b/c startrek.com is no more?
funny!
I don’t give a rat’s @$$ about the format of the best way to see and keep my beloved Trek, as along as I know that every few years a new one will come along and I can spend more money and have all my Trek to see any time I want! …
…gotta go, I’ve been thinking about “And The Children Shall Lead” all day…
By most accounts, the format war is over. The HD-DVD camp cancelled their CES appearance. New Line Cinema is now Blu-ray exclusive.
Dual HD players are the way to go now, or just wait until Paramount can fix the mess they’re in.
They don’t perceive themselves to be in a mess. They think they’re smart because now they get to sell everything in a new format all over again.
Who likes the old James Blish adaptations? I kinda like them better than the actual shows. The imagination is a wondrous thing.
The moment Blu-Ray “wins” is the moment I switch back to regular DVDs and await the next format that will replace it in 7-8 years. And I await the next technology with open arms if it gets us past this Sony nightmare.
Most films aren’t worth buying in HD. The added bonus of the HD image only works if they transfer it properly and even then an upscaled DVD looks almost as good.
I think season one is way, way, way, too expensive. Utterly rediculous 180dollers for DVDs, shame on the greedy sharks that put the price so high!
I don’t get it. The disks are the same size. The quality is the the same. This is ultimately a software war, right? So, why doesn’t someone with really deep pockets, experience with software, and an existing brand come in and pull the rug out from under both of them? C’mon Apple, how bout it. Quicktime HD. Or better yet, iDef. Am I oversimplifying this? I’m dying to buy a player and Trek, but refuse reward the bastards. Go iDef!
It’s such a pain, I went for HD DVD at Christmas there solely on the basis that the studios I would buy the most films from (Paramount, Warner and New Line) supported the format. I can live without Pirates of the Carribean in HD and the DVD does upscale nicely but I do feel today that I bought a piece of kit that will be pretty much useless in six months.
I agree though that most films don’t really benefit, as you stop noticing the detail quite quickly. The Bourne films are like that, I thought HD there was actually somewhat pointless. 300 on the other hand just looks awesome and I know TOS HD won’t dissapoint when I finally brace myself and spend the ~£95 on it.
At least I’ll be able to have all 3 season eventually though, so that’s good news (unless I’ve hexed it and now they’ll go BluRay exclusive on those too… sigh).
I can’t believe I’ve bought the Betamax of the Noughties though….
I would cream if they did DS9 in HD imagine that….oh the possibilities.
Slighty off topic but is there no new trailer or screen shots for this weeks remastered episode “Day of the Dove”?
There is nothing on http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TOS/episode/68792.html
I guess thats because of the lay offs there?
I was just looking forward to a preview of the new Klingon Bird of Prey
to replace these shots…
http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/3×07/dayofdove_016.jpg
http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/3×07/dayofdove_092.jpg
#12
“Most films aren’t worth buying in HD. The added bonus of the HD image only works if they transfer it properly and even then an upscaled DVD looks almost as good.”
I agree with you that most films (today) are garbage and not worth the HD treatment. And upscaled SD DVDs look great on my new PS3… but if you have a 720P front projector like me (they’re relatively cheap now) and an 8-foot screen, a well encoded Blu-ray (VC1 or AVC) with 1080p 24 Hz output looks absolutely stunning and damn near the original theater experience.
It’s like you’re running a 35mm print in your home. It is light years beyond upscaled DVD!
As far as TOS Remastered season one in HD? For me… no Blu-ray, no sale. I don’t want to be charged the added production cost of including the SD DVD discs. Why would I want those?
^15. Trekee! I wouldn’t rush to get it! I have it and thought I would be in love with the UK set and it STINKS!!
My first impressions of the set was “BLOODY HELL!!! ALL MY DISCS ARE MARKED!!! ” I’m not kidding, if they aren’t scratched they have something stuck to them and that is on both sides and brand new and sealed from Virginmegastore online.
The menus are a definite improvement on the other set although a little tricky to work out at times. My biggest gripe so far is that there isn’t any chapter searches for the episodes or that I can’t find them yet. I haven’t viewed the supplemental material yet so I will let you know how that is.
I must admit to being quite disappointed with the picture quality of the original 35mm footage. I was expecting better and I could swear that I can see some artefacting in the grey walls, which really shouldn’t happen in HD. I hope it isn’t because they had to stick SD versions on the other side of the disc. I don’t know why they do this as instead of a 10 discs set, I could have probably had half that many discs if it was just HD or if it had been on Blu-Ray which is my preferable format. That said, I haven’t seen any marks on the film itself or dirt, which can only be a good thing.
The remastering featurette on one of the discs (goodness knows which, there are 10 of them and double sided!) clearly states that they boosted the contrast of the new remasters.
I don’t know this for a fact but I suspect that they used the same equation or setting (whatever it is) for the contrast for ALL the episodes. This has left me with the impression that some of the episodes have too much ‘whiting out” of faces in some occasions where there is a lot of light on actors face. I noticed this quite clearly when the landing party beams down in “Return of the Archons”.
The sound is very quiet through my TV (Toshiba 37″ LCD) and when switching back to TV I have to turn my TV volume down quickly. I don’t have a great sound system here so it is just the TV I am listening to the discs through. The TrueHD sound is REALLY quiet. I’ve read online that there is a Dolby 2.0 english track available but this might just be on the US set as we don’t have it. Probably to make way for older German and French soundtracks.
I’m not going to buy the next set. Incidentially I paid £84 from Zaavi for this which is around the same as the old sets were.
I wont get into the pluses and minuses of the new effects, all I would say is that if you absolutely must own it then buy the US set and WAIT for it to drop in price.
.
The plastic cards you get with the discs to tell you what is on the damn things… whoever chose the images is an IDIOT!
For example… an image of Spock and the ginger navigator from The Menagerie adorns one of the cards. Are those episodes on that corresponding disc? NO! Not even close.
I’m getting fed up of inadvertantly damaging or leaving fingerprints on my discs now. I can’t see these damn things lasting the year. Bloody flippers!
Hope they can release Trek on Blu-Ray too :)
I’ve been keeping an eye on the ‘war’ of the formats a lot, and I can say that with the current Warner news, HD-DVD is effectively finished as a format now. Only two studios left supporting it. With 1 year left of Paramounts contract (lets hope they break it early).
Despite having bought the season 1 HD set, I’m not sure I can bring myself to spend the the money on the rest now that HD-DVD is being carried to the grave. I would however be wiling to buy a cheaper set of just normal DVDs, but they seem intent on this stupid overpriced como idea.
I utterly refuse to buy anything in HD until there is a total winner and I can buy from everyone in a distinct format.
#19 - Thanks for the info, the UK releases of a lot of things do seem to suffer on standard DVD but I’d hoped that with HD that would all be over. Seems not. The Bladerunner 5 disk HD DVD set and a few others seem to confirm it.
I’ve noticed a few deals on the US sets and since it’s region free (so far) that looks like the way to go.
Well, here’s a reality check for CBS. Trek sold so well because it IS TOS Trek and it has been totally remastered FOR HD. With remastered Trek, many got o sample the goods by watching the syndication run. Those that live in markets not showing the remastered Trek have read all about it and buying the set is the only way to experience it. Many more have sampled the series on itunes and like what they see. It has been a pretty much win-win situation. But this is TOS Trek. They aren’t going to do so well if they try and peddle Happy Days or Taxi for $100 a set.
As far as Waner Bros. going exclusively Blue Ray, yeah, HD is probably on its way out. Oh well. With that news, maybe I can pick up a really cheap HD player as people unload them on ebay and finally flip those Trek combo discs over for some 1080p Trek HD greatness.
I guess some people just dont get it. Of course there gonna crank out the other 2 seasons on hd quickly. Everyone will buy it up then all the companys will switch over to bluray. Hd will go the way of beta max, then CBS can reissue them on bluray. Marketing geniuses.
I refuse to buy into either HD format at this time; seeing as I only have a 42″ Toshiba 1080i HD set anyway. The most I could glean from it on HD-DVD would be 720p or so. And besides, this format war will soon be over. Now that WB has thrown in its lot with Blu-Ray….well, put it this way, the format war may not be “officially” over, but the Blu-ray troops have beached at Normandy! Before I choose a format, I want a clear winner announced (not to mention an upgraded TV!). No maybes, or very soons. Until then, good ol’ progessive scan, standard DVD will do nicely! And picking HD-DVD JUST for Trek would be seriously shortsighted! Patience, the format war is in its final stages (hell, so is disc-based media as far as I can see!). Besides, picture quality is only a part of the entertainment experience; story and characters are what draws me in!
I don’t care abot either format. I’m buying the sets ’cause of TOS with new SFX on the standard DVD side. I’ll never watch the HD version and I certainly won’t replace my 10,000+ disc DVD collection any time soon…
Why should I? I never even watched those special features on standard DVD…and the resolution aspect is not that important to me. DVD was a MAJOR improvement over VHS but none of the new formats is of any significant advantgage to me.
I just wanna be able to watch the episodes and movies with an English language track her in Germany. DVD already offers that…no BlueRay, HD-DVD, HD downloads or holographic superdiscs for me…
I’m perfectly happy watching the series on VHS on an old Philco Predicta black and white set.
In my opinion there should be no physical media. You buy an album or a movie, you download it, you own it. Wi-Fi it over to your TV unit to watch it there. Walk out to your mini-van and press a few buttons and wi-fi suck it into your van for a long road trip with the family. Throw it on a portable device and go watch it on a train to and from work.
Get rid of the media, get rid of Chaz McMarketing and the the piracy ‘overkill’ that prevents you from moving music and movies around to your own damned devices, and you are done.
I think there will be several formats and we will have to have multiple players. the combo players are just too expensive. The other alternative and I think its the future is the downloadable media.
Right now I am waiting to see what happens like a lot of other folks. I did however purchase the hd version of the TOSR Season 1. I will not commit to a format yet
My standard def format disks look great. I am not sure the extra cost of the newer disks are worth it for me
When I saw the Toshiba HD player for only $200 on amazon, I thought what the hell. Unlike the old days, when you’d buy a tv or stereo and expect it to last most of your life, these days you buy consumer electronics with no greater expectation than 3 yrs of usable life, like a cheap shirt from the Gap. Given how much it costs me to take the family to the movies, I figure if I watch HD movies with the kids just 6 times, the player will have paid for itself. And old Trek looks FABULOUS in HD.
Now that I bought my HD DVD Player looks like more and more studio’s are going Blu Ray. That’s just great!!!!
I don’t know how this is gonna go, but I purchased a Toshiba, got a few HD titles and I’m off and running. Frankly, I love the picture, but the upscaling of regular dvd looks great on my plasma and I don’t care all that much about getting everything I have now again in HD. I got into HD for trek and I’d be very angry if they don’t finish off the next two seasons in the same format as the first season. I love seeing trek on HD and I’d like to own the first six movies in HD DVD. That’s the way I want to see my trek, but as far as other movie, tv shows, etc. I really don’t care all that much. I’ve got Forbidden Planet, Blade Runner, 2001 and a few other movies and they’re great in HD, but I don’t have to see everything in HD.
This ‘war’ reminds me of the dolby b vs. dolby c deal in the cassette format years back, there was such a small difference, it really didn’t much matter to my ear.
As a side note, we watched “The Wind and The Lion” a restored film from the 70’s and it looked and sounded great with the upscaling. Also, in that film Jerry Goldsmith’s score includes the seeds of the Klingon Theme used in ST:TMP! No kidding about it, you can hear the theme, albeit a few note are different, but you can certainly hear that he had that in his head many years before he did the first Star Trek film.
QUESTION:
No one has addressed the question I’m concerned about:
If I read the article correctly (I’m not sure I did):
Is there some doubt that TOS Seasons 2 and 3 will be released in HD?
That’s what matters to me.
Does anybody know?
hmmm…. There has been very little updating of latest re-mastered episode releases. Didn’t the The Day of the Dove just air? There were plenty of images, reviews, etc. before episodes aired last year. What gives?
Stanky, If you upgraded to the Philco “Continental”, you’d be much happier.
I haven’t seen side by side comparisons of BluRay and HD-DVD. They’re both High Definition so I’m not sure it really matters. ;-)
I heard the most significant difference between HD-DVD and BluRay is in a manufacturing process. Just not remembering if its in reference to player or disk manufacturing.
To implement BluRay the company invests in a totally new technology. HD-DVD requires making a low-cost upgrade to existing equipment. So - it will be interesting what determines the final outcome: movie purchases, or the companies which end up making the players
Not sure if there’s a point in here somewhere.. just wanted to add to the conversation.
I have a PS3 and a Toshibas player and although I’m sad to see HD-DVD go, I defintetly think that Blu-ray is the way to go.
The manufacturing process that leonel was talking about was something I heard about. Apparently, HD-DVD discs are easy to damage than blu-rays. This would certainly seem the case with my TOS-R set, although that could be down to the fact that they are awkward double-sided discs.
@As Far As Larry:
As a dedicated collector, I must disagree. I really hope there will always be an official release in some form that I can put on my shelves. I’ve never downloaded anything apart from trailers. I need to have “the real thing” in my hands. Saving space doesn*t matter…I’d even go so far to say the new smaller cases for BR and HD lack a certain sense of representativity…
I tell you what: I’d rather put thousands of movies I’ll never watch on my shelves than downloading or renting one single movie I don’t own…Okay, but that’s the collector’s perspective and I can understand most of our “online generation” won’t agree…I can only hope there will always be a market for real media instead of mere downloading. If real discs disappear so will my interest in movies…My favourite English term is “Collector’s Edition”…though awfully overused these days….
I agree with the person who is waiting. I know people who had shelves full of Beta tapes that lived to regret it. A little patience and the true winning format will emerge.
Then again, whoever thought CDs would be on their way out so fast? What’s next?
Still waiting for that combo hd/blue ray for my pc.
Wonder if I can get a that cool trek phaser to work with that setup?
hahhaha..and with the format war over, perhaps we will see blueray player prices drop..oh wait I dont have an hdtv. I keep forgetting that…
#42 Lol. That’s so true, if you don’t shell out for a TV with 1920X1080 resolution, what’s the point?
re: Comment no. 22
I utterly refuse to buy anything in HD until there is a total winner and I can buy from everyone in a distinct format.
I totally agree with this comment, its the VHS v Betamax war all over again!
36. Driver - January 6, 2008
“Stanky, If you upgraded to the Philco “Continental”, you’d be much happier.”
Yes, would love to have one of those. The Predicta Pedestal looks and works pretty fine, though
I just was a Blue Ray burner for my Macpro that will work with DVD Studio Pro!
VUDU’s site shows the poster for TMP:DE. Wouldn’t we have have heard if there was an HD version of that? My hunch is they’re either showing the theatrical cut in HD or the DE in SD.
I just bought a Toshiba HD-DVD player! DOH!!!!!
I guess I’ll have to buy a Blu-ray player in a few months. Or maybe they will find a way to install firmware to an HD-DVD player for Dual playback of blu-ray disks and HD-DVD’s???
Is it a software issue or hardware issue with the two formats?
@ T Negative
I fear, that’s not that simple. Granted, it’s the same laser wavelength, but the two formats are incompatible. And as for the advantages of BluRay: 25 GigaBytes per Layer vs. 15 GB on a HD-DVD. Do the math and tell me, which disk offers the possibility of picture & sound without compression artifacts.
Just look at Wikipedia!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_high_definition_optical_disc_formats#Technical_details
Well now I’m glad I didn’t buy HD-DVD.
Warner has gone with BluRay because:
A. Sony bribed them, as it has the other studios;
B. They like it’s DRM “protection” and spyware.
The whole thing has gone on so long I think I’ll just sit this out.
In two years both formats will be obsolete, anyway.
#50, that’s the sad truth, obsletion knows no format.
Well, considering I have shelves full of “Star Trek” in CED Videodisc format, Betamax HI-FI format, VHS-HiFi format (I did skip the LaserDisc versions), and DVD format, I think I’ll be skipping anything else out there until somebody produces an all-in-1 player that plays all this stuff I already have. 25 years down the road, I guess people will have as much problems finding parts for their HD-DVD players as I currently have finding parts for my CED Videodisc players.
I guess its about time to toss the old VHS tapes and upgrade. I feel sorry for those folks who did that and bought the DVD sets when the were 1st released. With this new release, they will have to spend a small fortune for something they pretty much already have. I didn’t buy the 1st realese of DVD’s because they always seem to do that, suck you in to spend a fortune. Like Star Wars, they released a special addition of the 1st three. Then some time later came the enhanced versions. How many people got slickered by that?
They think people are suckers, come to think of it, I’ll stay with my VHS tapes. They are just as entertaining on tape as they are on disk.
If your a collector then collect, I am not a collector, I just watch.
@ Michael
Warner has gone with BluRay because:
A. Sony bribed them, as it has the other studios
Exactly, and Toshiba did the same half a year ago with Paramount. This Format war is about MONEY after all. You didn’t believe anyone involved in this stupid thing is doing it in order to “better humanity ” as The Great Bird of the Galaxy would have said?
Got the HD-DVD set for Christmas. Finally had time to sit down to watch a couple yesterday. LOVE IT but I’m having a problem with the sound matching the motions. I was watching “Balance of Terror” and the sync between the dialogue and mouth motions is off a bit. I am using the DVD side (no HD in my house yet). After the discussions above, I might wait to get the 2nd and 3rd seasons until things shake out. Thanks.
Mayday
How can they expect sales to reach 100,000? I don’t have $200 a season no matter how much rework they have done.
It’ll be a bit idiotic if Paramount/ CBS stick with HD DVD. It’s just a cheap knockoff of another companies format that’ll to put it simple, is just a whole lot better. And who’s gonna buy a format just for two studios? Seems a bit stupid to me. I’m gonna say that by the time the new films comes out in the spring of ‘09 (I’m gonna say sometime in April), that it’ll be on Blu-ray. Heck, if anyone at Paramount has a brain cell, we’ll get Cloverfield on Blu-ray in June!
its funny i didnt care at all- i just bought it for the standard definition side because i just had 2 have it- having seen nothing but the menagerie and fx reels on youtube and trekmovie.
im not worried about a bleray release in a year or so- perhaps the packaging will be better? actuallt contain a booklet- information on the remastered project???
im0 not rich by the way- just prepared to spend on tos trek- dont mind being exploited by parramount/cbs as long as they profit i will get more trek- unlike the freaks who seem to think it is some kind of moral obligation on the studios part to release trek- in fact i felt a strange pride seeing Tos Trek Remastered selling for $230- $250 AUD each.
what other sci-fi show could command such a price- babylon 5? Battlestar Galactica? Dr Who?
I thought I would wait out the format war until there was a winner. This Christmas I saw the local Walmart sold out of the Toshiba A2’s and A3’s, while they had shelves full of the Bluray players. Then I saw the Toshiba HD DVD player for $200 with 12 free movies from Amazon. I caved and purchased. It’s the less expensive format even if everyone does debate the superiority. I thought I’d spend my $ to support a format. I’ve heard the HD players have been outselling Bluray, and there will be cheap Chinese built HD players coming out this year that can help out the HD camp. However, this week’s news does have me wondering. I’d say that I’d wait to invest in buying any more discs, but unless they release more titles, I think I’ve got all 12 I’m interested in!
#57. You’re a shill or an idiot. It’s hard to tell which one. The formats are nearly identical. If anything Blu Ray is only marginally better for the consumer. For studios it’s “much” better because it has region codes, stricter DRM controls, and harsher copy-protection.
But it’s people like you who have effectively killed both formats, yes both. The majority of people are happy with DVD and I don’t see the sales ebbing. I also don’t see most people wanting to replace their entire library with something that’s only marginally better for the majority of films.
The only way Blu-Ray wins is if Sony (et al) convince studios to stop making inexpensive DVDs to “force” people to upgrade whether they want to or not. Expect Sony to stop selling regular DVDs in under 18 months or so for their movies.
I bought my Toshiba HD-DVD player because I HAD to see TOS in HD. I am thrilled with my purchase because the show looks fantastic. However, Paramount has screwed us fans yet again!!
This news makes me wonder if the ST movies will be released in HD-DVD or Blu Ray. I was kind of expecting an HD ST:TMP 30th anniversary edition sometime in 2009. Now I’m thinking that version will be on Blu-ray.
I agree with an earlier poster who said that the version of ST:TMP on VUDU.com in NOT in HD but SD. I have a feeling something would have leaked or an announcement from Paramount would have been released about TMP getting the HD treatment by now.
@62 - Same here, I was convinced that they’d re-release the films on HD DVD when I was sizing up the outputs, and chose Trek (and LotR) over Star Wars (though Fox were swaying for a while there).
What I *really* don’t get is that with the technology at the level of units sold just now, why not just bring out two formats and be done with it? Surely the studios will sell more titles that way?
I won’t buy Blu Ray because I don’t have a player, so it’s not some principled boycotting of Warners now (though I’d be tempted) but I simply can’t play the disks and don’t want a PS3 thanks all the same. They just lose sales. 500 Million dollars of sales? I suppose they have to assume not.
But I’m not buying a Blu Ray player for a long, long time.
Oh and I have to agree with @61, HD DVD is region free and it finally seemed that Hollywood had got over it’s artificial market fixing but Sony just can’t help themselves, if it’s not a root kit on their music, it’s DRMing the life out of the things you buy and reducing your choice.
Makes me sad.
Although I was for HD-DVD, I really don’t see how it can pull ahead of Blu-Ray now. I hope Toshiba has some dignity and backs out. I think everyone wants this format war to end.
Alternative Factor
warning for flaming
34: Gary, I think the chances are that CBS will still release seasons 2 and 3 on HD-DVD (if that’s what you mean by “HD”).
They’ve already announced season 2 release for March, I think (correct me folks if needed), so season 2 is almost a certain deal. Season 3, I would guess, is also likely because they’ve released the other seasons on HD-DVD before it.
But if it were me, I certainly wouldn’t bother with buying anything more on a format that’s now destined for the scrap heap. Watch them as rentals, if needed, then buy the Blu-ray version when it comes out… which is now likely to be much sooner.
I always suspected that Blue Ray would win out in the end. It reminds me of the VHS-BETA format wars. BETA was obviously the best choice in terms of picture and sound quality, but VHS won out because of its ability to cram 6 hours on a tape, never mind that the quality was pretty much unwatchable.
Blue Ray won out for one reason- it is not compatible with the current DVD standards. It’ll be as hard to find a normal DVD and player in 10 years as it was to find BETA equipment in 2000.
Want to watch Star Trek IV in HD in 10 years? Be ready to shell out $$$ for the BluRay version disk, even though watching the upconverted version on HD-DVD player would be nearly as good.
As always, its all about the $$$$.
HD-DVD is dead.
It’s now just a question of when it’ll be taken off life-support and put out of its misery once and for all.
Even before the Warners announcement (which led HD-DVD to cancel their event at CES today, btw), Blu-Ray titles have been outselling HD-DVD titles 2-to-1 — and in December, Blu-Ray standalone players in fact outsold HD-DVD standalone players (even with a $100 price premium!), which eliminated the HD-DVD camp’s last remaining argument (that had conveniently ignored the fact that if you include PS3 sales, total Blu-Ray players have long eclipsed HD-DVD players anyway).
And yes, I can back up the above. Visit thedigitalbits.com, variety.com, contentagenda.com, etc. These are all verifiable facts.
And now that Warners (and by extension New Line) have picked sides, some 70% of titles will now be Blu-Ray exclusive. There’s just no way for HD-DVD to turn that tide.
Meanwhile, the two biggest directors at Paramount — Indiana Jones 4’s Steven Spielberg and Transformers’ Michael Bay — have been on the record of being pro-Blu-Ray and anti-HD-DVD.
And while I hate to shatter Alternate Factor Chris’ apparent delusion, DVD sales are in fact ebbing dramatically and alarmingly, because consumers are increasingly reluctant to purchase titles that face obsolescence. So before you call someone “a shill or an idiot”, check your facts (and take a hard look in the mirror).
P.S.: BTW, I strongly encourage everyone NOT TO SUPPORT VUDU. This is exactly what the WGA is striking over, and what the writers are getting screwed on.
67. Seven of Five: You are misinformed, and your assertion is frankly illogical.
Both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players are backwards-compatible, and indeed play good ol’ fashioned DVDs. (If either weren’t, and didn’t, that would be a strong disincentive for consumers and studios to support it, and have guaranteed the other won this format war.)
Also, it’s inaccurate to make a straight comparison to the VHS-Beta format war, as while Beta clearly offered a premium in terms of quality (resolution) over VHS, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are at relative parity to each other as far as quality is concerned.
P.S.: BTW, there’s no such thing as “Blue Ray”. It’s “Blu-Ray”. ;-)
#66
The article above states that TOS Remastered Season 2 won’t be available in March and most likely will be a summer ‘08 release. Which begs the question: Will it be Blu ray or HD-DVD?????? My hope, for now, is HD-DVD.
This is whole thing is a mess and now Paramount has some BIG decisions to make.
Basically HD-DVD and Blu Ray are the same thing, right? I mean the quality is so good on both of them, how can you make a discernable difference? I would prefer to go with Blu Ray, but I have no substansive evidence that it is any way better than HD-DVD, other than I like the shape and color of the cases.
Call me dumb but what the heck is Blu Ray, HD-DVD, and all the other fancy things everyone is talking about. Whats wrong with just plain DVD?
71. Noleuser
Disc space can go up to 50 gigs ona BluRay while HD-DVD can go up to 30. So 20 extra gigs can make a heck of a difference if you need more room for the sound channels (Transformers?).
And in regards to this copyright and protection thing, if you can read it, you can copy it. It’s only a matter of time before someone creates a means to rip these discs as a whole without problems. Bare in mind that the HD formats are still in fairly early in their life span.
And I certainly won’t get rid of my collection of 2-to-a-disc TOS DVDs — they are un-remastered, and will forever occupy a special place on my bookshelf.
As for those of you who “waited” for VHS and wouldn’t side with either beta or VHS, well, that’s a few years of your geek-viewing life that you’ll never get back! (I bought my first VHS player in 1992 … poverty-stricken student I was, and a crazy bit of extravagence it was! About the only VHS tape I owned was Doomsday Machine …).
As for HD formats, they’re already working on the next format after this one - and it has a familiar ring to Trek fans: the Holographic Versatile Disc:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc
Even more like a Trek thing, is it’s buddy, the Holographic Versatile Card, which holds 30GB of data and is supposed to launch in Japan soon (though it’ll probably get used for things like cameras rather than movies), it seems to me that a player that didn’t have a little motor drive in it would be both cheaper and more reliable, as well as a lot smaller, and 30GB should be enough for any movie and its extras:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Card
And there are other formats being looked at too, such as Tapestry. So, don’t get too comfortable with the current disks. Someday soon we’ll be looking at the 5″ optical discs we use now and laughing that we needed something that big to put a movie on, and that it holds next nothing in storage space - like some of us old timers remember the 5 and 8 inch floppy discs of yore.
73 Jeyl, wow that is really interesting. Well it’s good to know the superior product is winning this batte.
I watched a huge stack of Toshiba A3’s disappear over 2 days at Bst Buy during Xmas.
I’ve come to the conclusion that even though I got an A3 at a great price, I’ll eventually end up with a blu-ray too. That’s fine. By the time I’m ready to buy, there’ll probably be dual format machines out there, and damn cheap too!
#53,
I don’t mind that I bought Star Trek on DVD.
At least I still have the “original untouched versions” to watch, and remember.
: )
#78
“The Day of The Dove” was chopped in spots on channel 9 in New York today, so I know what you mean by untouched versions. They cut Scotty in the Armory finding his sword for example.
McCoy to Kirk and Spock:
“When are you two going to start acing like Military men, instead of FOOLS!!”
My point before was the people who make these sets want you to buy 10 of the same thing. They will put a DVD set out, then put out a DVD set with special interviews. Then the will put the same DVD set out with special behind the scenes footage. Then they will put the 40 th anniversary DVD set and so on and so on.
HOW MANY OF THESE THINGS DO WE NEED TO BUY.
My VHS tapes which took a few years to amass have the complete episode accept for all the fancy pansy that comes with these $1,000 sets.
I hope they release remastered Trek on betamax. :)
Format wars are frustrating
Trek on BluRay will have to wait until 2009. Paramount is committed to releasing only on HD DVD thru 2008. That was in the terms of their deal with Toshiba when the became format exclusive (unless Paramount has an “out-clause” in the event of Warner going bluray exclusive).
One nice thing Warner did when they announced their exclusivity was not to cancel the titles previously announced and in the works to be on HD DVD. When Paramount went HD DVD exclusive, they canceled all their BluRay discs in production and announced releases (probably at a great cost to them).
It might be ironic to note, but the Betamax format was soley developed and manufactured by Sony, one of the main developers of the BluRay format. What did Betamax in was Sony’s reluctance to license the technology to other manufacturers. No one else, other than Sony, built and sold Betamax players. VHS machines were built by dozens of manufacturers, which lowered costs and made them affordable to consumers.
Although it’s rumored that Warner took a $500M buy-out to go BluRay exclusive, BluRay has been outselling HD DVD in the number of discs for sometime. The ratio has been 2:1 in the US in favor of BluRay, but the disparity is much worse in foreign markets. In Europe its 5:1, Japan it’s 9:1!
In their defense, Warner claims it was waiting to see 4th quarter sales before making a decision. Sales of blockbuster titles like Harry Potter sold better on BluRay than HD DVD. That definitel had to have an impact.
If it’s about which sells better, BluRay has the track record.
okay I’ve been thinking about the Trek to Hd thing. I believe that they (paramount) will relase the Star Trek movies first to coinside with star trek 2008. then after we get all the movies out on HD, we will see the next generation sets come out, ds9 ,voyager , enterprise, etc.. This will be shatner’s big chance to finish his “Star Trek 5″ and just maybe , MAYBE! we will get rid of the recycled footage that Star Trek 1-2 share :(Leaving Spacedock) and which 6-7 share, (klingon bird of prey exploding) so with that said, I’m not looking to see the next generation til 2009 at the earliest.
Whew…
#1-I didn’t buy the remastereds to support any format. I bought it for the new FX. TOS episodes I got in spades.
#2-I am in the same camp as some of the above. Where is the news about the new remastered episodes? New FX shots? Articles where we can all argue about how good or what a blasphemy Trek remastered is?
#3-I thought that it was announced that Season 2 was going to be released in March 2008. Anthony, do you have any answers? Finding the Holy Grail (Da Vinci code notwithstanding) is easier than finding the correct time and station for airings of Trek remastered. And even then it gets pre-empted.
Help us, Anthony Pascale, you’re our only hope.
Yeah I have been wondering where the remastered weekly previews and reviews were.
61. There is a BIG difference between Blu-ray and HD-DUD. IF you don’t know what it is, I’m not surpised. Go do some research before you shoot your mouth off like that.
For everyone else, the answer is storage capacity. Blu-ray stores information better, and will always out-perform HD-DUD 1.66:1. That’s 66% more capacity. Directors equate this with higher quality video, or sound, or extras.
Well I’m sticking with Blu-Ray … And I hope that by the the time Star Trek XI comes out in HD they will be releasing every Star Trek in blu-ray … Not so long ago I was thinking to buy every Star Trek movie on DVD but now, that I have a blu-ray player I will wait …
Folks…
Blu-ray is NOT Sony.
Sony may be the most visible, but the BDA (Blu-ray Disc Association) was started by Matsushita (Panasonic), Pioneer, Sony and Philips (Panasonic has the most patents in BD).
Samsung was the first BD player to market.
BD players are available from Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Sharp, LG and Samsung. Announced players from Funai, Hitachi, Denon, Marantz, Mitsubishi, Yamaha and Sanyo. Dell and Apple are Blu-ray exclusive as well.
Why everyone is so excited to give the true hardware monopoly, Toshiba, with a lesser product their money is beyond me.
ST:TOS on HD DVD is TEN discs. On Blu-ray it would be 6. Blu-ray not only has more storage space, but higher bandwidth as well. Why do you think “Transformers” didn’t have a Dolby TrueHD track?
If you do the research, without the “SONY IZ TEH EVILZ” attitude you’ll find that the format war was a pointless patent money grab by Toshiba. Don’t like Sony? Buy a Panasonic player. Or a Pioneer. Or a Sharp, etc.
#75 “As for HD formats, they’re already working on the next format after this one. So, don’t get too comfortable with the current disks.”
Don’t be silly. Once you have Hi-def quality on a disc something a bit shinier isn’t going to take off. What’s the realistic commercial advantage to Joe Public? None. Once Blu-Ray takes a hold it will be with us for the next 10-15 years at least. Longer than current DVD has been with us I’ll wager.
I have the Xbox 360 HD DVD Adapter, and despite my wife’s anger at HD DVD taking this blow, its not going anywhere. I always planned to get both formats, it just looks like it might come sooner than I planned.
thedigitalbits.com says that the Blu Ray group is planning on offering an olive branch to the HD DVD users, possible discounts on players or movie trade-ins. I’m actually kind of hoping that this drives HD DVD movie prices down (including the Trek series), because like I said, my HD DVD player isn’t going anywhere and I don’t mind putting some movies in one player and others in another. If I can get the HD DVD version of such and such a movie for $10 less than the Blu Ray, I’ll do it.
We’ll see how this all pans out, but I was pretty bummed most of the weekend because of this news.
Payola! Just in case anyone was confused about which format is better you should understand why Paramount/DreamWorks remains the only studio supporting it: they were paid 150 million by Toshiba to do so! Read and weep: http://tinyurl.com/2ww749
No wonder! I suspect there were some Ferengi involved in this deal as well!
When the theaterical movies go to HD and its a given that they will at some point, then they need to do a better job at cleaning them up. This was one of my complaints when they had a Q&A, with the DE Restoring Supervisor when STMP: DE came out in ‘01. He stated that they had the movie ready for a “clean pass,” which I surmise is a procedure aimed at getting rid of those artifacts that are evident in the last DVD; blue screen shadows and the awful grain and color degradation.
I suppose Paramount didn’t want to spend the money to do that then, but if they’re going the HD route, consumers will expect a perfect presentation of their movies.
ST:TMP is so dirty that I swear I can see a huge fingerprint smudge in the lower right corner of the film when Kirk is beaming over to the orbiting space station where he joins Scotty for a “tour” of the E with the space pod.
Anytime there is an VFX shot in that movie it so dirty I can’t believe it. Dirtier than most movies made during that time IMO.
TMP will need the royal treatment when it is Transferred in HD no doubt about it. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some more of the FX shots re-done in CG for that very reason.
One other thing I would love to see done with TMP…. Clean up the audio and music tracks as well. TMP has always sounded awful, especially the music. Goldsmith’s score deserves better.
86, perhaps I was too harsh earlier, but I’ve done the research. There’s little difference between the two. Sure there’s differences in encoding between the two, stricter DRM controls on one, region coding on one, and slightly different size capacity (HD DVD had recently announced a 51 GB stable storage capacity for those who keep calling to the storage). They’re near exact matches visually (unless you have something like an 60 inch TV) and the audio is only “noticeable” if you’re investing hundreds upon hundreds of dollars in audio equipment. Joe Schmo won’t notice the difference.
#88, studios have been selling their media under-utilized for over 20 years, tapes, CDs, VHS, and even DVDs. “More” media sells better, even if they can fit that 70 minute album on one disc they’ll split it in half. A 2.5 hour film got the same treatment on VHS, and television shows on DVD did the same. Don’t ever expect them to ever release anything in the capacity that the format can hold.
#68, you’re right. I looked into it, DVD sales are dropping off, at a much faster rate than any of the HD formats are being picked up. Factors in this involve the boom of Netflix making it as cheap to rent 15 films in a month as it is to buy two as well as saturation (most people are only buying new films as almost any film worth purchasing has been realeased over the last decade.
Listen, to techies the “next-gen” player is a “huge” thing. To be perfectly honest, as I’ve said before, I don’t see most people (Joe Schmo again) wanting to replace their entire library with something that’s only marginally better for the majority of films out there. Heck, I’m not impressed with some of the “high def” transfers I’ve seen. Is “Liar, Liar” better on HD? Only marginally. Is it worth 20 more dollars to get that small increase in quality when you can get almost the exact same picture quality with a DVD upscaller? Probably not. Two or 3 dollars more? Sure - but that’s at least 10 years down the road).
BluRay will only be successful with visually impressive films (2001, Serenity, Star Wars, Blade Runner, Star Trek - eventually) - basically Science Fiction and Action films. Standard comedies and dramas won’t get an added benefit, at least not with the extra costs involved.
The only way that people will start buying HD films exclusively is either to keep confusing the buying public or to stop DVD sales altogether. By the time BluRay films are released with competitive prices compared to DVD - the next Generation media war will start up. People buying either format should have realized that while the media likes to claim the sky is falling on DVDs (not lasting “as long” as VHS), you’re not going to see people replace their hundreds of DVDs for a decade or two.
Here in Brazil we don´t even find HD DVD players for sale. It´s all Blu-Ray!!!!!! Blu-Ray discs are being produced in Brazil, but HD DVD discs are not. Only imports from the USA. I´m not going to risk losing money. I hope Trek will go Blu-Ray soon, too!!!!
Check out this Financial Times article: “Paramount is poised to drop its support of HD-DVD”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ea637496-bd8d-11dc-b7e6-0000779fd2ac.html
Paramount could go dual format real soon!
More and more it becomes clear that Blu-Ray will be the dominate format. Sony finally wins a consumer format war! There was no way Sony would lose this one - it only took them 30 years, but they finally have recovered from their Betamax debacle (a superior format to VHS - just like BR is superior to HD). What’s even more ironic, Toshiba was a big supporter of Betamax back in the day and now they appear to be holding the short end of the hidef DVD format stick - oh well.
But has Sony really won? With Hi Def DVD adoption running well below anticipated numbers (250K HD players sold in 2007 versus 750K expected) and more and more HD movie download services rolling out soon - will Blu Ray have a very long shelf life?
98.
I myself think that there is a lot that’s going to happen to the Bluray format. It’s still a relatively new format in the scheme of things, so who knows what the quality will improve with time. It did for DVD, it’s likely to happen for BluRay.
Oh, yeah. Star Trek on BluRay!
#82
“Trek on BluRay will have to wait until 2009. Paramount is committed to releasing only on HD DVD thru 2008. That was in the terms of their deal with Toshiba when the became format exclusive (unless Paramount has an “out-clause” in the event of Warner going bluray exclusive).”
Look here:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dc409afa-bd75-11dc-b7e6-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=e8477cc4-c820-11db-b0dc-000b5df10621.html?nclick_check=1
“However, Paramount, which is owned by Viacom, is understood to have a clause in its contract with the HD DVD camp that would allow it to switch sides in the event of Warner Bros backing Blu-ray, according to people familiar with the situation.”
Evidently, they do have an “out-clause”. If Paramount switches, you can kiss HD-DVD good-bye.
#101 - THIS APPEARS MORE AND MORE LIKELY. See the story today at thedigitalbits.com
Woo-hoo - I took the plunge and bought a Blu-Ray player two weeks ago. Hopefully this means seeing TOS on Blu-Ray sooner rather than later!
102. Kirokwannabe
And maybe they’ll be nice enough to include the remastered episodes without the tinkering or the FX reworking. The previous HD-DVD release of season one somehow gave off the impression that Paramount and those who worked on the project lied about their work “not replacing” what has already been made.
HD-DVD suc*s! And this is fact. HD-DVD only use 23,995 frames/s Blu-Ray use 24 frames/s and 24 frames/s are real cinematic like. Real 24 fps is only by Blu-Ray possible. When you are so smart to buy HD-DVD without knowing the fact that Blu-Ray have got more Capacity for Memory about 50 GB on Double Layer (HD-DVD only 30 GB on Double Layer). it’s your own fault to support the worser format HD-DVD. And don’t think of bashing Sony and Co. Blu-Ray is not a format only supported by Sony. It is also developed by Corporations like Phillips etc. And HD-DVD is under control of Toshiba (da*n i hate this corporation) and suppurted by Microsoft etc. Sony and Phillips were the Developers of the CD don’t forget this!
Purchases of HiDef players lags way behind purchases of HD TVs. As a format. I think Blu_ray has won - but it will not be as prevelent as standard DVDs are / were. There is just too much HD competition on the horizon with HD DVRs, HD download services etc.
Of course, consumers will always go for price and convenience, so if they can get the Blu-Ray players down to around 100.00 - then expect them to really sell well.