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According to Variety, Universal's commitment to back HD DVD has ended. I really don't see them backing Blu-ray yet though, especially after all the Blu-ray bashing Ken Graffeo has done.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111797 ... id=20&cs=1

Daily Variety has confirmed that Universal's commitment to backing HD DVD exclusively has ended. And Paramount has an escape clause in its HD DVD contract allowing it to release pics on Blu-ray after Warner Bros.' decision to back that format exclusively.

Neither studio is ready to throw in the towel immediately, however. Universal is committed to a series of promotions for the high-def format in coming months, and Par has said its current plans are to keep supporting HD DVD, which it backed exclusively in August.

It's going to be an interesting month for HD-DVD. There will be some very bitter HD-DVD early adopters if they are just left to their own demise.
As for Universal, their library was why I bought a HD-DVD player to begin with. If they go BD, or better yet dual format, that's good news. I personally like the choice, and am looking forward to getting a good dual format player to replace the 2 players I have now. Not because I don't want 2 machines, but because both have serious shortcomings.

I'm predict we'll see Paramount announce that they will begin releasing in Blu-ray sometime in 1Q. As for Universal, they might take awhile longer, we shall have to wait and see...

If Paramount has the "Warner" clause in it's contract that the rumors say they do, I wonder if they still get to keep their HD DVD bribe money?

I suspect Universal will go neutral in the next month or so. I also expect that Ken Graffeo will "step down" around the same time. There latest press release regarding their support states firmly that their current plan is to continue to support HD DVD. Conspicuously absent from the announcement is any mention of EXCLUSIVE support, or the Blu-Ray format. Also, it is only listed as their CURRENT plan, and as we've learned from Sony, Paramount and Warner Brothers.... "current plans" can sometimes mean "for the next week only".

One thing is deffinately for sure though.... there is TONS going on in the background that we aren't hearing about. Probably a lot of closed door meetings.

Universal issued a statement to various websites yesterday:

"Contrary to unsubstantiated rumors from unnamed sources, Universal's current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format," said Ken Graffeo, executive vice president of HD strategic marketing for Universal Studios Home Entertainment and co-president of the HD DVD Promotional Group.

While they say that they're not dropping HD DVD, they don't say that they're not going to go Blu-ray. As dolph said, they'll probably go neutral in the near future.

Say goodbye to interactivity if Blu's dreams come to fruition.

vinnie97 wrote:Say goodbye to interactivity if Blu's dreams come to fruition.

From the BD Live demos that I saw at CES, it looks like Blu-ray will be able to do everything that HD DVD has been able to do, concerning interactivity.

Wesociety wrote:

vinnie97 wrote:Say goodbye to interactivity if Blu's dreams come to fruition.

From the BD Live demos that I saw at CES, it looks like Blu-ray will be able to do everything that HD DVD has been able to do, concerning interactivity.

A little more accurate would be to say it will be able to do at LEAST everything that HD DVD was able to do

Java is harder to program with until a bank of regular routines can be made, but it is WAY more versatile then HDi/iHD. So throw and internet connection at both players, and the one with more flexability, more bandwidth, higher capacity, and better overall technical specs, is the most likely to be able to produce the best results. Of course you also need some very creative studios willing to put time, money and bandwidth behind these features. Personally, I'm expecting some INCREDIBLE stuff from Disney and Warner.

Wesociety wrote:

vinnie97 wrote:Say goodbye to interactivity if Blu's dreams come to fruition.

From the BD Live demos that I saw at CES, it looks like Blu-ray will be able to do everything that HD DVD has been able to do, concerning interactivity.

Eventually at best...and only on the PS3 and a limited # of standalones currently available.

vinnie97 wrote:

Wesociety wrote:

vinnie97 wrote:Say goodbye to interactivity if Blu's dreams come to fruition.

From the BD Live demos that I saw at CES, it looks like Blu-ray will be able to do everything that HD DVD has been able to do, concerning interactivity.

Eventually at best...and only on the PS3 and a limited # of standalones currently available.

Actually on zero standalones currently available. The first BD Live (BD profile 2.0) player will be the Panasonic DMP-BD50, which has no release date at the moment. The BD Live PS3 firmware also has no release date at this time.

PS3 owners will be happy at least...

That's my biggest problem with BD. My 3 month old Toshiba 1400 is already out of date. I'll teach 'em, my next HDM player is going to be an OPPO.

Grain wrote:That's my biggest problem with BD. My 3 month old Toshiba 1400 is already out of date. I'll teach 'em, my next HDM player is going to be an OPPO.

??????????

Wesociety wrote:

Grain wrote:That's my biggest problem with BD. My 3 month old Toshiba 1400 is already out of date. I'll teach 'em, my next HDM player is going to be an OPPO.

??????????

Out of date as in it's only profile 1.0, Toshiba should have read Samsung, HDM as in HiDefMedia (absolutely unofficial term encompassing both formats), and OPPO as in a private electronics company in the US that makes the best SD DVD player's out there, IMO. They are going to have (rumor has it) a dual format HD player availble later in 08.
I guess there was more than enough questions in my post to warrant the ????'s Wesociety .

lol, yeah, I was mainly posting the question marks in relation to the imaginary "Toshiba 1400"