CES HD DVD Event canceled due to Warner announcement

CES HD DVD Event canceled due to Warner announcement

HD DVD logoI just received an email from the HD DVD Promotion Group stating that the CES 2008 HD DVD press event has been canceled. The recent Blu-ray exclusive announcement from Warner is cited as the reason for the cancellation. You can find the full text of the notice below.

Notice of CES Press Conference Cancellation by North American HD DVD Promotion Group

“Based on the timing of the Warner Home Video announcement today, we have decided to postpone our CES 2008 press conference scheduled for Sunday, January 6th at 8:30 p.m. in the Wynn Hotel. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

We are currently discussing the potential impact of this announcement with the other HD DVD partner companies and evaluating next steps. We believe the consumer continues to benefit from HD DVD’s commitment to quality and affordability – a bar that is critical for the mainstream success of any format.

We’ll continue to keep you updated on new developments around HD DVD.”

HD DVD is in trouble

If there is one thing that everyone is agreeing on, it is that the HD DVD is in trouble due to the Warner announcement. This decision to cancel the HD DVD press event further proves that the defection of Warner Brothers studios from the HD DVD camp is a major blow.

I am very disappointed that they have canceled the event. I would have liked to see them try to explain this move or attempt to put some type of positive spin on it. I guess I will only be attending the Blu-ray CES event this year! Stay tuned to this site for CES 2008 coverage!

About Wes Novack

Wesley Novack is a Technologist working in the software industry, with extensive experience building and managing highly available applications, services, and systems in the public cloud. He has a breadth of experience in online publishing, the consumer electronics industry, and building internet communities. Wes enjoys hanging with his family, skateboarding, hiking, the vegan lifestyle, and a good cup of tea. You can find him on Twitter @WesleyTech.

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23 Comments on “CES HD DVD Event canceled due to Warner announcement”

  1. Thats too bad, I would have liked to see both formats co-exist somehow. There are too many monopolies already, and dual-format discs and players are(were…) very possible.

  2. Good bye HD-DVD!

    As far as “DRM” goes, did you really think that HD-DVD would be DRM-less workers paradise if they won? It’s a delivery model for the media business and media businesses make money from their rights to the content. Look at the writers strike. If they don’t have rights, they don’t make money. Simple as that.

    Consumers deserve protection from overzealous DRMing of media. Whom should we call? We need a rewrite of the digital rights management laws to ensure consumer protections. Vote.

  3. It’s funny how everywhere I read this, the title of the article always uses the word “cancelled” as if there will never be a press conference. Then they dutifully reproduce the press release, which is where they’re getting the info for their new items… and it says “postponed.” (and not “postponed indefinitely”)

    There’s definitely a difference between cancelled nad postponed.

    How come all these web sites aren’t saying “hi-def optical format war is over” ? That would be a much more attractive headline.

  4. I am sorry to see HD-DVD loosing steam and may soon give up in favour of Blu-Ray.
    I think Warners Brothers’ main reason to switch camp to Blu-Ray is due to better piracy protection offered by Blu-Ray DRM technology.

  5. Let’s face it – the winner of the format war is Standard DVD.

    Why do I say this? Because neither HD-DVD nor Blu-Ray offers enough of an improvement to make it a worth while upgrade.

    What would win the format wars is a new format, that’s simple to use, wasn’t locked down, and put a high def movie on media the size of a USB stick, which could be used in any computer as well as stand alone players, that was guaranteed to last for 50 years.

    Will someone deliver something like that? I’d like it if they did, but I’m not holding my breath.

  6. Cock.

    Blu Ray has region protection (i’m in the UK) so royally screws my usual habit of buying discs from abroad.

    Now my only options are to drop a ton of cash on a PC that can hopefully get around any region lock or go down the piracy route (which I don’t want to do).

  7. Sony must have paid WB big bucks for this move.
    I have personally viewed over a dozen films in each format and can honestly say all the HD transfers blow away the blue rays.

  8. Satan, once again I have to disagree.

    Blu rays have much better sound, because there is no compression required. You get pure PCM. It’s not even possible to have better sound quality. The compression used on HD DVD can be extremly good, but studies have proven it is possible to tell the difference.

    Also, both formats generally rely on identical VC1, and thus it would not make sense for the Blu Rays to be “blown away” by identical quality. Perhaps you just liked the actual movies on one side better?

    Man, what kind of a loser is a fanboy of a video format? Oh, that’s right, the price of lies. It’s ok. I forgive you!

    As far as Sony, et al, paying Warner, yes I bet they did, but not as much as the HD DVD folks offered. That was already admitted by Warner. Warner stands to make a lot more money by ending the format war, because then people will buy far more players and discs. The real payoff was Microsoft to Paramount, and I bet that one goes sour for both companies.

  9. It’s not looking good Mustang68. There are already numerous rumors bouncing around the net regarding Paramount and Universal releasing on Blu-ray Disc.

  10. Own both, love both.

    I prefer the HD-DVD format as I like the web enchanced features and the over quality.

    I have had over 15 bad discs in my Blu-Ray experience, ZERO on HD-DVD.

    Bad luck? Perhaps, but Sony is about making money I highly doubt the “highest quality” goes into these discs as they claim.

    The format war needs to end, or the DVD will continue to slam these. Uneducated Consumers don’t understand the difference.

    I don’t like how it went down, as when I had the choice I purchase HD-DVD. But now I own movies that I’ll continue to watch, but will eventually end up replacing i’d guess.

  11. It won’t die so easy. Sony has to fight with Microsoft too..they are a major backup for Toshiba.

  12. If Microsoft was such a major backer of HD DVD, you would think that they would announce some news at CES. Nope, they didn’t announce anything related to HD DVD at the Microsoft keynote speech and they don’t have any new products or announcements for HD DVD at the Microsoft booth.

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