Says Director Michael Bay...
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Microsoft wants both BluRay and HD DVD to fail
- Thread starter JesterJJZ
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Michael Bay is an idiot. The man really needs some sort of filter on his brain/mouth - he's only being so vocal about the format war because he lost out on making more money with Transformers on HD DVD and Blu-ray.
Sure, some directors may have a preference with formats but Bay is the only one that continuously bad mouths HD DVD and tries to make Blu-ray sound like the greatest thing ever.
Sure, some directors may have a preference with formats but Bay is the only one that continuously bad mouths HD DVD and tries to make Blu-ray sound like the greatest thing ever.
No, Michael Bay is not an idiot. He is a director with an opinion. He also has a dog in the fight. He clearly wants physical discs to remain the dominant medium by which recorded entertainment is distributed. He believes that the physical discs should be in Blu-ray format. He is correct that the corporate politics confused to market. The man deals with those corporations every day, for God's sake. However, I believe that the confusion is the unintentional result of the development of HD-DVD, which Microsoft participated in.
It is to be expected--and perhaps Michael Bay doesn't see it--that the market will transition to electronic distribution of recorded content. The market confusion caused by the HD-DVD/Blu-ray tiff has accelerated this transition but it did not cause it. If HD-DVD is consigned to the dung-heap of history tomorrow--and it should be, then the transition to electronic content delivery will continue.
Digital content is an idea I loath. I want to physically have the product I buy and not have to deal with compressed files that I need to backup myself on hard drives or disc based medium. I don't buy from the ITMS unless I can't find something I need on a CD or need something right away.
He's actually praised HD DVD and how good it looks. He has a right to be upset that Paramount was "bought out" by the HD DVD camp. I would be too. While I don't really have any bias towards either format, I will have to agree in the fact that many people see BD as superior due to the simple fact that it can hold more data. To many, that is the factor which determines "better."
well....im not sure about you, but if I made a movie/album/whatever and my distributor intentionally limited the audience of potential consumers and viewers by like 75%, I would be pretty pissed too. regardless of the fact it was put out on the weaker format, his and my opinion. BUT im sure your the kinda guy who keeps his mouth shut when he losses out on a TON of money
and a higher bit rate to access those extra GBs even faster :-D
Yes, Bay does have some valid points but, he is just far to opinionated about the format war.
I can also understand that he is angry about losing money but, he doesn't need to keep beating a dead horse. We get it Michael, you're mad. Now get over it.
The only reason Bay ever said anything good about HD DVD is because obviously someone at Paramount (or Dreamworks) told him that he wasn't vital to the Transformers Movie Franchise. It's a big reality check when the studio tells you they don't need you.
Blu-ray may have a 20GB advantage (and higher peak bitrate) but it is seriously lacking in the "next-gen interactivity" department. All of the PiP and web features that are on the HD DVD would not have been on the Blu-ray, simply because the format can't do it (at the moment). And don't delude yourself in thinking that Paramount would actually have put High-Res Audio on Transformers even if it was on Blu-ray.
Paramount is a horrible studio for HDM in general - just like they were for DVD. They were one of the last to include 5.1 DD. They were one of the last to do Anamorphic widescreen. They were one of the last to do DTS.... All of the aforementioned things only came years later on the "2-Disc Special Paramount Widescreen Edition". If Transformers had been on Blu-ray it would have had 640K DD or maybe DTS. Not next gen audio.
The studios want you to "double dip" for the better version down the road. They get you twice. It'll happen with those who bought the Transformers HD DVD too. A few years from now they'll come out with a new version with Dolby TrueHD.
For the record I have both Blu-ray and HD DVD. It don't care who wins the format war. I actually even have a slight bias toward BD in my movie preferences (read I own more Blu-rays than HD DVDs).
I can also understand that he is angry about losing money but, he doesn't need to keep beating a dead horse. We get it Michael, you're mad. Now get over it.
The only reason Bay ever said anything good about HD DVD is because obviously someone at Paramount (or Dreamworks) told him that he wasn't vital to the Transformers Movie Franchise. It's a big reality check when the studio tells you they don't need you.
Blu-ray may have a 20GB advantage (and higher peak bitrate) but it is seriously lacking in the "next-gen interactivity" department. All of the PiP and web features that are on the HD DVD would not have been on the Blu-ray, simply because the format can't do it (at the moment). And don't delude yourself in thinking that Paramount would actually have put High-Res Audio on Transformers even if it was on Blu-ray.
Paramount is a horrible studio for HDM in general - just like they were for DVD. They were one of the last to include 5.1 DD. They were one of the last to do Anamorphic widescreen. They were one of the last to do DTS.... All of the aforementioned things only came years later on the "2-Disc Special Paramount Widescreen Edition". If Transformers had been on Blu-ray it would have had 640K DD or maybe DTS. Not next gen audio.
The studios want you to "double dip" for the better version down the road. They get you twice. It'll happen with those who bought the Transformers HD DVD too. A few years from now they'll come out with a new version with Dolby TrueHD.
For the record I have both Blu-ray and HD DVD. It don't care who wins the format war. I actually even have a slight bias toward BD in my movie preferences (read I own more Blu-rays than HD DVDs).
.. and that's why MS has the HD DVD drive for the XBox 360...
Note the idiot that asked the question:
I wonder how that is since many studios use the same codec and high def file for both formats...
I dont care about transformers being only being on HD DVD. wasnt a very good movie IMO. you may be right that paramount would not have put hi-res audio on the blu-ray version (proof?) but they were qouted as saying they were unable to include it on the hd-dvd version due to lack in space.
you provided some great history on paramounts adoption of next generation technology to make me believe they pretty much just suck. I understand why it was so easy for them to take that payoff, they have no backbone
Ive always said that the format war is just a good way for them to double dippersonally, the next gen interactivity is also not important. I dont want to listen and watch michael bay talk about the movie while it is playing! thats just my opinion though and am not worried as these features are now available on all blu-ray players being sold (updateable on most including the common ps3)
what is important to me is having high quality audio and video with as much storage as possible. currently I use DVDs all the time for backing up and transferring **** to other comps, and having 50 GB available to me on a single disc would be nice.
speculation:
i think the reason Michael Bay agreed to do Transformers 2 is because paramounts exclusive contract with hd-dvd will be over by the time it is released, presumablely on blu-ray. he supposedly had contractual agreements on the second, and was going to refuse, but this would make sense. thats my speculation based on his langauge.
i bought blu-ray (ps3) because i know its slightly better, at worst, and that it will probably win this format war. when hd-dvd players are sub $50 with 10+ free movies I may consider getting it as a cheap trophy for picking the right side. ;-) just kidding, but in all seriousness, walmart is giving away 12+ movies now.
.. and that's why MS has the HD DVD drive for the XBox 360...
Note the idiot that asked the question:
I wonder how that is since many studios use the same codec and high def file for both formats...
yup, they knew if it was associated with the xbox360 it would fail.
studios that do both formats usually use the same codec, so it would be harder to tell, but the higher bit rate of blu-ray allows for less artifacts. also, you could compare movies made by exclusive studios: i.e. disney (blu-ray) vs. paramount (hd-dvd)
yup, they knew if it was associated with the xbox360 it would fail.
studios that do both formats usually use the same codec, so it would be harder to tell, but the higher bit rate of blu-ray allows for less artifacts. also, you could compare movies made by exclusive studios: i.e. disney (blu-ray) vs. paramount (hd-dvd)
The MPEG-2 Blu-ray titles look worse though...
I saw "Fifth Element" and "House of Flying Daggers" on the original Sony Player on a Sony LCD - very, very grainy... "Stealth" had some grain to it also though not as bad...
"Aeon Flux" was sorta bad, but my HD DVD copy at home is tons better...
A couple I saw on the Samsung original player...
To be completely honest, I don't see what the big fuss is over HD movies, as they don't appeal to me at all. My concern is over the optical data disc market, where, at least as far as I can tell, Blu-Ray is winning due to higher capacity.
I can understand wanting to push digital downloads, but why try to make both formats fail, especially with the huge potential these new discs have for data storage? That just seems awfully short-sighted.
I can understand wanting to push digital downloads, but why try to make both formats fail, especially with the huge potential these new discs have for data storage? That just seems awfully short-sighted.
Downloads have DRM. When you have your own copy on a disc, it becomes out of the Studio's control (you can copy the disc, rip it to another format for playing on a myriad of devices, etc.).
Like, I have a HD download of a Star Trek Enterprise episode. It's totally under Microsoft's and Paramount's control, I can only play it on a 360 with my XBox Live account and they can disable it any time they want to...
Yes, that I completely understand. That wasn't the point I was trying to make - I was emphasizing that, for me at least, the applications for data discs far outweigh the movie applications. The whole idea of high-definition movies just doesn't appeal to me at all, for several reasons:
- I don't have a high-definition TV
- I don't watch movies very often as it is
- I would only use the discs for archiving large volumes of data, not burning my own high definitition movies with iMovie/iDVD.
I dont care about transformers being only being on HD DVD. wasnt a very good movie IMO. you may be right that paramount would not have put hi-res audio on the blu-ray version (proof?) but they were qouted as saying they were unable to include it on the hd-dvd version due to lack in space.
you provided some great history on paramounts adoption of next generation technology to make me believe they pretty much just suck. I understand why it was so easy for them to take that payoff, they have no backbone
personally, the next gen interactivity is also not important. I dont want to listen and watch michael bay talk about the movie while it is playing! thats just my opinion though and am not worried as these features are now available on all blu-ray players being sold (updateable on most including the common ps3)
what is important to me is having high quality audio and video with as much storage as possible. currently I use DVDs all the time for backing up and transferring **** to other comps, and having 50 GB available to me on a single disc would be nice.
It's been shown over at AVS that there actually was enough space on the TF disc (about 4GB) for a TrueHD track. Again, Paramount is just out to screw the customer really. Maybe there wasn't enough bandwidth, but there was enough space. And the bandwidth problem could have been solved using the low-bitrate friendly VC-1 instead of the hungrier AVC. If they wanted to Paramount could have had High-Res on it.....
When they do add a lossless track on some discs they leave off all the supplements and cram it full of a ton of audio options (ie. Top Gun). Paramount screws around putting Lossless TrueHD on crap like Hot Rod and Heartbreak Kid and leaves it off on movies that actually could use it like Flags of Our Fathers and (sorry to bring it up again) Transformers.
And about the whole interactivity thing - yes, Blu-ray will have the ability to do all that HD DVD can but only on the PS3 (and that's not even a sure thing. It should be, but no one has actually said its upgradable) and the new Panasonic can you do true PiP. The new Samsung and LG Combo players will too, but they aren't readily available yet. And web interactivity will only be available on players that have built-in ethernet or wifi (something the new Panasonic and many other PiP capable players don't have).
Who really knows about the whole Paramount timed exclusive thing though. True the contract is only good for another fourteen months but there isn't a clause that says the instant the exclusivity is up they will suddenly start releasing all the movies on Blu-ray. Heck, they might even stay exclusive when the contract is up.
All of this being said, I do love the fact that Blu-ray has 50GB of storage and super high bitrates. The stuff that Disney is doing with Blu is wonderful.
interesting enough I read this today about the ps3
its just an article saying a sony exec confirmed the ps3 will be receiving profile 1.1 this month. I highly doubt I will ever use PiP, or web interactivity for that matter, but I guess its good to have in case.
I dont buy the argument that the profile 1.1 move is a big deal. those extra features are just studios packing the disc with **** to increase value, so if a few of the early adopters that didnt get a ps3 (not many), and have players without internet connectivity (even less), and can't do firmware via another method, are **** out of luck if they would enjoy PiP or online movie memorobilia shopping.
oh well. do any hd-dvd players have wifi connectivity? IMO ethernet is not very convenient, and I would only have it plugged in to do firmware updates.
if you look at the transformers numbers on DVD and HD-DVD, its pretty obvious they made the wrong decision (i would say they lost out on a lot of money, but that $150 million check should cover those losses) and will probably go back to blu. michael bay knows this very well, and is the reason he blabs on and on about blu.
as always, my belief that blu-ray will win is based on a belief that warner will be going blu exclusive, soon. if that changes, so does my entire outlook
these rumors were reflamed today