View Full Version : DVD Forum kicks off HD DVD region-coding scheme
Captain Scarlet
06-10-2006, 11:00
The DVD Forum, the organisation which oversees the DVD and HD DVD formats, looks set to introduce a region-coding system for the next-generation optical disc technology next year.
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/06/hd_dvd_to_get_region_coding/
OO
Looks like i'll be getting one of the region free Toshiba HD-DVD players when they come out next month.
LouBarlow
06-10-2006, 17:22
I'm all for it frankly, if it means that companies like Disney et al, are persuaded to join the HD-DVD party.
I'm sure it is one of their demands.
thescrounger
06-10-2006, 18:23
If it means more studios sign up then I'm for it.
Looks like i'll be getting one of the region free Toshiba HD-DVD players when they come out next month.
Is there not a risk that any region coded discs will have RCE style programming and not work in the existing players without a 'firmware update' (which will add region coding to the players)?
Niceguygeoff
06-10-2006, 21:00
The risk always lives. I can hold off from BD and HD-DVD until some clever-clogs cracks the region coding. It's bad enough that I can't play alternate region DVDs on the existing machines...
Surely it just seems a pointless thing other than to appease certain studios?
AndyWilson
06-10-2006, 21:10
What's pointless about appeasing studios?
Who's going to buy your players if studios won't release films for them?
What's pointless about appeasing studios?
Who's going to buy your players if studios won't release films for them?
I was replying in relation to Loubarlows's comments about studios such as Disney.
LouBarlow
06-10-2006, 21:29
I was replying in relation to Loubarlows's comments about studios such as Disney.
Well it's not pointless at all - if HD-DVD get Buena Vista/Disney on board, it is pretty much game-over, as Columbia/Sony will be left as the major sole exclusive contributor to Blu-Ray.
Pretty much every other studio is seeing the light, and coupled with the sale figures, and already emerging dominance of HD-DVD, region coding could be very important.
RobDickinson
06-10-2006, 21:31
Its been proved to be pointless on DVD players, its just a pain in the arse and people will get round it one way or another.
LouBarlow
06-10-2006, 21:33
Its been proved to be pointless on DVD players, its just a pain in the arse and people will get round it one way or another.
If a company says 'I wont distribute titles on your format unless you introduce region coding' then it is far from pointless - it's not complicated surely?
RobDickinson
06-10-2006, 22:44
Its anticompetative, restrictive and in some countries illigal.
Why shouldnt I be able to buy & play a DVD in the US when I'm there on my UK laptop?
Why cant I play one of my hundreds of legaly bought R2 disks on my legaly bought NZ xbox 360? I've broken no laws, I've bought both in good faith, in the correct region, but am shafted by some pathetic stupid artificial restrictions.
Region coding makes me sick, and its been proven just not to work with DVD's (in most cases) I thought they'd learned their lessons with dvd.
kiran_mk2
07-10-2006, 00:39
Well it's not pointless at all - if HD-DVD get Buena Vista/Disney on board, it is pretty much game-over, as Columbia/Sony will be left as the major sole exclusive contributor to Blu-Ray.
Pretty much every other studio is seeing the light, and coupled with the sale figures, and already emerging dominance of HD-DVD, region coding could be very important.
What about Fox (whose demands allegedly held up the release of BluRay to begin with)? Star Wars, Aliens, X-Men, um... Big Momma's House.
I imagine Sony will wait for at least a year after the launch of the PS3 before Columbia even considers launching HD-DVDs.
LouBarlow
07-10-2006, 06:20
What about Fox (whose demands allegedly held up the release of BluRay to begin with)? Star Wars, Aliens, X-Men, um... Big Momma's House.
I imagine Sony will wait for at least a year after the launch of the PS3 before Columbia even considers launching HD-DVDs.
Yup I forgot Fox, but again there are rumblings that they will be unable to resist the unexpected popularity of the rival format.
It's too early I guess to make assumptions, but if the patterns emerging on sales etc etc are maintained, or the gap widens (as is becoming the case) then the studios will be unable to resist surely?
Bluesman
09-10-2006, 12:58
What's pointless about appeasing studios?
Who's going to buy your players if studios won't release films for them?
Sorry but it works the other way too. How can a company survive if no one buys its product?
If the enlightened studios release without region coding, and the unenlightened ones don't, qand customers hold their ground and only buy from non-region coding movie studios - you would soon find that the studios who didn't would change their minds.
AndyWilson
09-10-2006, 13:37
What percentage of the DVD buying public worldwide have any interest at all in playing DVDs of whatever resolution from "other" regions? Pure speculation but I think 5% would probably be a huge over-estimate.
Vulcan101
10-10-2006, 00:29
I don't know if that is necessarily so.
One of the reasons why region free DVD's became so popular with early adoptors was due to the lack of titles, high cost and poor R2 transfers which made R1 disks much more attractive and so people hacked their DVD players. When cost of UK disks dropped and the range of disks increased region free disks/players were no longer that important (though this is now fairly standard on even cheap players).
However, you can bet that HD DVD and BluRay disks are going to be massively expensive at first in the USA and UK but probably a lot cheaper in Japan and the R3 countries so it will make sense to buy from the cheapest source AND make significant savings; also figure in that users are more technically savvy and internet aware than they were even 8 years ago, so there will be a desire to buy abroad - but only if you can get a region free player.
I am still not convinced that there will be a massive surge of purchasing of HD DVD due to high equipment costs particulrly if the disks are pricier than DVD then it will be niche market (at least in the short/medium term).
What percentage of the DVD buying public worldwide have any interest at all in playing DVDs of whatever resolution from "other" regions? Pure speculation but I think 5% would probably be a huge over-estimate.
Maybe so, when you look at all the DVD buying public, but the only people who have adopted HD so far are going to be the rich yuppie types, and the hardcore film fans who import every other disc. So it could be above 50%.
Especially in the UK where importing discs is as easy and quick as ordering them domestically, I think that almost all the early adopters will be potential importers.
I don't know if that is necessarily so.
One of the reasons why region free DVD's became so popular with early adoptors was due to the lack of titles, high cost and poor R2 transfers which made R1 disks much more attractive and so people hacked their DVD players. When cost of UK disks dropped and the range of disks increased region free disks/players were no longer that important (though this is now fairly standard on even cheap players).
However, you can bet that HD DVD and BluRay disks are going to be massively expensive at first in the USA and UK but probably a lot cheaper in Japan and the R3 countries so it will make sense to buy from the cheapest source AND make significant savings; also figure in that users are more technically savvy and internet aware than they were even 8 years ago, so there will be a desire to buy abroad - but only if you can get a region free player.
I am still not convinced that there will be a massive surge of purchasing of HD DVD due to high equipment costs particulrly if the disks are pricier than DVD then it will be niche market (at least in the short/medium term).
I think you raise some good points but with regard to HD-DVD costs I have bought a dozen or so and only one has cost me more than £12 brand new so essentially the same or cheaper than normal DVDs so not sure this will be a prevention to take up of the format?
Vulcan101
10-10-2006, 18:28
Sorry - when they came out the first titles I saw were £30+; as I haven't got a player for HD DVD I haven't kept abreast of the prices so I was a bit suprised to see the prices had dropped so fast.
Sorry - when they came out the first titles I saw were £30+; as I haven't got a player for HD DVD I haven't kept abreast of the prices so I was a bit suprised to see the prices had dropped so fast.
Don't get me wrong some retailers are charging 18-19 but I know of at least 2-3 internet sellers showing prices in the £10 to £14 range so not too bad considering it is such of a new market
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