Blu-ray Losing the High Definition War (in Japan)
Blu-ray Losing the High Definition War (in Japan)
Posted 07/27/2009 at 7:30am
| by Paul Lilly
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It appears CBHD (China Blue High-Definition), formerly known as CH-DVD (China High Definition DVD), has a shot at doing something HD-DVD never could: Beat Blu-ray. Or at least that's the case in Japan.
Apparently a Japanese news station ran the numbers and confirmed that the CBHD format holds a 3 percent market share lead over Blu-ray, FormatWarCentral.com reports. The revelation was presented as part of a documentary, which you can view here, though you're on your own in translating the dialogue.
Under its former designation, the CBHD format was first announced in September 2007 as a joint venture between OMNERC and the DVD Forum, the latter of which was responsible for the failed HD-DVD format. CBHD supporters hope the format will succeed where HD-DVD didn't by offering better copy protection features. However, Warner Brothers is so far the only Hollywood studio to support CBHD.
Image Credit: gizmag.com
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maniacm0nk3y
July 27, 2009 at 2:14pm
I'm no economist but I suspect the reason that Blu-Ray titles are so expensive in stores is because not a lot of people buy them, but at online retailers it's much more common so they can keep the prices reasonable. Kind of like the Blu-Ray players. Supply and Demand...?
comptech08
July 27, 2009 at 4:26pm
It also helps prices to stay down because there is less middle man. Not as many people working to sell you the item. And if you can just download it, it can be cheaper even still.
maniacm0nk3y
July 27, 2009 at 2:14pm
I'm no economist but I suspect the reason that Blu-Ray titles are so expensive in stores is because not a lot of people buy them, but at online retailers it's much more common so they can keep the prices reasonable. Kind of like the Blu-Ray players. Supply and Demand...?
nekollx
July 27, 2009 at 4:36pm
So is their just china building more walls or are we likly to see this ported stateside? Do i have to start worying about CD-DVD burners for my high capacity files?
Knowing their record though i'll bet havk their system is stolen from another company like their "net nanny" stuff was.
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
horzo
July 27, 2009 at 1:55pm
Wikipedia... "CBHD will use the AVS audio and video codec,
owned by the Chinese government. CBHD's developers claim the format
contains more copy protection features and is part of a big push by
China to fight piracy as well as cut down on royalty payments for
foreign patents."Link to the source story included. Assuming you read Chinese.
kloneDesu
July 27, 2009 at 10:29am
Guys... if you've seen the video it's very clear that they are not selling this format in Japan. It was a report done by a Japanese show about the sales figures in China. The store they visited was in Shanghai ,China--it doesn't even make sense for CH-DVD to exist in Japan. They literally say "This is an exclusive format for China" during the report. All those DVDs shown have Chinese on them, not Japanese.
Basically, what's happening is that China has struck a deal with Toshiba to try to sell the HD-DVD format in China as CH-DVD. China has been less sucessful with previous formats because of the extra royalties they've had to pay to other countries (Sony Blueray=Japan). Eventually, China wants to sell the format to other third-world countries were cost is more important. Both Toshiba and China benefit because one gets to continue using a format thas has been abandoned and the other has found a way to break into the HD market.
Bandit7x
July 27, 2009 at 7:13pm
kloneDesu is right and this article incorrect. They say that one particular company in China has seen sales of movies as 60% DVD, 30% CBHD, and 10% BluRay. CBHD is not being sold in Japan.
comptech08
July 27, 2009 at 9:05am
I read on engadget that it was China that CBHD was edging out Blu-ray. Is it both countries or just one?
DBsantos77
July 27, 2009 at 8:15am
No surprise, I really don't want to buy an expensive player that runs a couple hundred, and then a $40-$50 DVD movie that I'm going to watch once.
Peanut Fox
July 27, 2009 at 9:28am
Are you using the dollar currency? blu-rays play around the $20 dollar mark. The Watchmen is going for $20 dollars on Amazon. :) You know it's tempting.
Still, players are far too expensive. I also think most folks are shaky about how long the formatt will last, not to mention the percentage of people who have HD TVs and are watching them with incorrectly configured setups and whacked out aspect ratios. They just "think" it's HD.
If you don't want to own a movie, there is always NetFlix.
jcollins
July 27, 2009 at 1:54pm
You can't pull out a sale Blu Ray prices as an example for Blu Ray movies across the board. Watchmen goes for $35.99 MSRP. Best Buy has it for $26.99 (Amazon will probably have it closer to that price when their sale is over).
horzo
July 27, 2009 at 2:08pm
Wall-E - $20, Shawshank Redemption - $24, Goodfellas - $13, Serenity - $17, Transformers - $23, Godfather bundle - $50
Amazon's "sale" seems to be permanent.
big_montana
July 27, 2009 at 7:14pm
The average user still does not buy their media from Amazon, they will either buy at Walmart, Netflix or Blockbuster. So your Amazon prices are useless in any pricing comparison for Blu-ray media. Power users, like the ones that subscribe to MaxPC may very well purchase from Amazon or other cheaply priced sites, but the average use wants instant gratification and will not shop around online! I will not buy media from amazon for one as I do not own, and have no intention of purchasing, a Blu Ray player for the foreseeable future. A upscale DVD players quality is just as good as Blu Ray at a mere fraction of the price for the player and media.
horzo
July 28, 2009 at 11:51am
Frankly, "most people are stupid consumers" isn't much of an argument. Yes, I do assume that anyone with a brain shops around. Doesn't really matter, though, because if prices are low on Amazon now, they'll soon come down in brick-and-mortar outlets as well.
And, no...upscaled DVD is NOT just as good as blue ray. I have both an upscaling DVD player and a BD player hooked up to my 40" LCD. Even at that screen size, there's an obvious difference.
nekollx
July 27, 2009 at 8:13am
so for thos of us without even Blue Ray why should we even care?
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
maniacm0nk3y
July 27, 2009 at 7:11am
So many format wars. All I really care about is that physical media is preserved or digital media increases it's quality to that of physical media.
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