A spanner in the works of the Blu-Ray machine
Remember how, recently, I've been pledging my undying support for the Blu-Ray format, leaping aboard its bandwagon and saying "no chance, hard cheese" to its rival, HD-DVD? Well, I'm now very strongly considering retracting that support. A post by Synapse Films head Don May Jr. at the Mobius Home Video Forum points out that Sony, who has approval power over all titles released on Blu-Ray, has already vetoed certain more adult-themed titles such as Thriller: A Cruel Picture (a film I am strongly considering picking up in HD format).This is bad news however you look at it. Whether or not you have any interest in so-called "adult" titles (and I can easily see this being extended to other non-mainstream releases that Sony decides they don't like), you can't deny that having a single company able to decide what can and cannot be released on a certain format is an extremely bad situation to be in. It's generally agreed that one of the main reasons for the failure of Sony's BetaMax format was their reluctance to allow adult material on it, and it looks like the same thing could end up happening here. Newsflash, Sony: the entertainment industry thrives on dirty videos. Why do you think VHS and DVD were so successful?
I'll wait a bit to see what ends up happening, but Toshiba may have found themselves an unexpected late convert to the HD-DVD camp.
2 Comments:
Wow, thanks for that link. I'm not really planning to go hi-def for some time (at least not until the HD-DVD vs Blu-ray smoke has cleared), but I'm buggered if I'll have quadruple-dip kings Sony telling me what I can and can't watch.
By Philly Q, at 17:37
On the HD subject: contrary to my belief, WMV9 seems to be still alive, with a couple of new titles announced in Italy. Well, if the distribution is going to be the same as Profondo Rosso HD (i.e. very few copies), no wonder they will remain unnoticed by the masses...
By MCP, at 22:38
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