Report: Warner To Go Both Ways with Blu-Ray

By Geoff Duncan October 10, 2005

The Japanese daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun is reporting long-time HD DVD support Warner Brothers has decided it will also release content in Sony’s competing Blu-Ray format. The news comes just one week after fellow HD DVD backer Paramount announced it will release content in both HD DVD and Blu-Ray formats, sending the Toshiba and the HD DVD community in a public-relations tailspin.

If true, Warner’s decision would leave Universal Studios as the only major studio to be backing only the HD DVD format. Four other major studios and distributors—Disney, MGM, 20th Century Fox, and Sony itself—currently plan to release content only in Blu-Ray format.

Like Paramount, Warner’s move likely hedges its bets during what’s shaping up to be an ugly format war for control of the next-generation DVd market. By making its content available in both major DVD formats, Warner Brothers is hoping to fully participate in whatever next-generation DVD revenue stream may develop, as consumers look for content suited to their upgraded systems. However, the market may be slow to develop: historically, when new technologies are embroiled in significant disputes regarding incompatible technologies, consumers tend to stay away until one technology emerges as a clear leader. Given that no next-generation DVD systems are currently available to consumers, all bets on the future of the market are still highly speculative.

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Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

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Black Friday deal: RayNeo Air 2 AR Glasses are a 201-inch screen for anywhere

RayNeo Air 2 XR AR glasses product image

What if you could carry a massive 201-inch screen with you everywhere you go and stow it in your pocket, handbag, or backpack? It sounds like a techie's fever dream, right? Except, it's totally possible with the RayNeo Air 2 AR glasses. Using Micro OLED technology, these augmented reality glasses allow you to view content in 1080p full HD on a 201-inch display, and all you have to do is wear a pair of eyeglasses. You can connect them to PCs, Android, iOS, game consoles, and the cloud, all to watch or play content. For Black Friday, RayNeo has shaved $30 off the full price, so you'll pay just $349. That's a fraction of the cost of an equivalent-sized TV. But when you use coupon code RAYNEOSAVE50, you'll save an additional $50, bringing the price down to $299. Wowzers.
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Why you should buy the RayNeo Air 2 AR glasses for Black Friday

Even the cost of an 80-inch OLED would be three to four times the cost of these AR glasses at their regular price. That's without factoring in the sheer portability of these AR glasses, which you can take anywhere and everywhere. It's like carrying a 201-inch OLED TV in your pocket or bag, which you can set up instantly indoors and out. While having a picnic, you can throw on a movie. At a local coffee shop, you can play some games. At your family's house for the holidays, you can play or watch whatever you want, on a massive screen, without bothering anyone else.

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The Max.com website.

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What about Warner Bros. Discovery? The newly combined service that now serves pretty much the entire entertainment spectrum — from Succession and Game of Thrones to This Came Out of Me and Naked and Afraid — is set to relaunch as Max with a new app on May 23 that looks to give consumers even more content for their monthly subscription fee. (And on a platform that works better than HBO Max ever did, too.) And it's still doing so with a paid tier that includes advertising.

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After a formidable 25-year run, Netflix has announced that it will shutter its DVD-to-mail rental service, DVD Netflix, aka DVD.com. Citing the shrinking DVD business, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told shareholders on April 18 that the rental service would be shipping its last DVD on September 29, 2023.
And while most of the 230 million Netflix subscribers won’t miss the service -- or perhaps even knew it still existed in the first place -- DVDs and Blu-rays are still a preferred method for watching movies and TV series if you really care about quality or just don't have broadband internet.
But now that DVD Netflix is out of the game, where can people turn to rent DVDs and Blu-rays?
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Redbox