National Geographic has confirmed that they will only be releasing high definition titles on the Blu-ray format. The decision to go format exclusive comes after Warner Brothers, the company which distributes their content, decided to go Blu-ray exclusive earlier this month. While no official press release will be issued on the subject by National Geographic, all future releases will fall under this new policy.
The first title to fall under this new policy will be the April release of 'Sharkwater' which should get officially announced soon. National Geographic is the latest studio to switch to Blu-ray exclusivity, and the third to do so under the Warner umbrella (joining ranks with New Line and HBO). The only Warner holdout left is BBC, who remains format neutral and will continue to release on both formats.
The only National Geographic high definition release thus far has been 'Relentless Enemies', which was released almost a year ago. Hopefully, with the format war finally ending, we'll see more content from the legendary company.
Boy, Warner sure sent the war in one direction mighty fast, Circuit City clearances on all hd-dvd players, New Line, HBO, the German video companies, National Geographic, ect....now if Universal and Paramount would wake up. Certainly there has to be alot of pressure from Viacom and General Electric (owns Universal) and stock companies and stockholders. The trouble with Ken Graffeo of Universal Home Video is that even though he is on the hd-dvd board, he has bosses too and there must be a ton of pressure on him right now. They are definately losing alot of sales of their movies! The thing is, since all of their already available titles are mastered for hd-dvd, we won't get any blu-ray transfers from them for a while even if they do change in the higher bitrates. They will probably use the hd-dvd masters.
Common sense dictates that BBC will indeed be going Blu exclusive- it's just a matter of when. In the meanwhile, perhaps National Geographic could do a documentary of the demise of HD. Semper Blu!!!
This is more awesome news. I live for the Blu-ray Exclusivity reports. They are so fun to see for the first time and the feeling that follows with you all day long. Keep them coming.
BBC will be Blu soon enough. They have a stockpile of Planet Earth hddud's to sell. BBC stated "for the time being, we will continue to release in both formats" Remember when WB stated back in October "For the time being, we will continue to release in both formats" "For the time being"
BBC had a huge success with Planet Earth on hddud. Hddud best head to head seller. So what
BBC will be going Blu exclusive soon, especially with Woolworths going Blu.
I can just see the Super Bowl Ad Now "Get your favorite titles on HD-DVD from Universal Paramount, Dreamworks and uhhhhhh........yeah, that's pretty much it."
This does not cover titles that are distributed by other companies. Arctic Tale is Paramount, and
March of the Penguins is WB, so they will be controlled by them. In fact, many Nat Geo titles are not
distributed by us, but it is good to see that we are making the commitment to Blu.
I don't know about you guys - I think is safe to say we won!!!
I was not around back in beta vs VHS debacle- But, knowing Sony products recently I was assured that Blu-ray will win:)
Quoted from HDD "UPDATE: (12:25pm ET, January 30, 2008) Please note that this move to Blu-ray exclusivity covers films released under the "National Geographic Presents" shingle only. Films co-produced by National Geographic but distributed by other companies will (such as Paramount's 'Artic Tale') will be unaffected.
This news could not be better for this NatGeo lover. The NatGeo Channel in HD is sweet, so I know they have a lot of programming already in hidef just waiting to be released.
A couple of things: First, I agree with what "pro-bassoonist" posted above, that Criterion really should make the commitment to Blu-ray, now that Blu is undoubtedly going to be the only meaningful hi-def format left standing. Criterion is very well-known to serious film collectors as a company that takes great care to provide the very best in classic, foreign and independent films, painstakingly remastered and produced for video distribution. I have collected many titles from them over the years, and every one of them has been beautiful!
I contacted a Criterion representative a few months ago, and she said that Criterion was basically waiting for the dust to settle in the hi-def battle between Blu and the "other format". Now that it's clear that Blu is going to win that battle, I don't think Criterion can justify waiting much longer to go ahead and start releasing their huge library on Blu. I can assure Criterion that I will be a big customer of theirs when they begin releasing on Blu!!! $$$, Criterion!!!
I would encourage as many other Blu fans as possible to contact Criterion (I just went through the "Contact Us" link on their website) and let them know how you feel about them releasing their wonderful library on Blu. Like I said, when I contacted them, the lady there was courteous enough to send me a personal reply to my inquiry, so they do care what their fans and customers have to say...
Also, I early on bought National Geographic's "Relentless Enemies" when it was released. It's beautiful, as you would expect from NG, with stunning picture and audio quality. I cannot wait for more NG releases, as I have watched just about every one of their shows over the years, starting on PBS, and now on their cable channel.
My obvious point here is that we, as Blu supporters, must contact these studios and video companies and let them know there is a huge market out there -- lots and lots of $$$ -- among Blu fans. We can't just sit back and wait and hope that things will go our way. If not, the "other format" will continue to receive the benefit of the doubt among the remaining studios and companies and retailers that have not gone Blu, whether exclusively or neutral...
I would like to see this trend of companies dropping HD-DVD through out the 1st quarter of the year. 2nd quarter all retail stores dropping HD-DVD. 3rd quarter Universal,Paramount,Dreamworks go Blu-ray exclusive and all production on HD-DUD is finished.
4th quarter, Victory. Blu ray will be complete. Universal and Paramount will become blurays new apprentice Good good.
I'd like to see Apple computer include Blu-ray drives in all of their laptops, iMac and Mac Pro systems. At least the player! And give users the option to upgrade to a Blu-ray burner which Toast already supports btw.
I knew beatanews.com were hd-dvd supporter cause everytime i jump to this website for any new file forum softwares on the right, i kept seeing false and bad comments about blu-ray on the left which is call betanews... yeah they need to stop cause they making it worst for talking about us. We dont see any news from blu-ray talking bad about HD-DVD, all we see that we are getting more companies going exclusively with us and we still growing strong with Blu!!!
