But what about the anime?

YouTube · Post by **Kionon** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 2:17 am

A lot of us have been wondering about what the next step will actually be for distributable HD, and it seems like the anime industry has also been waiting to see which format, Bluray or HDDVD, will win the latest replay of the VHS/Beta war.

Seems like there's a new contender... Apple:

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/01/16/ ... index.html

The implications seem much more reasonable for anime distribution. It could, in fact, make licensing companies, as they stand now, such as ADV, Funimation, AnimEigo, etc completely obsolete. I forsee Japanese companies simply hiring US distribution teams to work in-house, and HD content can be provided via broadband to the Apple TV and the consumer's computer.

Also, it seems to me that it will only be a matter of time before some elite European hacking group finds a way to disable Apple's encryption, whatever it is, and so I place this in GAMV, since I see this is the next viable way for AMVs to continue to exist in the ethical standards we have set up on this site.

godix · Post by **godix** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 6:47 am

Without further details I can't say this for sure but based on Apples past behavior I suspect this would be an encrypted proprietary format that locks you into only Apple as your source. If so I think pirating is the ethical option. And no, I'm not trolling, I really do think that 'stealing' from an enforced artificial monopoly is perfectly ethical. Well, at least more ethical than endorsing and supporting the artificial monopoly would be. If some anime would be available at the same quality through sources other than Apple then of course my comments wouldn't apply.

BasharOfTheAges · Post by **BasharOfTheAges** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:30 am

Apple's in a position where their market share is based around people that don't know all that much about computers and eat at places like Panera. The middle class that wants to feel like they're upper class by spending more for something they see as modern and upscale. They won't complain - they'll fall in line.

As for the format wars, a lot of 3rd party DVD manufacturers are just making dual format boxes, so this whole format war will result in reduced sales for both brands' players.