Last week, there were reports that the HD DVD version of 'Children of Men' failed to play on some Toshiba players and the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on drive. Apparently, these issues aren't limited to just this title. According to TheManRoom, the HD DVD/DVD combo version of 'The Good Shepherd' has similar playback issues.
A couple days ago I cautiously approached Universal's next Combo Format HD DVD with U-Control functionality, 'The Good Shepherd.' My gut suspected the disc would suffer from the same playback issues as 'Children of Men,' but given how that disc's errors have been random across various players, there was at minimum a shot for success. Sadly, my gut was correct. 'The Good Shepherd' disc failed to play on both the HD-A1 and Xbox 360 HD DVD players with the exact same error messages 'Children of Men' returned. Whether my experience will be shared by the greater HD DVD community remains to be seen; however, it's our duty to pass along this caveat to those having pre-ordered the disc or plan to pick it up on Tuesday. Keep those receipts!
Universal has not officially acknowledged these issues. However, the company has already discontinued the combo versions of some titles and has retooled a few upcoming releases to be HD DVD-only. Needless to say, this doesn't look good for the combo format or HD DVD in general. If you'd like to read more, head on over to TheManRoom.
