damonrpayne Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Big format war news: http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/04/warner-goes-blu-ray-exclusive/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARPRINCE Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 I wonder how much the pay-off was? Ohh well....it is what it is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el jopez Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Amy, Damon beat me to the punch by a minute. Could you close the topic I posted in the HT section or delete it? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted January 4, 2008 Author Share Posted January 4, 2008 THere's been no mention of a pay-off yet, but I'm sure there were incentives. After all, Paramount got $150million worth of incentives for 18month exclusive hd-dvd support. Considering how many of the top selling HD-DVD titles were from Warner (Batman Begins, 300, Harry Potter, etc), this will move the software sales #s to be more like 10-1 instead of 2.5-1 in Blu-Ray's favor. Who would buy an HD-DVD player after an announcement like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el jopez Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Who would buy an HD-DVD player after an announcement like this? Simple: consumers who dont' know better. The massive amounts of cheap HD-DVD players that flooded the market this holiday season was indicator enough that Toshiba was clearing inventory for the inevitable, however for others who read the same add saw it as an oppurtunity to make a "good deal". O if that were only the case. So they bought the product, bought a ton of cheaper consumable media and may have felt good about it up until now. So here they are stuck with an format and a player that may ineveitably die before to long. I'm still not crazy about a Sony backed format; heck I've abandoned all thoughts of going "HD" until I'm out of grad school. In this format war, the consumer won short term, but lost overall. The competition helped gaurantee lower priced items for awhile, but with a supposed overall victory in the Blu - Ray camp, prices could very well go up higher reinforcing what I beleived all along: HD is a niche product for those who can truly appreciate it (read: afford it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted January 4, 2008 Author Share Posted January 4, 2008 Has a single DVD standard resulted in ever-higher DVD player prices? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARPRINCE Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Well it could go the other way around too since electronics manufacturer would just be dishing out different models of BD players and competing with one another, it would eventually bring down the prices of the players (just like the DVD players when it first came out). Now once China mass produces this hardware, prices will hit rock buttom and consumers will eventually win. Now I just need to get rid of my HD DVD addon and disks by finding "consumers who don't know better" asap. Do I hear ebay????? [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rsoxfan Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Who would buy an HD-DVD player after an announcement like this? Simple: consumers who dont' know better. The massive amounts of cheap HD-DVD players that flooded the market this holiday season was indicator enough that Toshiba was clearing inventory for the inevitable, however for others who read the same add saw it as an oppurtunity to make a "good deal". O if that were only the case. So they bought the product, bought a ton of cheaper consumable media and may have felt good about it up until now. I still feel fine about it..so you pay 100 bucks for a player even if the format died today, you still have a dvd player and you can enjoy all the previouslly released hd content...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest srobak Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 this will move the software sales #s to be more like 10-1 instead of 2.5-1 in Blu-Ray's favor. Who would buy an HD-DVD player after an announcement like this? Because this is not at all the final nail... the format war will continue as more studios and other vendors pick sides and more material is released. This is hardly a "final blow"... price is still a major issue, and BR has a long way to go to catch up. There are other factors as well - DiVX had plenty of studio support, and fell on it's face. Time will tell... and the main reason why someone would buy an HD deck is so they can enjoy all the titles both on HD, and BR if that is what the future holds. Prince - what HD titles do you have? I might want to buy some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laneza01 Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Prince - what HD titles do you have? I might want to buy some. haha i was thinkin the same thing...how much for that 360 addon(i assume thats what he means...) i guess im a dumb consumer...except i really like batman begins annnnnnd no blu ray... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 I would as I have to be able to burn Bluray & HD-DVD to standard DVD-R discs in addition to the expensive Bluray/HD-DVD discs. Also D-VHS tape and High Def M2T files to Avelink players and also HD-WMV. So my huge family might have one of these systems and maybe they will also have HD-DIVX. Next year they will probably jump to 2160P. We will be in the constantly renew upgrade economic cycle, kind of like owning a boat. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el jopez Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Has a single DVD standard resulted in ever-higher DVD player prices? Was said DVD ever competing with another format to supplant VHS? Different ball game, different set of rules for engagment this time around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted January 4, 2008 Author Share Posted January 4, 2008 The official KlipschCorner.com position: [6] http://www.klipschcorner.com/BlogDetail.aspx?guid=84883401-25a5-47ab-8bfa-8382175c22c3 Nearly a year ago, on my personal blog, I wrote that I thought Blu-Ray was looking good. As a perfection-seeking home theater enthusiast, the future of packaged High Defintion media is something that I felt concerned me and the industry closely. I wrote that Blu-Ray was better technology because more storage space + higher maximum bitrates for audio+video ultimately meant a better home theater experience. I also wrote that I felt Blu-Ray actually had a chance to win in the marketplace and I spelled out why. Today, Warner announced that they would be dropping HD-DVD support to be Blu-Ray exclusive. As one of the most successful studios in current day terms, with some of the most successful catalog titles from the past ten years, this is a pretty big blow to HD-DVD. Looking back at sales numbers, all of the highest selling HD-DVD titles have come from Warner with the notable exception of Transformers. The Matrix, Batman Begins, 300, Harry Potter, V for Vendetta; these have been the big sellers and they are Warner titles. Warner owns New Line who will surely follow suit and have said as much in the past. This means that the LOTR movies will be Blu-Ray exclusive. Some Blu-Ray fanboys have claimed that this is essentially the end of the format war. As a fellow BD Fanboy I am inclined to agree. Some HD-DVD fanboys have said that HD packaged media will just be a small niche product and suffer the fate of DVD-Audio vs. SACD. I am inclined to disagree. Some extremely rabid fanboys have said they are now going back to upconverted DVDs or waiting for HD downloads, refusing to join their hated Blu enemy. This last position is hardest to understand on a number of levels. Ten years ago, if you had told me the unwashed masses would be siding with Microsoft and calling Sony the big bad company they couldn't support on priciple, I would have laughed in your face. I half expect Apple to be the next "big bad out of fashion ugly corporate face" next. Anyway, to get the kind of audio and video quality of say, Pirates of the Carribean on Blu-Ray today, it would take most people 3-5 days to finish the download. I really think we are several years out before even the most cutting edge households have this kind of bandwidth, let alone average movie watching folks. I personally own several movies on DVD and Blu-Ray. Doing back-to-back comparisons of upconverted Pirates of the Carribean, Black Hawk Down, Bram Stoker's Dracula, against their native 1080p counterparts, I cannot fathom anyone choosing upconverted DVD over true high definition source material. It should be noted that while color gradients and resolution can be extrapolated to produce an image that is better than the data on disc, I know of no sound upconversion. Sound is half of the movie experience. This notion of never getting into Blu-Ray due purely to Sour Grapes seems both immature and telling. Had Warner gone the other way, I would have been stopping by Best Buy on the way home to see if the high end 1080p Toshiba HD-DVD players were in stock, and I would have picked up some Universal published guilty pleasures (Pitch Black, Chronicles of Riddick) to go with it. Sure, I would have been upset that my analysis was incorrect, but I like high definition audio and sound, so I would have to go with the best format with the best chance of succeeding in the marketplace. I have a feeling Warner's decision will cause the entire High Definition Packaged Media pie to grow in size. Will Blu-Ray succeed DVD? I don't know, I hope so. Either way I'll be enjoying 1080p video and uncompressed LPCM audio for some time to come, and if you pick up a Blu-Ray player so can you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 I saw that too. No biggie to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARPRINCE Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 Major studios supporting HD format: GAME OVER don't you think so? 20th Century Fox Walt Disney Lionsgate Warner Bros Sony - MGM/UA - Columbia TriStar New Line & Fine Line Paramount NBC Universal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill H. Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 As I stated in another Thread, just go to your Local Video store. See which Format has more titles...............Locally Blu Ray outpaces HD . JMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 Has a single DVD standard resulted in ever-higher DVD player prices? When has the lack of competition ever resulted in lower prices? And speaking of BR, you would think that HD would result in lower prices, although Sony seems singularly resistant to such a notion. THAT is the problem with Sony and BR! Imagine a strategic marketing plan to convince users that a format is better because you simply refuse to compete on the basis of price....It MUST be better! Here, take this Beta player for example.... Lower the price and the problem would be solved. (here is where you can imagine a foot tapping in anticipation..............OK, well not very seriously......waiting.........) Oh, and as far as going to the store and seeing which format has the most titles (and i dare not say "worthwhile" titles) ...that's easy! NEITHER HD format! And in most that are, we can now see CGI and stars exploding with great accuracy, to compliment our ability to hear them explode with great accuracy.......right....[] Unfortunately the news simply reduces choice. It doesn't address fundamental issues with the HD format overall, and in particular it makes neither format any more significantly affordable. The supreme irony being that HD need not cost any more than regular DVDs. If HD wants to become ubiquitous, it should compete with its real competition: upscaled DVDs, resulting in the real growth in HD's market share, rather than simply trying to cannibalize the competition within the tiny market niche that HD occupies. This topic continues to be plagued by a fatal flaw when viewed from a strategic management POV. Instead of focusing upon growing the compelling demand for the HD format overall, the major players have concentrated soley on increasing their prominance over each other; rendering then not too unlike two wooden shoe manufacturers competing over how their individual brand is superior to the other. Unfortunately, there is little compelling need for any of us to buy wooden shoes when the ubiquitous 'regular' shoe market satifies quite nicely. In this regards, the HD format is a failure. And that is shame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 Has a single DVD standard resulted in ever-higher DVD player prices? Was said DVD ever competing with another format to supplant VHS? Different ball game, different set of rules for engagment this time around. Different set of rules indeed! But not because of the assumed reasons! {First, if you are simply focusing on technical merits, you are MISSING the boat, and this same mindset is the source of 'what ails the HD world'. It is an arrogant and myopic worldview which uterly fails from a business and market perspective. And its time that some in this industry removed their heads from the nether regions to finally figure this out! And if you can't understand the merits of each system from a manufacturer POV, you likewise have missed out on why there is a competition at all. Yet that still misses the larger market realities!) So, why are the rules different? When Beta and VHS were competing, they were the dominant market. They were not merely a modification of an already established existing market. And the consumer didn't decide the outcome of that competition anyway! The manufacturer's did as they opted for the format where they were not charged a licensing fee to manufacture the product! JVC told them, just make them, and they procedded to assess the licensing fee on every videotape produced! They simply passed the fee on to the consumer in a continuing slow bleed. Well Sony has continued the tradition and they have brought the entire issue upon themselves. They could have made the format widely available to all and simply assessed a fee on the media. But no! The same marketing wizards who brought you Beta, also brought you Blu-Ray. And that is why a consortium of manufacturers formed the HD Forum a full 2 years after Sony announced Blu-Ray in reaction to Sony's behavior. So what are the rules this time? They are fighting over a marginalized niche market where the only ones who are concerned are the fanboys, as the regular family doesn't need nor care. They already have media and equipment. And if they want near HD quality, they can simply get an upscaling DVD player! A PRIME example being the Costco featured Toshiba 1080p upscaling DVD player including an HDMI cable for $59.99!!!!! (Item 661010 - $10 discount available March 3-March 9, 2008) And to the degree that the HD folks (and that means BOTH formats) have missed this point, they are a failure. {BTW, and all of this is a shame! As I would love to be able to buy a BR compatible player for a competitive price!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falcon20x Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 I was just wondering if I was the only one having a problem with paying up to $35.00 for a BR movie, not to mention the fact that I can get the same movie for $ 20.00 on a normal DVD or $ 10.00 for a VHS tape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 I was just wondering if I was the only one having a problem with paying up to $35.00 for a BR movie, not to mention the fact that I can get the same movie for $ 20.00 on a normal DVD or $ 10.00 for a VHS tape. I'm envious of those who have the time to go back and watch a movie again (which I assume is the reason people buy DVD's versus just renting them), AND keep up with all the movies being released. Not enough days/hours in a week for me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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