Why not register?


Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 54 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3

All times are UTC [ DST ]

Author Message
PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:18 pm  Post subject:
Reply with quote
User avatar
Offline

Site Admin
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2002 1:35 am
Posts: 19753
Location: En España
fuck monkeys, looks like the new boss of warner bros. took a dive:

Quote:
Warner Bros. will throw all its weight behind Blu-ray later this year, a decision that could serve as a death blow to the rival HD DVD format.
Studio, which had hinted it might drop one format after the holidays, said it decided to back Blu-ray to try and reduce confusion brought on by the high-def format war and better drive mainstream adoption. Warner made the decision heading into the annual Consumer Electronics Show confab in Las Vegas, where it had been skedded to participate in activities promoting the rival HD DVD format on Sunday evening.

Warner execs cited Blu-ray's domestic and international sales as the tipping point in its favor. From the start, the Sony developed format enjoys has had an advantage in greater studio support and the PlayStation 3 console, which plays high-def movies and, at least in the early going, was much more affordable than Blu-ray decks, which have tended to carry a higher price tag than HD DVD counterparts.

Warner's move leaves only Paramount and Universal squarely in the HD DVD camp. Sony, Fox, Disney and Lionsgate all back Blu-ray. Warner sister company New Line confirmed it will shift allegiance to Blu-ray only as well.

Warner has been the sole major backing both formats since late this summer, when Paramount dropped Blu-ray in favor of HD DVD, due in part to marketing incentives proffered by Toshiba and belief HD DVD's lower cost would drive greater mainstream adoption.

However, hardware manufacturers for both sides offered sizable discounts for players during the holidays, reducing the price gap between the two formats. And studios did their part to dangle promotional incentives on the software side.

Yet Warner found that consumers still hesitated to dip their toes into the high-def waters due to confusion over the dueling formats.

"The price impediment was going away, but the take up wasn't increasing that much," said Warner Home Entertainment topper Kevin Tsujihara. "The research was making it pretty clear there was still a tremendous amount of confusion among consumers."

Supporting both formats came with a cost for the studio, which had to maintain dual inventories for their releases. And while the studio had some of the best sellers on high-def when both formats were added together, they couldn't help but wonder whether dual support was helping, or hurting, the transition to a next-gen format.

"By us being both, we were playing into consumer confusion," Tsujihara said. "There's a window of opportunity with first time buyers of HD TVs to also buy a high-def player at the same time."

"The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger," Warner Bros. chairman and CEO Barry Meyer seconded.

However, the studio insists that cost was not the underlying motivation for the shift. Paramount drew a lot of flak for taking Toshiba incentives, said to be $150 million, to exclusively back HD DVD.

"This was not a bidding war," Tsujihara said.

He pointed out that worldwide the DVD biz brings in $42 billion annually and his studio draws the greatest portion of that as market share leader.

"That amount far dwarfs any financial incentives," he said.

And indeed, Paramount has maintained that it backed HD DVD because it was generally lower priced and therefore had a greater chance of mass adoption.

Warners' Blu-ray shift has been rumored for some time, but the studio insisted it would wait to see how both formats fared during the crucial holiday sales period before backing one format exclusively. Indeed, late in the fourth quarter, the studio ran full page newspaper ads touting HD DVD benefits on one side and Blu-ray on the other. During this point, homevid topper Ron Sanders talked openly of the need to move beyond the format war and convince consumers of the benefits of high-def (Variety, Dec. 17-23).

Warner’s timing apparently took the HD DVD camp by surprise, however. Thursday afternoon, shortly before Warner said it notified Toshiba of the decision, HD DVD backers were paying media calls. The North American HD DVD Promo Group cancelled its Sunday CES confab after Warner’s went public with the decision Friday afternoon.

The shift doesn’t go into effect until June 1. Sanders said the studio will continue to release HD DVD discs until May 31 to honor its previous commitment to that format’s backers, then switch to Blu-ray only on the high-def front. Last summer, Blockbuster similarly phased out HD DVD discs from rental rotation.

Sanders said the studio will continue to release HD DVD discs until May 31 to honor its previous commitment to that format's backers, then switch to Blu-ray only on the high-def front. Blockbuster similarly phased out HD DVD discs at its rental stores.

Studios and manufacturers have been fighting a pitched battle over high-def because there is so much at stake: Sales of standard DVD has started to decline and digital downloads are even smaller than high-def at this point. DVD sales generate around $16 billion annually for the studios, with rental biz contributing another $8 billion or so to the annual domestic homevid spending.

Warner's decision to back Blu-ray exclusively reps its third shift in high-def strategy. Initially, the studio said it would back HD DVD, then shifted toward dual format support in October 2005, several months before the first high-def discs hit shelves (Daily Variety, Oct. 20, 2005). Paramount made similar moves before settling on HD DVD late this summer (Daily Variety, Aug. 21). That commitment is believed to run through this year.

Warner's shift toward Blu-ray is expected to hasten the demise of HD DVD. Victory would give Sony a long awaited triumph after Betamax lost the videocassette war to VHS.


http://www.variety.com/article/VR111797 ... =1009&cs=1

:(

Expect region locked Warner Bros. blurays from June 1st.


Wonder what's next in this musical chairs farce :lol:

Looks like I'm out for this next round of 10 years, or unless non-sony controlled production plants and a hack that disables region capabilities in bluray comes out :o :lol:

_________________
Mouse nipple for the win! Trackpoint or death!


Top
 Profile  
PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 9:33 pm  Post subject:
Reply with quote
User avatar
Offline

Demon Of The Abyss
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2004 8:24 pm
Posts: 1340
H :mrgreen: :mrgreen: RAY !!!!

Time to order that Blade runner Blue Ray '8)'

Quote:
Looks like I'm out for this next round of 10 years, or unless non-sony controlled production plants and a hack that disables region capabilities in bluray comes out


Oh com on. You know those <$100 chinese brands will take a dump on RC regulations, smashing a taboo for others to follow suit.

Having said all this, I'll believe this news when I see it.
M$ will just shove some $20-50 millions of pocketmoney under the table again I suspect.

And not to drag a old debate out of the grave, but I still think the greatest Foe for either BR or HDDVD isn't one another or downloadable content.
It's DVD itself.
There's room for 2 standards in most shops, and one of them is already taken: D - V - D.
I dare claim it's here to stay for another 5 years AT LEAST.

And serious for a moment : Who seems to be winning in YOUR local record store ? HDDVD is getting killed over here.


Top
 Profile  
PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 9:38 pm  Post subject:
Reply with quote
User avatar
Offline

The Ancient One
Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:13 pm
Posts: 7856
When I take a look at the shelfs I see DVD. And more DVD and even more DVD. And in a very small corner of the shop there is some BR. And I want to say SOME again, because it is so little.

I'm very happy with DVD personally, so I'm not gonna re-buy everything (as once was asked in this thread). I haven't re-bought everything that I used to have on video, so why do it now?

_________________
Image
THIRD SEAL MEANS FAMINE


Top
 Profile  
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 4:44 am  Post subject:
Reply with quote
User avatar
Offline

Dead But Dreaming
Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2006 3:07 am
Posts: 337
Location: Lost in space and time
Slayer wrote:
When I take a look at the shelfs I see DVD. And more DVD and even more DVD. And in a very small corner of the shop there is some BR. And I want to say SOME again, because it is so little.

I'm very happy with DVD personally, so I'm not gonna re-buy everything (as once was asked in this thread). I haven't re-bought everything that I used to have on video, so why do it now?


Yeah in my neck of the woods it seems to be Blu Ray that
is winning ATM vs HDDVD.

I'm with you Slayer. I have not the time nor resources to go converting
over 300 dvds into another format. F-that I say! I still haven't upgraded
to a HD TV which I'm sure I will when my current TV goes and dies on me.
But until then I'll stick with what I got.


Top
 Profile  
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:22 pm  Post subject:
Reply with quote
User avatar
Offline

The Devil, Probably
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2007 3:40 pm
Posts: 2250
Location: Inside my body.
@spud:

Everything is going to be hacked sooner or later. This always reminds me of the sentence Jeff Goldbloom said in Jurassic Park 1:

"Life will find a way"

_________________
Keep downloaded files shared as long as possible! You wouldn't be able to download without people sharing the stuff.

Image Image Image Image Image Image
Image

Next release will be: La Cité Des Entfants Perdu (1995) + Making Of (Status: working on the subtitles)
Last release was: Svengali (1931)


Top
 Profile  
PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 3:09 pm  Post subject:
Reply with quote
User avatar
Offline

Demon Of The Abyss
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2004 8:24 pm
Posts: 1340
....and look at all the rats jumping ship :lol:

Quote:
Report: Universal opts out of HD DVD exclusivity
Variety says major Toshiba high-def video player supporter will not renew its sole support of the format when it expires in May.
By Tom Magrino, GameSpot
Posted Jan 10, 2008 2:15 pm PT

Last week, Warner Bros. shook up the next-gen format war with a seemingly impromptu announcement that it would be abandoning Toshiba's HD DVD high-definition video playback format in favor of Sony's Blu-ray standard beginning in May. The blow to HD DVD was followed by a vicious left hook, when the Financial Times revealed that fellow HD DVD supporter Paramount may capitalize on an out clause in its exclusivity contract with Toshiba that specifically pertained to Warner Bros.' defection.

Though the Viacom-owned Paramount officially continues to stand by its HD DVD exclusivity decision--as does format supporter Microsoft, despite recent reports that Blu-ray support for the Xbox 360 wasn't out of the question--Universal Studios would be the sole major-studio standard bearer for the HD DVD format. However, it now appears Universal may be readying the haymaker that will down Toshiba's video playback standard for the count.

Variety reports that Universal Studios has ended its HD DVD exclusivity deal, though it will continue to only support the format until its current arrangement with Toshiba ends May 31. The report did not indicate whether Universal will exclusively support Sony's Blu-ray format after that date. Speaking to GameSpot, a Universal Studios representative confirmed that, for the time being, the studio will continue to support HD DVD, though they would not say whether Blu-ray support is also on the agenda.

Sony's Blu-ray high-def video player, which is prominently advertised as one of the primary draws of the PlayStation 3, enjoys the lion's share of support from major motion picture studios. In addition to Warner Bros., the Walt Disney Company, 20th Century Fox, and Lionsgate all support the format exclusively. New Line Cinema and HBO, both subsidiaries of Time Warner, also reportedly revealed during the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show that they would follow Warner Bros. as Blu-ray exclusive studios.



Spud, now would be a good time to put that Blade runner up @ ebay :wink:


Top
 Profile  
PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:09 pm  Post subject:
Reply with quote
User avatar
Offline

Site Admin
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2002 1:35 am
Posts: 19753
Location: En España
i can put it up along with my soul, would allow me to invest in that rival technology too :lol:

funny, they just announced hd-dvd burners at CES, the release of writeable media which is due to hit stores in a month, and paramount and universal denied the very thing that article reports on... i think the mass media is jumping the gun a tad:
http://www.dvdtown.com/news/universal-w ... d-dvd/5108

Quote:
"The response would have come sooner, but many HD DVD executives were on flights home from CES when the story from Variety broke," Ken Graffeo said in a statement to the press. He is executive vice president of HD strategic marketing for Universal Studios Home Entertainment and co-president of the HD DVD Promotional Group.

"Contrary to unsubstantiated rumors from unnamed sources, Universal's current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format," he continued.

It is also believed that the HD DVD Promotional Group will follow with a similar statement, saying that they still have Universal, Paramount and DreamWorks behind them.


Not that you should believe what companies say to any length. Its all really messed up, way to go media companies :wacky: They've done more to drive sales down this last week than anything else :lol: My interest in hd has completely gone now.

Microsoft has, as i mentioned earlier, absolutely no interest in either format since they are trying to put their download format above both of them. Kind of makes sense.

_________________
Mouse nipple for the win! Trackpoint or death!


Top
 Profile  
PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 8:31 pm  Post subject:
Reply with quote
User avatar
Offline

Lunatic Of Gods Creation
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2004 8:52 pm
Posts: 1049
Location: Weaveworld
Time to get a cheapo HD-DVD drive then, same for the movies :lol:

I wonder if m$ will do a BR add on for their 360 now.

_________________
https://images.dead-donkey.com/images/bcopyoflgsingle1250eu7.jpg


Top
 Profile  
PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 8:34 pm  Post subject:
Reply with quote
User avatar
Offline

Site Admin
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2002 1:35 am
Posts: 19753
Location: En España
I doubt it, microsoft has been pussy footing around both on purpose to push their premium rate downloadable content. They make too much money off of that to push a disc format. That's the reason, despite designing some of the hd-dvd spec, they have been almost completely absent from the ongoing bluray/hd-dvd battle

An internal hd-dvd xbox 360, though, would have pretty much ended the formats if they wanted to.... its also about the $ though.

_________________
Mouse nipple for the win! Trackpoint or death!


Top
 Profile  
PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 10:13 pm  Post subject:
Reply with quote
User avatar
Offline

Demon Of The Abyss
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2004 8:24 pm
Posts: 1340
spudthedestroyer wrote:
I doubt it, microsoft has been pussy footing around both on purpose to push their premium rate downloadable content. They make too much money off of that to push a disc format. That's the reason, despite designing some of the hd-dvd spec, they have been almost completely absent from the ongoing bluray/hd-dvd battle

An internal hd-dvd xbox 360, though, would have pretty much ended the formats if they wanted to.... its also about the $ though.


Yup. Big tactical blunder.
HDDVD would win overnight if it came INSIDE that x360.

Thruth be told , I can still see it happen though. !
M$ blew most of it's powder these last 3 months...

Games wise 2008 just isn't gonna be as strong as 2007 , exclusive titles that is. So a trump card is needed.

And not a year can pass by without releasing a x360 re-pack & spec of course. The iGeneration DEMANDS it :matrix:

Either case, I'll BE DAMMNED if I'm gonna re-purchase my movie-library at current prices. :moon:


Top
 Profile  
PostPosted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 4:34 am  Post subject:
Reply with quote
User avatar
Offline

Dead But Dreaming
Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2006 3:07 am
Posts: 337
Location: Lost in space and time
Geezus wrote:

Either case, I'll BE DAMMNED if I'm gonna re-purchase my movie-library at current prices. :moon:


I completely agree. Average price of blue ray/hd dvds are around $30-$40
per movie list price. I don't even want to think about how much it would cost
to repurchase my entire collection. When standard DVD players came out
I think people could see a real advantage to migrate from VHS to DVD. There
was a nice picture improvement, a huge sound improvement, durable media,
all those nice extra movie features like director's commentary and scene
selection. But what is the great advantage for blue ray? An HD picture and
a bit more space on the disc to put more features assuming studios take
the time to fill the disc up (which they won't). To me this is not even close
to a good reason to convert over. Feh. :thumbsdown:


Top
 Profile  
PostPosted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 2:33 pm  Post subject:
Reply with quote
User avatar
Offline

The Ancient One
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2003 9:40 pm
Posts: 2523
Location: In a dark room...
I'm puzzled why people feel the need to re-purchase their movie collection for any new format, it's not as if owning an HD player makes DVDs obsolete.

It's these sort of consumers that the studios exploit by releasing endless revisions of popular movies (T2 for example). Stop it!

I've had Blu-Ray for 6 months and have only bought 2 discs, neither of them films I already owned.

_________________
Image

Last Release: The Food of the Gods (1976)
NZB: download/file.php?id=436

Coming Soon: Cat's Eye, The Uncanny, Food of the Gods 2, The Devil's Men, Studio 666.


Top
 Profile  
PostPosted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:42 pm  Post subject:
Reply with quote
User avatar
Offline

Dead But Dreaming
Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2006 3:07 am
Posts: 337
Location: Lost in space and time
MCMLXXXVIII wrote:
I'm puzzled why people feel the need to re-purchase their movie collection for any new format, it's not as if owning an HD player makes DVDs obsolete.

It's these sort of consumers that the studios exploit by releasing endless revisions of popular movies (T2 for example). Stop it!

I've had Blu-Ray for 6 months and have only bought 2 discs, neither of them films I already owned.



Well, try finding a new stand alone vcr now-a-days. :o

VCRs are almost always coupled with dvd players in combo
packages. To me this is just a sign that VHS is pretty much phased
out. Now apply this same business model to your DVD collection.
I'll be the first to admit that it took a good, i dunno, 15 years to
get to this point. I still have A LOT of vhs tapes around the house.
Now I have to worry about my player dying. Which is why I recently
bought a capture card and am slowly converting tape into a digital
format.

But like I was saying earlier, I just don't see enough
of an advantage to jump formats. Combined with cost and this
idiotic repeat of the VHS/BETA war I think many other consumers feel
the same way.


Top
 Profile  
PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:37 pm  Post subject:
Reply with quote
User avatar
Offline

Site Admin
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2002 1:35 am
Posts: 19753
Location: En España
I wouldn't upgrade all my collection to be honest, but its more than tempting to buy new movies in an better format rather than SD.

_________________
Mouse nipple for the win! Trackpoint or death!


Top
 Profile  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  

All times are UTC [ DST ]

Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 54 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests


Moderator: Help Mods

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Frontpage / Forums / Scifi


What's blood for, if not for shedding?