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Warner Considering Blu Exclusivity
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Posted November 1, 2007 11:36 AM by Josh Dreuth
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At the Blu-ray Festival earlier this week, Dan Silverberg, VP of High-Definition Media for Warner Home Video, revealed that Warner may have to re-evaluate their neutral position regarding high definition releases. He commented, "Now that hardware pricing is affordable for both Blu-ray and HD DVD, it appears consumers no longer want to decide - so the notion of staying in two formats for the duration is something we are re-evaluating now that we are in the fourth quarter."
If there is any doubt as to which format Warner would support, he pointed out the huge sales of '300' on Blu-ray, and further commented, "We are committed to the format."
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Source: Blu-ray.com |
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E-Dogg
Nov 01, 2007
Bring it all to Blu!  | |
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UltimateFighter
Nov 01, 2007
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Too bad the $98 player will influence them away from that. And we were so close! | |
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Blu-Runner
Nov 01, 2007
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Yes, I agree that 300 was a clear indication of Blu-support. If they consider software sales during the 4th quarter, I think it's in everyones best interest to buy up WB BDs this Holiday season. I just wish that some of their best was already available to BD: Batman Begins, V for Vendetta, the Matrix Trilogy, etc. If we had these on the shelves, I'm sure people would snatch them up this Christmas, along with the Harry Potter films, and that could sway the momentum in our direction. | |
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scook
Nov 01, 2007
It Wont, they'll see right through HD DuDs pathetic plan and drop the hammer. Cant wait for further GREAT news as this is only the Beginning of Blu ray conquering dud.
"Watch Your World Turn Blu" | |
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dgator783
Nov 01, 2007
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I own more WB titles then any other studio....just need to keep at it | |
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Dyana B
Nov 01, 2007
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I do hope that Warner Bros decides wisely. I have been hoping to buy some of their catalog titles for quite some time. I chose blu-ray not just because of software and hardware sales. I chose blu-ray because of it's many advantages. Blu-ray has definite longevity and at the end of the day, I want to make sure that my hard earn dollar was well spent... | |
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E-Dogg
Nov 01, 2007
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UltimateFighter what are you talking about? A $98 player is not going to affect the decision of Warner at all. They are going to see HD-DVD's attempt to sell more players by slashing prices as a pathethic attempt to survive. Nothing they do is helping. Their prices have always been lower and we still continue to outsell them at every given opportunity and with the WB titles being released within the next couple of weeks will show this trend not slowing down. | |
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TruBlu2
Nov 01, 2007
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Ultimate Fighter is way off base!! How could you post such utter garbage!! | |
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haushausman
Nov 01, 2007
Maybe it was the hundreds I dropped on BDs at WarnerHomeVideo.com duiring the 25% off sale.... lol.
But on serious note, this would be so huge. HD-DVD would have absolutely no chance at winning; or even staying around for another year. | |
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TruBlu2
Nov 01, 2007
Exactly E-Dogg, the hdduds are selling PRICE and PRICE only, not quality or content.
UF is a troll | |
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UltimateFighter
Nov 01, 2007
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Im not a troll. This was posted by Penton in the Insider's thread! | |
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ckenisell
Nov 01, 2007
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How much was a Divx player when Circuit City was dumping the format because DVD got so huge? :P | |
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owa
Nov 01, 2007
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Like others have said, be sure to buy Warner's blu-ray titles, especially during the 4Q. | |
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XSilentCobraX
Nov 01, 2007
I can see it clearly, its like im having a vision, WB goes Blu-ray exclusive soon:P lol
I have a bunch of WB titles on preorder :P | |
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TruBlu2
Nov 01, 2007
UF, if your not a troll then sorry!!
Stay Tru to Blu | |
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CptGreedle
Nov 01, 2007
I am glad to hear that WB is considering going Blu. I am sure the BDA will not miss this one despite
the new cost of the cheap HD-DVD players.
If Blu is going to win, it is with WB's help! Even if HD-DVD players were only $10, they would still
loose without WB content. | |
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bluflu
Nov 01, 2007
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I'm no big fan of Warner's crippled, low bitrate HD DVD ports, but I would certainly buy more of their product if they were to decide to use the full potential of Blu-ray. I currently have 19 BDs by Warner. | |
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JTK
Nov 01, 2007
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Must be some truth to all this if it brings out the HD-DVD troll brigade here and on our forums. | |
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CptGreedle
Nov 01, 2007
Mods, please ban qbfinest
This is a forum about people who love Blu-ray, and we are excited that a major company like WB is
considering supporting us exclusively which would simply mean our format would have more support
and we would see more movies on it. Only one format will survive.
I myself love movies and films, not formats. I think this is a better format, so I support it, but i will
buy whatever the standard is when the war is over. I hope that will be Blu-ray. | |
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sj001
Nov 01, 2007
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I think WB already knows that BD winning is a foregone conclusion, they will just time it until Q1, and then we will see the press release. Every week from here on out, BD will take the Neilsen's big time. | |
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meonig
Nov 01, 2007
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It begins...i hope Warner end all this joke. | |
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CptGreedle
Nov 01, 2007
For those that do not know how to affect comments in these news articles, hit the "-" (minus) button
on bad articles to bump it down. If it gets low enough they comment is hidden.
So bump down the bad ones, bump up the good ones. | |
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E-Dogg
Nov 01, 2007
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Ban this fool. You are not expressing criticism. You are speaking out of your a$$hole and just upset that HD-DVD is basically on their death bed. Go ahead and celebrate your pathethic news about Walmart and Kmart showing yall some love lmao. Queensbridge? Please you are from some small rural down in the middle of nowhere. | |
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Omnicron
Nov 01, 2007
I can't believe Wal-Mart and the other major retailers are selling and promoting that cheap HD-DVD player?
I mean what short sightedness.
Sure its $198 or whatever but there are a lot more Cons then there are pros.
For instance it is not 1080P? Also this player won’t support the 51GB discs they're trying to create? That’s going to alienate a lot of consumers when HD-DVD starts releasing movies on these discs and the consumer are expected to purchase another player since their "CHEAP" one doesn’t support the disc?
I don’t get why these retailers would put themselves in the line of fire. Consumers will feel a lot of resentment for being duped into purchasing these because it’s being touted as the next big thing because its "CHEAP"
Not to mention all the companies that don't support HD-DVD?
I wonder if the Big box retailers that are pushing these things are telling the consumers they can't get movies from Disney, Fox,Sony ETC. if they purchase this?
In my opinion this is going to hurt the HD segment overall including Blue-Ray. Consumers will be skeptical and weary to purchase another High def player if they buy this one and run into all the problems I list. It’s down right irresponsible to sell this unit!
Oh well Toshiba and the retailers that sell this unit will have their reputations on the line and some of them might end up with egg on their face! | |
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CptGreedle
Nov 01, 2007
Amazing.. such great news must scare the HD-DVD camp sh!tless since they send their FUDers over
here as soon as it is announced.
It is only a matter of time now before HD-DVD is dead for good.
SUPPORT WB!! Buy all the WB discs you can to really give them incentive! | |
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steve69bez
Nov 01, 2007
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To be honest, Warner hasn't announced that they are considering going blu, this is just speculation although they say that this is the preferred format I think its a little premature to think that they are going blu, tempting fate if you like!!! | |
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E-Dogg
Nov 01, 2007
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CptGreedle I agee 100%. qbfinest is a troll who is here to fling $hit because he is the one without a life. Do you see any of us on their forum rubbing this in their faces? I mean it's only a matter of time before Blu finishes off HD-DVD for good and he is upset he wasted his $ on the inferior format. | |
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ussrelativity
Nov 01, 2007
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I hope that Warner does go Blu-ray exclusive. It would help to put and end to the format war and establish the high def market much easier. | |
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Blu-heaven
Nov 01, 2007
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This is awesome news!! I hope WB will go exclusive.. It will be the happiest Day in long time | |
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CptGreedle
Nov 01, 2007
I agree E-Dogg. They are so desperate to be heard in the final death throws of HD-DVD, that they will
resort to such name calling and bad language on a forum open to children and anyone of any age.
Obviously he has some growing up to do.
But he is also upset that such news means the end of HD-DVD is in sight. I am sure he will keep this
up until he is banned, cause it is all he can think of doing, not that it will change anyone's mind. | |
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Hanzaki
Nov 01, 2007
I thought they considering to support only one format. It's just a HOPE that it's blu-ray.
Unfortunately they can go to the other direction just as easily (like Paramount).  | |
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steve69bez
Nov 01, 2007
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I like this guy he says "you lot should get a life go find girlfriends" but hes the one doing the most posts!!! loser get a life! | |
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kknight
Nov 01, 2007
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When Warner turns Blu, no cheap HD-DVD player is going to save their ass... When customers realize that Universal and Paramount are the only movies on HD-DVD, they'll be like 'F*** this crap, I'll spend a little more and buy Blu-ray!'. :-) | |
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E-Dogg
Nov 01, 2007
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How old is this idiot? Anyway, when this news is hopefully announced lets show character by celebrating on here and not resorting to such immature tactics as this moron. Let's not go to their site and make them feel wrong for supporting the losing format. | |
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DAMNSAM77
Nov 01, 2007
I was a bit taken back when Walmart offered the discontinued Toshiba A2 for $98, but like any holiday super deal, its limited quantities and for one day, and more like it one morning! These players will go fast, yes I agree, but I highly doubt Walmart will even push more than 10,000-20,000 units all together, which is a big number, but how many more HDDVD movie sales is this going to generate by year end? 20,000? 30,000? 50,000? Most of the people who know about this hot deal are forum members who already have an HDDVD player and would more than likely buy a 2nd one for themselves before buying another for their sister and brother! People are selfish and thats the nature of things. That being said, Toshiba's Attach rate wont increase significantly because about 50% of the people buying those $98 players are buying them as a 2nd unit which will NOT affect attach rates. When Friday is gone, Walmarts are gonna be almost out of all Toshiba A2's to sell for $199 because most of them were sold Friday for $98, so there goes the remaining inventory for the A2 model.
But I am just still surprised at the turn of events, my gut feeling tells me Toshiba got wind of some Warner Bluray exclusivity (maybe the deal has been or will be inked Very soon - even before xmas or thanksgiving) and now they are just trying to throw all their wrenches and pull all the stops as a last ditch resort. This very much reminds me of the time I worked at Circuit City as an A/V and Computer salesman back in 1998-1999 when Divx was on its way out, but NOT completely yet, we were selling the Proscan and RCA DVD/Divx players for under $100 from the original $399 price...sounds familiar? Circuit City knew they had to get rid of as many Divx/DVD players as possible so they are not stuck with stockpiles of obsolete hardware, so sell it with a smaller loss rather than take them all to the recycle bin 3 months later.
And for QDBFINEST, obviously you are the one who needs a life, needs a girlfriend or a boyfriend since you "like blowing" so much, you took the time to sign up on this Bluray website, knowing No one supports your lame format, and to take the time to enter those stupid immature deragatory remarks shows how much of a life you have, go blow some HDDVD fanboy, maybe you will find some gay porn on HDDVD! | |
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CptGreedle
Nov 01, 2007
Wow.. such a child. Little does he know most of us here work for a living, have
wives/husbands/girlfriends/boyfriends already, and happen to just love the format that has the better
support of the industry and the market.
Does he realize that he is making HD-DVD fanboys look even worse? They already looked bad to us,
but this guy really takes the cake. | |
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kknight
Nov 01, 2007
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Guys... just ignore this loser, he's getting a kick out of revving you guys up. | |
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CptGreedle
Nov 01, 2007
Don't project your limitations on us pqfinest.
Who can we report him to anyways? | |
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Cyan
Nov 01, 2007
I would love for Warner to become BluRay exclusive, but, I think that this shouldn't be a 'news' item. We're not really sure what Warner is doing, this article is just speculation presented as more than speculation, which is tacky.
Hopefully, if Warner goes to BluRay only, they'll start improving the quality of their ports. Right now, they're not exactly inspiring. This hasn't stopped me from buying some, and won't stop me from buying more, in select cases such as Batman Begins and a few other top notch titles. But I would really like to see higher quality ports before I'm comfortable re-purchasing all of my Warner DVDs as BluRay discs. | |
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Viiincent
Nov 01, 2007
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hmmmmmmmm i might be picking up Liscence to Wed then. | |
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CptGreedle
Nov 01, 2007
It's not just speculation. These are quotes by the VP of the HD Home Video Dep of WB. He pretty
much said they don't want to remain neutral cause it is getting nowhere, and that Blu is looking very
good.
I don't think any amount of money Toshiba is going to throw at them is going to stop them. $150
mill didn't even phase them last time. | |
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Blu-heaven
Nov 01, 2007
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How come this HD DVD B!^%* did not get banned yet - HD DVD sucks is always going to be inferior to Blu-ray | |
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steve69bez
Nov 01, 2007
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sounds like his mummy or daddy won't buy him a HD player for christmas so he's venting his anger on this website | |
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Blu-heaven
Nov 01, 2007
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Nah!! he skipped me but the other boy might be you!! HD DVD troll | |
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steve69bez
Nov 01, 2007
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Unfortunately for you I can't see that happening! This isn't a forum for 9 year olds to think its cool to type obscenities, this is for people who work and can afford the finer things in life rather than having to result in childish behaviour | |
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steve69bez
Nov 01, 2007
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How can you be a HD DVD troll if you don't own any HD equipment you stated that earlier you fool | |
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CptGreedle
Nov 01, 2007
Actually steve, that is a good point. The people on the BD forum tend to be better behaved, cause we
all (or mostly) have to have jobs, lives, etc. to afford the quality and the perfection of the BD players.
We chose BD cause it is that much better than HD-DVD. Now this guy shows the average intelligence
of an HD-DVD supporter, who probably has failed the 6th grade 3 or 4 times.
Now I request we all ignore him, as soon as he gets tired and posts something in the forums, he will
be banned, if not sooner. Trust me, he is being reported. | |
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Blu-heaven
Nov 01, 2007
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See that what happens when you put HD VD for $98 and it's available to all the troll kids and they come over here and act stupid!! | |
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haushausman
Nov 01, 2007
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Cheap players attract poor, ghetto pieces of trash such as qbfinest. | |
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flbeachlf
Nov 01, 2007
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Both sides Blu and HD have been slightly guilty of "partnering" ($$$) with certain studios. What's interesting about this Warner thing is that it's the first one based on market share and sales. | |
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shatta
Nov 01, 2007
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im sheding tears of joy....the world is already blue...let us be blu too | |
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steve69bez
Nov 01, 2007
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I think it would be a wise decision for warner to go blu as this would end the war and companies could concentrate on releasing top notch movies, its also good for the consumer in the long run | |
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JAGUAR1977
Nov 01, 2007
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HD-DVD fanboys even have to visit Blu-ray sites the world is so Blu, lol. | |
 Top reviewer  Top contributor |
Bullseye
Nov 01, 2007
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Lets hope WB choose the blu pill. Stay strong BD supporters and buy WB over the Christmas period. | |
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squall4008
Nov 01, 2007
really i would say this is one of the most heavily biased forums i've been on, but what should you expect from blu-ray.com i've seen a lot of obnoxious juvenile comments like HD DUD sucks and the likes
i have never seen an HD DVD biased site because i don't care about HD DVD, i go on HD digest mostly small leanings everywhere but its the least biased i've seen
and either way people like qb need to get lives, i like the comment at the beginning where he tells us to get a life, what does that say about him, hes been here for hours just pissing people off | |
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TruBlu2
Nov 01, 2007
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WB has pretty much made up their minds.....We are only now waiting on the official announcement!!! | |
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tru2blu707
Nov 01, 2007
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and on that note...i bid HD DVD...a slow, painful, disease infested farewell =) | |
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steve69bez
Nov 01, 2007
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warner said this at a blu ray festival!!! maybe they will say the same about HD DVD at a HD DVD festival | |
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CptGreedle
Nov 01, 2007
He has been banned.. and is now silent.
Let us have a moment of silent reflection over the loss of pqfinest...
FINALLY!!!! | |
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saljr
Nov 01, 2007
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If this is true coming from the horse mouth. I won't jump up and down until its confirm in STONE. Hopefully there use the full potential of Blu-ray. Thank you Josh. | |
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caliminius
Nov 01, 2007
Someone mentioned about Walmart selling the $198 player that doesn't do 1080p and won't play the mythical 51GB HD discs (which at earliest years away)...um, why is Walmart pushing that on consumers any worse than Walmart pushing Profile 1.0 Blu-Ray players on consumers with discs requiring 1.1 coming early next year? Where's the difference?
And before I get jumped on, I've got over 35 Blu-Ray discs at home and the 3 Disney films set to arrive next week, so I'm no troll...just pointing out the hypocrisy in some people's statements. | |
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Rike255
Nov 01, 2007
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Thank you mods, and this is great news for Blu-Ray. Hopefully all our wishes come true and this stupid format war will come to a close. | |
 Top reviewer |
hitechiowa
Nov 01, 2007
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pack it up boys, wars over, lets go home! : ) this is great news for blu-ray, i too have enjoyed many warner titles on blu-ray because they arent constricted by the hd dud format | |
 Top reviewer  Top contributor |
pro-bassoonist
Nov 01, 2007
Unlike what the poster above mentioned...there is a long, long road before we SEE WB exclusivity. Now is the time to support their product and buy as much WB in Q4 as possible.
The rest...it is not up to us, more important people will decide it.
Dr. A | |
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E-Dogg
Nov 01, 2007
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Where is the Matrix Trilogy already and Batman Begins? Those two titles would be huge for BD sales if released before the end of the year. | |
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johnnyd1
Nov 01, 2007
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Now if Warner would only get the online ordering site in order !! Bring it into the 21st century. | |
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Omnicron
Nov 01, 2007
caliminius
"Someone mentioned about Walmart selling the $198 player that doesn't do 1080p and won't play the mythical 51GB HD discs (which at earliest years away)...um, why is Walmart pushing that on consumers any worse than Walmart pushing Profile 1.0 Blu-Ray players on consumers with discs requiring 1.1 coming early next year? Where's the difference?
And before I get jumped on, I've got over 35 Blu-Ray discs at home and the 3 Disney films set to arrive next week, so I'm no troll...just pointing out the hypocrisy in some people's statements. "
That was me that posted that.
The difference is that the Blu-Ray players will require a firm ware update to get 1.1 compliant and not the purchase of new hardware.
Just letting you know Im not a hypocrite. Thanks for the feed back though! | |
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johnnyd1
Nov 01, 2007
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It takes your first born to ban a troll here anymore. Too many purple people ! | |
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kaliraver
Nov 01, 2007
To: caliminius
The major difference is that all of the Blu-Ray players on the market will always play all the movies that are released. What they won't get is maybe some extras, like bonus view and internet connectivity like BD-Live when thats released. I can tell you for most of us Blu-Ray users we aren't really going to be using those features anyway. Give me the best PQ & SQ and I will be happy as I can be. Its not like original Blu-Ray player owners will need a new player when future movies come out. That is not the case at all compared to Toshiba's 51GB disc that are supposed to require a new player to play them. | |
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Blu-Ray Buckeye
Nov 01, 2007
People keep saying to buy WB stuff, especially in 4Q!
In case no one has noticed, we are already well into 4Q. | |
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transcension
Nov 01, 2007
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Its good to see Warner Bros is deciding to go to Blu. I have really been looking forward to some of their movies coming out on blu ray, and up to this point have only seen them on HD. So this will be great if in Q1 they go to Blu. Just one more nail in the HD coffin. | |
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UrMyBoyBlu
Nov 01, 2007
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Soon EVERYONE will come around. And that garbage HD DVD will be gone. | |
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caliminius
Nov 01, 2007
To Omnicron:
Not all Blu-Ray players can be updated to 1.1 via firmware. Most of the stand-alones on the market probably cannot be because they lack the required hardware.
To kaliraver69:
That is a good point that at least every Blu-Ray player will play every movie, but as I stated the 51GB HD discs are years away from being anything but experimental as far I'm aware(thus mostly falls into the FUD category). And there's no guarantee that they will ever be used for movies. I'm not sure how this is really all that different than the 200GB Blu discs (that is the right size isn't it?) that have been shown to be possible and also likely won't play on current Blu-Ray players?
Sorry, I love my Blu-Ray discs and will continue to buy only Blu-Ray unless a time comes when it's clear that either both formats are dead or (by some act of God) HD-DVD wins, but I won't walk around blind in the meantime. | |
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tru blu
Nov 01, 2007
We all need to go out and buy Warner titles and spread the word. Q4 will be so important. But I just
hope Warner is looking at this thing as a global effort not just U.S. Blu-ray is the dominant HDM of
choice in Japan 90%, Australia 80% & in Europe 70%. Warner would be crazy to ignore those
figures.
May the Blu be with you... | |
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Starfighter
Nov 01, 2007
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This be so sweet when Warner Bros. officially announces blu-ray exlusivtivity, HD-DVD be good as dead and I don't think they take the bait like Paramount did with microsoft for $150m deal. In fact one of my co-workers at work has a son that works at microsoft and she told me that HD-DVD is gonna win so I told her, "you haven't been reading the news blogs and hd online at all, Blu-Ray has far more support than HD-DVD, the only 3 studios that you can only get on that format exlusive is Universal, Paramount/Dreamworks, and the Weinstin Company". I'd really gave her the smackdown on that and boy did i ever felt so good to rub that into someone that supports HD-DVD Haha. | |
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atdm71
Nov 01, 2007
Let's get priorities straight. Walmart is well stocked tomorrow with $98 Toshiba HD DVD players; will then likely roll them back to $149-$198 on Saturday and bounce back and forth with the A3 and A30 units around the $200 level for the remainder of the year. The campaign is backed by TV exposure and likely other.
Plan for the worst BDA; flex some muscle and pop that zit that is HD DVD once and for all. BDPS300s and Panasonic DMP-BD10As for $200 - $249 will finish HD DVDs last dance. Don't sit around and watch this aggression by Toshiba on pricing through Walmart (and now Bestbuy). Every movie studio is surely watching with interest right now. | |
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javabear
Nov 01, 2007
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Warner going Blu-ray exclusive will be a great, great thing for the Hi-DEF community. | |
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divedeeper
Nov 01, 2007
must buy any/all WB titles!!!!
Them turning Blu would end this war years earlier rather then prolonging it for years.... | |
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Slackr89
Nov 01, 2007
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Go Warner Bros...stick it to the man (toshiba). show them whut your made of and go BD exclusive. This will be a giant nail if/when they do this. also it wouldnt hurt if Warner sold their HD DVD patents to Toshiba for some $$$. | |
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Blu Blur
Nov 01, 2007
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Lets not jump the gun here, this is WB and they are notorious (as are many movie companies) for being stupid. They preach up and down about the pricing and what not but until I read other wise they are neutral just waiting to go HD-DVD exclusive. Honestly I would love to see this as it would finally end this stupid format war (*quietly smiling for having the fore sight to know the winner ahead of time*). I just don't know if I truly believe it will happen. Prove me wrong Warner, show me that for once during this whole war you have a brain. | |
 Top reviewer |
mike_schultz
Nov 01, 2007
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Guys, does anyone know why this is being spun from the HD-DVD group that they are going HD-DVD exclusive? A friend of mine just e-mailed me and said it is all over that AVS forum that Warner is dropping Blu very soon. Where in the heck is this coming from? Are they just ticked off at what was said and had to spin it another way? I am completely confused here. | |
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E-Dogg
Nov 01, 2007
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mike_schultz don't believe anything you read on the AVD forum. They will say just about anything to spread their lies and convince themselves and the publice HD-DVD is going to win when in fact they have lost time and time again. | |
 Top reviewer |
mike_schultz
Nov 01, 2007
E-Dogg, ya I know about AVS- but for crying out loud this is getting ridiculous. Kind of reminds me of the Quest for the Holy Grail "Its just a flesh wound".
"We are committed to the format."- somehow got translated to: "We are dropping that format". Anyway, I was just wondering where this was coming from. 98 buck HD-DVD from Wal-Mart and now the Blu world is ending and Warner is leading the charge. I just do not get it. Oh well. | |
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blu-rayfan101
Nov 01, 2007
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Ohh yah this is great, brong it home Warner! | |
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Macca 22
Nov 01, 2007
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i wish warner would go all out on blu ray and start including more extras on the blu ray dvds and director's cut or unrated cuts of movies. | |
 Top reviewer |
hitechiowa
Nov 01, 2007
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ok probassoonist you can eabfd because if warner is talking about this right now its not going to be a long long road before they go exclusive numb nuts its q4 right now if they announce exclusivity it would be in Q1 or Q2 in 08 | |
 Top contributor |
alphadec
Nov 01, 2007
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Oh please Warner, my favorite movie company please just kill of HD-DVD. | |
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bkbluray
Nov 01, 2007
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@ hitechiowa - That comment was uncalled for. -1 | |
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Excalibur-king
Nov 01, 2007
Oh man drop it already, end the war Warner and i when you do, i will be there at avsforums laughing at all the h-dud guys being owned once more.
Hahahahahaha.
Blu-ray FTW!!!!!!! | |
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JT_Designer
Nov 01, 2007
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That would be fantastic news if Warner went Blu-ray exclusive! I'm sure they would save money on all the HD-DVD's they're not selling and put that money toward producing more blu-ray. I'd buy more waner movies if they went blu-ray exclusive. | |
 Top reviewer |
darkpoet25
Nov 01, 2007
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This is hopefully a good sign. This holiday will definetly show Warner how much Blu Ray owners love their movies, as well as the other studios who support the format. The sales numbers consistently staying strong in favor of Blu despite the release of Transformers on hd dvd, staying at a 2:1 ratio. It's comforting knowing that Silverberg made these statements that the fanboys over AV$ try to spin. I'm guessing that in Q1 of 08 at CES, they will make a formal announcement. | |
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kwhiplash
Nov 02, 2007
Once we stop making such a big deal about the price of a player, all the trolling will die down. Its the same way you deal with a two-year old throwing a trantrum, ignore their screaming and put them to bed.  | |
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dbs2
Nov 02, 2007
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If this is Tru...... This just needs firming up ASAP - I'm just Sick of it being classed as FUD......... | |
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E-Dogg
Nov 02, 2007
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SuperSaiyan that is the stand they have always taken. They stated a while back they will see how sales are for both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray after this holiday season and then make their decision. | |
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Curumo
Nov 02, 2007
Yes, Q4 will decide. I just got Gods and Generals and The Wild Bunch, and ordered 2001 and The Shining on WB blu!
But have U seen comments on link above??? "hddvd is a way better", "WB will probably bail BD and go for HDDVD exclusively"... where this guys live, for chrissake???? | |
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hitechiowa
Nov 02, 2007
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my apologies, my comment was a little out of line towards probassoonist, sorry dude and to all for cluttering this thread about warner. | |
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uradox
Nov 02, 2007
Any chance of the full article being posted? This was such a tiny portion of a much larger picture, it wasnt so simple as the title suggests unfortunatly  | |
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logicsense
Nov 02, 2007
How in the world does Toshiba think it's ever going to make any money from the HD-DVD format? I mean, seriously.
You may have heard by now that Toshiba has made pre-Black Friday arrangements with Wal-Mart to effectively dump its HD-A2 HD-DVD player starting this Friday (this weekend only) for just $98.87. You may also have heard that Best Buy has followed suit. Supplies are limited, of course, and the offer is apparently not valid in some parts of the country that have state anti-dumping laws.
Wikipedia defines dumping as "the act of a manufacturer in one country exporting a product to another country at a price which is either below the price it charges in its home market or is below its costs of production." Toshiba's move isn't really anti-competitive, because there are no U.S. manufacturers making HD-DVD players. But it's that "below its costs of production" part that applies in this case. The HD-A2 arrived in the States with an original MSRP of $499.99. Now, Toshiba is letting it go for just $99. There's no way the player cost less than $100 to manufacturer. Just. No. Way.
You might wonder: How can Toshiba possibly have enough HD-A2s left to sell at just $99 at large, nationwide retailers? Simple. It's because they didn't sell originally, so plenty of stores still have them sitting on shelves, gathering dust. Toshiba is eager to clear them all out at this point, and Wal-Mart and Best Buy are happy to help.
Clearly, the HD-DVD camp understands that low price is really the only card they have left to play in this format war. Porn hasn't won the war for them as predicted, nor have online bells and whistles, or combo discs/players. The obvious question would be: Why in the world would any other hardware manufacturer want to join Toshiba's foolhardy strategy of driving player prices down to next to nothing? It's no accident that not a single other major manufacturer has released a stand-alone HD-DVD player (and no, the Venturer doesn't count). Given how dramatically Toshiba has slashed prices on HD-DVD players over the last year, you have to wonder how long they can keep losing money.
Forget for a moment that the HD-A2 isn't capable of delivering full 1080p video - that doesn't matter. Why? Because anyone who is so price sensitive that they wait until a high-def player price hits $99 to buy one isn't likely to have an HDTV set yet. Being super bargain shoppers, they aren't likely to want to pay $30 for an HD-DVD movie either. I'd bet many of the people who jump on this sale will either be using them primarily as upconverting DVD players, or they're already diehard HD-DVD supporters and are buying them as second players. For those regular consumers who take the bait, I wonder how they'll feel when they realize they can't play those big Disney titles in the "blu" boxes due next week.
Speaking of which... a couple weeks ago, when Disney and Sony launched the successful strategy of counter-selling their Blu-ray software titles 2 for 1 the same week Paramount and DreamWorks released Transformers on HD-DVD, we got a few e-mails from HD-DVD fans telling us how lame that was. Is it any accident that Toshiba didn't wait for Black Friday to sell their $99 players, instead carefully planning the 3-day sale for the weekend before Disney and Pixar release Cars, Ratatouille and the Pixar Short Films Collection on Blu-ray? Not a chance. So Toshiba is slashing HD-DVD hardware prices to counteract the release of blockbuster Blu-ray software. What does that tell you about the viability of HD-DVD going into a fourth quarter that, by all accounts, is make or break for the format? (Especially with Warner Home Video now hinting that they're looking at the fourth quarter to "reevaluate" their dual format support)
There's no doubt that thousands of eager consumers will get a deal on cheap hardware this weekend. But it still isn't going to be the format war winner for HD-DVD that some would like to believe. On the contrary, it means that Toshiba is getting desperate enough to adopt an all-or-nothing strategy... and is going even more deeply into the red with this format. Meanwhile, given the strength of their rhetoric this week, it's a safe bet that the Blu-ray camp will pull their gloves off too in the fourth quarter, and start getting more aggressive in the weeks and months ahead.
It boggles the mind to think that any reasonable person can still believe at this point that the HD-DVD format represents a viable long-term business. Even if Toshiba's strategy has the desired effect (which seems primarily to be garnering splashy headlines in the press), what do they ultimately win? A tie? The best case for HD-DVD, even if Warner were to be so impressed by this sale that they go HD exclusive, would be to effectively create a 50/50 split in terms of studio support. In other words, a total quagmire. High prices were the number one reason most surveyed consumers cited for staying away from high-def discs in the recent NPD Group survey, but the existence of two competing formats was not far behind. And just as many people who said that price was their chief concern also said that they're happy enough with current DVD to have no interest in upgrading to high-def discs anyway. So all this seems to be more a battle waged for the press and PR spin than the actual hearts and minds of consumers.
Keep in mind, contrary to the opinions of some online, we don't think HD-DVD is a bad format at all. If it were the only HD format around, we'd be all over it here at The Bits. But Toshiba is effectively paying studios to support it, and now they're practically giving the hardware and software away. Do you suppose we'll see free HD-DVD player offers in Cracker Jacks and cereal boxes next? $50 players? $25 players? 2 for 1 players?
Experienced fighter pilots will tell you that when you dive your aircraft at the deck, you very quickly run out of maneuvering room. It seems to me that the ground is coming up awfully fast for HD-DVD. Either way, it's looking more and more as if this fourth quarter could decide the format war... one way or another.
And to think... there was once a time when we all hoped that these two sides would work out their differences and create a single, unified high-def disc format. Those were the days, as they say.
need i say more? i mean just sony alone owns 3 studios in tri-star columbia pictures and screen gems, and their currently merge with mgm and thats just sony alone!. | |
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SuperSaiyan777
Nov 03, 2007
I do hope that this does happen guys, don't get me wrong, i have just had my hopes up in the past
when things like this happen and it always turns out wrong | |
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logicsense
Nov 03, 2007
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Okay let me me get the straight here, so if sony has pretty much 4 studios under its belt along with fox, Disney and lionsgate, what the heck is toshiba is suppose to get out of all this? as far as im concern Toshiba just doesn't want to give up and Microsoft is tagging along just so it won't have to end up adopting a format it would than have to pay up big royalties to its main competitor in the game industry in the form of sony. i've been reading articles that state that most playstation 3 users aren't aware of the blu-ray capabilities it offers, now if you ask me i think thats all bull, i mean Toshiba is stating that HD-DVD has a better hardware attach rate. due to its pricing strategy. now this may be true to some degree but if this is so case than why has blu ray software been and still outselling HD-DVD software for the last dozen months or so? clue playstation 3 is well involve in blu rays current success so much is this the case, that i hear both Microsoft and Toshiba are experimenting in creating a new 360 model with a built in HD-DVD player. if so true, this will only prove that the playstation 3 has been a key player in this war all along. Besides even if this new xbox comes out it wouldn't really matter anymore since it will than just come down to exclusive content. And so far we all know blu ray has the edge in this department, its simple the playstation 3 was design to use blu ray for both gaming and movies asides from this, what this all means is since sony pretty much owns for 4 (tri-star, columbia pictures, screen gems and yes sony pictures and sony tv studio),studios and is currently merge with one (sony MGM) as well, means that no matter what happens blu ray wont die,because it cant die. why? simply because sony's future depends on it. this also proves that Toshiba doesn't have the fire power to hang in this war for another year or so, don't believe me? go to best buy and check out HD-DVD section its full of tv show collections(like heroes and such) rather than big time blockbuster films, this further illustrate the lack of support they currently have from most of the current big time studios. not to mention warner has already stated that both the matrix trilogy which flopped on the HD-DVD format along with other big warner films are heading to blu ray, why? well 300 sales anyone? and because even transformer which should deserve better numbers fail to give toshiba an edge, before the arrival of spider-man 3. now sure shreck 3 and Bourne are nice flicks and should be noteworthy but those are just two films, compare to the (hard collection, pirate of the carribean, cars, rush hour 3 anyone?) the crop Disney is planning to drop along with fox and new line cinema with the newly tauted features coming blu rays way, yes (pip) picture in picture is finally coming and so is bD-live a feature that will prepell this format, and although Toshiba is experimenting with a 51gig disc TDK and the rest of the blu-ray association are currently ironing out the bugs and minor issues of their newly to be introduce 100 gig and 200 gig dics slated for sometime next year so again. blu ray wins no matter which way you look at it its simple. so what next? get rid off useless 720p HD-DVD hardware with an extremely low price in hopes you can get good enough numbers to try and convince warner bros to jump on board exclusively on your format. will it it work? maybe now i just hope Microsoft doesn't step in this. But regardless sony and co could end this war today if they wanted to, all they would have to do is simply play Toshiba's game on them and its over before you know it, you know pay new line cinema a hefty sum get em to go exclusive and than do the same with warner bros and this war will be over. Than simply make a statement through advertisements by implying exclusivity over content roll these ads 7 days a week and you will see. And yeah you guys there is porn in blu ray, but im afraid you guys have to be willing to import from oversees if you're that kind of person, japan current sells them. | |
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jbt419
Nov 04, 2007
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Hey, HD: That's all, folks!!! | |
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RekiN
Nov 05, 2007
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Well, that's pretty much it. The day they officially announce that, HD DVD will have one major studio... And that's just sad, within one year HD DVD will have died. | |
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XDragon
Nov 06, 2007
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If Warner really is in the process of making a decision, they wouldn't be so upfront about it before Christmas and hurt their sales. Given that, when they compare how the 5 Harry Potter releases + box set sells on both formats, maybe then they'll make an annoucement. | |
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VitoAsaro
Nov 07, 2007
Logicsense, your posts are logical and do make sense. I wish we could drive home many of the salient points to the WB and the other big studios. I'm also glad that you posted that the fire sale Toshiba A2 HD DVD player is NOT capable of 1080p resolution, and only supports HDMI 1.2a, not HDMI 1.3.
It's all about the money. Unfortunately Paramount and Universal signed exclusivity with HDDVD, surprisingly in the face being outsold 2 to 1 by Blu-Ray (3:1 at the time). The interesting thing about that deal was that there were some pay-offs involved, and they apparently also reserved the right to exclude Spielberg titles from the exclusivity contract (don't know if that includes all SKG titles).
I for one would love to have the Indiana Jones trilogy on BR, as well as many other titles, but the older titles only sell small compared with the latest releases. If WB adds the Matrix trilogy and Harry Potter to the BR line up, it will certainly add to the momentum (not to mention the rest of the WB titles). | |
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XDragon
Nov 08, 2007
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A lot of people mention that Warner hasn't released the matrix and batman on BR but they are out on HD. If i'm not mistaken, The Prestidge is a WB movie that is on BR and not HD so it seems to work both ways and it shouldn't be taken as an indicator for WB picking sides. | |
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