|
|
|
Warner Bros. goes Blu-ray
|
|
The following comments relate to this news article:
article published on 4 January, 2008
According to an announcement by Barry Meyer, Chairman and CEO of Warner Bros., the studio has decided to throw its support behind Blu-ray beginning in May 2008 meaning it will no longer be dual format.
"Warner Bros.' move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want," explained ... [ read the full article ]
Please read the original article before posting your comments.
|
Senior Member
|
5. January 2008 @ 04:44 |
Link to this message
|
i cant believe this, my local news channel just advised people not to buy hddvd players. this has got to be a first. if toshiba and microsoft have any brains at all, they will make sure there is a dvd drive that will read bddvd rom (blueray) and burn hddvd, and flood the market with hddvd media, and sell them both dirt cheap. slysoft will take care of the rest.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. January 2008 @ 05:22
|
|
Advertisement
|
 |
|
|
|
jove
Newbie
|
5. January 2008 @ 05:42 |
Link to this message
|
wow. and i tought i was the only one who flat out disliked hughjars fanatism. in every thread he had to come in and bash the ps3, blu ray or anything not related to hd dvd. im glad im not the only one. im surprise the moderators havent told any of you to stop it. hahaha
|
|
SDF_GR
Member
1 product review
|
5. January 2008 @ 07:31 |
Link to this message
|
Somewere i have read that with Warner Bros Blu-Ray have reached the 75% of the movie industry.
If sony loose that chance to win the format war then sony would be just incapable to win any war at all console/media.
|
|
hughjars
Suspended permanently
|
5. January 2008 @ 08:42 |
Link to this message
|
Wow, all the PS3 fanatics stroking each other's ego (wow, what skill guys, you guessed that your preferred game console might be attached to the winning side in this, how impressive).
Enjoy it whle you can.
There's wrong and there's wrong btw.
The truth is I did not lie.
Up until the start of this week I was right.
HD DVD did have it all agreed with Warner......
...... right up until this week and then a certain BD studio (*ox) who were in on the negotiations (whether genuinely or to end up spoiling remains unclear) backed out.
Warner changed their minds (with the assistance of $450-$500million) and here we are.
The hard part now comes for Blu-ray.
What if people stick to HD set-top HD TV boxes, upscaling regular DVD & downloads?
What if the PS3 market (and a small amount of stand-alone & PC burner activity) is all that Blu-ray ever gets?
It's easily possible that this win means nothing in the wider sense.
It's my view that Blu-ray is the worst outcome for the consumer.
Given all the anti-consumer elements involved in BD it's easily possible that the general public continue to steer well clear.
So flame away........but underneath it all you all know that there's plenty of 'right' about what I'm saying.
|
|
jove
Newbie
|
5. January 2008 @ 08:46 |
Link to this message
|
|
yeah we read engadget hd too so we know...
|
|
juankerr
Member
|
5. January 2008 @ 08:46 |
Link to this message
|
Some very interesting quotes from Ron Sanders, president of Warner Home Video:
http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6517192.html
Quote:
"One of the things you see in the NPD data for this fourth quarter was that even with a $100 premium, BD set-tops outsold HD set-tops in December," said Sanders. "Even with Toshiba having the lower-cost player in the market, software sales remained 2-to-1 in favor of Blu-ray. Our titles were running roughly 60/40 Blu-ray and that didn't change in the fourth quarter even with the price advantage HD had on the hardware side."
"You also can't underestimate the impact of PS3 as a playback device," Sanders said. "The attachment rate may not be very high, and in fact it isn't, but in the aggregate that still adds up to a lot of software sales."
Attachment rates meant nothing to them.
The Q4 numbers were crucial.
|
Junior Member
|
5. January 2008 @ 09:13 |
Link to this message
|
Quote:
Quote:
Originally posted by camaro17:
hughjars, i dont hate you nor do i not like you, i respect that you stick up for your chosen format, but i would recommend that you do not post in this thread, it will save alot of flaming and fighting, so for your own sake man, stay out.
Peace man
Ya wheew... You should pack up and leave town for a while... 'Think some things over :P
lol man
Peace
This is some of the greatest news. Oh and hughjars you just lost one ahahaha. All those months of promoting got you no where. You dogged everybody that told you what their preference was when it wasnt HD-DVD you had some arrogant comment. I never cared about this format war because its truly meaningless. It only means something when you are a retailer or the owner of the format.
|
AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
|
5. January 2008 @ 09:27 |
Link to this message
|
|
Upscaling my arse, it will never compete with true HD as theres not enough information on a standard DVD to compete.
|
|
SDF_GR
Member
1 product review
|
5. January 2008 @ 09:30 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by hughjars:
(with the assistance of $450-$500million)
Can you or someone prove that?
|
Member
|
5. January 2008 @ 09:36 |
Link to this message
|
Quote:
Some very interesting quotes from Ron Sanders, president of Warner Home Video:
http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6517192.html
Quote:
"One of the things you see in the NPD data for this fourth quarter was that even with a $100 premium, BD set-tops outsold HD set-tops in December," said Sanders. "Even with Toshiba having the lower-cost player in the market, software sales remained 2-to-1 in favor of Blu-ray. Our titles were running roughly 60/40 Blu-ray and that didn't change in the fourth quarter even with the price advantage HD had on the hardware side."
"You also can't underestimate the impact of PS3 as a playback device," Sanders said. "The attachment rate may not be very high, and in fact it isn't, but in the aggregate that still adds up to a lot of software sales."
Attachment rates meant nothing to them.
The Q4 numbers were crucial.
I have been saying that for months that attachment rates didn't mean one thing to them they was looking at Hardware & software sells.Also Warner looked at the facts not that BS PR spin Toshiba was trying to pull.With PS3 out sell 360 this holiday didn't help there cause either. Just about everything hughjars said was nothing but Fud trying to lure people away from the truth & facts.I really feel bad if someone listen to him & went out to bought one of these player base off what he said.This is why i posted so much because i hate to see anyone waste there money & being told a bunch of BS.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. January 2008 @ 09:39
|
|
hughjars
Suspended permanently
|
5. January 2008 @ 09:37 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by spydah:
Oh and hughjars you just lost one ahahaha.
- .....and?
Win some, lose some, such is life.
You'll learn.
.....and right up until the start of this week I was right
(as will become clear in time as more of this story comes out......what do you think Toshiba's contract comments are about, hmmmm?).
Originally posted by spydah:
All those months of promoting got you no where. You dogged everybody that told you what their preference was when it wasnt HD-DVD you had some arrogant comment.
- BS
I spent some of my time here putting counter-points to the wave of PS3 fanboy Blu-ray exaggeration, lies, ignorance and unjustified slamming of HD DVD.
I put forward my (informed) POV and the facts as I knew them. That's all.
I merely "dogged" those idiots every time they came here to spread their exaggeration, lies, ignorance and unjustified slamming of HD DVD. That's all.
I had every respect for people who honestly held a different POV and respected an honest disagreement in POVs (which does not mean I had to change mine - nor expected others to change theirs necessarily).
I had little or none for the obvious game console fanboy crowd and still do not.
Originally posted by spydah:
I never cared about this format war because its truly meaningless. It only means something when you are a retailer or the owner of the format.
- Sadly that is simply not correct.
It's only meaningless if you go suck up all that's placed before you without question & along with everything you're told to.
It'll have plenty of meaning when you find that prices do not fall quickly, your equipment no longer operates as easily (if at all) in the way you are used to and that future innovation is stiffled.
Blu-ray was never intended to be a 'kinda better DVD'.
It's specifically intended to stop some of the aspects of DVD that had (in the CE corp's view) taken profit from them.
Blu-ray is not consumer friendly.
Cheer that on all you like but it's the consumer that will suffer (including you).
It's easily possible that Warner's decision has killed the hd market, or at least relegated it to a games console owners niche.
They may well have just grabbed whatever money was on offer and given up on high def going beyond the game console niche.
If BLu-ray really does win completely (a massive 'if') then look forward to regional encoding being ubiquitous and BD+ screwing things up regularly.
We'll be back to the good old days of SD DVD before region free hacks were widely available.
Where UK stores could (without a shred of embarrassment or shame) offer such generous deals as 'buy five, get one free' - with each disc costing twenty quid and stripped of all the extras that the R1 discs had.
But for now sales of Blu-ray and HD DVD are poor and not really taking off, these formats are approaching 2 years in the market and right now neither is selling in anything like a real quantity.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. January 2008 @ 10:03
|
AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
|
5. January 2008 @ 09:59 |
Link to this message
|
Quote:
But for now sales of Blu-ray and HD DVD are poor and not really taking off, these formats are approaching 2 years in the market and right now neither is selling in anything like a real quantity.
Very true regarding sales of DVD are still massive, alot of people still arent cluded up to the whole HD genre.
Both discs regarding single layer still does not have enough space for true PCM master audio, therefore DDHD and DTSTrue will be thee standard lossless audio codec, which will mean another upgrade to your existing AV reciever.
All in all it will be awhile before HD truely comes to its own.
|
|
ali2007
Suspended permanently
|
5. January 2008 @ 10:06 |
Link to this message
|
Blu-ray was never intended to be a 'kinda better DVD'.
bluray is definateley much more qaulity than hd dvd
but they surely would be some problems associated with bluray although
cheers for hughjars, the man sticks for his word
|
Member
|
5. January 2008 @ 10:12 |
Link to this message
|
Quote:
Quote:
But for now sales of Blu-ray and HD DVD are poor and not really taking off, these formats are approaching 2 years in the market and right now neither is selling in anything like a real quantity.
Very true regarding sales of DVD are still massive, alot of people still arent cluded up to the whole HD genre.
Both discs regarding single layer still does not have enough space for true PCM master audio, therefore DDHD and DTSTrue will be thee standard lossless audio codec, which will mean another upgrade to your existing AV reciever.
All in all it will be awhile before HD truely comes to its own.
Right now the HD market is growing but not as fast as some Corps want it because of this War but to say that HD market isn't is just crazy on anyone part.With this move this give consumers a clear picture because there are alot of consumer that said they was going to wait this format war out.But now they don't have to anymore so this is going to boost sells even more with these customers that was siting on the fence.DVD market isn't growing & hasn't for last 3 years & have been on a steady decline.Corps are looking for that next boost thats going to get it back going this is why the format war should have been avoided.They wasted two years for nothing & thanks to Microsoft for pushing it even farther.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. January 2008 @ 10:19
|
|
SProdigy
Senior Member
5 product reviews
|
5. January 2008 @ 10:58 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by hughjars:
Blu-ray was never intended to be a 'kinda better DVD'.
It's specifically intended to stop some of the aspects of DVD that had (in the CE corp's view) taken profit from them.
Blu-ray is not consumer friendly.
This is VERY true. The entire shift to HD optical discs was "rushed" to stop piracy. The BR and HD camps have clouded our minds with these discs that hold "X" GB of data for HD movies. The promise of new copy protection, and a way to charge MORE MONEY for the same old crap has these studios salivating! Couple that with the "large amount of data" making it more difficult to download BR and HD disc images/movies through the existing backbone of the net. (The theory being it would take longer to download a movie and that alone would discourage a lot of pirates.) Never mind the fact that current DVD9 discs are filled with trailers, director's commentary and other useless filler.
The MPAA studios are just trying to stay a step ahead of the RIAA, since music can now be distributed across the globe in seconds, making their precious overpriced CD's practically worthless. "Upgrade the technology" and overprice the media, and that will help us fill our pockets with high margin dollars... until the system is broken in much the same way DVD was. That is why you don't see many BD and HD burners on the market and media is overpriced and scarce.
(Studio Exec: So what you're telling me is that it looks better, sounds better, CAN'T be copied and CAN'T be distributed... so I make TONS of profit! *end greed*)
I'm not waving a giant pirate flag, but I guess the point is, in the end, the format that CAN be pirated is the one that will be the "winner". (And maybe, just MAYBE if one side of this war would be pro-consumer and stop bleeding us for our hard earned dollars, piracy wouldn't be such an issue, now would it?)
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. January 2008 @ 11:05
|
Member
|
5. January 2008 @ 11:35 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by SProdigy:
This is VERY true. The entire shift to HD optical discs was "rushed" to stop piracy. The BR and HD camps have clouded our minds with these discs that hold "X" GB of data for HD movies. The promise of new copy protection, and a way to charge MORE MONEY for the same old crap has these studios salivating! Couple that with the "large amount of data" making it more difficult to download BR and HD disc images/movies through the existing backbone of the net. (The theory being it would take longer to download a movie and that alone would discourage a lot of pirates.) Never mind the fact that current DVD9 discs are filled with trailers, director's commentary and other useless filler.
Not really because the move to HD media was about money because Corps was worry that DVD format has been in a decline for 3 years.To say it was about copy protection isn't even close to the real matter.The only reason BDA move to use BD+ because of FOX & MGM who said they was going to put there media with the format with the most protection, it wasn't Sony or BDA fault it was Fox & MGM that wanted extra copy protection.BDA was all set to use AACS encryption.This is why it took FOX & MGM so long to put a movie on BD because they was willing to wait til BD+ was ready.Its was always about who was going to hold the most patent which =the most money.
Fox and MGM are even said to have ceased releasing new Blu-ray disc titles due to the lack of BD+ availability
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/T...s_to_Follow/712
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. January 2008 @ 12:05
|
|
SDF_GR
Member
1 product review
|
5. January 2008 @ 12:08 |
Link to this message
|
About Copy Protection etc all this about BD is BS
If HD-DVD was going to be the dominate format, i am sure that some Copy Protection system would apply to HD-DVD too.There is no doubt about that.
|
|
glasssd
Newbie
|
5. January 2008 @ 12:28 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by SDF_GR:
About Copy Protection etc all this about BD is BS
If HD-DVD was going to be the dominate format, i am sure that some Copy Protection system would apply to HD-DVD too.There is no doubt about that.
HD DVD does have a copy protection system that is cracked. They also have the option to add new protection systems. BD+, one virsion had been slightly cracked, but it is a constantly changing copy protection system. What may crack some of it today may not work next week. I dont copy movies, so I dont care. BTW, Transformers is the most pirated move in HD.
|
|
llongtheD
Suspended due to non-functional email address
|
5. January 2008 @ 12:51 |
Link to this message
|
I haven't committed to either format yet, but if the sony fanboys want DRM crippled devices and discs, let them have it. I have looked at both, and I really can't tell visually which one is a superior format. I think the only real difference is that Sony was more willing to "bribe" studios into using their format. I just wish this ridiculous format war was over so we could just move on.
Does anyone really believe any of these large corporations really have the consumers best interests in mind?
If your fish seems sick, put it back in the water.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. January 2008 @ 12:55
|
|
chubbyInc
Member
|
5. January 2008 @ 12:59 |
Link to this message
|
The age really shows on a lot of the immature comments!
If someone would be so kind as to post the official Warner Bros. link which states this Blu-Ray support. I don't believe nonsense announcements from sites other then the real source. I don't watch news so I never heard the announcement, but I have yet to see anything posted on an actual Warner Bros. site.
Why would everyone be happy about this. Lets get one Hi-Def format so there would be no competition thus meaning a standard price for many years. Lets have copy protection shoved in our faces and the false illusion that Blu-Ray is better quality just because of it's larger disc capacity.
Hughjars makes a lot of good points, prefer reading his comments over all the bashful, angry, rude comments that diminish what Afterdawn is all about.
Half you people dissing HD-DVD or Blu-Ray probably don't even have those players or even a good enough TV to notice a difference between Standard and High-Definition so why even have an input, it'll just clog these forums with nonsense and further misinform those who are looking for help or which product to buy.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. January 2008 @ 13:07
|
|
red2tango
Suspended permanently
|
5. January 2008 @ 13:19 |
Link to this message
|
Quote:
Originally posted by spydah:
Oh and hughjars you just lost one ahahaha.
- .....and?
Win some, lose some, such is life.
You'll learn.
.....and right up until the start of this week I was right
(as will become clear in time as more of this story comes out......what do you think Toshiba's contract comments are about, hmmmm?).
Originally posted by spydah:
All those months of promoting got you no where. You dogged everybody that told you what their preference was when it wasnt HD-DVD you had some arrogant comment.
- BS
I spent some of my time here putting counter-points to the wave of PS3 fanboy Blu-ray exaggeration, lies, ignorance and unjustified slamming of HD DVD.
I put forward my (informed) POV and the facts as I knew them. That's all.
I merely "dogged" those idiots every time they came here to spread their exaggeration, lies, ignorance and unjustified slamming of HD DVD. That's all.
I had every respect for people who honestly held a different POV and respected an honest disagreement in POVs (which does not mean I had to change mine - nor expected others to change theirs necessarily).
I had little or none for the obvious game console fanboy crowd and still do not.
you're crazy.nobody ever bashed hd-dvd.it was you who always bashed Blu-ray on every single news topic that appeared.
"Blah Blah Blah and Blu-ray players are expensive.HD-DVD Players are $100 dollars so it's obvious they're going to win Blah Blah Blah.
YOU ARE THE FANBOY!
Warner went over to Blu-ray because of its sales. There was no money involved unlike HD-DVD's side (cough cough Microsoft?).
Get a grip and go buy yourself a Blu-ray player.
I have a Playstation 3 and I use it mostly for gaming and I buy Blu-ray movies so you're wrong to believe that Playstation 3 owners don't even care about having both. Now most Blu-ray players are going to be less than the 40GB Playstation 3 so more and more people are going to buy it. Not only that, Sony took a gamble and they won it. If they won the format war, they automatically win the console war. And guess what? They're outselling the Xbox 360 worldwide. Once NPD numbers come in (North American stats only), we'll see that even Playstation 3 destroyed Xbox 360 on its own turf.
I'm happy that I didn't have to buy an add-on for my Xbox 3FixMe if HD-DVD won but i was confident in Blu-Ray sales to know not to.
PEACE!
|
|
vinny13
Suspended due to non-functional email address
|
5. January 2008 @ 13:28 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by chubbyInc:
Half you people dissing HD-DVD or Blu-Ray probably don't even have those players or even a good enough TV to notice a difference between Standard and High-Definition so why even have an input, it'll just clog these forums with nonsense and further misinform those who are looking for help or which product to buy.
I know I do. Brand new Sharp 1080P 42". Best TV you'll ever have for the price. I got a PS3 for Christmas, but I only had component cables which outputted to 1080I. Now that I have a HDMI cable, I see a big difference from 1080I to 1080P just in the menu screen alone. So I would have to pick Blu-Ray over HD-DVD because all BR players are 1080I, where as only like one is 1080P for HD-DVD(?) and I can get a BR player for the same price as that one.
PS3 does a great job upscaling BTW...
|
|
vinny13
Suspended due to non-functional email address
|
5. January 2008 @ 13:31 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by red2tango:
you're crazy.nobody ever bashed hd-dvd.it was you who always bashed Blu-ray on every single news topic that appeared.
"Blah Blah Blah and Blu-ray players are expensive.HD-DVD Players are $100 dollars so it's obvious they're going to win Blah Blah Blah.
YOU ARE THE FANBOY!
Warner went over to Blu-ray because of its sales. There was no money involved unlike HD-DVD's side (cough cough Microsoft?).
Get a grip and go buy yourself a Blu-ray player.
Agreed.
|
|
chuckdog
Newbie
|
5. January 2008 @ 14:12 |
Link to this message
|
Hughjars, I'm on your side. You win some, and lose some. I have always been an HD-DVD fan, and never once did I think that this would end up in their favor. HD-DVD eventually would have been the wiser choice for consumers, but money talks, and Sony paid. This IS a huge blow to the HD community. It is a shame that so many people agreed on how much BR is better than HD-DVD. I guess they are blinded by the expensive, software corrupted players. Screw Sony, PS3, and BR. Never have owned Sony equipment, and never will. Live it up guys. Sony finally wins one. And what a shame it is.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. January 2008 @ 14:16
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
ematrix
Junior Member
|
5. January 2008 @ 14:22 |
Link to this message
|
Indeed a sad day for HD DVD, but even so Blu-Ray supporters should be objective and keep in mind that it's you as consumers that will suffer and lose out. If HD DVD really does losses the high def market then Blu-Ray has no incentive to seriously cut prices for their BD players and movies, even adoping a more consumer friendly policy by dropping their DRM such as BD+ and Regional Coding, even to finalise the specs properly that none of their current BD players has.
It's sad that you as consumers failed to recognize that HD DVD offered you a much more consumer friendly scenario than Blu-Ray right from the start, with full specs players even with top grade upscaling SD DVD capabilities at much more accesible prices, movies with no Regional Coding even HD DVD/SD DVD combos, all of this was done to let you know that they were looking out to favour consumers more than movie studio's interests.
If people are irritated with the timing of Warner's announcement, then it's about time you should realize that movie studios have very little concern for your customer's interest (yes, they should had announced this before Christmas) don't allow this to blind you from the fact that Blu-Ray is not consumer-friendly, that has used you as beta testers with unfinished products that eventually will be useless, that it's intent is to cripple your freedom to use and view movies as you wish to, and has only movie studios interests in mind.
DVD sales are down not because people were waiting for a resolution in the HD media war, but rather the lack of appealing titles worth purchasing. In previous years DVD sales were much higher because of the release of blockbuster classic 80s and 90s titles, but know that pretty much everybody owns those movies they wished for on DVD, there are less options to choose from, since only a few of the new releases are worth buying.
When you add to this the overpricing of DVD, HD DVD and Blu-Ray titles, most consumers have avoided double dipping for a ultimate extreme collectors special re-release of a movie they already own, even if that movie is now availible on HD DVD or Blu-Ray... simple as that.
Currently a HD DVD / Blu-Ray edition is priced almost twice than a DVD special edition... we should make it clear that we are all tired of paying DRM overpriced DVD movies, and in order to keep buying from them, we need a significant reduction in price, specially if they want us to support HD DVD and Blu-Ray in the following years.
Nobody is disputing that HD DVD / Blu-Ray offers an improvement in audiovisual quality compared to DVD, but keep in mind that such improvement isn't enough to justify buying the same movies again at even higher prices than we did (and still do) for them in DVD format, specially when you can achieve similar results (not equal) viewing current DVD titles throw upscaling DVD players.
I believe that the best option is if indeed the winner of the HD format war is Blu-Ray, it should work simultaneously with DVD for the next 10+ years, rather than trying to debunk DVD as the dominant vehicle for consumer video. Because billions around the world have at least one DVD player at home, with their own DVD movies and TV series collection, which could go from hundreds to thousands of titles, which you can back them up/transfer them to mobile players if you wish, much quicker and easier than HD DVD / Blu-Ray movies.
The fact is that more than 95% of consumers don't feel the rush to replace their DVD titles to even more overpriced HD DVD / Blu-Ray titles, nor spending thousands of $$$'s to upgrade all their equipment, merely because of an audiovisual improvement, there should be more than that, specially when the movie studios expect us to pay full price again for a movie we already own.
Reducing current retail prices by half and allow consumers to choose either a special DVD edition at $10-15 SRP or an HD DVD / Blu-Ray edition at $20-25 SRP, will appeal consumers to buy more movies than they currently do (even double dipping already own titles) and undeniably stores could offer discount prices to promote higher sales... otherwise it's you as consumers that will suffer and lose out.
|
|
