A WB mistake?

by MusicmanIA January 10, 2008 08:12 AM

Posted in: Video & Television

I think Warner Bros. made a mistake by pulling out of HD DVD sales. They were an original supporter of Toshiba format and had many good titles on it. I sell home theater at a large dealer in Iowa, we sell 3 Toshiba models about 4/1 over all our 7 or 8 Blu ray models. HD DVD has so many more advantages. Do you see any extras on "300" on Blu Ray?  Are they software upgradable?

 Are they fast to load and play? Was SACD viable to the general consumer?

Kudos to the movie companies who are and will still support HD DVD format.

Discussion:

SimpleTechGuru on January 14, 2008 7:19 PM

Warner Bros stated that they made the decision based on sales. Sounds like your store wasn't one they looked at. Either way, HD DVD cancelled their press conference at CES which doesn't bode well to the future of HD DVD. And there are rumors that Paramount and DreamWorks are close on the heels of the WB decision.

At CES, Blu Ray showed a number of new extras. Some Blu Ray Disc players are software upgradable (I've upgraded mine a couple of times). Question is, will these new extras, like "BD live" play on old players. No one is saying yet.

No matter, if you have an HD DVD, you still have that content to play on it.

As they said in Monty Python's "Holy Grail," 'I'm not quite dead yet.' But it's not looking good...

KT on January 15, 2008 1:29 AM

MusicmanIA, could you reccomend some HD Trailers or Movies which are your favorites for Demo's? Include Animations too . 

MusicmanIA on January 15, 2008 10:35 AM

KT said: MusicmanIA, could you reccomend some HD Trailers or Movies which are your favorites for Demo's? Include Animations too . 

Hi. We use several parts of "Happy Feet," the scene in the Bourne movie (sorry I can't remember which movie) where Bourne shoots the gun at the guy in the field and something explodes, some "Fast and Furious" racing scenes, any action scene from "King Kong" is great, we use these to show off surround sound and the clarity of the player on whatever tv it is playing on. We use the Toshiba dealer demo dvd to show the scenes in Greece, man it is like being there in person.

I am not knocking BluRay, I was just very disappointed in WB decision.

One reason I chose HD DVD is because they have 2 of my favorite movies, "Casablanca" and "The Matrix." I think it doesn't really matter how low the price on the players goes, you have to have the movies, otherwise it is a dead format. It is all about content.

Matt Whitlock on January 18, 2008 11:55 AM

I personally have never cared which format won, provided eventually it came down to a unified standard. I did think that HD-DVD had a good chance to win based on some of the unique strengths the format has over Blu-Ray (I wrote this back in Novemeber, you can read that here [link]), but they really haven't taken advantage of them well enough to get momementum. At the current time, it's not looking good for HD-DVD, but with Paramount and Universal on their side, it's not quite over... yet.

This HD-DVD firesale though may be too little, too late. If they had done this months ago it would have helped, but now it just screams "clear the warehouses" instead of "we want to win."

Thoughts?

MusicmanIA on January 18, 2008 9:47 PM

I agree with you. You can have a 99 cent razor but without the blades it is useless.

I think maybe now sales of combo players will pick up, instead of Toshiba-only players.

Wilco on January 20, 2008 9:56 AM

I never understood Toshiba's marketing strategy.  They never seemed particularly well-equipped to deal with the Sony marketing juggernaut from a PR standpoint.  And Disney seemed much more active in promoting Blu-ray than Universal or Microsoft ever seemed with HD-DVD.  They needed more exposure and they never got it.

 Toshiba slashing prices on their hardware should have come much sooner-- it was the best counter they had against the PS3, and they didn't use it effectively.  It became "HD-DVD, the slightly cheaper option".  Which ultimately wasn't good enough.

Isaac on February 15, 2008 9:08 PM

Looks like HD DVD is losing the battle. Wal-Mart is phasing out HD DVD over the next few months.

MusicmanIA on February 16, 2008 9:55 AM

I agree, Toshiba now is in a bad way, with Netflix and Wal-Mart and Best Buy pushing BluRay. I bought 4 HD movies, have not opened them yet, have not ordered an HD player yet, but I think I may go for a combo player. Have you all read today about the lawsuit against Samsung, their combo not being able to play many Blu titles? I wish Pioneer would build an Elite combo unit that would be the ultimate! 

Matt Whitlock on February 19, 2008 2:55 PM

And as of this morning, HD-DVD is officially dead. All hail our Blu-Ray Disc overlords!

What do all of you think? Bad HD-DVD is dead, or good that there's now a single standard? 

 

MusicmanIA on February 20, 2008 7:42 AM

I am happy there is only one HD format now, it was causing much consumer confusion and delaying their HD purchase. HD DVD was a good viable format with great picture and features, many reasons in the marketplace (including too-late and ineffective advertising by Toshiba) caused them to lose ground. It is time now to get a new BD player for all consumers.