Warner Bros goes Blu-Ray exclusive

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: dug777
The mighty Blu-Ray stalks the landscape while HD-DVD supporters whinge and moan about secret payoffs that never happened :laugh:

Yeah, the only frustrating part is that people like you and other people who bought PS3s and justifed it by pointing out the Blu Ray features might be proven to be right despite your lack of sense. :thumbsup:

That is, unless Toshiba counters or Warner proves to be a minor player this year and next in Hi Def capable movies.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: her209
Off topic, but:

Is there any advantage to having UNCOMPRESSED AUDIO on Blu-Ray discs?

for the sheer fact that it is "perfect" and it is available...yes.

many professional sound engineers and audiophiles tend to agree, however, that they can't tell a difference between the lossless and master audio tracks and regular 'ol DD 5.1

remember, HD DVD has just as much capability of including these tracks on their discs, but they just...don't...for some reason

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
It's really a bad decision. The market for HD isn't PS3 gamers who only buy blockbusters and action flicks. It's people who need a replacement DVD player and figure "why not" pick up the HD player if it's only marginally more expensive.

Overall sales have favored Blu Ray 60:40 for the last half of this year, which is nearly 50:50. Buy most of those disks were purchased in BOGO sales. And the number of disks purchases compared to the number of Blu ray players is a fraction of what it is for HD players.

To put this into perspective, I was telling a girl at work about this announcement (due to my frustration with it) and she asked 'What is Blu-Ray?' I was not overly shocked but just to be sure I asked 'Do you know what HD-DVD is?' Of course, the answer was YES and came with a description of it basically being a high-def version of a DVD.

HD-DVD had the freaking name locked up. The installed/(I'm guessing) mostly unused as a player PS3 is what made this happen.

I'm out of the war though. Not bothering to invest further in either format until the dust settles. Luckily I'm only about $400 into HD-DVD but if this did anything it taught me that jumping into format wars is stupid. The kicker to this will be when we find out Blu dies as well before it matures due to some other tech. 😛

more BS. tons of people bought and will continue to buy the PS3 as a player. It's the best available on the market. Is it that difficult to admit that Sony was smart by waiting to release the PS3? Insuring that they could include a capable Blu Ray drive and a superior piece of hardware that would not suffer from the bugs of the hastily-released 360?

...and it's still cheaper to go PS3 than 360 for an HD player

*note, I said superior hardware. the 360 is far better for games--b/c of choice atm. but the PS3 clearly has several technical advantages over the current versions of the 360. These will probably take a few years to be realized.

 

[WraithETC]

Woot! My PS3 is looking nicer everyday.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
It's really a bad decision. The market for HD isn't PS3 gamers who only buy blockbusters and action flicks. It's people who need a replacement DVD player and figure "why not" pick up the HD player if it's only marginally more expensive.

Overall sales have favored Blu Ray 60:40 for the last half of this year, which is nearly 50:50. Buy most of those disks were purchased in BOGO sales. And the number of disks purchases compared to the number of Blu ray players is a fraction of what it is for HD players.

you really think it makes any sense to leave the PS3 out as a Blu Ray player. go to AVS forums and ask around here. there are plenty of high end A/V people who have a PS3 hooked up to their $20k+ systems. the kool-aid is getting stronger, even in death.

I'm glad I'm format neutral; but even if I weren't I still wouldn't succumb to the sour grapes that have been spreading like wildfire this afternoon.

Have you been as blind to the irrelevance of Toshiba outside of the US as all the other HD DVD fanboys? There is an international market involved here. Recent estimates attribute HD DVD adoption in Europe in Asia to one German in Munchen and an Indian software engineer that has money to burn. 😛

besides, HD DVD isn't going anywhere for some time. your player will work for several years on, and the movies you currently own will still be around.

 

[jpeyton]

Where did all this talk of "payouts" come from? I haven't read a SINGLE credible source saying WB got paid a dime to go exclusive.

One format had to win, and WB decided to pick the format that has outsold the competing format EVERY SINGLE week of 2007.

That folks, is a smart business decision. Also known as the opposite of what Paramount did.

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: jpeyton

Originally posted by: JackBurton
Sony still has the ability to crank up the protection on BD+.

Too bad for you, Sony is going DRM-free in 2008.

Good for consumers. Bad for Sony-haters.

Really? That article says Sony Music. I don't see anywhere that it says BD+ will not have DRM.

Read much? You seem to think you know everything about the subject and sound like a moron half the time.

"But there appears to be a certain inevitability about DRM at this point, especially since Sony is now the lone DRM holdout among the Big Four labels."

You also seem to be such a Sony fanboy that you don't realize that Sony is the last person to do so. Well DUH. They have to do it or fall behind. Sony screws the consumer every chance they get.

"And no, digital downloads will not overtake physical media as the market leader." $20 says you were saying this back in the early 90's in regards to CD's and music.

I can see DD overtaking physical media in sheer number of downloads vs media sold. Physical media is here to stay for the immediate future, but it's stupid to think that physical media will always exist. There's no physical media for TV, Sat, HD content via the airwaves. Comcast has OnDemand and currently the ONLY thing holding back DD content is our crappy pipe in the US. Fiber and higher speed connections is the future. Don't be a fool/blind.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor

Originally posted by: dug777
The mighty Blu-Ray stalks the landscape while HD-DVD supporters whinge and moan about secret payoffs that never happened :laugh:

Yeah, the only frustrating part is that people like you and other people who bought PS3s and justifed it by pointing out the Blu Ray features might be proven to be right despite your lack of sense. :thumbsup:

dude. stop talking. you make yourself look more and more foolish every second 😀

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Where did all this talk of "payouts" come from? I haven't read a SINGLE credible source saying WB got paid a dime to go exclusive.

One format had to win, and WB decided to pick the format that has outsold the competing format EVERY SINGLE week of 2007.

That folks, is a smart business decision. Also known as the opposite of what Paramount did.

i posted a link on the previous page (from a rather reliable source) disputing this rumor.

still makes sense to me, though. Paramount paying HD DVD is public knowledge, and I jsut chalked it up to business as usual. seems like Warner would have done the same...

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
It's really a bad decision. The market for HD isn't PS3 gamers who only buy blockbusters and action flicks. It's people who need a replacement DVD player and figure "why not" pick up the HD player if it's only marginally more expensive.

Overall sales have favored Blu Ray 60:40 for the last half of this year, which is nearly 50:50. Buy most of those disks were purchased in BOGO sales. And the number of disks purchases compared to the number of Blu ray players is a fraction of what it is for HD players.

To put this into perspective, I was telling a girl at work about this announcement (due to my frustration with it) and she asked 'What is Blu-Ray?' I was not overly shocked but just to be sure I asked 'Do you know what HD-DVD is?' Of course, the answer was YES and came with a description of it basically being a high-def version of a DVD.

HD-DVD had the freaking name locked up. The installed/(I'm guessing) mostly unused as a player PS3 is what made this happen.

I'm out of the war though. Not bothering to invest further in either format until the dust settles. Luckily I'm only about $400 into HD-DVD but if this did anything it taught me that jumping into format wars is stupid. The kicker to this will be when we find out Blu dies as well before it matures due to some other tech. 😛

more BS. tons of people bought and will continue to buy the PS3 as a player. It's the best available on the market. Is it that difficult to admit that Sony was smart by waiting to release the PS3? Insuring that they could include a capable Blu Ray drive and a superior piece of hardware that would not suffer from the bugs of the hastily-released 360?

...and it's still cheaper to go PS3 than 360 for an HD player

*note, I said superior hardware. the 360 is far better for games--b/c of choice atm. but the PS3 clearly has several technical advantages over the current versions of the 360. These will probably take a few years to be realized.

Right about the time that Microsoft will release a new Xbox?!?!

It was incredibly stupid to wait to release the PS3 because of Blu-Ray. In the next year you will see sub $200 Blu-ray players. Do you really think all these people are spending $399 for a PS3 right now when you can get a Blu-Ray player for under $300?

Playstation went from obliterating the competition to a distant 3rd place in sales. Sure, the Blu-Ray may have helped initial sales, but now everyone wants a Wii and Xbox 360. Vendors have turned their back on Sony as far as exclusives and the PS3 is lack luster. They?ve alienated GAMERS who are the key demographic for the console. I can?t see any non-tech savy person who?d walk into a best buy and say ?hey, give me that PS3 for a blu-ray player!?. Are you kidding?

My household owns all three consoles. 360 is played the most with wii a close second. Ps3 is collecting dust because the games on it suck, plain and simple. So all that superior hardware is worthless because they can't deliver on what they needed to...GAMES.

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Where did all this talk of "payouts" come from? I haven't read a SINGLE credible source saying WB got paid a dime to go exclusive.

One format had to win, and WB decided to pick the format that has outsold the competing format EVERY SINGLE week of 2007.

That folks, is a smart business decision. Also known as the opposite of what Paramount did.

i posted a link on the previous page (from a rather reliable source) disputing this rumor.

still makes sense to me, though. Paramount paying HD DVD is public knowledge, and I jsut chalked it up to business as usual. seems like Warner would have done the same...

They didn't really dispute anything. Everyone knows PR/Marketing is all about lying to the public. lol

Sort of like Sony denied there was a problem with the XCP rootkit initially...lol

 

[Slick5150]

Originally posted by: her209
Off topic, but:

Is there any advantage to having UNCOMPRESSED AUDIO on Blu-Ray discs?

Compared to what? Its better than DD or DTS, but Dolby TrueHD is lossless so there really isn't any difference other than uncompressed taking up more space.

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: LikeLinus
They didn't really dispute anything. Everyone knows PR/Marketing is all about lying to the public.

At least their PR is an official source. Again, what source (besides angry HD-DVD fanboys) do we have for a WB payout?

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: jpeyton

Originally posted by: LikeLinus
They didn't really dispute anything. Everyone knows PR/Marketing is all about lying to the public.

At least their PR is an official source. Again, what source (besides angry HD-DVD fanboys) do we have for a WB payout?

You're not going to find a source in most cases where there is a NDA. Toshiba reports that WB had contracts in place with them for HD-DVD. My point is, initial reports are not always right. I provided an example of that.

 

[SONYFX]

Originally posted by: LikeLinus

Originally posted by: jpeyton

Originally posted by: LikeLinus
They didn't really dispute anything. Everyone knows PR/Marketing is all about lying to the public.

At least their PR is an official source. Again, what source (besides angry HD-DVD fanboys) do we have for a WB payout?

You're not going to find a source in most cases where there is a NDA. Toshiba reports that WB had contracts in place with them for HD-DVD. My point is, initial reports are not always right. I provided an example of that.

That's it, let it all out. Remember you have to go through 5 stages:

Denial
Bargaining
Anger
Despair
Acceptance

You're doing well so far - somewhere between anger and despair. So you're on the home straight.

Just remember if you ever want to watch HD movies from Warner, Fox, Disney, Sony & New Line then it will have to be on Blu-ray.

You will buy Blu-ray. Just not this minute.

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: SONYFX

Originally posted by: LikeLinus

Originally posted by: jpeyton

Originally posted by: LikeLinus
They didn't really dispute anything. Everyone knows PR/Marketing is all about lying to the public.

At least their PR is an official source. Again, what source (besides angry HD-DVD fanboys) do we have for a WB payout?

You're not going to find a source in most cases where there is a NDA. Toshiba reports that WB had contracts in place with them for HD-DVD. My point is, initial reports are not always right. I provided an example of that.

That's it, let it all out. Remember you have to go through 5 stages:

Denial
Bargaining
Anger
Despair
Acceptance

You're doing well so far - somewhere between anger and despair. So you're on the home straight.

Just remember if you ever want to watch HD movies from Warner, Fox, Disney, Sony & New Line then it will have to be on Blu-ray.

You will buy Blu-ray. Just not this minute.

You apparently can't read. I have a PS3 and have Blu-Ray already - I don't own anything HD-DVD. Sony fanboys are just acting like idiots though. Anyone?s use of Blu-Ray has nothing to with the rumor of a studio accepting money or not. Gotta love ATOT - Conversation comprehension?!?!?

 

[Reckoner]

In the end, both of these camps suck. A lot of people got dicked around through this whole lame format war.

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: PaulNEPats
In the end, both of these camps suck. A lot of people got dicked around through this whole lame format war.

VERY true. It's nothing but corporate greed.

VHS vs. BETA
DVD+R vs. DVD+R vs. DVD-RAM
HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray
CD vs. MiniDisc

In the end...the consumer gets screwed.

 

[XMan]

On the bright side I have a dual format player.

Hopefully the boys at Slysoft can keep upgrading AnyDVD HD so I don't have to buy an HDCP monitor and video card . . .

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
It's really a bad decision. The market for HD isn't PS3 gamers who only buy blockbusters and action flicks. It's people who need a replacement DVD player and figure "why not" pick up the HD player if it's only marginally more expensive.

Overall sales have favored Blu Ray 60:40 for the last half of this year, which is nearly 50:50. Buy most of those disks were purchased in BOGO sales. And the number of disks purchases compared to the number of Blu ray players is a fraction of what it is for HD players.

you really think it makes any sense to leave the PS3 out as a Blu Ray player. go to AVS forums and ask around here. there are plenty of high end A/V people who have a PS3 hooked up to their $20k+ systems. the kool-aid is getting stronger, even in death.

I'm glad I'm format neutral; but even if I weren't I still wouldn't succumb to the sour grapes that have been spreading like wildfire this afternoon.

Have you been as blind to the irrelevance of Toshiba outside of the US as all the other HD DVD fanboys? There is an international market involved here. Recent estimates attribute HD DVD adoption in Europe in Asia to one German in Munchen and an Indian software engineer that has money to burn. 😛

besides, HD DVD isn't going anywhere for some time. your player will work for several years on, and the movies you currently own will still be around.

LOL. So how many of those people are there? Cause either they aren't buying many movies or the people who bought the PS3 as a console aren't given that PS3s outnumber Toshiba HD players by like 5 to 1 and yet the sales have been 60:40.

Also, those people who buy it as an entertainment center centerpiece either have no decorating sense or are single guys because the PS3 looks like ass. Unless you like hearing, "Dude I think your VCR is melting".

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
I wonder how much their check was for.
Either way, the A2 does a pretty nifty job with upscaling 🙂

groan...

probably as much as Toshiba paid Paramount. Why do people keep calling foul when normal business happens?

No, I really am curious.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
I wonder how much their check was for.
Either way, the A2 does a pretty nifty job with upscaling 🙂

groan...

probably as much as Toshiba paid Paramount. Why do people keep calling foul when normal business happens?

No, I really am curious.

Yeah because the announcement is contradictory. They said they made the move to help bring consumers over to Hi Def. But the consumer is no more likely to buy a $300 BR player today than they were yesterday. Now, a $100 player like it looks like we could have been seeing from Toshiba later this year combined with Warner going HD-DVD would be an enormous boon.

If they wanted to bring more people in, going exclusive was the right thing to do, but they picked the wrong player. 60:40 sales is not a clear statement especially when HD-DVD was gaining momentum. Even at 60:40 profit margins had to favor HD-DVD with so fewer BOGO sales.

It just doesn't add up.

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
I wonder how much their check was for.
Either way, the A2 does a pretty nifty job with upscaling 🙂

groan...

probably as much as Toshiba paid Paramount. Why do people keep calling foul when normal business happens?

No, I really am curious.

Yeah because the announcement is contradictory. They said they made the move to help bring consumers over to Hi Def. But the consumer is no more likely to buy a $300 BR player today than they were yesterday. Now, a $100 player like it looks like we could have been seeing from Toshiba later this year combined with Warner going HD-DVD would be an enormous boon.

If they wanted to bring more people in, going exclusive was the right thing to do, but they picked the wrong player. 60:40 sales is not a clear statement especially when HD-DVD was gaining momentum. Even at 60:40 profit margins had to favor HD-DVD with so fewer BOGO sales.

It just doesn't add up.

There's obviously more to deals that straight cash in most instances. It may have something to do with production cost, exclusive deals outside of movies, distribution and probably many other things.

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
60:40 sales is not a clear statement especially when HD-DVD was gaining momentum.

60:40 before the announcement. 80:20 by summer.

Now if they went HD-DVD exclusive, it would have been 50:50 by summer, which WB knew would be a step backward in the format war.

They picked the most popular format in regards to sales.

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: jpeyton

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
60:40 sales is not a clear statement especially when HD-DVD was gaining momentum.

60:40 before the announcement. 80:20 by summer.

Now if they went HD-DVD exclusive, it would have been 50:50 by summer, which WB knew would be a step backward in the format war.

They picked the most popular format in regards to sales.

You Blu-Ray fanboys crack me up. I think it's funny they have the majority of studios back it, but they can only get a 20% lead?

Now you all the sudden think that a studio who was already producing Blu-Ray going "exclusive" is going to swing it 20% in the next several months? Ok.

And that won't even happen until May!!

You'd be willing to bet $100 that it's not 80:20 by Summer???