Quoting Calidain:

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Quoting pplchamp:

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Well, if DVD sales are down on new releaases and HDM is not selling well, I can see some truth in what Warner says.

Baloney!!!  Sorry but I don't buy it, Warner's decision was based on Fox's decision not to switch allegiance, not on any sales numbers from the 4th quarter, DVD or otherwise!!!

and I'm wondering if Warner's made this decision to satisfy the Bluray camp after it's horrendous manufacturing defects the month before....

It's speculation Champ, nothing more, nothing less. I will say this about that. IF in fact Sony and the BDA spit out anywhere near that kind of cash it's a sign that they were running scared. You don't offer up nearly a billion dollars to win this thing if you think you can do it on technical merits. It does make sense though...Assuming HDM takes off and BD goes on to win they will benefit from continued royalties for a long, long time. It's a gamble as nothing is certain but it more than likely will pay off for them.

Yeah, I agree with Erik. It doesn't make any sense for FOX to even think about switching based on their firm stance on copy protection/access control/whatever you want to call it.

Regardless of what any of the studios think, I think the decline in purchases is due to the fact that a) the economy has slowed down in general, b) most people already have the catalog titles they want, and c) there is less interest in most new releases.

I think that the best way for HD media to replace DVD for the masses is going to be due to player replacements. Eventually, all DVD players out there will be HD media players anyway, since they are backwards compatible.

This wouldn't be the same without a comment from one Michael Bay


This was posted at michaelbay.com

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michaelbay 
Director  Posts: 36
Join Date: Apr 2005

Blu-Ray Bay - Yesterday, 09:44 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well another studio down. Maybe I was right? Blu ray is just better. HD will die a slow death. It's what I predicted a year ago. Now with Warner's down for the count with Blu Ray. That makes it easier for Wal-Mart to push Blu Ray. And whatever Wal-Mart pushes - wins. Hd better start giving out those $120 million dollars checks to stay alive. Maybe they can give me some so I can give it to my Make-A-Wish charity, just to shut me up. Have faith people Transformers will come out in Blu-ray one day!

Before we forget, let's remember who the founding members of the Blu-ray Disc Association were when it was opened to new members in May 2004:

· 20th Centeury Fox
· Dell Inc.
· Hewlett Packard
· Hitachi, Ltd.
· LG Electronics Inc.
· Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
· Panasonic (Matsushita Electric)
· Pioneer Corporation
· Royal Philips Electronics
· Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd
· Sharp Corporation
· Sony Corporation
· TDK Corporation
· Thompson

Since then Apple, Disney, Sun Microsystems and now WB have joined the Board of Directors. In addition, there are at least 65 more Contributing members and another 94 regular members.

And while I'm never going to buy a Sony consumer electronics product, there are plenty of quality CE manufacturers in that list to choose from.

So, let's please drop the anti-Sony rhetoric.

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Without a competing format Blu Ray players and titles will remain overpriced as there will be nothing to help drive prices down.

How soon we forget the history of DVD.

I bought my first DVD player exactly one year after the first players were released, although I had been eagerly following the subject beginning in early 1996, about a year before DVD players were first retailed. It was a first gen Panasonic player that cost $500. There were no internet DVD firesales to be had at that time. Disc prices were more expensive then than they are now, especially when you account for inflation.

Quoting 8ballMax:

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I'm very dismayed by this announcment. To be perfectly honest, I dispise Sony. I have had nothing but negative experiences with Sony products & Sony customer service. Now that Sony has bought their way to the top of the food chain, as it were, in the HD marketplace, the consumer will suffer for it. Without a competing format Blu Ray players and titles will remain overpriced as there will be nothing to help drive prices down. With the economy as it stands, high gas prices, a looming recession, I can't see myself going HD anytime in the near future.

8ball,

Of course you are entitled to despise Sony. No argument there. But why not buy a Philips, LG, Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung, any other brand except Toshiba or Sanyo (The 2 HD-DVD manufacturing ones, though Sanyo has still to come up with a player) ?
This is something that really puzzles me. Why do people keep talking like if Sony is the only hardware manufacturer on the BD field. Or even worse, as if Sony actually developed and owned the format. Neither of these assumptions is true. It seems that there is a Sony hate rage so big around that people use it to attack anything Sony gets involved in... I really don't get it.
This of course was not a personalization of the issue, please don't take it like that. But your post somewhat illustrated a bit that.
DVD also doesn't have a competing format, but the competition between manufacturers took care of the prices.
On CES, beginning tomorrow, you'll have your first chinese-brand BD players. So, it'll just be a matter of time before they start appearing at Best Buy and Wal-mart shelves...
I think now, most manufacturers (or even almost all, since we had a Toshiba Vs. Rest of the World war) will be able to start taking care of their lasting opponent: Standard def. DVD
And this can only be won by lowering HD prices.

Quoting 8ballMax:

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Quoting Skywatcher:

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On CES, beginning tomorrow, you'll have your first chinese-brand BD players. So, it'll just be a matter of time before they start appearing at Best Buy and Wal-mart shelves...

Ohhh...you mean those great disposable chinese players that take a dump after about 30 days of use? That's something to look forward to. Better check them for lead paint.

Hehe, ain't that the truth. But the point is that the chinese players are the consumer electronics version of generic brands at the grocery store, which you only get if there is a profit to be made on the product at the lower price point.

HD DVD was supposed to have chinese players released in 2007, but Toshiba subsidized their players to the point that no other manufacturers bothered producing them because they could not turn a profit.

Quoting nolesrule:

Quote:
Before we forget, let's remember who the founding members of the Blu-ray Disc Association were when it was opened to new members in May 2004:

· 20th Centeury Fox
· Dell Inc.
· Hewlett Packard
· Hitachi, Ltd.
· LG Electronics Inc.
· Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
· Panasonic (Matsushita Electric)
· Pioneer Corporation
· Royal Philips Electronics
· Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd
· Sharp Corporation
· Sony Corporation
· TDK Corporation
· Thompson

Since then Apple, Disney, Sun Microsystems and now WB have joined the Board of Directors. In addition, there are at least 65 more Contributing members and another 94 regular members.

And while I'm never going to buy a Sony consumer electronics product, there are plenty of quality CE manufacturers in that list to choose from.

So, let's please drop the anti-Sony rhetoric.

Quote:
Without a competing format Blu Ray players and titles will remain overpriced as there will be nothing to help drive prices down.

How soon we forget the history of DVD.

I bought my first DVD player exactly one year after the first players were released, although I had been eagerly following the subject beginning in early 1996, about a year before DVD players were first retailed. It was a first gen Panasonic player that cost $500. There were no internet DVD firesales to be had at that time. Disc prices were more expensive then than they are now, especially when you account for inflation.

No matter how manner supporters or original members of the BDA you list, it will be Sony who profits the most from Blu-Ray winning this format war!!!  They are the big money players in the BDA, all the other CE companies are minor players!!!

DVD did not have a competing format however so you are comparing apples to oranges!!!  DVD players took several years to drop in price and DVD seriously took off when the cheap chinese players hit the street.  However DVDs themselves were wonderfully priced from the very beginning, unlike some of the ridiculously priced BDs out there now!!!