HD DVD Rallies Consumer Audience in 2007 Driving Nearly One Million Dedicated Player Sales in North America

[Shane]

It depends on where you sit. If you are among the 2 million+ who have invested in one side or the other, then the best thing for those consumers is for all studios to distribute In both formats. The only consumers wanting a single format are those who have not yet invested. Sure, there are more consumers that have not invested than those who have ... But you are still alienating a large group of consumers by going to a single format this late in the game.

Bottom line, the solution that makes everyone (the consumers) happy is for all studios to release in both formats.

My opinion.

- Shane

[hharris4earthlink]

No argument there. I'm just pointing out that the studios are taking a longer view. My guess is they are giving flexibility of the type of content as well as content length a heavy weight in their decision. I don't blame consumers for being angry at the possibility of having the rug pulled out from under them after a substantial financial investment, but they can at least console themselves that the studios are going to save them money in the long run by creating one standard for multiple, and in my view exciting, future-pointing applications.

Henry

[DavidEC]

I am thinking of writing the 'Silent Giant' in the marketing world 'Wal-Mart' about their support of the HD-DVD market or ask about an extended refund policy for the drives sold/purchased in November/December 2007.
If Wal-Mart had to make refunds on the reported 97,000+ drives ($97,000,000.00).... I think that might wake somebody up.... As we all know Wal-Mart has many 'special' DVD packages and I am sure they could do the same thing for HD-DVD.
Just think if somebody like Wal-Mart walked into Warner Bro's and said they would no longer sell their disc's due to no longer supporting HD-DVD?

--David

[hharris4earthlink]

I don't think anybody's talking about dropping support for existing HD DVD drives for the time being. But I would expect, over the next few years, HD DVD titles would be harder to find as studios gradually put their support behind Blu-ray as the dominant format. I don't think studios would cut off a revenue nose to spite the format face of a HD drive.

Henry

[DavidEC]

In a posting else where here at HDTVMagz the company "2007 New Medium Enterprises, Inc." 'HD VMD Players' is releaseing a "RED" laser HD-Player and it seems that they have the rights to movies from almost every studio in their movie listing.
So if this company can get the rights to press disc's for their format from Paramount, Warner, and even Sony then why can't a third party do the same with HD-DVD?

[hharris4earthlink]

The final say to all of this is probably going to be the retailers. It won't matter who's manufacturing HD DVDs if retailers won't devote shelf space to the format. If that happens, it will be increasingly unlikely that the discs will be manufactured. With Universal's commitment to HD DVD exclusivity gone and New Line and HBO switching to to Blu-ray, it's not looking good for HD DVD.

Henry

[pmalter0]

David,
That sounds very interesting; but where did you see that the major studios were licensing current releases to them?
Phil

[film11]

Studios already had been releasing titles on two incompatible formats for 20 years! VHS and laserdisc.

And I certainly don't se BR as a "future-proof" format. So far, it still hasn't equalled what HD-DVD offered a year ago. (And won't until Profile 2.0 players are released.) To take advantage, those who already bought BR players will now have to buy another machine! BR is certainly no more future-proof than HD-DVD...it's just is more expensive. I was going to dive in to the HDM club next month. Now...I'll pass.

[hharris4earthlink]

Blu-ray is more expensive but holds more data. The "future proof" aspect is connected to the amount of data required for applications beyond just movies. This conceivably avoids the expense of buying multiple machines for multiple applications. The idea is that the public is going to want more sophisticated applications that require more memory and the HD DVD memory standard will prove not to be adequate. Right now, this is only true for some PS3 games, but if history serves, the appetite for more memory will only increase in the future.

Henry

[pmalter0]

Henry,
Unless HD-DVD sues and breaks the studios attempts to create a Blue Ray monopoly-- there will be no future for HD disc media. Blue Ray will always be too expensive for the mass market (think SACD & DVD-A); especially in view of the soon to be competition with Internet high definition downloads. The production costs of a HD-DVD disc is half that of Blue Ray; and the last few months have shown that the public is willing to buy a high definition disc player for $200. If there is to be a future for a high definition disc media, it will only be if the studios are required to license production to all competitors.