Blu-ray Wins: A Bittersweet Celebration

[pmalter0]

It all boils down to this simple fact: nobody can force a studio to publish in a particular format.

Gee, that's what I told Phil on another thread a long time ago...

If you did, then you were simply attempting to avoid the real issue by throwing out an irrelevant strawman argument, just like "a".

[akirby]

So your only rebuttal to my very factual answer is to say that we don't understand the issue? If I was so wrong, then please point out the errors of my statements (with facts).

You seem to keep implying that the studios had some type of legal requirement to publish in both formats and that is absolutely not true. What if there were 10 different formats available - would they have to publish in all 10?

The truth of the matter is that the studios could just as easily have decided to publish NEITHER format and continue with DVD only and that also would perfectly legal.

[Richard]

Phil, ya gotta be kidding me... strawman arguement?

From the article you find near and dear...

[quote]In the case of the next generation optical disk format, vertical agreements are in question. The two competing formats have taken steps to prevent content suppliers from dealing with the other side. This forces a choice, not between Blu-ray and HD-DVD, but between films such as

[pmalter0]

"Richard"]Phil, ya gotta be kidding me... strawman arguement?

It appears that you don't even know what a strawman argument is.

From the article you find near and dear...

In the case of the next generation optical disk format, vertical agreements are in question. The two competing formats have taken steps to prevent content suppliers from dealing with the other side. This forces a choice, not between Blu-ray and HD-DVD, but between films such as

[Dale]

"Only the greedy, the ignorant, or the gullible would want a BR monopoly. The unbelievable speed in which Toshiba folded up strongly suggests that Sony et al paid them off (directly or in directly) hoping to shut down the EU investigation before it reached fruition. Once again -- we all should be Outraged!

Phil

AfterDawn and others reported that:

Fox has announced that it will be the first major studio to have extensive price cuts on its HD movie catalog by discounting 22 of its best selling Blu-ray titles.

The price cut, which began yesterday, will see those 22 select films drop in MSRP by $10 USD each from $39.98 to $29.98 USD. However, the titles have been available for some time now on Amazon and other retailers for much less than the MSRP and usually retail for $19.95 USD.

The complete list, courtesy of HighDefDigest are:'28 Days Later,' 'Behind Enemy Lines,' 'Broken Arrow,' 'Cast Away,' 'Chain Reaction,' 'The Devil Wears Prada,' 'Edward Scissorhands,' 'Flight of the Phoenix (2004),' 'The Fly (1986),' 'From Hell,' 'Entrapment,' 'Fantastic Four,' 'Kiss of the Dragon,' 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,' 'Men of Honor,' 'The Omen (2006),' 'Planet of the Apes (2001),' 'Rising Sun,' 'The Sentinel (2006),' 'Speed,' 'The Transporter' and 'Transporter 2.'


So, where is the price increase Phil has so confidently predicted?

[stevekaden]

IMHO these are - in general - old, mixed quality movies that most of us expect to see in the $4.99 bins.

I'd like to think the BR market is choking already on the press and exposure their winning the war has brought, but I think these are just the ho-hums and they'd like to move them.

New releases, maybe are not going up, but not getting cheaper either.

[akirby]

Only the greedy, the ignorant, or the gullible would want a BR monopoly. The unbelievable speed in which Toshiba folded up strongly suggests that Sony et al paid them off (directly or in directly) hoping to shut down the EU investigation before it reached fruition. Once again -- we all should be Outraged!

Phil

The only thing that Toshiba's fast exit proves is that Toshiba is a smart company. They weren't about to lose more money trying to win a fight that was already over.

Exclusive marketing agreements are perfectly legal, as long as the competition for that agreement is fair. If both sides offer a studio marketing support in exchange for an exclusive marketing arrangement and they pick one that's legal.

What would not be legal is if BD told the studio that in order to publish BD discs they had to agree not to publish HD DVD. That would be grounds for legal action. And since we know for a fact at least one studio and 2 player mfrs were publishing movies and building players in both formats it would seem that wasn't the case either.

[pmalter0]

"Dale"]

"Only the greedy, the ignorant, or the gullible would want a BR monopoly. The unbelievable speed in which Toshiba folded up strongly suggests that Sony et al paid them off (directly or in directly) hoping to shut down the EU investigation before it reached fruition. Once again -- we all should be Outraged!

Phil

So, where is the price increase Phil has so confidently predicted?

Dale, here are a few:

Engadget: Lack of competition sends Blu-ray player prices upward

Posted Mar 12th 2008 9:43PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Industry, Blu-ray, HD DVD, Players, Others, Panasonic, Sony

Late last month, we actually posed the question of buying a Blu-ray player now (being that the format war is over and all), or waiting things out until prices sink and Profile 2.0 players flood the market. Aside from the PlayStation 3 -- which is actually priced fairly reasonably if you were in the hunt for a new console anyway -- it seems as though HD DVD's exit has actually caused Blu-ray player prices to creep back upwards. Granted, this is about as far from surprising as it gets -- after all, it's nothing short of supply and demand working its magic. Still, it wasn't too long ago that we saw Toshiba actively putting pressure on the Blu camp to reduce prices in order to stay competitive, and now that said pressure has vanished, stickers on the whole have headed north. Ah well, it's not like the consumer didn't ask for this, um, right?




Swanni: Washington, D.C. (March 13, 2008) -- In January, Philips issued a press release saying its BDP7200 Blu-ray player would be released in April with a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $349.

Scores of print and online publications reported on the Philips announcement, noting that it would be the lowest-priced Blu-ray player on the market -- $50 less than Sony's BDP-S300.

However, late last month, Toshiba announced that it was exiting the HD DVD business, ceding victory to its high-def disc rival, Blu-ray. Since then, no longer concerned about low-cost HD DVD players, Blu-ray makers have increased the price of their players, albeit slightly.

And Philips joined the crowd today, telling TVPredictions.com that its BDP7200 will be $399 next month -- not $349 as stated last January.

However, Philips spokeswoman Katie Bromley said the new price "was not related" to HD DVD's exit.

"(Philips) thought ($349) would be the cost at the time (in January)," she said.

However, when TVPredictions.com first asked about the new price tag, Bromley said the $349 price in the January press release was a "typo."

Bromley was then reminded that scores of publications had written about the $349 price last January -- and that Philips had never issued a correction saying the price should be $399.

After that conversation, she called TVPredictions.com back and said the $349 price was not a typo after all. Actually, she said, the price had changed sometime after it was originally set at $349.

Bromley said she did not know why Philips decided the price had to be raised to $399, but she said it definitely had nothing to do with HD DVD departing.

But, of course, Dale, the Philips increase doesn't count because it definitely had nothing to do with HD DVD departing. And as Richard says, higher prices are what consumers have been asking for all along.

[film11]

What would not be legal is if BD told the studio that in order to publish BD discs they had to agree not to publish HD DVD. That would be grounds for legal action. And since we know for a fact at least one studio and 2 player mfrs were publishing movies and building players in both formats it would seem that wasn't the case either.

One wonders if that has indeed been the case, with studios cancelling already -prepared HD-DVD releases upon the switch to BR. Most recent example is Dreamworks, which still confirmed the release of BEE MOVIE. Then, just 48 hours later announced the BR switch. This resulted in the elimination of BEE MOVIE in that any retailers who received the HD=DVD discs had to return them. And all pre-orders would not be fulfilled either! (Same story with Paramount, Image, etc.) Seems to me that there might be a condition that if they pub;lish BD discs, they can't release even ready-to-ship HD-DVDs. (Just another of numerous reasons wwhy I won't be joining the BR contigent in the foreseeable future.)

[hharris4earthlink]

With all this angst over HD formats, I wonder if we're missing the big picture. When techies like us think about HD media we think of a box that delivers pictures and sound. But I suspect the public at large doesn't think of it that way. Just like most people don't think of their car as an engine with so much torque and horsepower, most people could care less about the differences between Blu-ray and HD DVD. In fact I would guess the major factor people consider in buying a car is versatility. Can I use it to take the kids to school as well as go on long road trips, for example.

I own a PS3. Because I'm technically trained I considered certain features like upscaling performance and disc memory, but that's hardly the norm. In fact, now that I've had a few months experience with it, I'm beginning to think of it in an entirely different way.

The PS3 provides connectivity to a large host of different standards, not just Blu-ray. It understands my home computer formats, for example, and I can exchange pictures, videos and sound between them with ease. I fact the PS3 automatically modifies itself through the Internet and is continuously adding features and capabilities. Honestly, I find that a little bit scary, but so far it's been all good. No robots from the future have come to destroy it

And don't forget that, according to the NPD Group, fully 63 percent of the US population now play video games. In my humble opinion, the PS3 is probably the best game machine out there. It's certainly in the top two.

So perhaps, as we don't select a car based solely on its engine, we should expand our thinking a little and, instead of thinking of just storage standards, we should think in terms of a system, an integrated home system that provides access, not to just movies, but an entire spectrum of information and entertainment. Say hello to the future. I think you'll like it.

Henry