Where Did HDDVD Go Wrong

[korsjs]

If it is indeed over for HD DVD, and it is really looking that way, where did they go wrong?

Marketing? I am always seeing commericials for Blu Ray. HD DVD would have one every once in a while.

Making deals with retailers? Most stores look like they support Blu Ray. Kind of like how Directv has made deals with most major retailors, Dish can only be found in Radio Shack and Sears. I wonder why HD DVD did not make a bigger push with the retailors.

Where do you think they went wrong?

 

[allargon]

They went wrong by not locking up Disney or Fox into going neutral.

Studios decided this one--not retailers, not consumers (despite what Blu-Ray fans think).

 

[korsjs]

But still, you walk in to a store and you see Blu Ray all over and maybe a little HDDVD display.

 

[vurbano]

not enough payoffs.

 

[korsjs]

not enough payoffs.

I agree, with Microsoft backing them, it is surprising they did not have at least one more major studio just for them.

 

[SatinKzo]

Yep, they should have pulled out all the stops to get WB. Paying for some instore displays and better marketing.
Heck most commercials and ads I saw for WB movies were even BD biased with the BD disc in front of the HD DVD.

 

[navychop]

No one could make money out of HD DVD.

Yes, I think there were other factors- lesser technology, misreading the early adopter, not getting studios onboard, relying on spreading FUD, etc. But the first sentence is probably the nut. Even retailers made little selling the product.

 

[csschrot]

My wife and I were talking about this. Lot of the problem was the marketing. If you watch TV for just a few hours during prime time count how many Blu-ray commericials you see compaired to HD DVD.

To be honest I don't remember the last HD DVD commericial I saw. By the way I don't count commericials that are showing only the movie and then say availible on DVD HDVD or Blu-ray High Def.

Sad that HD DVD didn't do a better job.

Shawn

 

[vurbano]

Its ashame if BD wins most of their players will be overpriced non profile 2.0 compliant players. The consumer will get screwed. Ultimately it may kill off HDM. Competition is the best thing for the consumer.

 

[SatinKzo]

Yep, vurbano, I think there is some serious potential for some backlash when the non-informed who bought early BD players find out their players won't have all the capabilities that BD movies support.

Early adopters are generally informed well, but BDA did a poor job of making all known to consumers early on and you had to do more than casual surfing to find the info.

 

[JonUrban]

Both formats should have had full studio support. If they could not get it, then they should have folded right off the bat - sparing the consumers the confusion and the potential for "defeat".

 

[Zookster]

Yeah but can you name a single consumer electronics product that didn't lack features that became standard for the same price point with in the next 12-18 months. I look around my house and that describes everything I own including the laptop I'm using right now (which is only 1 year old and didn't include Vista).

 

[akodoreign]

Yeah but can you name a single consumer electronics product that didn't lack features that became standard for the same price point with in the next 12-18 months. I look around my house and that describes everything I own including the laptop I'm using right now (which is only 1 year old and didn't include Vista).

And not including Vista is a bad thing?

 

[Zookster]

I thought of editing my post to add "Thank god!" at the end. In fact I did get the "free" Vista upgrade disc from Dell since I was on the bubble, but have yet to load the "up"grade.

 

[Ronnie-]

Yeah but can you name a single consumer electronics product that didn't lack features that became standard for the same price point with in the next 12-18 months. I look around my house and that describes everything I own including the laptop I'm using right now (which is only 1 year old and didn't include Vista).

THAT is a valid point. A stark contrast to SOME i have read in here

 

[db2]

I would say a combination of studio support and hardware manufacturer support, lack of both. No one besides Toshiba and the studios could make any money from HD-DVD, and they didn't have enough studios on their side.

Ironically, I would say that Toshiba/Microsoft may have cut their own throat when they paid off Paramount. That pretty much opened the door for BDA to pay off WB (if that happened).

 

[akodoreign]

THAT is a valid point. A stark contrast to SOME i have read in here

I Just want to know what Sony is Smoking. Because I want a hit of it BAD.


4:24PM - "Let's kick things off, let's get into gear with a new product intro." It's the Rolly. Umm, this isn't new -- but it sounds like Rolly's coming to the US. SVP, digital imaging, Steve Haber is up on stage. "We're always looking for new ways to entertain consumers. When it comes to consumer electronics, all roads lead to Sony." Talking up Sony. "Rolly is a sophisticated piece of technology." Rotating podium. "Like the Walkman years ago, and the Bravia Internet Link, we are creating a new product category." Nope, sorry, you're not, Sony


Live coverage from Sony's CES press conference - Engadget

 

[SatinKzo]

zookster, I agree, but BDA did a poor job of informing the general public of the short-commings of early players to the general consumer. Software and computers are bad analogies cause even the most novice knows that they are obsolete when you buy them. People don't expect their general CE to be out of date so fast that they can't even play a movie's complete feature set. I have steered many people who ask me about BD away just because I know in 2 months I'm gonna get some grief if they make the purchase given the present state of players. I also know that many of the people out there will never upgrade the firmware in their players as it's too much work for them, they just want to un-box and use like they been used to with DVD's, CD's, VHS, etc. Case in point is my original DVD player will play every DVD that has come out with no issues and not a single upgrade.

The marketing is so vague on the players for BD (and even HD-DVD at times) that users seriously need to research for the most part or risk spending money ill-advised on what the kid at the store tells them

 

[JoeSp]

Their marketing stratagy was all wrong. First, they made a decent player and jumped early to fix any bugs. But then they started giving away movies to entice sales and then they started dropping the price of the players to a point where even if other CE manufacturers wanted in the HD-DVD pot they could not jump in because they could not make any money.

They gave the impression that they were desperate because they could not maintain pricepoints (wheather intentional or not). In addition, most posts of HD-DVD supporters meantioned renting movies from Netflix rather then buying. Renting movies might of saved you money but it did not help HD-DVD disc sales. If the costs of replicating HD-DVD was so little then the HD-DVD group should of dropped the prices of the HD-DVD movies to the low $20s to encourage ownership rather then renting.

The use of ComboDiscs was also not a good idea. It created playback problems on some releases which said to the consumer -- we don't have it all worked out yet either. It also increased the cost of the movie to the consumer and kind of said -- Look, even if we don't succeed you will still have the DVD side to play. Hence, they did not concentrate the consumers interest solely on the HD side of their business. Toshiba had to know that eventually even DVD products would be replaced but they did not put their entire heart into the HD-DVD side of business. They should of done a media blitz solely on HD-DVDs advantages when they had the chance and stopped pushing DVD altogether. Seems they were confused and confusion is a killer in a competitive market.

Finally, If you were going to give Paramont/Dreamworks 150mill then right then, you should of gave WB 500 mil. and not wait. If you are going to buy your market you best make sure you buy enough to give you the upper hand because if you don't it will come back to bite you in the ... And it did.

 

[Zookster]

zookster, I agree, but BDA did a poor job of informing the general public of the short-commings of early players to the general consumer. Software and computers are bad analogies cause even the most novice knows that they are obsolete when you buy them. People don't expect their general CE to be out of date so fast that they can't even play a movie's complete feature set. I have steered many people who ask me about BD away just because I know in 2 months I'm gonna get some grief if they make the purchase given the present state of players. I also know that many of the people out there will never upgrade the firmware in their players as it's too much work for them, they just want to un-box and use like they been used to with DVD's, CD's, VHS, etc. Case in point is my original DVD player will play every DVD that has come out with no issues and not a single upgrade.

The marketing is so vague on the players for BD (and even HD-DVD at times) that users seriously need to research for the most part or risk spending money ill-advised on what the kid at the store tells them

Yeah, that really sucks if the BDA was intentionally misleading the early adopters about the first players' capabilities. There's just no excuse for that and people have a right to be upset... But I think the most serious early adopters, the ones who look at forums like this, know that any new (1st gen.) technology is going to have bugs, upgrades, new features down the road etc. Knowing this, I myself stood on the sidelines (partly because of the format war) until 2nd and 3rd gen players came out (for either side). And while the first SD DVD player I bought can still play any special features on a commercial release DVD, it cannot play scratched disks, nor can it play some DVD Rs.