Hope for HD-DVD?

[navychop]

From this link:

Olivier Van Wynendaele, Deputy General manager of HD DVD at Toshiba, calls the Blu-ray claims "propaganda" and disputes the Blu-ray points. For instance, the new 3:1 sales figure being touted by the Blu-ray Disc Association in regards to Blu-ray to HD DVD sales is claimed by Wynendaele to be artificially inflated by free Blu-ray movie vouchers being redeemed by PlayStation 3 owners. He also notes that Toshiba has sold 200,000 HD DVD players in the US, in comparison to the 30,000 standalone Blu-ray players sold, and that it's not clear yet how many Blu-ray movies the two million PS3 owners are going to be watching. Olivier also promised that Toshiba will undercut Sony prices every step of the way, and made it clear that while HD players account for less than 1% of DVD player sales, it's way too early to call the war for either side.

 

[r.jones1116]

HD DVD never lost hope. They have a clear and precise plan as stated in the above post. They will undercut Sony's prices every step of the way. Sony has relied on propaganda to promote its product.
REMEMBER, Sony = betamax, SACD, UMD, just to name a few. All failed formats.
Blurrray will be no different.

 

[jgags6]

Amen to that

 

[mssturgeon]

But let them compete a while longer and get the prices down on both players and media ... then one of them can go the way of the Dodo.

- Shane

 

[navychop]

Hey, that's an idea!

 

[BobMurdoch]

TWICE magazine mentioned the fact that the war drove down prices much faster than they would have gone otherwise. The problem right now is content.

Universal and Weinstein have to step up NOW and start flexing their exclusives or they could lose the war if the perception is that all the big releases are on BluRay.

Someone has to convince Spielberg to let them release the big dogs in HD. Jurassic Park, Jaws, and the rest of the blockbusters will go a long way to restoring competitive balance in the new releases.... Ditto for the treasure trove of SciFi TV shows they have that were shot on film (Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, both the new and old varieties...)

 

[GeorgeLV]

The claims in the magazine are false.

There are no free Blu-ray vouchers included in the PS3. There are $10 off rebates for select titles, but since they went there, you might want to mention that Toshiba has been giving away 5 HD-DVD movies with every player they sell.

Additionally, according to the independent NPD group, in 2006 Blu-ray players accounted for 48% of the stand-alone players sold to HD-DVDs 52%. http://www.videobusiness.com/index....A6413168&industryid=43290&industry=Technology

 

[jgantert]

The problem right now is content.

Universal and Weinstein have to step up NOW and start flexing their exclusives or they could lose the war if the perception is that all the big releases are on BluRay.

I disagree. Your problem right now (mine as well) is lack of releases. That's because we're one of the few who already have HD-DVD hardware.

The real problem right now is hardware price. Once this solved (and it will soon be helped with the Venturer HD DVD and new MRSP on the HD-A2 units), then content will follow.

-John

 

[jgantert]

There are no free Blu-ray vouchers included in the PS3. There are $10 off rebates for select titles, but since they went there, you might want to mention that Toshiba has been giving away 5 HD-DVD movies with every player they sell.

To clarify, the 3 or 5 free HD DVDs are not counted as sales. Each BR rebate does count as a sale.

-John

 

[GeorgeLV]

To clarify, the 3 or 5 free HD DVDs are not counted as sales. Each BR rebate does count as a sale.

-John

Correct. The Blu-ray rebates go through the retail channel while the Toshiba HD-DVD giveaways don't.

 

[CochiseGuy]

I disagree. Your problem right now (mine as well) is lack of releases. That's because we're one of the few who already have HD-DVD hardware.

The real problem right now is hardware price. Once this solved (and it will soon be helped with the Venturer HD DVD and new MRSP on the HD-A2 units), then content will follow.

-John

Well, Universal has announced a pretty hefty batch of releases for May & June. WB seems to have slowed down to a trickle, either waiting for BD Java to get finalized so their releases on both formats can have the same features, or to have their dual high def disk "TotalHD ready. And Paramount seems to be frugal with thier releasese, seeing what all other studios probably see - high def disk sales are still minuscule compared to DVD.

But, yeah, getting players down to at least the $199 price point is crucial. But I still feel one key is the success of the PS3. Having millions of BD players in home in the form of a PS3 has always been the key to the BD strategy. And the sales of the PS3 seem to be tanking. The last sales figures I saw had the Wii beating PS3 by more than 2 to 1, and even the Xbox 360 sales were higher than the PS3. If the PS3 ends up in third place in game consoles, it's going to be a big blow to Sony and Blu-ray. Just the time for HD DVD to step in with $199 stand alone players. :up

 

[navychop]

I'm sorry, I didn't know the Wii played ANY movies. Get real. The competition is how many high def players are out there. And what titles are available in each format. Even at #3, the PS3 has put 2 million players out there. The PS3 may move up in the rankings over the next year. Doesn't matter. There are over 2 million Blu-ray players out there NOW. They don't even NEED to sell as many titles per player to beat the socks off HD-DVD.

This fantasy of cheaper HD-DVD is just that. It isn't true now, and it will never be true. China may produce the super cheap HD-DVD players- what, maybe 3 months before the super cheap Blu-ray players come out?

 

[CochiseGuy]

I'm sorry, I didn't know the Wii played ANY movies. Get real.

I'll look forward to continuing this conversation in the War Zone forum.

 

[GeorgeLV]

This fantasy of cheaper HD-DVD is just that. It isn't true now, and it will never be true. China may produce the super cheap HD-DVD players- what, maybe 3 months before the super cheap Blu-ray players come out?

Excellent point. The hardware requirements for the formats are virtually identical. Why would HD-DVD be able to achieve any hardware cost reductions that Blu-ray could not? The difference is really is the discs themselves more than anything. Blu-ray developed a better coating that let them put more data per layer. The blue laser is the same, the numerical aperture of the lens is just different. Unless you believe it costs hundreds of dollars more to manufacture a lens with a NA of 0.85 vs. 0.65, you must concede that the Blu-ray camp can cut player costs just as fast and as far as the HD-DVD camp can.

 

[navychop]

I'll look forward to continuing this conversation in the War Zone forum.

Touche'