Disney president blasts HD DVD backers

[CptGreedle]

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/new...ticle_ID=11458

Verbal punches flew again as the two-day Blu-ray Festival, held Oct. 29 and 30 in Hollywood, approached its scheduled end with a gala Walt Disney launch party for Blu-ray Disc editions, packed with interactive features, of Cars and Ratatouille.

In remarks he was scheduled to deliver shortly after the USC Marching Band played its fight song, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment worldwide president Bob Chapek blasted the rival HD DVD camp for prolonging the format war when it is clear Blu-ray Disc is the odds-on favorite.

“Blu-ray’s competition’s attempts to sell less than the best will inevitably be trumped by what we stated from the very beginning: That the Blu-ray technology is not a half-step format that will sell consumers short, but rather, it is a revolutionary technology that will change the way we view movies for the long term,” Chapek said.

“And we firmly believe that revolutionary technology, my friends, is indisputably, undeniably and inevitably Blu-ray.”

Chapek’s fierce rhetoric underscores the growing enmity in Hollywood between the studios supporting Blu-ray Disc and those behind rival next-generation format HD DVD. Disney, along with Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Lionsgate, are solidly and exclusively in the Blu-ray camp. Universal Studios and Paramount/DreamWorks only support HD DVD, while Warner Home Video, at least for the time being, releases titles in both formats.

While study after study fingers consumer indifference as the chief obstacle the studios face in getting consumers to transition from standard DVD to high-definition disc, the format war has tapped resources and confused consumers, prompting many to hold off buying either a Blu-ray Disc or an HD DVD player until a uniform standard emerges.

Studio executives in both camps concede the stakes are high: the very future of the packaged-media business, for years Hollywood’s biggest cash cow. Executives fear that if the format war is not resolved, and they can’t pool their resources behind one standard high-definition disc format, the decline in DVD sales will continue and consumers uncertain about which new format to buy will throw up their hands and go online for the majority of their entertainment needs.

Chapek isn’t alone in his harsh rhetoric. At a presentation on the 20th Century Fox studio lot on Oct. 29, home entertainment president Mike Dunn chastised Paramount Home Entertainment, which a month ago dropped its support for Blu-ray Disc and went exclusively with HD DVD. He accused the studio of “taking the bait,” referring to a reported $50 million payout, to align itself solely with the HD DVD camp, which is led by Microsoft and Toshiba.

[JYD59]

You HD-DVD guys are just so stupid! STUPID!

[blujacket]

Funny, the red ants still believe Disney will go neutral next year, even with press like this.

[SS316SRV]

Originally Posted by JYD59

HAHAHA Paln 9 From Outer Space!!! Classic Ed Wood. That movie is SOOO bad its funny and worth watching!!! I love my drunken college days.

[JYD59]

Originally Posted by SS316SRV

HAHAHA Paln 9 From Outer Space!!! Classic Ed Wood. That movie is SOOO bad its funny and worth watching!!! I love my drunken college days.

[Spankey]

While study after study fingers consumer indifference as the chief obstacle the studios face in getting consumers to transition from standard DVD to high-definition disc

The last HD-DVD talking point. HD-DVD is not winning because people simply do not care about HD. The same was said of VHS to DVD. What rubbish.

[Porscheman]

if nothing else, this should make the hd boys nervous that Disney will NEVER support HD-DVD.

[TauRus]

Well, pretty soon they will move onto their last publicity campaign: they will start saying that HD-DVD was the BETA and Blu was the VHS of this war, that yet again the "better" technology lost due to "viral" marketing of their opponents.
But at his point, who actually cares what they are telling anyway?

[Luis_A51]

I love disney. THey're blu to the bone and it shows. I cant believe HDDVD-ers ever thought disney would go red.

Everything Disney does is pro-blu. The tour, the BOGO, the high-bitrate encodes that HDDVD couldnt match, and now this smack down. I love disney.

[dialog_gvf]

Chapek Praises Blu-ray, Blasts HD DVD

In remarks he was scheduled to deliver shortly after the USC Marching Band played its fight song, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment worldwide president Bob Chapek blasted the rival HD DVD camp for prolonging the format war when it is clear Blu-ray Disc is the odds-on favorite.

“Blu-ray’s competition’s attempts to sell less than the best will inevitably be trumped by what we stated from the very beginning: That the Blu-ray technology is not a half-step format that will sell consumers short, but rather, it is a revolutionary technology that will change the way we view movies for the long term,” Chapek said.

“And we firmly believe that revolutionary technology, my friends, is indisputably, undeniably and inevitably Blu-ray.”

Chapek’s fierce rhetoric underscores the growing enmity in Hollywood between the studios supporting Blu-ray Disc and those behind rival next-generation format HD DVD. Disney, along with Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Lionsgate, are solidly and exclusively in the Blu-ray camp. Universal Studios and Paramount/DreamWorks only support HD DVD, while Warner Home Video, at least for the time being, releases titles in both formats.

[stockstar1138]

bda is done playing nice. ive noticed quite a few changes in attitude towards hd dvd. they are going for the kill this holiday season, expect to see a 249 player and expect to see at least one more majore retail or studio shift before xmas.

[blujacket]

The Red army is now saying that Warner may be going HDDUD because Disney is talking so harsh, and the last time that happened was when Paramount took the bribe.

[frank_t]

Originally Posted by Spankey

The last HD-DVD talking point. HD-DVD is not winning because people simply do not care about HD. The same was said of VHS to DVD. What rubbish.

I'm curious: what was the turning point which led to the dominance of DVD?

Was it the promise of widescreen? Anamorphic video? Surround sound? Better picture? Did it have anything to do with price?

Going to be a very interesting couple months on the hardware side of things.

I believe the PS3 will continue to dominate in terms of HD media players and will be the savior of BluRay as it is now. Sony gambled in that respect and it appears to be paying off, at the expense of their gaming division.

Even if PS3 ends up being nothing more than a blu-ray player and fails as a game machine, Sony still has a win on their hands.

[JAGUAR1977]

It seems quite clear Blu-ray exclusive studios will never support HD-DVD, starving it of content.

The pressure on Warner to go Blu-ray exclusive must be huge, do they want to allign themselves with the high end players in the industry, supported by the PS3 trojan horse and dominance outside of the US, or cheap and cheerful, 'good enough' HD-DVD.

[HDTV1080P]

This might be old news for some.
http://www.tvpredictions.com/disneyblu103107.htm

[TruBlu2]

NOW is the time for Warner Brothers and Weinstein to go Blu exclusive!!!!!!!!!

What are they waiting for?????????????????????????????


Lets get it done already!!!!!!!!!

[cajun1975]

Disney just laid the smack down on HD DVD! What a great read that was. Now if Warner would just go Blu and put this "WAR" to an end.

[Chris Beveridge]

Originally Posted by frank_t

I'm curious: what was the turning point which led to the dominance of DVD?

The cracking of CSS.

[bazie]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

bda is done playing nice. ive noticed quite a few changes in attitude towards hd dvd. they are going for the kill this holiday season, expect to see a 249 player and expect to see at least one more majore retail or studio shift before xmas.

this is what i have been hoping for...a cheap bluray player to combat the cheap HDDVD player.

Can you give some evidence or justification as to why you think this will be the case?

It just seems surprising that panasonic would release a player to be sold mid November MSRP 500 and that some other company would manage to get a new player in for 250 in time.

[JAGUAR1977]

The Panasonic is a top tier 1.1 player.

Any 1.0 player in the market will have to be sub $400 to sell, likely sub $350, especially as the $399 PS3 will be 1.1 capable very soon.