What's the deal with Panasonic?

[radagast]

Panasonic is (or was) a member of the DVD Forum. That's the same cabal that was foisting the inferior DVD-R recordable format. They appointed themselves the Grand Masonic Rulers of the Universe, in regards to all things digital disc. They are the same mob that controls hd-dvd.

But Panasonic is firmly in the Blu camp. Have they left the DVD Forum?

[Sonny]

LOL!!! I dont no buddy.

[Maximus]

None of the Blu companies have left the DVD Forum, they have too much at stake with DVD to do that.

Panasonic, Sony and Phillips were the original developers of Blu-ray, just because Panasonic didn't agree with them about which DVD writeable format to use, it doesn't mean they are going to join the HD DVD lot.

[BigB88]

Panasonic has more at stake in BD then even Sony does, so I'm not sure what the issue here is?

[radagast]

Even stranger, look at the steering committee members:

1. Hitachi, Ltd.
2. IBM Corporation
3. Industrial Technology Research Institute
4. Intel Corporation
5. LG Electronics Inc.
6. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. Panasonic, right?
7. Microsoft Corporation
8. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
9. NEC Corporation
10. PIONEER CORPORATION
11. Royal Philips Electronics
12. SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
13. SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.
14. SHARP CORPORATION
15. Sony Corporation
16. THOMSON
17. Toshiba Corporation
18. Victor Company of Japan, Limited
19. Walt Disney Pictures and Television
20. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

[jermwhl]

DVD has been around long before BD and HD-DVD. They are not going to abandon it just because of HD-DVD.

[TauRus]

Originally Posted by radagast

Even stranger, look at the steering committee members:

1. Hitachi, Ltd.
2. IBM Corporation
3. Industrial Technology Research Institute
4. Intel Corporation
5. LG Electronics Inc.
6. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. Panasonic, right?
7. Microsoft Corporation
8. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
9. NEC Corporation
10. PIONEER CORPORATION
11. Royal Philips Electronics
12. SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
13. SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.
14. SHARP CORPORATION
15. Sony Corporation
16. THOMSON
17. Toshiba Corporation
18. Victor Company of Japan, Limited
19. Walt Disney Pictures and Television
20. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

I am not exactly sure what is "strange" about the list? And what is the connection that you draw between this list members and BDA affiliation?

[radagast]

Originally Posted by TauRus

I am not exactly sure what is "strange" about the list? And what is the connection that you draw between this list members and BDA affiliation?

The DVD Forum is spearheading support for hd-dvd and several members of the steering committee are Blu companies. That's what I thought was strange.

[dobyblue]

Panasonic do AVC encodes for Fox at various different times.

• Panasonic have BD25 and BD50 writeable media available.
• BD25 - $14.99 - http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-LM-B...blurayforum-20
• BD50 - $48.99 - http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-LMBE...blurayforum-20
• BD50 rewritable discs are available too from Panasonic
• Panasonic have BD25 and BD50 replication lines at the Torrence, CA PDMC factory.
• Panasonic also own the Panasonic Hollywood Blu-ray Testing Center (PHBTC) within the existing facilities of Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory and it is currently in use for testing for any CE company wishing to test disc compliance, etc.
• Panasonic developed BD+ with Fox and Sony.

Panasonic are one of the biggest companies in the BDA and a huge supporter of Blu-ray.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by radagast

The DVD Forum is spearheading support for hd-dvd and several members of the steering committee are Blu companies. That's what I thought was strange.

Toshiba is the current chair of the DVD Forum. It is Toshiba that keeps spearheading the name DVD Forum in their press releases.
We'll see who takes over the chair next year when Toshiba's tenure comes to an end.

[JadedRaverLA]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

Toshiba is the current chair of the DVD Forum. It is Toshiba that keeps spearheading the name DVD Forum in their press releases.
We'll see who takes over the chair next year when Toshiba's tenure comes to an end.

Quite true. Although I don't think Toshiba will be giving up much power within the DVD Forum, even once the chair changes.

HD DVD fans always spout on and on about the importance of the DVD Forum, and it's blessing of their format. The truth is that big BDA companies (Panaonic [Matsushita], Sony, Philips, Samsung, Pioneer, et al) are also in big positions within the DVD forum, due to their involvement in DVD development. They started a separate organization (now known as the BDA) when they decided to starting working on next-gen optical disc development. There are many reasons why it made more sense to start a new organization rather than work within the DVD Forum (patent disputes and group structure, etc.), so that's what they did.

Toshiba was working on their own format (oringinally 720p AVC on regular DVD discs) that they hoped would allow them to continue making money on their DVD disc structure patents. When the other companies showed their BD proposal to Toshiba and invited them into the new organization, Toshiba refused and decided to go in another direction. They came up with the AOD (advanced optical disc) and brought in Microsoft to help with development and ended up with HD DVD. They proposed it to the DVD Forum. Most of the BDA member companies abstained from voting (why would they vote in favor of an opposing format?) and the HD DVD plan failed. Toshiba then managed to change the rules of the forum and brought in several new voting members. They brought the proposal again and got it passed with the help of the new members. Thus, they were able to claim that the DVD Forum "approved" their format. In reality, most of the big companies within the forum are in the BDA and don't support HD DVD, but it makes it look like there's more company's supporting the format than just Toshiba and Microsoft.

So there you go. All the BDA companies are huge within the DVD Forum but just ignore everything about HD DVD and abstain from the votes involving that format. It's a strange forum, for sure, where half the company's involved want nothing to do with the long term strategy of the group.

[phloyd]

Originally Posted by radagast

But Panasonic is firmly in the Blu camp. Have they left the DVD Forum?

I read recently that the BD companies abstain from voting when things like TL51 and CH-DVD come up.

I thought that was interesting.

Also, this (off topic I know, sorry) "We’re told 51-GB approvals didn’t come without discord" - hopefully more news of that to come...

[w_tanoto]

ironically, it is also partly BD camp which approved HD DVD names. Though I've heard few posts that the BD camp votes no, and the voting failed. They changed the way of voting somehow.

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by w_tanoto

ironically, it is also partly BD camp which approved HD DVD names. Though I've heard few posts that the BD camp votes no, and the voting failed. They changed the way of voting somehow.

The BDA members weren't allowed to vote against any of the HD DVD related proposals, it would be anti-competitive.

[w_tanoto]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

The BDA members weren't allowed to vote against any of the HD DVD related proposals, it would be anti-competitive.

thanks for the clarification. but look, who is anti-competitive now?? Toshiba paid Paramount to go exclusive, which is anti-competitve, while the studios supporting BD said they received no "sweeteners". (I don't know about Disney though - maybe the spokesperson does not have the right to say so)

[Krazy]

On a side note, Panasonic (through their parent Matsushita) also used to own Universal until recently when they sold the last of their holdings to Vivendi in 2005. I'm sure if they still owned Universal, Toshiba wouldn't have had a chance on foisting HD Dead on consumers