Something's Up

[ReduxInflux]

posted at the bottom of another thread but got lost in the mix. thought it deserved its own thread:

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from hollywoodinhidef.com

"Universal Studios' #2 HD DVD exec Ken Graffeo is touting HD DVD's advantage over Blu-ray by trumpeting how it will still be useful if HD DVD dies.
In a story published by the Philadelphia Daily News, Graffeo said, 'Even if the format were to fail, it will still be useful as a conventional DVD player, with excellent up-conversion of discs for your HDTV.'"


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if you were confident, why would you ever...ever concede to possible defeat?

[gand41f]

Originally Posted by ReduxInflux

posted at the bottom of another thread but got lost in the mix. thought it deserved its own thread:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
from hollywoodinhidef.com

"Universal Studios' #2 HD DVD exec Ken Graffeo is touting HD DVD's advantage over Blu-ray by trumpeting how it will still be useful if HD DVD dies.
In a story published by the Philadelphia Daily News, Graffeo said, 'Even if the format were to fail, it will still be useful as a conventional DVD player, with excellent up-conversion of discs for your HDTV.'"


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if you were confident, why would you ever...ever concede to possible defeat?

Yeah, I noticed that too. This guy's really all over the place. Wasn't he the one that claimed Spielberg won't allow any of his movies to be released in HDM until there is only one format standing just a couple of weeks before the CE3K announcement?

He's either merely babbling some talking points he got from the drunk Toshiba salesman ("Blu-rays look about as good as upconverted DVD") or he let the cat out of the bag, accidentally.

I'm hoping for the latter of course, but given his inability to predict the future, I wouldn't trust him even for the demise of DUD's failure.

enjoy
gandalf

[TruBlu2]

If Blu-Ray dies then our PS3's will make one hell of a DVD player!!!!!!!!!!

LOL

What the heck is this guy talking about!!!! He knows the Blu announcement is right around the corner.

Live Blu or Die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[groovyone]

Originally Posted by TruBlu2

If Blu-Ray dies then our PS3's will make one hell of a DVD player!!!!!!!!!!

That was my comment on the blog. Well, if Blu fails MY Blu player not only upscales DVD, IT ALSO PLAYS GAMES!!

[stockstar1138]

to much weird BS to be happening something not to happen. There is got to be a huge BDA announcement coming very soon. Now the only question i have, is if the Para/Dream decision was a reaction to this, or if the announcement is a reaction to Para/Dream.

[statikcat]

Originally Posted by TruBlu2

If Blu-Ray dies then our PS3's will make one hell of a DVD player!!!!!!!!!!

LOL

What the heck is this guy talking about!!!! He knows the Blu announcement is right around the corner.

Live Blu or Die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am not worried about BD. Even if BD happens to loose my PS3 and PS4 will play them. That covers me for the next.. 10 years?

[stockstar1138]

Originally Posted by statikcat

I am not worried about BD. Even if BD happens to loose my PS3 and PS4 will play them. That covers me for the next.. 10 years?

i do believe sony will not be putting anything greater than a BD reader in the PS4. slight catch though, this one, will read 200GB blu-rays.

[tron3]

His subtle back peddling is very encouraging.

"Victory is mine!" - Stewie / Family Guy

I still say HD-DVD owners are owed dual-format players so they can start moving to blu-ray. Eating the cost of a player is one thing. Eating the cost of hundreds or thousands of dollars in movies is another. Offer trade-in and discounts when you bring your old HD-DVD-only players in.

Current HD-DVD supporters should make a line of dual players to ease over the transition. Sure, some of us blu-bloods might buy it to play HD-DVD discs, but the point becomes moot when the current stock of movies runs out.

Let's not kick them to the curb. A good will gesture like that will win lots of consumer confidence and end this stupid war once and for all.

[jw]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

Its called the Xbox 360 cause it actually does a 360. You buy it, you ship it to MS, MS ships it back.

Thats some funny s#$t there....lol

[ReduxInflux]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

to much weird BS to be happening something not to happen. There is got to be a huge BDA announcement coming very soon. Now the only question i have, is if the Para/Dream decision was a reaction to this, or if the announcement is a reaction to Para/Dream.

seriously. im getting antsy though. so much speculation that could go either way (but yes, the consistency in positive blu-ray news and just 'weird' hd-dvd news does indicate something big is coming up) let me jot a rundown of everything big thats gone on over the last month:

1. panasonic announces its living in hd program in a joint effort with hollywood directors Kevin Smith and Brett Ratner to bring the total HD experience via Blu Ray into the homes of 30 families.
1. spielberg announces his first hi-def release in that of CE3K on Blu. withholds Uni from releasing his titles on HD-DVD (even to the surprise of the HD-DVD camp)
2. 300 BLU wipes the floor with 300 HD-DVD. 66/34 and continues to dominate.
3. paramount goes hd-dvd exclusive not by reason but by cash incentive...reportedly from microsoft who wants to fuel the war to pave the way to downloads (which i personally am not a fan of). and worldwide, this news was not seen as a positive thing by anyone - public or media - except for HD-DVD ostriches.
4. michael bay decries the news publicly (his retraction holds no weight with me)
5. in addition to universal titles, steven spielberg withholds his paramount films from going to HD-DVD as well.
6. also reportedly upset are James Cameron and Francis Ford Coppola.
7. fox/mgm/disney release news of their huge release slate...most of which will take advantage of the newly integrated and much anticipated BD-J and BD-Live that now puts Blu-Ray on par ...if not above par...with HD-DVDs interactive technology.
8. steve nickerson (pro hd-dvd) home entertainment exec from Warner steps down. his replacement seems to be neutral?
9. Mitsubishi announces plans for a 3D Blu-Ray Player
10. and finally ken graffeo of universal/hd-dvd makes the comment "if hd-dvd dies it will still upconvert dvds"


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not to mention the rumors that abound about the various bda announcements that could be coming - all regarding wal-mart or universal or wb or ?!? geez. i think i'll tune out for a month and come back to catch up on what's happened.

if i forgot anything, please add to my list. if something i said was wrong, please correct it.

and that's that.

[CptGreedle]

Well that sounds like most of it to me...

Despite Paramount's change, I still think Blu-ray is kicking @$$!

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by gand41f

He's either merely babbling some talking points he got from the drunk Toshiba salesman ("Blu-rays look about as good as upconverted DVD") or he let the cat out of the bag, accidentally.

The "Don't be afraid, it'll still play DVD's!" quote is nothing Big and Portentious, it just illustrates that when all else fails, Ken knows all too exploitably where HD's bread is buttered:
Like AOL, Ken knows he can always tap into the ready Idiot-Market source of income by keeping HD-DVD out there as Technology for Dummies...

Namely, dummies who don't know there are two brands out there (or stomp their feet at being "confused" by too much to think about, which makes the Tech parts of their brain hurt)--
So that Ken can bring in HD's evangelists as Angels of Wisdom and present, nice, easy, words-of-one-syllable explanations with big pretty pictures about how the Pictures Look Nice, and You Can Play Regular DVD's Too...And the first-customers are so grateful for being guided by the hand through the Valley of Big Words, they never bother to look at Blu-Ray and see what other bits of wheel and fire are being invented.
Or, he hopes, think that Sony and Blu must be "up to something" in not reaching out to them, and that it's probably just some convoluted format for them city-slickers out there who wire up a lotta speakers to their TV, 'n stuff.

[Deane Johnson]

Even if HD-DVD dies, the players will make really cool doorstops.

[CAB]

Originally Posted by Deane Johnson

Even if HD-DVD dies, the players will make really cool doorstops.

Every new article that pops on the Internet has ignorant comments about "my player upscales DVDs! Lets see the PS3 or a Blu-ray player do that! You can't even play DVDs on them."

Ken's comments were designed to fortify that myth. Some help me here. Is there a BD player or model of the PS3 that doesn't play DVDs and upscale to 1080p?

I know it's tough for BD fans because we actually have lots of player manufacturers with lots of features, quality and pricepoints. Gosh why can't we have just one manufacturer and one model?

[Blue]

Originally Posted by Deane Johnson

Even if HD-DVD dies, the players will make really cool doorstops.

Thousand dollar clocks is how is how the biggest Australian DVD retail chain described HD-DUD players.

[LynxFX]

That seems to be one of the big talking points over at HTF as well. "My HD DVD player is a great DVD scaler." It gets a little old especially considering my PS3 is an awesome DVD upscaler as well and will only get better as the devs are continuing to tweak it and improve upon it.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by TruBlu2

If Blu-Ray dies then our PS3's will make one hell of a DVD player!!!!!!!!!!

Or a nice space heater. One of those new fangled protein folding computing/space heaters we read so much about.

(They do dump a lot of heat amazingly quietly)

[theknub]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

Or a nice space heater. One of those new fangled protein folding computing/space heaters we read so much about.

(They do dump a lot of heat amazingly quietly)

i'm actually considering dropping the protein space heater simply cause of the heat. while it works great, that long term affect bothers me.