Paramount only shipped 65% of Transformers?

[Jish]

I once ordered a disc from hdaddicts.com and I woke up this morning to this e-mail.

I am a huge Blu supporter and have never purchased an HD DVD so I am not sure why it went to me, perhaps they sent it to all their customers.

Has anybody heard the 65% stat anywhere else?

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From: HD Addicts <info@hdaddicts.com>
Date: Oct 14, 2007 10:45 PM
Subject: Transformers



Paramount has shipped only 65% of the first Transformers HD DVD shipment. We're are working from the first pre-order up. You will receive a "Preparing to Ship" update if yours falls under the 65% in the next hour. Paramount is updating tomorrow as far as the second shipment, but there will be more by 8am tuesday. Thanks


HD Addicts
***

[Go Blu]

I do wonder if that is to all it's distributors.
If so that will be a wonderful thing.

All that did not pre-order it may not find a copy to buy
when they get there this week.
But Hey plenty of Blu on sale!

[Jish]

I also think it is weird that highdefdigest.com has reviewed Spiderman 3 which is not due for a couple weeks but hasn't reviewed Transformers.

Maybe there is a distribution problem? *hopes*

[eat_me_cool]

Maybe there is a production problem.

Ironic, given that Paramount cited ease of production of HD-DVD as the reason to drop Blu-ray.

[Go Blu]

OR maybe they knew they'd loose this week so they needed to find a way to spin it to their investors. Blame it on Production or Distribution problems.

[RobertB]

I would be surprised if they really didnt manage to move out the complete shipment this week. That would be a mean shot in the fot...

[raggarichie]

don't drink the kool aid, they are saying this so people come run out there and gobble them up off the shelf, while building and excuse just in case they lost the week to blu ray

if they lost i could hear them now, we only ship 65%. i call BS on this. you don't pay 150m and only ship 65%

[reiella]

Originally Posted by raggarichie

don't drink the kool aid, they are saying this so people come run out there and gobble them up off the shelf, while building and excuse just in case they lost the week to blu ray

if they lost i could hear them now, we only ship 65%. i call BS on this. you don't pay 150m and only ship 65%

After all, isn't it blu-ray discs that have the production 'difficulties' cited?

Nah, I think it's just their distributor didn't get teh full shipment due to other circumstances [weather most likly].

[BluOgre]

Originally Posted by raggarichie

don't drink the kool aid, they are saying this so people come run out there and gobble them up off the shelf, while building and excuse just in case they lost the week to blu ray

if they lost i could hear them now, we only ship 65%. i call BS on this. you don't pay 150m and only ship 65%

Actually it makes a LOT of sense. Fox barely got back into making Blu-Ray and they are struggling getting their titles out on time. In fact the Blockbuster stores I help run all got FF4 2 and 28 Weeks Later all 1 week late.

Remember, Transformers was just announced at the very last minute. It takes a lot of time to burn those disks (DVD wise), I can't imagine if you include HD DVD as well. Bottom line, they could have problems due to the fact they released the title way too early and didn't give enough time for their plants to probably burn the disks.

[Jish]

Oh well, here is the review on HDD - just showed up:

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/1110/transformers.html

[lch]

Originally Posted by BluOgre

It takes a lot of time to burn those disks (DVD wise), I can't imagine if you include HD DVD as well. Bottom line, they could have problems due to the fact they released the title way too early and didn't give enough time for their plants to probably burn the disks.

dvd/hd-dvd/bd is not made by burning.
they are made by using mould, just like those date stamp, just stamp.

[stockstar1138]

Originally Posted by Jish

Oh well, here is the review on HDD - just showed up:

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/1110/transformers.html

omg! peter gave it a 5 star AQ rating. t-formers only got dd+, sorry i don't care if its the best dd+ ever, its not worthy of 5 stars. Peter, shame on you and your recent hd dvd fanboyism.

[andyparhelia]

Originally Posted by Jish

Oh well, here is the review on HDD - just showed up:

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/1110/transformers.html

The part about the lack of Hi-res audio is brilliant

Indeed, I had the opportunity to attend a special 'Transformers' media event with Paramount late last week, and the question was asked almost immediately -- why no Dolby TrueHD or uncompressed PCM? The studio's answer was that due to space limitations on the disc, the decision was made to limit the audio to Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 Surround only (here at 1.5mbps). Unfortunately, this confirms the long-held theory that the 30Gb capacity of an HD-30 dual-layer HD DVD disc has forced studios to choose between offering a robust supplements package (as they've done here) and the very best in audio quality.

So every HD-DVD is a compromise!?

If you want quality audio we have to cut back on the visuals, if you want stunning visuals you can't have the audio. But you can buy a bunch of crap through web enabled services on the second disc. Unbelievable.

[BluOgre]

Originally Posted by lch

dvd/hd-dvd/bd is not made by burning.
they are made by using mould, just like those date stamp, just stamp.

Well my point was not how they make the disks, it was you can't do it last minute. going into the 4th qtr you have a schedule and putting a $300 million movie with only 4 weeks to get the disks ready....I knew they were going to have availablity issues with at least HD-DVD. I've already been told by my distriubutor that DVD replenishment will take time. Can't imagine what HD-DVD will look like.

It will be hiliarious if HD loses this week in sales because of this. If it's really close, 52/48 Blu-Ray.....this is probably the reason.

[lokus]

I take Peter's reviews with a grain of salt. I may be stupid, but why is there only 1 reviewer for both formats? I'd like a few different takes on movies instead of getting the same person review films when it is somewhat obvious that HD-DVD is favored. I would expect this film to have amazing video quality. I don't however think that the quality of the film and audio, is a success to HD-DVD. The same, if not better quality, could have been attained by having it on Blu-ray. The HD-DVDers will without a doubt say how this show how the HD-DVD format is better. I personally just think it has a good source and would be damn near impossible to f!$k up.

[Moefiz]

Paramount need to make the movie sizzle in all aspect to picture and sound and there is no way there will be able to pull this off in less than 6 weeks unless they were working on it from before.

[ra1024]

Originally Posted by andyparhelia

The part about the lack of Hi-res audio is brilliant



So every HD-DVD is a compromise!?

If you want quality audio we have to cut back on the visuals, if you want stunning visuals you can't have the audio. But you can buy a bunch of crap through web enabled services on the second disc. Unbelievable.

I thought that was too funny. Why are the supposed enthusiasts at AVS so crazy about a sub-par format? I thought they were supposed to be interested in the best experience. It's really sad to see they are so willing to except mediocrity.

[u_nick]

yeah, i'm thinking its just Smallville/Troy all over again, and the other 45% will be out within the next couple days by the end of the week. but I reckon they're doing it on purpose too.

[reiella]

Originally Posted by ra1024

I thought that was too funny. Why are the supposed enthusiasts at AVS so crazy about a sub-par format? I thought they were supposed to be interested in the best experience. It's really sad to see they are so willing to except mediocrity.

Because to them, the best experience is the interactivity. Not the actual film.

[Jim L]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

omg! peter gave it a 5 star AQ rating. t-formers only got dd+, sorry i don't care if its the best dd+ ever, its not worthy of 5 stars. Peter, shame on you and your recent hd dvd fanboyism.

Obvious bias. It can't be called anything else.

Bracke also reviewed Spiderman 3 and Fantastic Four: Silver Surfer.

Isn't it strange that a lossy DD+ soundtrack is better than a lossless DT-HD MA track? (comparing TF to FF2)

Isn't it also curious that the AVC transfer of TF is an equal rating of 4.5 stars (same as SM3 and FF2)? That's when I'll bet the bitrate of the TF transfer is almost half that of the Fox and Sony transfers.

Bracke has absolutely no credibility in my book. He's probably on the M$ payroll.