Anybody ever notice..

[BigB88]

(I posted this on the Insiders Thread a few days ago, but no one ever responded or addressed)

Can somebody tell me why the big Blu studios (Disney, Fox, Sony, etc.) re-release their content on regular DVD (every few years, it seems), but don't release on Blu Ray? Or they re-release on both DVD and BD? I thought the BDA was trying to defeat both HD-DVD as well as DVD and become the new standard format, how can this be done when the BD studios continue to re-release content on either DVD or both DVD and BD? Two examples; CEOTHK coming soon will be released on BD (as we all know), but from what I understand, will also be re-released on DVD? Why? and on Feb 5, 2008 Sony Pictures is re-releasing Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (40th Anniversary Edition) on DVD, but apparently will not be releasing on BD at all I realize all the studios, including SP are trying to make as much $$$ as possible on their content, but one would think that re-releasing a title on the same format (already saturated market), while forgoing the format your trying to grow seems to me to say; "We have more confidence in the old DVD format then we do in the new BD format we are trying to grow - very confusing, and if not confusing then simply bad business, if indeed these studios are trying to grow the BD format. One would think that at least Sony Pictures would be trying to grow BD.

[JadedRaverLA]

While I definitely agree with your logic, there are real issues with releasing older titles on BD still. Sony got a ton of negative press early on for their lackluster transfers, and though they've turned that around in a HUGE way, it takes a lot of time and money to fully restore older titles to give them an excellent BD release, and studios have to allocate their resources accordingly.

[BigB88]

Originally Posted by JadedRaverLA

While I definitely agree with your logic, there are real issues with releasing older titles on BD still. Sony got a ton of negative press early on for their lackluster transfers, and though they've turned that around in a HUGE way, it takes a lot of time and money to fully restore older titles to give them an excellent BD release, and studios have to allocate their resources accordingly.

Doesn't seem to bother WB (Adventures of Robin Hood, Dirty Dozen, The Searchers, Battle of the Bulge), why should it bother Sony? No, this doesn't make sense, something else is up with this. If they are going to take their time and come out with a special 40th Anniversary version of a very good popular catalog title which is said to be re-mastered, one would think they would release something like this ONLY on Blu-ray. That is if they were trying to promote Blu-ray.

[Gideon]

On a related note, I think it would be a nice marketing strategy if studios would start issuing their Blu-Ray releases a week or so before the standard DVD counterpart. It might get some people who are on the fence to jump in.

[m_tyson]

+1

Originally Posted by Gideon

On a related note, I think it would be a nice marketing strategy if studios would start issuing their Blu-Ray releases a week or so before the standard DVD counterpart. It might get some people who are on the fence to jump in.

[SS316SRV]

It would be an absolutely disasterous decision to not release on SD DVD. If you look at Transformers (GROANS). 8million+ copies sold. Only 100,000 (give or take 90,000) of those were in high def. Do you really think that Blu-ray would succeed if the studios just abandoned SD? How many blu-rays are sold? How many blu-ray players have been sold compared to SD DVD players sold? In order to afford to just release on blu-ray, the price per disc would have to be HUGE, then everybody would b!tch that they were expensive.

[BigB88]

Originally Posted by SS316SRV

It would be an absolutely disasterous decision to not release on SD DVD. If you look at Transformers (GROANS). 8million+ copies sold. Only 100,000 (give or take 90,000) of those were in high def. Do you really think that Blu-ray would succeed if the studios just abandoned SD? How many blu-rays are sold? How many blu-ray players have been sold compared to SD DVD players sold? In order to afford to just release on blu-ray, the price per disc would have to be HUGE, then everybody would b!tch that they were expensive.

Who said that studios should not release in SD DVD?

My point is, when studios re-release their titles, they should only release on Blu-ray. The SD DVD has already been released long ago, now they come out with a re-mastered copy or some fancy anniversary/collectors edition copy, this is what should be Blu-ray, not the original SD DVD released version.

[TauRus]

Originally Posted by BigB88

Who said that studios should not release in SD DVD?

My point is, when studios re-release their titles, they should only release on Blu-ray. The SD DVD has already been released long ago, now they come out with a re-mastered copy or some fancy anniversary/collectors edition copy, this is what should be Blu-ray, not the original SD DVD released version.

they are simply double-dipping ...
With the huge SD DVD market share, who would blame them for doing that?

[BigB88]

Originally Posted by TauRus

they are simply double-dipping ...
With the huge SD DVD market share, who would blame them for doing that?

It doesn't make common sense or business sense for that matter. If I were to double-dip, which I have said is done all the time, I wouldn't be doing it this way, given I wanted to promote the new Blu-ray format. They can certainly double-dip, but why do it at the expense of BD

Sony should re-release older catalog titles with Blu-ray first (if they feel the title warrants) and then perhaps a few weeks or even a few months later, they can re-release the SD DVD. This makes more sense, it allows Sony & others to promote the new format, while still being able to "double-dip". But as we have seen, none of the studios are doing this and in fact aren't even releasing a BD portion of the re-release, in some cases. This makes one think about the commitment of these studios to any of the new formats.