BD vs HD DVD - different PQ due to preferences of Japanese vs American consumers?

[zombie]

I thought this was interesting:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&&#post8576053

the guy who told me about the dynamic range had actually nothing to gain telling me a lie .since he is an engeneer creating a certain player

he was a pretty old guy but a head engineer that i could read from his business card. he simply said to me that bitrate doesnt matter about how soft or strong a movie will look and that it is simply a matter of taste by the director. the reason i came to this is because i saw on the other side willy wonka chocolate factory from warner. so then i asked him why does narnia looks softer then willy wonka for example.

so then he said it depends on the dynamic range and not on the bitrate.

also he explain to me that japanese people like rather more a soft picture while western people like more a sharper contrast picture. so japanese people like more narnia pic quality then wonka quality.

I hope I'm not coming to wild conclusions here but is it possible that early BD releases were the result of Sony intentionally giving their discs a look that they felt would be pleasing to Japanese consumers while Toshiba aimed more for American consumers? The Japanese are gods when it comes to new technology so perhaps Sony thought they were doing the right thing. I don't want to sound like I'm helping to make excuses for BDs less than stellar launch but I'm curious if this social group preference is even partially responsible.