Digital Bits and Bill Hunt's latest 2¢ on exclusive announcements

[Ispoke]

Very good piece by Bill Hunt

My Two Cents

Seems to think all studio's will be producing blu-ray by mid 2008

[Mr. Joshua]

Bill Hunt is the man, and it's just as he predicted....Just listen... http://users.vnet.net/shogun/flair002.wav

[nhaase]

It's going to be hard for any studio to continue supporting HD DVD. Here's the platform points a blu-ray rep (even a volunteer, like any of us) can give to a potential consumer:

1. Blu-ray sold more discs every week in 2007.
2. Despite debuting later and having more expensive hardware, blu-ray has outsold HD DVD 60/40 since the inception of HD DVD.
3. There is virtually no price difference in 1080p players now, since two blu-ray players dipped below $300 in price. (note that the HD-A3 is only 1080i, so you can't take full advantage of that big new TV)
4. While Paramount took a payoff to switch sides, Warner Bros. decided (according to them) that this decision was based solely on the market, where each of their titles sold twice as many on BD as on HD DVD.
5. Because of WB's decision, and this is a big one, at the moment 70% of all movies ever will only be available on blu-ray, if they were to come out.


On an added note, this should get Criterion in gear!

[sokrman14]

http://digitalbits.com/#mytwocents

Bill Hunt just put up another good read about this year and the format war with Universal and Paramount

[Proteus]

The 70% number is kinda... misleading.

It's actually going to be much higher. More like around 85-90%. Over the next few days as the 'real math' gets worked out we should see it.

It was already 65% Blu before this announcement on the release slate.

If you consider the volume of releases Warner makes, particularly compared to Uni and Para/DW (which is barely any), the difference is phenomenal.

This is _SO BIG_ I don't think it's full sunk in for people yet.

Long ago I posted that when Blu-ray dominated 90%+ of the market it would be over and retail would make it over. This announcement has pretty much solidified that number not just globally (where it will surpass 90% easily now) but very soon (by June apparently) here in the states.

There is no question. This is the end for HDDVD. If Toshiba can't accept this, then they can feel free to waste their money, I guess. But, in reality world, they may want to cut their losses and start focusing on how to become profitable in a Blu-ray world instead.

Let's face it. By going solo on HDDVD (Microsoft was there, yes, but they really didn't risk much) Toshiba has completely alienated itself in the CE business. They have a lot of bridges to rebuild.

[JasonR]

Originally Posted by nhaase

On an added note, this should get Criterion in gear!

+1

[Drewza89]

Originally Posted by nhaase

On an added note, this should get Criterion in gear!

Criterion Blu-rays will kick ass!

They will also empty my wallet.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Bill Hunt

And our sources are now telling us that Universal - knowing Warner was about to go Blu-exclusive - has already begin taking steps to prepare for their own future Blu-ray efforts. Our guess is that Universal in particular will go format neutral, to put the best P.R. spin on their situation. But we'd be VERY surprised if all three studios don't announce their own Blu-ray Disc support by mid-2008 at the latest, so as benefit from 4th quarter holiday sales. In fact, we're betting those announcements happen much sooner.

The Digital Bits

~Alan

[Razzy]

Originally Posted by Alan Gordon

The Digital Bits

~Alan

Bring on Bourne!!

[Bullseye]

Excellent by Bill as always.

[Galley]

Sweet! Soon I will have all of the John Hughes films on BD.

[Banjo]

If Universal Studios start distributing movies onto the Blu-ray Disc format... they better not do what Warner Bros. did with encoding movies. Not only to mention that I have heard many, many HD DVD movies released by Universal were mediocre in video and video quality.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Banjo

If Universal Studios start distributing movies onto the Blu-ray Disc format... they better not do what Warner Bros. did with encoding movies. Not only to mention that I have heard many, many HD DVD movies released by Universal were mediocre in video and video quality.

When I was HD DVD exclusive, I thought Universal had some of the better looking titles ("Serenity", "Pitch Black", "The Chronicles Of Riddick", "The Mummy Returns", "The Scorpion King", "Hulk", etc...). While none of them were perfect, and all of them lacked lossless audio, "The Chronicles Of Riddick" and "The Scorpion King" rate very high in HDM PQ, IMO.

I think it was last year when Universal started releasing all kinds of back catalog to help HD DVD that they really started to go down in quality...

~Alan

[Li'l Nicky]

Not much to say but agree with Bill and the majority in this thread...and pretty much everywhere else.

If they want a big chunk of HD sales leading up to christmas next year- not just in the states but everywhere else in the world. They really oughta jump on blu-ray.

I Am Legend and Dark Knight are now exclusive to blu. Hands up those still jumping for joy over this.

[Blu-Light]

Growing confident that this happens before next week is out...i.e. both studios jump ship from HD-DVD.

[Papi4baby]

digital bits is down, maybe it crashed.

[Alan Gordon]

Originally Posted by Li'l Nicky

I Am Legend and Dark Knight are now exclusive to blu. Hands up those still jumping for joy over this.

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

Nothing is set in stone, but The Dark Knight will be exclusive to Blu-ray and stuff like 300 after March will also be exclusive to Blu. I think I Am Legend could end up in the neutral pile, but again, it won't be D&D and it will only be in limited quantities for those hold-outs like Lee Stewart and rdjam.

"I Am Legend" won't be quite neutral, but by that time, most people won't be buying it on HD DVD anyway...

~Alan

[sj001]

All of the HD sites are pretty slow right now, except here... lol!

[quetzalcoatl]

Originally Posted by Proteus

The 70% number is kinda... misleading.

It's actually going to be much higher. More like around 85-90%. Over the next few days as the 'real math' gets worked out we should see it.

It was already 65% Blu before this announcement on the release slate.

If you consider the volume of releases Warner makes, particularly compared to Uni and Para/DW (which is barely any), the difference is phenomenal.

This is _SO BIG_ I don't think it's full sunk in for people yet.

Long ago I posted that when Blu-ray dominated 90%+ of the market it would be over and retail would make it over. This announcement has pretty much solidified that number not just globally (where it will surpass 90% easily now) but very soon (by June apparently) here in the states.

There is no question. This is the end for HDDVD. If Toshiba can't accept this, then they can feel free to waste their money, I guess. But, in reality world, they may want to cut their losses and start focusing on how to become profitable in a Blu-ray world instead.

Let's face it. By going solo on HDDVD (Microsoft was there, yes, but they really didn't risk much) Toshiba has completely alienated itself in the CE business. They have a lot of bridges to rebuild.

You are not getting what he said with the 70%. He is talking about total titles in Hollywood not sales figures. So now Blu-ray as access to 70% of all titles avail for release as exclusives.

[SDG]

There have been several hints from the insiders about Universal change, but Max made it clear today to not expect anything from Paramont anytime soon. Im ok with that.