Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[greekjgg]

Originally Posted by elwaylite

I agree, I think people are really asking Bill and PM some wasteful questions right now.

+2

I agree, but this is going to continue to happen as more new people enter this forum. They NEVER read the rules, and never catch up on the threads to know better.

This is just always going to happen the way everyone rubbernecks on a highway as they pass an accident. Nothing can be done, suspending won't really impact anything except repeate offenders.

[elwaylite]

Bill,

I know we'll see some hardware data soon for Toshibas price cut. Have you heard anything on how the HDDVD players are selling with the lower prices at this point?

I expect the week after WB to not be the norm, but I really hope the lower price does not boost them past BD standalone sales.

[savage1984]

Originally Posted by greekjgg

+2

I agree, but this is going to continue to happen as more new people enter this forum. They NEVER read the rules, and never catch up on the threads to know better.

This is just always going to happen the way everyone rubbernecks on a highway as they pass an accident. Nothing can be done, suspending won't really impact anything except repeate offenders.

Also, there isn't anything to report. If there's any news, HELLO, we'll hear about it first. Sometimes, I get really tired of sifting through the pithy questions about when this and that will come out. If you don't know when it's coming out, then it's not coming out for a while. I mean when it's a few months away, not years, you'll probably know when it's coming out. You could just go to Amazon.com or the digitalbits.com .

I feel sorry that Mr. Hunt has to sift through these questions too. He's volunteering his own time to help inform us. It's our job to ask answerable questions. It's a simbiotic relationship, and all we're doing is taking.

Mr. Hunt,
It's honor to have you here at blu-ray.com. I hope we haven't scared you off.
Thanks.

[Bill Hunt]

Hey Guys,

I've benn a little swamped the last couple days, and I'm not going to have time to check in and answer questions until Friday. Can we lock the thread until Friday morning? I just don't want to get too far behind. Thanks for your patience everyone!

Bill

[radagast]

You have reported several calls for Toshiba to throw in the towel, yet they lowering prices on their equipment. I read some speculation that Toshiba was doing this just to make SOME money before quitting hd-dvd. Yet they are advertising on the Super Bowl. Perhaps that was paid for a long time ago. Do you have any solid knowledge of what Toshiba is really doing now? In other words, do they know the war is lost and they are clearing out stock, or are they really still trying to win this? Thanks.

[Ben]

This thread is now open, again!

[elwaylite]

Boy, Bill is gonna get hammered with all the news he's been posting

I can say,along the lines of retailers dropping the format, that the A35 can not be found on BBuy.com and can not be purchased from CCity.com.

[Bill Hunt]

Hey Guys,

Sorry to have been away a few days. Things are a little busy, as you can imagine. Give me a few hours to answer some of the questions asked in the last couple of pages, and then we can start with new ones.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by scott1256ca

I also have a question about digital downloads.

Have you talked to the studios about digital downloads of Hi-Def content?
If so, are they looking at a "download to own" or "download to rent" model?

Which studios are the most gung ho, and which are the least?

Finally, have they speculated on when this might become significant?

Thanks

Now a little of my own commentary on the http://www.toptechnews.com/news/Time...d=10200BKRDFD6
article mentioned earlier in this thread. I have long felt that the two biggest problems with downloads of HD content are the time required to download, and the bandwidth required. Many ISP's have limits on how much you can download per month, some enforce, some do not. If ISP's start doing as the article suggests, you will pay twice for your downloads, once to the movie provider, and once more to your service provider. It could cost you a significant percentage of the media purchase cost just to rent the movie. This is why I think this model is still years away from being viable.

To be honest, I haven't talked much with the studios about this subject. Most of them I think see downloading as a curosity right now. It may be the future, but the problems of content security, bandwidth and portability have yet to really be addressed. Plus, I think most consumers still prefer packaged media. People who would pay $24.99 for a physical disc aren't likely to want to pay that kind of money for a downloaded file. Younger kids who have grown up with the Internet and downloading will be more likely to accept that model, but older folks aren't likely to embrace it much. Plus not everyone wants an Ethernet connection in their living room. So it will take time for downloading to really become the dominant way to consume media. At least 15 if not 20 years.

I recall seeing my first demonstrations of HDTV back in the mid 1980s, and everyone said it would be the future. It was. But it's taken another 20 years for consumers and the industry to really embrace it. I see the same thing with downloading. It's probably the future, but not for a while yet.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by elwaylite

Bill, whats you opinion on the accuracy of this comment by Scott Hettrick?

http://www.hollywoodinhidef.com/blog_detail.php?id=162

"Scott Hettrick @ Jan 16th, 2008 At 4:03 pm says:
Yes, great video -- thanks for sharing McGrath Dot Ca.
As for others discussing when Paramount and Uni will shift to Blu-ray. I just talked to a top Paramount exec and others. The feeling is that even if they have already decided to shift, they would never say so until they sell as much of the HD DVD inventory in the market as they can so they do not get stuck with it."

Was replying to a comment on his blog about the Toshiba discount prices. Someone stated that if they sold enough players, studios would come back to HDDVD.

They did not worry about getting stuck with BD inventory.

I know Scott personally, so I'd trust him on this. For the studios, this is all about making the best of the situation they're in. They all know that Blu-ray has basically won this. But those that have partnered with Toshiba want to help Toshiba save face, and they all want to sell out their inventory as much as possible to buffer the financial loss of having backed the wrong format. I believe you'll see both studios make announcements after a few months. I would bet that by mid-year all of the remaining hold-outs will have said something.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by Bobby Henderson

Given the amount of time it takes to author content for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray release and then market and distribute such releases, I expect Paramount and Universal will have to make some kind of Blu-Ray announcement no later than mid Summer.

I think Blu-Ray players are going to be a very hot item for the 2008 Christmas gift shopping season. Some of this summer's possible/probable hits will be released on Blu-Ray this fall in time for that holiday season.

What ever short term costs Paramount and Universal are trying to avoid eating in existing HD-DVD movie disc stock will be nothing compared to the money they will lose by not having Blu-Ray versions of their big summer titles in stores this fall.

Yeah, that's correct. I've been told by several people that if you want to have titles in stores for the holidays, you have to announce and start production by August in order to make the production/distribution pipeline work.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by NoQuestion

Hey Bill, im glad to see you on bluray.com now. My question relates to your post about master and commander and the other titles that you mentioned that was going to be released for Fathers Day. At the end you said that others were lined up for release to go along with the promotion.

Is there anything you can say about these "other" titles that are set to release with the FOX/MGM titles?

Are they more FOX/MGM titles or are they from other studios?

Also, are all these titles set to release on the same day?

EDIT: one more question, whats the word on Weinstein Company?


Thanks in advance for any type of info back on these questions.

I don't think the final slate has been decided, but we've mentioned the titles that Fox and MGM have confirmed on The Bits. I'm sure there will be more. As to Weinstein, that will probably take a little time, but I'm guessing they'll start doing Blu-ray later this year.

[mystiksuicide]

Bill by when do you believe if it is humanly possible to know that will have all the studios producing blu even if they are neutral.

[BluDomain]

Copied from My Two Cents:
>Also today, we've learned of a problem with Warner and the BBC's MI-5:
>Volume 5. It seems that Disc Three is difficult to access, and if you can,
>you discover that it has an episode duplicated from Disc Two of the set.
>Contact Warner's customer service number (1-866-488-4640) to arrange a
>replacement.

Either not all shipped Volume 5 had the error you reported or
someone is pulling your leg. Mine plays just fine, and there are
no repeat episodes. Paranoid perhaps, but people in some
circles do anything to discredit Warner specifically and Blu-ray
in General.

That said, tell Warner to get out Season 6 ASAP, and
re-issue all on Blu-ray.

[Braktastic]

Bill,

I did search this thread, and I didn't see any mention of this issue, so I apologize if I missed it. Have you heard anything from Warner Bros. regarding the issue with Terminator 3: Rise of the Machine being encoded incorrectly at 1080i while playing the feature without the PiP commentary? Last I heard they were "looking into it" and since then not a peep. I'd like to hope this issue would at least garner the same amount of attention as the PotC framing flub, but my fear is the silence is deafening.

Thanks.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by jackinbox

Bill,

It's great to have you here. I've been visiting your site since 1997 and I remember when you fought the good fight against DIVX and non-anamorphic tranfsers.

I was always afraid that Warner would choose HD-DVD because of their close ties to Lieberfarb. Do you think the change of leadership at the beginning of the year played any part in this, or was the decision made prior to that?

Lastly, who do you like in the NFL playoffs?

I definitely think Lieberfarb, Nickerson, etc played a part in keeping Warner tied to HD-DVD. So yeah, that's possible. But I'm told that Barry Meyer, Kevin Tsujihara and Ron Sanders were all part of the decision making on this, and I think it was just good business. They knew the format war was hurting the market for high-def discs, and they knew Blu-ray had the edge in sales and support. I don't imagine the decision was all that hard in the end. The toughest part was probably being careful to not damage their longstanding relationship with Toshiba, which I'm sure they were sensitive to.

I guess I like the Patriots. They've just got too many weapons, and New York's secondary is never going to be able to match up to Moss and company. I was kind of hoping for a Patriots/Packers Superbowl, just because that would have been a helluva storied match-up.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by jknuss01

I am sure you (all) are getting tired of the Paramount/Univeral questions by now......

I would be interested to find out if there was any reaction (by either) after the 85:15 number came out on friday.....

Nothing on the record. I'm guessing it wasn't entirely unexpected though.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by Nick Graham

Bill, just a follow-up to my previous question on Netflix. Apparently out of the blue both Netflix and Blockbuster online yanked both the Blu and HD-DVD versions of Blade Runner from their services. If you had it in your queue, it was replaced with the old 1997 SD release. Something strange is happening in the world of rent-by-mail services and BD/HD.

I think it's just a supply issue, but I can't say for sure.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by TJones8124

Amazon constantly puts up place holders for items that are not yet available. I wouldn't read anything into it. You know that eventually Paramount is going to go Blu, same with Universal...but this doesn't prove anything. Amazon has done this before with multiple Paramount titles.

Exactly.

[Bill Hunt]

Originally Posted by Esox50

How about it Bill? Anything you can tell us in terms of "rumor mill" style release lists for BD for 2008?

We're expecting to hear at least some big title news for the year ahead from Warner next week. So watch The Bits and Blu-ray.com early next week.