Archived: Insiders Thread

[Ben]

Originally Posted by Mr. Spiffy-Pants

IT'S A TRAP!!! Our deflector shields can repel firepower of that magnitude!









I'm such a geek...

Nerd alert!

-Ben "Two fighters against a Star Destroyer?" Williams

[jon s]

"SleazeSoft" has announced they are able to copy Blu-Ray DVDs even with BD+. Does BD+ have methods of countering this pirating program, or do we have to be concerned that Fox might pull another "disappearing" act in thefuture?

[ack_bak]

Can an insider confirm as to whether the the 130K Spiderman3 (BD) number as mentioned here:
http://www.videobusiness.com/article...?desc=topstory

includes the trilogy or not? There seems to be some confusion on this.

[ryoohki]

Originally Posted by ack_bak

Can an insider confirm as to whether the the 130K Spiderman3 (BD) number as mentioned here:
http://www.videobusiness.com/article...?desc=topstory

includes the trilogy or not? There seems to be some confusion on this.

Well Both Spiderman 3 and the Trilogy have different SKU #, so that article mention only Spiderman 3 and tell nothing about the trilogy

My guess that the Trilogy sold maybe half of what SP3 sold..

[Neo65]

In about 24 hours, we'd know for sure via HMM. But it's intriguing to speculate, is it not?

[ckenisell]

Originally Posted by Bullseye

But they would be eating humble pie after their statement that "The public has decided".

Bullseye, I don't think they care about "humble pie" or the "public." They're laughing all the way to the bank.

They got the 150 mill. They got the HD-DVD sales now. They'll get the Blu-ray sales when the contract expires and they eventually go Blu. There will be a much bigger Blu-ray audience to sell to then. I'm sure Alan has pitched it this way and he knows what he's doing. He's the only one that gets his cake and gets to eat it too. He's doing what's best for their bottom line. Not what's best for his customers. There are companies that go broke by doing what's right for the customer. Just look at M$. You think they got to where they are by playing by the rules and "always thinking about the customer"?

As a consumer, I'm not advocating what he's doing. I think he's a massive sleeze-ball, but there's a method to his madness and I'm just saying there's always two sides to any story.

[sjy1969]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

What Toshiba is doing is simply suicide if you don't have a big sugar daddy watching your back

Do you mean that it is suicide because they don't have a big sugar daddy watching their back or that it would be if they didn't?

[WickyWoo]

Would be if they didn't.

[juanleche]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Indeed Please keep in mind that none of our insiders works for the PlayStation division, so please stop asking so many PS3 questions, as they're busy enough as it is.

Maybe someday we'll be able to get someone in here from SCEA or SCEE

That would be awesome

[Kris Deering]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Would be if they didn't.

Toshiba isn't some 2nd tier company, they have PLENTY of money. And I don't know who this sugar daddy is watching their back, cause if you think its MS, you're not even close.

[Kris Deering]

Originally Posted by woodspoon

Paidgeek, what is the reasoning behind including a DTS HD MA track and a trued track on CE3K? Should we expect reference titles from Sony with 2-3 lossless tracks from now on? I think it sets the reference of what can be achieved..

While I'm not paid I can say that the reason for the DTS-HD MA track was Spielberg. He's still a big proponent of DTS (may even still own a stake in them) and requested it. This is what Paid told me at the BD festival.

[BluOgre]

Originally Posted by jon s

"SleazeSoft" has announced they are able to copy Blu-Ray DVDs even with BD+. Does BD+ have methods of countering this pirating program, or do we have to be concerned that Fox might pull another "disappearing" act in thefuture?

I thought they said it was never intended to be hack proof.....the intention was to make them crack EVERY movie since supposedly "sleazesoft" must hack every movie the studios release. The theory is it will become too expensive to keep cracking each movie so there shouldn't be enough money in the business to justify hacking every title. Of course I never count out hackers.....they seem to do this stuff more for fun than money.

[bdrex28]

Originally Posted by jon s

"SleazeSoft" has announced they are able to copy Blu-Ray DVDs even with BD+. Does BD+ have methods of countering this pirating program, or do we have to be concerned that Fox might pull another "disappearing" act in thefuture?

who knows, it's not like I would expect "sleazeSoft" to say they couldn't. that would hurt his "rep".

[mdm1699]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

I have never seen MS publicly deny putting any money into the HD DVD Promotions Group.

Toshiba's net income for the first half of its 2007 fiscal year was only US$397 million.

http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/ir/en...ter2007h1e.pdf

"Only" 397mil? That is a lot of profit. They are a very healthy company thanks to memory business. Makes me wonder how the memory business is still profitable(quietly). Must be some price-fixing going on. Anyway, they can't keep this up for much longer. I think that they are pouring all they have into the Q1 of 2008, then reassess. Blu-ray doesn't have to die from their perspective. If the blu-ray(or both) format stalls, then it is still a successful campaign for them. It preserves their current revenue stream from DVD.

[BluOgre]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

I have never seen MS publicly deny putting any money into the HD DVD Promotions Group.

Toshiba's net income for the first half of its 2007 fiscal year was only US$397 million.

http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/ir/en...ter2007h1e.pdf

And that's where I get confused from people saying Toshiba has billions to just throw at this war.

If they are losing on average $200-300 per unit for the hardware (isn't that much more than what Sony is losing for the PS3?). Then they are giving 3 free movies at the point of sale (7 more with mailin). Then add in all the payoffs to Paramount and other various retailers so they dont' drop HD support. Calculating the loss with the cheap players alone (if they sale more than 100k units) could be upwards to 50+ million for just this year if you calculate the cost of the movies they will have to pay for at the POS (same with the X360 add on....MS has to be taking the loss for the free movies).

How can they continue to lose money like this? People keep telling me Toshiba can do it alone and I'm really confused because I don't think of them as a MS type company (where they can lose BILLIONS over years and just keep moving along like it's nothing).

[BluOgre]

Originally Posted by mdm1699

"Only" 397mil? That is a lot of profit.

Yeah it's a lot of profit but the point I think was how can they continue to do things like "payoff Paramount for $150 mill" if that is what you call a lot of profit?

[Wet1]

Do we have any insiders from Fox here?

If so, any word on Predator (sp?)???

[Go Blu]

Don't forget Microsoft is one of the few publicly traded companies that have "0" debt and allot of cash in the bank.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by mdm1699

"Only" 397mil? That is a lot of profit. They are a very healthy company thanks to memory business.

In perspective, Panasonic's profit for the same period was US$672 million.

http://panasonic.co.jp/corp/news/off...061027-2-1.pdf

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

Toshiba isn't some 2nd tier company, they have PLENTY of money. And I don't know who this sugar daddy is watching their back, cause if you think its MS, you're not even close.

I have never seen MS publicly deny putting any money into the HD DVD Promotions Group.

Toshiba's net income for the first half of its 2007 fiscal year was only US$397 million.

http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/ir/en...ter2007h1e.pdf

Also:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/p...engthenPR.mspx

TOKYO — June 27, 2005 — Microsoft Corp. and Toshiba Corp. today announced a significant expansion of the companies’ global relationship to enhance the development and delivery of innovative digital consumer electronics products and personal computers by sharing each other’s respective hardware and software technologies. The expanded collaboration is designed to accelerate the availability of new devices for the benefit of customers, while demonstrating mutual respect for each company’s intellectual property rights.

“Microsoft values our strong relationship with Toshiba, a company we admire for its long-standing commitment to innovation,” said Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft. “This agreement demonstrates our desire to share our innovations with other companies in ways that promote the spread of new ideas — and benefit customers by accelerating the development of exciting new products.”

The two companies have agreed to investigate development of HD DVD players using Microsoft® Windows® CE technology, by bringing together Microsoft’s expertise in software and PC technologies with Toshiba’s expertise in consumer electronics and computing. The companies also plan to strengthen their collaboration on iHD, the DVD Forum’s latest interactivity format.

In April 2005 the companies signed a cross-licensing agreement to promote the exchange of innovations developed by each company.

Toshiba Corp. President Atsutoshi Nishida (L) and Microsoft Corp. Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates discuss the expansion of their companies' relationship at a news conference, Tokyo, June 27, 2005.