Archived: Ask the Insiders: Judgment Day Edition

[ottscay]

As much as I sympathize with you guys (and ever more so with regards to Paramount) the fact of the matter is that 4-5 more months of "wrapping up" stalls consumer adoption more than 4-5 weeks. It works out in a BD win either way, but there's not much time for dilly-dallying as BD begins its assault on SD DVD.

In light of that, a small incentives package may be chump change compared to the profits to be made by a more rapidly adopted Blu-ray format.

[blindcat87]

I would guess that a certain VP at Uni is holding on by his fingernails because he knows what all of this means for him as one of the most outspoken obnoxious HD DVD cheerleaders from amongst all of the studio execs. Just my suspicion, could be wrong.

On the AVS events. I am really saddened since I have been reading their forums as long or longer than I have the Digital Bits and it is sad to see what has happened there. I don't know how they can think they can have any credibility when one of their mods implores Blu-Ray insiders to return and then sits back and lets the SOS go on. I guess he wants their forum to be a BD insider whack-a-mole game where they ask the insiders to stick their heads out and then hand out the hammers to their red members after putting a hammer proof box over the red moles. The other forums are still good and there are still a lot of mods and members I respect greatly, but I haven't even been checking the PS3 as BD thread anymore because I just don't want to mess with their HD area anymore even to lurk and read.

Chris

Originally Posted by BluOgre

Just had a meeting with my Universal sales rep and he couldn't comment on what Universal is going to do but he did admit that he has heard (as of yesterday) Paramount is going to switch.

I asked them why Universal doesn't follow Warner immediately and he said it was complicated but they'll go where the business is eventually. It seems maybe the easiest path would be Toshiba just throwing in the towel now instead of forcing the remaining studios to do it for them.

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by BluOgre

I can't believe Universal would expect "incentives" for coming to the Blu-ray side. After talking with my Universal sales rep even he agreed sales of HD-DVD are going to plummet. Why would you need to give anything to the loser....isn't that the point of winning, you get rub the losers nose in the mess they have made? If anything Unviersal should be fitting any bills it took to get Warner to come exclusive with Blu-ray.

Agreed.

Raiders of the Lost Ark, the comment near the end when the Nazis have the ship pulled over..."We will take what we wish, and then decide whether or not to blow your ship (i.e. HD DVD) from the water." Though thats obviously more applicable to Paramounts inevitable Blu move.

[monkyman]

Has the BDA been in any kind of talks with Toshiba? Perhaps offering a licensing deal if they just call it quits?

I'm not sure licensing deal is the correct term here.

[Mr_Bester]

Originally Posted by monkyman

Has the BDA been in any kind of talks with Toshiba? Perhaps offering a licensing deal if they just call it quits?

I'm not sure licensing deal is the correct term here.

I asked that the other day and an insider commented that antitrust issues would arise(or something like that)

[g.k.]

Insiders:

It looks ilke New Line is done with HD DVD now, so is it safe to say that they weren't covered by the same contract terms as BD as far as having to release through May?

And was their initial timed release stance an indication of the direction Warner was leaning, as has been speculated/suspected?

[whippersnapper]

Originally Posted by BluOgre

I can't believe Universal would expect "incentives" for coming to the Blu-ray side. After talking with my Universal sales rep even he agreed sales of HD-DVD are going to plummet. Why would you need to give anything to the loser....isn't that the point of winning, you get rub the losers nose in the mess they have made? If anything Unviersal should be fitting any bills it took to get Warner to come exclusive with Blu-ray.

Of course I'm just a retailer so maybe this is how it's done. I just find it pretty disgusting that Universal would have their hands out looking for something before making the switch now that they are technically not needed to kill the HD-DVD format. I would rather see Universal waist their time and money to continue releasing in HD-DVD before I see them rewarded for extending this war to the point it hurt the overall business.

And I hope retailers quickly do the right thing and stop selling soon-to-be-"obsolete" equipment and media to the public. And for those who feel they MUST continue doing that for a while, at least insure that those customers are made aware of the situation and trends.

[spam.curitiba]

Originally Posted by whippersnapper

And I hope retailers quickly do the right thing and stop selling soon-to-be-"obsolete" equipment and media to the public. And for those who feel they MUST continue doing that for a while, at least insure that those customers are made aware of the situation and trends.

went to BBY this afternoon and there hd dvd shelves were already down to 1 1/2 selves

[elwaylite]

Thats what Im curious about, retailer reaction. You know they are at and aware of CES. Will be interesting in the coming weeks.

[Objectivity]

Originally Posted by john_nemesh

How's this for an incentive? "Sell in our format or don't sell any discs!" Seems like a good "incentive" to me!

People won't buy into the format until all movies are available on one format. Without Universal, people will still wait until they can get all their new releases in high def.

[elwaylite]

Originally Posted by Objectivity

People won't buy into the format until all movies are available on one format. Without Universal, people will still wait until they can get all their new releases in high def.

While I somewhat agree, I think as MORE studios go blu and the players come down in price, people will jump on board. BD is in a much better spot than they were 2 weeks ago.

[CptGreedle]

Although I am no insider, I do believe that New Line will not be releasing any new more HD DVD titles (meaning only Pan's Labyrinth is on HD DVD), so that even titles like Hairspray will only be on Blu.
They did not have any release dates for their HD DVD releases so there is no reason to start now.

[OokieSpookie]

Originally Posted by Objectivity

People won't buy into the format until all movies are available on one format. Without Universal, people will still wait until they can get all their new releases in high def.

A small percentage if anything.
All most people care about is a definitive end, and thanks to articles in most major news outlets the perception of an end is out there.
I have seen more people in the blu section at best buy and moviestop this weekend than I have seen in months.

[Agent Cooper]

Hi everybody - I'm a new member at this forum, but I've been a BD fan for a long time and recently bought my first player - +50 movies and counting.

I've been visiting this forum for quite some time and with the current events in mind, I might as well join in on the fun. The BD insiders are here and there's a pretty good atmosphere at blu-ray.com. Cheers to you guys.

I've been posting at AVS (as Deaconfrost) since 2003, but as some of you point out, it's getting ugly over there at the HD forums these days. I'll still visit the site since there are other excellent subforums though.

Well, I might have a couple of questions for the insiders and I wonder if there's any insiders here from Warner and Fox. I've read there's one (the one and only) from Fox, but i've never really figured out who it is.

Or maybe evrybody else knows; any hint of X-Men 1+2, Alien/Aliens or The Matrix movies on BD? I haven't had the time to follow the CES presentations closely the last couple of days, so I might have missed title announcements that have been brought up...

Thanx!

[Member-9711]

Originally Posted by Talkstr8t

One of the challenges is that most companies want to make announcements at their own press conferences, not the BDA press conference, hence by the time the BD press conference rolls around most of the news is already known. It's tough to put together something exciting in that context...

I understand.

Thank you for your time here.

[quetzalcoatl]

Originally Posted by Agent Cooper

Hi everybody - I'm a new member at this forum, but I've been a BD fan for a long time and recently bought my first player - +50 movies and counting.

I've been visiting this forum for quite some time and with the current events in mind, I might as well join in on the fun. The BD insiders are here and there's a pretty good atmosphere at blu-ray.com. Cheers to you guys.

I've been posting at AVS (as Deaconfrost) since 2003, but as some of you point out, it's getting ugly over there at the HD forums these days. I'll still visit the site since there are other excellent subforums though.

Well, I might have a couple of questions for the insiders and I wonder if there's any insiders here from Warner and Fox. I've read there's one (the one and only) from Fox, but i've never really figured out who it is.

Or maybe evrybody else knows; any hint of X-Men 1+2, Alien/Aliens or The Matrix movies on BD? I haven't had the time to follow the CES presentations closely the last couple of days, so I might have missed title announcements that have been brought up...

Thanx!

That is because the Fox person has not posted yet. It is somewhere back up in this thread that they would not really be around until after CES. So save your question and ask it once they are here. Since I suspect it will long since be buried.

[tgenius]

Has anyone confirmed if Ice Age 1 announced by FOX at CES was a misprint of MPEG2/BD25 or is it officially coming out as that? I ask because I only assume the disk was finished but delayed for some reason from its original March 07 laun ch?

[CptGreedle]

Originally Posted by Agent Cooper

Hi everybody - I'm a new member at this forum, but I've been a BD fan for a long time and recently bought my first player - +50 movies and counting.

I've been visiting this forum for quite some time and with the current events in mind, I might as well join in on the fun. The BD insiders are here and there's a pretty good atmosphere at blu-ray.com. Cheers to you guys.

I've been posting at AVS (as Deaconfrost) since 2003, but as some of you point out, it's getting ugly over there at the HD forums these days. I'll still visit the site since there are other excellent subforums though.

Well, I might have a couple of questions for the insiders and I wonder if there's any insiders here from Warner and Fox. I've read there's one (the one and only) from Fox, but i've never really figured out who it is.

Or maybe evrybody else knows; any hint of X-Men 1+2, Alien/Aliens or The Matrix movies on BD? I haven't had the time to follow the CES presentations closely the last couple of days, so I might have missed title announcements that have been brought up...

Thanx!

I know that they are planning BD-Live content for XMEN 2, it is on the latest Demos for in-store displays. It might not be accurate since I have heard nothing official, but it is apparent that they are at least working on releasing it. It is safe to assume that if they are going to release X2, that X1 will not be far behind.
I have heard nothing on Alien or Aliens, but the Alien vs Predator movies are going to Blu with interactive content, at at least one will have BD-Live too.
The Matrix is coming to Blu this year, WB already announced they will catch up on all the films they released on HD DVD previously. When is still the question but I assume it will be by summer.
Perhaps an insider will be able to shed more, better light on these topics. But that is all I have been able to deduce.

[coolmilo]

Originally Posted by Talkstr8t

You can also assume a studio coming over from exclusivity would want to see what sort of incentives might be available, which would add to the time it'd take for them to either negotiate what they can or be convinced that the window has closed!

As far as incentives go, I would think that Paramount and Universal would be fighting each other to be the next company to go Blu exclusive. In other words, it seems like there would not be much bargaining power for the last red company to come aboard. It seems that the last company standing red would have no other choice but to switch to Blu.

[Seretur]

Originally Posted by Agent Cooper

Or maybe evrybody else knows; any hint of X-Men 1+2, Alien/Aliens or The Matrix movies on BD? I haven't had the time to follow the CES presentations closely the last couple of days, so I might have missed title announcements that have been brought up...

So one of your screen names wants a cup of coffee, and the other wants a pack of smokes? Good to have you here.

We don't know anything official about these titles, but The Matrix trilogy is allegedly being prepared (and, some say, re-encoded!), while Bill Hunt has hinted that at least some of the original Alien movies will be coming in '08. The insiders will not comment on release schedules, and they've obviously been busy with the other developments recently.