Archived: Ask the Insiders: Judgment Day Edition

[Skygod]

This is a great clip from Digital Bits on the retail fall-out from the WB situation.


"In order to better assess retailers' possible next moves, we contacted a variety of local Orange County, CA retail locations yesterday (including Best Buy and Circuit City stores, as well as Frys Electronics and a couple of specialty retailers) for an informal poll, and have learned that since Warner's decision on Friday, Blu-ray Disc hardware has begun outselling HD-DVD hardware dramatically, jumping from 3 to 1 early last week to a factor of roughly 20 to 1 (on average) over the weekend. Sales people are now more confidently recommending Blu-ray to their customers as the preferred of the two formats, and there have apparently been returns of HD-DVD decks. Said one Best Buy employee yesterday of HD-DVD: "We'll keep it around until it goes on clearance, but in a couple months, it probably won't be there anymore.""

[stockstar1138]

with CES winding down i find it odd that only penton has stopped in today. seems awfully quiet with the insiders today. probably gotta keep their mouths shut about the big deal about to go down.

[spam.curitiba]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

with CES winding down i find it odd that only penton has stopped in today. seems awfully quiet with the insiders today. probably gotta keep their mouths shut about the big deal about to go down.

+1

[kjack]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

with CES winding down i find it odd that only penton has stopped in today. seems awfully quiet with the insiders today. probably gotta keep their mouths shut about the big deal about to go down.

Too many new opportunies to deal with all of sudden...

[desmond]

Originally Posted by kjack

Too many new opportunies to deal with all of sudden...

congrats. is samsung's new player going to use sigma's decoder?

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

In other news I just posted this correspondence I received from Cinram over at AVS:



I posted it in the thread I started about SonyDADC's 10,000,000th pressing.

This is from the Director of Investor Relations at Cinram International. Their BD50 line was not running in January 2007, which means they've hit up to 80% yields WITHIN their first year.

Imagine that!

Oh, that thread I started has completely evaporated.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...65454&posted=1

Imagine that too.

Let me get this straight.
AVS had multiple threads with multiple postings commenting upon alleged BD-50 replication problems by people who claimed “my source told me” with the added endorsement of a V.P. of a software company….who is now *retired* as to the validity of the information?

And you list specific information from a Director at Cinram concerning yield rates who is willing to put his neck on the line publicly by mentioning Dave Vaughn by name to specifically address the situation…………and your thread goes into the *AVS never happened file* ?

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by PaulGo

You mean the retired guy who loves to tell half truths, spends his whole life justifying his existence in these newsgroups, and goes into fits when you question the validity of his statements? Never heard of him!

Also on a more serious note please check out the thread I started about VC-1 and AVC "How Will High Bit Rate VC-1 Compare to AVC"

Richard Casey has some really good comments.

Another person that the A-man inappropriately portrayed to the online audience.......in dealings with a certain software company.
I had forgotten about poor Richard.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Aygie

guys i don't agree, the amount of bull that seeps from KG's mouth is ridiculous.

Dude, that’s his job.
That’s what he was paid for.
He never made it personal like the A-man.
Hell, after a recent panel discussion several months ago, Ken walked up to Bill Hunt (who had been debating Uni's philosophy about the high-def formats) and shook Bill’s hand. He didn’t have to do that.

If you recall, the reception that Wild Bill received on AVS a few months back was like a public flogging with a moderator of the forum even joining in the fun.

[JasonS]

Hey Penton, I hear the HD DVD promotions group is supposed to refute all of the claims we're hearing about Universal and Paramount today. Is this their last ditch effort or is this thing getting dragged out even longer?

[Rukland]

PM since you seem to be here at the moment do you have any idea what the HD-DVD PG is going to see in there upcoming statement?

[atomik kinder]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Let me get this straight.
AVS had multiple threads with multiple postings commenting upon alleged BD-50 replication problems by people who claimed “my source told me” with the added endorsement of a V.P. of a software company….who is now *retired* as to the validity of the information?

And you list specific information from a Director at Cinram concerning yield rates who is willing to put his neck on the line publicly by mentioning Dave Vaughn by name to specifically address the situation…………and your thread goes into the *AVS never happened file* ?

Yet, they only lock this thread, but leave it up for all to read....
AVS Forum

[Penton-Man]

To everyone who has sent me PM’s recently.
Guys, no offense, I’m just swamped. I’ll try to get to them sometime this month.

[CAB]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Guys, be kind to Ken G. in some of the other threads here. Fact is, he is/was just a messenger for the HD DVD word. I don’t recall him ever stooping to the unethical behavior and tactics of a major spokesperson for a software company at least before he was *reassigned*....to a secret mission.

For instance, Ken G. never attempted to expose the identity of insiders that wished to remain anonymous (specifically paidgeek and talkstr8t) as did a junior grade V.P. on more than one occasion on a protected “science” forum.

Can I take this to mean that Ken G. will soon be a registered and welcome member of the blu-ray.com blu-ray insider staff?

*opens arms*

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Dude, that’s his job.
That’s what he was paid for.
He never made it personal like the A-man.
Hell, after a recent panel discussion several months ago, Ken walked up to Bill Hunt (who had been debating Uni's philosophy about the high-def formats) and shook Bill’s hand. He didn’t have to do that.

Can we still take shots at Ron Enderle? Or is it "that's what he was paid for" for him too?

[jason_grumpy]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Dude, that’s his job.
That’s what he was paid for.
He never made it personal like the A-man.
Hell, after a recent panel discussion several months ago, Ken walked up to Bill Hunt (who had been debating Uni's philosophy about the high-def formats) and shook Bill’s hand. He didn’t have to do that.

That takes class -- a lot of class on Ken's part. I for one will welcome our new Universal overlords as soon as they come aboard. Paramount on the other hand....

[ottscay]

Obviously I don't know KG, but he never insulted my mother or kicked my dog, so as far as I'm concerned he's welcome if he's seen the light. Sure he said a lot of half-truths, but that's what a spokeman does.

To be fair, many of the BDA's proclamations of victory at BDA 2006 were a bit of marketing magic as well (though not this year, where they were quite conservative despite, in fact, having won).

Besides, it's never nice to call for someone's job (which is pretty much the alternative if Universal goes Blu without him); I'm sure he has a family and a life he doesn't want have suffer any more than the rest of us. Of course it'll be easier to feel warm and fuzzy about him if he hurries up and announces Blu-ray support (perhaps with the Bourne trilogy on its way ).

[blindcat87]

Which is why I have no problem letting go of any leftover angst against him. He was an obvious target as one of the figureheads of the HD DVD promotions group, but with things shifting I think everyone that didn't pull over the top/below the belt truly down in the muck stuff should be granted the courtesy of consideration that they were doing their jobs and kept it professional and all about business.

chris

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Dude, that’s his job.
That’s what he was paid for.
He never made it personal like the A-man.
Hell, after a recent panel discussion several months ago, Ken walked up to Bill Hunt (who had been debating Uni's philosophy about the high-def formats) and shook Bill’s hand. He didn’t have to do that.

If you recall, the reception that Wild Bill received on AVS a few months back was like a public flogging with a moderator of the forum even joining in the fun.

[CptGreedle]

All i want to know is, what is the HD DVD PG going to say?
Will there be any further big announcements this CES?
And what time does this all end today?

[darinp2]

As far as KG, I hope he knows to lay off trashing gamers. I'll make him a deal though. Besides releasing on Blu-ray (which they are going to have to do anyway, since they do have some business sense), if he will agree to reencode the video to Blu-ray's specs for one title which I suggest and put lossless audio on the Blu-ray version, I will forgive all. BTW: Doing the above would likely help Universal's sales of that title, so they would probably be doing themselves a favor by making the BD better anyway.

--Darin

[Balian]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Dude, that’s his job.
That’s what he was paid for.
He never made it personal like the A-man.
Hell, after a recent panel discussion several months ago, Ken walked up to Bill Hunt (who had been debating Uni's philosophy about the high-def formats) and shook Bill’s hand. He didn’t have to do that.

If you recall, the reception that Wild Bill received on AVS a few months back was like a public flogging with a moderator of the forum even joining in the fun.

Penton ...dude, why the sudden overflowing empathy for Kenny G.???

If I didn't know any better, it seems you have had long talks with Kenny G. recently.