Archived: Ask the Insiders: Judgment Day Edition

[lunion]

Originally Posted by BigB88

Its New Line so... blu ray only. If your talking about the actual movie, now if you talking about "the other" Dumb & Dumber (Universal & Paramount) who knows what they will be releasing and when!

thanks alot for the very fast reply, new here, just signed up, really happy about that one!

[Slec]

Originally Posted by Woody

Toshiba couldnt announce that Uni isn't making any BR announcements unless Uni said it was ok.

If I were going to change sides, I wouldn't let the side I'm leaving be a part of my plans. I'd want them to see it as business as usual... The old "I support you , until I don't"

[Woody]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

I don't think anyone "announced it".
It was just leaked. They have just been quiet about the whole thing except for the whole Marketing price cut thing.

Yeah, you are right, my fault.

I just suspect we will hear "leaks and rumors" I don't think we will hear any "announcements" until they produce BR discs.


My original reply was to max who said to not necessarily point the finger at him. I guess if Uni is standing pat, who else could be to blame? He would have had to sign off on the "standing pat"

[CptGreedle]

yes but is the BDA going to act? Actions speak louder than words afterall.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

yes but is the BDA going to act? Actions speak louder than words afterall.

Exactly my point.

[lunion]

@BigB88

I was talking about the very first one, Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels. I wouldn't give 'Dumber and Dumberer' the time of day

[whippersnapper]

Originally Posted by Jonty

I figure since everyone else is posting there 2c...

It makes sense to me (from a business standpoint) that Paramount and Universal are willing to accept money (not opt out of an existing contract in Paramount's case) to hold off announcing support for blu ray. It is likely going to take them a few months to get all their ducks in a row, so to speak, so why not profit in the meantime?

....why not profit in the meantime?

Because then they would be criminally (in the moral, not legal, sense) complicit with Toshiba's transparent plan to unload their pipeline inventory on the suckers, marks, fishes (or whatever else you want to call the hapless victims who would buy into a soon to be obsolete format). The bad feelings that these victims would have toward Toshiba, Universal & Paramount could be long lasting.

[Nooff]

Seriously, I don't care what Toshiba does, what I just don't get is why Paramount and Universal actually accept the fact that Toshiba's new marketing campaign is to promote their players as great upconverting DVD players. HELLO??? THIS IS HIGH DEF??? What are they smoking for pete's sake!

[whippersnapper]

Originally Posted by lol dobbs

i find it incredible that retailers are taking part in this. dont they realise the more this carries on consumers will turn to DD downloads. if that happens these same retailers will not earn a dime from it.

I would hope that responsible retailers (& I don't include unethical businesses such as ValueElectronics) such as Best Buy would not order replacements for any of their HD-DVD inventories that are exausted

[JAGUAR1977]

Originally Posted by edgebsl

Has Ken ever said anything that wasnt in the context of official press releases? Has he ever gone on forums and bashed blu?

What makes him so bad?

He's had a job to do and if that job now includes pushing uni towards blu ray then I say he is indeed our friend. That means he's going to give us Indy,Jurassic Park and all the goodies uni has to offer on blu. And if we're really nice we might get blu specific encodes!

We just may have to be patient while the dust settles.

Some people take this too personal. This should be about a love for film, not a mob family rivalry.

Love of film.......................pitty Hollywood and the industry don't take some of their own advice, rather than screwing us consumers over and over again.

WB was make or break, this is a minor irritation by comparison, but it's the contempt towards consumers that leaves the bitter taste.

If Grafeo and co disagree with this policy, they should at least make their feelings known through leaks to the press.

[edgebsl]

Originally Posted by JAGUAR1977

Love of film.......................pitty Hollywood and the industry don't take some of their own advice, rather than screwing us consumers over and over again.

Agree there!!!!

[edgebsl]

Insiders,
Informationweek.com posted a story on the firesale and here is an excerpt:

"Toshiba's latest announcement appeared to be aimed at saving face and building a better future bargaining position with Sony, Michael Greeson, president and principal analyst for The Diffusion Group, told InformationWeek.

"You have more negotiating clout if you continue to actively support the HD DVD format," he said. "If you rollover and play dead, then you have no clout."

It's likely that Sony over time would be willing to pay Toshiba to drop HD DVD, so the industry could focus on the one format and end consumer jitters over buying high-definition DVDs and players. The format wars have kept consumers on the sidelines, preferring to wait to see which format wins before investing money in hardware.

In addition, Toshiba could also negotiate to get some revenue from future Blu-ray-related sales by getting some of its intellectual property into future versions of the technology, Greeson said.

"In the end, you're going to see a pretty big check from Sony to drop the (HD DVD) format," the analyst said. "It's in Sony's interest to get this over with as quickly as possible."

In the meantime, Toshiba is unlikely to get much more than lukewarm support from retailers, since it would be unfair to tell a customer to buy a player that has less content available than its competitor. "It's difficult to rationalize that you're being fair to the customer, if you don't tell them that the content advantage is clearly with Blu-ray," Greeson said. "

Has Toshiba actually let on that they could be "persuaded" to just bow out as they suggest?

[SGRSBSKIER]

Has Toshiba's drop in player prices angered retailers?

I know Circuit City has a policy that within 30 days of your purchase if the have a lower price they will refund the difference. This could effect many players as that was a week before Christmas. Toshiba cut those player prices in half, its possible CC could lose a lot of money. The A3 was $299 if 10k people come back asking for a refund thats $1.5 million they have to pay that they thought they had.

[Jonty]

Originally Posted by whippersnapper

Because then they would be criminally (in the moral, not legal, sense) complicit with Toshiba's transparent plan to unload their pipeline inventory on the suckers, marks, fishes (or whatever else you want to call the hapless victims who would buy into a soon to be obsolete format). The bad feelings that these victims would have toward Toshiba, Universal & Paramount could be long lasting.

Hey - I'm not saying that they're right, but just weighing short term gain vs potential long term loss (Honestly, how many people will refuse to buy a movie they want in a couple of years because they bought an HD DVD just before it died).

Heck, I am willing to pick up Transformers as soon as it becomes available on Blu (even though I swore up and down that I wouldn't!)

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by edgebsl

Insiders,
Informationweek.com posted a story on the firesale and here is an excerpt:

"Toshiba's latest announcement appeared to be aimed at saving face and building a better future bargaining position with Sony, Michael Greeson, president and principal analyst for The Diffusion Group, told InformationWeek.

"You have more negotiating clout if you continue to actively support the HD DVD format," he said. "If you rollover and play dead, then you have no clout."

It's likely that Sony over time would be willing to pay Toshiba to drop HD DVD, so the industry could focus on the one format and end consumer jitters over buying high-definition DVDs and players. The format wars have kept consumers on the sidelines, preferring to wait to see which format wins before investing money in hardware.

In addition, Toshiba could also negotiate to get some revenue from future Blu-ray-related sales by getting some of its intellectual property into future versions of the technology, Greeson said.

"In the end, you're going to see a pretty big check from Sony to drop the (HD DVD) format," the analyst said. "It's in Sony's interest to get this over with as quickly as possible."

In the meantime, Toshiba is unlikely to get much more than lukewarm support from retailers, since it would be unfair to tell a customer to buy a player that has less content available than its competitor. "It's difficult to rationalize that you're being fair to the customer, if you don't tell them that the content advantage is clearly with Blu-ray," Greeson said. "

Has Toshiba actually let on that they could be "persuaded" to just bow out as they suggest?

That is good information, but there is something missing. How BIG of a paycheck will Sony have to write? It would have been much cheaper to either "convience" Paramount or Universal to release in Blu-ray ASAP. Then Toshiba would have no choice, but to concede.

[edgebsl]

I agree.

[galperi1]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

yes but is the BDA going to act? Actions speak louder than words afterall.

I hope the BDA acts.... every player sold at this price will represent 1 burned customer who may not come back to Blu-Ray after getting burned by an obsolete HD-DVD player (This is $150 min that could have been spent toward a BR Player).

The question is, how many of these potential customers will it take getting burned by HD-DVD (and helping out the competition) for the BDA to do something.....

[bmr76]

Insiders,
Why is it every time something comes up about a CHECK, its Sony who will pay. I thought we had a thing called the BDA. Why is sony always the one fronting these pay outs? Do the other companies in the bda have nothing to lose as well? Thanks. ( i am being a little sarcastic towards the news, they always say sony, not bda.)

[zombie]

Originally Posted by Nooff

Seriously, I don't care what Toshiba does, what I just don't get is why Paramount and Universal actually accept the fact that Toshiba's new marketing campaign is to promote their players as great upconverting DVD players. HELLO??? THIS IS HIGH DEF??? What are they smoking for pete's sake!

The Look And Sound Of Upscaling

[OokieSpookie]

Originally Posted by spam.curitiba

To me it doesn't matter..by the end of this year both universal and paramounted will be on blu's side.....

By the end of the year quite a few people will have moved on.
The Warner thing was supposed to end this, all of the papers and everyone else said it was over yet the BDA seems incapable of ending this once and for all.
Do people forget that last year at CES there were big soundbites of "Hd-dvd is dead" ?
I do not comprehend how this could not have been planned for and how there could not have been counter measures in place.
Even the most inept of people keeping a watch on this situation could have seen that money hats would fly.
Not really sure why I assumed as many others did that the deals were done and just had a time delay.
So we find ourselves with two scenarios...

A) Toshiba bought silence and support until April to allow them to unload their players which is extremely shady, and unethical and which also means that Universal and Paramount are willingly going along with it.
B) Toshiba honestly plans to drag this thing out in an attempt to bury hd media as a whole since they could not win.